Latest news with #WestVancouver
National Post
2 days ago
- National Post
From killings to rape, the heinous crimes that could get you less jail time than a Freedom Convoy organizer
Article content The Crown would end up seeking the exact same sentence for the parents as that being sought for Barber: eight years in jail. Article content Shooting at police Article content In the summer of 2023 Siavash Ahmadi was pulled over by West Vancouver Police for suspected impaired driving. When instructed to retrieve his licence, Ahmadi instead reached into a bag of loaded guns, retrieved a pistol and fired at two officers from a distance of just two metres. Article content Admadi didn't hit anyone, and neither did the officers when they returned fire. At trial last November, the Crown sought a sentence of seven years. Ahmadi ultimately received just four years, in addition to a $1,000 fine for impaired driving. Article content Michael Augustine, 60, pled guilty to a 2022 incident in which he used his truck to intentionally ram a minivan carrying his step-daughter, whom he had just threatened to kill. Article content The minivan, which was carrying a total of four children and two pregnant women, rolled multiple times before coming to a stop in the woods, 83 metres from the road. Miraculously, nobody was killed, despite one of the children being ejected from the crash. Article content Article content Despite Augustine's long history of violent criminal convictions, the Crown sought eight years, and Augustine was ultimately sentenced to five. Article content While staying at an Edmonton homeless shelter, Stanley Jago attacked a confused fellow resident who had been returning from the bathroom, beating the man so badly that he suffered a fatal seizure. Article content In the court proceedings that followed, Jago gained a reputation for unstable behaviour, such as threatening court participants or attempting to attack sheriffs. Article content Jago was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to five years — just slightly less than the five-and-a-half years the Crown had been seeking. Article content In arguing that 56-year-old Prakash Lekhraj didn't feel any remorse for raping a teenaged girl, the Crown would only have needed to point to Lehkraj's testimony that 'he never needs to seek the consent of a female to have sexual relations with her.' Article content Lehkraj was convicted of both sexual assault and the production of child pornography for an August 2020 assault in which he photographed himself raping a minor before uploading the images to an online group chat. The victim 'took it like a champ,' wrote Lekhraj. Article content The Crown sought a sentence of four to five years, but a judge went with three years and three months. Article content Article content IN OTHER NEWS Article content Article content Article content Article content Amidst Canada's bid to fortify its economy against U.S. trade aggression, easily the most low-lying fruit has been the spectre of interprovincial trade barriers. The various regulatory issues that make it hard for provinces to trade with one another cost the Canadian economy an estimated $160 billion per year. Article content Nevertheless, despite some early successes in knocking down the barriers, a major setback occurred this week when Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew bowed out of a trade deal with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario that would commit all four provinces to collaborate on new pipelines, rail links and other infrastructure. Kinew didn't sign on the grounds that no such projects should proceed without Indigenous 'consensus.' That also happens to be the high standard that Prime Minister Mark Carney has suggested for any new federally administered infrastructure; that nothing gets built unless it has 'a consensus of all the provinces and the Indigenous people.' Article content Article content Article content
CTV News
5 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Hundreds of cyclists set for Cypress Mountain trek to raise pancreatic cancer awareness
Anthony Thomas and his wife Carolyn are among the hundreds of cyclists tackling the Cypress Challenge this weekend to raise money for cancer research. Some 800 cyclists are preparing to trek up Cypress Mountain to raise money for pancreatic cancer research and care this weekend. For 18 years, the Cypress Challenge has taken place in West Vancouver and is said to have grown into the largest privately funded fundraising event for pancreatic cancer in Canada. On Sunday, dozens of teams will embark on the 12 km. journey up the steep terrain in an attempt to add to the more than $5.2 million raised over the years. The BC Cancer Foundation estimates around 800 British Columbians will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and it's projected that only 10 per cent of them will live another five years after that. West Vancouver resident and cyclist Anthony Thomas was diagnosed with the disease on Labour Day last year. Thomas explained to CTV News on Friday that he began feeling a sharp pain in his lower back while on a road trip back from B.C.'s Interior and was struck with nausea and felt ill. His wife Carolyn urged him to pull over and find care in Whistler, where they rushed to the emergency department. Thomas explained that after receiving tests, they found he had kidney stones, but also discovered masses on his pancreas and liver. After an MRI he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 'It's been a challenging year, for sure, because I felt completely normal and fine,' said Thomas. He was diagnosed with neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, a form he was told is rare but manageable. 'It's still bad, it's pancreatic cancer, but there are much better chances of getting through it,' said Thomas. 'When I found that out I really felt like I'd won the lottery.' Since the diagnosis, Thomas and his family have raised more than $50,000 for pancreatic cancer research and are looking to grow that number this weekend during the Cypress Challenge. Donations can be made on the Cypress Challenge website.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Six Vancouver-area beaches closed for swimming due to E. coli
Health officials have issued no-swim advisories for six Vancouver-area beaches due to high levels of E. coli in the water. Vancouver Coastal Health warned beachgoers and swimmers to stay away from the waters of English Bay, Kitsilano, Second, Sunset, and Third beaches in Vancouver as well as Dundarave Beach in West Vancouver due to unacceptably high E. coli levels. The warnings for Second, Kits and English Bay beaches were issued Thursday, a day after the advisories for Third, Sunset, and Dundarave beaches. The health authority collects water samples from beaches in the region weekly from May to September and tests them for bacteria. It issues not-suitable-for-swimming advisories if bacteria levels exceed 400 E. coli per 100 millilitres. Signs have been posted at the beach, although the beach itself and facilities are safe to use. E. coli is bacteria found in human and animal feces. High numbers in the water indicate fecal contamination. Lions Bay Beach further up the Sea to Sky Highway and Trout Lake Beach in John Hendry Park have been under advisories since last week. Vancouver Coastal is keeping a close eye on several other beaches where E. coli levels were higher than expected. These beaches include Jericho Beach and Wreck Beach in Vancouver, Ambleside, Eagle Harbour, and Sandy Cove beaches in West Vancouver, and Sandy Beach on Bowen Island. chchan@ Related Non-alcoholic beers bring higher risk of E. coli and salmonella: Study More Metro Vancouver beaches closed because of E. coli
CTV News
02-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
B.C. rescue team says bystanders ‘saved young man's life' in near-drowning incident
North Shore Rescue says it was dispatched to a possible drowning at Cabin Lake in Cypress Provincial Park on July 1, 2025. (CTV News) Search-and-rescue crews are praising the actions of three bystanders who reportedly saved a man from drowning Tuesday in the West Vancouver backcountry. North Shore Rescue says it was dispatched to a possible drowning at Cabin Lake in Cypress Provincial Park, the same lake where a 29-year-old man drowned while swimming with his fiancée just two weeks earlier. The volunteer rescue group says its members arrived by helicopter Tuesday evening to find the swimmer had already been rescued from the water. '(The) swimmer began to have trouble and was going under the water when three bystanders jumped in and saved this person's life,' North Shore Rescue said in a statement on social media. The man was assessed at the scene by the rescuers, including one who is an emergency room doctor. 'Due to the issues surrounding the near-drowning, the subject could not hike out,' the statement said. The swimmer was hoisted out of the area by helicopter and brought back to the parking lot to be transported to the hospital. 'We would like to commend and thank the three bystanders who jumped in and pulled him to safety,' North Shore Rescue said. 'The actions these people took saved this young man's life.'
CTV News
19-06-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
West Vancouver parents celebrate son's second Stanley Cup win in Florida
The parents of West Vancouver's Sam Reinhart are over the moon after their son scored four goals to clinch his second Stanley Cup win.
