Gateway to the North - March 2019

march 2019

Edward James Olmos coming to Northern FanCon Frank PEEBLES Gateway

A AP file photo

Edward James Olmos attends The Hollywood Reporter’s 2019 Oscar Nominees Night at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Feb. 4 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

name has been announced for this year’s Northern FanCon that sets a bright new star in the event’s all-time constellation of celebrity guests.

Edward James Olmos is a generational talent, known as much for his rich acting abilities as for his box office cache.

In the Latino-American world, he is an unparalleled icon. Around the world he is celebrated as one of the truly great names of the acting profession.

In terms of fame, Olmos was a leading part of the pop-culture quake that was Miami Vice in the 1980s.

He was also memorable back then as Gaff in the original Blade Runner movie opposite Harrison Ford.

He held a key short-term role in The West Wing, the presidential series that dominated the airwaves in the 2000s.

In terms of artistry, he directed and starred in classic cinematic storytelling triumph American Me, a film so effective at exposing the Mexican mob that Olmos’s life was threatened as a result.

For his biopic performance in Stand And Deliver, Olmos was nominated for Best Actor at the 61st Academy Awards.

He played another real-life character as the father in the celebrated biography film Selena opposite Jennifer Lopez.

Another role earned rave reviews as a leading part of the ensemble cast of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.

He was also cast in such popular projects as The Green Hornet, Dexter, Marvel’s Agents of Shield, 12 Angry Men, Hollywood Confidential, his voice was in the all-star ensemble of The Road To El Dorado and the Disney comedy Beverly Hills Chihuahua, recent audiences heard his voice in the animated hit Coco, and he was the central father-figure in the series American Family.

— see OLMOS HAS, page 3

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Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Jones left mark on curling world

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Ted CLARKE Gateway

ennifer Jones wasn’t always Canada’s greatest female curler.

She didn’t always know her way around a courtroom as a corporate lawyer.

And it took 10 years of trying before she became pregnant and took on another full-time job as a mother.

Long before she became a household name in the sporting world, Jones was a painfully shy little girl who used to sneak out of the daycare at St. Vital Curling Club in Winnipeg to watch her mom curl. She caught on quickly and by the time she was 11 she was ready for the ice and starting tuning up her game two years before most kids were allowed to join.

Curling gave Jones confidence and a sense of belonging and the rest, as they say, is history.

She climbed the junior ranks and won three Manitoba provincial titles and one national championship before she broke through as an adult and won six national titles, two world championships and Olympic gold in 2014.

On her way to curling immortality, Jones qualified for her first of 14 Canadian women’s championship in 2002.

Three years later she made the shot heard around the curling world.

Speaking at the fifth annual UNBC Timberwolves Legacy Breakfast at the Northern Sport Centre, Jones showed the clip of her final shot in the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, a hit-androll from outside the house that required

Gateway file photo

Jennifer Jones, an Olympic gold medallist and two-time world curling champion, was the headline speaker at the fifth annual University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves Legacy Breakfast on March 6. the inside roll to clear out the buttonnudging shot rock of Ontario skip Jenn Hanna.

Jones apologized for the graininess of the video but it was clear to the crowd of 400 gathered in the NSC gym what Jones did to make the shot of the century under immense pressure to score

four and beat Hanna 8-6.

“That was the biggest game of my entire life, this was my dream sitting on a platter, and I didn’t play very well that game, I was very disappointed,” Jones said. “And then, all of sudden I had this opportunity, a shot to win.”

— see ‘Women’s curling, page 4

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Olmos has had a long, storied career — from page 1 Sci-fi fans the world over celebrated his role as Commander Bill Adama in 73 episodes of Battlestar Galactica, work for which he earned six major industry acting award nominations (winning four of them).

In addition to his Oscar nomination, he was nominated for three Golden Globes (winning twice for Miami Vice and The Burning Season), three Saturn Awards (winning for Battlestar Galactica), three Primetime Emmies (winning once for Miami Vice), he won an Independent Spirit Award (Stand And Deliver), nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, and he has so far been nominated for seven American Latino Media Arts Awards (winning four between Battlestar Galactica and Selena).

Most recently he was bestowed the Mary Pickford Award in 2016 for outstanding lifetime achievement in the entertainment industry as selected by the International Press Academy.

