The central government has decided to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, till Diwali this year, the Prime Minister announced on Monday. "Over 80 crore people in the country will receive free food grains now till Diwali under the scheme, which was launched last year during the Covid-19 induced lockdown.During this pandemic, the government is with the poor. Over 80 crore of our population will get ration till November. Nobody should sleep hungry," PM Modi said today in his address to the nation. "Last year, when we had to impose lockdown due to COVID-19, then under PM Garib Kalyan Yo

Health officials in British Columbia say they are gearing up for a busy month as the province works on the rollout of its second doses of COVID-19 vaccinations. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement that 72.4 per cent of all adults in B.C. have received a first dose of a vaccine. They say clinics will be busy dealing with second doses as well as the province's vaccination program for those 12 and older. B.C. recorded 183 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, for a total of 145,049 cases since the pandemic began. It's the fourth straight

Late Thursday afternoon, around 3:40 p.m., Burnaby RCMP frontline officers responded to a hit and run that had occurred on the street in front of Montecito Elementary in Burnaby.The suspect vehicle, a silver coloured sedan, was reported to have struck a moving school bus belonging to a nearby Catholic school, with children on board.Fortunately, none of the children or the driver were injured.A short time later, Burnaby RCMP Youth Section located a possible suspect vehicle near the Burnaby Mountain Golf Course. A 20-year-old Burnaby man has since been arrested and taken into custody. The suspec

The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine has declared a state of local emergency as the Skeena River bursts its banks after days of heavy rain and rapid snowmelt. The communities of Old Remo and New Remo, southwest of Terrace, have been ordered evacuated, high water threatens about 100 properties and some roads have been washed out, while evacuation alerts are posted for other nearby areas. Flood warnings are in effect for several northwestern BC rivers, including sections of the Skeena, Stikine and Tuya and the River Forecast Centre has also issued flood watches and high streamflow advisorie

Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon says although Statistics Canada data shows BC lost roughly 23-thousand part-time jobs in May, 21,000 full-time jobs were created. Kahlon says that's what kept BC's unemployment rate almost static last month at 7 per cent, a dip of one basis point since April. Kahlon says the May figures reflect the difficulties many businesses faced last month during restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. He says BC's restart plan is now rolling out and he hopes it cuts into unemployment that has disproportionately affected workers between the ages of 15 and 24, as wel

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on the Catholic Church to "step up" and take responsibility for its role in Canada's residential school system. Trudeau says as a Catholic he is deeply disappointed by the position the church has taken in dealing with the tragedy. In what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat, Trudeau said he hopes the church bends to public pressure, before the government is forced to take the issue to court. Indigenous communities have long sought an apology from the Pope for the institution's part in the government-sponsored, church-run schools for Indigenous childre

Mounties say they have opened a file into the possible remains of 215 children found at a former residential school site in Kamloops. Staff Sergeant Bill Wallace, the detachment commander with the Tk'emlups Rural RCMP, says officers have been to the site and are working with community members to discuss the next steps. He says police are looking for the best way to be involved in the investigation, while also being culturally sensitive and respectful of the community. Retired senator Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, told a House of Common committee yesterd

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says large shipments of COVID-19 vaccines will continue to pour into Canada through the summer, with more than two million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab expected to arrive each week until the end of August. Trudeau says that accounts for nine million Pfizer doses in July and another 9.1 million expected in August. He adds that Canada has also negotiated an option for three million more Pfizer doses to be delivered in September. Procurement Minister Anita Anand says more than 50 million doses from Pfizer will have been delivered by the end of September. 65% of

Statistics Canada says the economy lost 68,000 jobs in May as lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 continued.The losses marked the second consecutive month of declines after 207,000 jobs were lost in April.The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in May, little changed from the 8.1 per cent in April because the number of unemployed people in Canada overall stayed relatively steady.What changed is that more people dropped out of the labour force in May, including workers who simply got discouraged and gave up looking for work.The statistics office says there were 49,700 discouraged job-searc