B.C. Daily Digest — Feb 27, 2026

Frustrated family demands answers: The family of John Kavaloff (58) and Valerie Smith (67), who were found shot to death at their Chilliwack mobile home on Sept. 13, 2023, held a rally after saying there have been more than 35 court dates across two and a half years with no trial. Robert Freeman (83) is charged with two counts of second-degree murder but was free in the community after five days in jail; the family says the repeated court appearances retraumatize them and they want a clear trial date and closure.

AI minister presses OpenAI for details: Federal AI minister Evan Solomon says he wants clearer, concrete plans from OpenAI after the Tumbler Ridge shooter (Jesse VanRootselaar) killed eight people and wounded dozens — and he’ll meet CEO Sam Altman next week. OpenAI says it updated police-referral thresholds months ago and will improve repeat-offender detection, but Solomon and B.C. Premier David Eby want specifics and warn legislation is possible if companies don’t meet Canadian standards.

Mayor apologizes after false drugs claim: Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has apologized to Coun. Sean Orr for accusing him of handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day — a claim first made in audio from Feb. 6 and later echoed (then retracted) by Coun. Lenny Zhou in a Feb. 24 WeChat post. Orr says the apology sounds like remorse for being caught, calls the episode embarrassing for Vancouver, and says it hurts trust and community unity.

Teen’s DNA ‘corrected’ like a spelling fix: Nineteen-year-old Ty Sperle of Kelowna, diagnosed at five with chronic granulomatous disease, was treated in a Prime Medicine gene-editing trial (a CRISPR-like “prime editing” approach) at Sainte-Justine in Montreal. Dr. Stuart Turvey says the team effectively corrected Ty’s faulty DNA — like fixing a spelling mistake — and he’s now considered cured, able to live a normal life without constant infection worry.