Land eyed for treaty settlement raises questions in Summit Lake
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
Summit Lake residents are seeking answers after learning Crown land within the townsite could be transferred to the West Moberly First Nations as part of a treaty settlement agreement.
The news was enough to draw 50 to 60 people meeting in the community north of Prince George on Sunday afternoon, said Terry Burgess, the alternate director for Fraser-Fort George Regional District electoral area G (Crooked River-Parsnip).
“It was just us talking, there was nobody there from the government,” he said.
Word got out in the form of an email to a guide outfitter from the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation that was then circulated among the residents. It came with a map with a significant portion of the townsite marked out as being of interest to West Moberly. Burgess said those who attended had no problem with West Moberly taking over the land in question but felt blindsided by the way it has reached them.
He said they are also concerned about the form that ownership would take. The preference is that it be in the form of fee simple, in which West Moberly would own the land outright rather than through the federal government but also make the band subject to the same regulations as adjacent property owners.
“Nobody wants the community surrounded by a big reserve,” Burgess said. “If it’s reserve land, there there is no control over what happens to the land... none of the regional district rules or the provincial rules would apply to reserve land.”
Burgess’s sense is that West Moberly would want it in the form of fee simple too, so it can be used as collateral for loans or be sold. Either way, Burgess said the land being considered is largely low-quality.
— see ‘EVEN THE, page 3
Wildfires hurting climate, Sierra Club says
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
The wildfires that ripped through B.C. forests during the last two summers have done the province no favours when it comes to carbon emissions, according to an environmental advocacy group.
In a report released Monday, Sierra Club B.C. says that both the 2017 and 2018 wildfires took out more than 1.2 million hectares, eight times more than the 10-year average.
In the process, the 2017 fires emitted an estimated 190 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and produced a similar amount in 2018.
According to the latest data, released by the B.C. government in December, B.C.’s total emissions in 2016 were about 62 million tonnes.
And Sierra Club B.C. says that’s on the low side, claiming the government failed to take into account emissions from “destructive logging and slash burning” that amounted to nearly 50 million tonnes in the last three years.
The practices have turned B.C. forests from a carbon sink to a carbon emitter, the Sierra Club B.C. says and adds that if the provincial government continues to use its current method, it will have undercounted emissions from B.C.’s forests by more than 200 million tonnes, once data becomes available for 2017 and 2018.
“Turning a blind eye to these massive amounts of carbon pollution allows governments to act
as if new pipelines and fracked LNG terminals can be accommodated within climate action plans,” Sierra Club B.C. senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting said in a statement. The organization is calling on the province to provide more thorough estimates and to collect regional data and data on management practices, distinguish between carbon-rich forests and less carbon-rich forests, and distinguish emissions from “destructive practices” and selective logging.
It is also calling on the province to set out targets for protecting carbon-rich old-growth, to phase out slash burning, and ensure all communities at risk of wildfires are fully participating in Fire Smart programs.
In an emailed reply to The Citizen, Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister George Heyman said the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change dictates that non-human related activities are not reported in greenhouse gas emission inventories.
However, he said forest fire emissions are included in the Provincial Greenhouse Gas Inventory for transparency but they are not counted towards the reported totals by either B.C. or Canada, in line with international practice.
“We know the last two years have been the two worst fire seasons on record. Most fires are natural events, outside of our direct control, though climate change is clearly intensifying the impact,” he said.
Sean Kemp, a violinist with The Atlantic String Machine, performs a concert Tuesday afternoon at the Brunswick Street Seniors Activity Centre. The show is part of the Come in From the Cold community outreach series to be held at
and
around town during the Coldsnap music festival.
A provincial government map shows the land in Summit Lake being considered as part of the treaty settlement for West Moberly Lake First Nations.
Horgan announces incentives for mining
Nelson BENNETT Citizen news service
British Columbians living in Vancouver may not think of mining and mineral exploration as something that impacts them, but Vancouver is a global mine hub, with 1,200 mining and exploration companies headquartered here.
Copper and metallurgical coal exports have, at times, rivaled lumber as B.C.’s largest export commodities.
So whether Vancouverites realize it or not, mining is an important part of Vancouver’s economy, Premier John Horgan said at the opening of the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup conference Monday January 28.
“People often think of mining – certainly in my community on the Island – they think of mining as a rural undertaking,” Horgan said.
“Mining is as important to urban British Columbia as it is to rural British Columbia.”
But B.C.’s exploration sector has struggled in recent years to attract the investment needed to makes the discoveries that can lead to new mines being built.
As part of the NDP government’s efforts to support exploration efforts, Horgan announced Monday that two tax credits that have in the past been renewed on an annual basis will now become permanent.
Both the mining flow-through share and the B.C. mining exploration tax credits are intended to provide investors with incentives to invest in exploration and mining. But the industry could never count on those incentives, because they have, for years, been renewed on an annual basis.
The B.C. government is now making them permanent, and the federal government has also announced that federal mining and exploration tax credits will also be extended for five years.
Making the tax credits permanent was one of the recommendations of the NDP government’s Mining Jobs Task Force. Horgan said his government will also hire more staff for the mines ministry to help speed up permitting.
“We’re going to dedicate new resources so we can make our processes faster and more efficient,” Horgan said.
The government will also earmark $1 million for the Regional Mining Alliance, which promotes mining and indigenous partnerships, especially in the Gold Triangle in northwest B.C. Horgan said $330 million was invested in exploration in B.C. in 2018, which is up from the $250 million spent in 2017. That is still low compared to what was being spent on mineral
exploration in B.C. prior to a commodity price crash that started around 2011.
While B.C. is blessed with an abundance of minerals, it is also seen as a problematic jurisdiction to do business in, in part due to unsettled land claims and lengthy and costly environmental review processes.
Horgan also acknowledged the perception that left-leaning governments are hostile to resource development. But he pointed to the $40 billion LNG Canada project as evidence that his government supports resource development.
“It’s the largest private sector investment in Canadian history, and I’m a social democrat, and I apparently wasn’t able to do any of that, according to my enemies, Horgan said. “I wasn’t able to balance budgets. I wasn’t able to come and talk to industry about anything.”
But even that project – which secured benefits agreements with every First Nation along a natural gas pipeline corridor – has run into problems with First Nations.
The New Year began with images of the RCMP enforcing an injunction and arresting some members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation that had been blocking a road near Houston, B.C. and preventing Coastal GasLink pipeline workers from accessing the area.
The elected members of the Wet’suwet’en support the LNG Canada project and associated pipeline, as do a number of hereditary chiefs. But some hereditary chiefs oppose the project.
“Those were images that are not good for British Columbia, not good for investment, certainly not good for the Wet’suwet’en, but images that we will have to work hard to erase from the public mind,” Horgan said. “And that does not just happen with the waving of a wand – it happens with hard work.”
Horgan’s government has made reconciliation with First Nations within all of its ministries. Horgan pointed to First Nations like the Tahltan, which has been a strong supporter of mining in its territory, as evidence that some First Nations welcome resource development, because it provides their people with jobs and other community benefits.
“Every indigenous community that you work in wants to see benefits for their community,” Horgan said.
“Certainty on the land base is absolutely critical for investment. Social justice and economic justice is absolutely critical for indigenous communities. Those two things are not separate –they are the same.”
UNBC to hold info night for prospective law students
Citizen staff
Prospective university students interested in a career in law can attend a free information night on tonight at the University of Northern British Columbia to find out how they can start their pre-law education at UNBC.
UNBC graduates who have successful law careers following pre-law studies at the university will be on hand to talk about their experience at UNBC, as well as how they prepared for the Law School Admission Test, what to expect in law school and what it is like to be a lawyer.
University faculty will discuss programs that are commonly taken for pre-law and the benefits of choosing UNBC to earn a bachelor’s degree.
“When it comes to thinking about professional degrees such as law school, UNBC can be the perfect step on a student’s post-secondary journey,” said Dennis Stark, UNBC’s interim manager of student recruitment.
“At this event, our lawpracticing alumni will share their experiences they had en route to working in the field of law, and how studying at a small research university such as UNBC prepared them for success.”
The event runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 8-164. Those who are interested in attending can register at the door or RSVP online at www.unbc.ca/future-students/ planning-law-school-rsvp.
PHOTO
B.C. Premier John Horgan speaks during an announcement in Surrey on Sept. 4, 2018.
Headwinds on horizon for Canadian mining, industry official warns
The high-profile nature of Canada’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is hurting the country’s mining industry, says industry association president Pierre Gratton.
“That is casting a pall, a cloud over Canada as an investment destination,” said Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada.
“We really need to get some resolution around Trans Mountain, get access to tidewater and move forward as a country thereafter, because it’s affecting the rest of the resource sector, I think, quite negatively.”
Gratton was the latest executive to tell Greater Vancouver Board of Trade members that Canada’s competitiveness on the world stage is slipping.
On top of trade uncertainty, commodity price volatility and issues concerning taxation, the former head of the Mining Association of British Columbia said capital that could be coming to Canada is instead flowing to mining jurisdictions like Australia and Chile.
In 2017, investments in mining accounted for 37 per cent of total foreign direct investment (FDI) in Australia, a share worth nearly $300 billion. The same year, mining-related FDI into Canada
was worth just over $28 billion, or 2.5 per cent of total Canadian FDI.
Australia has also overtaken Canada as the world’s secondlargest mining supplier.
“This is the sixth consecutive year that we’ve lost our percentage share of global international exploration investment,” said Gratton. “Over the past five years, Canada has lost ranking for seven of 16 commodities for which it is a top-five producer.”
When foreign investors look at Canada, he said, they see a system that fails to deliver major infrastructure projects efficiently.
A significant portion of Gratton’s keynote address focused on Bill C-69, which overhauls Canada’s regulatory review process and is currently before Canada’s Senate.
While it brings changes to a system he says is responsible for “longer timelines, unco-ordinated and unpredictable reviews and, in some cases, unjustified roadblocks,” Gratton argued that the country’s mining industry has been a secondary consideration during the government’s review.
“We’re still working on the details, and details matter. And I’d not be telling the truth yet to say we’re happy with the outcome at this point in time,” Gratton said.
