The provincial budget is being tabled today in Victoria and the finance minister says BC will be investing in health care, housing and affordability. Katrine Conroy, who will be introducing the budget this afternoon, has suggested the province will be moving back into fiscal deficits. This comes after an almost six-billion-dollar surplus in last year’s budget. Conroy served meatloaf, salad and desserts to students in Grades 1 and 5 at a Greater Victoria elementary school at a pre-budget event yesterday, where she said government investments help fund similar meal programs across BC.
Searchers say two hikers are lucky to be alive after spending more than 24 hours stranded in the snow on the North Shore Mountains. Authorities say a man and woman from South America set out from the parking lot of Lynn Headwaters Regional Park on Saturday afternoon and made it to Norvan Falls, but got lost on the way back as darkness fell. Search manager Dave Barnett says the pair lacked adequate gear, were not dressed for overnight conditions and appeared to have lost their only phone during the hike. North Shore Rescue says both hikers, who showed signs of hypothermia and were taken to hospital on Sunday, but checked out okay.
First Nations, Metis and Inuit golfers will have a chance to compete in the inaugural Indigenous Championship British Columbia set for this May. The tournament is a partnership with the Office of the Lieutenant-Governor of B-C and the Osoyoos Indian Band, which owns the Nk’Mip (in-kah-MEEP) Canyon Desert Golf Course. The championship will see 128 men, women and youth compete and play together from May 28th to May 30th. The youth division will serve as the final qualifying round for golfers under 19 vying to represent BC at the North American Indigenous Games in Halifax this July.
Burnaby city council has approved a process to acknowledge and apologize for historic discrimination by the municipal government against people of Chinese descent. This spring, the city will convene an advisory committee and connect with residents to identify specific recommendations to address historical discrimination, including a formal apology. City staff have already produced a report outlining a history of the city’s discriminatory laws, regulations and policies between 1892 and 1947. Those include restricting voting rights, targeting enforcement and regulation of Chinese-owned businesses, and restricting access to land.
BC’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has been notified after a man was mistakenly arrested and shot with rubber bullets by Vancouver police officers. Vancouver police say officers obtained “reliable information” last Wednesday that a man wanted Canada-wide for a violent home invasion in Calgary was in the Yaletown neighbourhood. The department’s emergency response team was deployed and police say during the arrest officers shot the man with two rubber bullets before realizing it was a case of mistaken identity and he was not the suspect in the home invasion. Police say the man was released and received medical attention as well as an apology from senior officials.