KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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APRIL 21, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 48
TODAY’S WEATHER Sunny and warm High 24 C Low 8 C
DEBATING THE $90M QUESTION
A STAR IS BORN
Arts-centre proposal subject of ISC forum
Cole Ully skates with the Texas Stars of the AHL
A3
A21
INMATE FILES HUMAN-RIGHTS COMPLAINT
Bridge work has begun CLOSURE OF TRANQUILLE OVERPASS DELAYED
TIM PETRUK STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
A Muslim prisoner has filed a human-rights complaint against Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre, alleging jail staff refused to allow him to practise his religion. Andrew Monnette claims prison officials would not allow him to eat a halal diet or give him access to a Qur’an or a prayer mat, offering him a towel as a stand-in. In his B.C. Human Rights Tribunal complaint, the 25-year-old said the discrimination started in April 2014, when he was booked into KRCC awaiting trial on a string of assault and firearms charges out of Cranbrook, and continued until his transfer to a Prince George jail in December. Monnette, who converted to Islam seven years ago while behind bars at a youth prison, said he tries to pray five times daily, using a prayer mat and beads, and adheres to a Muslim diet. In his complaint, Monnette said he informed KRCC officials of his religion upon his arrival at the prison and requested a Qur’an, prayer beads and a prayer mat, in addition to a halal diet. “I was initially told to ‘prove it’ that I am Muslim,” the complaint reads. “One employee even told me that because I am white, I was lying about being Muslim.” Monnette said he contacted an imam he knew from a federal prison in the Lower Mainland to tell KRCC officials he was, in fact, Muslim. Through that channel, Monnette said he was eventually provided with a Qur’an, prayer beads and a prayer mat. “I was allowed to have the Qur’an and the prayer beads, but was told that I could not have the prayer mat because, ‘If other inmates see it, they will want to become Muslim, too,’” the complaint states. “I was told that I could use a towel as a substitute.” See ISLAM, A6
ANDREA KLASSEN STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
ANDREA KLASSEN/KTW Traffic in both directions began backing up yesterday afternoon as the six-month project to resurface Overlanders Bridge began.
It’s a slow beginning for one of the city’s largest roadworks projects in recent memory. Workers from Innovative Civil Constructors Inc. began a five-month, $10-million rehabilitation of the Overlanders Bridge yesterday following the city’s morning commute, but a major component of the first phase of the project won’t begin for a few more weeks. City capital-projects manager Darren Crundwell said crews won’t start peeling back the asphalt on the Tranquille Road overpass leading from [view] the bridge to Overlanders Bridge Cam at the Tranquille kamloopsthisweek.com Market until a new deck joint arrives from Ontario, which will likely take two weeks. For now, work will centre on the western sidewalk and westernmost lane of the bridge. Though the span was to be down to two lanes for the opening day of construction as workers set up traffic control and signage on the bridge, Crundwell said motorists should expect three lanes of traffic for the rest of the week. That will change again after the CFJC-TV Boogie the Bridge event, which takes place this Sunday. Following the annual run, Crundwell said the city has given its contractor permission to shut down both lanes on the west side of the bridge. For now, work will be done 24 hours a day for six days of the week, with Sundays off, Crundwell said, though the contractor does have the option to work around-the-clock.
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