“We’re not saying that this is going to be a wonderful bill. We’re saying it’s better... for most of the mining industry than the current regime, and that’s as far as we’re really going.”
He said senators are open to hearing industry concerns before the bill moves forward. He also said he is “cautiously optimistic” that government as a whole is listening to broader industry concerns about Canada’s tax competitiveness, the need for infrastructure spending in the country’s North and on long-standing transportation issues.
Despite a raft of regulatory concerns and global trade turmoil, Gratton’s address comes at a time when he says the industry has a bit more spring in its step.
He told attendees to expect the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan later this year: a pan-national plan intended to solidify the country’s position as a global mining leader, while respecting climate change realities and the country’s commitments to the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The plan was called for in August 2017. It would follow the 1994 Whitehorse Mining Initiative, which was signed by federal, provincial and territorial governments as well as industry, labour, environmental and Indigenous leaders.
“While I was initially a bit cynical, skeptical about what a pan-Canadian plan might deliver, some of the early signs are actually quite encouraging,” Gratton said.
“If all governments, including B.C.’s, move forward with this, I think it will make a difference to how Canada is viewed.”
‘Even the wooded areas have been selectively logged and have very little timber value’
— from page 1
“The area mapped has a couple of lakeshore lots to the north, then a subdivision that dates back to the ’50s and would cost millions to develop, then over to Huble Road and all swamp land,” Burgess said in an email following a telephone interview.
“Even the wooded areas have been selectively logged and have very little timber value.” Burgess also said that he has it on good authority that Moberly Lake expressed an interest only in expanding on the land surrounding the Ranger Station, which the band already owns, and in some pipeline right of way.
“How it expanded into this, we don’t know,” Burgess said.
Even if it ends up as fee simple, Burgess suggested there could be trouble. As part of the McLeod Lake Indian Band’s treaty process, he said some members secured land in Summit Lake in the form of fee simple only to find out it still could not be sold without federal government approval.
Burgess pins the blame for that caveat on an ongoing legal dispute between the owners of Loons Ha-
Specific parcels of Crown land have been identified for their cultural, spiritual or economic significance to First Nations communities, or for additional community space.
— Sarah Plank
ven Resort, McLeod Lake Indian Band members Justin and Bernard Chingee, and the FFGRD.
In July, the FFGRD filed notices of civil claim seeking orders to shut down the operation after the owners let a temporary use permit lapse. In response, the Chingees say the FFGRD has no authority because the resort is on treaty land. The matter remains before the court.
In an email, ministry communi-
P.G. musicians up for Juno Awards
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
The nominees were announced Tuesday for the 2019 edition of the Juno Awards. These trophies are presented by the The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS) and represent the pinnacle of the country’s music industry. There were some acts shortlisted that have Prince George connection, and some others from the broader northern B.C. region. Closest to home, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Peter Oundjian featuring Louis Lortie, Sarah Jeffrey, and Teng Li) is up for Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble for their tribute disc entitled Vaughan Williams.
Toronto is obviously not a suburb of Prince George, but the connection is made by virtue of the TSO’s concertmaster, Jonathan Crow, born and raised in this city where he became a standout young violin player, got his orchestral start with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, then went on to climb the national ranks of classical musicians to the key post he now occupies.
Another Prince George musician who has caught on with a celebrated ensemble is Jimmy Baldwin, who was a supporting player for the trio Washboard Union from that band’s inception.
Washboard Union is up for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Only a short distance southeast of Prince George is the rural Cariboo hamlet of Horsefly and that’s where folk duo Pharis & Jason Romero live and work. They won their first Juno Award in 2016 and they are up for another in the Traditional Roots Album of the Year. They are competing with David Francey, The Slocan Ramblers, The Wailin’ Jennys and Vishtèn.
The north coast got a shout-out with the nomination of Snotty Nosed Rez Kids, the rap duo from Kitamaat Village that’s grabbing Canada by its hiphops. The onetwo Haisla punch of Darren Metz and Quinton Nyce are up for Indigenous Music Album of the Year vying with Elisapie, Jeremy Dutcher, Leonard Sumner and Northern Cree.
The 2019 Juno Awards will be held in London on March 17, broadcast on CBC Television. This year’s host is Sarah McLachlan and the inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame will be Corey Hart.
Third Mountie who investigated ‘Surrey six’ gang murders sentenced in B.C. court
VANCOUVER — A third RCMP officer has been sentenced after pleading guilty to his conduct in connection with B.C.’s largest gang-related mass murder.
Cpl. Danny Michaud was handed a three-month conditional sentence to be served in the community for failing to maintain law and order under the RCMP Act. His plea came hours after retired Mountie David Attew also admitted to failing to maintain law and order under the RCMP Act and was given a six-month conditional sentence to be served in the community.
B.C. Supreme Court heard
Tuesday that Michaud was involved in an investigation of the execution-style shootings of six men in a highrise in Surrey in October 2007.
Special prosecutor Chris Considine announced a stay of proceedings on three additional charges against Michaud, who has been suspended with pay for nine years. Considine said eight charges had been stayed against Attew, who retired from the force as a staff sergeant after he was charged in 2011. The most serious charges were against Derek Brassington, who was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day after he pleaded guilty to breach of trust and obstruction of justice.
cations director Sarah Plank said the provincial and federal governments are in discussions with five First Nations on compensation for reserve lands owed to them for more than 100 years through Treaty 8: Saulteau, Doig River, Blueberry River, Halfway River and West Moberly First Nations.
“Specific parcels of Crown land have been identified for their cultural, spiritual or economic significance to First Nations communities, or for additional community space,” she said and added most of it has some form of tenure, licence or lease on it be it for forestry, guide outfitting or cattle grazing.
“The province is engaging with local governments, industry, associations, tenure and licence holders, other stakeholders and the public before any decisions are made,” she said. Burgess said residents are asking ministry officials to meet with them in the spring.
Hayley WOODIN Citizen news service
HANDOUT PHOTO BY THE GREATER VANCOUVER BOARD OF TRADE
Mining Association of Canada president and CEO Pierre Gratton addressed the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Jan. 23.
Citizen news service
Fur-bearing animals, habitats in decline, trappers say
Randy SHORE Vancouver Sun
B.C.’s trapping industry is facing multiple threats, including falling prices for fur and the general decline of their target species.
An increase in devastating forest fires, over-harvesting of timber and aerial spraying of herbicides over newly planted forests are combining to shrink viable forest habitat for fur-bearing creatures, trappers say.
Once Canada’s economic engine, the market for fur in Europe and North America has largely succumbed to the grisly messaging of animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Fur remains popular with increasingly affluent buyers from Russia and in China –the fur industry there is worth $22 billion – but the vagaries of fashion and waning economic growth in those nations have depressed prices for pelts for the past several years.
The recent diplomatic tiff caused by the arrest of Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou by Canadian authorities has hammered the sales – and the share price – of Canada Goose, whose fur-trimmed parkas had been wildly popular in China.
A market report by Jeremiah Wood of Trapping Today predicts that the price for beaver pelts ($10 to $13 each) and wild mink ($5 to $10 each) will remain depressed in the years to come as both can be replaced by cheap farmed mink.
Bobcat fetches $350, but fewer than 250 are trapped each year in B.C. The 14,000 martens trapped here each year sell for $70 each.
The price for lynx pelts – about $70 – is “disappointing” considering the amount of work required to catch and process the animal, said Wood.
Uncertainty in the fur market has prompted several major auction houses to postpone the first pelt auctions of 2019, he said.
But trappers say the larger and potentially more devastating threat to the industry is the collapse of B.C.’s forest ecosystems.
Over-harvesting of timber is making a serious dent in the viable habitat for fur-bearing animals and their prey, said Brian Dack, president of the B.C. Trapper Association.
“Our wildlife populations are in serious decline everywhere,” he said.
“The only thing anyone seems to care about is our ability to grow trees.”
A 2012 study by then-UNBC master’s candidate Michael Bridger – now a wildlife biologist for the Ministry of Lands, Forests and Natural Resource Operations – used interviews with biologists and experienced trappers along with catch data to quantify the effects of logging on three fur-bearing species.
Where human effects on the environment increased over the study period, optimal
habitat for lynx, fisher and marten declined by about 80 per cent.
The ministry says those concerns will be addressed by a new wildlife management and habitat strategy now being developed with First Nations that will include input from various concerned groups, including trappers.
Dack worries that the roads that service the resource sector and areas of deforestation by wildfire are not accounted for when the Forests Ministry calculates the annual allowable cut for timber harvesting.
About 620,000 kilometres of gravel roads provide access to the back country for the forestry and resource extraction industries.
Five of the worst fire seasons since 1950 have come in the past decade and more than 10,000 square kilometres burned in 2017 alone, according to the Forests Ministry.
“If you don’t reduce the cut, the amount of timber left to harvest is smaller and smaller, but the amount of timber they take is the same,” he said.
In January 2018 – after the 2017 wildfires – the Chief Forester issued new guidance for foresters that wildlife and their habitat needs must be considered when planning forestry activities,” according to the
Comedy skits sure to Tickle Your Funny Bone
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff
chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
These seniors are up for the chuckle challenge and promise to tickle your funny bone during the Elder Citizen Recreation Association’s Drama Club performance Friday through Sunday. Showcasing their comedy chops, the group of nine will perform in several skits and while they’re doing costume changes the club’s got the audience covered with musical entertainment. “It might take us a bit of time to change costumes but we’ll make it worth your while,” organizer Odelia Kranz promised. Some of the skits include Sisters, which has a musical component to it, Dining Out sees mispronunciation and miscommunica-
tion come into play, while Security Guards at a factory see some trouble and the RCMP Musical Ride takes the audience on a funfilled journey. The drama club started rehearsal in earnest back in October and having been going strong ever since. They all get along really well and always invite those interested in joining the club to do so because the more the merrier is the theme when it comes to performance on stage, memorizing lines and unbridled enthusiasm.
