Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the government has received the report it was waiting for from Surrey officials on the future of policing in the city. That’s after Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke announced Friday that a majority on council had reviewed the report and voted to keep the RCMP, reversing the transition to a municipal force that had been initiated by her predecessor. The BC government recommended in April that Surrey continue the transition to an independent force and Farnworth set out requirements for safe and effective policing, which the city would need to follow in order to keep the Mounties. The minister says he’s working to make a decision as quickly as possible based on the city’s report, though he did not respond to accusations of bullying and misogynistic treatment that Locke made earlier yesterday.
Residents of 14 properties in rural areas north of Fort St. John may return home after being ordered to leave due to a record-breaking wildfire, though the Peace River Regional District says the situation remains “volatile.” It follows the lifting of another evacuation order for properties east of Highway 97, but the district says people should be prepared to leave again on short notice. The Donnie Creek blaze has grown in recent days to become the largest wildfire recorded in BC history, spanning more than 55-hundred square kilometres. An update from the BC Wildfire Service says the fire accounts for about 62 per cent of the total area burned in the province so far this season.
The wildfire that forced the closure of a key highway connecting communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island has been declared under control, and the province says it’s on track to reopen to single-lane alternating traffic this weekend. A statement from the Transportation Ministry says crews have cleared the stretch of Highway 4 east of Port Alberni of trees and debris that had tumbled down over steep terrain, and work is underway to install temporary safety measures. It says those measures include a concrete barrier and protective “mesh curtains” suspended by cranes to prevent debris from falling onto the route. The province says a lengthy backroad detour remains open, but it’s recommended for essential travel only, while local airlines have added flights to meet demand for travel to and from cut-off communities, including Tofino.
Police are urging Sikh community members to overcome their fears by providing any evidence in the shooting death of a local gurdwara president who advocated for a separate Sikh state in India, where he had been accused of terrorism. Surrey RCMP says 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar was fatally shot in his vehicle as he was leaving the Guru Nanak Sikh temple Sunday night. Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards called the killing “brazen” and “appalling,” saying it was “disgusting” that the incident happened at a place of worship, with many other community members present at the time of the attack. Edwards says the only way for people to respond should be to come forward with evidence to help solve the case.
The union representing housekeepers who were involved in a bus crash near Prince George on Friday says they’re waiting for a decision in a grievance over complaints about the long ride to get to work at a Coastal GasLink work camp. Unite Here Local 40 spokesperson Michelle Travis says Horizon North, which runs the lodge as part of the natural gas pipeline project, decided in March to move the housekeepers to Prince George to make room for pipeline workers. That meant a four-hour round-trip ride each workday, which the union argued goes against a collective agreement requirement that workers be housed on-site. Travis says the grievance arbitration was completed the day before the crash that affected 30 people, many of whom are immigrant women.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police say hackers viewed nearly 190 files as part of a wave of attacks that U-S officials have blamed on a Russian cyber-extortion gang. A statement from the service says the files were accessed on a third-party file transfer system and the hackers did not gain access to the service’s own network. It says the software vulnerability has since been repaired and a review is underway to determine what information was contained in the files accessed in the attack. The police service says it’s not expected the incident will have any impact on investigations or prosecutions.