British Columbia's construction industry says its workforce numbers have improved in recent years, but labour shortages persist and are putting "extreme pressures" on employers. The BC Construction Association says the shortage of qualified workers has pushed the average annual wage in the sector to just short of $75,000, up 21 per cent in the last five years.
A Burnaby man has been charged with second-degree murder for his involvement in a stabbing in Vancouver earlier this month. Vancouver police say the 29-year-old suspect was arrested on April 4th, a day after a 49-year-old woman was found dead just north of Fraserview Golf Course.
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld the manslaughter conviction of a man who claimed he lashed out in self defence, in part because of his claustrophobia, resulting in an elderly man's death at a Vancouver Costco in 2017. A ruling released Monday says Thomas Toth was convicted of manslaughter in 2020, three years after he got into a physical altercation with 86-year-old Orlando Ocampo "that had tragic consequences."
British Columbia is planning to add 240 new units to its complex-care housing program, providing homes for people with mental-health and addictions challenges that overlap with other serious conditions. The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions says in a statement 200 of the units will be located in Abbotsford, Burnaby, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George, Sechelt, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria.
A blockade by pro-Palestinian protesters at a major port terminal in Metro Vancouver disrupted operations for several hours before dispersing on Monday. Terminal operator GCT Canada said the protesters' actions were illegal and stopped container trucks from accessing the Deltaport facility by blocking the Roberts Bank causeway for several hours.
An RCMP investigation into the alleged abduction of a woman from Lumby, B.C., has turned into a probe of a suspicious death. Mounties say in a statement that officers with the North Okanagan detachment found the woman's body in a rural area on Sunday, and a man believed to have been involved was arrested in the vicinity.