We’ll Tickle Your Funny Bone, presented by the ECRA drama club, takes place at ECRA’s Recreation Centre, 1692 Tenth Ave., Friday at 7 p.m., while matinees are on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door or in advance at the centre.
ministry. Dack is also concerned about the effects of aerial herbicide spraying over B.C. forests. Roughly 10,000 hectares of newly planted forest was treated with glyphosate in 2017.
The spray kills aspen – a favourite food for beaver – and wipes out many other broadleaf plants in the process. The result is a single-crop pine forest without structure or food for wildlife, said James Steidle of Stop the Spray B.C.
The high-profile struggles of B.C’s vanishing caribou herds and the southern resident killer whales are being felt just as keenly by fur-bearing creatures, said Dack.
“When they spray that area is totally devoid of wildlife. You’ve killed the deciduous plants, there’s no berries, there’s no aquatic life, there’s nothing to support life,” he said.
The industry supports up to 1,300 partand full-time licensed trappers, plus First Nations trappers, who do not require a licence. There are an estimated 3,500 active trappers in B.C. and around 2,600 trap lines, about half of which are held by First Nations.
Many of those jobs are in the most remote reaches of the province.
About 25,000 fur-bearing animals –mainly marten, lynx, beaver, coyote, weasel
and squirrel – are harvested for their pelts by licensed trappers with an average annual value of about $1.6 million over the past five years. That’s down about 11 per cent from the average annual catch between 2010 and 2013, according to provincial government figures.
Nonetheless, the trapper’s association trains about 300 new entrants in the tricks of the trade each year and the ministry considers trappers a conservation resource.
“Regulated trapping plays an important role in the ecology and conservation of furbearers,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Some jurisdictions that have outlawed trapping are now struggling to manage fur-bearer populations, especially where population issues emerge within communities.”
Dack maintains trappers do good service to the province. Licensed trappers harvest 1,500 coyotes and more than 200 wolves each year at no cost to the taxpayer.
Wolves prey on rapidly dwindling moose, caribou and elk herds – especially their young – across northern B.C. Coyotes are a threat to fawns of bighorn sheep, deer and pronghorns, along with domestic sheep and lambs, according to B.C.’s fur-bearer management guidelines.
Documentary The Destruction of Memory to be screened at UNBC
Citizen staff
Internationally-acclaimed film director Tim Slade is bringing his documentary, The Destruction of Memory to the University of Northern British Columbia for two screenings this week.
Based on the book of the same name by Robert Bevan, the film, created in 2016, explores how cultural destruction has wrought catastrophic results around the world.
The war against culture is not over; it’s been steadily increasing.
“The issue of cultural destruction is urgent and important for audiences in all corners of the globe,” said Slade. “The film is sobering, but also passionate about greater protection for ‘the story of who we are.’ It celebrates the brave individuals who have fought and continue to fight to
Woman or
protect our shared heritage.”
The documentary includes interviews from the former Director-General of UNESCO, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as diverse and distinguished international experts. It looks not only at the ongoing actions of Daesh (ISIS) and at other contemporary situations, but reveals the decisions of the past that allowed the issue to remain hidden in the shadows for so many years.
The first event and screening takes place this Thursday at 7 p.m. in Room 7-212 and involves a question and answer period afterwards with Slade, an Australian-born film maker who now calls New York City home.
Friday’s screening takes place at noon in Room 5-175.
The film is free to watch and is open to the public.
girl slain every 2.5 days in Canada
service
A woman or girl was killed every 2.5 days on average in Canada last year, according to an inaugural report on femicide that argues the issue must be better understood in order to reduce the number of slayings.
The first annual report by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability – titled “#CallItFemicide” – was released Wednesday and answers a call from the United Nations for countries to better track gender-related killings of women, said lead author Myrna Dawson, the observatory’s director and a professor at the University of Guelph.
“It really drove home how often this was happening when we were monitoring this on a daily basis,” she said. “Women are still most at risk of men that they are intimate with or who they should be able to trust.”
The goal of the report, at least in part, is to acknowledge that the circumstances and motivations surrounding women’s violent deaths differs from those of men so that femicide can be better understood and prevented.
“The context in which women and girls are killed is vastly different because they’re most often killed by people they know, and that’s in contrast to males who are most often killed by acquaintances
and strangers,” Dawson said.
“Calling it for what it is and recognizing the distinctiveness underscores the fact that we need different types of prevention.”
The report said 148 women and girls were killed in 133 incidents in 2018, with 140 people accused in their deaths. In 12 of the 133 incidents, no accused has been identified. Some cases involve multiple accused.
More than 90 per cent of those accused were men.
In many cases, a police investigation is still ongoing, Dawson said, adding that researchers intend to follow the cases through the justice system the coming years to better understand the factors that went into each.
The statistics include a van attack that left eight women and two men dead in Toronto last year. The accused in that case, Alek Minassian, has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 of attempted murder. He is set to stand trial in February 2020. The women who died in the van attack are among the 21 per cent allegedly killed in 2018 by a stranger. By contrast, 53 per cent were allegedly killed by intimate partners, according to the report. Another 13 per cent were allegedly killed by other male family members.
HANDOUT PHOTO BY JAMES STEIDLE
This image was taken May 31, 2014, about a year after the area near Baldy Hughes was sprayed with glyphosate, according to Stop the Spray B.C.
Nicole THOMPSON Citizen news
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Members of the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre drama club rehearse a scene from
We’ll Tickle Your Funny Bone. The show will be presented starting on Feb. 1 at the centre on 10th Avenue.
Plecas report could affect Nanaimo byelection
Matt ROBINSON Vancouver Sun
Darryl Plecas’s report on alleged misconduct by senior officials in Victoria may have put some “new wind in the sails” of Green and NDP candidates preparing for today’s byelection on Vancouver Island that would deadlock the legislature should their Liberal opponent win.
That was the take of Michael Prince, the Lansdowne professor of social policy at the University of Victoria, who said the bombshell report “changed the channel” in a byelection campaign that had previously been tuned in to controversy over the government’s negative-billing approach to its speculation tax – an issue that had been playing well for the Liberals.
Now all eyes are on the Plecas report, which contained allegations of “flagrant overspending” by the now-suspended clerk of the legislature, Craig James, and the sergeant-at-arms, Gary Lenz. Nanaimo has been a New Democrat stronghold, but a Liberal win in this byelection would give the party 43 seats, tying it with the 43 seats held by the NDP and the Green party, which signed a deal in 2017 allowing the New Democrats to form government.
“The Plecas report certainly helps re-energize the troops on the ground for the NDP and the Greens,” Prince said. “Is it a gamechanger? I’m not sure. But it’s certainly a channel-changer in the short-term. It’s shifted the narrative and put (Liberal Leader) Andrew Wilkinson and the Liberals in a more awkward position than they certainly would like to have been in for this byelection.”
Karen Cooling, the campaign manager for NDP candidate Sheila
Malcolmson, said her camp has remained focused on local issues and has tried not to get distracted by the Plecas report. But Cooling, reached at a campaign office packed with volunteers who were preparing to canvas for Malcolmson, said residents reached at their doorsteps have been talking about it.
“We started to hear it (Sunday). People are concerned. They’re concerned about the corruption, they’re concerned about what’s happened to their money,” she said.
Cooling said it was hard to say
whether the report would affect voter turnout, but she said it was a reminder for voters that there is “a pattern of corruption and a pattern of (Liberals) taking care of their friends.”
Similar to Cooling, Matt Gordon, a spokesman for Liberal candidate Tony Harris’s campaign, said his camp’s strategy has been to focus on Nanaimo, not Victoria.
“That being said, nobody’s pleased with what they’re hearing out of Victoria and certainly Tony Harris isn’t pleased with it either. But his position and our view is
that this is a bipartisan problem that requires bipartisan solutions. The sooner people can get focused on the fix versus the politics, the better,” Gordon said. He said the matter is now before police and urged people to “exercise a little bit of caution” and let the appropriate processes play out before jumping to conclusions.
Michele Ney and her Green party campaign couldn’t be reached for comment.
Byelections in B.C. don’t often favour sitting governments, voters tend to stay home and the results
Gold mining firm donates to First Nation
Citizen news service
TELEGRAPH CREEK — A First Nation struggling to recover from a devastating forest fire that burned through its community last year has received some welcome help from a gold mining firm.
The Tahltan Central Government said in a news release that the Tahltan Nation has been handed a cheque for $250,000 from Pretivm, which owns the Brucejack gold mine about 400 kilometres south of the community of Telegraph Creek.
Chad Norman Day, president of the Tahltan Central Gov-
ernment, said there is still a lot of work to do in Telegraph Creek and the donation will go a long way to helping those who were affected.
A massive wildfire last August rolled through the community, destroying 21 homes and damaging many others.
In November, residents began returning to the community after modular homes were brought in to create a new subdivision.
Freddie Louis, the community’s emergency operations director, said then that $12 million was spent on making Telegraph Creek livable again.
Humboldt families split between forgiveness and anger
Citizen news service
MELFORT, Sask. — As more families stood in court Tuesday to share stories of their unending grief over the dead and the injured in the Humboldt Broncos crash, there was talk of forgiveness but also of incredible anger.
Christina Haugan spoke directly to Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the truck driver who blew through a stop sign in rural Saskatchewan last April, and told him she holds no ill will. Haugan’s husband, Darcy Haugan, was head coach of the junior hockey team and was among the 16 people who died on the bus when it T-boned the semi that was stretched across the entire highway. Thirteen players survived, most with serious injuries.
“Jaskirat, your actions while I believe to not be intentional were still incredibly negligent and irresponsible. You had a weapon in your hands in the form of a steering wheel,” she said in her victim impact statement.
But the Christian faith she shared with her husband calls for her to look beyond her grief, she said.
“I want to tell you I forgive you,” she said. “I have been forgiven for things when I didn’t deserve it, so I will do the same.” Sidhu, a 30-year-old from Calgary, pleaded guilty earlier this month to 29 counts of dangerous driving. He had been driving commercially for about a month and was hauling a load of peat moss.
Families started presenting their victim impact statements on Monday. Some 75 are to be submitted during a sentencing hearing expected to take a week in a makeshift courtroom in Melfort, Sask. More family statements are to come today.
