--B-C Update--

(Wildfires-BC) (WATCH FOR DATING)

Residents in Fort Nelson are able to go home today after being evacuated for more than two weeks due to wildfires.

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and the Fort Nelson First Nation will jointly rescind their evacuation orders at 8 a-m today, lift roadblocks and allow people to return.

About 47-hundred residents were evacuated from Fort Nelson on May 10th, when strong winds pushed the Parker Lake wildfire within a few kilometres of the town.

The area is expected to remain under evacuation alert due to wildfires that are still burning.

(The Canadian Press)

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(BC-Plane Crash)

The R-C-M-P says two people have died after a plane crash near Squamish on Friday.

Police say they were able to access the remote area located south of Squamish on the west side of Howe Sound via air.

They confirmed on the scene that two occupants of the plane did not survive.

Officers are working with the Transportation Safety Board and the B-C Coroners Service to determine the cause of the crash.

(The Canadian Press)

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(BC-Messi)

Soccer fans who did not get a chance to see star Lionel Messi (LEE'-oh-nel MESS'-ee) play against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday.

Now they are being offered a free ticket to another regular-season game this year.

Saturday marked the first-ever M-L-S game between Vancouver and Messi's Inter Miami but the Argentinian soccer star did not travel to Canada to play with the team.

Miami is currently the top team in the Major League Soccer standings.

Coaching staff says the decision to keep some players home, including Messi, was based on the club's upcoming schedule.

The earliest Miami could visit Vancouver again during the regular season would be in 2026.

(CTV/The Canadian Press)

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(BC-School-Phones)

The possibility of restricting cellphones in Vancouver’s public schools is on the agenda for today's school board meeting.

A motion coming before the board suggests students in kindergarten through Grade 6 be required to keep phones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day unless they get explicit permission from an educator.

A policy for middle and high schools is not spelled out but the motion would direct the superintendent to have policies proposed and a plan for implementation in place by July 1st.

The province announced earlier this year that districts would be required to have “appropriate” policies in place limiting students’ use of devices by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

(CTV)

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(BC-WWF)

Hundreds of people climbed the stairs at Vancouver's B-C Place yesterday as part of a fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund Canada.

It was the first time that the annual Climb for Nature fundraiser took place in Vancouver.

Participants had the option of raising money by climbing either once or twice around the bowl, which equalled either three-thousand or six-thousand steps.

W-W-F Canada's annual Climb for Nature began in Toronto over 30 years ago, with people climbing the C-N Tower's one-thousand-776 steps.

(The Canadian Press)

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(B-C Update by The Canadian Press)

The Canadian Press