Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum is being investigated by the RCMP for a potential public mischief charge. There are questions about a report McCallum gave police officers about an incident in a grocery store parking lot last month, where he alleged someone from a pro-RCMP group drove their car over his foot. Sources tell CityNews the Sept. 5 incident was captured on surveillance video. On that day, McCallum released a statement to the media alleging he was “verbally assaulted” and “run over by a vehicle” while shopping at a Save On Foods. Soon after, Mounties confirmed they were investigating. A spokesperson for “Keep the RCMP in Surrey” described McCallum’s allegations as false, saying the mayor was the antagonist in the situation. The investigation into the incident at the Save On Foods in September is being overseen by a special prosecutor “in light of the nature of the allegations, the Mayor’s position as a public official in a senior position of authority, and the ongoing public discussion about the change from the RCMP to a municipal police force in Surrey.”
A recent missing person case is now believed to be suspicious and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been brought in. I-Hit says in a news release that 26-year-old Devon Goodrick was last seen in the early morning hours of September 25th in South Surrey. The release says the team took conduct of the investigation in accordance with its mandate to investigate high-risk missing persons and suspicious deaths. It adds that investigators don’t believe the man’s disappearance is connected to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict. IHIT and the Langley RMP are speaking to family and associates of Goodrick. They’re hoping members of the public will come forward with more information. Goodrick is described as white, 6’4″ and about 250 pounds. He has short brown hair, green eyes and “light” facial hair, IHIT said. He was last seen in a black Hugo Boss tracksuit with a blue stripe down the arm.
New restrictions are in place for British Columbia’s northern health region in an attempt to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19 through those who are unvaccinated. Personal gatherings indoors and outdoors are now restricted to only those who are vaccinated and in-person worship services are cancelled along with other restrictions. Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry announced the measures will be in place until November 19th. Henry urged northern residents not to ignore or try to flout the rules if they believe they do not apply to them.
The White House has confirmed the U.S. land and air border will officially open to fully vaccinated Canadians on Nov. 8. Assistant Press Secretary Kevin Munoz confirmed the news in a tweet, that all foreign national travelers will have to be fully vaccinated to travel to the U.S. It was announced earlier this week the land border would be reopening after being closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Proof of vaccination will be required, but it’s not clear if that includes mixed doses. Vaccines approved by either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization will be accepted, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently working on the operational details, such as what will constitute acceptable proof and which “very limited” exceptions might be allowed. New York congressman Brian Higgins has written to the CDC to urge the agency to promptly clarify its stance on mixed-dose vaccines.
Mounties and the B-C Wildfire Service say they’re continuing their investigation into the possible cause of the fire that swept through the village of Lytton. It comes after the Transportation Safety Board released a report yesterday that says there’s no evidence a freight train sparked the wildfire. Two people died and most of the town was burned to the ground by the fast-spreading fire on June 30th. Fraser-Nicola M-L-A Jackie Tegart, who represents the village, says her constituents were likely hoping for more information and she will push hard to make sure the probe isn’t closed until they know how the fire started.
B.C.’s South Coast is in for a wet, windy weekend, with a rainfall warning in effect for Metro Vancouver. NEWS 1130 Meteorologist Michael Kuss says heavy precipitation is expected to start on Friday with up to 150 millimetres of rain possible in some areas. Conditions lately aren’t usually seen until later in the fall, he notes. The forecast brings concerns about flooding in low-lying areas, and water pooling on roads. “It looks like the cold front with this system will track through early on Sunday. If it does, the sky will clear out. Temperatures aren’t going to be super warm, but it should be dry through at least a good chunk of Sunday”.
B-C is reporting 667 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 more deaths over the past 24 hours. That includes 246 new cases in Fraser Health and 184 in Northern Health, where new restrictions have been imposed on personal gatherings to try to stop the rapid spread of the virus. The province now has five-thousand-128 active cases of COVID-19 and two-thousand-and-55 deaths since the start of the pandemic. There are 367 peopled with the virus in hospital, including 152 in intensive care.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says people who received doses of two or more different COVID-19 vaccines will be considered eligible to enter the United States next month. While the agency has stopped short of recommending the mixed-dose practice in the U-S, it now acknowledges that it is an increasingly common vaccination strategy elsewhere in the world. That includes Canada, where nearly four million people are believed to have received doses of two different vaccines. The C-D-C declaration is one of the last pieces of the puzzling delay in the gradual reopening of the Canada-U-S border to fall into place.
Environment Canada has issued rainfall, snowfall and special weather statements for several areas along B-C’s coast and in the boundary region. It says two successive frontal systems will bring an “atmospheric river” to southern regions that could see up to 150 millimetres of rain fall on the west coast of Vancouver Island by Saturday night. Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound and inland and eastern Vancouver Island are forecast to get up to 100 millimetres. The weather agency also warns a Pacific system will bring up to 15 centimetres of snow in the Boundary, West Kootenay and Kootenay Lake regions.