News

A police road block is seen on Glen Drive after a shooting involving RCMP officers in Coquitlam B.C. on Friday, September 22, 2023. The death of a Metro Vancouver RCMP officer who was shot dead while executing a search warrant is reverberating with law enforcement officials across the country. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Death of B.C. Mountie casts pall over law enforcement across Canada

Const. Rick O’Brien leaves behind his wife and children

A police road block is seen on Glen Drive after a shooting involving RCMP officers in Coquitlam B.C. on Friday, September 22, 2023. The death of a Metro Vancouver RCMP officer who was shot dead while executing a search warrant is reverberating with law enforcement officials across the country. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
University of British Columbia master’s student Megan Winand holds a frog in this undated handout photo. Winand is one of the first to study the impacts of mitigation translocation, or the movement of animals from one location to “the next available habitat that is of the same or better value than where they came from.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Madeline Woodley

B.C. frog relocation project aims to better understand conservation practice

Frogs are an indicator species, meaning they’re often the first to reveal when something is amiss

University of British Columbia master’s student Megan Winand holds a frog in this undated handout photo. Winand is one of the first to study the impacts of mitigation translocation, or the movement of animals from one location to “the next available habitat that is of the same or better value than where they came from.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Madeline Woodley
Jaxon Billyboy, seen here at his Grade 12 graduation June 2023, was one of four firefighters killed in a highway crash near Cache Creek. (Photo submitted)

B.C. wildfire fighter killed in crash remembered as loving and resilient

Jaxon Billyboy-Bowe, from the Tsilhqot’in Nation, was 19 years old

Jaxon Billyboy, seen here at his Grade 12 graduation June 2023, was one of four firefighters killed in a highway crash near Cache Creek. (Photo submitted)
A young mule deer buck walks across a lawn in 100 Mile House. In B.C.’s Southern Interior, poop samples taken from mule deer show their stress levels increased during wildfires. (Patrick Davies/100 Mile Free Press)
A young mule deer buck walks across a lawn in 100 Mile House. In B.C.’s Southern Interior, poop samples taken from mule deer show their stress levels increased during wildfires. (Patrick Davies/100 Mile Free Press)
Const. Rick O’Brien, 51, of the Ridge Meadows RCMP was killed on Sept. 22 while executing a search warrant in Coquitlam. (Ridge Meadows RCMP/The News)

Charges laid in homicide of B.C. RCMP officer

Nicholas Bellemare is facing first-degree murder and attempted murder with a firearm charges

Const. Rick O’Brien, 51, of the Ridge Meadows RCMP was killed on Sept. 22 while executing a search warrant in Coquitlam. (Ridge Meadows RCMP/The News)
A memorial has been set up at the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment in Maple Ridge to honour Const. Rick O’Brien, who was killed on Sept. 22 while executing a search warrant in Coquitlam. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

PHOTOS: Community rallies to honour slain B.C. RCMP officer

A memorial is at the Maple Ridge detachment, with a GoFundMe also available

A memorial has been set up at the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment in Maple Ridge to honour Const. Rick O’Brien, who was killed on Sept. 22 while executing a search warrant in Coquitlam. (Brandon Tucker/The News)
First responders – one BC Emergency Health Services worker and 17 members of Pitt Meadows Fire and Rescue – lined Lougheed Highway by Harris Road, to salute a motorcade of police vehicles escorting a fallen officer through the city into Maple Ridge. (Colleen Flanagan/The News)
First responders – one BC Emergency Health Services worker and 17 members of Pitt Meadows Fire and Rescue – lined Lougheed Highway by Harris Road, to salute a motorcade of police vehicles escorting a fallen officer through the city into Maple Ridge. (Colleen Flanagan/The News)
A flock of birds flies past as Moninder Singh, front right, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council (BCGC), waits to speak to reporters outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, B.C., on Monday, September 18, 2023, where temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in his vehicle while leaving the temple parking lot in June. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Eby suspects feds holding back info in India case that could protect B.C.

Premier says people in B.C. ‘feeling pressure from India,’ Ottawa has info that might help

A flock of birds flies past as Moninder Singh, front right, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council (BCGC), waits to speak to reporters outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, B.C., on Monday, September 18, 2023, where temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in his vehicle while leaving the temple parking lot in June. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
People look on as athletes participate in the Head and Tail of the Gorge rowing event in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday, October 16, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Autumn expected to dawn cool and damp in drought-plagued B.C.

Clouds and showers are expected to sweep across the south coast, heavy rain arrives Monday

People look on as athletes participate in the Head and Tail of the Gorge rowing event in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday, October 16, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Rainbow trout infected with whirling disease which damages the backbone of the fish causing them to swim in a “whirling” pattern. (Photo: Sascha Hallett, fishpathogens.net)

Suspected whirling disease case threatens fish in Yoho Park

Invasive parasite deadly to fish has not previously been confirmed in B.C.

