Latest news with #LowerMainland
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Suspect in Surrey, B.C., stabbing identified, remains at large
Dino Sadi is believed to be in the Lower Mainland region. He is considered dangerous and should not be approached, according to authorities. (Handout) Police in Surrey, B.C., have identified a man who is wanted in connection with a stabbing in the city earlier this month. The Surrey Police Service says 43-year-old Dino Sadi remains at large after he was charged with multiple offences, including assault with a weapon, uttering threats and assault causing bodily harm. Police responded to the reported stabbing near the 10900 block of 148 Street on July 14. The suspect fled the area before officers arrived, and the victim was transported to hospital for treatment. 'Investigators believe this was an isolated incident between two parties who were previously known to one another,' the Surrey police said in news release Monday. Sadi is believed to be in the Lower Mainland region. He is considered dangerous and should not be approached, according to authorities. Sadi is described as a Black man standing approximately 6' tall and weighing 180 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes, according to investigators. Anyone who sees Sadi is urged to contact their local police immediately. Anyone with information on his whereabouts can contact the Surrey Police Service at 604-599-0502.
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Farmers welcome 'buy local' boost, but still worry about tariff threats
Some Lower Mainland farmers say they are noticing a push to buy local produce this summer. While they welcome the move, they say the industry needs more support to overcome the threat posed by U.S. tariffs. Sohrab Sandhu reports.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Ridge to push temperatures 10+ degrees above seasonal in B.C.
Prepare for extreme heat to build into southern British Columbia over the next couple of days as a substantial ridge of high pressure parks across the province. Temperatures are set to soar more than 10 degrees above seasonal in some communities as the heat builds through the middle of the week. Given the forecast and what's already fallen, it's safe to say that this is going to turn out to be one of the driest Julys on record for many locations across the South Coast. DON'T MISS: Temperatures soar as ridge settles over B.C. Extreme heat will arrive Tuesday and Wednesday as a hefty upper-level ridge settles over the province. Tuesday will feature temperatures in the upper 20s near the water, with 30 degrees possible just inland across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Locations across the Interior will come in 4-6 degrees warmer, with readings surging into the lower to mid-30s. Wednesday will come in even warmer, with temperatures easily surpassing 30 degrees within just a few hundred metres of the beaches, with widespread readings in the middle to upper 30s throughout the central and southern Interior. RELATED: Heat affects everyone. Vulnerable people are especially susceptible to heat-related illnesses, including those with chronic health conditions and folks living without air conditioning. Be sure to check on your elderly family, friends, and neighbours. The hot and dry weather will also pose a risk for increased wildfire activity throughout the region. One of the driest Julys on record This is typically Vancouver's driest month of the year—but the lack of rain over the past couple of weeks is truly exceptional. Vancouver has only seen 17 mm of rain this month, compared to the 34.1 mm of rain that falls in the city during a typical July. Victoria measured only 0.2 mm of precipitation this month, making it the second-driest July on record. The city, which averages 19.5 mm of rain in a normal July, has gone completely rain-free five times during the month. Victoria's most recent rainless July occurred in 2021. Comox hasn't seen a soaking rain since 10 mm fell on May 19. This month will end as the seventh-driest July on record there, with only 2 mm of precipitation in the gauges compared to the normal total of 23.8 mm. Stay with The Weather Network for all the latest on conditions across British Columbia. WATCH: Are heat waves becoming more likely in Canada? Click here to view the video
CTV News
5 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
2 small wildfires burning out of control in B.C.'s Lower Mainland
A small wildfire burning within the Mission Municipal Forest is seen. (Courtesy: City of Mission) Crews are tackling two small wildfires that ignited during a lightning event in B.C.'s Lower Mainland this week. Both are classified as out of control. The first is located on Mount Crickmer near the City of Mission, discovered on Wednesday afternoon. The spot fire is burning in 'extremely steep and inaccessible terrain,' B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Julia Caranci told CTV News. An attack crew will deploy to the area Friday to draw up an action plan. The other fire, which sparked the same day, is burning west of Harrison Hot Springs and is an estimated 0.7 hectares in size. Caranci said a 22-person crew was assigned to the fire Friday. She said no structures or infrastructure are threatened by either blaze, nor is public safety an issue. Of the 69 active wildfires in B.C., seven were classified as out of control as of Friday morning. Related: Full coverage of B.C.'s 2025 wildfire season
CBC
6 days ago
- CBC
Controversial so-called street preachers charged with hate crimes in British Columbia
