Jane Skrypnek

In a report released April 23, 2024, the BC Ombudsperson found B.C. is failing to take action to improve conditions for youth in custody who are placed in separate confinement. (Pixabay)

B.C.’s failure to address isolation of jailed youth an ‘embarrassment’: report

Ombudsperson says B.C. has implemented just 3 of 26 recommendations made in 2021

In a report released April 23, 2024, the BC Ombudsperson found B.C. is failing to take action to improve conditions for youth in custody who are placed in separate confinement. (Pixabay)
The Fraser Regional Correctional Centre is one of four Lower Mainland prisons where former jail guard Roderic David MacDougall is accused of sexually assaulting inmates between 1976 to 1997. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. jail guard accused of 200 sex assaults in class-action against province

Proposed lawsuit says B.C. failed to do anything about the assaults while they occurred for 2 decades

The Fraser Regional Correctional Centre is one of four Lower Mainland prisons where former jail guard Roderic David MacDougall is accused of sexually assaulting inmates between 1976 to 1997. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Premier David Eby, Haida Nation Council President Gaagwiis (Jason Alsop), Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin and Haida Nation Council Vice-President Stephen Grosse (not pictured) signed the “Gaayhllxid/Gíihlagalgang ‘Rising Tide’ Haida Title Lands Agreement” in Haida Gwaii on April 14, 2024. (Government of B.C./YouTube)

B.C. signs agreement recognizing Haida Nation’s title over Haida Gwaii

First-of-its-kind agreement affirms Nation’s right over region, but not power over private land

Premier David Eby, Haida Nation Council President Gaagwiis (Jason Alsop), Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin and Haida Nation Council Vice-President Stephen Grosse (not pictured) signed the “Gaayhllxid/Gíihlagalgang ‘Rising Tide’ Haida Title Lands Agreement” in Haida Gwaii on April 14, 2024. (Government of B.C./YouTube)
Designer and Emily Carr professor Christian Blyt (left) and design students Saanvi Bhat (centre) and Tai Vo (right) test out a final prototype interactive object for children living with trauma, created by Saanvi and Tai with classmate Joey Kim. Their design allows kids to piece together six pentagons in different formations and then place colourful blocks in holes drilled into the base. (Perrin Grauer/Emily Carr University)

B.C. design students invent objects for kids living with trauma in Sudan

Creations to make their way from Emily Carr classroom to South Sudan refugee camp

Designer and Emily Carr professor Christian Blyt (left) and design students Saanvi Bhat (centre) and Tai Vo (right) test out a final prototype interactive object for children living with trauma, created by Saanvi and Tai with classmate Joey Kim. Their design allows kids to piece together six pentagons in different formations and then place colourful blocks in holes drilled into the base. (Perrin Grauer/Emily Carr University)
A doctor examines a patient with a stethoscope in her doctor’s office in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 28, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Thomas Kienzle

B.C. hopes to match 300,000 people with doctors using new online platform

Province launching online system April 17 to allow easier connection between patients and providers

A doctor examines a patient with a stethoscope in her doctor’s office in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 28, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Thomas Kienzle
A sign of an orange shirt is attached to a fence during a Truth and Reconciliation walk in Saskatoon, Sask., on Friday, September 30, 2022. In B.C., residential school survivors and their family members will no longer have mental health care covered as of April 15, 2024, unless they have official First Nations status. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

Free counselling cut for non-status residential school survivors in B.C.

Health authority says mental health care only offered to those with First Nations status going forward

A sign of an orange shirt is attached to a fence during a Truth and Reconciliation walk in Saskatoon, Sask., on Friday, September 30, 2022. In B.C., residential school survivors and their family members will no longer have mental health care covered as of April 15, 2024, unless they have official First Nations status. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu
A transportation truck struck the George Massey Tunnel overpass along Highway 99 on March 26, 2024. The Ministry of Transportation says it is investigating. (Skilled Truckers of Canada/Facebook)

B.C. investigating 2 Metro Vancouver overpass strikes in 2 days

Stanley Park pedestrian overpass hit on Monday, George Massey Tunnel struck on Tuesday

A transportation truck struck the George Massey Tunnel overpass along Highway 99 on March 26, 2024. The Ministry of Transportation says it is investigating. (Skilled Truckers of Canada/Facebook)
A LifeGuard Lite device is seen mounted on a wall. The instrument is intended to help prevent fatal overdoses in supportive housing sites by notifying staff and 911 dispatchers if a resident doesn’t indicate that they are okay within one minute of ingesting a drug. The company behind the device, LifeGuard Digital Health, says it saved 29 lives in B.C. between April 2023 and March 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of LifeGuard Digital Health)

Overdose prevention device saved 29 lives in B.C. in last year, maker says

LifeguardLite allows supportive housing residents to notify staff and 911 if drug ingestion goes wrong

A LifeGuard Lite device is seen mounted on a wall. The instrument is intended to help prevent fatal overdoses in supportive housing sites by notifying staff and 911 dispatchers if a resident doesn’t indicate that they are okay within one minute of ingesting a drug. The company behind the device, LifeGuard Digital Health, says it saved 29 lives in B.C. between April 2023 and March 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of LifeGuard Digital Health)
A Taser 7 is demonstrated on Thursday, May 12, 2022, in Washington. B.C. announced on March 25, 2024 that it has approved the Taser 7 for all police agencies. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

B.C. approves use of new Taser for all police agencies

Taser 7 model allows for second shot without reload, shorter distance shooting option

