News

B.C. health minister Adrian Dix calls on Ottawa to improve its health care offer, while echoing the conciliatory tone of Premier David Eby. (Wolf Depner/News Staff)

‘I’m not going to be negative, but they have to do better’: Dix on federal health offer

Health care minister Adrian Dix calls on feds to improve offer of $600 million to B.C.

A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings in Nurdagi town on the outskirts of Osmaniye city southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Ottawa says Canada will contribute $10 million to earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria as part of an initial aid package. (Photo by Khalil Hamra, the Canadian Press/Ap)

Heavy urban search-and-rescue team from B.C. ‘self-deploys’ to earthquake region

Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma said B.C. stands ready to help

Charlie Cragg and Troy Pearson lost their lives in the sinking of the tug boat Ingenika on Feb. 11, 2021. Wainwright Marine Service Ltd. and James Geoffery Bates have been jointly charged with eight counts in the Prince Rupert Court on Jan. 6, 2023. (Photo: supplied)

Tug company, senior official charged in fatal 2021 sinking off northwest B.C. coast

The Ingenika sank near Kitimat, killing Troy Pearson and Charlie Cragg

Trending Video
This photo made available by NASA shows the planet Jupiter, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, on June 27, 2019. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, scientists said they have discovered 12 new moons around the gas giant, putting the total count at a record-breaking 92. That's more than any other planet in our solar system. (NASA, ESA, A. Simon/Goddard Space Flight Center, M.H. Wong/University of California, Berkeley via AP)
Jupiter’s moon count jumps to 92, most in solar system
(Black Press Media Creative)
Google is getting its ChatGPT competitor ready for prime time.
(Black Press Media Creative)
Choosing safe Valentine’s flowers, plants for pet parents
FILE - Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne poses with a model wearing a white dress with a metallic headpiece after presenting his 1992/93 fall-winter haute couture collection in Paris, France, on July 29, 1992. The Spanish-born pace-setting designer known for perfumes sold worldwide and his metallic, space-age fashions, has died, the group that owns his fashion house announced on its website Friday Feb.3, 2023. He was 88. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)
Lauded rebel fashion designer Paco Rabanne dies at age 88
More Trending Videos 
A man sits in front of a destroyed building, in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. With hope of finding survivors fading, stretched rescue teams in Turkey and Syria searched Wednesday for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by the world’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Canadian assessment team deployed to Turkey as earthquake rescue efforts close

Ottawa will match funds donated to Red Cross relief efforts up to $10-million

A man sits in front of a destroyed building, in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. With hope of finding survivors fading, stretched rescue teams in Turkey and Syria searched Wednesday for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by the world’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Convicted of conspiring to kill his mother and grandmother more than 30 years ago, Darren Gowen – formerly Huenemann – is on day parole, extended six more months in a recent parole board decision. (Parole Board of Canada photo)

B.C. man who planned gruesome murders of mom, grandmother gets extended day parole

Darren Huenemann was 18 when he convinced his classmates to kill his family over inheritance

Convicted of conspiring to kill his mother and grandmother more than 30 years ago, Darren Gowen – formerly Huenemann – is on day parole, extended six more months in a recent parole board decision. (Parole Board of Canada photo)
The province has fined Teck Coal over $16 million for water quality permit violations at three coal mining operations in the Elk Valley. B.C. Government handout.

Teck Coal fined $16M for water quality permit violations in Elk Valley

B.C.’s environmental enforcement branch has fined Teck Coal over $16 million for…

The province has fined Teck Coal over $16 million for water quality permit violations at three coal mining operations in the Elk Valley. B.C. Government handout.
Video
Parents and their children are loaded onto a warming bus as they wait for news after a bus crashed into a daycare centre in Laval, Que., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Two children dead after city bus driven into Quebec daycare, driver charged
A man searches for people in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful quake has knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
VIDEO: Race to find survivors as quake aid pours into Turkey, Syria
B.C.’s Lt. Governor Janet Austin at the B.C. Legislature ahead of the annual Throne Speech on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (Wolfgang Depner/Black Press Media)
B.C. government to make heavy use of spending surplus: Throne Speech
(Black Press Media Creative)
Hawaii whale dies with fishing nets, plastic bags in stomach
More Videos 
The many pressures on B.C.’s forests and the rural and northern communities that directly depend on them are coming to a head this spring, with sawmill, pellet and pulp closures set to affect hundreds of workers in different corners of the province. Logs are seen in an aerial view stacked at the Interfor sawmill, in Grand Forks, B.C., on May 12, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Mill closures threaten to punch holes in the fabric of rural B.C. towns

Sawmill, pellet and pulp closures are affecting hundreds of workers

The many pressures on B.C.’s forests and the rural and northern communities that directly depend on them are coming to a head this spring, with sawmill, pellet and pulp closures set to affect hundreds of workers in different corners of the province. Logs are seen in an aerial view stacked at the Interfor sawmill, in Grand Forks, B.C., on May 12, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings in a city in southern Turkey, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. White Rock deputy fire Chief Norm MacLeod has joined efforts to assist in the devastated country, as part of a Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue team. (Photo by Khalil Hamra, the Canadian Press/Ap)

White Rock deputy fire chief joins disaster-aid efforts in Turkey

Norm MacLeod part of Burnaby Urban Search & Rescue team that flew out Feb. 7

A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings in a city in southern Turkey, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. White Rock deputy fire Chief Norm MacLeod has joined efforts to assist in the devastated country, as part of a Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue team. (Photo by Khalil Hamra, the Canadian Press/Ap)
Killer whales are shown in Chatham Sound near Prince Rupert, B.C., Friday, June, 22, 2018. The endangered southern resident killer whale population suffered more loss with one of the orcas possibly dying of cancer, says an expert. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward

