Runaway B.C. mom not entitled to support from adult children: judge

By The Canadian Press - Friday, February 1, 2013 at 5:27 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – A B.C. Supreme Court justice says three adults who were left to fend for themselves as teenagers decades ago do not have to pay support to their estranged mother.

Justice Bruce Butler ruled in a decision posted online Thursday that while Shirley Marie Anderson is financially dependent, her children, Donna Dobko, 53, Keith Anderson, 51, and Kenneth Anderson, 48, do not have the money to support her.

And even if they did, Butler said he’d make no such order favouring the 74-year-old mother.

“The childhood experiences of Donna and Kenneth and the lengthy estrangement which resulted from the claimant’s failure to parent the children in any meaningful way are sufficient to relieve the court from considering any moral claim by the claimant to a lifestyle similar to that of her children,” wrote Butler.

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Aquilini says he shouldn’t have to sell $650,000 wine collection to pay estranged wife’s bills

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 8:44 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – One of the owners of the Vancouver Canucks says he shouldn’t have to sell a wine collection worth $615,000 to pay for his estranged wife’s bills.

Justice Nathan Smith has yet to decide what should be done with the 1,900-bottle collection of wine that has been the subject of arguments this week in B.C. Supreme Court between lawyers acting for Francesco Aquilini and Taliah Aquilini.

Legal action began early last year after mediation efforts between the couple collapsed, and now pre-trial divorce hearings are under way.

Taliah Aquilini has alleged in previous court documents that her husband “engaged in public adulterous conduct in his private life.”

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Advertising rules

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 11:48 AM - 0 Comments

The British Columbia New Democrats are proposing new rules for government advertising.

Dix said if elected in the general election scheduled for May, the NDP would bring in legislation in the first session to prohibit government ads showing the name, voice or image of the premier or cabinet members. Modelled after what’s already in place in Ontario, the legislation would require the independent office of the auditor general to review and approve all government advertising.

“I think people ask the fair and legitimate question: How can you guarantee that?” Dix said at a news conference outside on the seawall to the north of Science World. “Here’s how we guarantee it: We intend to introduce legislation to ensure that every ad run by government — meaning television, radio, print, online — is reviewed by the auditor general to make sure it meets that standard of government advertising.” Dix said legislation would also prohibit all non-essential government advertising four months before a scheduled general election. “These rules …. would satisfy and demonstrate our seriousness in banning partisan advertising with public funds,” he said.

We noted the Ontario example in November. In the realm of democratic reform and accountability (and perhaps fiscal restraint), this strikes me as an easy proposal for an opposition party to make—is there really any argument to be made against submitting government advertising to these kind of restrictions?—at least so long as it was willing to limit itself once in government.

Love tale not over yet between B.C. woman and her deer named Bimbo

By Keven Drews, The Canadian Press - Monday, January 21, 2013 at 4:18 AM - 0 Comments

UCLUELET, B.C. – Inside their one-storey, metal-roofed, plywood shack on Vancouver Island’s rugged west coast, Janet Schwartz and her domesticated deer, Bimbo, are returning to their normal lives.

Against the background noise of a buzzing generator, professional wrestlers jostle across the screen of a satellite TV as Bimbo snatches and then gobbles down a cigarette from the lips of a couch-bound, 70-year-old border named Mike Miller.

The law — represented by men and women dressed in black uniforms and carrying guns — is no longer threatening to forcibly separate Schwartz and Bimbo, freeing the 10-year-old doe potentially to the fates of the surrounding rainforest and its hungry wolves and black bears.

Once again, a sense of peace permeates this home that flies a faded and weathered Canadian flag from the corner of an outside wall.

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B.C. premier breaks eight-year tax log jam for logging contractors

By The Canadian Press - Friday, January 18, 2013 at 8:09 PM - 0 Comments

VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark announced a break in a tax log jam Friday that has concerned British Columbia forest contractors since 2003 when the Liberals cut forest tenures in an industry-wide restructuring plan.

Clark told delegates at the annual Truck Loggers Association convention on Friday that ongoing B.C. government lobby efforts on behalf of forest contractors convinced the federal government to forgive the tax hit many received during the restructuring.

She said up to 190 forest contractors will get back $9 million in federal taxes.

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Parks Canada says warm water detected again at quake-damaged B.C. hot springs

By The Canadian Press - Friday, January 18, 2013 at 4:45 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Mother Nature appears to be slowly turning on the taps again at some B.C. hot springs damaged by an earthquake last fall.

