The British government is temporarily stopping people from joining the extremely long line to file past Queen Elizabeth’s coffin. A live tracker of the queue said it was “at capacity” and entry was being paused until mid-afternoon as the wait for those at the back hit 14 hours. King Charles returns to London later today and will briefly stand vigil at his late mother’s coffin in the evening with his three siblings. All eight of the queen’s grandchildren will do the same tomorrow.
A man has been seriously hurt after a shooting in Cloverdale. The RCMP says officers were called to the area of Angus Place, west of 172 Street, around 5:30 a.m. yesterday for reports that a man was hurt, a 35-year-old was found shot. The man was taken to the hospital with what have been described as serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has decided not to require private, regulated health professionals to be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s in contrast to workers in the health-care system including hospital, community and residential care workers who will continue to be required to be vaccinated unless granted an exemption. The Ministry of Health says Henry updated two orders on Monday to bring them into line with each other and be consistent with a previous order on health professionals’ vaccination status. The ministry says they continue to apply to people working for health authorities in B-C, but don’t cover regulated health professionals who don’t work in those settings, such as dentists, naturopaths and opticians.
Some Canadian experts are warning it’s premature to declare the COVID-19 pandemic over after the head of the World Health Organization said the end is in sight. He said this week that the number of COVID-19 deaths worldwide in the last week reached the lowest point since the pandemic’s onset. But an assistant professor at the University of Toronto — says the pandemic is still leading to excess death and a labour shortage that’s further straining Canada’s health-care system.
Lululemon founder and billionaire Chip Wilson is donating $100 million to the B.C. Parks Foundation to help protect and enhance the province’s nature. The donation, which was announced at an event held in Vancouver’s Stanley Park on Thursday, will be made through the Wilson 5 Foundation. The announcement comes a day after the billionaire founder of Patagonia said he is giving away the company to a trust that will use its profit to tackle climate change.
Nearly 200 lives were lost to the toxic drug crisis in B.C. in July. Based on preliminary reporting, the province says at least 192 people died that month, marking a 31 per cent increase over June 2022. The Province says Once again, no deaths were reported at supervised consumption or drug overdose prevention sites. Over the summer, the BC Coroners Service revealed that more than 10,000 people had died since 2016, when the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency in B.C.