Canada News
What’s making news in British Columbia
BC hydro wants higher rates
B.C. residents are facing higher electricity bills starting in April.
BC Hydro is applying to the B.C. Utilities Commission for an interim one-year rate hike that would add an average of $4 to each customer’s bill.
CEO Jessica MacDonald says the four-per-cent increase is consistent with the 10-year rate plan introduced by the provincial government in 2013.
Court of Appeal rejects extradition
In a split decision, the B.C. Appeal Court has tossed out an extradition order against two family members accused in connection to the murder of a woman in India.
The order was overturned on concerns the mother and uncle of 25-year-old Jassi Sidhu could be tortured.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered the extradition of Malkit Sidhu and Surjit Badesha of Maple Ridge to India in 2014 after finding there was enough evidence for them to face trial in the death of Sidhu’s daughter, who had married against her family’s wishes.
The appeal court says India’s assurances about violence against prisoners are empty because of the country’s record of human rights abuses.
Woman arrested after accusations of racial slurs at Skytrain station
Transit police in Vancouver have arrested a woman accused of shouting racial slurs at the Granville SkyTrain station and assaulting a woman who tried to intervene.
Police originally said two women who were harassing non-Caucasian passengers last September attacked a third woman who asked them to stop, leaving her with cuts, bruises, a black eye and injuries to her arm.
A 25-year-old woman from Coquitlam has been charged with assault causing bodily harm.
A second suspect has been located but will not be charged.
Company cleared of contempt of court allegation
Two B.C. asbestos contractors and their firm alleged to have disobeyed a court order to follow WorkSafeBC regulations have been found not guilty of contempt of court.
Mike Singh, his son Shawn and their company, Seattle Environmental Consulting, were accused of not following regulations intended to protect workers from exposure to asbestos.
But B.C. Supreme Court Justice George Macintosh says the Workers Compensation Act is complex and daunting to the untrained eye, and a 2012 court order against the two men didn’t specify clearly enough how to follow it.
The judge stopped short of overturning that initial court order, as requested by the Singhs.
Woman killed in crash identified
The Coroners Service has released the name of a woman who was killed in a two-vehicle accident north of Enderby earlier this week.
Fifty-nine-year-old year old Marilyn Martynuik of Armstrong was the lone occupant of a car that collided with a pickup truck north of the community Tuesday morning.
Martynuik died at the scene while two people in the truck suffered non-fatal injuries.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the Coroners Service and the RCMP.
Woman who walked 18 kilometres found safe
A 71-year-old woman who was reported missing by Vancouver police has been found safe.
Police in Port Moody report Olga Deutschmann had been found.
In a tweet, they say she had walked 18 kilometres in 19 hours.
