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📷 #BlackLivesMatter in solidarity with #GeorgeFloydProtests at the Vancouver Art Gallery on May 31st 2020 / via Petros Kusmu

The Vancouver Island Health region continues to keep a lid on new COVID-19 cases. There have been no new cases here since May the 6th. One person remains in hospital. Across the province, there were 24 new cases confirmed since Saturday and one death in a long term care home in the Fraser Health region.

The Provincial Health Officer says she supports the right to protest against racism, but Dr. Bonnie Henry says protestors need to weigh the risks and take steps to prevent the spread of the virus. Henry was reacting to a large anti-racism protest, held in Vancouver on Sunday, where 3500 people attended. The protest violated the public health order that limits gatherings to 50 people. Henry says she is pleased to have seen many at the protest wearing masks and in some cases, physically distancing. However, she says it is ironic that the protestors may have put those they are marching in support of, like indigenous and marginalized minorities at risk by their mass gathering. She is urging those who attended the protest to closely monitor their own health and if they show any signs of the virus, they must stay at home and avoid any contact with others.

The province has issued an emergency order it hopes will force BC landlords to give their commercial customers a break. The Minister of Finance says the province is banning landlords from evicting eligible business tenants and from suing them for June's rent. Carole James says it's in response to complaints from small businesses that say their landlords are refusing to apply for a federal rent subsidy program. Under the federal program, businesses that suffered a 70 per cent loss of income during the pandemic qualify for a plan that would see Ottawa pay for half of their June rent if their landlord also agrees to cover one-quarter of the rent. James hopes the provincial order banning evictions and lawsuits will, in her words, "encourage" BC landlords to apply for the federal subsidy program.

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Written and reported by: Lisa Cordasco, News Director for CHLY 101.7FM.

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