British Columbia

Nineteen people this year have been forced to transfer out of Providence Health Care facilities to access medical assistance in dying (MAID), a scenario advocates say proves the attempted fix by the province isn't good enough.

Nine of those patients were transferred out of Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital, four from Mount Saint Joseph Hospital, four from May's Place Hospice and two from St. John Hospice.

Those figures were provided by Providence Health to CBC News Tuesday.

The Catholic health-care provider that oversees St. Paul's Hospital is being sued by the family of a Vancouver woman over its policy banning MAID in its facilities. If a patient requests MAID, they must be transferred to a different health facility, typically run by Vancouver Coastal Health.

Influencers with the extremist racist group Diagolon spend hours making livestreams, trying to spread their message of hatred against immigrants and minorities through the online world on sites like Rumble and X.

Some prominent members have become fixated on hatred of South Asian people, celebrating violent videos showing people in India being hit by trains and complaining about the number of South Asian members of Parliament.

Now they’re planning a real-life foray, including stops in Vancouver and Kamloops, part of a venture they’ve named the “road rage terror tour” according to an ad on X.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says it will be filing a complaint with the Vancouver Police Department over its officers' treatment and arrest of pro-Palestinian demonstrators last month.

Around 100 of those demonstrators gathered at a section of railway lines in East Vancouver on May 31 to lay 303 sets of children's clothing on the tracks. The group says it was holding vigil for the thousands of Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its retaliation to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

The Vancouver Police Department says it moved in to clear the group that afternoon because they had been obstructing the Canadian National Railway lines for several hours. Video posted to social media from scene shows how chaos soon broke out between the two groups, with officers taking numerous people to the ground to handcuff them.

In the end, police arrested 14 people for mischief and obstruction.

VPD Media Relations Officer Tania Visintin told Black Press Media they gave the demonstrators ample time to leave and that "no force would have been required had the protesters just complied." She said the demonstrators were "pushing and shoving" and that their "hostile dynamics " dictated the level of force used by police.

The demonstrators, on the other hand, say the officers were unnecessarily violent and that community members were punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed, choked and strangled. The group says dozens of them left with injuries, including a pregnant woman.

“While all we did was stand, officers did not use any de-escalation," community member Sukhi Gill recalled at a press conference outside the VPD headquarters on Tuesday (June 18).

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024MOTI0028-000940

Police say they have identified a suspect in a recent violent assault of a sex worker in the Downtown Eastside.

After midnight on June 10, a man picked up a woman near East Hastings Street and Campbell Avenue before assaulting her with a weapon, according to a news release from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). Police say he later pushed her out of the car — an older-model, dark-coloured sedan — near Oppenheimer Park, and she's currently recovering from her injuries.

The VPD said Friday that they had located the man the night before and seized his vehicle. Police previously described the suspect as white, 40 to 50 years old, 300 pounds, with a receding hairline. They say he was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants.

The VPD didn't name the suspect, as charges have not been laid.

Police say the investigation is continuing and are encouraging sex workers in the area to remain vigilant.

Weather alerts are in place for the Coquihalla, Trans Canada Highway, the Okanagan Connector and Highway 3 today, June 16.

All four highways are expected to see up to two centimetres of snowfall.

Environment Canada states a cool air mass is sitting over the interior and snow is expected to fall through to Monday morning (June 17).

Drivers are urged to use caution as weather in the mountains can change suddenly.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have launched a new website devoted to men's mental health, with the hope that it helps guys to connect with each other and build out support networks.

John Oliffe, a registered nurse and the founder and lead of UBC’s Men’s Health Research program, has been exploring the unique barriers men face in accessing mental health supports since 2005. At the beginning of his research, Oliffe says he was mostly interested in the clinical side of things.

Why, he asked, are men four times more likely to die by suicide than women when they are diagnosed with depression at about half the rate?

Part of the answer, Oliffe found, lies in how depression is screened for. He said it is common for men who are going through a difficult time to be more irritable, angry or impulsive and to lean on drinking and substance use. These aren't symptoms clinicians typically check for though, Oliffe said, so many men go undiagnosed and untreated.

Creating change on that front is important, but more recently Oliffe has refocused some of his attention towards implementing more preventative measures. The launch of his program's website, InGoodCompany, is an effort to get men talking about mental health with their friends and make sure they have supports in place before they reach a crisis point.

Several vineyards are reporting some new growth on badly frost damaged vines. The question vintners and winemakers are asking themselves is, do they nurture the new growth and replant around the vines that have survived, or do completely replant the vineyards.

New research offers a clearer picture of a fault line hundreds of kilometres long off the West Coast that is predicted to generate a major earthquake and tsunami commonly known as "The Big One."

The study confirms that the northern part of the fault, close to Vancouver Island and Washington, is most likely to produce a major earthquake.

The Ministry of Environment says in a statement that the addition to the Klinse-za Park will make it the largest provincial park established in the province in a decade.

The park addition is the result of a partnership in 2020 between the province and the Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations, where they agreed to help stabilize and protect the threatened southern mountain caribou.

Klinse-za Park is located just west of Chetwynd, B.C., almost 1,100 kilometres north of Vancouver.

B.C. Premier David Eby says app-based companies employing ride-hail and food-delivery workers can "suck it up" as new, first-in-Canada rules come into effect this fall.

The provincial government Wednesday announced news regulations protecting gig workers. Starting Sept. 3 companies like Uber and DoorDash will have to pay 120 per cent of the provincial minimum wage to their employees while working — $20.88 per hour. Ride-hail and food-delivery workers will also see their tips protected and they will become eligible for workers compensation benefits as part of other measures designed to create safe working environments.

