The Province
MIGRANTS ON HOLD
Smoke has been an increasingly familiar backdrop during Julio's summers in the Okanagan, hanging over the rows of cherry trees as he and other temporary foreign workers race against the clock to bring in B.C.'s fruit harvest. Some days, it's only a...
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OTTER REVIVED
Gordon Mellish is convinced the baby otter he helped save nodded and made eye contact with him before returning to her family in the wild. A trio of juvenile otters got themselves tangled up in a fishing net at a dock in Alert Bay late last month....
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EVACUEES HEARTENED BY CARING VOLUNTEERS
PENTICTON — Walt Nickerson pushed a cart of groceries and supplies out of the Real Canadian Superstore on Monday evening, three days into a life he hadn't planned. He left Summerland after a 1:30 a.m. call early Saturday from his landlord telling him...
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FLEEING FLAMES
Flames licked the fence ringing Brian Callow's mushroom farm in Summerland and smoke made it hard to see the sky. It was early Saturday, just after midnight, and the Bald Range fire was creeping ever closer. After turning on his sprinklers, Callow...
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A WORLD ON FIRE
Toronto and New York choked under orange and white skies. Madrid and Bordeaux had flames licking at their doorsteps. Vast forests, rural communities and ranchlands full of livestock in Western Canada and the U.S. have burned — and all in the month of...
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How to save big this back-to-school season
Back-to-school shopping can become one of the most expensive times of the year. Between the usual school supplies, clothing, technology and the evergrowing list of extras required for a new school year, costs can add up quickly. For students heading to...
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THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION
A month after hosting seven World Cup games, Vancouver's host committee won't say whether FIFA offered it the legacy money U.S. cities say they were promised. The temporary grass at B.C. Place has been pulled up, the security cordons are down and...
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`GOTTA CATCH 'EM'
Masked thieves broke into a collectibles store in Vancouver's Dunbar neighbourhood early Monday, making off with high-value Pokémon cards. Vancouver police said the commercial break-and-enter was reported around 3 a.m. on Aug. 3 at the Royal Card Shop...
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BITTER PRICE OF REVENGE
A B.C. man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for fatally stabbing a man who'd had an affair with his wife in the past and had gone on to share intimate images from the relationship with her family. Riza Jafari, 34, pleaded guilty to...
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TOP OF HER FIELD
DENISE RYAN It's hard for Gail Anderson to believe her childhood fascination with insects has led to her investiture as a recipient of British Columbia's highest honour, the Order of B.C. Anderson, Canada's first academic forensic entomologist and...
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ALL ABOARD!
The Burnaby Central Railway will never be considered a rival to Canadian Pacific or Canadian National. But it's much more popular. The miniature railway has been bringing a smile to the masses since the mid1970s, when it started running at Heritage...
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HOUSING CRISIS
For years, one aging fir tree on a South Surrey golf course has sheltered a bald eagle nest. Now, the tree is becoming a safety hazard — and residents are racing to build the pair a new home before it falls. Residents of Nico Wynd Estates are raising...
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POLICE SMASH DRUG LAB
B.C.'s anti-gang agency has arrested four people, seized 44 guns and dismantled a large-scale clandestine drug lab in rural Abbotsford. The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit's Sgt. Sarbjit Sangha said the facility was still under construction...
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`DESPICABLE' THEFT
Janice Yang was gardening outside her home near Commercial Street and East 41st Avenue at about 9:30 a.m. on June 12 when a woman she didn't know got out of a car, opened her gate and walked toward her. The 72-year-old backed away and called for her...
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RIVALS RIDE IN
Members of both the Rebels and Outlaws motorcycle gangs have moved into B.C. — a province dominated for decades by the rival Hells Angels. The anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit confirmed to Postmedia that some Outlaws have been living...
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A PLACE OUT OF TIME
WAINGAPU, Indonesia — Two hours from the tourist beaches of Bali, slavery is alive and well on the Indonesian island of Sumba, where people are still born into bondage. They work from dawn to dusk without pay, are passed on in marriage and are...
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COUNTRY COMFORT
In Ukraine, Natalya Rukavchuk's home was always full of people. Feeding a crowd was second nature. “It's our trait of hospitality,” she said. In Langley, where she has lived for just over a year, she and her child share a basement suite with no room...
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TUNNEL EFFECT
For years, Riverwoods was a hidden gem, a cluster of 21 rancher-style townhomes tucked at the end of a rural road in Delta. Sheltered from Highway 99 by tall, black cottonwood trees, delivery trucks had trouble finding the cosy development, even...