Parks Canada announced Thursday that hot-water seeps near two pools in Gwaii Haanas National Park have been observed below the tide line by scientists, and thermal activity has been detected — but not to previous levels — in all other areas where it once occurred.

The park is located on southern Haida Gwaii’s Moresby Island and other islands off B.C.’s northwest coast.

Water flow and thermal activity at the naturally sourced hot springs stopped in October following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks.

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The absentee B.C. legislature

By Mark D. Jarvis - Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 12:12 PM - 0 Comments

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. (Andrew Vaughan/CP)

Mike de Jong, the Government House Leader and Minister of Finance, announced last week on Twitter that Christy Clark’s Liberal government in British Columbia planned to recall the Legislative Assembly on February 12 for a speech from the throne and to sit until March 14.

The legislature would then be dissolved on April 16. How do we know this? Basically, it is a matter of counting backwards. The province’s Constitution Act requires a general election to be held on the second Tuesday in May every 4 years. That falls on May 14 this year. And, the province’s Election Act requires a 28-day campaign period.

Taking into account that the B.C. legislature doesn’t sit Fridays, and the usual spring break, the parliamentary calendar shows a maximum of 24 sitting days before dissolution. But there is a report that the legislature will not sit at all in April. That would mean there will only be 19 sitting days before the election in June, one of which will be the speech from the throne and another the budget, assuming the current plan holds.

Why is this important? Why should we care about the technical minutiae of the B.C. parliamentary schedule for the upcoming weeks?

Because the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia has already not sat since May 31, 2012. The cancellation of the fall sitting by Premier Clark, left open the question as to whether the legislature would sit at all before an election this May.

It is not simply that the legislature will have only sat for 19 days this spring, it is that B.C. legislature will have only sat for a total of 19 days in nearly a full calendar year (between May 31, 2012, when it last rose and the election on May 14, 2013).

This would appear to fit the trend I wrote about previously of first ministers seeing legislatures as an undue burden, whose work they are free to inhibit as they fancy. And yet, there has barely been a murmur of discontent.

As part of its year-end wrap-up, the CBC nominated 10 stories for the B.C. news story of the year. The 10 stories offered up are fine; many even very important, like the pipeline debate, the Haida Gwaii earthquakes and Amanda Todd’s tragic death. But that the B.C. legislature had not sat since May (and, at that time, had no timeline for sitting again) did not even make the list.

Some might suggest this is much ado about nothing. After all, British Columbia is heading into an election in a few months and elections have long been celebrated as the ultimate accountability mechanism—the chance, as they say, to “throw the bums out.”

While elections are an important mechanism of accountability, accountability also requires compelling the government of the day to provide information about its decisions, behaviour and policies—in short, holding government to account. Members of legislative assemblies who are not part of the executive have a responsibility to ask questions, extract those accounts and to scrutinize them. Because we do not expect governments to commit political hara-kiri, parliamentarians’ primary responsibilities include holding government to account: scrutinizing government performance and administration and either withdrawing or extending confidence. The government’s capacity to disrupt its ability to do so undermines the efficacy of our parliamentary system. As Peter Aucoin and I have argued:

Without robust parliamentary scrutiny the system can easily slide into what commentators like to label an “elected dictatorship,” namely, a parliamentary government where the Prime Minister operates without significant checks and balances from the legislative assembly of the people’s representatives.

When a legislative assembly can be sidelined—in addition to normal concerns about opposition incompetence or ineffectiveness—the government is able to operate in greater secrecy. As Stephen Harper put it so clearly in an op-ed on government transparency and potential reforms to the Information Act that was published by the Montreal Gazette when he was leader of the opposition:

Information is the lifeblood of democracy. Without adequate access to key information about government policies and programs, citizens and parliamentarians cannot make informed decisions, and incompetent or corrupt government can be hidden under a cloak of secrecy.

While Harper did not address the sitting of legislatures in the essay, the same principle applies: a robust democracy requires that governments must not be able to unduly interfere with the flow of information to citizens.

Voters rarely, if ever, have full information when they cast their ballots. This means citizens vote in in a state of relative darkness, inhibiting their ability to fully hold the government to account. Worse still, they can be seen as conveying electoral legitimacy, when, had they been better informed, they might well have voted differently, even to the point of the election a different government.

Having severely limited the legislature’s ability to hold it to account, the government will effectively be asking the citizens of British Columbia to cast their ballots in the dark this May. These are dark days for democracy indeed.

