The Province

83-YEAR-OLD BRINGS DOWN THE CURTAIN ON CAREER WITH OPERA

When the longest-serving (and singing) member of the Vancouver Opera Chorus, 83-year-old Don Wright, looks back on his career, he' would like to be remembered for more than just the timbre of his vocals after 51 years onstage. When Wright joined the...

TRACKING TERRO

1986: THE START OF A NEW ERA

40 years ago, Expo 86 brought the world to Vancouver ... and put the city on the map

CONTRACTS CANCELLED

The B.C. government says several construction contracts for long-term care homes that were delayed as part of February's budget have now been cancelled, as has the contract for Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment. Mayors, hospital...

GANGSTER KILLED

The killing Tuesday in Surrey of a Brothers Keepers gangster may have been retaliation for the slaying last month of a trafficker linked to the UN gang. And both likely stemmed from the continuing dispute that led to January's homicide of high-profile...

`NATURAL' PEOPLE PERSON

Had John Garrett not become a hockey player, he still would have been an entertainer. The always-at-ease, always-readyto-laugh persona he presented on television was his true self. He was kind and generous. He cared for the people around him. Those...

AVALANCHE CREATOR

It started with a menacing “whoosh” and a “Watch it!” before a slab of mountainside broke loose under the skis of Montgomery (Monty) Atwater, swallowing him in its crushing embrace. Atwater was in Alta, Utah, purposefully triggering avalanches by...

MARRIED AND UNDER FIRE

UNDISCLOSED, Ukraine — While Ukrainian combat medic Anastasia Podobailo cleaned blood from a wounded soldier's arm and called him “little bun,” her colleague and husband Mykola Yasinenko checked the patient's intravenous drip was flowing. The couple...

A HOST OF PROBLEMS

Independence, Mo., and Guttenberg, N.J., are among several U.S. cities that have temporarily relaxed short-term rental restrictions to help meet demand for accommodations during this summer's World Cup soccer tournament. But in Vancouver, where hotel...

AIRPORT LOOKING TO LAND SOME BUSINESS

The number of private jets expected to descend on Vancouver for World Cup soccer games this summer is enough for the operator of the executive air terminal at suburban Pitt Meadows Regional Airport to sense a unique business opportunity. Most traffic...

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

More than 128,000 B.C. drivers were ticketed for speeding or running red lights last year under a traffic camera program that a local medical health officer says should be expanded because it saves lives. Research from Canada, the U.S., Australia and...

SURREY SIX MASTERMIND SET FREE

Notorious gangster Jamie Bacon, the mastermind behind the deadly 2007 Surrey Six slayings, has been released from prison, less than six years after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kill. Bacon, now 40, completed the full five-year, seven-month...

HEIGHTENED SECURITY

When the World Cup comes to Vancouver in June and July, there will be thousands of fans sporting soccer jerseys and their national pride. There will also be an unprecedented number of people wearing badges. “On a match day, there will be the largest...

`DYSTOPIAN' COMMERCE LANDSCAPE

OTTAWA — Newly minted NDP leader Avi Lewis is sounding the alarm on what he calls a “creepy new tactic” corporations are using to rip off consumers. Lewis is calling on the Liberals to prohibit businesses from using personal data to charge customers...

Patrick Johnston goes deep on the Canucks' third-worst season ever

When you look back and try to answer the question of “what the heck just happened?,” Vancouver Canuck Teddy Blueger figures you actually have to start with the end, because it underscores what had been missing. The Canucks' 2025-26 season is one of...

ASSESSING THE THREAT

Beneath the spring snow currently melting in the B.C. mountains, the conditions for a catastrophic wildfire could already exist. A B.C. company is hoping to help communities understand that risk months before fire season starts using an artificial...

DRUG BUST TALLY

Police have now processed a vast cache of illicit drugs, including nearly 40 kilograms of fentanyl, that were seized late last year during the bust of a clandestine drug lab in Chilliwack. Chilliwack RCMP gave an update on the investigation Wednesday...

