British Columbia

Technical Safety BC has released some shocking video of an explosion last year at an electric vehicle charging station in Hope B.C.

In a report, the organization said a driver was trying to charge his Tesla at a non-Tesla EV charger.

A short circuit between the owner’s charging adapter and the provided cable caused an arc flash, knocking the driver to the ground. A person can be seen getting out of the passenger seat of the car following the explosion.

The driver suffered minor injuries, and the adapter was destroyed, according to Technical Safety BC.

The report blamed several factors for the explosion, including the aftermarket adapter that was used.

The driver said he had used it many times without issue but it was not certified in Canada, nor approved by Tesla, the report found.

Bill says that ban on cryptocurrency connections will be permanent, AI companies will have to bid for power

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5200444

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British Columbia proposed legislation to limit how much electricity will be available to artificial intelligence data centers, and moved to permanently ban new cryptocurrency mining projects.

The government of Canada’s third-most populous province will prioritize connections to its power grid for other purposes like mines and natural gas facilities because they provide more jobs and revenue for people in BC, the energy ministry said Monday.

“Other jurisdictions have been challenged to address electricity demands from emerging sectors and, in many cases, have placed significant rate increases on the backs of ratepayers,” the department said Monday.

That’s a reference to US states like Virginia and Maryland, where a proliferation of the power-hungry data centers needed for AI appears to be pushing up citizens’ power bills, according to a Bloomberg analysis. BC “is receiving significant requests for power” from these industries, Energy Minister Adrian Dix said at a press conference.

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Amnesty International Canada says it will have representatives in a Smithers, B.C., courtroom this week to witness sentencing hearings for three people convicted for blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

“We don't believe that they should be on trial in the first place,” said Mary Kapron, a researcher at Amnesty International.

Sleydo, also known as Molly Wickham, a wing chief of the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet'suwet'en family ties and Corey Jocko, who is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, were found guilty of criminal contempt in January 2024.

They were arrested in November 2021 at a blockade on Wet’suwet’en traditional territory for breaking a 2019 injunction against people blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Coastal GasLink was building the 670-kilometre pipeline to carry natural gas across northern British Columbia to a terminal in Kitimat, B.C., for export to Asia. The company signed benefit agreements with 20 elected band councils along the project's route in 2018, but several Wet'suwet'en hereditary leaders refused to allow the pipeline to cross their territory.

Kapron said the injunction was too broad and not in line with international human rights law, as it restricted the Indigenous rights of the accused.

“We consider that the three defenders who are on trial were undertaking peaceful actions to protect Wet’suwet’en territory against pipeline construction,” said Kapron.

“They weren't doing anything violent, they weren't doing anything dangerous. And so for all these reasons, Amnesty believes that the injunction itself violates international law. Any sort of criminal prosecution and then any sort of criminal sentence… we believe, also violates international law.”

WARNING: The details in this story are disturbing; discretion is advised.

It has been 43 years, but the memory of what happened to Shelley Boden’s family still brings tears to her eyes.

In August of 1982, David Shearing, who now goes by David Ennis, shot grandparents George and Edith Bentley and parents Bob and Jackie Johnson as they camped just outside Wells Gray Provincial Park in Clearwater.

He then abducted the Johnsons’ 13- and 11-year-old daughters, Janet and Karen, and spent several days torturing and sexually assaulting them before killing them.

He then put all six bodies into the Johnsons’ car and set it on fire.

After a long, cross-Canada investigation, Ennis was arrested and later pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree murder.

In 1984, he was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years.

He was last denied parole in 2021 for the fourth time.

The new facility has space for equipment storage and maintenance, including vehicles like this Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV), also known as a side-by-side. North Peace Search and Rescue have outfitted this model with durable tracks for snow and mud, with a rack inside capable of suspending a patient in a rescue basket stretcher. (Tom Summer/CBC)