The broad coordinates of the legislation became public in the fall, but yesterday's announcement prompted another round of concerns from the companies themselves and business leaders at large.

Bridgitte Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, said in a statement that B.C. companies already contend with some of the highest costs and strictest regulatory and tax environments in North America.

"We are concerned that the new regulations will impose additional burdens and reduce flexibility, inevitably leading to even higher costs for transportation and food delivery services," Anderson said. She also fears that companies will hand out fewer assignments to workers to cut their costs.

But Eby does not buy it.

"These companies can suck it up. They will be alright, they will be fine," he said Thursday (June 13 during an unrelated event with Newfoundland Premier Andrew Furey." The companies that employ these ride-hail and food-delivery workers make billions while the workers themselves often live right at the edge, (British Columbians) don't want a scenario where their food is delivered on the backs of someone, who is looking at homelessness and using a food bank to subsidize the delivery charge," he said.

Uber's reply to the new laws.

British Columbia has finalized regulations to provide a minimum-wage and basic protections for ride-hailing and delivery workers using app-based platforms such as Uber, DoorDash and SkipTheDishes.

The Ministry of Labour says in a statement the regulations that will take effect on Sept. 3 are a first in Canada.

It says the changes are the result of years of engagement with various stakeholders, and they address workers’ top concerns, including low and unpredictable pay, tip protection and lack of workers’ compensation.

The new rules set the minimum wage for the time a worker is engaged in a job at $20.88 per hour, 20 per cent higher than B.C.’s general minimum wage.

The province says the rationale for adding the premium is that the minimum wage does not apply to the workers’ time spent waiting between assignments.

The rules will also ensure 100 per cent of customers’ tips go to the worker and establish a 35- to 45-cent minimum per-kilometre vehicle allowance to help workers cover their expenses, as well as coverage through B.C.’s workers’ compensation agency.

The regulations will also require platforms to show workers the locations and estimated pay for a particular job before they accept it, and the companies must provide a reason if a worker is suspended or terminated from their position.

"The Premier gave me the task to get the International Credentials Recognition Act across the finish line, and I'm happy to say we've done it,” said Ravi Parmar, Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials. “For too long, skilled professionals from around the world have come to our province hoping for a better life, only to find roadblocks in their way. But now, with these regulations, we're changing that. It means simpler, fairer rules so these professionals can start working in their fields faster, providing the services our communities need.”
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024PSFS0022-000907

On June 14, Sealand's Pipistrel Velis Electro will take flight for an introductory flight lesson. It will be the first time a person can purchase a commercial flight on an electric aircraft in Canada. The student will be allowed to operate the aircraft under the guidance of the flight instructor.

Sealand Flight is hosting a contest to find a person for the training flight.

Building permits issued B.C. in April 2024 totalled 3.13 billion -- up $1.4 billion from March -- and created a record-high 7,521 residential units — up almost 78 per cent compared to the previous month. Based on these figures, B.C. accounted for almost 28 per cent of all new residential units in the country in April.

Much of the growth happened on the multi-residential side. Of the new residential units created in April 2024, 95 per cent were multi-residential units.

Lawyers for Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum, the founders of a compassion club supplying tested heroin, meth and cocaine to users, say they were shocked prosecutors laid drug trafficking charges against the two while a related case is before the courts.

At Emily Carr University, the User Experience Design Certificate program equips students to tackle the dynamic demands of a fast-developing industry.

DULF — the Drug Users Liberation Front — had applied to Health Canada for an exemption from Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in order to run the compassion club.

The request was denied and DULF is challenging the decision in Federal Court.

“We also were surprised that, given our clients’ life-saving efforts, there would be a public interest in prosecuting such efforts,” said Stephanie Dickson, lawyer for Nyx and Kalicum.

Since 2020, Nyx and Kalicum have held protest events and supplied tested heroin, cocaine and meth to drug users, despite the risk of arrest for breaking Canada’s controlled substances laws.

The pair ordered the drugs from sellers on the dark web, then tested them before distributing them to a small group of people who are addicted and at high risk of death from illicit toxic drugs.

Nyx and Kalicum previously told The Tyee they were driven to start the compassion club after losing friends and neighbours, and after responding to dozens of overdoses.

They said they bought drugs from suppliers on the dark web because there was no legal source for prescription-grade heroin in Canada.

Two people have been hospitalized after a seaplane collided with a boat in Vancouver's Coal Harbour near Stanley Park on Saturday, officials confirmed.

A CBC reporter on the scene, near Canada Place, confirmed that rescue boats were circling a small plane in the water near Brockton Point in Stanley Park.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) said in a statement that a Harbour Air seaplane collided with a pleasure boat in the water around 1 p.m. PT.

"A number of people were on board both the plane and boat," the VPD said. "Several passengers have been treated for injuries and taken to hospital."

The VPD did not confirm exactly how many people were injured, but said more details would come as the investigation progresses.

On Sunday morning, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services assistant chief Jarret Gray confirmed that two people on the boat were hospitalized with their injuries.

Much of the Sumas Prairie was once a shallow, freshwater lake until the B.C. government drained it in the 1920s, converting it into agricultural land for settlers and displacing the Sumas First Nation.

The report says buying back the estimated 1,375 properties on the lakebed is a solution that is projected to cost around $1 billion, less than half of the estimated $2.4 billion cost of repairing dikes and installing a new pump station.