Since his celebrated breakthrough role in 1981’s Zoot Suit (first the stage play and then the film), his career has had consistent and sustained peaks. He has coupled that with incessant advocacy and charity work on a number of fronts, and has flirted with success in music as well.

Northern FanCon always has celebrities and special performers come to the stage, but few could compare to the power and legacy of a true household name – Edward James Olmos.

He will be available for autographs and photos, a public interview on the mainstage and three days of interactions with Prince George.

Almos is one of a collection of VIP guests and pop-culture features coming to the Northern FanCon extravaganza from May 3-5 at CN Centre.

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‘Women’s curling has come a long ways’ — from page 3 “At that point in time there was probably only three or four women in the entire world who could throw enough weight to make that shot. It wasn’t a shot that would be made often, but I felt so thankful I had an opportunity to win the game and make it up to my team for not playing well,” Jones said.

“The last thing I tell myself before a big shot is, ‘well here goes nothing.’ I wasn’t scared to miss this, I want to make it so bad, but life will go on tomorrow. This is what we play for, you can’t be scared to miss it.

It’s not the after-the-shot moment, it’s the actual performing that we train for, and it worked out.”

Jones talked about the Sochi Olympics and the security and health concerns for athletes in Russia before the Games and how she came to the decision to leave her 13-month-old daughter at home and the criticism back home that drew. Jones and her team of third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill

Officer and lead Dawn McEwen went undefeated at 11-0 and won the gold medal.

Two weeks ago at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sydney, N.S., it was announced that Jones topped a poll of reporters, broadcasters and national-level curlers as the greatest Canadian woman curler of all time. Jones was playing in the tournament as the Team Canada skip and she thought the late Sandra Schmirler would get the honour.

“It was very humbling, but what I attribute that to is always surrounding myself with great people, great teammates, great coaches,” she said. “More importantly, never being scared to lose or scared of the outcome or the fear of failure but living in the moment and wanting to win and trying to set an example for the young people who come after us.

“Women’s curling has come a long ways since I started. For us, when we first started it was always about trying to be more like the men and push our limits and I feel that

gap has closed.”

Jones talked about the day she thought her curling career might be over when she slipped on the ice in Switzerland and suffered a knee injury. The injury happened a year before the 2014 Olympic trials. She had her surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL and meniscus in June 2012. During the pre-operation tests she leaned she was pregnant after a decade of trying to become a mother which meant she had to be awake for the surgery and could take no pain medication after it.

“It was honestly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Jones said. “It was way harder than labour for me.”

By the end of August that year she was back curling and in November she gave birth to her oldest daughter. Jones’s husband is Brent Laing, a 12-time Brier veteran who plays second for John Epping, whose Ontario rink represented Canada at the 2018 Olympics. They have two daughters, six-year-old Isabella and two-year-old Sky-

la, and live in Shanty Bay, Ont., near Barrie.

It’s a busy life, especially during curling season, and juggling her two careers with family commitments is always a challenge.

“Everybody told me I could never be a lawyer and a successful curler, except for my mom, and I stand here today as a lawyer and an Olympic champion,” Jones said.

“Then when I was going to become a mom, most people wrote me off, and we won the Olympics and world championships after that. Anything is possible, and if people knock you down, don’t hang out with them, just move on.”

The Legacy Breakfast is UNBC’s annual fundraiser to support the four Timberwolves varsity teams in soccer and basketball. Over the past five years the breakfast has brought in more than $250,000 which is used to pay tuition scholarships for the student athletes, all of whom were on hand Thursday morning to mingle with the breakfast guests as ambassadors for their respective programs.

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Wednesday, March 20, 2019

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Wilkinson levels criticism against NDP over struggling sawmills Mark NIELSEN Gateway

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.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson is accusing the NDP government of inaction in the face of an ongoing decline in the forest sector.

In a telephone interview Monday, Wilkinson emphasized economic issues when asked for the top three matters the party is pursuing on behalf of voters in north-central B.C. He said government revenues from the resource sector – stumpage fees from timber harvesting and royalties from oil and gas and mining – are on course to drop 30 per cent, “and they don’t plan to do anything about it.”

