Transit police in Metro Vancouver say three teenage girls have been charged for two violent assaults that happened on public transit in Surrey in July.
They say around 9 P-M on July 11th, the group attacked a 16-year-old at a SkyTrain station and later beat an 18-year-old woman on a bus following a verbal assault.
Police say officers were called to the scene, where three suspects -- who were ages 13, 15 and 17 -- were identified.
They say the teens have since been charged with assault.
An RCMP expert testifying at Ibrahim Ali's murder trial told the court she has never seen a DNA match as close as the one between the suspect and samples found on his alleged victim — except for DNA matches between identical twins. Forensic biologist Christine Crossman said police investigators were very thorough in their collection and testing of genetic samples from the body of the 13-year-old girl, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
Former Abbotsford police chief Bob Rich has been appointed to look into the release of a man from British Columbia's psychiatric hospital before the man allegedly stabbed three people in Vancouver's Chinatown. Premier David Eby said Thursday that he has read the BC Review Board report on the accused and wants Rich to determine how the man could have been released, despite being a "really significant danger to the public."
A senior government source says Ottawa is planning to remove the G-S-T on construction of new rental apartment buildings. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to make the announcement today as he wraps up a three-day Liberal caucus retreat in London, Ontario.
The group Sikhs for Justice, which has been staging a series of non-binding votes in several countries on the independence issue, says the first stage of balloting in B.C. on Sunday attracted more than 135,000 voters. It says the second stage will be held on Oct. 29 and will add a second question about whether High Commissioner Sanjay Verma was responsible for the "assassination" of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
British Columbia has expanded its tuition waiver program to include all former youth in government care enrolling in post-secondary education. Selina Robinson, post-secondary education and future skills minister, says the program is no longer capped at the student's 27th birthday.
The area under evacuation order around a wildfire in West Kelowna, B.C., is gradually shrinking. The Central Okanagan emergency operations centre says residents of 16 properties along Bear Creek Road are allowed to go home, although they remain on evacuation alert and must be ready to leave again if the McDougall Creek wildfire flares.