Minister under fire for visit to blockade
Citizen news service
B.C.’s forests and natural resource minister Doug Donaldson is facing scrutiny and a call to resign after visiting a pipeline blockade this past weekend.
Members of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation had set up a camp and a checkpoint southwest of Houston, blocking a forest service road and Coastal GasLink from accessing its pipeline right-ofway in its territory.
RCMP began clearing the blockade and arrested 14 people on Monday as it enforced a B.C. Supreme Court injunction granting Coastal GasLink access to the area. But Donaldson met with Gidimt’en hereditary leaders at the camp on Sunday before police moved in “to support and recognize that the hereditary chiefs have a responsibility for stewardship of the yintah (land),” the CBC reported.
Donaldson arrived at the camp with his wife and donated a box of goods, according to the CBC. He declined to speak to reporters at the scene, but released a statement late Monday.
“As MLA for Stikine, it is my responsibility to listen to the views of the people I represent,” Donaldson said. “I visited the checkpoint on the invitation of my constituents and hereditary chiefs to hear their concerns and observe their protocols.”
The protest camp is located in the Nechako Lakes riding, represented by BC Liberal MLA John Rustad.
Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said the government has broken the law and taken the side of protestors with Donaldson’s visit.
“It’s time for Doug Donaldson to resign,” Wilkinson said in a statement. “It’s time for John Horgan to stand up and make clear his Minister of Forests has made a huge mistake.”
Construction on the $6.2-billion, 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline connecting natural gas producers in Northeast B.C. with the LNG Canada export plant in Kitimat is scheduled to begin this month. Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TransCanada, obtained an injunction in December that ordered the removal of obstructions in the area as preliminary work gets underway on the pipeline.
TransCanada says it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route but demonstrators argue Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given consent for work through their territories.
“This visit was an acknowledgement of their authority as confirmed in the historic Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa decision,” Donaldson said.
— see RUSTAD, page 3
‘Welcome to battle ground British Columbia’
Arrests near Houston spark nationwide protests, marches
Terri THEODORE Citizen news service
The arrest of 14 people at an Indigenous blockade in a remote area of northern British Columbia became a flash point Tuesday that sparked protests across the country.
Protesters delayed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s speech in Ottawa, stopped traffic in Vancouver and Victoria and prompted a counter protest in front of the headquarters of the company building the pipeline at the centre of the dispute.
RCMP made the arrests Monday at a blockade southwest of Houston, where some members of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation had set up a camp to control access to a pipeline project across their territory.
Police were enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction granted to TransCanada Corp. subsidiary Coastal GasLink. It ordered the removal of obstructions in Wet’suwet’en territory as
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs told a crowd at Victory Square in Vancouver that it would be a watershed year for Indigenous people in the fight against pipelines crossing their lands.
work gets underway on a $6.2-billion pipeline carrying natural gas from the Dawson Creek area to Kitimat.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs told a crowd at Victory Square in Vancouver that it would be a watershed year for Indigenous people in the fight against pipelines crossing their lands.
“We’re starting off 2019 with a bang,” he said to cheers and applause. “I want to say to Prime Minister Trudeau: Welcome to battle ground British Columbia.”
About 60 people attended the rally in support of the First Nation outside the headquarters of TransCanada Corp. in downtown
Calgary. They were greeted by about the same number of pipeline supporters who were encouraged to come out by Canada Action, a Calgary-based lobby group.
Chants of “Build that Pipe” drowned out the blockade supporters initially but the antipipeline group found its voice and was soon matching the volume with their own chant of “Consent. Sovereignty!”
There were no physical confrontations but angry words and hand gestures flew back and forth as at least a dozen Calgary police officers used their bodies and bicycles to separate the groups.
— see LEGAL ACTION, page 2
Three buildings added to city’s heritage registry
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
The city’s registry of heritage buildings and homes has grown by three.
City council approved the additions of the Professional Building at 1705 Third Ave., the Hilliard Clare Masonic Temple at 480 Vancouver St. and the Howieson residence at 2688 Inlander St. during a regular meeting on Monday night.
According to a statement of significance, the Professional Building, located at the corner of Third Avenue and Prince Rupert Street, was constructed in 1953 by brothers John and Joe Schlitt who were also the proprietors of sawmill operations in the Prince George area.