Concurrent with that, Wilkinson made note of the slowdown in the forest industry as sawmills invoke

production curtailments in the face of softening lumber prices, timber supply constraints and the tariffs the United States has imposed on Canadian softwood lumber.

While the provincial government can do little to stem a slowing of the U.S. housing market and a consequent drop in the price of lumber, Wilkinson said there are still levers it can control, notably the mid-term timber supply.

“We’ve got to find out the right way to sort out the medium-term timber supply,” Wilkinson said.

“The industry needs some reliability, and all of the people working in the industry and all of the families across northern B.C. are entitled to know the prospects for the next three to five years in the forest industry.

Wilkinson “The NDP can do that and they haven’t done it.”

Canfor, Conifex and West Fraser have all cited log supply and log costs as reasons for curtailments.

“If the forest industry is facing a triple-whammy of the American duties, uncertainty of timber supply and low prices, this is bad news for northern B.C. and we’re saying to the NDP, it’s time for them to come to the table, it’s time for the NDP government to look out for the interests of British Columbians,” Wilkinson said.

Industry experts have said the drop in available timber has been a function of most of the beetlekilled pine having been harvested and the massive wildfires over the last two summers and there is not much the provincial government can do.

Wilkinson also took Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Doug Donaldson to task for showing up in January at a blockade opponents of the Coastal GasLink

pipeline put up south of Houston.

Wilkinson said it was a sign that the NDP has taken sides in a dispute between the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s elected band leaders and hereditary chiefs on a matter that is best left to the courts.

“And now there is a lot of uncertainty about whether they (businesspeople) are to deal with elected band councils or hereditary chiefs or both and the NDP are being very unclear on that, which is a big problem for investment in northern B.C.,” Wilkinson said.

He said the NDP needs to boost consumer confidence in the economy by reducing taxes “You can’t tax your way to prosperity and that’s what the NDP are trying to do,” he said.

Donaldson could not be reached for comment on Monday.

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Drivers abusing disabled parking spots Frank PEEBLES Gateway

K Gateway file photo

Karl Contreras shows his Disabled Persons’ Parking Permit. He is concerned about how many able bodied drivers park in the spots.

arl Contreras is one of many Prince George drivers with mobility challenges such that he has a placard allowing him to park in the spots designated by law for certain people – and only certain people – to use.

A small segment of the local population has been choosing to park in those stalls despite not having the enabling placard.

Contreras can’t help but notice them, because they oust him from those spots.

When he calls them on it, they are almost always – and this surprised him at first, but not anymore – rude and self-righteous about it.

“When I go to other cities, I never run into this problem, but here in Prince George it is constant and widespread and there is this air of entitlement about it,” he said.

One driver he confronted turned the music up loud in the cab of the vehicle to drown out his protests.

Others have simply said “it’s cold out” or “I’m tired today” to excuse their use of the designated spots.

The most frequent dismissal he hears is “I’m just going to be a couple of minutes.”

He said one elderly couple called over their shoulder as they walked away that “we’re old, we are entitled” so he shouted back “age is not a disability.”

Contreras has even gotten to know some repeat offenders, the regulars, if you will, and they take even less kindly to his protests.

“I got spat at by one of them,” he said.

“He rolled his window down, spat at me, and rolled his window back up. One guy wanted to fight me; he actually offered me a fight over it.

“And not once, not a single time, have I ever heard anyone say sorry for doing it, or vacate the spot for me.”

The authorities should also be apologizing, he said, because there is no effort to enforce the rules.

The problem occurs frequently at the school when he’s transporting his child to

When I go to other cities, I never run into this problem, but here in Prince George it is constant and widespread and there is this air of entitlement about it.

— Karl Contreras kindergarten.

He has gotten only what he describes as empty platitudes from the principal about mounting a response to these drivers.

Once, he and another with a placard were both shut out of their rightful parking stalls at the same time by drivers at the school who did not return in a timely manner.

Kindergarten students cannot be released from school except into the care of a preapproved adult, so neither Contreras nor the other parent could access the school to retrieve their children.

Eventually Contreras got the aid of another parent to hold him steady and slowly over the icy conditions to the door and got to the classroom but the other driver’s limited mobility was such that other arrangements had to be made, once Contreras alerted the teacher to the impasse outside.

