Vancouver city council voted Tuesday to amend health bylaws to allow for indoor supervised drug inhalation at two sites, expanding access to the harm-reduction measure for people who smoke illicit substances.

The decision clears one of the final hurdles for the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS to operate public supervised smoking and inhalation booths at its Hope to Health clinic in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It also enables Vancouver Coastal Health to pilot an indoor inhalation booth at a supportive housing building, exclusively for residents.

A B.C. wildfire that came within metres of homes and triggered a local state of emergency in Squamish is now being held.

The BC Wildfire Service said late Saturday that the Dryden Creek wildfire, which ignited last Monday, is projected to remain within its current perimeter based on forest fuel, weather conditions and resource availability.

Canada’s fentanyl czar says he is “singularly focused” on disrupting the flow of the synthetic opioid, regardless of U.S. efforts to weaponize trade policy over debunked claims that it is pouring south across the border.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Globe and Mail, Kevin Brosseau said evidence shows that Canada is not the provenance of the illicit fentanyl being seized stateside – despite President Donald Trump using that as a basis to justify some of his tariffs.

British Columbia’s Energy Minister has shut down the idea of a new pipeline in the province, citing the impracticality and massive costs associated with such a proposal.

Adrian Dix’s comments follow Monday’s first ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon, in which talk of “nation-building” energy projects dominated. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been pushing for the revival of the Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would have moved bitumen from Alberta to the northern coast of B.C.

Raging wildfires that have forced mass evacuations and triggered states of emergency in two Canadian provinces have led to renewed calls for a federal agency responsible for fire management and emergency co-ordination.

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs has advocated for a national fire administration for close to a decade, its calls increasing in urgency after the country experienced its most destructive wildfire season on record in 2023.

Volunteers working with thousands of Manitobans forced from their homes owing to encroaching wildfires are scrambling to find accommodations for evacuees, with some leaving the province for the first time to shelter as far away as Niagara Falls, Ont.

First Nations leaders say that lodging is severely limited in Winnipeg, leaving those without other options to sleep on cots in converted arenas and stadiums – inadequate arrangements for elders and those with serious medical conditions.

Out-of-control wildfires in western and central Canada have triggered states of emergency in two provinces and forced thousands to flee their homes as officials warn that warm and windy weather could intensify fire behaviour in the days ahead.

More than 160 wildfires burned across the country on Thursday, with dozens spanning from northwestern Ontario through to the northern regions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Kim Nguyen Chi, who led BC Cancer through a period of tension and transition as the provincial agency sought to tackle growing wait times and adapt to the increasing demands of the future, is resigning from his leadership roles.

Dr. Chi is set to step down as chief medical officer and executive vice-president of BC Cancer at the end of May, after six years at the helm. After taking personal time, he will return to his clinical practice, and to leading a prostate cancer research program in Vancouver on July 2.