It was the first building in the city that catered exclusively to professionals and has maintained that type of tenancy to present day.
It is also known for a design that was a “notch above the vernacular of the day” as exemplified by the formal entrance and the high quality finishes inside, notably the terrazzo finishes on the stairs leading to the lower level and on the exit.
The Hilliard Clare Masonic Hall was built in 1955 at the southeast corner of Vancouver Street and Fourth Avenue.
The building’s architects were among the many strong proponents of the Modern perspective, and the structure exhibits tenets straight out of the School of Architecture at University of British Columbia in the 1950s.
The Hall is noted for a “functional detailing of building parts and a sense of repose in a three-dimensional expression.”
Features include a continuous window band on the main floor of the Vancouver Street and Fourth Avenue, which have also been repeated in the reception room on the second floor and
Howieson Residence is located in the original South Fort George settlement overlooking the Fraser River. The house is one of only three or four remaining that can be attributed to pre-First World War construction.
provides good natural lighting.
The private area for Masonic functions on the second floor is comprised of solid exterior walls with small box windows for nominal daylight, providing subdued light in the room.
Formerly known as the Prince George Masonic Hall, it was renamed in 2018 in honour of Hilliard Clare. Along with achieving the position of Worshipful Master of the Masonic Hall, Clare has also served as a city alderman.
Built by its namesake William Howieson at the south end of Inlander in the original South Fort George settlement, the Howieson house overlooks the Fraser River. It was constructed in 1912 at a time when sternwheelers plied the
Fraser and docked at the location.
Howieson was a cabinet maker and finish carpenter who worked on numerous commercial and residential projects around the city and his finishing work is identical to that seen in other buildings of heritage value in Prince George.
The home’s heritage value is further advanced with adherence to the original wood detailing in later additions. That’s particularly noticeable in the window millwork.
And some of the hardware of heritage value, such as door latch sets and window fastenings incorporated at the time of construction, still exist and retain their function.
CITIZEN
DONALDSON
Legal action was last resort: company president
— from page 1
Stephen Buffalo, CEO of the Indian Resource Council of Canada, which represents oil and gas producing First Nations, took part in the pro-pipeline part of the rally.
“The big thing is we’ve got to be able to support our communities that said yes to this (project) because it’s their community that needs that financial benefit,” he said.
“It’s about getting out of poverty and finding a way for our people.”
Police concerns about a protest in Ottawa forced Trudeau to move to another building close to Parliament Hill to give a speech at a forum.
The company has said it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route for LNG Canada’s $40 billion liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat, but demonstrators argue Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given consent.
In an open letter issued Tuesday, Coastal GasLink president Rick Gateman said the company took legal action as a last resort and while it respects the rights of people to peacefully express their points of view, safety is a key concern.
“It has been a long, and sometimes difficult, journey but we are proud of the relationships we’ve built, and the support of the communities and all 20 elected Indigenous bands along the route as well as the many hereditary chiefs who also support the project,” he wrote.
He said the pipeline will meet rigorous environment standards and bring significant benefits, including an estimated 2,500 jobs, many with First Nations contractors.
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations said the use of police force against people peacefully protesting the construction of the pipeline is a violation of their human and Aboriginal rights.
“Building consensus under duress will make the resolution of the situation in northern British Columbia very difficult,” Perry Bellegarde said in a statement Tuesday.
“Real consensus will be built when the par-
Inexperience played role in snowmobile death
Citizen staff
ties, with very different views, come together in meaningful and productive dialogue. And I am confident that they can do this.”
Bellegarde said the Canadian and B.C. governments have promised to implement UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but in northern B.C. they are imposing their laws over those of the Wet’suwet’en.
Gidimt’en member Jen Wickham said hereditary chiefs had gathered near the site of the B.C. camp Tuesday and expected further RCMP action.
Wickham was in Prince George where she said 13 people arrested for violating the court order, including her sister Molly Wickham, were scheduled to appear in court. She said an elder arrested on Monday had already been released.
The Gidimt’en set up a gate in Decem-
A mixture of inexperience and bravado appeared to have been the reasons behind the death last year of a 33-year-old man in a snowmobile crash near Vanderhoof.
