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Body of suspected homicide victim Miguel Mack located, family says

Body of suspected homicide victim Miguel Mack located, family says

CTV News03-06-2025
Miguel Mack is seen in a handout image from the Merritt RCMP.
The body of a missing man from Merritt, B.C., has been located, more than two years after his disappearance, according to his family.
The discovery of Miguel Mack's remains also comes one year after investigators revealed they believe the young man was the victim of a homicide.
The update was shared late Monday night by Elijah Mack-Stirling, the deceased's brother.
'This is not the outcome any of us had hoped for,' Mack-Stirling wrote on social media. 'Please keep our family in your thoughts as we navigate this unimaginable loss.'
The RCMP's Southeast District Major Crime Unit has not confirmed the discovery of Mack's body, but told CTV News it would be providing an update on the case soon.
Mack was last seen alive on Feb. 27, 2023, and his family reported him missing days later.
A large-scale search was launched in the Merritt area involving volunteers, police dogs and drones, but turned up no sign of the missing man.
On the first anniversary of his disappearance, RCMP said they believe Mack met with foul play.
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‘No absolute right to self-defence': What to know about defending yourself from intruder in wake of Ont. man being charged
‘No absolute right to self-defence': What to know about defending yourself from intruder in wake of Ont. man being charged

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‘No absolute right to self-defence': What to know about defending yourself from intruder in wake of Ont. man being charged

A home invasion on Monday that resulted in criminal charges against a Lindsay, Ont. man, who police say assaulted an intruder and left them with life-threatening injuries, is raising questions around what constitutes reasonable force. The incident happened at around 3 a.m. on Monday at an apartment on Kent Street. Police have said that a 44-year-old man was asleep when he awoke to find an intruder inside his unit. An altercation then ensued, which resulted in the suspect sustaining serious, life-threatening injuries. Police later filed criminal charges against both the intruder and the tenant, prompting Ontario Premier Doug Ford to speak out about what he said was a 'broken' system. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also took to social media on Thursday and appeared to draw attention to the case, saying: 'If someone breaks in, you deserve the right to defend your loved ones and your property - full stop.' Your home. Your family. Your life. If someone breaks in, you deserve the right to defend your loved ones and your property - full stop. — Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) August 21, 2025 The case drew so much attention, in fact, that Kawartha Lakes Police Chief Kirk Robertson issued a statement responding to criticism of the arrest. 'Under Canadian law, individuals have the right to defend themselves and their property,' he wrote. 'However, it is important to understand that these rights are not unlimited in Canada. The law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced. This means that while homeowners do have the right to protect themselves and their property, the use of force must be reasonable given the circumstances.' A lawyer for the tenant in Lindsay told Newstalk 1010 on Thursday that his client 'maintains his innocence' and believes that 'their conduct was lawful.' 'Everyone is concerned regarding the situation because everyone wants to feel safe in their home,' Steven Norton said. In the U.S., several states have the Castle Doctrine, which allows a person to use reasonable force, including deadly force, to protect themselves against an intruder. Canada doesn't have a similar law in place, though. CTV News Toronto spoke to several legal experts on what there is to know when to it comes to the legalities of protecting oneself against potential harm from an intruder. Self-defence claim may not be successful at trial Kent Roach, professor of criminal law at the University of Toronto, said that these types of cases have become more common since Canada's self-defence laws were changed in 2012. Since then, it has become more challenging to predict if a self-defence claim would be valid. Ultimately, it comes down to the police to determine if there are grounds to lay charges, he said. 'The homeowner can certainly advance an argument of self-defence and defence of property, but it may or may not be successful at trial, but that's the way things generally operate,' he said. A widely referenced example of this is the Supreme Court of Canada case, R. v. Khill, where, in 2016, Hamilton resident Peter Khill shot and killed a man who was in his pickup truck on his property. While Khill was acquitted by a jury, the Ontario Court of Appeal went on to overturn the verdict and ordered a new trial, based on the jury's instructions around Khill's role in the incident and whether there was a reasonable assessment of self-defence. The Supreme Court upheld the request for a new trial in 2021, citing some of Khill's actions like not turning on his porch light or calling 911. After a new trial in 2022, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison. Roach said there are no different rules that apply whether someone is on your property or in your home, meaning 'there's no absolute right to self-defence.' 'It's ultimately up to a judge and jury to determine what is reasonable in the circumstances,' he explained. 'The accused will have the benefit of a reasonable doubt at trial if he or she acted in self-defence, but there are no guarantees, that just because someone thinks that the amount of force that they are using is reasonable to them, that's not really the issue,' he said. 'The issue is, is it reasonable to the judge or the jury.' Circumstances considered Criminal defence lawyer Joseph Neuberger said that Canadians have the right to protect themselves, their property or anyone in their home from a threat. However, he said that many cases hinge on what the suspect is using to commit the crime. 'If they're in possession of a knife, that's certainly a heightened risk where there is clear imminent risk of harm or death,' he said 'You're allowed to use fairly significant force to repel that individual and you may have no choice because you're protecting others in your home and yourself.' The same goes for if the introducer has a gun, which would put the homeowner at significant risk of harm or death. Neuberger said in that case a person could use significant force, including lethal force. He explained that it gets murky if there's another form of weapon outside of a knife or gun. Self-defence law makes allowances for an individual who's responding to a threat and could be extremely traumatized, resulting in them not being able to measure their level of force in the moment, he said. But if the person uses force with a baseball bat, for example, to disarm the intruder, and then continues to assault them, those circumstances are considered 'excessive force' and could result in aggravated assault charges, or more serious charges, against the homeowner, according to Neuberger. He noted that there's no duty to retreat in Canada, which means that if someone comes into your property, you don't have to run away. 'If there's imminent risk to you right away, you're allowed to response to that with reasonable force,' he said. He added that Canadians shouldn't want to be more like the U.S., because we have sufficient and broad enough self-defence laws that if an individual enters your property with a knife or gun and you are at serious risk of bodily harm or death, you can respond with lethal force. 'There will be all sorts of circumstances that will look at what weapon you were using, or if you're a lawful gun owner,' he said. 'We do have sufficient allowance and broadness of the law for those circumstances to happen. But we do not want to go down the road of the United States, where you strictly have the Castle law, in my opinion.'

