One person died on New Year's Day in a house fire in Surrey.
Mounties say four occupants of the house escaped and are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
A fifth person was found dead inside the home.
Investigators say the cause of the fire is still under investigation and they are asking anyone with information to call the R-C-M-P.
Officers found 27 teenagers crammed inside a party bus with a dance floor. The bus had been hired to take the teens downtown for a 17-year-old’s birthday party. VPD officers are now recommending 27 counts of failing to provide a chaperone for passengers under 19, allowing open liquor in a vehicle, and operating with too many passengers.
The robbery occurred around 6 p.m. on December 3, as holiday shoppers were visiting the Dunsmuir Street retailer. The suspect, who was masked, entered the store and deployed a cloud of bear spray, then walked over to a display rack and stole a $1,800 purse, before exiting the store and walking east on Dunsmuir to Seymour Street.
The federal government is extending, and slightly expanding, a travel exemption for Canadians trying to return home from South Africa. Earlier this month, the government lifted a requirement for Canadian travellers from South Africa to have a negative COVID-19 molecular test result in a third country before coming to Canada.
The University of Victoria in British Columbia will not be holding any further in-person exams this month. The school said its instructors have been asked to offer alternative exams online or in another format.
Canada is expecting a potentially massive surge in cases in the coming weeks, driven by the new Omicron variant already spreading through communities, said Dr. Theresa Tam. While COVID-19 might be with us for many years to come, Tam is optimistic the pandemic could end in the foreseeable future.
Streamed online from National Defence Headquarters, the apology followed the federal government’s $600-million settlement with tens of thousands of current and former Armed Forces members who experienced such behaviour while serving.