The man was found dead at the scene on March 25, 2018, on a rural field east of the community
ber in support of an anti-pipeline camp that members of the Unist’ot’en, another Wet’suwet’en clan, established years ago. Wickham, who has fielded calls from India and the United Kingdom about the pipeline resistance, said it’s been “surreal” to see the international response.
She said she believes the issue is gaining attention now because the Gidimt’en have dispelled the myth that it’s only individuals from one clan opposing the project.
“I think now that the Gidimt’en have stepped up and said, ‘No, this is a nationbased issue, this is about sovereignty,’ it’s really sinking in,” she said.
New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen, who represents the area, said the protest he witnessed on Monday was “determined” but “peaceful. He estimated about 200 police officers were used to enforce the court
while a 20-year-old woman was found unresponsive and taken to hospital, where she was reported to have been in stable condition.
According to a coroner’s report, no helmets were found at the scene and, according to search and rescue personnel, it appeared the snowmobile, a 2004 Yamaha Apex, went airborne for several metres in an “apparent jump maneuver or loss of control.”
It has been a long, and sometimes difficult, journey but we are proud of the relationships we’ve built...
— Coastal GasLink president Rick Gateman
injunction.
Cpl. Madonna Saunderson would not say how many RCMP officers were involved in the operation.
The Mounties placed exclusion areas and road closures near the Morice River Bridge where the blockade was located that prevented Coastal GasLink from getting access to its pipeline right of way.
LNG Canada announced in October that it was moving ahead with its plans for the Kitimat export facility. Construction on the 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline is scheduled to begin this month.
In Halifax, about 150 protesters gathered on the steps of Halifax Regional Police headquarters, where the RCMP has a significant presence.
“I’m here to stand in solidarity with the folks on the front lines of Wet’suwet’en that are protecting their unceded territory and to express to the RCMP,” Halifax resident Sadie Beaton said before the protest started with a sweetgrass ceremony.
Protesters marched through downtown Toronto, chanting “TransCanada has got to go” and brought afternoon traffic to a halt. About 500 people gathered at the B.C. legislature in Victoria chanting and carrying placards.
Shelagh Bell-Irving attended the protest in support of the First Nation blockade.
“This is wrong and we have to stop it. We need to shut down Canada now and let the government know we the people are running the show and not them.”
See related stories, page 3
It was also reported that the driver had only ridden a snowmobile twice before.
“Driver inexperience may have been a contributing factor,” coroner Danny Scoular said in the report.
“I classify this death as accidental and make no recommendations.”
The man’s name was redacted from the report.
CP PHOTO
Tilly Innes, from the St’at’imc Nation, shouts from under her mask during a Tuesday march in Vancouver in support of pipeline protesters in northwestern British Columbia.
Prince George was among several cities across Canada on Tuesday that saw protests
arrests of 14 people at an Indigenous blockade southwest of Houston on Monday.
Observers raise concerns about RCMP tactical unit used in arrests
Sidhartha BANERJEE Citizen news service
The use of heavily armed RCMP officers to enforce a court injunction and breach an Indigenous blockade along a remote northern British Columbia logging road Monday was unnecessary given the circumstances, an expert says.
Kevin Walby, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, said social media video that has emerged shows no escalation of violence from protesters that would have necessitated the substantial intervention.
Fourteen people were taken into custody Monday at a blockade southwest of Houston, where members of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation had set up a camp to control access to a pipeline project across their territory.
Typically, police employ a “one-plus-one” rule of escalation that says officers use one level of force greater than the resistance they’re facing. But Walby said he saw no indication police, confronted with a seemingly peaceful blockade, followed that rule “in an appropriate manner.”
Carla Lewis, a local who was at another roadblock on Monday, said the police buildup in recent days was quite apparent.
“It was absolutely crazy the police force they had out there,” she said Tuesday. “I think we ended up counting about 23 cruisers, just tons of police, a lot of them had camouflage gear. They looked like military, so there was a lot of confusion about whether the military was there, but it was just the tactical unit.”
Police officers don’t take any chances, and they have the equipment on hand.