It also happens frequently at shopping centres and grocery stores, he said, and when a store manager has to consider losing a customer – even one who openly flouts the parking laws and common morality – they all too often turn a blind eye.

The City of Prince George reported some good news, though.

Contrary to Contreras’s belief, the disability parking stalls at shopping centres can absolutely be enforced by the city’s bylaw officers.

“Parking control looks for these types of offenses regularly on their patrols of streets and City lots and parkades,” said city hall spokesperson Michael Kellett.

“There were 56 tickets issued in 2018.”

— see ‘NOBODY ASKS, page 7

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‘Nobody asks to be disabled’ — from page 6 “There is no legal difference whether it occurs on a private lot or city lot, however city staff only respond to concerns on private property when requested to do so, due to the availability of resources,” Kellett said.

“All types of parking complaints can be registered by the calling the City at 311 or by phoning Bylaw Services during regular business hours at 250-561-7622.”

Contreras knows that when ineligible drivers impose themselves on these special parking spots, they often take much more than the minute they claim they are going to be but they are often long gone by the time an officer can respond.

But, he said, it is such a chronic issue that he felt it would be well worth a city bylaw officer’s enforcement time to simply pick random shopping centres and wait for offenders.

Perhaps an enforcement blitz might dissuade such able-bodied drivers from taking advantage of spots for those certified to be

(It) is such a chronic issue that he felt it would be well worth a city bylaw officer’s enforcement time to simply pick random shopping centres and wait for offenders. in long-term pain and/or unable to move as easily.

“Nobody asks to be disabled,” Contreras said, adding that an application to the People In Motion agency, with a detailed doctor’s explanation, has to be made to get the placard and a fee must also be paid to have one.

“This is people’s lives, we’re talking about.

Being in pain two-thirds of my day, and then having to confront jerk drivers over this, well, it’s frustrating to say the least, it has even been a threat to me, and it just makes it all worse.”

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

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Canada Games a career highlight for Hanson Ted CLARKE Gateway

K Gateway file photo

Kieran Hanson leads the pack during a T2T 15 Male Mixed Gender 1500m heat on the first day of competition of the 2019 B.C. Short Track Speed Skating Championships in March.

ieran Hanson knew he wanted to give speed skating a try the day he watched Charles Hamelin win Olympic gold for Canada in the 500-metre event in Vancouver.

Hanson was eight at the time and the following season he joined the Vanderhoof Clippers Speed Skating Club, where coaches Nicole Ebert and Calvin Desmarais began teaching him the fast way around the ice.

By the time he was 12, Hanson was hooked on the sport, short track and long track, and during the 2015 Canada Winter Games he was riveted to the action on the ice at Kin 1 arena watching Canada’s future Olympians hot-lapping each other.

It wasn’t until two years ago, when he found out he was the No. 6-ranked skater in the province, that Hanson started to realize he was good enough to take a run at locking up one of the four spots for the B.C. long track team in the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.

Well Hanson made it, and in his first race on the outdoor oval in Red Deer two weeks ago, competing against skaters as much as four years his senior, the 16-year-old Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club member shredded his own personal record in the 1,500-metre race. In his first race he finished 11th out of 33 in that race and took 14 seconds off his previous best time.

“The first race it was windy and it was snowing and it was cold as hell, like minus-25, and it went really well,” said Hanson. “I had some mess-ups but dealt with them and then had some pretty good racing after that.

“The guy who won gold, he’s 20 and he just got back from international traces and he did it 1:55 and I was 2:07. He did my indoor PB, outdoor.”

Hanson was the youngest racer in the long track event and he said he wasn’t at all intimidated racing older athletes. He’s been doing that for years at provincial and regional meets.

“Everybody knew I was the youngest one and that didn’t change anything. Everybody was really on the same playing field there and I was happy with it,” he said.

Right from the opening ceremonies, Hanson felt privileged to be part of the Games.

“It’s completely different, I had an allaccess pass so you can go watch what you want when you want, you can eat what you want, when you want, it’s amazing,” he said. “It’s really neat going to see different sports, you get to see what kids like me who have worked towards in their particular sport. It’s interesting.”

“You can’t really wrap your head around it until you see everybody leaving that it clicks in, ‘this is what I competed at.’ Almost everybody there has the potential to be a future Olympian, it’s really cool.”