Mark D. Jarvis is a doctoral candidate at the University of Victoria. His 2011 book, Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government, co-authored with Lori Turnbull and the late Peter Aucoin, was awarded both the Donner and Smiley book prizes. Mark adapted some of the book’s proposals for a contribution to our series on the House last year. You can find more information about the book here.

Charges confirmed against adults in disturbing attack on two Prince George teens

By The Canadian Press - Friday, January 11, 2013 at 8:44 PM - 0 Comments

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Six people face sex assault, assault and unlawful confinement charges in a case that police in north-central British Columbia say is horrific and disturbing.

The charges come after police in Prince George, B.C., found an unconscious teenage male beaten and sexually assaulted in a snowbank Monday night.

He remains in hospital in serious but stable condition.

Police said a second youth was also found in the area and had been assaulted. He was treated and released from hospital.

Police aren’t releasing the ages of either victim.

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Minister blasts bridge firm after ice pelts down on cars, injures two people

By The Canadian Press - Friday, December 21, 2012 at 5:47 AM - 0 Comments

COQUITLAM, B.C. – British Columbia’s transportation minister has slammed the international contractor that built the newly-opened Port Mann Bridge, saying the forced closure of the span, only weeks after it opened, is an intolerable situation and that the firm should have been aware of potential problems.

More than 100 insurance claims were filed after chunks of ice pelted down onto vehicles from the bridge’s suspension cables during a snowstorm on Wednesday. Two people were injured and the bridge, which links the Vancouver area to populous southern suburbs, was closed for several hours.

“We will not live with the bridge in that way,” Mary Polak told a news conference.

“When you purchase a product in a store, when you build a bridge for $3.3 billion, you believe that it will work. You expect it will work. When it doesn’t work you seek for redress to that. You seek for someone to refund your money or you seek for someone to resolve the problem.”

Polak said that’s what the province will be doing.

“Taxpayers will not be on the hook for this and we will ensure that we have a bridge that is safe for the travelling public to use and that an event like this has a permanent solution to see that it doesn’t happen again.”

Polak said her ministry was “alive” to snow and ice being a potential problem on the bridge before it was built and there were specifications in the contract to address the concern.

“Clearly, what we saw yesterday shows that they did not meet those requirements.”

The bridge was built by Kiewit-Flatiron General Partnership. The company said in a statement it was working to figure out where the problem is and find a solution quickly.

“We’re very concerned about the recent weather issues impacting motorists on the Port Mann Bridge,” said the statement from Thomas Janssen, director of external affairs for the company.

“With the recent severe weather conditions, it’s evident there is an issue that needs to be closely reviewed and addressed.”

The Crown agency that operates the bridge will pay the deductibles of drivers whose vehicles were damaged in the incident. Tolls for travellers who crossed the bridge between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday will also be waived.

Prof. Tom Brown, an engineering professor at the University of Calgary known to his students as Dr. Ice, said he’s confident the problem can be fixed.

Brown has worked on offshore oil rigs and Prince Edward Island’s Confederation Bridge and said sometimes, problems slip through despite the best work by experts.

“This is certainly a concern because I would kind of imagine that the conditions under which it occurred, the atmospheric conditions in Vancouver, could well occur again,” he said in an interview.

“I don’t know what the fix will be, but it’s certainly a fixable problem.”

Brown said cold weather, high humidity, precipitation and wind all play roles in allowing ice to form on the bridge cables and eventually fall off. The ice bonds to the cold cables and when the wind whips up, it starts a vibration on the cables that eventually knocks loose the ice.

Brown said Vancouver’s rapid temperature fluctuations from cold to warm can also break off heavy ice chunks as they begin to melt.

Last January, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge near Seattle was shut down due to falling ice from bridge cables on a Kiewit-built bridge.

Alice Fiman, a spokeswoman at the Washington state Department of Transportation, said the problem was called “weather-related” at the time.

Fiman said Kiewit completed construction on the twin suspension bridges in 2007, and since then the span has been closed only once due to falling ice.

Mike Proudfoot, CEO of the Transportation Investment Corporation which operates the bridge, said the bridge is a significant crossing, the second-longest cable-stayed bridge in North America.

Building it required a “certain expertise.”

“We have the best firms in the world engaged in the design and delivery of this project, both as the original designers and as the independent checkers.”

Proudfoot said provisions had been made to prevent such snow accumulations.

“It hasn’t transpired as expected,” he said.