TransCanada subsidiary Coastal GasLink had obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordering the removal of obstructions so preliminary work could begin on a pipeline carrying natural gas from the Dawson Creek area to Kitimat.
— Former police officer
Michel Wilson
The RCMP said officers moved in for the midday arrests after it was determined there could be no resolution, even after meeting with locals a day earlier. It gave warning the blockade would come down.
As for the use of its tactical and emergency response teams, the force said they were deployed in addition to other officers “as part of our measured and scalable approach to enforcing the court-ordered injunction.”
Images that emerged from the camp on social media – most media were not permitted near the actual site – showed a chaotic scene as officers attempted to jump the barricade.
Some protesters were thrown to the ground in a tight area, and several officers were armed with assault-style rifles.
“You also see an embarrassing sequence of events where highly trained police are pushing people to the ground,” said Walby, who has studied the increasing militarization of police. “I don’t think any SWAT team member or leader or trainer would look at those images and say that’s a best practice in Canadian policing.”
Lewis said there was a commitment to peace and a political resolution at the blockade. “But it escalated quickly as you can see in the video,” she said. “There were no weapons out there. It definitely wasn’t a violent camp.”
The B.C. intervention is another example of the increasing use of such SWAT units when they aren’t needed, Walby said.
“We found that all these police services have these teams now, but they don’t really have anything to use them for,” he said. “So they end up getting used for things they are not intended for.”
But Michel Wilson, a former Montreal police officer for 31 years who commanded tactical and anti-riot units during his career, said police would want to be prepared.
“Police officers don’t take any chances, and they have the equipment on hand,” he said, noting the RCMP team on the ground was comprised of a mix of tactical and other officers.
Sometimes, heavily armed officers are viewed as an offensive weapon but can be employed as a defensive, dissuasive measure. Ultimately, the security of everyone involved is the police priority, Wilson said.
Wilson said during his career, the tactical units were deployed about 400 times a year in Montreal, mainly in high-risk settings.
“It’s always the goal – we don’t want excessive violence and they (tactical officers) have to have the equipment in case something happens,” Wilson said.
Pipeline protesters delay Trudeau speech
Citizen news service
OTTAWA — Dozens of pipeline protesters delayed an appearance by the prime minister in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoon, drumming and chanting in a government building where Justin Trudeau was set to speak.
Police kept the prime minister and Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna out of a Sussex Drive building in Ottawa where Trudeau was to address a forum bringing together federal officials and representatives from selfgoverning First Nations that have modern treaties with the Crown. The protesters expressed anger about the RCMP’s intervention in a blockade in northern British Columbia, enforcing an injunction from the B.C. Supreme Court. The injunction is to remove anyone who interferes with a Coastal GasLink pipeline project in and around the Morice River Bridge.
Members of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have set up a camp and a checkpoint southwest of Houston on a forest-service road that leads to a pipeline construction site.
Coastal GasLink says it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route but demonstrators say Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given consent. The RCMP broke their blockade Monday night, sparking the protests.
Trudeau’s address was subsequently moved to another govern-
ment building close to Parliament Hill later Tuesday.
“In this government, you have a partner willing to figure out the path forward that is right for each of you, and eventually right for every Indigenous person in this country,” Trudeau told the Indigenous leaders who’d moved to the new venue with him. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be done quickly.”
NDP reconciliation critic Romeo Saganash joined demonstrators on Parliament Hill on Tuesday before the group marched through downtown Ottawa streets with signs, including a large red one reading:
“RCMP Off Wet’suwet’en Land.”
“The justification that was used for this intervention is pretty lame in my view,” Saganash told reporters. “We all know in 2019 that the
Five things to know about anti-LNG demonstrations in northern B.C.
The pipeline A pipeline by TransCanada subsidiary Coastal GasLink is to carry natural gas from the Dawson Creek area to Kitimat.
In October, LNG Canada announced it was moving ahead with its plans for the Kitimat export facility, where the pipeline is to end.
B.C. Premier John Horgan has said LNG Canada’s decision to build a $40-billion liquefied-natural-gas project in northern B.C. ranked on the historic scale of a “moon landing.” He has also emphasized how much the project means to an economically deprived region of the province. Construction on the pipe – some 670 kilometres long – is scheduled to begin this month.
