@chek.news Esquimalt crews are investigating and a business owner is reeling after a fire badly damaged a local bakery Wednesday morning, leaving many people out of a job. “It’s a loss of employment for so many people. It’s been kind of like a primary income for so many, so I don’t know what to say at this point,” said Jagdeep Bunet, one of the owners of Rising Star Wholesale Bakery, which is now shuttered. “It’s emotional. All of our clients, our customers who are relying on us.” #News #CHEKNews #Esquimalt #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada #Fire #Bakery #BakeryFire #RisingStar #RisingStarBakery ♬ original sound - CHEK

@chek.news Effective June 1, 2024, B.C.’s lowest-paid workers will get a pay raise when the general minimum wage increases from $16.75 an hour to $17.40 an hour. “This represents about a 3.9 per cent increase which is consistent with B.C.’s average rate of inflation for 2023. We amended the Employment Standards Act to tie the minimum wage increases to the rate of inflation,” said Harry Bains, labour minister. “This year and every year thereafter, it is a law now, every June 1 of every year, the minimum wage automatically will be increased by the average rate of inflation in the previous year.” #News #CHEKNews #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia #MinimumWage #MinimumWageIncrease #Wage #Inflation #LivingWage #HarryBains ♬ original sound - CHEK

@chek.news The Victoria Humane Society is desperately looking for a new property to accommodate an overflow of abandoned animals. With so many unwanted pets, staff say things are at a breaking point. People come to the shelter looking to surrender their animals but are turned away daily. “The animal shelter is in a state I’ve never seen before. The rescues are overflowing, everybody has to say, ‘No, everybody has too many animals,'” says Penny Stone, executive director of the Victoria Humane Society. #News #CHEKNews #Victoria #CRD #CapitalRegionalDistrict #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada #Animal #AnimalRescue #VictoriaHumaneSociety #AnimalSurrender #Adopt ♬ original sound - CHEK

@chek.news Wildlife conservation groups are calling on the provincial government to end, what they call, the inhumane and ineffective wolf cull in B.C. For the past nine years, the government has been culling wolves in the province to try to help restore endangered caribou populations. According to Mollie Cameron, a wildlife specialist at Pacific Wild, a non-profit located in Victoria, “217 wolves were killed between 2022 and 2023, 248 in the past year between December of 2023 and March of 2024 have been killed in the predator reduction program.” #News #CHEKNews #Victoria #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada #Wolf #WolfCull #Wolves #Caribou ♬ original sound - CHEK

@chek.news Princess Anne saluted Canadian veterans and current forces members and honoured her late mother during separate ceremonies Sunday in Victoria as she wrapped up a three-day British Columbia West Coast royal visit. #News #CHEKNews #Victoria #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada #PrincessAnne #PrincessRoyal #BritishRoyalFamily #RoyalFamily #Princess #GovernmentHouse #BCLegislature ♬ original sound - CHEK