A Vancouver Island First Nation says it has been listening to the calls of the orphaned calf that has been stuck in a Vancouver Island lagoon since March and her vocalizations are heartbreaking. The Ehattesaht (eh-HAT’-eh-sat) First Nation says people have been using a hydrophone in the water to see the calf’s condition and her calls have been tugging at heartstrings. The First Nation says the calf seems to be holding up well, showing signs of energy after being seen breaching out of the lagoon surface for the first time on the weekend and slapping its tail on the water. The federal Fisheries Department says its whale experts will be working with the nation on a plan to rescue the young orca.
BC is moving ahead with the transition of an independent police service in Surrey after the mayor and council refused to give up the RCMP. Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth says a plan is in place for the continued transition to the independent Surrey Police Service and more details on how that will work will be released next week. Farnworth says the province will use 150-million dollars to support the transition directly until it is completed and any additional costs will end up passing on to the people of Surrey. Mayor Brenda Locke says the Surrey Police Service is eating into the city’s ability to deliver new projects and she will stand up for the best interests of the city’s taxpayers.
Mounties in Nanaimo are asking for help from witnesses after a 15 year old girl was assaulted last month. Police say the incident happened on March 21st and left the girl with non life threatening injuries after being struck with a baton by someone she knew. RCMP arrested a minor for the assault on March 22nd and police say she also sustained minor injuries from a “bladed weapon.” People who witnessed the alternation are encouraged to come forward as police say they believe someone caught the incident on video.
A Pitt Meadows man is prohibited from hunting for a year and ordered to pay more than seven-thousand-300 dollars after killing two black bears in his yard. BC Conservation Services say Christian Hall pleaded guilty in December to one count of killing wildlife not within open season and one count of attracting dangerous wildlife to land or premises under the Wildlife Act. The service say it received a report of a dead black bear lying in the field in Pitt Meadows in May 2022 and when an officer responded to the location and began an investigation, a resident admitted to shooting two bears in his yard. The service says Hall was sentenced on Friday and six-thousand dollars of the total fine will be paid to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
BC’s police watchdog says it has been deployed to Courtenay, where a man was injured during a standoff with RCMP. The Independent Investigations Office of BC says information provided by the Mounties in Comox Valley shows that they responded to a call on Sunday about a man causing a disturbance at a residence in Courtenay. The office says during the arrest, the man sustained a “serious but not life-threatening injury.” It also says it will look into what happened during the incident, and whether police action or inaction was necessary, reasonable and proportionate.
A groundwater expert says drought is exposing cracks in how BC manages water when it’s scarce. Hydrogeologist Mike Wei helped develop BC’s Water Sustainability Act that marked the start of the province’s efforts to regulate groundwater in 2016. But Wei, who’s since retired from the public service, says the province is now dealing with half a century of neglect at a time when all signs point to continued drought this summer. BC’s minister for land, water and resource stewardship, Nathan Cullen, says drought wasn’t always front of mind in the province and it is establishing additional community-based groups this spring with a focus on addressing data gaps.