Politicians, neighbours rattled after explosion damages B.C. cabinet minister's office
Device detonated and damaged door frame, but no one injured
The RCMP's serious crime unit is investigating after an explosive device damaged the constituency office of a longtime B.C. cabinet minister early Friday, in the second of two overnight incidents loud enough to wake people living in the area from their sleep.
Mounties in North Vancouver said a door frame at the office of Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s infrastructure minister, was damaged when an explosive device went off around 4:15 a.m. PT.
Nobody was hurt, and officers are working to determine a possible motive.
"I don't know if it's politically motivated. We're not calling it that, but we're investigating all possible avenues at this point," Cpl. Mansoor Sahak with North Vancouver RCMP said at a news conference around midday.
"Those are the questions that are hopefully going to be answered as our investigation unfolds."
Ma's ground-floor office space is on Esplanade Avenue, which is a few blocks away from the busy waterfront Shipyards area in the city's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood. It was cordoned off with police tape as officers investigated, taking photographs and swabbing the scorched frame.
The incident rattled provincial politicians across party lines, some of whom closed their own constituency offices on Friday as a precaution. People living in the area were also concerned, talking with one another in coffee shops and grocery store lineups about what might have happened.
In a statement, Ma said the incident was "very frightening" for the community, "regardless of intent or motivation."
"I'm grateful for the outpouring of support from community members and people across B.C., including MLAs from all sides of the House. My staff, my family, and I are okay. The RCMP have been taking the incident seriously, and I have full confidence in their ability to conduct a thorough investigation," she wrote.
"It is still very early in the investigation, and I want to encourage everyone to avoid engaging in speculation at this time," she added.
CBC News spoke with Ma and her husband in person earlier Friday, who said they were reeling from the incident.
2 'bangs' heard overnight
In the news conference, RCMP said officers responded to two calls in the area overnight — one for a "loud bang" in the 100-block West First Avenue at 2:45 a.m. and the second for a "loud explosion" at Ma's office on Esplanade Avenue at 4:15 a.m.
The two locations are about a block apart.
Sahak said officers did not find anything suspicious when they responded to the first call, but found the damaged door frame at Ma's office during the second. He said investigators are working to determine whether the incidents are connected.
"This was a jarring incident that undoubtedly startled the sleeping residents in the area," the officer said.
Laura Yarwood, who lives and works in Lower Lonsdale, said she's used to hearing some noise in the neighbourhood on account of the train tracks running parallel to Esplanade Avenue but knew the first noise was unusual.
"It sounded like a really loud bang, but it didn't sound like the trains, and it wasn't a car crash. It shook the house. It was crazy ... we didn't know what it was though," Yarwood said in an interview.
"It's kind of scary."
Adam Ristau moved to the area from Kelowna, B.C., a few months ago. He said he got up to look out the window after the second blast at Ma's office woke him up, but didn't see anything in the dark and went back to bed.
He said he looked outside later in the morning to see police officers in the area.
"Living by the street, we usually hear a lot of noises, but this is something we've never heard before," said Ristau, who moved to the area for work.
"It's a bit worrying ... I hope everyone's OK and things like this don't happen again."
RCMP said officers didn't find any residue from the earlier explosion and that it wasn't clear whether the first bang was caused by "an explosive device or a firecracker or anything."
Incident 'profoundly concerning,' premier says
Security at the B.C. Legislature emailed MLAs and constituency assistants about the explosive device at Ma's office around 7:30 a.m. PT.
The Office of the Premier told CBC News they did not order B.C. NDP offices to close, but they've advised caution and want staff and MLAs to do what they feel comfortable with.
Ma's office was closed Friday and won't reopen until Wednesday, according to her statement.
B.C. Premier David Eby said police told him an explosive device had been "deliberately set" at Ma's office.
He said the incident was "profoundly concerning," and he offered support to the MLA and her family.
"I am deeply concerned about trend lines, which basically mean an increasing separation of elected officials from the people they're meant to serve, which doesn't benefit anybody at all," Eby said during an unrelated news conference.
Ma has served in the B.C. Legislature since 2017. The NDP MLA was previously the province's minister of emergency management and climate readiness as well as its minister of state for infrastructure.
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With files from Katie DeRosa and Leanne Yu