Vancouver parent alarmed over public safety incidents at Crosstown Elementary
Rebecca McNeil, whose eight-year-old child attends Crosstown Elementary School near Vancouver's Chinatown, says there have been multiple reports of incapacitated people, drug paraphernalia and people carrying knives near the school. She's asking for a better safety plan for the children, including fencing off the schoolyard.
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CBC
5 minutes ago
- CBC
Murderer Adam Picard's conviction upheld by Ontario's highest court
Social Sharing After a hearing last fall, the Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld a jury's guilty verdict against Adam Picard for the first-degree murder of Fouad Nayel in June 2012 — the latest salvo in a case that was taken all the way to the Supreme Court. The file stood out for the effect that a landmark court ruling in 2016 had on it. Known as the Jordan decision or 11(b), the ruling protects the rights of people accused of crimes to get to trial within a reasonable time. The shooting murder over a large amount of cannabis took place in June 2012 and Picard was arrested in December that year. From there, it took four years to get to trial in November 2016. On top of institutional delays, Picard had fired his defence counsel and the assistant Crown attorneys handling the case had heavy caseloads, making them unavailable for trial earlier. Picard requested an expedited trial date, which was denied in 2015. About three-and-a-half months after the Jordan decision was released and began making waves in July 2016, Picard asked for his case to be stayed and the matter was argued near the beginning of his trial. Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett stayed the charge against Picard, saying the delay had failed Picard as well as the public. The Crown appealed, and in 2017 the Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned Parfett's ruling and ordered Picard to stand trial. He appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, but the court declined to hear it in 2018. Meanwhile, Picard had applied for a stay of his charge in Superior Court, arguing again that his right to be tried in a reasonable time had been violated. It was also denied. The jury found him guilty in October 2018. In a tense address Picard gave in court that day, he apologized to the Nayel family for their loss but also maintained his innocence, leading some of Nayel's relatives and supporters to storm out of the courtroom. "I am not guilty," Picard said. "This is not over."
Globe and Mail
10 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
B.C. cedes much of Nuchatlitz provincial park to Nuchatlaht First Nation
The B.C. government has quietly ceded a large portion of a provincial park off the west coast of Vancouver Island, in response to a precedent-setting court ruling on an Indigenous land claim. Public access to parts of Nuchatlitz Park is no longer assured, after the B.C. Supreme Court declared last year that the Nuchatlaht, a First Nation with 180 members, has proved Aboriginal title to 1,140 hectares of land on the north end of Nootka Island. The remnants of the park are not marked, and the province says it is up to visitors to ensure they are not trespassing. Kayakers and recreational boaters are only just learning, through word of mouth, that the popular destination is no longer public land. Meanwhile, the First Nation is building a road through the former parkland for its members. The lawyer for the Nuchatlaht says it is the first time parkland has been included in a title ruling from the courts. The title lands include 320 hectares of old-growth forest in Nuchatlitz Park, which was established in 1996 with the primary goal of protecting special natural features. The land, about 110 kilometres northwest of Tofino, includes critical habitat for several at-risk species, including sea otters, the wandering salamander and the marbled murrelet (a small seabird), and features increasingly rare coastal sand ecosystems. The Nuchatlaht argued that the park was created without their approval and brought many visitors to the area without any benefit to the Indigenous community. A spokesperson for the First Nation says that guidance for the public has yet to be determined. 'We know the kayakers and the guys with the four-wheelers will be going there,' said Archie Little, an elder and councillor, 'and so we have to set the policies that they don't harm or damage the land.' Mr. Little said the Nuchatlaht plan to develop their title lands. 'Hopefully we will have some logging to do but with really strict guidelines.' Much of their traditional territory on Nootka Island has already been commercially logged, making the former parkland one of the few pockets of intact forest. Robert Devault, who has lived on a private island adjacent to Nuchatlitz for more than 50 years, is concerned about the road being built. It appears to be designed for resource development, he said. 'I'm hoping that what they're doing now won't be completely destructive, but my main disappointment is the lack of response from the government.' While he supports the Nuchatlaht people in asserting their Aboriginal title, Mr. Devault said the province should have negotiated some protections. 