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COPS KILL MAN
A scene of chaos unfolded at a busy North Vancouver shopping plaza on Tuesday afternoon, ending with a crashed truck and a man dead after being shot by police. Witnesses were left shaken, describing a terrifying chain of events that started inside a...
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ORPHANED GASBAR
One of the oddest sights in Vancouver is an abandoned gas station at 711 Beach Ave. What makes it odd is the location — at the foot of Vancouver House, one of Vancouver's most luxurious condo towers. It's the twisting building beside the Granville...
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$115-BILLION BILL
Metro Vancouver taxpayers could face a $115-billion bill in the next 15 years to build the infrastructure needed to support the 570,000 new homes needed in the region by 2041. Metro staff are calling for negotiations on new funding from the provincial...
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EUROPE'S COCAINE CRISIS
The boat appears through the green, grainy lens of a night-vision scope, skipping across the surface of the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of kilometres from the European coastline. On board are 2.5 tons of cocaine, four crew members and a bank of...
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WHAT'S NEXT?
Jessie Adcock went to bed on June 10, a tense, restless night ahead of her. Years of work were going to be unveiled and judged in the morning, and small splinters of doubt still pierced her confidence. As the head of the Vancouver FIFA Host Committee...
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PARK'S TREES UNDER THREAT
At a park in Vancouver's West End, small handwritten signs have been tied around dozens of tree trunks with ribbon. “On death row,” they say. The display is the latest effort by a group of residents to draw attention to B.C. Hydro's proposed...
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DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS IN DECLINE
After years of an ever-worsening toxic drug crisis, B.C.'s overdose death rate is dropping, with experts saying the reasons for the downturn are complicated. While the government and some other politicians are touting the government's shift away from...
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CARE CRISIS
Loretta Toneatto, 86, is in hospice care in Delta, weeks after a routine operation went wrong. Her daughter Carmen, a B.C.-trained nurse with decades of experience working in the U.S., came home to care for her and says she's found B.C. nurses to be...
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LIVES UPROOTED
Nebyou Getahun came back to his New Westminster apartment on Monday hoping to retrieve the documents that prove he's allowed to be in Canada. Nothing seems intact of the corner unit he was renting, except the balcony railing. The building at 905...
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TAIWAN ON ALERT
HONG KONG — Taiwanese social media is awash with baseless claims that China meddled in recent elections in South Korea, warning of potential interference to come in the self-ruled island's own polls later this year. AFP fact-checkers have debunked a...
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ROCKY ROADS
Hikers trying to climb Chilliwack's most iconic mountain peak in recent years have first had to endure a bruising ride up to the trailhead. On Mt. Cheam Road Updates, a Facebook page dedicated to the access road, hikers post photographs of feats of...
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HOUSE ARREST
Three properties owned by an accused drug smuggler, including the one above in West Vancouver, are subject to civil forfeiture lawsuit.
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SUNKEN FISHING BOAT LOCATED
The company that operated the vessel that sunk off the B.C. coast on June 28 actually had two boats on the water that day, according to the distraught mother of the missing captain who is searching for answers. Richmond resident Ashley Lin, whose son...
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BISHNOI CHARGED IN SURREY KILLING
Several B.C. gangsters are among 24 arrested and charged with acts of violence and drug trafficking after a sweeping U.S. investigation targeting India's Bishnoi gang and two other transnational crime groups. The U.S. Department of Justice announced...
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TOP OF THE WORLD
A Surrey man elevated to a new level in May when he successfully scaled to the highest point of Mount Everest, becoming the first Sikh Canadian to do so. Ajaypal Singh Dhaliwal was recognized by Surrey council June 29 for his “remarkable demonstration...
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15 YEARS AND FEW ANSWERS
SAINT JOHN, N.B. — For those who were in the packed, fifth-floor courtroom of the Saint John Law Courts on Dec. 19, 2015, it was a scene that cannot be forgotten. Dennis Oland, on trial for the second-degree murder of his dad, Richard, stood next to...
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PROUD IN DEFEAT
Soccer fans who gathered downtown in Jack Poole Plaza for Saturday's game left disappointed in the result but appreciative of Canada's effort.
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GIANT COMMITMENT
The City of Surrey has announced new details for its plan to build a 10,000-seat sports and entertainment arena, including a partnership with the Vancouver Giants hockey team. Mayor Brenda Locke says the new City Centre Arena and Cultural Event Centre...
