B.C. man gets hunting ban, $13,000 penalty after illegally killing bighorn ram
NORTH VANCOUVER - A British Columbia man has been banned from hunting sheep in the province for three years after he illegally killed a bighorn ram and lied to authorities about where the hunt took place.
B.C.'s Conservation Officer Service says in a statement posted to Facebook that Heith Proulx of Kelowna killed the ram in October 2023 near Pavilion Lake, 28 kilometres northwest of Lillooet.
The service says Proulx had the animal inspected as required by law a month later and told inspectors the ram was harvested from an area where it was open season on bighorns.
But the service says global positioning co-ordinates showed it was killed in a closed area.
The service says Proulx admitted to lying about the location of the hunt when officers spoke to him in March 2024, and he has since pleaded guilty to making a false statement to official record keepers under the Wildlife Act.
Proulx was fined $13,000 and cannot hunt or accompany other hunters for hunting any type of sheep for the next three years in B.C.
The service says much of the fine will go to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, while Proulx had to forfeit all wildlife parts seized in the case to the Crown and retake an outdoor recreation conservation program.
'The harvest of a mature ram from this closed area is contrary to conservation objectives and resulted in an overall harvest that exceeded the annual allowable harvest established to guide sustainable harvest levels,' the service says in its statement.
The service says the Fraser River area, which includes Lillooet, supports about half of B.C.'s California bighorn sheep population.
It says a provincial senior wildlife biologist who submitted an impact statement to the courts in this case found that the value of an opportunity for non-resident hunters to harvest one wild bighorn ram in B.C. has risen to more than $150,000 in the last few years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Catastrophic:' sting urged over Star's myriad breaches
The Star has been named as a worse offender than Crown in breaking anti-money laundering compliance laws by letting high-risk gamblers funnel billions through its casinos. As financial watchdog AUSTRAC seeks $400 million in penalties against The Star in the Federal Court, the company has cried poor saying that an amount this large would push it into administration. Lawyers for the government agency pushed for a hefty fine on Tuesday, saying the casino operator and others in the industry should be deterred from similarly lax controls on potentially dirty money. "The sting must be there in the penalty, it must maintain its deterrent effect," barrister Joanne Shepard said, as a hearing continued. The Star has pointed to recent financial struggles, arguing it was only able to pay a fine of $100 million. In contrast, Crown agreed to pay a $450 million fine in May 2024 for similar money-laundering breaches. This amount was a "benchmark" which could be used to determine how much The Star could pay, AUSTRAC barrister Simon White SC argued. "The conduct in this case is measurably worse than that in Crown," he said. The Star's breaches were deliberate, he argued, in contrast to Crown. Management at The Star continued to engage with high-risk gamblers without proper controls and risk assessments in place despite clear findings revealed in a public inquiry into Crown, Mr White said. About $138 billion in cash turnover had come in solely through junkets with an additional $20 billion sourced from high-risk customers, Mr White said. "$138 billion just from junkets coming through the casino environment is potentially catastrophic in so many ways Your Honour," he told Justice Cameron Moore. The business had benefited from the breaches bringing in almost $1.3 billion in revenue through junkets at its Sydney and Queensland casinos and at least $1.33 billion more through high-risk gamblers. Additionally, very significant volumes of high-risk cash were pushed through its slot machines, the court was told. While a projected $343 million was expected to be paid to make The Star's anti-money laundering systems compliant, this should have been an expense made years ago, Mr White said. And without the proper measures in place, the casino had an unfair competitive advantage over its rivals, he noted. Earlier on Tuesday, Ms Shepard argued against The Star's claims of financial distress. She pointed out that a "white knight" had recently emerged with US gaming giant Bally's Corporation promising to inject $300 million into the firm. The casino could raise further capital, look into debt refinancing or dip into almost $60 million set aside from the sale of its Treasury Brisbane business, she told Justice Moore. In the 2017, 2018 and 2019 financial years, The Star had brought in $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion in annual revenue, Ms Shepard said. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm's revenue never dipped below $1.5 billion, she added. An independent expert report released in May valued The Star between $1.17 billion and $1.38 billion with liabilities of about $490 million, the court was told. The hearing continues. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Sexual assault survivors calling on Ontario to lift policy that limits access to community justice programs
Marlee Liss still remembers how dehumanizing it felt to sit through the preliminary trial of the man accused of sexually assaulting her, disturbed by how she was treated while testifying, as she answered a series of invasive questions. It took three years for the Toronto woman's case to make it to trial. The whole time, she said, she didn't necessarily want her alleged assailant to go to jail — she just wanted him to take accountability. Thanks to a referral from her Crown attorney, the case was put on pause in 2019 so that Liss could pursue a community justice program, also known as restorative justice. There, she got to hear her alleged assailant take accountability in a private room, apologizing to her directly. He also underwent months of therapy. Liss said the prosecutor agreeing to resolve the case outside the daunting courtroom was the most healing moment in the entire process. "It was the first time someone was finally saying … 'Your voice matters, what you need matters, your boundaries matter, your healing matters. Let's act according to what you need,'" said Liss, who is the founder of the global advocacy group, Survivors 4 Justice Reform. Because the case was diverted from the court system, Liss's alleged assailant did not receive a criminal conviction, but by the time the community justice program was complete, Liss said she was confident he wouldn't re-offend. Liss's experience is rare. In Ontario, sexual offences are among a list of serious offences deemed ineligible for referral to community justice programs by Crown prosecutors. According to a 2023 report from the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), the Crown attorney for Liss's case was later formally disciplined for her actions. Survivors 4 Justice Reform is calling on the province to scrap that policy. The group has written an open letter to the Ministry of the Attorney General, co-signed by 50 individuals and organizations that work with and advocate for sexual assault survivors. "Denying survivors this option perpetuates a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to meet the complex realities of sexual violence," says the letter, shared publicly on Monday. A spokesperson for the minister of the Attorney General declined to comment, having not yet seen the letter. Charlotte Carron then declined to answer questions from CBC about the policy of not referring sexual assault cases to community justice programs and whether that might be changed in the future. "It would not be appropriate to comment on this topic without seeing the letter," she said via email. Restorative justice can take different forms, including therapy, healing circles rooted in Indigenous practices, rehab programs or volunteer work. People accused of crimes have to assume responsibility for their actions and be willing to make "meaningful amends" to participate, according to the province's Crown Prosecution Manual. "The idea that restorative justice could be a thing that lets perpetrators off the hook — I think we have to start by recognizing perpetrators are not on the hook right now with the criminal legal system," said Liss. Right now, community justice programs are available in Ontario to sexual assault survivors who haven't reported their case to police. But many don't know that's an option, Liss said. She says people's first instinct is to call the police, and once a case is in the legal system it's too late. "We really want it to be possible for people who are already going through the criminal legal system to be able to change their mind … that's what consent is," Liss said. Emily Quint says she wishes she'd known about restorative justice as the sexual assault case against her alleged assailant was going through the legal system. The charges were eventually stayed because of an unreasonable delay in 2023. Hers was one of 59 sexual assault cases that year in Ontario which were stayed due to delays, according to data from from the Ministry of the Attorney General. "I was re-traumatized, re-victimized, just treated like I was absolutely nothing," she said. WATCH | Emily Quint's case tossed over court delays: While she understands why many survivors want to see their assailants punished, Quint says it was never about that for her. "I wanted to stand up and say, 'this is what happened to me and it wasn't OK,'" she said. " I wanted healing for myself, healing for him, counselling for myself, counselling for him." Lack of access is another barrier Lawyer Deepa Mattoo said she's seen many survivors prefer seeking justice outside the court in her time as director of the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, which supports survivors of gender-based