Vancouver police say a man considered a high risk and violent sex offender is missing after he failed to check in to his halfway house yesterday.
They say 36-year-old Johnny Walkus is wanted Canada-wide.
Walkus is serving a sentence for two counts of sexual assault, and one count each of break and enter with intent and uttering threats.
Police say Walkus is five-foot, eight inches tall with a heavy build, short black hair, and the name Johnny Cash tattooed on his right forearm.
Twenty-eight-year-old Jamie Hallowes says he was on his way to withdraw cash downtown when someone approached him from behind and stabbed him twice. One wound required stitches, but Hallowes says the experience hasn't tainted his impression of Canada, and he plans to continue on to Alberta in the coming weeks.
The service says Highway 20 north of Bella Coola was closed Sunday evening as the fire that was discovered near Young Creek just the day before swelled to 22-square kilometres in size. The service says no evacuation orders have been issued for the fire, which is among more than 360 burning in the province, with 23 listed by the wildfire service as fires of note.
R-C-M-P say the incident happened on Wednesday afternoon when a male approached a female stranger as she walked along the sidewalk and swung at her, grabbed her hair and spit at her. The Mounties say several bystanders jumped in to help the victim who suffered minor injuries.
Environment Minister George Heyman says the new regulation comes into effect in December and will cover plastic shopping bags, disposable food service accessories, degradable plastics and any packaging made of hard-to-recycle plastics.
Vancouver police say a 57-year-old man has been charged after a racially motivated incident at a city coffee shop. They say it happened on Tuesday at a shop on West Pender and Abbott. The suspect has been charged with causing a disturbance.
A statement from Vernon-North Okanagan RCMP say the 63-year-old victim was an experienced paraglider. He had just taken off from a flight school near Lumby when police say he "suddenly and unexpectedly collided with the ground."