B.C. orca mothers pay a higher price for birthing sons than daughters: study

Having a male orca can cut a mother’s future childbearing success in half, researchers found

Killer whales are shown in Chatham Sound near Prince Rupert, B.C., Friday, June, 22, 2018. The endangered southern resident killer whale population suffered more loss with one of the orcas possibly dying of cancer, says an expert. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward
Parents and their children are loaded onto a warming bus as they wait for news after a bus crashed into a daycare centre in Laval, Que., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Two children dead after city bus driven into Quebec daycare, driver charged

Driver has been arrested and faces charges of homicide and dangerous driving

Parents and their children are loaded onto a warming bus as they wait for news after a bus crashed into a daycare centre in Laval, Que., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period, Tuesday, February 7, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Pierre Poilievre pledges to honour Trudeau’s health-care funding offer to premiers

Trudeau proposed increasing health-care transfers by $17 billion above previous commitments

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period, Tuesday, February 7, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The provincial government forecasts more than one million jobs to open up with the next decade. (Joshua Fischlin/The Free Press)

B.C. needs to fill more than 1 million jobs within 10 years: report

Latest B.C. Labour Market Outlook says immigration needed as retirements, economy will fuel demand

The provincial government forecasts more than one million jobs to open up with the next decade. (Joshua Fischlin/The Free Press)
Heavy equipment at work at Coastal GasLink pipeline crossing at the Lho Kwa (Clore River) in northwestern B.C. (David Suzuki Foundation photo)

Feds quietly backed off while Coastal GasLink pipeline work killed fish in B.C.

Fisheries officers cited safety concerns, but critics say none existed

  • Feb 8, 2023
Heavy equipment at work at Coastal GasLink pipeline crossing at the Lho Kwa (Clore River) in northwestern B.C. (David Suzuki Foundation photo)
Bernie Pauly, a professor in the UVic School of Nursing and a scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said decriminalization of certain amounts of drugs for personal use can improve access to harm reduction and other services without fear of criminalization for personal possession. But other aspects still need to be worked out. (Photo courtesy University of Victoria)

As drug decriminalization rolls out, expert largely praises what B.C. is trying to do

But University of Victoria professor Bernie Pauly also points to still-unresolved issues

Bernie Pauly, a professor in the UVic School of Nursing and a scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said decriminalization of certain amounts of drugs for personal use can improve access to harm reduction and other services without fear of criminalization for personal possession. But other aspects still need to be worked out. (Photo courtesy University of Victoria)
Victoria seniors are struggling to afford food due to rising costs. (Pexels photo)

B.C. seniors – and parents – skipping meals as ‘sticker shock’ from food inflation hits

Greater Victoria residents open up about financial struggles and their sacrifices

Victoria seniors are struggling to afford food due to rising costs. (Pexels photo)
Protesters and advocates brought painted rocks in memory of friends and family they have lost to eating disorders. (Hollie Ferguson/News Staff)

VIDEO: ‘Huge gaps’ in care for adults with eating disorders says protest at B.C. capital

Protesters at the B.C. Legislature called for better care for adults with eating disorders

Protesters and advocates brought painted rocks in memory of friends and family they have lost to eating disorders. (Hollie Ferguson/News Staff)
Canfor President and Chief Executive Don Kayne said the lack of fibre supply led to the closure of its sawmill and pallet plant in Chetwynd, whose mayor says that the community will have to digest the closure for a while. But Allen Courtoreille also tried to strike a positive note. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Mayor says mill closure is ‘devastating’ for small community of Chetwynd, B.C.

Canfor’s closure eliminates 120 jobs in a community of 2,500

Canfor President and Chief Executive Don Kayne said the lack of fibre supply led to the closure of its sawmill and pallet plant in Chetwynd, whose mayor says that the community will have to digest the closure for a while. But Allen Courtoreille also tried to strike a positive note. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Rowena Rizzotti. (Submitted photo)

Surrey’s $312M Legion Veterans Village first of its kind in Canada

‘We just made what people thought would be impossible, possible,’ says project lead Rowena Rizzotti

Rowena Rizzotti. (Submitted photo)
Hinatinyis Coté and Larry Johnson drum and sing with Donna Samuel at Spirit Square, Harbour Quay prior to the opening ceremonies for the Orange Shirt Day walk on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, Sept. 30, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News) Hinatinyis Coté and Larry Johnson drum and sing with Donna Samuel at Spirit Square, Harbour Quay prior to the opening ceremonies for the Orange Shirt Day walk on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, Sept. 30, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

How Truth and Reconciliation Day is marked across Canada

B.C. would become the 6th province or territory to designate Sept. 30 as a holiday.

Hinatinyis Coté and Larry Johnson drum and sing with Donna Samuel at Spirit Square, Harbour Quay prior to the opening ceremonies for the Orange Shirt Day walk on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, Sept. 30, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News) Hinatinyis Coté and Larry Johnson drum and sing with Donna Samuel at Spirit Square, Harbour Quay prior to the opening ceremonies for the Orange Shirt Day walk on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, Sept. 30, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings in Nurdagi town on the outskirts of Osmaniye city southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Ottawa says Canada will contribute $10 million to earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria as part of an initial aid package. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Khalil Hamra

‘It was a chaotic situation’: Canadian stuck in Turkey recounts earthquake

Zein Almoghraby ran outside his hotel room in southeast Turkey when the…

A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings in Nurdagi town on the outskirts of Osmaniye city southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Ottawa says Canada will contribute $10 million to earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria as part of an initial aid package. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Khalil Hamra