Possible solutions to the problem include heating the cables, the use of vibrations or coatings, as well as manual and mechanical methods for removal.

“We expect some answers on that very shortly.”

The Port Mann Bridge opened eight lanes Dec. 1 and was touted to slash commute times of up to an hour for some people.

Cars and small trucks crossing the Port Mann are electronically assessed an introductory $1.50 toll, but the levy will rise to $3.00 per crossing by next December, with varied rates applying to larger trucks and motorists using special passes.

— With files from Dirk Meissner in Victoria

Rescued snowboarder faces up to $10,000 fine after wilderness search

By The Canadian Press - Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 6:32 AM - 0 Comments

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. – An official says a 33-year-old snowboarder from Ottawa who was rescued from a wilderness area north of Vancouver can expect a hefty bill for searchers’ efforts.

Sebastien Boucher got lost on Sunday after straying out of bounds near the Cypress Mountain ski area.

Initial attempts to find him were hampered by poor weather and the risk of avalanches, but searchers managed to locate his tracks late Tuesday in a gully near the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

A Cormorant helicopter was brought in late Tuesday to lift him out of the area and take him to safety, and he was found to be in stable condition despite his ordeal.

Joffrey Koeman of Cypress Mountain said Wednesday that Boucher could be fined up to $10,000 but even that fee won’t cover all the costs.

He said Boucher made several mistakes, ignored warning signs, ventured into the backcountry alone, didn’t stay in one spot and didn’t call for help in a timely manner.

“From our staff, there was probably 50 people that were involved in this, right from security, dispatch, base operations, ski patrol, grooming, down to senior managers following the story, so definitely a lot of hard cost to Cypress for such a long rescue,” he said.

The money from a fine would be donated back to North Shore Search and Rescue, said Koeman.

Meantime, Boucher’s mother Micheline Simoneau has praised the rescue team, calling them “angels” and “the best in the world.”

Tim Jones of North Shore Search and Rescue said he’s begging skiers and boarders to stay within the boundaries.

“When there is a high avalanche hazard, stay in bounds and stay out of the back country: that is our message,” he said.

The rescue came in the nick of time as a new snowstorm barrelled down on the Metro Vancouver area, following one on Tuesday that snarled morning commuter traffic.

Court reduces sentence after trial judge with vertigo questions his own fairness

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 5:02 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Court of Appeal has reduced a man’s sentence to 18 months from two years after the trial judge said he was suffering from a sudden vertigo problem and questioned his own fairness.

Peter Hancock pleaded guilty to one count of possessing heroin for the purpose of trafficking, and his lawyer suggested a sentence of one year.

The Crown suggested two years and the judge asked Hancock if he wanted to serve 18 months in a provincial jail or two years in the federal system.

Hancock seemed to be reluctant in choosing a federal sentence.

The next day, the judge had Hancock brought back to court and said he might have been unwell when he imposed the sentence and couldn’t say if he acted impartially.

But the judge said he couldn’t change the sentence and suggested an appeal, and the Crown conceded it would be appropriate for the appeal court to substitute a sentence that Hancock would likely have received if the judge had been well.

Missing snowboarder lifted to safety

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 5:31 AM - 0 Comments

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. – A 33-year-old snowboarder from Ottawa is recovering after being rescued from a wilderness area north of Vancouver where he was stranded for two days.

Sebastien Boucher got lost on Sunday after straying out of bounds near the Cypress Mountain ski area.

Initial attempts to find him were hampered by poor weather and the risk of avalanches, but searchers managed to locate his tracks late Tuesday in a gully near the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

A Cormorant helicopter was brought in to lift him out of the area and take him to safety, where he was pronounced in stable condition, despite his ordeal.

Boucher’s mother Micheline Simoneau is praising the North Shore Search and Rescue team, calling them “angels” and “the best in the world”.

The rescue came in the nick of time as a new snowstorm barrelled down on the Metro Vancouver area, following one on Tuesday that snarled morning commuter traffic.

‘Critically hurt Canadian families’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

From Brian Jean just before QP yesterday, another one for the “A price on carbon will destroy your family” file.

Mr. Speaker, it is almost Christmas, a time when our thoughts naturally turn to family, friends and gift giving. This Christmas, NDP members are behaving more like Scrooge than Santa. They want to give Canadians the gift of a carbon tax. This is no gift, but rather a money grab, a lump of coal that would create hardships all across Canada for hardworking families.