Rainbow trout infected with whirling disease which damages the backbone of the fish causing them to swim in a “whirling” pattern. (Photo: Sascha Hallett, fishpathogens.net)
Ridge Meadows RCMP lowered its flags to half mast on Sept. 22 following a shooting in Coquitlam that resulted in one RCMP officer being killed and another wounded. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Ridge Meadows Mountie killed, 2 other officers injured in Coquitlam incident

Rick O’Brien was a 7-year member of the Ridge Meadows RCMP; he joined the detachment Sept. 19, 2016

Ridge Meadows RCMP lowered its flags to half mast on Sept. 22 following a shooting in Coquitlam that resulted in one RCMP officer being killed and another wounded. (Brandon Tucker/The News)
Premier David Eby promised additional support for municipalities to help them speed up housing policies. (Wolf Depner/News Staff)

$61M in housing help for B.C. cities on its way soon, premier pledges

Eby promises fund to help communities accelerate projects, $4.75 million for rural firefighters

Premier David Eby promised additional support for municipalities to help them speed up housing policies. (Wolf Depner/News Staff)
Quesnel River Pulp, one of two pulp plants in Quesnel owned by West Fraser, has been sold to Atlas Holdings and will now be operated by Alberta company Millar Western. (Tracey Roberts photo - Quesnel Cariboo Observer)

Quesnel pulp mill sold by West Fraser Timber

Quesnel River Pulp part of a two-factory deal for cash and fibre supply

Quesnel River Pulp, one of two pulp plants in Quesnel owned by West Fraser, has been sold to Atlas Holdings and will now be operated by Alberta company Millar Western. (Tracey Roberts photo - Quesnel Cariboo Observer)
Squiala First Nation Chief David Jimmie speaks at an update on Thursday (Sept. 21) in Mission on Stó:lō Nation’s research into potential unmarked graves and missing children at former residential schools in Mission, Chilliwack and Yale. /Dillon White Photo

Funding, archival access hurdles for Fraser Valley residential school research

Stó:lō Nation calls for more support from federal government, religious organization

Squiala First Nation Chief David Jimmie speaks at an update on Thursday (Sept. 21) in Mission on Stó:lō Nation’s research into potential unmarked graves and missing children at former residential schools in Mission, Chilliwack and Yale. /Dillon White Photo
Women dance during the Abyas song to cleanse and bless the ground for the cedar mortuary pole replica carved by Mungo Martin in 1955 was removed from Thunderbird Park during a commemorative ceremony on the grounds of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)

‘Forbidden Music’ explores complex preservation of B.C. Indigenous culture

Film documents 1950s efforts to preserve music threatened by potlatch ban, residential schools

Women dance during the Abyas song to cleanse and bless the ground for the cedar mortuary pole replica carved by Mungo Martin in 1955 was removed from Thunderbird Park during a commemorative ceremony on the grounds of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)
A photo of work in progress in 2019 on the Coastal Gas Link pipe which is meant to carry natural gas from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat. (File photo)

Workers’ strike notice threatens Coastal Gaslink Pipeline

Union demands fair severance for hospitality staff ahead of lodge’s permanent closure

A photo of work in progress in 2019 on the Coastal Gas Link pipe which is meant to carry natural gas from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat. (File photo)
A new report compiled for the provincial government details a shortage of sheriffs across B.C., resulting in court closures and delays. (Photo: Province of B.C.)

Cash coming to address B.C.’s longstanding sheriff shortage: Sharma

Report reveals workplace culture issues feeding recruitment and retention crisis

A new report compiled for the provincial government details a shortage of sheriffs across B.C., resulting in court closures and delays. (Photo: Province of B.C.)
The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police “E” Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on Friday April 13, 2018. The four British Columbia firefighters who died in a highway crash this week all worked for a Kamloops-based contractor, whose owner says they were like family. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

4 ‘irreplaceable’ lives lost, B.C. families, firefighting contractor mourn

Firefighters killed in highway crash near Cache Creek worked for Kamloops-based Tomahawk Ventures

The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police “E” Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on Friday April 13, 2018. The four British Columbia firefighters who died in a highway crash this week all worked for a Kamloops-based contractor, whose owner says they were like family. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A 1957 aerial photo of St. Mary’s Residential School at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission. Several years later the buildings were demolished after the new school was built in 1960. /Mission Community Archives photo.

Stó:lō Nation residential school probe finds 158 child deaths, potential unmarked graves

Findings announced for investigation that included ground-penetrating radar and archival research

A 1957 aerial photo of St. Mary’s Residential School at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission. Several years later the buildings were demolished after the new school was built in 1960. /Mission Community Archives photo.
Media wait outside B.C. Supreme Court, in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. A sexual assault expert is testifying at the British Columbia Supreme Court trial of a man accused of killing a 13-year-old girl six years ago.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Media wait outside B.C. Supreme Court, in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. A sexual assault expert is testifying at the British Columbia Supreme Court trial of a man accused of killing a 13-year-old girl six years ago.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck