Case of Summerside developer charged with environmental, criminal offences adjourned again
The case against developer Nathan Kember and his company Strategic Holdings Inc. did not go ahead as planned on Friday in Summerside provincial court.
Kember, 32, personally faces seven charges under the province's Environmental Protection Act and four criminal charges, including threatening to kill employees of the department that oversees that legislation.
The company of which Kember is the president is also facing four environmental charges.
Kember did not appear personally in court Friday. His lawyer appeared virtually and told the court his client welcomed a new baby this week, but also said they were not prepared to proceed on the matters.
Jordan Brown told the court there were still processes and details to be sorted out between himself and the Crown, partially due to scheduling conflicts, but he hoped the case could move along in the coming days.
Judge Krista MacKay told the room she was "not particularly happy" the environmental charges were not being dealt with Friday, as that was the expectation she had set at the last appearance.
Summerside developer facing charges for uttering death threats, other crimes
1 month ago
Duration 2:01
Court documents viewed by CBC News say Summerside developer Nathan Kember, 32, threatened to kill three people, at least two of whom work for the provincial government. Kember and his company Strategic Holdings are also facing 11 charges under the Environmental Protection Act, with the province saying they did work in a buffer zone or watercourse without the necessary permits. CBC's Nicola MacLeod reports. .
Kember's environmental charges, allegedly for work done in or around a wetland without the proper permits, were first addressed at a court appearance in November.
The charges have come before the court several times since, adjourned each time so that the defence could seek a resolution with the Crown — who echoed MacKay's comments Friday about the proceedings not going ahead.
Crown Attorney Chad McQuaid also noted that his office has received a lot of correspondence around this file — perhaps more than any other file in his career.
"At this point, I believe the ball is in Mr. Brown's court," he told the judge.
Summerside-area developer and his company facing environmental charges related to waterways
3 months ago
Duration 1:23
Documents filed in P.E.I. court show that Strategic Holdings and its president Nathan Kember have been charged under the Environmental Protection Act for doing work around waterways without the proper permits.
MacKay adjourned the case to next month, noting that she would be taking pleas on the environmental charges that day.
"There's going to be a plea… It's going to be guilty or not guilty," she said. "In two weeks time, I'm taking a plea one way or the other. This has gone on long enough."
There was also talk on Friday that Kember's criminal charges might be diverted to alternative measures, a process outside of the judicial system.
In order to be eligible for the program on P.E.I., the accused must accept responsibility for the crime and be willing to participate in the program through probation services.
If the person completes the steps outlined in an agreement crafted under the program, the charges are stayed. If not, the matter comes back before the courts.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
11 minutes ago
- Global News
Man who tried to stab pastor had earlier said he wanted to kill a priest, court told
A man who tried to stab a Catholic pastor in the middle of a Sunday religious service last winter had previously gone to hospital and said he planned to kill a priest, a court has been told. Pawel Olownia has been found not criminally responsible for the Feb. 9 incident at Holy Ghost Parish, which saw him unsuccessfully attempt to attack a pastor with a knife bearing a 10-centimetre blade. The cleric escaped and, in a move captured on livestream video, Olownia stuck the knife into the altar and was arrested with the help of parishioners including an off-duty police officer who attended the service. Olownia, who was 50 at the time, was charged with possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, assault with a weapon and disturbing a religious assembly. Olownia underwent a psychiatric assessment that found he suffered from delusions that he was being persecuted by authorities. Story continues below advertisement The report found that Olownia held 'a long-standing belief he was continuously being video recorded by the church and the Canadian government,' provincial court Judge Lisa Labossiere said during the June 23 court hearing. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Olownia also believed he was a celebrity who had inspired popular songs and wanted privacy, she added, and was experiencing symptoms of psychosis at the time of the attack. A Crown attorney and Olownia, who represented himself at the hearing, both asked the judge for a finding of not criminally responsible, and Labossiere agreed. 'Jail is not (an) ideal place for me to be, especially if I'm having mental issues,' Olownia told court. The ruling means Olownia, who had been kept in custody, will avoid jail time and either be released or sent to a psychiatric hospital unit following a hearing before the Criminal Code Review Board. Labossiere ordered that he been transferred to a hospital pending the board hearing. The board did not return a request for information about Olownia's hearing, and the Archdiocese of Winnipeg did not respond to an interview request. Olownia had previously been hospitalized and had been diagnosed with mental health issues, court was told. At some point before the attack, he went to a hospital for help, saying that he was going to kill a priest, and was hospitalized, court was told. Story continues below advertisement There were no details at the hearing about how Olownia left the hospital. An official with the Canadian Mental Health Association said the case raises questions about what services were made available. 'This gentleman sought help … and the system was not able to, or didn't have the right protocols in place to, build a prevention strategy,' Marion Cooper, executive director of the association for Manitoba, said Wednesday. 'Having the hospital begin to reflect on what has happened, what might have been the breakdown, would be a really responsible part of our system's response in this situation.' Shared Health, the province's central health planning agency, which is also responsible for the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, said it would not comment on the case due to privacy requirements under the province's Public Health Information Act.
