Issues

The numbers are disturbing. In Canada suicide claims the lives of more than 3,500 people each year. In 2010, over 450 deaths in B.C. were attributed to suicide. Hospitalization due to self harming and suicidal behavioursis even more common. Between 2010-2011, there were over 2,800 self-inflicted injuries that required hospitalization in B.C.; some involved children as young as 10 years old.

Ed. Note: The following is a press release issued by the BC SPCA:

Bob Fawcett, former general manager of the Whistler-based Howling Dog Tours, pleaded guilty today to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to a number of sled dogs near Whistler in April 2010.  In April 2012, Fawcett was charged with one count of animal cruelty under Section 445.1(1) following an extensive BC SPCA investigation. A sentencing date is scheduled for November 22, 2012. 

A wildfire that may have started from a burning structure is being contained on Fife Road in Christina Lake this evening.

Christina Lake Fire Rescue Department, the Southeast Fire Centre and the Grand Forks Fire Rescue have been fighting back the estimated 1 hectacre fire since about 5 p.m. this afternoon, Monday, Aug. 27.

"The fire is one hundred per cent boxed in," said Karlie Shaughnessy, fire information officer with the Southeast Fire Centre, at 8:30 p.m.

North Vancouver primary teacher Ian Cunliffe spent the past weekend running through the Boundary as part of his 22 Marathons Against Bill 22 campaign across B.C.

He is running the width of the province over 22 days as a public protest against Bill 22, which was recently introduced in the provincial legislature in response to the year-long labour dispute between the government and the B.C. Teachers' Federation. Teachers are concerned that the new bill will create more over-crowded classrooms with even less resources.