The oil sands fuel the economy and creates jobs in all parts of Canada. Every day, workers fly out of northern Alberta, my home, taking their well-earned good wages back to their families in Newfoundland, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and all of Canada.

A carbon tax like the NDP is proposing would critically hurt Canadian families. Our government has lowered taxes for all Canadians, promoted trade, increased exports and kept our economy stable. I ask all Canadians during the holidays to raise their voice and say no to the NDP lump of coal, no to the NDP carbon tax.

Alberta actually already has a price on carbon, but that price is not sufficiently apocalyptic, then perhaps the current carbon tax review in British Columbia will turn up evidence of critically wounded families.

Reaching our GHG goals thanks to a price on carbon

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 1:32 PM - 0 Comments

Peter Kent addresses the UN convention on climate change in Doha.

Canada is halfway to achieving our national effort to meet our Copenhagen target. The combined efforts to date of federal, provincial and territorial governments, of consumers and of businesses will generate half the greenhouse gas reduction required to meet Canada’s greenhouse gas target by 2020.

This year’s report on emissions trends, surveyed the federal, provincial and territorial scenes thusly.

In this year’s report, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to be slightly higher in 2020 than in the previous report (by 0.8%), while GHG emissions are lower (by 5.3%). The projected decline in GHG emissions is thus associated with a reduction in  intensity, implying greater de-coupling between GDP and GHGs. The improvements in  emission intensity are in part due to: i) increased contribution of the services sector,  which typically emits less emissions per dollar of GDP; and ii) actual emissions in 2010 were lower than projected, while actual GDP was higher. The decline in emissions intensity was also due to the fact that consumers and businesses are making more progress in reducing emissions. Government programs are contributing to this by helping to accelerate the adoption of energy efficient technologies and cleaner fuels.

Canada is moving forward to regulate GHGs on a sector-by-sector basis, aligning with the U.S where appropriate. The Government of Canada has started with the
transportation and electricity sectors – two of the largest sources of Canadian emissions – and plans to move forward with regulations in partnership with other key
economic sectors, including oil and gas. Last year’s report included emissions regulations for light-duty vehicles for the model years 2011-2016 as well as an
electricity performance standard to phase-out coal-fired electricity, Alberta’s Specified Gas Emitters Regulation, British Columbia’s carbon tax and Quebec’s carbon
levy. Provincial policies such as Ontario’s phase-out of coal-fired electricity also made important contributions. Projected emissions levels in the 2012 version of the report have further declined, in part through the inclusion of further federal actions on additional emissions regulations for light-duty vehicles for the 2017-2025 period as well as heavy duty vehicle regulations. Recent provincial actions (e.g., Quebec’s capand-trade, Nova Scotia’s emissions cap for electric utilities, increased stringency of building energy codes, equipment standards and requirements for capturing methane from landfill gas) are also included. Total emissions in 2020 are projected to decrease to 720 Mt.

Two men charged in connection with woman’s shooting death in university parkade

By The Canadian Press - Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 11:30 PM - 0 Comments

SURREY, B.C. – The sister of a 19-year-old student who was shot in a university parkade in Surrey, B.C., last year says her family can finally start to grieve now that two men have been charged with the crime.

“This isn’t an easy day for us,” Rosie Batalia told a news conference Saturday, when charges were laid in the death of Maple Batalia.

“We’re just hoping that Maple will finally be at peace,” said Batalia, who called the arrest bittersweet.

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B.C. Court of Appeal rules there’s no legal right for sperm donor kids to know bio dad identity

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 2:26 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Court of Appeal has thrown out an earlier decision that sided with a woman who wanted to know the identity of her sperm donor father.

Olivia Pratten wanted offspring like herself to be treated the same as people who are adopted and argued that the B.C. government should change its laws accordingly.

But the appeal court ruled there is no legal right for offspring to know their past and providing such information would amount to state intrusion into many people’s lives.

The court said there are plenty of non-donor offspring who don’t know their family history or the identity of their biological father because of decisions made by others or the circumstances of their conception.

In May 2011, a B.C. Supreme Court judge agreed with Pratten, giving the province 15 months to amend its Adoption Act, saying people who are deprived of their genetic backgrounds suffer psychological harm.

Pratten spent years trying to learn her biological father’s identity, only to learn her mother’s fertility specialist destroyed the records and then provided her with contradicting information.

‘It’s the producing provinces in Alberta and British Columbia that are leading the way’

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 26, 2012 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

Bob Rae talks to Tom Clark about putting a price on carbon.