— see ‘HE’S VERY, page 9

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‘He’s very committed’ — from page 8 Cutting the ice with Canada’s best and soaking up the multi-sport atmosphere that defines the country’s mini-Olympics every four years makes him strive to be there again in 2023 with Team B.C. when the Games come to Prince Edward Island. Having just turned 16 in January, Hanson will still meet the age criteria in four years.

“Most skaters are unable to make a team at 15 years old so they didn’t get two shots and he did and that’s a pretty big achievement for Kieran,” said former Blizzard head coach Adam Ingel, who coached Hanson at the Games in Red Deer and has known him since he was kid.

“He’s never satisfied, he always wants more and that’s one of the things you want in an athlete. He’s very committed and works really hard. He really likes the shorter stuff but he’s very good at the 1,000 and 1,500 and he did a ton of work on the 5,000 and that’s what got him on the team.”

Hanson was one of four male speed skaters from the Blizzard club who made Team

B.C. Eric Orlowsky, 18, also competed in long track, while 17-year-olds Keenan St. Rose and Craig Miller were part of the short track team. Ingel said Hanson was also close to making the short track team.

“Kieran is one of the few who is doing short track and long track, it’s so strongly encouraged,” said Ingel. “If you’re going into short track you are gaining some agility and acceleration and tactics and you go into in long track you balance out your skating.

A lot of short trackers are weak with a leftleg push on a straightaway and you can’t do that on a long track. It develops endurance and gives you more power and we encourage them do both as long as possible.”

Hanson was back on home turf over the weekend, one of 11 Blizzard skaters who took part in the two-day B.C. short track provincial championships at Kin 1 in the first major meet on the Olympic-sized rink since the 2015 Canada Games.

“Stuff like this is fun, there’s no pressure and you get to skate without any stress whatsoever,” he said.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

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Rain to dominate Fraser River basin by century’s end, UNBC professors predict Gateway

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early half of the Fraser River basin will have gone through a transition from snow-dominated to rain-dominated by the end of this century in response to global warming, two University of Northern British Columbia professors are predicting.

Stephen Déry and Siraj Ul Islam base their outlook on a model of the basin’s hydrology. They ran the model for 150 years, from 1950 to 2099, using future climate projections from 21 global climate models.

As the climate warms, the ratio of snow to rain will decline, causing river flows peak earlier in the year with reduced volume, according to their projection. As well, they say runoff in the cold seasons – fall and winter – at the outlets of the Fraser River and its major tributaries will increase substantially and its year-to-year variability will more than double.

The marked increase in cold-season runoff is most likely linked to heavy rainfall from more frequent land-falling “atmospheric rivers” – long, meandering plumes of water vapor often originating in the tropical oceans that bring sustained, heavy precipitation to the west coasts of North America and northern Europe, often known as Pineapple Express storms.

Despite the steady decline in the snowpacks, the modelling suggests the increase in cold-season rainfall may lead to peak

CP file photo

The Fraser River is seen in an aerial view in Chilliwack on May 16, 2018. Nearly half of the Fraser River basin will change from being a snow-dominated system to a rain-dominated system by the end of the century, according to a team of researchers from the University of Northern B.C. annual floods that rival or exceed historic record levels.

The research is published in two scientific journals: Geophysical Research Letters and

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

“Our work is the first to directly investigate the impact of these ‘rivers in the sky’ on ‘rivers on the land’ using climate model

projections,” said Islam. “The results presented in both papers could provide useful guidance for future water management and decision-making in the Fraser River Basin.”

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MP seeking review after killer moved to medium security Mark NIELSEN Gateway

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ariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty wants the federal government to take a second look at a Corrections Canada decision to transfer convicted serial killer Cody Legebokoff to a medium security prison.

Doherty said he raised the issue this week in the House of Commons when he “specifically challenged” federal public safety ministry Ralph Goodale to review the transfer, which he said occurred on Jan. 23.

Sentenced in September 2014 to life in prison without eligibility to apply for parole for 25 years for the murders of three women and a teenage girl, Legebokoff had been serving his time in a maximum security facility.