National Post
13 hours ago
- National Post
Opinion: Modernize the legal system to confront 21st-century organized crime
Article content The Jordan framework is a set of legal principles that determine whether a criminal trial has been delayed unreasonably, resulting in a rights violation. It enforces strict trial timelines of 18-30 months, forcing the dismissal of complex cross-border cases that in the U.S. could proceed under exceptions in the Speedy Trial Act. Article content The Stinchcombe disclosure rule requires the Crown to share virtually all evidence publicly, deterring the use of intelligence from our allies in court for fear of compromising sources. Our allies employ measures like public interest immunity or classified information procedures to protect sensitive data. Article content Our organized crime provisions are similarly out of step. The Criminal Code sections pertaining to organized crime (467.1–467.13) require proof of a rigid organizational structure and a benefit motive, a framework ill-suited to the decentralized, cell-based and digital networks driving today's transnational crime. In contrast, the U.S. RICO Act targets patterns of criminal behaviour, allowing prosecutions of crime leaders and facilitators in loosely co-ordinated syndicates. Article content Financial enforcement is equally weak. Between $45 billion and $113 billion is laundered in Canada each year, with British Columbia's Cullen Commission estimating that upwards of $5.3 billion is laundered through B.C. real estate every year. Article content The absence of a robust beneficial ownership registry leaves shell corporations and trusts as attractive vehicles for ' snow-washing ' illicit funds. FINTRAC's limited proactive authority contrasts sharply with the U.S. FinCEN 's ability to issue geographic targeting orders, freeze assets and compel cross-jurisdictional disclosure. Article content Jurisdictional gaps and enforcement silos further undermine our defences. Ports, airports and rail hubs often fall outside the authority of municipal and provincial police unless complex memoranda of understanding are in place, leaving vulnerabilities that organized crime exploits. Article content Intelligence is likewise siloed, with CSIS unable to readily convert its intelligence into admissible evidence — a problem the U.K. mitigates through closed-material proceedings. Article content Canada also lacks the means to compel internet service providers, payment processors and banks to sever support to foreign criminal enterprises, while the European Union's Digital Services Act — an overly restrictive act we should not strive to emulate overall — contains important elements, such as provisions empowering member states to force takedowns of criminal platforms. Article content To address these gaps, Canada should introduce targeted carve-outs to the Stinchcombe disclosure requirements and the Jordan timelines for organized crime and national security cases and create secure protocols for using allied intelligence in prosecutions. Article content The Criminal Code's organized crime sections should be modernized to include enforcement against decentralized networks alongside stronger wiretap and production order powers for digital and offshore data. Article content Financial transparency must be improved through a more robust and enforceable beneficial ownership registry and expanded FINTRAC powers.
Edmonton Journal
19 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
News organizations fight to publicize evidence presented at fitness hearing of suspect in Lapu Lapu attack
Article content A media consortium has challenged a publication ban on evidence at a hearing to determine if the man accused of killing 11 people at Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day festival is fit to stand trial. Article content The ban, which is supported by both prosecutors and the defence, says evidence in the British Columbia provincial court hearing is not publishable until the ban is lifted or after the end of a criminal trial. Article content Article content Adam Kai-Ji Lo, who attended court by video on Tuesday wearing a blue sweatshirt, faces 11 second-degree murder charges over the ramming attack in April, when an SUV drove through a crowd at a Filipino community festival. Article content Article content Lawyer Daniel Coles, representing the consortium that includes The Canadian Press, argued that lifting the ban would be in the public interest while Crown lawyer Michaela Donnelly and Lo's defence lawyer Mark Swartz opposed lifting or altering the ban. Article content Coles told the court that Vancouver now 'wears the crown of the deadliest vehicle attack in Canadian history' and the attack has garnered significant public attention. He said it was essential to the public interest and the open-court principle to allow the media to report on the matter, as it was not often possible for members of the public to attend court and coverage 'fills that void.' Article content Article content He argued that the court must find a balance between Lo's right to a fair trial with court openness and freedom of expression. Article content 'A proper publication ban — one that can withstand Charter scrutiny — is done with a scalpel and not a hatchet,' he told the court Tuesday. 'It's minimally invasive.' Article content Coles argued that because a trial date has not yet been set, much of what is covered by the fitness hearing 'will be in the rear-view mirror of the public consciousness' by that time. Article content He also said several details are already known by the public, including that Lo had 'significant interactions with police in connection with mental health issues.' Article content 'Any potential juror would know that,' he told the judge, adding that public is also aware of his family history, including the murder of his brother and his mother's attempted suicide. Article content Swartz rebuffed that argument, saying publicly known information is 'very bare bones' and 'quite ambiguous.'