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6 FEARED DROWNED IN FISHING DISASTER
A desperate rescue mission shifted to a recovery operation Monday, after a capsized boat sent 10 people into frigid waters off the coast of Richmond a day earlier. Despite an immediate co-ordinated response from several agencies and the help of...
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CRANKING UP THE AC
PARIS, France — As Europe's heat wave leaves millions sweltering in poorly insulated apartments, schools and retirement homes, more French people are breaking with tradition to turn to air conditioning. Many in France believe cooling systems are bad...
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Things go south
Loss against Switzerland sends Team Canada to Los Angeles in a very typically Vancouver story that's about so much more than just soccer.
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COACH PLAYING HEAD GAMES
The man who helped transform Morocco's soccer team into a serious World Cup contender is being urged to focus on a new goal: prime minister. Fouzi Lekjaa, chairman of the national soccer association for more than a decade and budget minister since...
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SWISS MISS
Longtime soccer fan Michael Emmott says that despite Wednesday's 2-1 loss to Switzerland, he's proud of how far Canada's men's national team has come, and finishing second in the group is a real accomplishment. “We've seen them not even be anything on...
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SURREY DEFIES WATER ORDER
When Metro Vancouver went into Stage 3 water restrictions June 8 — far earlier than in past years as concerns mounted about drought conditions and a vanishing snowpack — the City of Surrey had other ideas. City council passed a bylaw in late May...
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Officer killed during drug raid had not fired his gun: prosecutor
The RCMP officer leading the drug raid at a Coquitlam highrise in 2023 was also hurt as a colleague in front of her was shot dead without warning, the prosecutor said Monday in the murder trial of Nicholas Bellemare. Bellemare is on trial for shooting...
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OPIOID DEATHS DROP
Opioid deaths in Canada fell 26 per cent between October 2024 and September 2025 compared with the previous 12-month period, according to new data from the federal government. A total of 5,724 opioid-related deaths were recorded during that time...
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FAN FAVOURITE
Vancouver versus Toronto is one of Canada's oldest debates. From the Vancouver Canucks versus the Toronto Maple Leafs to which city has the better skyline, nightlife or sports scene, fans on both sides rarely agree. Now the World Cup has added a new...
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HISTORY MADE
The eyes of Canada were all on Vancouver, and then they were on the leg of Ismael Kone. As Canada made history with a dominant 6-0 win over Qatar on Thursday afternoon, recording their first World Cup victory, the mood was both joyous and sombre as...
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ATTUNED TO THE GAME
The workday is looking a little different across Metro this week. With Canada set to play its biggest World Cup match in decades at B.C. Place on Thursday afternoon, some employers are swapping conference rooms for viewing parties, streaming games...
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TUNNEL TIMELINE
It has been almost 15 years since a B.C. Liberal government announced it would replace the Massey Tunnel and yet the province is little closer to getting a replacement built. Another setback came Tuesday when the NDP announced it had failed to reach a...
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PHONZIE ONE STEP CLOSER TO RETURN
Captain Canada is getting closer to a return. Alphonso Davies once again ran with his Canada teammates on Monday in Vancouver. He was a full participant in the warm-up, which was all the media was allowed to see during the 15-minute window that...
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CHINA JOBS ALERT
LONDON — The United States and other nations in the Five Eyes intelligence partnership recently took the unusual step of issuing a joint warning that China is using LinkedIn and other job platforms to pry secret information from security professionals...
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FEVER PITCH
There were stars and celebrities, there were fans decked out in red and flags, there were doting family members holding signs of adoration. If ever proof of home field advantage needs to be cited, the thundering red wave that engulfed BMO Field in...
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GAME ON!
A string of international flags fluttered outside Oppenheimer Park Thursday as city workers transformed a municipal building into a World Cup viewing space for residents experiencing homelessness. At the Downtown Eastside field house — normally a...
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SIGNS OF THE TIME
Large new signage guiding World Cup visitors through Vancouver have triggered a debate over how the Downtown Eastside is being presented to an international audience. The signs encourage visitors to “Explore Vancouver” and feature maps that divide...
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First Nation reaches $12M settlement on diesel spill
The Heiltsuk Nation has reached a $12.2 million settlement with the U.S. company whose tug ran aground in 2016 on B.C.'s central coast and spilled 110,000 litres of diesel, closing an important clam fishery and important cultural area. The settlement...
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BOOM TIME?
Silicon Valley tech founders are setting up shop in the glitzy hotels of Caracas, looking for investment opportunities. American Airlines has resumed direct flights from Miami to the Venezuelan capital. In oil country, sales of pickup trucks are...
