B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Relatives and neighbours of the Indian family who froze to death near the Canada-U.S. border last week said the father repeatedly failed to secure better paid jobs in recent years, prompting them to take a risky trip aided by an illegal migrant network.
The deaths amid sub-zero temperatures, described as a "mind blowing" tragedy by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, have cast a spotlight on the economic pressures and human smuggling operations in Indian premier Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat.
Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishali and their two children aged 11 and 3, were trying to enter the U.S. illegally when they got caught in a blizzard and froze to death in Manitoba on Jan. 19, Canadian and Indian authorities said in a statement.
The victims, residents of Dingucha village in Gujarat, had left their ancestral home this month after they incurred severe financial losses while operating a small retail shop and were unable to make ends meet from their farm income.
"The couple felt they were struggling to run their home and the kids needed better education...they decided to leave India because they failed to find a good job here," said Sanjay Patel, a cousin of the victim who lives in Dingucha, home to more than 1,200 families.
Despite being a highly industrialized state, thousands of locals from Gujarat leave for the United States and Canada looking for better opportunities.
More than 2,000 residents of the village have migrated to the United States in the last 10 years, mainly working at gas stations, malls and restaurants, said Patel who is also a member of the village's self-governing council.
"People from our village and neighbouring areas believe prosperous lives can become a reality when we go abroad," said Patel, adding that three temples, two bank buildings, two schools and a medical center were funded by villagers living overseas.
"We are in state of shock after the incident but the government has not built our village, its only our people living in America who send money to establish better services here," he said.
Posters of travel and immigration agents advertising what they described as easy U.S., U.K. and Canadian visa facilities are pasted on several walls of the village square, where locals on Friday gathered to mourn the loss.
The U.S. authorities charged a Florida man, Steve Shand, with human trafficking after the four -- a man, a woman, a baby and a teenager - were found dead in Manitoba, a few yards north of the border with Minnesota.
The Indian police said they had detained 13 travel agents and were investigating the case to unearth illegal immigration networks running across Gujarat, a highly industrialized state with an influential diaspora based overseas.
An Indian police official investigating the case said the deceased Patel was one among tens of thousands of locals who immigrate to the West as they are reluctant to take up menial jobs which they consider beneath their social standing.
"The Patel community has historically chosen to settle abroad but now we are seeing increased number of cases where people are willing to sell their land, gold just to find a way to live in Canada or America," said the official, Ajay Parmar.
"Everyone wants better jobs and those are not easily available in India," he said.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.