Jan 24 2020 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A woman who has regularly visited China from her home in Delta, B.C., says she would not travel there over concerns about a new coronavirus that is spreading beyond the city that officials have closed to try to contain the mysterious illness. Alice Li said she goes to China every other year but would scrap any travel plans after at least 26 deaths […]
Jan 22 2020 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — Three possible cases of a new type of viral pneumonia have been investigated in Canada and ruled out as coronavirus, the country's chief public health officer said Monday. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, announced plans to hold an emergency meeting to decide whether the illness linked to three deaths in China is an international emergency. Dr. Theresa Tam declined to say […]
Jan 22 2020 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Don Durban holds his palm up to a screen on a tall steel box akin to a vending machine crossed with an ATM that displays his first name and an identification number seconds before dispensing what he calls a life-saving plastic package. Durban, 66, takes out two small hydromorphone pills and leaves a storefront with the heroin substitute he gets […]
Jan 17 2020 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — Canada's chief public health officer says more children are being hospitalized this flu season because of an early spike in a strain of influenza B, which hits young people hard and is circulating across the country while a strain that typically targets the elderly also makes the rounds. Dr. Theresa Tam said influenza B does not usually peak until February or later and the "double dose" of both […]
Jan 14 2020 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A police investigation has been ordered into the arrest of an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter at a Vancouver branch of the Bank of Montreal. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner said it has requested information from the Vancouver Police Department to determine if the actions of officers who made the arrests on Dec. 20 […]
Jan 7 2020 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Sam Sadr's first trip to the United States from his home in North Vancouver was supposed to be a relaxing getaway but he says his birth in Iran made him a target at the border, where he was detained for over eight hours with his family. Sadr, 39, said U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials questioned […]
Dec 18 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — The fate of a man charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a student inside a British Columbia high school now rests with a judge who is being urged by a defence lawyer to find his client guilty of manslaughter. Martin Peters said in closing arguments Wednesday that Gabriel Klein did not […]
Dec 16 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Anger, not a mental disorder, was among the reasons behind a man's actions when he stabbed a student to death with a hunting knife inside a British Columbia high school, a Crown attorney said during closing arguments Monday. Rob Macgowan said evidence presented at trial established beyond a reasonable doubt that Gabriel Klein stabbed Letisha Reimer 14 […]
Dec 5 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — British Columbians will ring in the new year by joining all Canadians in not paying monthly rates for health care. Premiums under the province's Medical Services Plan will be eliminated on Jan. 1, saving individuals up to $900 a year while families will pocket up to $1,800. The change will come two years after premiums were halved and a […]
Nov 26 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Confusion and discord between child welfare authorities in British Columbia and Alberta failed a boy who'd suffered sexual and physical abuse during a chaotic life before his death at age 17 from a fentanyl overdose, the children's watchdog in B.C. says. Jennifer Charlesworth issued a report Tuesday, saying ineffective oversight despite an interprovincial policy involving services for children and youth […]
Nov 26 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Profit for doctors providing surgery in private clinics is at the heart of a trial that threatens to undermine Canada's universal health-care system and its principles of equity and fairness for everyone, regardless of whether some patients' bank accounts allow them to jump the public queue, a federal lawyer says. B.J. Wray, representing the attorney […]
Nov 17 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A framed iconic photo in Dr. Brian Day's office shows Muhammad Ali raising a triumphant gloved hand as he stares down at his opponent splayed on the mat after a first-round boxing knockout less than two minutes into the fight. Day, 72, will step into a courtroom on Monday as final arguments begin […]
Nov 13 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government faces a "difficult balancing act" in dealing with labour strife among public-sector unions representing bus drivers in Metro Vancouver, teachers around the province, support staff on Vancouver Island and faculty members at a university in the north, a labour expert says. Tom Knight, an associate professor specializing in industrial relations and human […]
Nov 1 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — The organizer of a panel discussion on gender and sexuality says the location of the event in Vancouver has been changed over possible security risks because of the views of a featured speaker who drew protests at a Toronto public library this week. Prof. Mark Collard of Simon Fraser University said the senior director of campus security assessed […]
Nov 1 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — Joan Hodgins remembers the "wonderful day" in April 1973 as she hiked up hills and hopped over creeks with half a dozen kids participating in an outdoor program she led near Whitehorse. Along the way, the 22-year-old educator plopped what looked like tiny bits of teeth and pieces of bone into a couple of plastic bags as her students asked why […]