Tom Clark: But I want to move on to one other thing here and that is the question of whether we should be putting a price on carbon so that at some point down the road the government can move towards either a cap and trade system or a carbon tax. What do you think? What would you encourage your party to decide on that? Should Alberta…some form of carbon tax?

Bob Rae: Alberta and British Columbia have already indicated that they’re pricing carbon. That’s what BC is doing, Alberta is doing it. There are other provinces that are considering doing it. I thought Mr. Harper was in favour of that. I’ve heard Mr. Harper and many ministers; John Baird when he was Energy Minister, others saying that a price on carbon was a good idea. To me, I don’t know how we send signals to the marketplace about how we need to conserve energy going forward unless we have a coordinated approach to carbon pricing. Ironically now, it’s the producing provinces in Alberta and British Columbia that are leading the way in terms of saying yes we need to send a signal, so is Quebec saying the same thing. I think there is a very powerful consensus growing in the country that we need to have a national federal-provincial approach to the pricing of carbon. I hope it very much that the premiers and the prime minister can agree on this in the months and years ahead.

See previously: Bob Rae steps up to defend carbon pricing

B.C. community group wants action over ‘suicide pact,’ incidents of self harm

By Keven Drews, The Canadian Press - Friday, November 23, 2012 at 4:00 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Dozens of children, mostly aboriginals, formed a suicide pact in a downtown Vancouver community earlier this year that prompted police to step in and have some of them hospitalized for their own safety.

Other children blacked out from heavy drinking and participated in acts of self harm over several months this year, according to a document obtained by The Canadian Press.

While residents and professionals were able to respond to the crises between the spring and autumn, a community group is now calling for a major shift in how services are funded and delivered by the provincial government.

Troubling details of the incidents in the city’s Grandview-Woodland area, which is located near the Downtown Eastside, are included in the report written by the Network of Inner City Community Services, a consortium of groups that helps co-ordinate the delivery of services to individuals, children and families.

Kate Hodgson, the group’s executive director, did not respond to several requests for comment.

But Sgt. Randy Fincham of the Vancouver police said officers got involved after they were tipped off about youths who were chatting about suicide on social media.

“To my knowledge it wasn’t suicide attempts, it was discussions regarding future suicide plans,” he said. “So there was no intervention that had gone that far, to my knowledge, where any of these youths had attempted to commit suicide.”

Fincham said officers intervened and got the youths the help they needed.

According to the report, the suicide pact included 30 youths, 24 of whom were taken to hospital in late September as part of a “preventative crisis response.”

The report says the children were between the ages of 12 and 15, were mostly aboriginal and lived in the Grandview-Woodland community.

During the summer, parents and outreach workers learned about “increasing incidents of self-harm in group context by inner city children and youth” the report adds.

Between the spring and summer, large groups of children, mostly 12- and 13-year-olds from the same community, drank until they blacked out and had to be treated in BC Children’s Hospital, the report says.

While the crises drew a response from youth and social workers, police and medical officials, the report says gaps in the system became apparent.

“(The system) has not provided an adequate, preventative, long-term response to children and families living in the community and their day-to-day realities,” says the report.

“These children and youth need positive relationship-based connections to family, peers and workers to help them both navigate these systems and have positive, healthy outcomes.”

The report recommends the adoption of a so-called “place-based strategy” to help deal with a high number of children with special needs, and a “culture of violence and failure in the inner city.”

Other issues include parents struggling with addiction, family violence and abuse, and limited public resources.

The strategy would use schools, community centres and other public assets to provide ongoing mental-health and family support services, and also keep children not in school still connected to schools.

“This would require a major shift in the current funding and program delivery model by the province, including (Ministry of Children and Family Development) and their contracted services,” says the report.

Stephanie Cadieux, minister of children and family development, was unavailable for comment, but her ministry provided a written statement on the incidents.

“As a government, we are continually striving to improve the way we work, across government and within communities, to prevent youth suicide,” the ministry said in an email.

The ministry said government is extremely concerned any time youths face a potential of harm so officials acted quickly, contacting parents and working with partner agencies like the health authority and school districts to make sure services were available.

The ministry said a community-intervention session was held to educate parents about self harm, suicidal thoughts and pacts.

“Young people and their families need to know that if they are feeling alone, sad, or suicidal, help is available and they can speak to their family physicians, teachers or school guidance councillors,” noted the ministry.