Accused dark-web trafficker returned from Germany

A Victoria man who allegedly sold fentanyl pills on the dark web has been returned from Germany where he fled after his initial arrest. Isaac Oliveira-Scott, 29, was arrested in Europe in February and escorted back to B.C. this week, according to a...

10-YEAR EMERGENCY

On April 14, 2016, B.C. declared a public health emergency after a surge in overdose deaths, primarily caused by synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. The province said it would work with health authorities, emergency room doctors, first responders and...

BRAZIL'S MISOGYNY WOES

Alana Anisio Rosa, 20, politely turned down the man from her gym who kept sending her flowers and chocolates. A month later, he burst into her home and stabbed her around 50 times with a pocket knife. Her mother, Jaderluce Anisio de Oliveira, 53, was...

AIRPORT IDEA TAKING OFF

When Scott Wheatley raised the idea of an airport for Surrey at a recent business lunch where Mike Farnworth, B.C.'s transportation minister, was guest speaker, it wasn't some airy notion. The head of the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce had...

GANG COPS MOVED

Surrey's specialized gang officers who collected intelligence and patrolled bars, restaurants and major events attended by gangsters have all been reassigned. Postmedia has learned the move took place in January, before the high-profile slaying Jan....

WEST VAN TAKEN TO TASK

After almost two years of back and forth with West Vancouver over its lack of progress on housing targets, the B.C. government has overridden the municipality and amended parts of its Official Community Plan to allow for greater density along Marine...

BATTLE FOR SPACE SUPREMACY

BEIJING — Walking on the moon by 2030, building a lunar base, and then perhaps on to Mars: after 30 years of honing its expertise, China is challenging the United States' supremacy in space flight. As NASA prepares for its crewed lunar flyby mission,...

WORLD CUP WELCOME KIT

World Cup soccer fans who descend on Vancouver and party it up need to be aware of the potential danger from the province's toxic and unregulated drug supply, a local doctor is warning. Dr. Paxton Bach, a specialist in addiction medicine at St. Paul's...

HOUSE ALMOST AS OLD AS CITY RAVAGED

An Italian restaurant in an old house in east Vancouver has been severely damaged after fire broke out in the residence above the business Wednesday night, Vancouver Fire Rescue Services said. The fire broke out at about 8 p.m., near the intersection...

BAY BUILDS INTEREST

Almost four months after the former Hudson's Bay Company flagship building in downtown Vancouver was put on the market, multiple groups have expressed interest in buying the property, industry sources say. While details are scant, some observers say...

SAFETY GEAR BUILT WITH WOMEN IN MIND

From seatbelts to bike helmets, much of the safety equipment people rely on every day was designed with men in mind. A new undergraduate course at the University of B.C. aims to change that — by teaching students to recognize and address gender gaps...

FAMILY SELLS CENTURY-OLD BUSINESS

MIDWAY — Village Mayor Doug McMynn sits in his office at the family hardware store, poring over a large ancestral tree to make sure he gets the names of his great-granddad James Graham McMynn and his three brothers right. The record starts in 1635 and...

POLICING WITH AI

SAO PAULO, Brazil — In the heart of Sao Paulo, a “prisonometer” keeps a live tally of people jailed due to Latin America's largest AI facial-recognition system, but its successes have been marred by mistaken arrests. The digital counter stands outside...

LOST IN THE MUSEUM

For years, more than two dozen items from Walter (Wee Hong) Louie's military service in the First World War sat tucked away in a drawer at his home in Orillia, Ont. They included a black-leather diary from 1919, a photograph of him in uniform, a bronze...

AERIAL RESCUE

As the B.C. coast continues to be hammered by torrential rains from an atmospheric river, several people were evacuated Thursday by helicopter from their homes in the north end of Coquitlam after a mudslide hit the area. Two people at a property hit...

AI TEST CASE

A University of B.C. student who claims she was falsely accused of using artificial intelligence to cheat on an open-book exam said she feels like her name was “randomly picked out of a hat” by a professor who suspected some students were cheating, but...

