Vancouver Rundown

I carry a sorrow - that’s what the father of the Tumbler Ridge shooter is saying following the mass shooting in the north eastern B.C. community. Justin Van Rootselaar says “words feel far too small for the sorrow we carry together.” He’s offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. Nine people, including shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar died in the shootings at his family ho...

Hundreds of people have attended a Wednesday evening candlelight vigil in Tumbler Ridge - the north eastern B.C. community rocked by a mass shooting Tuesday afternoon. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar’s victim’s include the shooter’s mother and stepbrother - killed at home - and five students and an educator who were shot dead at Tumbler Ridge Secondary. Van Rootselaar later died by suicide....

At least ten people, including a suspect, are dead after a mass shooting in the north eastern B.C. community of Tumbler Ridge. More than two dozen others are injured - some seriously. RCMP say six people were found dead inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School while another died enroute to hospital. It’s believed the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. That part of the mass shooting happe...

The B.C. Greens are ending their co-operation agreement with the Eby NDP government. Green Leader Emily Lowen says the move comes after the New Democrats failed to follow through on two thirds of their promises made during the Co-operation and Responsible Government Accord (CARGA). This leave the NDP vulnerable as it governs with a single seat majority. It’s also sparked a new round of speculation...

Fewer and fewer drivers are crossing the border into Washington state from Lower Mainland crossings. According to the Whatcom Council of Governments, January had a 32 per cent drop in southbound trips over the same month last year at the Peace Arch, Pacific Highway, Lynden and Huntingdon-Sumas crossings. Close to half of the 60 Bellingham area businesses surveyed report losses due to a decline in...

The debt riddled B.C. government is getting ready to offer early retirement incentives to public servants. The BC Public Service Agency says each ministry is looking to find efficiencies which could require restructuring or consolidation. The review comes as the province struggles to control its $11.2B deficit. A hiring freeze remains in place in certain areas of government.

Former anti-gang cop Paul Dadwal will lead B.C.’s community panel on extortions. The move comes following the provincial government’s promise to crack down on South Asian extortion violence in Surrey and other communities. Dadwal is recently retired from the RCMP and now works as a private security consultant. He was a key figure in the Surrey Six investigation and trial.

A teen is recovering from serious injuries after being stabbed following a Vancouver high school basketball game. Vancouver Police say a boy was stabbed in the arm after an overtime playoff game against Killarney Secondary, hosted by Eric Hamber Secondary. Police are reviewing video. No arrests have been made.

Two junior hockey players from B.C. are among those killed in a triple fatal highway crash in Alberta. The Southern Alberta Mustangs have lost three teen players including Kamloops 18-year-olds J.J. Wright and Cameron Casorso. Caden Fine, a 17-year-old American born player, was also killed when a car and semi collided on Highway 2, 125 km south of Calgary, late Monday morning. They were enroute to...

Thousands of people marched through downtown Vancouver Sunday in support of Iranian protestors. Police say close to 15,000 people gathered around the Vancouver Art Galley - their main demand is an end to Iran’s current Islamic regime. This latest rally comes as people across Canada and around the world show support for those in Iran, many of whom are being persecuted for showing opposition to the...

B.C. Premier David Eby says Albertan separatists who went to Washington D.C. are ‘engaging in treason.’ That statement is being blasted by many politicians including Alberta Premier Daniel Smith who says she won’t demonize the nearly one million people in her province who are open to separation. Eby is backing up his treason remark saying the group is going to a foreign country to ask for help in...

Much of the B.C. South Coast is under a rainfall warning as a warm, wet front hits the province. Yellow alerts are posted and areas including Vancouver, the North Shore, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Maple Ridge. They could be hit by 120mm of rain by Friday. High winds are also expected with gusts of up to 90 km/h possible. The warning comes at the end of a month that was far dryer and warmer than usual.

BC Green Party Leader Emily Lowan is among those calling for a boycott of Save-On-Foods and other Pattison companies over a possible U.S. real estate deal with ICE. Word of a boycott is spreading on social media after stories surfaced on the weekend reporting a Pattison-owned real estate company may sell a warehouse in Virginia to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE says it hopes to use that...

The basement of a home in Kitsilano has exploded. Vancouver Fire Rescue was called to reports of a building collapse at Macdonald Street and West 6 Avenue just before 6:00 Monday evening - what they found was a fire started by an explosion in the basement of a house. Two people are displaced but there’s no indication of any injuries. The suspected cause is not being reported.

Slow, expensive and not sustainable - those are some of the words being used to describe the workarounds with the ongoing closure of the only bridge linking Westham Island to the rest of Delta and the Lower Mainland. TransLink, which owns the bridge, says damage from a barge strike last week is worse than earlier thought. There is still no word on when the bridge will re-open. Meantime, farmers co...

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is calling on the federal government to appoint an ‘extortion czar’ do deal with her city’s rapid increase in shootings. She says there’s a need for a full-scale national initiative to stop the violence. The call comes as Surrey and other communities continue to deal with an escalation in extortion cases aimed at the South Asian business community and linked to organized...

An RCMP remark saying the extortion related violence in Surrey is ‘not a crisis’ has come under fire by Premier David Eby and city leaders. Eby, Mayor Brenda Locke and Councillor Mandeep Nagra are expressing concern after Assistant Commissioner John Brewer denied the issue is a crisis and said those suggestions undermine public confidence amid escalating gun violence. Eby says Brewer might not be...

Premier David Eby says B.C. will revise its Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act - or DRIPA - to reduce the power of the courts. Eby has told those attending a Tuesday evening conference in Prince George recent court decisions have caused confusion over the act. He says reconciliation is the business of government to government negotiations and not for the courts to take over. The N...

Vancouver International has experienced numerous delays and some cancellations due to the heavy fog that’s blanketed the Lower Mainland. Travelers are being advised to check their flights - both arrivals and departures have been impacted. Periods of fog are expected through Wednesday.

Expect more dense fog around the Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island - a fog advisory remains in place for Monday and Tuesday. A high pressure system is holding moisture near the ground, a continued problem for many drivers in areas like Delta, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Richmond. Weather conditions are expected to change by Wednesday.

A Maple Ridge city councillor is charged with four counts of sexual assault. A special prosecutor has laid the counts against Ahmed Yousef who was first elected to council in 2018. Yousef was forced to step down in May after being charged with other offences including assault and firearms counts. In recent months, Yousef has been active on social media promoting men’s rights in areas of family law...

B.C. is ending its public drug use pilot project which allowed users to consume small amounts of hard drugs without the fear of arrest. Health Minister Josie Osborne admits it’s clear the project wasn’t working. The provincial government introduced the approach, three years ago, as a way to reduce the stigma while encouraging drug users to get treatment. Critics have complained about an increase i...

A man has been found shot dead on a rural property in South Surrey. Surrey Police say they were called to the property on 176 Street near 36 Avenue during the noon hour on Tuesday. A burned vehicle was later discovered a few blocks away. There are no obvious links between this shooting and other recent violence in the area.

It’s Science World meets the Vancouver Aquarium - that’s how some people are describing a newly announced 49M revamp of North Vancouver’s Capilano River Hatchery. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is rebuilding the facility, originally built in 1971. The new hatchery will be brought to seismic standards while continuing to serve as the flagship of the Pacific salmon enhancement program. The h...

An evacuation alert has been issued by the Fraser Valley Regional District for parts of the Chilliwack River Valley. People have been told to by ready to leave the area due to concerns over possible flooding. The alert comes as much of the B.C. Lower Mainland and South Coast remain under a heavy rainfall warning - a yellow alert. Up to 150 mm of rain is expected in some areas by Monday night as th...