A Taser 7 is demonstrated on Thursday, May 12, 2022, in Washington. B.C. announced on March 25, 2024 that it has approved the Taser 7 for all police agencies. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Community members tried to save a beached mother orca near the village of Zeballos on Vancouver Island on Saturday, March 24, 2024. (Screenshot/Tracy Smith/Facebook)

Mother orca dies after becoming beached on northern Vancouver Island

Community members attempted to save the whale, but couldn’t get her back in the water in time

Community members tried to save a beached mother orca near the village of Zeballos on Vancouver Island on Saturday, March 24, 2024. (Screenshot/Tracy Smith/Facebook)
Carson Binda, the B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, stood outside Premier David Eby’s constituency office in Vancouver on March 21, 2024, demanding that he oppose the upcoming carbon tax hike. (Jane Skrypnek/Black Press Media)

Carbon tax talk heating up in B.C. as April 1 hike nears

Taxpayers group and federal Conservative leader urging premier to oppose increase

Carson Binda, the B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, stood outside Premier David Eby’s constituency office in Vancouver on March 21, 2024, demanding that he oppose the upcoming carbon tax hike. (Jane Skrypnek/Black Press Media)
Any open burn larger than a half-metre high by a half-metre wide will be banned in the Prince George Fire Centre beginning on March 28, 2024. The prohibition is set to remain in effect until Oct. 15, 2024. (Pixabay)

Burn bans coming into effect for northeastern B.C. as wildfire season nears

All open burning, except for campfires, to be banned in Prince George Fire Centre starting March 28

Any open burn larger than a half-metre high by a half-metre wide will be banned in the Prince George Fire Centre beginning on March 28, 2024. The prohibition is set to remain in effect until Oct. 15, 2024. (Pixabay)
Tommy Picco died at age 36 on Oct. 12, 2020 from a toxic drug overdose. He donated organs to four people after passing, including Lindsay Ma who received his heart. (Photos courtesy of Debbie Picco)

‘His presence remains’: Toxic drug crisis feeds bittersweet spike in organ donors

Thirty-eight per cent of deceased organ donors were victims of the toxic drug crisis in 2023

Tommy Picco died at age 36 on Oct. 12, 2020 from a toxic drug overdose. He donated organs to four people after passing, including Lindsay Ma who received his heart. (Photos courtesy of Debbie Picco)
The majority of British Columbians in a March 2024 Research Co. poll say they’re spending more on groceries now than in 2020. In this file photo, a customer shops in a grocery store in Wheeling, Ill., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Half of British Columbians finding it hard to ‘make ends meet,’ poll finds

Housing, groceries and transportation some of the spending areas residents are most concerned about

The majority of British Columbians in a March 2024 Research Co. poll say they’re spending more on groceries now than in 2020. In this file photo, a customer shops in a grocery store in Wheeling, Ill., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A screenshot taken from November 2023 whistleblower footage at Northern Divine Aquafarms in Sechelt shows a worker using a kind of straw to suck caviar out of a fish. (Photo courtesy of Animal Justice)

Whistleblower video raises concerns about fish welfare at B.C. caviar farm

No violations found during site visit, but BC SPCA and DFO reviewing hundreds of hours of footage

A screenshot taken from November 2023 whistleblower footage at Northern Divine Aquafarms in Sechelt shows a worker using a kind of straw to suck caviar out of a fish. (Photo courtesy of Animal Justice)
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside steps away from the podium after speaking during a news conference in Vancouver, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. On March 12, 2024, she announced fresh funding to better support existing mental-health and addictions recovery and treatment beds. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Fresh funds to increase support for B.C.’s recovery and treatment beds

Money to allow existing sites to hire more staff, keep up with increasing costs, province says

B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside steps away from the podium after speaking during a news conference in Vancouver, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. On March 12, 2024, she announced fresh funding to better support existing mental-health and addictions recovery and treatment beds. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Medical tools are pictured in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary on Friday, July 14, 2023. B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced on March 10, 2024 that the province is expanding access to a blood cancer treatment. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Access to new blood cancer treatment expanded in B.C.

CAR-T therapy previously only available through clinical trial, now offered in several hospitals

Medical tools are pictured in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary on Friday, July 14, 2023. B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced on March 10, 2024 that the province is expanding access to a blood cancer treatment. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
A black bear mother and her two cubs were sighted at Boer Mountain in Burns Lake on Sept. 23, 2023. A BC Greens MLA and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs are calling on the province to legislate protections for bear dens. (Saddman Zaman/Black Press Media)

BC Greens MLA tables bill to protect bear dens from logging for 3rd time

UVic report finds old growth logging decimating critical hibernation options for B.C.’s black bears

A black bear mother and her two cubs were sighted at Boer Mountain in Burns Lake on Sept. 23, 2023. A BC Greens MLA and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs are calling on the province to legislate protections for bear dens. (Saddman Zaman/Black Press Media)
A screenshot from a live-streamed video on Kick shows a B.C. teen driving a car into the Burrard Inlet on Monday night (March 4). (@AdinRossEmpire/X)

B.C. teen live-streamed driving car into ocean on apparent paid dare: police

Port Moody Police considering charges of mischief and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle

A screenshot from a live-streamed video on Kick shows a B.C. teen driving a car into the Burrard Inlet on Monday night (March 4). (@AdinRossEmpire/X)
A measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is shown on a countertop at a pediatric clinic in Greenbrae, Calif. on Feb. 6, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Eric Risberg

1st case of measles reported in B.C. over weekend: BCCDC

Instance marks first instance of virus in the province since 2019, disease control centre says

A measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is shown on a countertop at a pediatric clinic in Greenbrae, Calif. on Feb. 6, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Eric Risberg