The pushback
Members of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have set up a camp and a checkpoint southwest of Houston on a forest-service road that leads to a pipeline construction site.
Coastal GasLink says it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route.
Demonstrators argue Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given consent.
“Our people’s belief is that we are part of the land,” said Freda Huson, a Unist’ot’en hereditary spokesperson. “The land is not separate from us. The land sustains us. And if we don’t take care of her, she won’t be able to sustain us, and we as a generation of people will die.”
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president Stewart Phillip also said in a statement on Sunday that all five Wet’suwet’en clans, including the Gidimt’en, oppose the construction of oil and gas pipelines in their territory.
The protest camp
Hereditary chiefs’ opposition to the pipeline intensified last month when the company secured an interim injunction in B.C. Supreme Court.
The court ordered the removal of any obstructions interfering with the Coastal GasLink project.
TransCanada has said it is not asking for the camp to be dismantled, only for access to the pipeline route.
The RCMP moved in
Monday night, RCMP say, they arrested 14 people from the blockade. The Mounties say they were enforcing the injunction from the B.C. Supreme Court in removing anyone who interferes with the Coastal GasLink project in and around the Morice River Bridge.
— see ‘THIS HAS, page 4
Rustad
critical of minister’s actions
— from page 1
“At the same time I am aware that the laws of Canada must be upheld and court injunctions must be followed. This illustrates how these two systems of law are colliding and underlines the importance of the separate reconciliation process our government has undertaken with the Office of the Wet’suweten.
“My commitment to a process of reconciliation remains firm and my first objective in the current legal situation is to ensure the safety of all,” Donaldson said.
However, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad said Donaldson’s ability to approve resource development permits has been compromised by the visit. Donaldson’s ministry will be responsible for issuing a number of permits needed for the pipeline, approved for construction in 2016.
“As a member of government, Doug Donaldson promised to uphold the law in B.C., yet this weekend he chose to side with protestors who are breaking the law,” Rustad said in a statement.
“Donaldson needs to figure out if he is a minister or an activist. British Columbians deserve better than this from the NDP.”
Wet’suwet’en have title and rights to their territory.”
He also said he is “pretty disappointed” by the silence of many politicians, including his own colleagues, both provincially and federally.
Saganash said he did not hear back from the provincial and federal Indigenous-affairs ministers he asked to help alleviate tension in northern B.C. prior to the arrests by the Mounties.
The federal government has a responsibility to Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Saganash added.
“We are bound by the rule of law in this country,” he said. “What the rule of law means is not sending in the police. The rule of law means is respecting the Constitution and in that Constitution is Section 35, Aboriginal rights and treaty rights.”
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
against the
CP PHOTO Security fights to keep protesters from storming a building where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to address a forum on Tuesday in Ottawa.
LOCAL IN BRIEF
Air quality advisory issued in city
An air quality advisory was issued late Tuesday afternoon due to high concentrations of fine particulate in the city’s air. This advisory remains in effect until further notice and during that time, those with chronic underlying medical conditions are urged to postpone strenuous exercise.
“If you are experiencing symptoms such as continuing eye or throat irritation, chest discomfort, shortness of breath, cough or wheezing, follow the advice of your health care provider,” officials added in the alert, issued at 4 p.m.
“Staying indoors helps to reduce exposure to fine particulate matter.”
— Citizen staff
Truck brings downs powerline
Highway 97 was closed just west of Racing Road in Quesnel on Tuesday afternooon after a transport truck went off the road and knocked down a powerline.
Police were alerted at about 12:40 p.m. and a BC Hydro crew was called to the scene at about 1:15 p.m. By 2:30 p.m. the stretch was reopened. No significant injuries were reported and less than five Hydro customers were affected.
— Citizen staff
Police arrest man at James’ office
(CP) — Victoria police say a man was arrested for mischief and assault on Tuesday at the constituency office of Finance Minister Carole
The arrested man, who was not named, locked himself to a pipe inside the office on Fort Street, police said. The man was later released with no charges, but police said their investigation is continuing.
Climate change linked to B.C. wildfires
Bob WEBER Citizen news service
Research suggests British Columbia’s record-setting 2017 wildfire season wasn’t an accident and Environment Canada scientists say that climate change stacked the deck against the province from the start.