BEACH PATROL CUTS

Several Vancouver beaches will be without lifeguards this summer as part of the city's efforts to cut costs. The number of Vancouver beaches patrolled by lifeguards will be halved, from 10 down to five, for this spring and summer season, according to...

COST SAVERS

The cost of gas in Metro Vancouver has tipped over $2 a litre, and there are few signs that global supply tensions caused by the Iran war and chaos in the Strait of Hormuz will ease any time soon. “When there are supply bottlenecks, that will factor...

WAR AND DRUGS

MAE AI, Thailand — Hundreds of thousands of people in northern Thailand have become collateral damage from the civil war in neighbouring Myanmar, turning to drugs as supply through the area rockets on the back of the conflict. The area is part of the...

FOR SOME, THE BEAT GOES ON

Retired Staff Sgt. Cam Lawson missed the breeze in a patrol car, the thrill of a chase, and the rush of moments most people only see on TV. After more than three decades with the Vancouver Police Department, he didn't step away for long. Six months...

A BRIDGE NO MORE

Deconstruction of the 90-year-old Pattullo Bridge is slowly beginning, as evidenced by the gap — about the size of one-third of a football field — on one end of the orange bridge. Over many months, residents and commuters will see the structure...

DUN-DUN... DUN-DUN...

Marine researchers say a 1,000-kilogram great white shark made an “extremely rare” appearance near Vancouver Island this week. It's unusual that a great white shark would travel this far north during the winter, but it could have been following a food...

TRAGEDY AVOIDED

A piece of burning debris falling past a window caught Heidi Heke's attention. Until that moment, it had been an ordinary Monday evening at Chartwell Carrington House, a retirement home in Mission. At 6 p.m., dozens of residents were eating supper in...

PAIN AT THE PUMPS

Prepare for “weeks, if not months” of sticker shock at the gas pumps here and around the world as the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran threatens to keep driving up crude oil prices, warns a UBC energy expert. Werner Antweiler of the University of...

AI HEALTH BOOM

SHANGHAI — Throughout her first pregnancy, Wang Yifan had lots of questions, which she usually put to renowned obstetrician Duan Tao — or rather, an artificial intelligence clone of the Shanghai-based doctor. Duan has created a digital double for...

SUITE SUCCESS

For longtime Vancouver Airbnb host Anne Talbot-Kelly, the 2026 World Cup brings an opportunity to generate extra revenue through something she would be doing anyway. Talbot-Kelly has rented out a spare bedroom in her westside home since 2010. It's...

TAINTED WATERS

B.C. residents have long been warned about the health risks from wildfires from the heavy smoke and poor air quality. Now, University of B.C. researchers are raising another health concern: During a global study, scientists discovered that drinking...

TIDAL RECONNECTION

The Vancouver park board will consider reconnecting Stanley Park's deteriorating Lost Lagoon to tidal waters. On Monday, the board will be presented with the Lost Lagoon reconnection feasibility study, which is backed by the federal government, the...

JUBILATION TURNS INTO CONCERN FOR CIVILIANS

The jubilation felt by Vancouver's Iranian community after learning that Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in military strikes by the U.S. and Israel was short-lived as news emerged of civilian deaths in the country. Early...

PROVINCE SPRINGING AHEAD ONE LAST TIME

This will be the last year clocks spring forward after the B.C. government announced Monday it was making daylight time permanent. The change will take effect Sunday, when clocks move ahead an hour. Permanent daylight time will mean that the typical...

ANTARCTICA SECRETS

In November, scientists arrived at the South Pole in planes outfitted with skis to pull off a construction project seven years in the making. They had a short summer window — November to early February — to drill six new holes at least a 1.5 miles...

A long road with no shortcuts to rebuild

The Core in Four. Sounds like a marketing slogan scripted with fingers crossed. If you're the Vancouver Canucks and trying to sell a long-term rebuild vision, a commitment to patience is of paramount importance to appease a rabid fan base looking for...

