The BC Prosecution Service says it has withdrawn criminal contempt charges against 11 more people accused of breaching a court injunction during old-growth logging protests on Vancouver Island. Gordon Comer with the prosecution service says they’re reviewing other cases affected by a court ruling back in February that acquitted protester Ryan Henderson on contempt charges due to the RCMP’s failure to properly read an injunction to Fairy Creek blockaders. Comer says charges are being reviewed on a case-by-cases basis and that the Crown is appealing the Henderson ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada. Lawyer Karen Mirsky, who has defended several clients facing Fairy Creek contempt charges, says the RCMP’s decision to use a short-form script of the injunction went against long-standing and established legal principles, leading to the collapse of upwards of a 150 cases involving Fairy Creek protesters
A coalition of First Nations, environmentalists, human rights organizations and others say a controversial unit within the RCMP in BC should be disbanded. The group, which includes the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Law Union of BC and Greenpeace Canada, says they’ll be in Ottawa today to deliver an open letter to the Prime Minister’s Office calling for the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group to be abolished. The coalition says the unit’s raid on Wet’suwet’en territory was denounced by Amnesty International, one of many controversies surrounding the unit that has led to hundreds of complaints against them. The coalition says its letter calls on the provincial and federal governments and the RCMP’s E division to immediately disband the unit amid a “backlash” against increased funding going to it from the province.
The BC United Party says its MLAs are “very concerned” about the possible hostile takeover of mining company Teck Resources. The party says the potential hostile takeover of the company threatens the jobs and livelihoods of British Columbians, and it’s calling on Premier David Eby to prevent the loss of a “major employer” in the province. Opposition house leader Todd Stone says Teck employs nearly nine-thousand people in BC and says the premier has been silent on the “very real threat” posed to BC workers and the provincial economy. Mining critic Tom Shypitka says losing Teck’s head office in Vancouver would affect other mining firms in the city and that BC should be leading the way on mining by adopting a similar critical minerals strategy to other provinces like that in Alberta.
Police in Maple Ridge say they’re continuing to investigate a home invasion in the city over the weekend. Ridge Meadows RCMP say they were called to a home at 1:30 in the morning on Saturday on Garden Street after receiving a report of a home invasion they say was targeted. RCMP say officers held the scene as they awaited a search warrant, which was executed by the detachment’s Investigative Support Team. Investigators say three people were sent to hospital with serious injuries, but no threat to public safety remains. Police say they’re hoping for witnesses to come forward with any surveillance or dashcam footage from the area around the time of the incident.
New Westminster police say a man suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a downtown shooting Tuesday around noon. Police say they took two people into custody after the shooting in the 700 block of Carnarvon Street, prompting a “large police presence” at Royal Columbian Hospital. The police force says its major crime unit is handling the investigation, which is in its early stages. Police say they want to talk to any witnesses who have yet to speak with investigators, and anyone with information should contact the major crime unit.
The City of Penticton says council has approved a five-year financial plan that will allow for the hiring of two more police officers and four more firefighters. Mayor Julius Bloomfield says council’s approval of the plan reflects residents’ desires for community safety and to maintain service levels. The city says council has also endorsed a new tax rate bylaw increasing property taxes on homes and commercial properties by 9.5 per cent, or about 14-dollars a month for homeowners and 55-dollars a month for those who own commercial properties. The city says the tax bylaw is up for final approval early next month, and the financial plan also includes an update to the city’s Official Community Plan and a “blueprint” to study what city-owned lands could be available for affordable housing projects.