The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Vancouver - Nearly 400 wildfires are burning in southern British Columbia, with a forecast of hot, dry weather leading firefighters to fear another devastating August will blacken the province. A hazy blanket of smoke is covering Vancouver and Victoria from B.C.'s largest wildfire so far this season. The Lonesome Lake blaze has now burned more than 100 square kilometres in Tweedsmuir Park, about 300 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. Clark's Harbour, N.S. - The small town of Clark's Harbour, N.S., is waking up to a boozier future after residents voted to end a ban on selling alcohol. A majority of voters in the town of 944 on Cape Sable Island cast ballots in a plebiscite on Tuesday to allow alcohol to be sold in licensed premises. At the moment, the local Legion hall is the only site that serves liquor in the all-but-dry town, and it can do so only once a month. Six years ago, people in Clark's Harbour voted by a narrow margin to maintain the prohibition on the general sale of alcohol. Ottawa - An increase in counterfeiting, stolen cars and break-ins drove the national crime rate up six per cent last year despite a drop in the murder rate, Stats Canada reports. The increase in the overall rate was the first substantial spike for a decade. Property crimes, such as break-ins and car thefts, increased as well. More than 171,000 cars were stolen last year.
