The elected chief of a Vancouver Island First Nation that announced the finding of 17 suspected unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school says survivors and the community want justice. Tseshaht Elected Chief Councillor Wahmeesh, whose English name is Ken Watts, says any legal investigations would have to be done by an independent body with its consent. He says the RCMP shouldn’t be involved because of their role in the past of removing children from their homes to be sent to residential schools. Watts says further research has confirmed that 67 children died while they were students at the residential institution in Port Alberni.
Teck Resources says it will split the Vancouver-based mining firm in two. CEO Jonathan Price says the plan to separate Teck’s steelmaking coal from its base metals operations will allow both entities to achieve their full potential. The steelmaking coal assets including four mines in BC will be spun off to create a separate publicly-traded company called Elk Valley Resources. Teck Resources will be renamed Teck Metals to focus on copper and will be anchored by Teck’s Q-B-2 copper mine in Chile.
Environment Canada has issued extreme cold warnings for the Peace River, Chilcotin and Elk Valley regions, along with Yoho National Park, as an Arctic air mass moves across B-C’s central and southern Interior. It says wind chill values could dip to minus-40 tonight through tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, a wind warning is in effect for southern parts of Howe Sound, where gusts up to 90 kilometres per hour could persist through tonight. Meanwhile, the Transportation Ministry is encouraging drivers in the Lower Mainland to be ready for snowy and slushy conditions.
A man has been charged in a series of arsons in the southern Interior community of Mission. The first in a series of six fires in Fraser River Heritage Park was allegedly started in July 2021, and the most recent happened on January 6th of this year. One fire in August 2021 grew to nearly a hectare and prompted an evacuation of nearby homes while BC Wildfire helicopters were called in to help extinguish it. The BC Prosecution Service says a man has been charged with six counts of arson and is to appear next month in Abbotsford Provincial Court.
Mounties in Kelowna are warning the public about a suspected dog poisoning. RCMP say a woman reported that she had taken her poodle mix to the Mission Dog Park, where the dog drank water from bowls set up in the off-leash area. Police say the dog became violently ill on the way home, and blood work confirmed the dog had consumed high levels of toxins and suffered severe kidney damage. The Mounties want to speak with a person of interest a 50 to 60 year old white woman with brown or reddish hair and a blue toque who was seen by the dog owner filling the water bowls, which have been removed.