Canadian senator Yuen Pau Woo says a private members’ bill looking to establish a foreign influence registry could lead to another Chinese Exclusion Act, the controversial law that effectively blocked immigration from China to Canada from 1923 to 1947. The claim has drawn criticism from some activists who fought for redress for Canada’s past discriminatory immigration laws. Veteran Vancouver activist Bill Chu says there’s a distinction between historic racism against Chinese immigrants and concerns about the behaviour of the Chinese government. Fellow redress activist David Wong says Woo’s remarks give ammunition to racist sentiment and set back the work of Chinese Canadians against historic wrongs.
The North Vancouver RCMP is warning the public about two recent cases of distraction thefts. In late January, a woman sitting in her vehicle was told by a man she had a flat tire and as she exited to check, a second man entered her vehicle and took her wallet. Earlier this month, a woman was loading her groceries into her vehicle when she was approached by a man who diverted her attention to her vehicle’s brakes. It’s alleged that an accomplice stole her wallet and withdrew 16-hundred dollars from her bank accounts and racked up 14 thousand dollars on her credit cards.
Mounties in Yukon say they’re investigating a double homicide involving two men in the small community of Mayo, about 400 kilometres north of Whitehorse. Both men were shot and police say they believe the deaths took place around 5 a.m. Saturday because multiple witnesses reported hearing gunfire. The victims were found on a main roadway on the land belonging to the Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation. Police say they believe the men were in the central Yukon area for up to a week before their deaths.
Police in Victoria say they are recommending a man be charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer after an officer was stabbed with a needle while responding to an overdose. Police say while officers were providing medical care to the overdose victim, a crowd gathered and began to attempt to intervene. Additional police attended and began to move the crowd back when one of the officers was stabbed under the arm with a needle by a man in the crowd. Police say officers disarmed the man and took him into custody.
A new 25 hundred square metre arena has opened in Carmacks, Yukon. The new facility, 175 kilometres north of Whitehorse, includes a full indoor arena and community spaces that can be used for hockey, skating, curling, concerts, trade shows, and other events. The building was funded with 10.5 million dollars from the federal government and 13-million dollars from the territory. A grand opening event included an all star game and hockey camp led by former NHL player John Chabot.
Tap payment options on some buses in the Victoria Regional Transit System are being installed in the coming weeks. BC Transit says its new Umo (You-Mo) electronic fare collection machines will be part of a pilot project before opening to the public sometime later in the spring. The first phase of the rollout will allow users to pay with the Umo mobile app or reloadable cards, while the second phase will let riders pay with credit cards, debit cards and mobile wallets. BC Transit initially planned to have Umo up and running in Victoria last year.