Stuchenko In assessing an innmate’s security level, Corrections Canada considers three main criteria for assessing an inmate’s security level – how the offender will adjust to the institution, the risk of escape and public safety – but Doherty said the agency is also

Montgomery

Maas

Leslie

obligated to consider additional factors, particularly the seriousness of the offence.

“I don’t want to run the flag up and set ourselves on fire for political wins,” he said.

“This wrong and somebody made a mistake. They didn’t do it

maliciously, they followed their protocol, I believe, but I believe the protocol is flawed.”

Citing B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett’s sentencing decision on the matter, Doherty said Legebokoff not only committed the murders but was “looking

to destroy these four women.”

“He has shown no remorse, he has accepted no responsibility on this and, in Justice Parrett’s words, ‘He should never, ever walk amongst us again,’” Doherty said.

— see ‘HE SHOULD, page 12

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‘He should never be out of that little box, ever’ — from page 11 The news has not sat well with the families of the four victims – Stacey Stuchenko, 35, Natasha Montgomery, 24, Cynthia Maas, 35, and Loren Leslie, 15.

On her Facebook page, Louanne Montgomery, the mother of Natasha Montgomery, says Legebokoff will take the opportunity to escape and kill again.

“Don’t be fooled,” she says.

Doug Leslie, the father of Loren Leslie, said he was dumbfounded when told the news.

“He should never be out of that little box, ever,” Leslie said.

Only two of the families were notified of the transfer, although victims families are required to register with Corrections

Rehabilitative efforts, leading to a gradual and controlled release, have proven to be a better way of protecting the public than keeping offenders in maximum security institutions to the end of their sentence, and then releasing them into society without supervision.

— Esther Mailhot, Corrections Canada Canada to receive notifications.

In an email, Corrections Canada spokesperson Esther Mailhot declined to speak specifically to Legebokoff’s case, citing privacy law, but said in general inmates are “thoroughly evaluated and placed in facilities that can assure their security and meet their program needs.”

“Rehabilitative efforts, leading to a gradual and controlled release, have proven to be a better way of protecting the public than keeping offenders in maximum security institutions to the end of their sentence, and then releasing them into society without supervision,” Mailhot added.

She said a medium-security institu-

tion has the same security safeguards as maximum-security, but allows for more interaction among offenders.

Legebokoff can begin to apply for parole on Nov. 27, 2035, 25 years after he was first arrested.

Legebokoff will be 45 years old at that time.

Moreover, he will be eligible for day parole after 22 years and, because he was arrested before the Conservative government eliminated the so-called “faint hope” provision, Legebokoff can still apply after 15 years for a reduction in the wait.

But the key word in all of this is “eligible.”

Legebokoff must still apply for early release and the parole board can still decide to keep him locked up.

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Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Gateway file photo

Smoke from wildfires burning in the province obscures the view of the Fraser River in Prince George on Aug. 22, 2018.

Smoke raises air quality concerns Gateway News Service

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hree B.C. cities were among the worst regions in the world for air pollution last summer thanks to thick smoke that choked the province during the wildfire season, according to an annual Greenpeace report.

Overall, B.C. and Canada aren’t among the world’s top air-polluters cited in the 2018 World Air Quality Report.

However, when broken down by month, B.C. made the top 10 list in August because of the smoke from the worst wildfire season on record. Smoke from fires in Washington state and Oregon also contributed to the poor air quality.

The report uses PM 2.5 as a measure of air pollution. PM 2.5 refers to particulate matter that measures up to 2.5 microns in size, and is regarded as the pollutant with the most adverse health impacts.

Quesnel and Prince George had airquality readings in August that put them at Nos. 7 and 9 on the list for that month, with readings of 74.2 and 72.2, respectively. At No. 13, Williams Lake, with a reading of 67, also featured among the 20 worst in the world in August 2018.

All three of these areas had air-pollution levels deemed “unhealthy” by World Health Organization standards.

As a result, Prince George saw its average annual air-quality score worsen by nearly 70 per cent compared with 2017.

Notably, other areas hit hard by wildfire smoke last year, including Washington state and California, were also high on the list for August 2018.

“Climate-fuelled forest wildfires pushed air quality in B.C. communities to be some of the worst in the world last August. We cannot accept this,” said Eduardo Sousa, forest campaigner at Greenpeace Canada.

