The son of slain Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says his father had been meeting regularly with Canadian intelligence officers in the months before he was gunned down outside his Surrey gurdwara. Balraj Singh Nijjar says the meetings had started last February and increased in frequency in the following three or four months. He says he also attended a meeting between his father and RCMP last year in which they were told about threats to Nijjar’s life. Balraj Nijjar says his father had received hundreds of threatening messages over the years telling him to stop his advocacy for Sikh independence or he would be killed but he says Nijjar felt protected under Canadian law and he didn’t want to hide.
BC’s emergency management minister says the province will soon be introducing new laws to address the four phases of emergency management, from preparedness and mitigation to response and recovery. Bowinn Ma told a gathering at the Union of BC Municipalities’ annual convention in Vancouver that the current Emergency Program Act has not been updated since 1993 and has not kept up with the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena brought on by climate change. She says the province will implement the new emergency management laws in phases, and municipalities still have opportunities to engage the province on adjustments. Other health and weather officials at the convention also warned that the higher frequency and size of wildfires in recent years will likely continue or worsen, with the resulting smoke carrying long-term effects on people’s health.
BC’s Health Ministry says nearly 135-thousand surgeries have been performed in the province this year as of August. It says that number amounts to six thousand 288 more surgeries than were performed in 2019 and 642 more than were completed in 2022. The ministry says all 24 thousand 488 surgeries that were postponed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have now been completed or have been scheduled. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the data shows the resilience of BC’s health-care workers and health-care system.
A 26-year-old man is missing and presumed to have drowned while swimming in Invermere’s Windermere Lake. Police say the man was swimming with friends on Saturday when he was seen to be in distress, went under water, and did not resurface. Mounties say that, as of Tuesday, Search and Rescue, Windermere Fire and police resources have not been able to locate the man. They say no more information will be released by police out of respect for the family.
Mounties in Richmond are looking for witnesses after a crash last week between a pedestrian and a motorcycle. Police say both people involved suffered significant injuries as a result of the crash last Thursday on Granville Avenue. The investigation is being conducted by the RCMP Criminal Collision Investigation Team. Investigators are looking for witnesses or dash cam footage from anyone who may have been in the area of Garden City and Granville Avenue between 4:40 pm and 4:55 pm.
Police in Victoria say a man with more than 15 outstanding warrants was one of two people arrested after a series of vehicle break-ins last weekend. They say officers responded early Saturday morning to a break in at a parkade in the city, and two men were arrested after a short pursuit. Police say several items had been stolen from vehicles in the parkade and were returned to the owners. They say the man with outstanding warrants was held is custody, while the other was released until a future court appearance.