Premier David Eby says he’s deeply disturbed and angry to hear that there is credible evidence of links between the government of India and the killing of a Sikh leader in Surrey. Eby says he received a further briefing on the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar (NIH’-jar) from Canada’s spy agency after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement in Parliament. The premier says his government will do all it can to enhance protection for the people of B-C against the threat of violence from “state actors.” As the investigation progresses, Eby says he’s asks for those who are rightly angry to support justice through formal legal systems, and cautions against acting illegally to “advance their own ends.”
The spokesman for the BC Sikh Gurdwara Council is calling for a public inquiry after the federal government announced there was credible intelligence that India’s government was linked to the shooting death of a BC temple leader. Moninder Singh says intelligence sharing between Canada and India actually puts Sikh activists at risk. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey and was shot dead in the temple’s parking lot in June. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US based lawyer with the advocacy group Sikhs For Justice, says Nijjar was killed for his role in organizing an unofficial referendum to establish a Sikh homeland that supporters call Khalistan.
A doctor specializing in emergency and forensic medicine told the jury in the BC murder trial of Ibrahim Ali that the 13 year old victim had vaginal and anal injuries that were consistent with blunt force trauma. Doctor Tracy Pickett is a sexual assault expert who testified that she used photos and the autopsy report to form her opinions. Ali has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of the teen, whose body was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017. A forensic biologist testified last week that the DNA of the accused was found inside the body of the girl, who can’t be named because of a publication ban.
The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District has temporarily stopped giving building permits where wildfires have destroyed homes until geotechnical assessments are done. Tracy Hughes, who’s with the district, says it wants to determine the effect the Bush Creek East fire had on soil, watercourses and other natural features in the North Shuswap, Adams Lake and Sorrento areas. Hughes says they’re already investigating the stability of slopes in the areas burned. The preliminary findings are expected to be released in the next four-to-six weeks, with a full report due before the end of the year.
The operators of four fish boats have been fined or forced to give up their vessels, and another captain has been handed a fishing ban after an investigation by fisheries officers. The Department of Fisheries says the penalties came out of a sweep by officers into the Boundary Bay commercial crab fleet. One captain pleaded guilty to illegal fishing in U-S waters over two seasons, and after previous violations was fined 50-thousand dollars, had to forfeit 96 traps and has been banned for the first two weeks of the 2024-2025 season. Another captain was fined 160 thousand dollars for setting more traps than he was allowed in three crab seasons from 2018 to 2020.
Mounties in West Kelowna say a man has been arrested for his role in a car crash that killed a pedestrian last August. They say a warrant was issued Friday for second-degree murder, criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death. Police say the 27-year-old was arrested that same day. They say the man has remained in custody and is scheduled to appear in Kelowna Supreme Court today.