British Columbia’s Opposition leader says community safety should come before protection of privacy rights for dangerous people.  The public should know who is living in their community, BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said on Thursday after introducing proposed private-member’s legislation to automatically stop people convicted of dangerous offences from legally changing their names.  He said […]

After over seven months of meetings being on hold, BC Ferries will be moving back to in-person engagement.  Virtual ferry advisory committee (FAC) meetings will begin in May, and in-person meetings will resume in June, said an April 19 press release. Last summer, BC Ferries experienced several incidents where there were concerns raised about staff […]

The British Columbia government tabled legislation Thursday that’s designed to hold public bodies accountable for addressing systemic racism in policy and programs, the province’s attorney general said. Niki Sharma said the proposed law would cover provincial ministries, agencies, health-care and social service providers, and require the development of a public action plan using data the […]

Deep Water Recovery, the company taking apart derelict vessels in Union Bay, has been hit with a pollution abatement order from the province.  The company is illegally allowing toxic effluent to run off into Baynes Sound and the marine environment, B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has found.  Discharges from the ship-breaking operations […]

Small drug seizures in Vancouver dropped at a “dramatic” rate after decriminalization came into effect in British Columbia, the city’s police department says.  Insp. Phil Heard, who oversees the department’s drug unit, told a news conference Tuesday that reports that claimed otherwise are “patently false.” Researchers Tyson Singh and Liam Michaud wrote an article about […]

The British Columbia government is warning people about a scam involving its PayBC website, where an “identical fake website” is collecting personal and credit card information.  The PayBC site gives residents a secure place to pay their bills or for services from the provincial government, but it says it has become aware of phishing attempts […]

On Monday morning, Vancouver Park Board employees erected a blue fence around a homeless encampment in CRAB Park — separating residents from their shelters and belongings. As park rangers and police began preparing the site to be cleared, residents of the camp on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ territories watched from outside the newly constructed barrier. […]

A woman who blew the whistle about Facebook ignoring potential harms to users of the social media platform says proposed laws by Canada and B.C. have promise to hold tech companies to account for profiting off harmful content.  Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, says big tech companies such as Facebook’s parent company Meta […]

Police in Victoria say they are looking into digital alternatives after another lost notebook resulted in a privacy breach affecting 54 people. The latest case happened in February when an officer serving a search warrant mistakenly left a notebook at the scene. Police say the notebook containing the personal information of 54 people was in […]

This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. ___ Disasters serve as focusing events, providing a “window of opportunity” to reassess practices, propose new policies and animate the human decisions that make communities vulnerable […]

BC Ferries has launched a bid to build up to seven green flagship vessels but climate groups are urging the company to abandon liquified natural gas to fuel ships and speed electrification of its fleet to reach its emissions targets.  The ferry service recently revealed it has teamed up with a naval architectural firm to […]

An RCMP investigation has revealed a possible privacy breach for thousands of employees who worked or work at a health authority in British Columbia’s Interior.  Interior Health says police contacted them in January about finding a document during its investigation that contained everything from social insurance numbers to home addresses for about 20,000 people. The […]