'We have entrusted the government to save those parks for everybody, for the future, not only humans, but for the environment. And so it's a betrayal.' The NDP government has committed to reconciliation with First Nations. Last year, it signed a groundbreaking agreement to recognize that the Haida Nation has Aboriginal title to all one million hectares of the Haida Gwaii archipelago. It has also agreed to temporary close the popular Joffre Lakes Park near Pemberton for parts of this summer, at the request of the Lil'wat and N'Quatqua First Nations. Tamara Davidson, B.C.'s Minister of Environment and Parks, declined to comment on the Nuchatlaht case. A member of her staff said the matter is still before the courts. The Nuchatlaht are appealing the decision because it granted them only roughly 5 per cent of the territory they claim. The appeal, however, does not apply to the existing title lands. The province still promotes Nuchatliz Park as a destination for wilderness camping, although the boundaries of its remaining 175 hectares of parkland are not obvious. The province has simply ceased to apply the law that governs parkland and protected areas for the portion that is now Nuchatlaht land. Jack Woodward, the lawyer who represented the Nuchatlaht, said that the courts have set a precedent establishing that Aboriginal title can supersede park protections on Crown land. 'When you have Aboriginal title, you are entitled to the full economic benefit of the land,' he said in an interview. 'You're unencumbered by a whole bunch of things that would prevent you from using the land.' Jacinthe Goulet, a spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, said there are no Aboriginal title lands outside of British Columbia, although there is active title litigation across Canada. Currently, there is no federal law that defines governance of Aboriginal title lands, but Ottawa asserts that federal laws and provincial laws of general application - statutes that apply to all residents without exception - continue to stand on those lands. Mr. Woodward said the governments of Canada and B.C. have failed to provide legal guidance for Aboriginal title lands. 'We're left in a complete legislative vacuum. There are now two places in Canada where we know that there's Aboriginal title. That is the Tsilhqot'in territory, and also Nuchatlaht territory. We know that there's Aboriginal title there, but there is no legislation guiding this,' said Mr. Woodward, who also won the Tsilhqot'in case in B.C. 11 years ago. Indigenous groups in U.S. and Canada clash over cross-border land claims Thomas Isaac, an expert in Aboriginal law at the Vancouver law firm Cassels, said the province has legislative tools to protect the park, but is not using them. 'The legislative objective of protecting the environment can justifiably infringe an Aboriginal right, including title,' he said. 'The government is negligent, asleep on the job. The Nuchatlaht is not responsible for the public interest‚' he said, adding that it's up to governments to balance Indigenous interests with those of the wider public. Several environmental organizations supported the First Nation in its court battle. 'Colonial governments and corporations have degraded the splendour of Nootka Island,' the Wilderness Committee wrote in a 2022 report about to the case. Torrance Coste, the non-profit's national campaign director, said the Nuchatlaht have the right to manage and access their territories as they see fit. 'While First Nations rights and title are ignored and actively denied by the B.C. government, logging, mining, oil and gas and other industries blast thousands of kilometres of roads every year,' he said. 'This has been and remains our bigger concern.'
CTV News
16 minutes ago
- CTV News
Ontario police seize $2.3 million worth of contraband shisha tobacco, cigarettes
Ontario police say they've seized $2.3 million worth of illegal shisha and cigarettes from a contraband tobacco trafficking network that was allegedly operating in the Greater Toronto Area. In a news release issued Friday, Ontario Provincial Police said they began their 16-month 'intelligence-led' investigation in Jan. 2024, in collaboration with the Canada Border Services Agency and the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Police executed three search warrants in the GTA on July 4 of last year and seized $90,000 worth of contraband tobacco, including 800 kilograms of shisha and 16,000 cigarettes. Police also seized $30,000 worth of Canadian currency. Ontario Provincial Police tobacco seizure A cache of seized contraband tobacco is seen in this image. (OPP) Sixteen additional search warrants were executed on Oct. 24 in Brantford, Burlington, Mississauga, Vaughan and Scarborough and resulted in the seizure of roughly 19,000 kilograms of contraband tobacco. The seized tobacco has an estimated value of $2.3 million, police said. Toronto resident Ali Mallah, 58, was the first to be arrested in connection with the investigation in November. He was charged with trafficking contraband tobacco. Four additional suspects were arrested in April, including Omar Omran, 25, of Toronto, Nael Alwarasaneh, 36, of Burlington, Abdelrahman Hasan, 28, of Brantford, and Saif Hasan, 20, of Brantford. They each face a charged of trafficking contraband tobacco. All of the accused were released from custody and are scheduled to appear in a Toronto courtroom on Monday.