A Saskatchewan government report was also submitted in court showing that Sidhu had 70 violations of federal and provincial trucking regulations and inspection rules over 11 days prior to the crash. The report said that had he been stopped for inspection on April 6, he would have been suspended for 72 hours.
The owner of the Calgary trucking company that hired Sidhu was also charged after the crash. Sukhmander Singh of Adesh Deol Trucking has yet to go to trial on eight charges relating to non-compliance with federal and provincial safety regulations. Sidhu, as well as some of the nine supporters sitting behind him, wiped away tears Tuesday as parents described having to identify the broken bodies of their
rarely have the potential to shift the balance of power, but the Nanaimo byelection is anything but traditional, says Prof. David Black, a political communications expert at Victoria’s Royal Roads University.
“This is the perfect byelection,” said Black. “You’ll never see a more interesting, layered, complex and consequential one in my lifetime at the provincial level.”
He said the byelection has all the ingredients of a high-stakes political drama that features solid local candidates, strong provincial issues and a potential gamechanging result.
“This may be the best byelection ever,” Black said. “Just to add icing to that very multi-layered cake you have the fact that this byelection, unlike most, could be consequential with respect to the composition of the government and the fate of this particular NDP-Green alliance.”
Six candidates are in the race, rounded out by Conservative Justin Greenwood, Robin Richardson of the Vancouver Island Party and Libertarian Bill Walker.
The byelection was called to replace Leonard Krog, the five-term NDP member of the legislature who resigned his seat last year after being elected mayor of the city. If the Liberals win, it would likely lead to an early election with the Liberals forcing confidence votes in the legislature at every opportunity, Black said. Nanaimo is strong NDP territory, but an election win isn’t a sure thing, he added.
“But if you were going to have a byelection to decide the fate of your government from the NDP perspective, you’d want it in Nanaimo,” said Black. “They’ve only lost twice in the last 50 years.” With files from The Canadian Press
TransCanada hires RBC to help sell stake in Coastal GasLink pipeline
Citizen news service
CALGARY — TransCanada Corp. says it has hired RBC to help it sell as much as a 75 per cent stake in the Coastal GasLink pipeline project designed to supply natural gas from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada facility on the West Coast at Kitimat.
children in a morgue and how their heartaches will never heal.
Shauna Nordstrom, the mother of 18-year-old Logan Hunter of St. Albert, Alta., said she is haunted by the way her only son died.
“I continue to feel empty and keep Logan’s bedroom door closed so his smell won’t disappear, and while I cry, laying on his bed, I can’t breathe,” she said.
“I feel numb and lost... My life is forever changed.”
Russell Herold of Montmartre, Sask., said he has not been able yet to bury his son, 16-year-old Adam. He often sits with the urn containing his boy’s ashes.
“You have any idea what it is like to hold your six-foot-two, 200-pound athletic son on your lap like I did when he was a baby? Only now he lies in a can? It’s devastating.”
Paul Jefferson billeted rooms in his Humboldt home to Parker Tobin, who was 18 when he died, and 20-year-old Tyler Smith, who was injured. He said he was close with his adopted hockey sons and knew almost everyone on the bus.
“I forgive Mr. Sidhu for his actions that caused so much grief,” Jefferson told court. “In sentencing him, I ask the court to consider that his life should not be ruined forever by his mistake.”
Andrea Joseph of St. Albert, Alta., said calling the crash a mistake makes her want to throw up. She called Sidhu a monster for killing her 20-year-old son Jaxon.
“I despise you for taking my baby away from me,” she said through high-pitched sobs. “You don’t deserve my forgiveness. You shouldn’t have been driving.”
Shooting victims remembered
QUEBEC (CP) — Two years after a gunman killed six worshippers in a Quebec City mosque, banners with the names and faces of the victims were unfurled Tuesday night as a word chosen by family members to describe their loved one was read out.
Mamadou Tanou Barry –smiling. Ibrahima Barry – intelligent. Khaled Belkacemi –devoted. Abdelkrim Hassane – pious. Azzeddine Soufiane – courageous. Aboubaker Thabti – generous.
It was one of many emotional moments as hundreds of people gathered at Universite Laval for the ceremony paying homage to the victims.
The Calgary-based company says it is following through with its intention announced in November to eventually reduce its interest in the 670-kilometre, 48-inch diameter natural gas pipeline project to between 25 and 49 per cent.
The RBC news is contained in a 16-page response by TransCanada to a challenge now being heard by the National Energy Board over the jurisdiction of the B.C. provincial regulator of the pipeline.
B.C. resident Mike Sawyer argues that because TransCanada will operate the pipeline and the connected Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. system together, they form a single pipeline that crosses the AlbertaB.C. boundary and therefore must be regulated by the federal government.
TransCanada’s response is that the purpose of Coastal GasLink is to move natural gas entirely within the province and therefore provincial approvals are appropriate.
The pipeline has support agreements with 20 elected Indigenous communities along its route but has been strongly opposed by hereditary clan chiefs who say they did not give permission for it to be built.
If the project’s British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission approval is found to be inadequate, the proponent will have to make a formal NEB application and undergo another separate process to win federal approval.
Sheila Malcolmson (NDP), Tony Harris (Liberal) and Michele Ney (Green) are the candidates in the byelection for the riding of Nanaimo.
CHRISTINA HAUGAN
Mary’s gift
Our words and our music are two of the foundations of the human experience. Without them, we have no past and we have no future. Without them, we are the same as our mammalian cousins, trapped in the moment and the everyday struggle to survive. There is no faith, no hope, no awareness of of who we were and who we might be to guide us in the everlasting present.
Perhaps no one in Prince George understood that better, or ever will understand that better, than Mary Gouchie, who passed last Thursday at the age of 97. Her tireless efforts to save the Lheidli dialect of the Dakelh (Carrier) language weren’t an intellectual or philosophical exercise in historical preservation. Saving her language and her songs was central to her role as devoted mother, to care for her
children, her grandchildren, her community and her people. What greater gift is there from a mother than her protection and her guidance as all her children discover their unique path, anchored by a communal belonging around heritage and culture?
Gouchie loomed so large in Lheidli life that she transcended the title of elder. As her obituary states, she was the matriarch, the central mothering figure to a massive immediate and extended family. Those without a blood relationship to her – even those who never had the pleasure of her presence – have benefited from her mothering wisdom and will continue to do so long into the future. It was so fitting that she, along with Olympic gold medallist Cariona Le May Doan, carried the torch into Canada Games Plaza to open the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George. Side by side, two inspiring women showcased the very best of our-
selves to the nation and the world. Le May Doan represented the fire of individual athletic excellence while Gouchie represented the warming heat of family, of community, of teamwork, of bringing people together to be greater than the sum of their parts.
And what a family.
Gouchie has left behind children and grandchildren who are community leaders in their own right as gifted musicians and devoted teachers, spreading the songs and the words far and wide. Her body and soul may now be gone but her heart still beats like a drum through her remarkable descendants, her blood a song that strengthens them as they continue her fierce mission.
That gift to her family translates into a gift for the community at large. This city and region are now blessed with a richer appreciation of its unique identity, thanks to Gouchie.
Her life serves as an example of resilience, perseverance, wisdom and devotion. In
Plecas enjoys public support, polling shows
The report looking into allegations of misconduct by senior officers of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly – released by Speaker Darryl Plecas last week – has turned heads all over the province. As was widely expected, the incidents detailed in the Plecas report have led to abundant debate on what to do next. Research Co. was in field over the weekend, in an effort to get an early read on the way British Columbians are reacting to the report. For starters, a majority of residents (63 per cent) say they have followed the Plecas report “very closely” or “moderately closely,” with residents aged 55 and over being particularly attentive (72 per cent).
Some politicians and voters have expressed dismay at the speaker’s decision to continue tracking questionable expenses by Clerk of the Legislature Craig James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz for months, instead of informing the proper authorities immediately. In our survey, a majority of British Columbians (57 per cent) agree with the way Plecas acted, while 21 per cent disagree and 22 per cent are undecided.
It is important to note that there is no discernible party affiliation gap on the matter of Plecas’ behaviour, with 61 per cent of BC New Democratic Party (NDP) voters in 2017, 60 per cent of BC
LETTERS WELCOME
Green Party voters and 55 per cent of BC Liberal voters endorsing the Speaker’s actions.
Respondents to the survey were also provided with four measures that could be eventually implemented to deal with what has been uncovered in the Plecas report.
The most popular proposal, endorsed by 74 per cent of British Columbians, is ensuring that all questionable spending outlined in the Plecas report is repaid. When the Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act (FOIPPA) first came into effect, the Legislative Assembly was not defined as a “public body” and was therefore excused from the public’s requests. Seven in 10 British Columbians (70 per cent) think the time has come for the provincial legislature to be subjected to public scrutiny under FOIPPA.
Two-thirds of British Columbians (68 per cent) would make all expenses from every person who works in the Legislative Assembly available for public scrutiny on a searchable website. Implementing this measure must go beyond asking citizens to browse through incomprehensible and interminable lists of documents.
There is a high level of support for making this process stress-free
and convenient. The most contentious of the four tested measures, albeit still backed by 59 per cent of respondents, is establishing an outside entity to review and oversee all future expenses related to the Legislative Assembly.
British Columbia’s youngest voters – those aged 18 to 34 – are significantly more likely to support a form of outside oversight (69 per cent) than those aged 35 to 54 (54 per cent) and those aged 55 and over (56 per cent). Plenty has been written about the perceived disinterest of young voters in the political process. Adding a layer of transparency that goes beyond having politicians and public servants policing themselves would help immensely in allowing these young voters to regain faith in the system.
When it comes to assigning blame for the current state of affairs, British Columbians are significantly more likely to hold the previous BC Liberal government responsible (59 per cent) than the current BC NDP administration (29 per cent). As expected, voters of the two main parties are eagerly pointing the finger at their rivals.
