B.C. cops acquitted in Cuba – BC News

Photo: Lotto Max

A Port Coquitlam man is looking forward to a festive Christmas now that he’s $500,000 richer.

Robert Power says he plans to visit family and buy a new vehicle after his big win.

“I couldn’t believe it. When I checked the ticket, I thought I had the wrong date,” said Robert Power.

He matched four out of four Lotto Max Extra numbers to win $500,000 on the Nov. 9 draw.

“It was nerve-wracking – to be honest it’s still sinking in,” he said.
 
Along with a two-week break from work, he’s looking forward to a little car shopping. “I’ve never owned a new vehicle. I want a brand new Ford Explorer.”
 
Power says he’s been buying lottery tickets for years. “It’s my routine,” said Power. “It’s very rare that I miss it. It’s automatic. I buy gas, I get a ticket. I buy groceries, I get a ticket. But when it comes to something like this, the first thing I think about is family.”
 

The Canadian Press –
Nov 15, 2018 / 4:15 pm | Story:
242086

Photo: Twitter

B.C.’s children’s watchdog has released a report calling for comprehensive change after it says two dozen children between the ages of 10 and 18 died of drug overdoses last year.

Jennifer Charlesworth’s report, Time to Listen: Youth Voices on Substance Use, also says substance use by children was prevalent in 154 critical injury reports last year, nearly double what it was in 2016.

The Representative for Children and Youth’s office gathered information from 100 young people in focus groups and reviewed the critical injury reports to come up with its final recommendations.

The report says in almost every focus group, the first reason youth gave for using substances was “to numb” their emotional pain caused by events and trauma in their lives.

It makes five recommendations calling for systemic change to promote better services and greater safety for B.C.’s children, including the development and implementation of harm reduction services that would have youth-specific spaces for supervised consumption.

The report says the issue of substance use can be polarizing and some may not agree with the idea of young people using drugs at a safe consumption site funded by taxpayers.

“However, we must face the reality today that youth with significant substance use issues are overdosing and dying in B.C.,” the report says.

Steps must be taken to keep them safer and to help them build healthy connections in their lives until they are ready for treatment, it says.

“B.C. has lost far too many young people to drug overdoses,” the report says, noting that six of the young people examined in the 154 critical injury reports have died since Jan. 1, 2018.

The timing of the report comes in advance of a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions comprehensive strategy expected to be released next spring.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy said in a news release in response to the report that her ministry has been working with other government ministries to meet the diverse needs of all youth in the province.

“We have heard from youth and families about how difficult it is to access information about available services and to navigate a fragmented and confusing system,” Darcy says.

“We will be looking closely at how young people’s needs are being met by the current continuum of care for substance use, from harm reduction through to treatment and recovery and social supports.”

Photo: CTV

Hundreds of sea lions have taken over Cowichan Bay’s commercial fishing docks.

The sight is attracting a wave of visitors, but the barking of the noisy creatures has the Oceanfront Suites hotel handing out earplugs to guests.

“They’re kind of inconsiderate toward the hotel’s quiet time policy,” spokesman Rob Green joked.

The plus side is the hotel is busier than ever with nature lovers wanting to watch the beasts.

“They’re purely here for the food,” Harbour Manager Mark Mercer told CTV. “Usually about the middle of October, we’ll see a few scouts come in and check out the food supply. They’ll hang out for a while and then shortly after that you’ll see the number increasing every day.”

Up to 400 of the sea lions following the salmon run on the Cowichan and Koksilah rivers sets up residence on the docks each year.

They typically stay for a few weeks until the spawning run is over.

– with files from CTV Vancouver Island

Photo: CTV

The Trans Canada Highway on Vancouver Island has been shut down by a flaming vehicle.

This photo shows what appears to be a smart car engulfed in flames on the Malahat, near the summit.

Eyewitness and social media reports indicate the blaze broke out at 1:20 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Drive BC is reporting that highway will be shut down in both directions. The next estimated time of opening is 3 p.m.

