A decision by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal says anyone denied service for refusing to wear a mask must be ready to prove they have a disability if they intend to file a complaint. The warning is contained in a screening decision published Wednesday as tribunal member Steven Adamson addresses what he describes as a large volume of complaints alleging discrimination related to mask requirements. Screening decisions are among the first steps in a tribunal investigation and are rarely released, but Adamson says he's publishing his findings because there have been many similar compla

British Columbia is introducing new training requirements for commercial truck drivers that the government says will make highways safer.B.C. is the latest province to require mandatory entry-level training (MELT) for commercial drivers, requiring 140 hours of training.It says in a news release the mandatory entry-level training for new Class-1 commercial licence applicants exceeds national requirements.The training for applicants will be required before road tests, beginning October 18th and list of approved training providers will be released by mid-June, the province announced.Lawrence and

Lakhs of farmers, protesting against the three farm laws passed by the union government last year, will march towards the Parliament on foot sometime in the middle of the month of May, said All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) General Secretary Hannan Mollah on Thursday.Mollah told ANI that the march is being organised because "the government is not listening to the voices of the farmers"."Modi Government and Parliament are not listening to the farmers then it is our right to go in front of Parliament and raise our demand and we will decide sometime between the middle in the month of May. Thousands of

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of protesting farmer unions against central farm laws, has announced a 'Parliament March' in the first fortnight of May."SKM has announced a Parliament March in the first fortnight of May. Other than farmers and labourers, here women, Dalit-Adivasi-Bahujans, unemployed youth and every section of society will be part of this march. This program will be completely peaceful," read a release by the SKM on Wednesday.The farmers' body said people will come in their vehicles from their villages to the borders of Delhi."After this, a Paidal March will

A Delhi court will hear the bail plea of Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, accused of January 26 tractor rally violence, on April 8.On Wednesday, the Tis Hazari court had adjourned the hearing on the bail application filed by Sidhu after a jurisdictional issue arose.Sidhu, accused of allegedly inciting violence near the Red Fort on Republic Day, had moved his bail petition in the court on Tuesday.Police had arrested Sidhu on February 9.The names of Sidhu and others were included in the FIR registered in connection with the violence, Delhi Police had said earlier while adding that Sidhu

Police say a parolee who was convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago has been arrested on charges including felony assault as a hate crime for a brutal attack on an Asian American woman near New York City's Times Square. Police said Brandon Elliot is the man seen on video kicking and stomping the woman on Monday. It's not clear whether he has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf. The New York Times reports that victim's daughter has identified her as Vilma Kari, a 65 year old woman who immigrated from the Philippines. NYPD on Twitter: At today’s press conference @NYPDShea sha

British Columbia has set a new record for daily COVID-19 cases and breached the 100,000 mark for total infections both on the same day. Health officials say in a statement that one thousand and 13 cases were confirmed, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 100,048. There are 7,405 active cases, while 304 of those are in hospital, including 80 in intensive care. Three more people have died, bringing the death toll to 1,458. Officials say a delay in sequencing analysis means new cases involving variants of concern identified in the last 24 hours are unavailable. More than 756,000 vacci

A lawyer for Meng Wanzhou says payments between a Huawei subsidiary and an HSBC client that were cleared in American dollars do not give the United States jurisdiction to charge the executive. American authorities are seeking the extradition of the Huawei chief financial officer on fraud charges linked to a 2013 meeting in which they allege she lied to the bank about a subsidiary of her company. The subsidiary, Skycom, was doing business in Iran, which authorities allege put HSBC at risk of violating American sanctions, and they also point to payments that were cleared through the United Stat

British Columbia's provincial health officer and Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg are receiving honorary degrees from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Thunberg are among 18 people being honoured this spring as part of a tradition that recognizes individuals for their substantial contributions to society. UBC president Santa Ono says Henry has served as a leading voice on public health during the pandemic while 18-year-old Thunberg has been an inspiration on climate change issues. Henry has participated in international initiatives such as a polio eradicatio