violence. She says they would go to the Human Rights Tribunal or the now-defunct Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Mattoo agrees survivors should have greater choice, but says the clinic tends not to refer them to restorative justice programs because of low availability for those services throughout the province. "Those options need to be designed and available in [the] community for people to be referred out to," Mattoo said. The policy barring prosecutors from referring sexual assault survivors to these programs is a big reason that programs are under-resourced, according to Rosel Kim, a senior staff lawyer at LEAF, one of the organizations that co-signed the open letter. Not only should the province relax its policy, Kim says, but it should also increase the funding for the programs as well. "If you just sort of lift the moratorium, but they don't provide options, that's not meaningful either," Kim said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
B.C. Mountie loses bid to stay charges in obstruction of justice case
A Prince George RCMP officer has lost a bid to stay an obstruction of justice charge and will now be sentenced, in a case connected to the death of an Indigenous man in custody. In July 2024, Const. Arthur Dalman was found guilty of obstructing justice for ordering a bystander to delete cellphone video showing the aftermath of the police takedown and arrest of Dale Culver on July 18, 2017. The 35-year-old Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en man died in police custody 29 minutes after he was arrested, following a struggle with multiple police officers. Dalman is one of two officers who went on trial in the obstruction of justice case. The constable filed an application to stay his 2024 conviction, arguing that lengthy pre-trial delays meant he was denied his Charter rights to a trial within a reasonable in a ruling on May 29, Judge Adrian Brooks dismissed Dalman's application. His next court appearance is on June 19 to schedule a date for his sentencing. The other officer accused of obstruction of justice, Staff Sgt. Bayani (Jon) Eusebio Cruz was found not guilty in 2024. Culver's arrest and death happened nearly eight years ago, on July 18, 2017. That was followed by an investigation by B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office (IIO), an oversight agency that investigates anytime a police-involved incident results in serious harm or death. It filed its initial report to Crown counsel in July 2019, followed by an updated report in May 2020. Close to three years later, in February 2023, Crown prosecutors announced charges of manslaughter against two Mounties and charges of obstruction against three others, the first time the accused were publicly named. Charges against the two officers accused of manslaughter were stayed in April 2024. Charges against one of the officers accused of obstruction were stayed a month later, while the trial for the other two officers accused of obstruction was completed on July 25, 2024, resulting in Dalman's guilty verdict. 'Rare occurrence,' civil rights group says Culver's death and its aftermath have been viewed by civil rights advocates and First Nations leadership groups in B.C. as a key test of the justice system's ability to hold police accountable. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) hailed the recent dismissal of Dalman's application, with a staff lawyer saying it's uncommon for officers to be charged with criminal offences and even less common for them to be found guilty. "We recognize that this is such a rare occurrence — that not only was Const. Arthur Dalman found guilty of obstruction of justice, but that despite his application to challenge that verdict, the judge upheld his guilty verdict," said Latoya Farrell. "And now we're going to be moving to sentencing, which is monumental in steps towards the police accountability." In a statement shared by the BCCLA, Culver's daughter asked how many people would have to die before the public realized the justice system was broken. "We have been waiting eight long years for this, and I have somehow managed to remain positive about my feelings that eventually someone would be held accountable," Lily Speed-Namox said. However, the National Police Federation's Pacific-North director, Chris Voller, was critical of Dalman's application being dismissed. "I think that this was an error," he told CBC News. "I think it was very clearly demonstrated, throughout the testimony of all involved, that Const. Dalman's Charter rights were clearly denied." Voller said the IIO, which forwarded a report to Crown prosecutors in Dalman's case recommending that charges be laid, made evidentiary errors in the case. "The public of British Columbia want and deserve to have the ability to say the oversight of their police officers is competent, timely and reasonable," he said. "We would request a review of the competency, timeliness and reasonableness associated to both the IIO investigations and charge assessment by the Crown counsel."