Gory details of deaths heard at sentencing for man who killed sled dogs

By The Canadian Press - Friday, November 23, 2012 at 3:48 AM - 0 Comments

NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. – A man who pleaded guilty to the slaughter of dozens of sled dogs will not spend time in prison, a judge has ruled, concluding the man had the “best interests” of the dogs at heart when he culled the pack near Whistler after a slump in business following the 2010 Olympics.

But while Judge Steve Merrick said he agreed with a psychiatrists’ assessment that Robert Fawcett’s actions were the result of mental instability, he noted: “(You) ought to have anticipated the possibility of the horrific circumstances that could result.”

“It is beyond comprehension as to how this could have occurred,” said Merrick.

The devastating aftermath from the April 2010 killing was laid bare in provincial court for the first time Thursday by Fawcett’s lawyer, who described how hard it was for his client to even listen to details of killing his beloved animals again.

“I will never stop feeling guilty for the suffering that the dogs endured that day,” said defence lawyer Greg Diamond, quoting his client.

“I feel like part of me died with those dogs.”

Fawcett admitted in August to killing the dogs in a gruesome tableau over two days following a post-Olympic slump in sales. Court heard he felt forced into the decision when the owners of Howling Dog Tours put an “absolute freeze” on spending, except for food and the bare minimum of labour.

At that point, Fawcett was working 150 hours over two weeks to care for the animals and watching their conditions deteriorate to the point where they were fighting and killing each other in their kennel.

“In part, he accepted the burden because he felt he could do it compassionately and he did not want that burden placed on anyone else,” Diamond said.

“He gained the fortitude to do it based largely on the vision the remaining dogs could have a happy life and it was for the greater good.”

Fawcett huddled into himself with his arms crossed during the proceedings. Women in the gallery openly sobbed, and at one point, there was an outburst that was met with a sharp reprimand from the judge.

Fawcett pleaded guilty to one count of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to animals, which relates specifically to the deaths of nine dogs. More than 50 dogs were exhumed from a mass grave in May 2011 as part of a massive forensic investigation by the B.C. SPCA. Court heard most of the dogs that were shot did not suffer.

Animal euthanasia is legal in Canada.

The defence supplied 30 character references to the judge that described Fawcett’s “admirable dedication” to the dogs, as Diamond asked the court to consider probation but no jail time.

He argued the sentence should be more related to rehabilitation, noting his client has suffered permanent mental damage and has become an “international pariah,” partly due to intense media scrutiny.

He said his client has attempted suicide, has tattooed a ring of dogs around his arm to remember their lives and still shudders when he hears a dog bark.

He said the one “silver-lining” that has resulted from the ordeal is legislative reforms that give B.C. some of the toughest animal cruelty laws in the country and set out guidelines related to the retirement of dogs.

Earlier, the Crown also urged perspective, noting that facts supercede emotions.

Lawyer Nicole Gregoire asked for a sentence of three years probation with conditions, a $5,000 fine, and 200 hours community service.

“We’re looking at a very unique set of circumstances,” Gregoire said.

She, too, described how Fawcett suffered death threats, had a mental breakdown that sent him to an institution for two months and even had his young children and wife forced into hiding.

The horrific incident became public January 2011 after a worker’s compensation claim for post-traumatic stress disorder was leaked.

Gregoire said questions remain about the apparent contradiction of how someone who was caring and had a track-record of high-standards could inflict pain on them.

She pointed to a psychological assessment to provide some insight, noting the psychiatrist found Fawcett likely had been experiencing “high levels of distress” leading up to the cull, and likely had disassociated his emotions during the bloody event itself.

The 40-year-old has no criminal record, and the psychiatric assessment said the man is not a threat to people or animals.

The maximum sentence under the Criminal Code is five years prison time and up to $75,000 in fines.

Besides three years of probation, Merrick ordered Fawcett to pay a $1,500 fine, complete 200 hours community work service, and he may not participate in the sled dog industry or make decisions about euthanizing animals.

Hotel stabbing leaves five staff members injured; manager in custody

By The Canadian Press - Monday, November 19, 2012 at 5:21 AM - 0 Comments

SAANICH, B.C. – Five staff members at a Victoria-area hotel are injured and a manager is in custody after a weekend stabbing.

Police in Saanich, B.C., say they were called to the Red Lion Inn late Saturday afternoon.

Sgt. Chris Horsley says the attack happened in the hotel’s restaurant, which was closed between shifts at the time.