A pair of so-called street preachers known for verbally harassing women in Ontario are now facing hate crime charges in relation to allegations they interfered with worshippers at two churches in B.C.'s Lower Mainland last fall. According to court documents obtained by CBC News, Steven Ravbar and Matthew Carapella are accused of mischief "motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression" for a pair of incidents dating back to a Sunday in November 2024. The pair — whose beliefs trace back to an apocalyptic American preacher — last made headlines in 2022 when they were convicted of public nuisance in London, Ont., for assailing women with comments on how they should behave and dress. They now appear to be living in a hotel in Langley, B.C. — the address both Ravbar and Carapella gave on release documents signed last weekend after a first appearance in provincial court. 'It's obviously concerning' According to a Surrey Police Service spokesperson, the investigation began as a Surrey RCMP file on Nov. 3 when officers were called to two churches in the Cloverdale area. Ravbar and Carapella were accused of causing a disturbance by trying to enter the Sonrise and Hillside churches. "It appears that they went into these places of worship and espoused views based on bias against someone's gender and their religious belief and that interrupted the proceedings in the churches," Sgt. Tige Pollock told CBC News. Pollock said investigators consulted with B.C.'s provincial hate crimes unit before drawing up charge recommendations, which were ultimately approved by Crown last month. "It's obviously concerning," Pollock said. "People live in Canada because they enjoy certain freedoms, and one of those is freedom of religious worship. And so it's very concerning when someone decides to take their hate or biased opinion to a place of worship where people should feel safe." Ravbar and Carapella are charged under Section 430(4.1) of the Criminal Code — one of a number of offences targeting hate crimes, which the RCMP define as criminal acts "against a person or property that is motivated in whole or in part by hate or bias against an identifiable group." Consideration of a hate-based motivation would come into play during sentencing if the charges were to result in a conviction. The offence is punishable by a prison term of up to 10 years. According to court documents, both men were released pending trial on promises to stay away from Hillside and Sonrise churches and "not to go to any church or property while services are being conducted unless ... registered as a member of that specific congregation." Their next court appearance is Aug. 1. 'A total perversion' Ravbar and Carapella first made headlines in Ontario almost a decade ago when they drew complaints from London residents for standing on street corners and berating passersby through an amplifier. According to a CBC story from 2017, Carapella was heard telling a woman wearing pants that her attire was "a total perversion in God's eyes." He also admitted to confronting any passerby who he thought might be gay, calling them an "abomination." The men were accused of disrupting services at various churches in the London area and the pastor at one chapel said he had to get a trespass order against Ravbar and Carapella after they confronted him and harassed female parishioners, who they called "whores." At that point, women told CBC News that Carapella and Ravbar berated them for wearing a skirt or makeup, or having a short hair cut. London's mayor said their behaviour amounted to gender discrimination. The next year, the two men were arrested during a trip to Louisiana, where police said they were asked to leave at least three churches after disrupting services in the city of Shreveport. In 2019, back in London, Carapella and Ravbar were charged under the city's public nuisance bylaw. They were ultimately convicted and fined a collective $7,250. 'The world is about to end' Coverage of Ravbar and Carapella caught the attention of John Collins, who runs an organization dedicated to exposing the hateful legacy of William Branham, the American doomsday evangelist whose sermons appear to have served as inspiration for the street preachers. In the years after the Second World War, Branham influenced a movement called Latter Rain that increasingly deviated from mainstream Christianity. During his career, Branham had connections to the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Jones, who led more than 900 of his followers to kill themselves in Guyana in a mass suicide known as the Jonestown Massacre. Collins — who is based out of Jeffersonville, Ind. — rejected his own family's embrace of Branham's teachings. "The belief system is that the world is about to end. Females are the cause of its destruction and it is closely tied to hate groups and hate ideology," Collins told the CBC this week. "This movement does not recruit by normal means. You won't find advertisements or publications to join the cult. Instead what happens is it either recruits by producing offspring through marriage, or you have these splinter cells that emerge because of Branham's recordings." According to a London Free Press profile, Carapella — who is now 38 — was a former Western University football player with a good job in his family's development business when he decided to forsake his previous life and devote himself to God after waking up one day with a hangover. Ravbar, who turned 57 last week, was Carapella's Grade 7 teacher. In 2017, Carapella told CBC News that the older man introduced him to recordings of Branham's sermons. "The first sermon I heard by brother Branham, I rejoiced," Carapella said. "That's what I've been searching for my whole life." The two men now appear to live in a chain hotel in the centre of Langley, where a front desk clerk told CBC News they had been staying for an extended period of time. Ravbar and Carapella did not respond to a note left at the hotel by a CBC reporter, and a clerk later said the two men did not want any further contact from the media. Collins described the men as a "cell" of two. "When I see this with Steven Ravbar and Matthew Carapella, I'm saddened for them in that they probably can't help what they're doing — they're under the mind control," he said.
