Richmond Mounties say a woman has pleaded guilty to arson causing damage to property in relation to a series of more than 20 fires.
R-C-M-P say the fires occurred between January and August 2020 and primarily involved bushes, hedges and garbage cans in residential areas.
Police say they struck a task force that linked additional fires to the same suspect, who they arrested in July 2021.
They say the woman pleaded guilty last month.
Environment Canada says the forecast calls for snowflurries in the Metro Vancouver area by Tuesday, followed by rain later this week. Temperatures are still forecast to remain well below zero Celsius in the province's northeast and Kootenay regions.
In British Columbia, rescue crews say two skiers are lucky to be alive after they became lost in the Fitzsimmons Creek area near Whistler late Thursday as wind chill dipped around -50 C. North Shore Rescue says on social media that a helicopter was used to hoist out the pair who were hypothermic with frozen feet, and it's "unlikely the skiers would have survived the night."
Mounties in Coquitlam are reminding the public that its emergency and non-emergency lines are not meant for complaints about things like a cold fast-food burger. Police say that was one of many calls they had to 9-1-1 that take away staff time from helping someone with a life-threatening situation.
An abrupt snowfall in Metro Vancouver resulted in snarled traffic and set off numerous crashes on major routes. Environment Canada says the area received about 3 centimetres of snow Thursday, which combined with freezing temperatures to create icy roads throughout the region.
The Defence Department says Canadian Armed Forces members provided planning support for the U.S.-led attack on Houthi positions in Yemen Thursday but no Canadian equipment was involved. Three staff officers were deployed in December to the multinational operation in the Red Sea aimed at deterring Houthi blockades of the key shipping route.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser and Immigration Minister Marc Miller say the federal government is working to stabilize the number of people entering the country every year as housing pressures mount. The federal government ultimately decided to increase the number of permanent residents Canada welcomes each year to 500,000 in 2025 — nearly double the amount from 2015.