No doubt it has been painful for many residents to go over the details of the Plecas report. Where we go from here will depend squarely on bridging the existing space between the realms of ethics and criminality. Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.
other words, she embodied all of the essential characteristics of motherhood and of leadership. That speaks volumes in any language. We just have to listen. — Editor-in-chief Neil
Godbout
What a waste in Venezuela
Iam surely not alone in having failed a few of my New Year’s resolutions. With respect to “bridging our political chasms rather than widening them,” the crisis in Venezuela is my near occasion of sin.
Precisely, it took all of my effort to keep from parodying Christy Moore’s Allende with snarky new lyrics, such as making the chorus end: “...and the people are starving all day!”
But rather than be satirical, one must be empirical, beginning with a simple question: how does a nation with the largest known oil reserves in the world and an equatorial climate find itself suffering from lineups for bread, one million per cent inflation and a government in total chaos?
Back in 1998, Hugo Chavez was elected to the presidency by a populist wave as he promised to make Venezuela an egalitarian paradise.
His legislature rewrote the constitution and the Bolivarian Republic started on the road to serfdom where such policies inevitably lead.
Chavez’s ideals gave rise to strikes, attempted coups and capital flight.
Despite all this, high oil prices sustained his ideology and old Hugo died an unrepentant Marxist disciple in 2013.
Nicolas Maduro became president after Chavez’s death, continuing his predecessor’s policies.
But then the oil crash of 2014 hit, cutting revenues; the recession caused strict rationing of basic goods, leading to malnutrition for all citizens.
In an attempt to cut prices, the currency was devalued, creating a state of economic emergency through hyperinflation.
These conditions have now resulted in civil unrest, as unarmed protesters clash with violent security forces.
Maduro was reelected in May 2018, but his presidency is not recognized by neighbouring countries, nor by Europe, the United States, and Canada, due to election fraud.
Calls for his resignation echo throughout the free world, with Maduro’s only defenders found amongst his own corrupt military, other autocratic strongmen, and, the leading members of the radical left, such as Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders and Canadian MP Nikki Ashton.
As anyone can see, the temptation of schadenfreude as well as righteous indignation is almost too strong to resist, parodying protest songs notwithstanding.
But I will simply ask any and all left-leaning people not suffering from fever dreams to please firmly correct their own on this misstep, be that by discipline or ousting those members and their followers who believe starving children in Venezuela are a small price to pay in their quest to build the Marxist utopia.
Or to put it another way, there ought to be zero tolerance for the classic excuse “that was not real socialism, marxism, communism, etc.” and the litany of contextualization that follows.
Make no mistake.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has virtually unlimited potential thanks to its natural bounty.
From climate to coastline, from fertile topsoil to oil rich deposits, Venezuela could have become a Scandinavian “third way” economy with more wealth and better weather.
But instead the people elected a radical Marxist and then engineered their society to match his ideology.
Centralized controls that were meant to help the poor are now making starvation universal, while the police state necessary to enforce total equality of result is now a tool of oppression against the very citizens it was meant to serve.
These things inevitably result from Karl Marx’s philosophy, as evidenced by every regime and people group that has ever tried it.
What hope remains for Venezuelans?
Plenty, if they can rid themselves of Maduro and the collectivist dogma holding them back.
With an implementation of new currency, the simplest of market controls and an open door to global investment, the sky isn’t even the limit.
The pressure on Maduro must continue to grow.
Unless he and his ideology are vanquished, Moore’s chorus ought to be changed to: “...and the bullets read ‘Marx is just great!’”
The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned or handwritten letters will not be published. The Prince George Citizen is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact Neil Godbout (ngodbout@pgcitizen.ca or 250-960-2759).
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NATHAN GIEDE
Right of Centre
MARIO CANSECO
Guest Column
China-U.S. spat overshadows trade talks
BEIJING — U.S. criminal charges against Chinese electronics giant Huawei have sparked a fresh round of trans-Pacific recriminations, with Beijing demanding Tuesday that Washington back off what it called an “unreasonable crackdown” on the maker of smartphones and telecom gear.
China’s foreign ministry said it would defend the “lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies” but gave no details. Huawei is the No. 2 smartphone maker and an essential player in global communications networks.
A day earlier, U.S. prosecutors criminally charged Huawei and several of its officials for allegedly stealing technology secrets and violating Iran sanctions. That followed the detention in Canada of the Huawei founder’s daughter – a top company official who was named in one of the U.S. indictments, and who is now awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. Huawei has denied wrongdoing.
All that has further complicated U.S.-China relations amid attempts to defuse a trade war instigated by U.S. President Donald Trump and clashes over alleged Chinese theft of trade secrets and other intellectual property from U.S. firms. A new round of trade talks are planned for today in Washington.
The nearly two dozen charges unsealed Monday by the Justice Department accuse Huawei of trying to spirit a robot arm and other technology out of a T-Mobile smartphone testing lab. They also allege that Huawei, two subsidiaries and a top executive misled banks about the company’s business and violating U.S. sanctions.
The allegations mark a new phase in the dispute between the two countries over global technological dominance. The U.S. has reportedly waged a campaign to discourage other nations from using Huawei telecommunications equipment for next-generation 5G wireless networks, based on concerns that the Huawei gear might compromise national security.
U.S. intelligence chiefs who briefed Congress on worldwide threats Tuesday sounded the alarm about China’s efforts to gain an edge over the United States.
“China’s pursuit of intellectual property, sensitive research and development plans... remain a significant threat to the United States government and the private sector,” Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“While we were sleeping in the last decade and a half, China had a remarkable rise in capabilities that are stunning,” Coats said. “A lot of that was achieved – a significant amount was achieved by stealing information from our companies.”
On Tuesday, Australia’s TPG Telecom said it abandoned plans to build what would have been the country’s fourth mobile network because of a government ban on Huawei over security concerns. Last week Vodafone, one of the world’s biggest mobile phone companies, said it would stop using Huawei gear in its core networks.
U.S. officials have long harboured suspicions that Huawei could be used by Beijing to eavesdrop on sensitive communications
AP PHOTO
Staff members work at a mobile phone production line in Huawei’s factory in Shenzhen, China, on Jan. 15.
A lot of that was achieved – a significant amount was achieved by stealing information from our companies.
— Daniel Coats Director of National Intelligence
and questioned whether the privately-owned company has ties to China’s ruling communist party because its founder is a former military engineer.
Monday’s U.S. charges did not allege that Huawei worked at the Chinese government’s direction.
A 10-count indictment in Seattle centres on a T-Mobile phone-testing robot dubbed Tappy. The robot, developed in 2006, helped spot problems in phones before they hit the market by mimicking how people actually use them.
Prosecutors say Huawei began a scheme to steal Tappy technology for its own phone-testing robot after T-Mobile rejected its request to license the machine for broader use.
The indictment detailed efforts by Huawei engineers to sneak into the highly-restricted Tappy lab. One engineer succeeded in taking unauthorized photos of the robot. Another managed to sneak it out of the lab to take measurements and photos to send back to China. He returned it after being questioned by T-Mobile, prosecutors said.
Huawei allegedly offered bonuses in 2013 to employees who stole information from other companies around the world, according to the Seattle indictment, citing emails obtained by the FBI. The bonuses were based on the value of information, which was sent to Huawei using an encrypted email address.
In the second indictment, Brooklyn prosecutors charge Huawei with using a Hong Kong
front company, Skycom, to trade with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. They allege Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, lied to banks about those dealings.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested Dec. 1 in Vancouver, a development that set off a political firestorm between China and Canada.
China detained two Canadians shortly after Meng’s arrest in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to free her. A Chinese court also sentenced a third Canadian to death in a sudden retrial of a drug case, overturning an earlier 15-year prison term.
Huawei overtook Sweden’s LM Ericsson in 2017 to become the No. 1 global seller of network gear. The company says it supplies 45 of the top 50 global phone companies and has signed contracts with 30 carriers to test its next-generation technology. Its smartphone brand, launched in 2010, surpassed Apple Inc. in two quarters of 2018 to become the world’s No. 2 seller behind Samsung Electronics Ltd.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders denied that the criminal charges were part of a carrot-and-stick approach to the trade talks.
“Those two things are not linked,” she said.
“They are a totally separate process.”
Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed Dec. 1 to put off further sanctions against each other’s exports while they negotiated a new trade pact. If they don’t reach an agreement by March 1, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products are set to rise from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. That prospect has rattled financial markets for months.
The Trump administration has accused Beijing of deploying predatory trade tactics, ranging from requiring U.S. and other foreign companies to hand over technology in return for access to the vast Chinese market to outright cyber-theft.
The number of economic espionage investigations the FBI is handling has doubled over the last three to four years, “and almost all of them lead back to China,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Apple opens new chapter amid weakening iPhone demand
Michael LIEDTKE Citizen news service
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple hoped to offset slowing demand for iPhones by raising the prices of its most important product, but that strategy seems to have backfired after sales sagged during the holiday shopping season.
Results released Tuesday revealed the magnitude of the iPhone slump – a 15 per cent drop in revenue from the previous year. That decline in Apple’s most profitable product caused Apple’s total earnings for the October-December quarter to dip slightly to $20 billion.
Now, CEO Tim Cook is grappling with his toughest challenge since replacing co-founder Steve Jobs seven-and-a-half years ago. Even as he tries to boost iPhone sales, Cook also must prove that Apple can still thrive even if demand doesn’t rebound.
It figures to be an uphill battle, given Apple’s stock has lost one-third of its value in less than four months, erasing about $370 billion in shareholder wealth. Cook rattled Wall Street in early January by
disclosing the company had missed its own revenue projections for the first time in 15 years. The last time that happened, the iPod was just beginning to transform Apple.
“This is the defining moment for Cook,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives. “He has lost some credibility on Wall Street, so now he will have to do some hand-holding as the company enters this next chapter.”
The results for the October-December period were slightly above the expectations analysts lowered after Cook’s Jan. 2 warning. Besides the profit decline, Apple’s revenue fell five per cent from the prior year to $84 billion.
It marked the first time in more than two years that Apple’s quarterly revenue has dropped from the past year. The erosion was caused by the decline of the iPhone, whose sales plunged to $52 billion, down by more than $9 billion from the previous year.