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HIGH HOPES
There is hope, there is reality, and for the vast majority of the 48 teams in the World Cup this summer, never the twain shall meet. There are some passionate sports fans who can willingly suspend their disbelief, fervently convinced their team can...
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B.C. Hydro cancels plan to phase out gas-powered generation
B.C. Hydro says it needs to keep two natural-gas-powered generating stations operational to meet a looming electricity shortfall, pushing back provincial goals to phase out fossil-fuel generation by the end of the decade. Hydro, in a filing to the...
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`WRECKING BALL' OF A STORM
Over decades spent at sea, 73-year-old John Campbell has swum alongside whale sharks off Baja Mexico, sailed through a lightning storm near Hawaii and toasted a solo crossing of the Equator with a bottle of Champagne. But last week, trapped in a...
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LIPINSKI OUSTED
The City of Surrey found itself in a deepening crisis Tuesday following the abrupt ouster of its chief of police and the resignation of the chair of the police board who alleged “political tentacles” were reaching far too deep into police...
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LABOURING MARKET
The labour market for young workers in B.C. has cratered in the past seven years, a new report from the Business Council of B.C. says. Since 2019, B.C.'s youth labour market — 15 to 24 year olds — has deteriorated to the point where fewer young people...
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EBOLA RUMOURS STIFLE CARE
NAIROBI — As a deadly outbreak of Ebola spreads through the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one conspiracy theory is that non-profit workers brought the disease to get more money. Another is that the outbreak has been fabricated to frighten the...
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FOOD SCENE BETS BIG ON WORLD CUP SURGE
As Vancouver prepares to host the World Cup, restaurants, cafés and social clubs across the city are racing to get ready for an expected wave of international fans — adjusting menus, staffing and spaces to capture the business of match-day crowds...
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MONSTERS: `THEY ARE CLOSER THAN WE THINK'
What Raymond Hoogland saw when he entered his in-laws' home the morning after Mother's Day four years ago left him “broken beyond repair” — but worse was still to come. In a victim impact statement delivered to a packed courtroom Thursday in...
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HIGH SEAS RESCUE
Passengers on the cruise ship Silver Whisper had a front-row seat for some high seas drama when their vessel was diverted to rescue a sailboat adrift in the Pacific Ocean about 1,600 kilometres southwest of Vancouver. The Silversea Cruises ship —...
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AUTO CRIME FALLS
New data released by ICBC shows a “sharp decline” in both auto theft and reported crashes across the province in recent years. The analysis of Insurance Corp. of B.C. data from the past 10 years also confirms that hybrids are rising in popularity...
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CANUCKS GETTING THEIR MANNY
Nobody understands the grind better than Manny Malhotra. When the Vancouver Canucks confirm the former NHL centre as 23rd head coach in franchise history — negotiations continued Monday regarding salary and term — it will be a testament to the player...
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FIGHTING FOR PEACE
URUAPAN, Mexico — The brazen homicide of a small-city mayor shocked Mexico and forced President Claudia Sheinbaum to step up an offensive against all-powerful drug cartels. But even after a deployment totalling thousands of troops and the killing of a...
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Vancouver plays host to international dance competition
Humuza Bazira started dancing when he was 13 years old. He auditioned for the Brotherhood varsity dance team a year later, in Grade 8, but didn't make it. In Grade 9, he did. This week, the 23-year-old will be one of the 20 Brotherhood adult team...
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LONG-TERM WAIT FOR LONG-TERM CARE BED
Teri MacKay says that when she first moved her 87-year-old mother into a private pay long-term care home in October at the cost of thousands of dollars per month, Fraser Health told her it would be a twoyear wait for a publicly subsidized bed. Now,...
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RESPONSE REDUCTION
At 7 a.m. Tuesday, Firehall 2 on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside responded to a fire on Gore Avenue. Fifteen pieces of firefighting equipment from two halls were required to douse the flames. “It was a working fire, with heavy black smoke coming out of...
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FOOTE HANDED WALKING PAPERS
Will management familiarity breed coaching contentment? That was the pressing question this week for the Vancouver Canucks' new hockey operations department. It's aligned in history, admiration, support, friendship and belief in Manny Malhotra. And a...
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HOTEL FACING TROUBLED WATERS
A legal challenge asks the B.C. Supreme Court to quash the City of Vancouver's approval to allow a 250room floating hotel in front of the Vancouver Convention Centre. The petition alleges the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre...
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