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VICTORIA — An increase in provincial government funding will allow the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal to not only clear a logjam of cases, but to modernize the process, the chair of the tribunal says.

VANCOUVER — The agency that handles most emergency calls in British Columbia has announced 2022 was its busiest year, but along with managing life-saving communications, EComm says it is still receiving an unacceptable number of senseless calls.

"Still a lot of work to do."

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government is boosting the homeowner grant threshold to $2.125 million for this year as average property values increase by 12 per cent. The government says in a statement that resetting the threshold from $1.

On Jan. 31, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ will become the first jurisdiction in the country to start what will be a three-year experiment on decriminalization allowing drug users aged 18 and over to carry a combined 2.5 grams of opioids, as well as cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA.

VANCOUVER — A 70-year-old man has died following a house fire on New Year's Eve in East Vancouver. Matthew Trudeau, public information officer with the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, says crews were called to the home just before 9 p.m.

A routine checkup on New Year’s Eve morning led to a decision to induce labour.

VICTORIA — Police in Victoria are looking for more potential victims or witnesses after a man was arrested for a series of assaults in the city's downtown where women were allegedly splashed with a burning liquid.

Passengers say police were pacing the aisles and checking mobile phones.

British Columbia's health minister says he supports Ottawa's decision to temporarily require people flying from China, Hong Kong and Macao to test negative for COVID-19 before leaving for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, beginning in early January.