The past quarter’s letdown intensified the focus on Apple’s forecast for the opening three months of the year as investors try to get a better grasp on iPhone sales until the next models are released in autumn.
Apple predicted its revenue for the JanuaryMarch period will range from $55 billion to $59 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been anticipating revenue of about $59 billion.
Investors liked what they read and heard, helping Apple’s stock recoup some of their recent losses. The stock gained nearly six per cent to $163.50 in extended trading after the report came out.
“We wouldn’t change our position with anyone’s,” Cook reassured analysts during a conference call reviewing the past quarter and the upcoming months.
The company didn’t forecast how many iPhones it will sell, something Apple has done since the product first hit the market in 2007 and transformed society, as well as technology.
Apple is no longer disclosing how many iPhones it shipped after the quarter is completed, a change that Cook announced in November. That unexpected move raised suspicions that Apple was trying to conceal a forthcoming slump in iPhone sales – fears that were realized during the holiday season.
TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s
high. The Toronto market rose on rising energy prices due to U.S. sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and ongoing concern about geopolitical issues such as Brexit that have driven up gold.
“It seems like when gold crossed US$1,300 per ounce it attracted some buyers into the commodity and into the miners, so miners in Canada are up as much as five to six per cent,” said Patrick Bernes of CIBC Asset Management. He said interest in gold is growing as a hedging asset and diversifier.
“I do think there was a technical level at play that probably attracted buyers because $1,300 has acted as both a support and a resistance in the past year and it looks like it’s moved above $1,300 decisively.”
Bernes said he expects gold prices will continue to rise.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 84.52 points to 15,463.14 after hitting a high of 15,497.43.
The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 75.38 US compared with an average of 75.39 cents US on Monday.
The materials sector gained almost two per cent as higher gold and copper prices helped producers like Barrick Gold Corp. to gain five per cent, while energy prices helped Canadian Natural Resources and TransCanada Corp.
The March crude contract was up US$1.32 at US$53.31 per barrel and the March natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.90 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract was up US$5.80 at US$1,308.90 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 4.5 cents at US$2.72 a pound.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 51.74 points at 24,579.96. The S&P 500 index was down 3.85 points at 2,640, while the Nasdaq composite was down 57.40 points at 7,028.29. Bernes says the next three days will be important for the direction of North American markets because companies with 25 per cent of the S&P 500 market capitalization will be reporting and the Federal Reserve will provide its outlook after two days of meetings. Interest rates aren’t expected to move but the central bank may shed some light on its plans. Apple Inc. issued its results after markets closed on Tuesday, FaceBook and Microsoft follow on Wednesday, Amazon reports on Thursday, while big energy companies like Exxon and Chevron provide a more comprehensive picture of earnings.
Kelvin CHAN, Joe McDONALD Citizen news service
Oburg sizzles at Winterfest
Citizen staff
Kaylee Oburg almost pulled off a clean sweep.
Oburg, a member of the Prince George Gymnastics Club, was the all-around champion in the Junior Olympic 7 (200104) category at the Winterfest meet, held in Coquitlam on the weekend. On the way to overall gold, she placed first on vault, balance beam and uneven bars. Only a third-place result on floor routine kept her from perfection in the group.
Oburg’s performance was part of a solid weekend for Prince George gymnasts. Two others, Emma Movold and Delaney Soares, ended up second and third overall, respectively, in the Junior Olympic 6 (2003-05) division. On her individual events, Movold was first on vault and floor, fourth on balance beam and seventh on bars. Soares, meanwhile, finished first on bars, fifth on beam, seventh on floor and ninth on vault.
Sadie Bricker was another P.G. standout at the event. She was competing in Junior Olympic 8 for the first time and had a thirdplace showing on floor. With her routine, she also won the award for best choreography. Bricker also placed fifth on balance beam and seventh on vault.
Other results included: Mary Grace Maurice, fourth overall, Junior Olympic 6 (2003-05); Kaitlyn Muir, fourth overall, Junior Olympic 7 (2001-04); and Alencia Graham, sixth overall, Junior Olympic 6 (2003-05).
Danielle Bobbie’s top result was a fifth place on bars in the Junior Olympic 6 (2006) category. Casey Muise (Level 7, 2005-06) was at her best on the beam, where she finished fourth. Kaydence Bellerive (Level 7, 2005-06) had a seventh-place result on bars and Madison Boomhower (Junior Olympic 7, 2001-04) sparkled on balance beam with a third-place effort. Next up for many local gymnasts will be the Quesnel Goldpan, which will double as provincial championship trials for Level 6 athletes. The meet happens Feb. 17-18.
Biega upbeat, despite rare calls to play
Visits to Canuck Place all part of blueliner’s bigger picture
Patrick JOHNSTON
Vancouver Sun
Perspective is indeed everything, Alex Biega can confirm. The Canucks blueliner, who has spent most of the season as the No. 8 man on the Canucks’ defence depth chart, has suited up just 14 times in the 2018-19 NHL season.
Other than a three-game stint with New York’s Utica Comets in the AHL, he’s spent most of the season in the press box, waiting for his chance. That might frustrate another player, but Biega insists he’s not letting it grind him. He knows his role was always going to be one that spent a lot of time just staying ready.
“You can only control what you do on the ice. With the stuff I do, it’s a first-man-on, first-man-off mentality. I work on my skill set. That way when I get in, I’m giving myself the best possible chance to stay in,” he said after a recent practice at Burnaby 8 Rinks.
“It’s tough, guys in my situation; it’s really tough, they’ll tell you. Never knowing when you’re going to play and having the same mentality day in, day out? It’s a challenge, it truly is. I challenge myself through my preparation. I prepare to succeed, not prepare to fail. Like today, I know I’m not going to play tomorrow, so what can I do today? Every pass has to be on the tape so that when I get in, I’m going to be good. I have to treat my practices like my games.”
Seeing good friends depart – like the recently-traded Michael Del Zotto – is hard, but he knows it’s part of the business. He and Del Zotto, along with Tim Schaller, had spent a lot of time off-ice together, going on hikes and exploring much of the natural beauty around Vancouver.
Before being shipped to the Anaheim Ducks, Del Zotto was also a
regular scratch this season, so the two defencemen built a bond at the rink as well. They were paired together often in practices, and of course they would be in the press box together too.
Like Biega, Del Zotto never aired complaints about his situation, always taking the high road. Whatever frustrations he might have had, he kept them private, between himself and the coaches.
“It’s sad to see (him leave), but you become accustomed to the business, you understand the moves,” he said. “You become used to seeing guys gone. In his case it’s really great, I’m excited for him. It’s a good opportunity (in Anaheim). But it’s also tough too because it’s a good friend gone… especially a guy like that, one I’m going to keep in touch with the rest of my life.”
He also does plenty of work off ice to keep his perspective. A recent visit to the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, along with Troy Stecher and Antoine Roussel, was a reminder of that.
Ultimately you learn a lot from these families: how to keep upbeat, how positive they are, and optimistic.
— Alex Biega
“They’re awesome there. I’ve gotten to know some families there. I don’t know if you know Hugs for Heston. I became very friendly with his family so every time they’re in town, I go over,” he said. He tries to visit Canuck Place every few weeks.
“Play hockey, read a book, just make an appearance; what they do over there is unbelievable. It’s a place that’s become very close to my heart since I’ve been here. Just to see the difference you can make in a family’s life. It’s one of those things where you want to do
Mariners finally get chance to honour Martinez
SEATTLE (AP) — Edgar Martinez spent last week on the East Coast, being honoured among the latest electees to the Baseball Hall of Fame thousands of miles from the place he called home for his entire career. The Seattle Mariners couldn’t wait to celebrate Martinez in the Pacific Northwest.
“Today is a great day,” Mariners’ chairman emeritus John Ellis said. “We finally have him here.” After a whirlwind of commitments elsewhere, the standout designated hitter was back in Seattle on Tuesday, walking into T-Mobile Park on a red carpet to be feted by
the only franchise he ever played for. It was a celebration the Mariners had been hoping to have for the past 10 years. Martinez was in his final year of eligibility when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America finally gave him the necessary votes for enshrinement. Martinez and his family walked into a crowd of Mariners employees cheering the second player whose plaque in Cooperstown will have a Mariners hat, joining Ken Griffey Jr. Martinez is enjoying the experience even if he’s not one to get emotional, for now. “My personality is kind of mellow. I don’t
it, genuinely. Ultimately you learn a lot from these families: how to keep upbeat, how positive they are, and optimistic.”
Given the focus of the facility is pediatric palliative care only adds to his perspective.
“It’s challenging emotionally, as a father of two, with another one on the way; it really puts things in perspective, it makes you think twice. You have a hard day at work, or on the ice, it really doesn’t mean anything. It’s your health, your family, that’s the most important thing.”
The good nature of his teammates helps too.
“At the end of the day, living in the present moment, it’s tough to do; anyone can tell you that in any profession. But if you can do that and just enjoy every second of every day… we try to do that, you see us, just joking around, we’re still serious, but we have fun with it too. We’re in the NHL, we get to live this great life. You have to enjoy it, you have to enjoy the process.”
celebrate a lot. It’s just my personality,” Martinez said. “But I’ve been able to enjoy friends, ex-teammates, people I know, family members, that part has been a lot of fun. But not a lot of celebration.” Martinez was elected last week with 85.4 per cent of the vote – 75 per cent is required for induction. That marked a remarkable turnaround, climbing in his final five years of eligibility after being an afterthought on the ballot early on. It was a collective effort to get him there. The Mariners organization worked hard publicizing his worthiness, die-hard fans pushed for him on social media, and younger voters made a case for the designated hitter with the help of baseball’s new-age analytics. “It took a long time for the writers to give more credit to the DH. I think now that probably (will) change,” Martinez said. “I think metrics they look at today, that will also change writers what they think about it. I understood their opinion the whole time... and kind of accepted that a long time ago. But the good thing is I got the honour to be elected, and I think that’s going to change the view from writers now.” — see INDUCTION, page 10
CP FILE PHOTO
Alex Biega of the Vancouver Canucks pursues the puck after knocking down Brad Richardson of the Arizona Coyotes during an April 2018 game in Vancouver.