-with files from CTV

Photo: Contributed

Two Vancouver men were arrested for allegedly stealing enough butter to bake enough pastries for a lifetime.

The pair was arrested outside a supermarket in the 1300 block of Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam, just after 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 14 after stealing a shopping cart full of butter worth more than $1,400.

“Stealing a large amount of butter is a little unusual, but we see this sort of thing with similar food products,” said Corp. Michael McLaughlin with Coquitlam RCMP. “Things like cheese, meat, and baby formula can easily be sold on the black market. On the other hand, it’s possible these suspects were choosing the wrong way to get a head start on their Christmas baking.”

The two men, a 23-year-old and a 25-year-old, are facing charges of theft under $5,000.

The 23-year-old is also a suspect in at least three other butter thefts around Metro Vancouver in recent months.

“An employee actually recognized one of these suspects because he had a bit of a reputation as a butter thief,” said McLaughlin. “He was a bit slippery to catch but you know what they say; ‘butter’ late than never.”

The Canadian Press –
Nov 15, 2018 / 1:43 pm | Story:
242065

Photo: CTV

Members of a tiny First Nation in northwest British Columbia are finally returning home after fleeing destructive wildfires last summer.

The emergency operations director for the Tahltan First Nation says when residents go home to Telegraph Creek they will find a changed community.

Feddie Louie says the evacuation order from the enormous Alkali Lake fire imposed in early August will be lifted as of 6 p.m. on Thursday.

She says $12 million has been spent making the community livable again after the 1,180-square-kilometre blaze destroyed 21 homes.

Louie says there is still much cleaning to do, a lot of smoke damage and some homes that were replaced aren’t ready yet for occupation.

She says eight modular units have been brought in as part of a new subdivision, and the rest of the homes will be completed by Dec. 20.

“The community was burned through. It wasn’t burned around, it was burned through. We lost 21 homes in that community and the homes that weren’t burned were heavily smoke-damaged,” she says.

“No one’s going home to anything that was the same before the fire.”

The Canadian Press –
Nov 15, 2018 / 12:57 pm | Story:
242061

Photo: Contributed

The federal government is adding to marine traffic monitoring with more radar coverage along the British Columbia coast in order to improve safety for ships travelling through narrow and challenging waterways.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says six new radar installations will fill in existing gaps in coverage for busy and risky stretches of water from the northern end of Georgia Strait to Queen Charlotte Strait and in the waters off Prince Rupert.

Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced the new installations Thursday at the Canadian Coast Guard station in Richmond.

A government news release says the expanded radar coverage is part of the $1.5-billion Oceans Protection Plan designed to improve marine safety and safeguard Canada’s marine environment and coastal communities.

One new radar is one slated for Seaforth Channel on the central coast where a grounded tug leaked more than 110,000 litres of diesel and other lubricants in October 2016, fouling shellfish beds near the community of Bella Bella.

Wilkinson says the six new stations will add to the reliable and accurate information about vessel movement along the B.C. coast.

“This information will increase marine safety and reduce the risk of marine emergencies. This is another example of how we are partnering with Indigenous and coastal communities in B.C. to make our waters and coasts safer, cleaner and healthier,” Wilkinson says the in the release.

The new radar stations will be located within the traditional territories of a number of First Nations and the federal government says it has their support for the upgrades.

Photo: John Goudie

The Green Lake Road wildfire burning on the westside of Okanagan Falls in 2018.

Provincial funding has been announced to support communities recovering from the 2018 wildfire season.

An additions $10 million was announced on Wednesday.

Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and the Solicitor General said even though the wildfires are now out, British Columbians can rest badured that government support will be sustained.

“Our province is facing a long-term and complicated recovery process for the second year in a row, and the effects to communities and local economies that were impacted by the 2018 wildfire season have been significant,” he said.

The funds will go a long way to helping wildfire victims get back on their feet, said Farnworth.

For a second straight year, the 2018 wildfire season went down as the worst on record in B.C.

Funds will be distributed through an agreement with the Canadian Red Cross and the new funding is in addition to the $3.1 million raised through the public and donations.

Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness Jennifer Rice said many parts of the province were heavily impacted and need support as they rebuild.

“Our government has been working diligently to ensure the immediate critical needs in impacted communities have been met and this additional funding can now help wildfire victims through the next stage of their recovery,” said Rice.

Along with the announcement, Red Cross will providing additional support to badist with longer term needs.

Funds will be used to carry out relief, recover and resiliency efforts.

These included things such as debris removal on private land and repairs from wildfires, refrigerator and freezer disposal, alternative heating source supplies, travel expenses and project equipment, and health and wellness supports.

Assistance will be determined on a case-by-case basis and will not duplicate badistance provided through insurance, government or other agency programs.

Photo: Facebook

The company providing new bus service to the southern half of the province and Lower Mainland is making some tweaks to its scheduling.

Ebus began operating two weeks ago, replacing a number of routes offered by Greyhound before they ceased service in Western Canada.

In a news release, Ebus says it is making adjustments to all its routes based on feedback from customers.

Ebus says scheduled stops will continue in Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops, Abbotsford, Surrey and Vancouver.  Buses will only stop in Merritt, Hope and Chilliwack if there is an advanced reservation booked.

They will no longer stop in Richmond, however.

The company says it is also working with the cities of Kelowna and West Kelowna to provide additional stops.

Click here for more information on routes and fares.

Photo: Fraser Institute

Older, safer drivers are paying hundreds more in ICBC premiums to subsidize younger, riskier drivers, a new study reveals.

Drivers in B.C. pay higher auto insurance rates in part because ICBC doesn’t fully account for age and uses driver premiums to pay for non-insurance costs, the Fraser Institute study finds.

In August, the province announced changes to lower insurance for good drivers by up to $100 and raise costs for drivers with poor records.

“The government’s recent changes are welcome, but they don’t go far enough to fix our fundamentally flawed system that punishes safer drivers with higher rates to subsidize riskier drivers,” says John Chant, author of the study and professor emeritus of economics at Simon Fraser University.

ICBC has a monopoly on mandatory basic insurance, but does not base its rates on age or gender.

Because of this, all drivers under 35 pay less than if rates reflected anticipated accident experience – and drivers 16 to 24 pay more than $800 less than they would otherwise. 

Conversely, drivers between 55 and 64 pay $228 more per year due to ICBC’s rate structure.

Non-insurance costs such as driver testing, driver and vehicle licensing, and fine collection are also paid through insurance premiums, adding an estimated $50 to every driver’s policy.

“It’s important that B.C. drivers understand why basic auto insurance is so expensive in this province as reforms are proposed and introduced,” says Chant.

The Canadian Press –
Nov 15, 2018 / 9:37 am | Story:
242034

Photo: City of Nanaimo

The discovery of an apparent big section of deer carcbad in a City of Nanaimo green bin has prompted the Vancouver Island community to launch a refresher course on what is or is not acceptable for its kitchen scrap composting program.

David Thompson, Nanaimo’s manager of sanitation and recycling, says the large deer hip or shoulder found in a load of organics last week was the most bizarre contents his staff have encountered since the program was launched.

Residents can toss small meat, poultry or fish bones and other organics in their bins, but Thompson says the metre-long by half-metre-wide bag filled with large bones and chunks of meat was far more than the processing plant could handle.

The grisly find prompted an unusual social media post from the city on Monday, reminding residents that animal carcbades are not acceptable in the green cart.

Thompson says the department was deluged with responses, forcing staff to spend most of Tuesday clarifying that kitchen scraps, meat, fat and small bones can be tossed in but anything larger must be handled differently.

Staff have occasionally found other unacceptable items in the bins, such as diapers, dead crows or road kill, but Thompson says the latest unpleasant discovery is the most extreme.

“Clearly it was from a hunting operation. That’s way above and outside what we’d expect in the green bin,” he said.

The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service says unused animal remains should be taken to a rendering operation for disposal or returned to the woods, far from any recreational areas. (NanaimoNewsNow)