Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard has been sentenced to five years behind bars after being found guilty earlier this year of sexually assaulting an Ottawa woman. The Crown had sought a sentence between six and seven years behind bars while the defence wanted three to four years. The prosecution had argued Hoggard was a risk to the public while the defence pointed to a psychiatric report that said he was a low. risk to reoffend. The 2016 sexual assault took place in a Toronto hotel room and the Ottawa woman told Hoggard’s sentencing hearing that what happened will haunt her for the rest of her life. Hoggard had also been charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm in the case of a teenage fan, as well as sexual interference involving that complainant but was found not guilty on those offences. The 38-year-old Hedley frontman had pleaded not guilty to all Charges.
One of two candidates seeking the leadership of B-C’s New Democratic Party has been disqualified for violating campaign rules. The N-D-P executive says it voted to disqualify Anjali (AN’-jah-lee) Appadurai (ah-PAD’-ur-eye) following a review by the party’s chief executive officer, which found improper conduct by working with third parties for membership drives on her behalf. David Eby, B-C’s former attorney general and minister responsible for housing, will now become the leader of the B-C N-D-P and replace retiring Premier John Horgan. The party says as there now is only one candidate, it is considering moving up the December 3rd leadership election date.
Vince Tao, a community organizer with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, says he is worried about the city’s future because the new mayor-elect supports the police and real estate development. One of Ken Sim’s election promises was to hire 100 more police officers and 100 mental health nurses to work with the department. Tao says Sim’s government — which takes office November 7th — will take away funding from other community organizations and resources like housing, access to washrooms and safe drug supply. Rachel Lau, with the non-profit Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice, says she believes the next four years will be challenging for some Vancouverites, especially vulnerable people in Chinatown.
Canada’s highest court has refused to hear an appeal from residential school survivors who fought a years-long battle to try to force Ottawa to release thousands of records. The Supreme Court of Canada as usual gave no reason for refusing to hear the case involving a group of survivors from St. Anne’s residential school in northern Ontario. They argued that the federal government breached the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement because it withheld documentation of abuse that was supposed to be used to determine their compensation. The 2006 agreement between the federal government, residential school survivors, the Assembly of First Nations and churches governed what financial recompense survivors would receive.
Homicide investigators say a Mountie who was fatally stabbed in Burnaby was telling the occupant of a lone tent in a park that he couldn’t stay. Sergeant Timothy Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Constable Shaelyn Yang responded to a request for help in delivering the news from a city worker. B-C’s police watchdog says the suspect was shot by Yang and was taken to hospital. Thirty-seven-year-old Jongwon (YONG’-wahn) Ham of Burnaby has been charged with first-degree murder and remains in custody.