Bond between Brady, Edelman key to Patriots’ success
Kyle HIGHTOWER
Citizen news service
ATLANTA — Teammates have called their relationship a “bromance.”
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady himself openly uses the word love to describe his bond with Julian Edelman, a receiver he’s come to depend on during his career.
As the duo prepares to play in a fourth Super Bowl together, each says the connection might be tighter ever – both on and off the field.
“We have a great relationship, Jules and I, and I trust him so much,” Brady says. “He’s always been kind of like my little brother, in a good way. I don’t have a little brother, but he’s kind of like a little brother and he knows how much I love him.”
In Edelman’s case, it’s a little brother who has established himself as one of the best slot receivers in Patriots history.
He missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL and the first four games of this season for violating the league’s performance enhancers policy. But the 32-year-old helped Brady steady an offence that struggled early this season and had to adjust following the suspension of Josh Gordon heading into the final two games.
Edelman ended the regular season with a team-high 850 receiving yards and was second on the team with 74 receptions and six touchdowns. His production has continued through New England’s first two playoffs games, with Edelman hauling in 16 catches for a team-high 247 yards.
Heading into the matchup with the Rams, his 1,271 post-season receiving yards are the most in Patriots history. There are also just two receivers in NFL post-season history with over 100 catches: Jerry Rice with 151 and Edelman with 105.
It’s earned him high compliments not only from Brady, but from Rice, who praised Edelman as someone who has an attitude of “‘I’m going to do what I want to do, and I’m going to go out and I’m going to ball.”
It not unlike the determination used to describe Brady, who at age 41 continues to prove his skeptics wrong.
“He’s a really good football player, the best,” Edelman said. “He goes out and he consistently proves it. He’s one of our leaders and he’s a leader for a reason.”
Though they first met as teammates in New England when Edelman was drafted by the Patriots a decade ago, he and Brady took remarkably similar paths to get to the NFL.
Both natives of California, each of them grew up idolizing the San Francisco 49ers’ dynasty led by Joe Montana and Rice.
Brady played his college ball at Michigan, with Edelman eventually choosing Kent State across the border in Ohio.
Their stories continued to mirror each other when it came time for the NFL draft.
Brady infamously wasn’t selected until the sixth round in 2000. Edelman, an undersized quarter-
back who switched to receiver, didn’t hear his name called until the seventh round in 2009.
Chasing the NFL was a leap of faith for Edelman, who nearly signed a contract with the CFL’s British Columbia Lions to play quarterback.
“I sat down with my father and basically, he’s like ‘Let’s do it,”’ Edelman recalled. “I just had an eerie feeling in my stomach and I told him I didn’t grow up wanting to play in the CFL. I went and tried to play in the NFL. That was my decision. Everything happens for a reason.”
Edelman was already a fan of Brady’s when he arrived as a rookie, but he said he almost instantly recognized an underdog spirit in his new quarterback as well.
As their relationship has evolved, they say they’ve developed their own sort of silent language on the field, and have unique ways to hype up each other.
Connor scores twice, adds shootout winner for Jets
BOSTON (AP) — Kyle Connor scored backto-back goals 34 seconds apart in the third period and delivered the only goal in a shootout to lift the Winnipeg Jets over the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 36 shots for the Jets and didn’t allow anything past him in the tiebreaker, stopping Brad Marchand on Boston’s final chance.
Josh Morrissey also scored for the Jets, Mark Scheifele had two assists and Winnipeg rebounded from a 3-1 loss Monday night at Philadelphia to avoid losing three straight for the first time this season.
Patrice Bergeron scored twice for the Bruins. David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, and Marchand assisted on all three Boston goals.
Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves through overtime. Connor’s backhand in the opening round of the shootout was the only try to get past either goaltender.
Winnipeg trailed 2-1 entering the third period before tying it at 4:27 on Connor’s breakaway goal after a turnover in the neutral zone. Connor gave the Jets their first lead 34
An example was during the AFC championship game when video captured Edelman in Brady’s face yelling , “You’re too old!” as Brady sat on the bench after throwing a first-half touchdown pass.
“You’ve got two fiery guys. I think it’s fun to watch,” Patriots cornerback Jason McCourty said. “You see two guys that are the ultimate competitor. How hard they both compete in practice, you see the bromance at times, you see the fiery looks they give each other sometimes if someone messes up. Just that look of not disappointment, of just like ‘get it together.’ I think it’s almost like brothers.”
Brady said he continues to be amazed by Edelman. “Look at his stature. He wasn’t built like Megatron (Calvin Johnson). He’s just built the way he was built and I think he’s just worked so hard over the years to learn how to play receiver,” Brady said. “He’s just done an incredible job.”
seconds later on a one-timer from the slot.
Scheifele and Blake Wheeler assisted. Bergeron scored from the slot with 8:21 left in the third for his second of the night.
Pastrnak put Boston up 2-1 on a power-play goal with 1:27 remaining in the first period on a one-timer from the left point. Bergeron’s one-timer 9:49 into the game gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Winnipeg tied it with 5:27 left in the first on Morrissey’s slap shot from the blue line after the Jets won a faceoff during a power play with Zdeno Chara serving a slashing minor.
Induction set for July
— from page 9
Tuesday’s event is just the start of what is expected to be a seasonlong celebration by the organization. Aside from the induction in July, the Mariners are holding a weekend of events in honour of Martinez in August. Still unannounced is whether there will be a statue going up somewhere around the stadium to join the club’s other two Hall of Fame members: Griffey and longtime broadcaster Dave Niehaus. Martinez said he’s still going through messages from friends and former teammates who reached out after the election results were announced. Martinez hasn’t started thinking about his induction speech yet, but joked that he wanted to bat leadoff and get out of the way, let Mariano Rivera go last because he was a closer. He’s expected to visit Cooperstown sometime in the next couple of months to get a better idea of what to expect when his July induction arrives. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be nervous about it. The good thing is I have a lot of time to get ready for that,” he said.
Anunoby named a Rising Star
(CP) — Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby was named to the Rising Stars world team on Tuesday for the upcoming NBA all-star weekend.
Anunoby, from London, England, is in his second season with the Raptors and is averaging 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 20.4 minutes in 41 games this season. He matched his career-high with 21 points and eight rebounds Dec. 21 versus Cleveland and has led Toronto’s bench in scoring nine times.
Anunoby was selected 23rd overall by the Raptors in the 2017 NBA Draft and started 62 games as a rookie. He’s the 12th player in franchise history to participate in the showcase event and the first since Jonas Valanciunas in 2014.
The game will be played Friday, Feb. 15 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
• NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA has fined New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis $50,000 because of his agent’s comments that Davis won’t sign an extension and wants to be traded.
The league office said in a written statement released Tuesday evening that Davis has violated a collectively-bargained rule prohibiting players or their representatives from making public trade demands.
The NBA says the fine is for statements that were made by Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, on Monday in an intentional effort to undermine the contractual relationship between Davis and the Pelicans. Davis is under contract with New Orleans through the end of the 2019-20 season.
AP FILE PHOTO
New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, left, talks with quarterback Tom Brady before a preseason NFL football game against the Washington Redskins in Foxborough, Mass., in August 2018.
McLachlan stepping out of comfort zone as Juno host
TORONTO — Sarah McLachlan is feeling a sense of “thrill and terror in equal measures” as she prepares to step into the role of hosting this year’s Juno Awards.
The Building a Mystery singer says she’s never hosted any event at all, so starting with Canada’s biggest night in music will be a considerable challenge.
“Up until very recently I’ve been terrified about public speaking,” McLachlan admitted on Tuesday as the Juno nominees were revealed in Toronto.
“I’ve had to become used to getting up in front of people... which seems ridiculous because I stand in front of thousands of people and sing and talk – but that’s when I’m in my moment and playing music.”
McLachlan will be in good company when she takes the stage in London, Ont., on March 17.
Leading the nominees is pop superstar Shawn Mendes with six nods, including for his self-titled third studio project, which is up for album of the year, and the song In My Blood, competing for single of the year.
The Pickering, Ont.-raised singer is also nominated for the Juno fan choice award, as well as artist, songwriter and pop album of the year.
Hitmaker the Weeknd pulled in five nominations, most of them in top categories including album of the year, which is determined by sales and streaming figures.
However, despite his massive popularity Drake was missing from the Juno nominees list again this year. His 2018 album Scorpion didn’t receive any recognition, even though it broke streaming records with the help of viral hit In
Despite his massive popularity Drake was missing from the Juno nominees list again this year.
My Feelings last summer.
Junos president Allan Reid said Drake chose not submit his work for consideration.
And while the Toronto rapper could have still qualified for the fan choice and best single awards, the organizers didn’t include him as he “opted not to participate.” Representatives for Drake did not respond to a request for comment.
Drake has chosen to skip major awards shows before. He caused a stir in the music industry after boycotting last year’s Grammy Awards by not submitting anything from his previous release More Life. He changed his mind this year for Scorpion and is now among the leading Grammy contenders.
The CARAS organization, which runs the Junos, has struggled to win favour with Drake after he hosted the 2011 show but was shut out of all of his five nominations. Two years ago they resurrected the international achievement award after 17 years to hand it to the rapper, though he didn’t show up to accept.
“We would love to see him back and hopefully will someday,” Reid says.
Among the other highlights this year are DJ duo Loud Luxury who scored four nominations helped by their breakout hit, Body. They’re contending for single of the year alongside Alessia Cara’s Growing Pains, Mendes’ In My Blood, the Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar’s Pray for Me and German-Canadi-
an newcomer Bulow’s This is Not a Love Song.
Bulow was recognized in four categories, which also included fan choice, breakthrough artist and pop album of the year.
Buzzworthy Quebecois singer Hubert Lenoir proved his crossover appeal in English Canada by grabbing three Juno nominations for his concept album Darlene. It’s in the running for francophone album, pop album and the coveted best album of the year categories.
Joining Lenior in the best album category is Mendes, the Weeknd for My Dear Melancholy, Three Days Grace with Outsider, and Jann Arden’s These Are the Days.