Horsley says it appears the attacker stabbed several employees in the restaurant before moving into the hotel lobby, where the front desk clerk was also stabbed.

Police say none of the stabbing injuries appear to be life threatening.

Horsley says a 52-year-old man believed to be a manager was arrested in a back office, and police have recommended five charges of aggravated assault.

He says investigators don’t believe the suspect was provoked and they’re still trying to figure out what motivated the attack.

American filmmaker missing for four months in northern B.C. found dead

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 7:02 PM - 0 Comments

NEW HAZELTON, B.C. – A documentary filmmaker from Ohio has been found dead in northern British Columbia, more than four months after he disappeared while working on a project about rare spirit bears.

Warren Andrew Sill, 26, who travelled to New Hazelton, B.C., to film a documentary on white kermode bears, disappeared in July.

At the time, his vehicle was found at the entrance of a trail in Seven Sister’s Provincial Park with his camping gear still inside.

The discovery of Sill’s vehicle, along with concerns that Sill was not an avid outdoorsman, prompted a massive air and ground search, but those efforts were eventually scaled back.

On Saturday, a local search-and-rescue team located what appeared to be Sill’s shirt near a waterfall. The area couldn’t be reached during the summer because of the terrain and high water levels, but the water has since receded.

“Due to the decreased water levels at this time of year, members were able to access the area and located a body,” RCMP Const. Lesley Smith said in a news release.

“We can confirm that it is Warren Andrew Sill and our condolences go out to the Sill family and all his friends.”

Sill was working on a film about kermode bears — a rare subspecies of black bears that have a genetic trait that turns their coats white.

The spirit bear is the provincial animal of B.C.

Nurses’ union, health officer continue fight over mandatory flu-shots

By The Canadian Press - Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 5:59 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Another round of fighting has erupted between British Columbia’s nurses and its health officer after a U.K.-based, non-profit scientific group publicly questioned the evidence used to justify a mandatory flu-shot policy for provincial health-care workers.

Citing a letter in a Vancouver newspaper written by a doctor associated with group known as the Cochrane Collaboration, the BC Nurses’ Union announced Wednesday it has launched a formal grievance over the policy, while also demanding its immediate withdrawal.

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Boy hailed as hero for calling 911

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 5:36 PM - 0 Comments

CHILLIWACK, B.C. – A seven-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero for saving his grandfather with a 911 call after the man keeled over in a minivan at the side of the road in Chilliwack, B.C.

Evan Raap’s voice cracked with emotion as he told the 911 operator his grandpa was unresponsive in the front seat.

“I’m worried,” he said after grabbing his grandfather’s cell phone to call for help.

“He’s not talking and he’s really sweating,” Raap said, telling the operator his grandfather was slumped over in the front seat after saying he had to “pull over for one second.”

“He just lay down,” Raap told the operator. “I thought he was joking and then I saw something fall out of his mouth,” he said of his grandfather’s teeth.

During the 13-minute 911 call released by the RCMP, Raap provided details about a store and train tracks they’d passed before stopping on a gravel road.

The information helped guide a police officer to the scene before an ambulance arrived in the Fraser Valley community east of Vancouver.

Raap told the operator that his grandfather, George Epp, was taking care of him while his father was at work.

The little boy also became emotional as he said he had to get to a soccer game because he was the goalie.

Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth said Epp remains in hospital after Saturday’s incident and that his grandson’s efforts highlight the importance of teaching kids how to call 911 and use cell phones.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hollingsworth said of the boy’s ability to stay calm and provide details about his surroundings.

“We’re very thankful that Evan knew how to use a cell phone,” she said, adding the boy’s parents say he’s shy and are proud of his efforts.

Report into decline of Fraser River Sockeye fishery goes public today

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 6:26 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Members of the public will finally have a better idea today of what caused the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye fishery.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen will explain publicly why the fishery failed and deliver a series of recommendations, following his two-year inquiry that heard from 160 witnesses, produced 14,000 pages of transcripts and recorded 2,100 exhibits.

Cohen submitted his report to the federal government Monday, but it won’t be tabled in the House of Commons until later today.

The federal government called the inquiry in November 2009, months after only 1.4 million of an expected 10 million sockeye returned to B.C.’s rivers and streams

The inquiry began in August 2010, ended in December 2011, and tackled themes ranging from aboriginal fishing to aquaculture, commercial fishing to disease, habitat management and enforcement.

The bill for the inquiry is expected to be at least $26 million, and critics are already suggesting the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will bear the brunt of criticism.