Surrey police are investigating a suspicious fire overnight that engulfed several businesses at a strip mall.
R-C-M-P say it happened at around midnight at the mall at the intersection of 148th Street and 108th Avenue.
Police say some businesses were opened as the fire broke out, but everyone was evacuated safely without injuries.
Investigators say they are looking into the cause of the blaze and are asking any witnesses or those with dash cam footage to contact police.
The manager of a Vancouver rooming house that was the site of a fatal fire in 2022 broke down in tears at an inquest, telling the jury that staff needed better training in fire safety. Gina Vanemberg testified that a "red book" with fire safety procedures was given to her when she became manager of the Winters Hotel in 2020, but no one from her employer, Atira Property Management, went over the paperwork or confirmed that she read it.
Defence Minister Bill Blair says the military's greatest responsibility is protecting Canadians, and his government intends to keep calling on them for help in domestic emergencies. Blair says he knows responding to natural disasters puts a lot of pressure on the Armed Forces, which is dealing with a personnel shortage of more than 16,000 troops.
Vancouver's city council has approved a high-density development concept for a 36-hectare site on the city's west side, involving13,000 new homes. The Council says the Jericho Lands Policy Statement sets the direction for development of the land owned by a joint venture that includes three First Nations.
Far from the jungle, Tarzan and Jane swing quietly into action in a sterile laboratory at St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver. They are robots that work with artificial intelligence to handle and process up to 70 per cent of the hospital's microbiology samples. The pair unscrew specimen tubes and streak the samples onto bacterial culture plates in the new $1-million automated WASPLab, short for "walk-away specimen processor."
The father of a murdered 13-year-old girl has been under police investigation for allegedly bringing a gun into a Vancouver courtroom on the day that Ibrahim Ali was convicted of the killing, the man's lawyer has told a hearing. Lawyers for Ali are refusing to show up to court for post-trial proceedings citing safety concerns about the man, who can't be named because of a publication ban on the identity of the murdered girl.
Police say a man is facing seven charges after shots were fired and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Edmonton City Hall. The alleged offences include arson, possessing incendiary materials and discharging a firearm into a building.