“Our province’s vulnerability to forest wildfires has a major impact on the air we all breathe and has serious public-health implications. The report really underscores that we need to act on climate change more robustly for the sake of our well-being and our environment.”

B.C. declared a state of emergency during both the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons.

Last summer, a record 13,000 square kilometres of the province was consumed by fire.

Overall, 22 out of 30 of the world’s worst cities for air pollution are in India, with Delhi ranked as the No. 1 capital city, according to the report. As for countries, the report ranks Canada well in terms of air pollution. It’s No. 66 out of 73 countries, with Bangladesh No. 1, followed by Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Bahrain.

The report, which uses air-quality data from public monitoring sources and IQAir AirVisual real-time data, notes that polluted air is the world’s fourth-leading contributing cause of early death. The WHO estimates seven million people die a year from problems related to polluted air.

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Canadians lose millions to scams, frauds Gateway news service

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he scams may not have changed much, but the scammers behind them – idling in cyberspace or across phonelines – have become more sophisticated and aggressive resulting in massive losses for the Canadian public.

With the release of its annual top 10 scams list, the Better Business Bureau of Vancouver Island revealed last year Canadians lost more than $121 million to scammers. That’s an increase from the $95 million reported in 2017.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to Rosalind Scott, chief executive of the BBBVI, who noted only a small fraction of people actually report being scammed.

“So multiply (the losses), these are huge sums,” she said.

“People are really embarrassed to report it. They just feel so silly and that they should have known better.”

Scott said that may be the case but those people are not alone, as many have clicked on the wrong link online, been taken in by promises of easy wins or been duped by a would-be companion.

According to the bureau, the percentage of victims that actually come forward to report the crime is less than 10 per cent and the BBB suggests actual losses could be in excess of $3 billion a year.

Scott said the scams vary but there are some common threads – they feed into either the fear factor in the case of email extortion scams, or greed in the case of sweepstakes scams.

AP file photo

Canadians lost $22.5 million in 2017 to so-called romance scams, according to the Better Business Bureau of Vancouver Island identified. Scammers use dating apps to build trust with their victims, then ask them for money. eHarmony’s Bad Date Rescue app is seen displayed on a phone in a file photo.

And always, the scammers stress that acting immediately is vital.

Scott said the scammers are hoping they can get you to act rather than think.

“I always tell people that unless the house is on fire or there’s a medical emergency nothing has to be done that second,” she said.

Topping this year’s top 10 list were “romance scams,” which accounted for losses in excess of $22.5 million.

According to the BBB, this kind of scam can be carried out over online dating sites and carries the additional shot of emotional and psychological pain on top of the finan-

cial loss.

“Not only do you lose money, but you go through supreme humiliation, lose your self-respect and your self-worth – those are enormous losses,” she said.

The bureau’s tips to avoid falling victim to a romantic robber include never transferring money to people you have never met, be wary of tales of hardship or family emergencies from people you are starting to get to know and it’s a red flag when those people say they are unable to meet in person.

An old favourite was No. 2 on this year’s list. Income tax extortion scams cost Cana-

dians $6 million last year.

It can come via email, text or phone call and usually says the Canada Revenue Agency is demanding money and wants immediate payment, sometimes in Bitcoin or through gift cards.

The BBB notes that the CRA does not make threatening phone calls or request personal information over the phone or by email, and it suggests deleting texts and emails claiming to be from the CRA. Danielle Primrose, chief executive of the BBB on the Lower Mainland, pointed out there’s a scam for everyone.

“Scams are evolving. They are more aggressive, devastating, convincing.

“Scammers are bolder than ever, which is why we need to keep informed and take proactive steps to protect our information and finances,” she said.

The rest of the list includes online purchase scams that use fake websites, employment scams, a variety of phishing scams that use fake invoices, subscription scams that go from free trial to large monthly charges with no notice, advance fee loans, tech support scams that remotely take control of your computer, cut-rate home improvement scams and banking scams that suggest there has been fraudulent activity on your account.

Scott said phishing and blackmail scams seem to be in vogue in the Greater Victoria region right now, though they have also seen letter campaigns using very real looking TD Canada Trust letterhead requesting information and emails claiming to be from Netflix saying payment has not been received.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

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