CALM RETURNS

On Sunday, Jamie Boratynec of Surrey was crouched behind a door, locked in a Puerto Vallarta hotel bathroom with staff while flashbangs and the sound of gunfire erupted on the streets outside of her hotel. A day after her terrifying ordeal, an eerie...

DETERRING RUSSIA

PUTLOS, Germany — Thousands of NATO troops including from Spain and Turkey joined an exercise last week on Germany's Baltic coast that defence officials labelled a show of readiness to deter Russia. Naval and special forces practised seizing a beach...

NO ANSWERS

More than eight months after a bus jumped a curb near the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, killing a four-year-old Vancouver boy and severely injuring his mother, the family says it is still in search of answers and accountability. “This is not about...

BUCKSKIN GLOVES REVIVED

The first place David Robinson ever saw a man cry was at a boxing club. The boxer got knocked around sparring. The round ended and things moved on. “Tears after wins or losses are not unusual,” said Robinson, who was just a kid at the time. “There...

OVERTIME HERO

MILAN — Lost all your hair yet? Hockey is a game of bounces, you'll be shocked to know. It's all a heart-pounding thrill ride. And there's just something about Canadian male hockey players taking on the Czechs that makes for non-stop tension. Often...

TAX HIKE COMING

B.C.'s finance minister delivered a budget Tuesday that includes billions in new taxes and cuts to the public sector, even as the deficit and provincial debt climb to new highs. Brenda Bailey said the measures were necessary to reduce the deficit over...

SPECULATIVE TAX

A Richmond resident who was hit a few years ago with the speculation and vacancy tax only to have the charges reversed says the province has issued new liens against his property. It's a case that has left Tony Chan exasperated, confused and...

KILLER WAS `HUNTING'

The two police officers who were first through the doors of Tumbler Ridge Secondary on Tuesday faced gunfire as they made their way up a flight of stairs to the library. In an update Friday, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said police believe...

`BESTIES FOREVER'

Thursday marked the beginning of the spring session of the B.C. legislature, but the traditional speech from the throne outlining government priorities was cancelled. Instead, Lieutenant-governor Wendy Cocchia read the following brief speech about the...

`PLEASE PRAY FOR MY BABY'

Eight people were killed and 27 injured in a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, in northeastern B.C. on Feb. 10. The 18-year-old suspect appears to have shot herself, RCMP said.

`HE WAS A LEGEND'

Jim Robson was the best of us. The Vancouver Canucks' first playby-play man upon their entry into the NHL in 1970 until his retirement in 1999, remains the benchmark voice of the franchise, the soundtrack for generations of hockey fans in B.C. His...

COLD-WATER RESCUE

After getting lost on the Baden Powell Trail in North Vancouver last week, Haksung Lee found his way to a rocky shore. He purloined a kayak in the hopes of paddling down Indian Arm to get back to his car, parked in front of Honey Doughnuts in Deep...

AI MOVES TO SPACE

NEW YORK — Elon Musk has vowed to upend another industry just as he did with cars and rockets — and once again he's taking on long odds. The world's richest man said he wants to put as many as a million satellites into orbit to form vast,...

CANADA ON THE PODIUM

MILAN — Canadian speedskater Valérie Maltais said she promised herself she would take two years to get in the best shape possible and become the best skater she possibly could before hanging up her skates for the final time. On Saturday, her gruelling...

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Brodie and Riley Seger aren't just skiing for medals at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. They're skiing for their dad Mark, their mom Patricia, and for hope. The North Vancouver brothers will compete for Canada in the downhill and super-G events. When...

FIREWORKS REVIVED

Fireworks will erupt over English Bay again this summer, after Vancouver council voted on Wednesday to spend up to $2 million for a oneday fireworks event. Fireworks erupted in council as well, as opposition councillors questioned spending so much...

`NEW NORMAL' BUDGET

British Columbians are being warned to brace themselves for possible large cuts to government spending that could be coming to programs and supports for families, seniors and those with mental-health or substance-use challenges, with advocates saying...