Quebec's former transport minister says he was kept in the dark about SAAQclic cost overrun
Quebec's former transport minister says he was kept in the dark about SAAQclic cost overrun

CBC

timean hour ago

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Quebec's former transport minister says he was kept in the dark about SAAQclic cost overrun

Nearly four months since the start of the public inquiry into the failed rollout of SAAQclic, Quebec's former transport minister told the Gallant commission on Thursday that he was kept out of the loop regarding several details about the platform, including its actual cost. François Bonnardel explained that he never thought the budget would be exceeded and wasn't aware of the overspending. He stressed that the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) did not clearly explain to him the different phases of the project, including its anticipated rollout. Bonnardel, who is Quebec's public security minister, served as transport minister between 2018 and 2022 — pivotal years for the CASA project, which is the SAAQ's IT modernization initiative that included the SAAQclic platform. Initially, SAAQclic was expected to cost $458 million, and Bonnardel told the commission he believed that to be the total cost of the project. But he says he found out in February 2021 that the cost at the time had exceeded $600 million. "It's quite unusual," said Bonnardel, who told the inquiry he had requested a meeting with senior SAAQ officials immediately. "I want to know where this figure of $620 or $630 [million] comes from." Véronik Aubry, who headed Bonnardel's office between 2018 and 2021, said in her testimony Wednesday that she found out about delays and potential cost overruns in 2020. She said she relayed that information to Premier François Legault's political adviser. The February 2023 launch of the SAAQclic online platform faced a series of major failures and sparked a customer service crisis. It was intended to centralize most of the services from the province's automobile insurance board. These problems were highlighted in a scathing report by the auditor general in February 2025 who found that the true cost is now likely to climb over $1.1 billion. "For me, every $100,000 that is overspent must be defended and explained," Bonnardel told the commission, saying he always insisted on fiscal responsibility and spending control in his role. The public inquiry — presided over by Denis Gallant and known as the Gallant commission — began on April 24. 'Transparency is non-negotiable,' says Bonnardel In his testimony, he described himself as a "corridor man" who knocks on his staff's office doors to ask them questions about different files and their progress. "For me, transparency is non-negotiable," said Bonnardel. He spoke of the impression he initially had of former SAAQ CEO Nathalie Tremblay, highlighting how "reassuring" she was regarding the delivery and the progress of the project and how he fully trusted her. According to some testimonies heard during the commission in recent days, Tremblay allegedly glossed over conflicts between the SAAQ and its suppliers, which would ultimately drive up the project's costs. Véronik Aubry, who headed Bonnardel's office between 2018 and 2021, said in her testimony Wednesday that she found out about delays and potential cost overruns in 2020, despite being reassured by Tremblay. Bonnardel also pointed the finger at the former provincial Liberal government, which he said had not provided him all the information about the CASA project, including its problems. "What I take away from the last few weeks is that the previous administration knew that the project would cost $600 million. I didn't know that," said Bonnardel. Bonnardel's testimony will continue on Friday and current Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault is also expected to face questioning. The inquiry's report is due by Sept. 30.

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