Police in Surrey say two fires in the city in the last few days have left two people dead in Whalley and Newton. Surrey RCMP say a fire at a home on 112A Avenue on July 20th claimed the life of an 85-year-old woman, but the blaze is not being treated as suspicious.
The numbers seem ever increasing for British Columbia wildfire statistics, including more than 400 fires, tens of thousands of lightning strikes and at least six homes lost. The homes were in the Venables Valley, and Colton Davies with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District says they were among 20 buildings destroyed by the Shetland Creek wildfire.
The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate for a second consecutive time on Wednesday, but warned the path back to two per cent inflation may be uneven and would ultimately determine the pace of future rate cuts. The central bank says its decision to lower its policy rate by a quarter percentage point was motivated by easing price pressures and weakening economic conditions.
The British Columbia gold rush town of Barkerville is drenched, both from overnight rains and sprinklers dousing its timber buildings, some more than 150 years old. It's part of an effort to save the historic park that is one of the Cariboo region's premier tourist attractions from the flames of the Antler Creek wildfire that is burning out of control about three kilometres away, said Stewart Cawood, Barkerville's public programming and media manager.
One person is in custody after three stabbings in Vancouver, while the deaths of two women in the city are also being investigated. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is calling the events "deeply unsettling."
British Columbia's child welfare system is either in a state of crisis or close to it with understaffing and unmanageable workloads, the province's representative for children said. A report released by Jennifer Charlesworth Tuesday said the environment for social workers at the Ministry of Children and Family Development is unhealthy for staff, characterized by undue stress, burnout and fear, and there's no time for the government to wait to address the "critical circumstances."