About one third of the Juno nominees were female this year, Reid said, which is “pretty much almost the same as last year.”
But two closely watched categories – engineer and producer of the year – lacked a single female nominee.
The Junos have faced criticism for repeatedly failing to recognize women in both fields. Five women have won the producer award in the 44 years that it’s been handed out, including Diana Krall last year. The engineer prize has never gone to a woman.
Reid said he recognizes the ongoing conversation around gender diversity, and pointed out the Junos saw more submissions in the production category by women, helped by outreach by organizers.
“It takes time for those things to change,” he said. “We don’t have any gender-based categories so it’s about going out, being discovered, and it was nice to see the increase in submissions.”
“But those eventually have to turn into nominations at some point,” he added.
The Juno Awards air March 17 on CBC-TV.
Paltrow being sued because of ski crash
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah man filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing actress Gwyneth Paltrow of seriously injuring him during a ski crash at a Park City resort in 2016. Retired doctor Terry Sanderson said in the lawsuit that Paltrow was skiing out of control and smashed into him from behind, leaving him with a concussion and four broken ribs. The alleged incident occurred Feb. 26, 2016, on a beginner run at Deer Valley Resort.
Paltrow denied the claims through spokeswoman Heather Wilson, who said in an emailed statement: “This lawsuit is without merit and we expect to be vindicated.”
Sanderson’s lawsuit claims Paltrow left him injured on the mountain and didn’t send for help. A Deer Valley ski instructor skiing with Paltrow and her family and friends filed a false incident report saying Paltrow didn’t cause the crash, the lawsuit alleges.
Deer Valley Resort spokeswoman Emily Summers said the resort can’t comment on pending legal matters. The resort is also being sued.
Sanderson said at a news conference in Salt Lake City at his attorney’s office that it took him nearly three years to file a lawsuit because he dragged his feet, ran into problems with previous attorneys and was dealing with inability to function properly because of the concussion.
He said he has been in contact with an attorney representing Paltrow, but he has never been offered any compensation or an
apology. They have even suggested he could be sued, Sanderson said.
Sanderson’s lawsuit seeks $3.1 million in damages, but he denies he’s suing because Paltrow is a famous and rich celebrity. He called it an unkind gesture not to stick around or ever apologize for what happened.
“I would like to be vindicated,” said Sanderson, now 72. “I would like my truth to be told.”
Attorneys for Sanderson said Paltrow’s attorneys don’t deny she was involved in a crash, but dispute her culpability, said lawyer Robert Sykes, who represents Sanderson.
The events are based on the memory of an acquaintance who was skiing with Sanderson the day of the crash, Sykes said. Sanderson said he doesn’t remember anything beyond being struck in the back and losing control of his
Friend keeps word to Hemingway
Kristen De GROOT Citizen news service
WESTPORT, Conn. — When the 1958 film adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea hit theatres, Ernest Hemingway happened to be in New York City to watch the World Series and invited his close friend A.E. Hotchner to go see the movie with him.
“About 12 or 13 minutes after we sat down, he turns to me and says, ‘Ready to go?”’ Hotchner said in a recent interview at his Connecticut home. The 101-yearold author and playwright recalls them walking out and taking off down the sidewalk, Hemingway ranting the whole time that the star Spencer Tracy was totally miscast, that he looked like a fat, rich actor trying to play a fisherman.
“He said, ‘You know, you write a book that you really like and then they do something like that to it, and it’s like pissing in your father’s beer,’” Hotchner said. (Hemingway reserved this particular turn of phrase for a handful of hated adaptations of his work, he said.)
Later that night, sitting at Toots Shor’s restaurant – a hangout frequented by Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Gleason and Marilyn Monroe –Hemingway urged Hotchner to do his own adaptation someday.
Hotchner said he promised he would try.
More than 60 years later, Hotchner has kept his word. His stage adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea premieres at the newly-renovated Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse on Feb. 1.
“It wasn’t until I became an old man myself that I really got to a version that could transport itself beyond the book,” he said.
Hotchner should be the perfect candidate to take the novel to the stage: he fished with Hemingway in Cuba, went to bullfights with him in Spain, hunted with him in Idaho and wrote the 1966 bestselling biography, Papa Hemingway. He also helped edit Hemingway’s bullfighting classic The Dangerous Summer. He often served as his agent and adapted several stories for television, including The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Killers and The Battler, which led to his first meeting with Paul Newman. (The two became best friends and neighbours and started the Newman’s Own food company together. But that’s another story).
“Somehow that pledge to him haunted me, because he died not too long after that. For years I would think about The Old Man and The Sea. But I never could think in my head how you could take this very personal book, because the old man is really Hemingway himself, which is really a literary work,” he said. “How do you bring that to life on the stage?”
He tried maybe 10 times over the years to adapt it, starting drafts only to scrap them, until his latest effort.
To help reel the project in, he enlisted his son Tim Hotchner to collaborate on it and help transform his draft into what will run in Pittsburgh through Feb. 17.
“I’ve lived with Hemingway’s ghost for my whole life and there was something very profound about this story, even though it’s very simple,” said Tim Hotchner, 47, a documentary filmmaker and writer. “And to have a 101-year-old father who’s still going out for his marlin, and hopefully coming back with better results, there are a lot of themes that really resonate.”
Tim Hotchner also saw the project as a way to re-examine the work with a modern lens: to look at what it means to be a man in the world and to look at the environment.
To make The Old Man and the Sea accessible on stage, the Hotchners crafted a kaleidoscope of the tale, and mined the text for a new approach. The boy has a bigger role, and Hemingway himself is a character, as is a cellist who evokes the moods of the play throughout.
It stars Tony Award-winning actor Anthony Crivello as Santiago, the aging fisherman, David Cabot as Hemingway and Gabriel Florentino as the boy, Manolin. Cellist Simon Cummings will perform original music for the show. Getting the draft to the stage happened unusually fast, due to a collaboration with New York Citybased RWS Entertainment Group. The entire show was put together in six months.
At 101, A.E. Hotchner is sharp, funny and surprisingly energetic. As for The Old Man and the Sea, he’s satisfied with having finally followed through on a half-century-old promise to his friend, and he’s pleased with how it turned out.
“This is going to be a version that Hemingway would never have walked out on,” he said.
Sanderson’s lawsuit seeks $3.1 million in damages, but he denies he’s suing because Paltrow is a famous and rich celebrity.
body as he was thrust forward with somebody on his back. The witness, Craig Ramon, said a Deer Valley ski instructor berated Sanderson as he laid knocked out on the snow, face down. He told Ramon that Sanderson had taken out Gwyneth Paltrow.
Sykes said Paltrow violated the reckless skiing provision of the Summit County code, which requires a skier to stay at the scene of a crash to make sure the other skier is taken care of.
David FRIEND Citizen news service
CP PHOTO
Sarah McLachlan speaks at the Juno Awards Nominations event on Tuesday in Toronto.
PALTROW
SANDERSON
KEVIN LORNE MEREDITH passed away on the 25th of January 2019 at the age of 59 years. He is mourned by his loving wife Doris, sons; Hayden (Ceara) and Harrison (Carli) as well his brother Allen (Jeanie), sisters; LeeAnn Pollard, Cindy (John) Wells, Debbie Kozjak and his step-father Lionel Clarkson. Kevin is predeceased by his Father Raymond Meredith, Mother Ruth Clarkson and brother in law, William Pollard. A Celebration of Life will be held at the Hart Pioneer Center 6986 Hart Hwy Prince George B.C. on Saturday February 02, 2019 from 1:00 pm-4:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the BC Cancer Prince George Center for the North.
“Stoney” Dennis James Hale
September 22, 1948January 28, 2019
It is with great sadness that the family of Dennis Hale announces his passing. He has been surrounded by family and friends for the last few weeks within UHNBC. Dennis was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan to Desmond and Vivian Hale, he was the eldest son. In 1956, Dennis and family moved to Prince George. After leaving school, Dennis began his career with the City of Prince George, and after many years he transitioned careers to a Guide Outfitter, following that he became a long haul driver. The love of softball remained with him all of his life. Dennis was predeceased by his father Desmond, several aunts, uncles, partner Jeannette Wisdom, and nephew Shannon Madsen. Dennis will be greatly missed by his mother Vivian, siblings Donalda (Peter) Madsen, Wayne (Crystal) Hale, Brian (Tracy) Hale, Wendy (Dale) Konrath, daugthers Vickie Hale (Chris), Denise Low (Kurt), step-children, numerous grandchildren, one great granddaughter, partner Lynda, extended family, friends, and his four legged companion Rory. A Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 3:00pm at the Elks Community Hall, 663 Douglas Street, Prince George, BC.
“Dennis was most at peace running the river, hunting and being in the timber”
Norma Ruth Ekholm
September 6, 1945January 16, 2019
Norma Ruth Ekholm (nee Srigley), passed away peacefully with family at her side on January 16, 2019 at the University Hospital of Northern BC, in Prince George, BC.
She was born on September 6, 1945 in Vancouver and grew up in Cloverdale, BC, the oldest of 6 children of Lorne and Muriel Srigley. She married the love of her life, Gary Alvin Ekholm on October 20, 1966, and lived happily together until Gary’s passing on November 20, 2011-just after celebrating 45 years of marriage. Mom (Norma) was all about family. Children Deanna (Bob), Allan (Anita), Leah, late Michelle (Marty) and Tara knew a loving, caring person in her.
“Nana” to 11 grandchildren and numbers great grandchildren, she always loved and cared for each and every one. She spread the warmth of her smile and wry sense of humour to all she met-from family to those she worked with at Rainbow Lodge to perfect strangers. She will always be remembered in the faces of her large, growing family and all of our hearts.
Rest In Peace, Gentleness and Love, Mom
At Mom’s request, there will be no funeral. Cremation has taken place. A memorial to be set at a later date.
Harold Wayne Colliss January 21, 1954January 24, 2019
With heavy hearts the family of Wayne Colliss regretfully announce his sudden passing on January 24, 2019. A celebration of life will take place on Saturday February 2, 2019 at 4:00pm at the
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