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.
New data suggest that COVID-19 activity in British Columbia is trending downward, while influenza and RSV are on the rise. A weekly update provided Thursday by the BC Centre for Disease Control says COVID-19 cases, new hospitalizations and deaths are all declining from a peak in the first week of October.
British Columbia's gang squad and the Abbotsford Police Department say a sensitive law enforcement intelligence document was posted on an online media site. A statement from police and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says the document was part of a response to the ongoing gang war that has killed numerous people in the last several years.
Canada's long-standing support of Israel in votes at the United Nations has come under renewed scrutiny during the latest Israel-Hamas war. On Oct. 27, Canada abstained on a motion calling for a sustained humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, and last week, it joined Israel and the U.S. in voting down a motion about Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Three priority transit corridors have been selected by the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation. Metro Vancouver’s new bus rapid transit routes will be along King George Boulevard from Surrey Centre to White Rock, from Langley Centre to Haney Place and from Metrotown to the Northshore.
The B.C. government is introducing new protections for ride-hailing and food delivery app workers including a minimum wage, compensation for expenses and other standards. A minimum hourly wage of $20.10 — which is $3.35 more than the current general minimum wage — would apply for a gig worker's "engaged time," beginning when they accept an assignment to the time of completion.
Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general, says all members of the Surrey Police Board have been suspended and he's appointed former Abbotsford chief constable Mike Serr to take over all their duties. Farnworth says he acted because of a “lack of progress” from the City of Surrey in the transition to the Surrey Police Service.