In a newly published paper, researchers from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis say hot, dry weather directly caused by greenhouse gas emissions increased the province’s fire risk that year by up to four times. The same factors are likely to have increased the amount of land scorched by up to 11 times.
It’s an example of science’s growing ability to attribute the influence of climate change on specific events, said Megan Kirchmeier-Young, lead author of the paper published online by the journal Earth’s Future.
“People are always coming up with other ways we can be improving the way we do attribution. More and more scientists are focusing their research on this now.”
Kirchmeier-Young’s team reached its conclusion through a complicated statistical analysis.
They first built climate models based on two scenarios. One used current levels of greenhouse gases and one used levels from 1961 through 1970 before the strongest temperature increases began.
They took the measure of 2017’s wildfire risk from an index developed by Natural Resources Canada and calculated how likely it would be for that risk level to occur under both scenarios.
“By comparing these two likelihoods, we can make a statement about how the human climate factors changed the risk,” said
Kirchmeier-Young.
The researchers concluded, with 90 per cent certainty, that the addition of greenhouse gas emissions at least doubled and may have quadrupled the chance wildfire risks would reach the extreme values the province experienced in 2017.
Neither forestry practices nor impacts such as the mountain pine beetle were taken into account, the paper acknowledges. But it says its findings are consistent with those of many other studies that find an increased wildfire risk from climate change.
The scientists also compared the average area burned each year between 1961 and 1970 with
area scorched in 2017. The paper attributes about 90 per cent of the 12,000 square kilometres burned that year to the influence of climate change.
That figure dwarfed B.C.’s previous record for wildfires.
The fires forced about 65,000 people from their homes and destroyed 509 structures, including 229 homes. The province spent more than $522 million fighting the blazes.
Last summer was even worse. A new record was set when 13,000 square kilometres were devastated.
Because the 2018 fires were in different parts of the province, the team wasn’t able to tease out how
climate change may have loaded the dice last year. But they do estimate about 85 per cent of the area burned can be blamed on climate change.
Scientists have long warned that more frequent and larger fires are the likely consequence of a warming climate as more heat and less precipitation lengthens the fire season and adds to the fuel load in forests.
Kirchmeier-Young said her findings are more evidence that climate change in Canada is much more than a distant threat.
“Our climate is changing as a result of human influence and Canadians are feeling the effects of that already.”
Watchdog investigating cop who ran over deer multiple times
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. (CP) — A police officer is under investigation in southern Alberta for trying to kill an injured deer with his service vehicle.
Lethbridge police say the officer was trying to euthanize the animal on Saturday with his truck and drove over the deer several times while it was still alive.
A concerned person took a video of what happened.
After reviewing the video Lethbridge police chief Rob Davis said he notified Alberta’s director of law enforcement.
The province’s police watchdog unit, ASIRT, has been ordered to investigate.
The officer will remain on the job in his regu-
lar duties while the investigation is completed.
“After watching the video I understand the concerns people have and I can assure the community we take this incident very seriously,” Davis said Tuesday in a release.
“Transparency is paramount to the public’s trust and confidence in the police service and I welcome this independent investigation.”
Body removal a hot job in region
Jeremy HAINSWORTH Glacier Media
The need for dead-body removal services in the B.C. Interior has spurred the province to post multiple job placements for drivers and other staff.
“We have contracts in 33 parts of the province for body removal and 24 are up for renewal,” said BC Coroners Service spokesman Andy Watson.
B.C. Coroners service documents show a need for removal experts in the Kamloops, Terrace, Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Burns Lake, Vanderhoof and Fort St. James areas.
He said new people are needed to ensure coroners have removal services necessary for their work.
“The BC Coroners Service may require body removal in a number of instances as we investigate all sudden, unnatural and unexpected deaths in B.C.,” he said.
Those hired to move bodies may have to venture outside those areas to take bodies to larger centres for post-mortem diagnostic testing, documents said.
To be eligible, prospective candidates need to know morgue, coroner and police death scene protocols. The contracts require operators to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The drivers would pick up and move bodies at the direction of the coroners service.
“This direction does not relate to body removal procedures, techniques, or selec-
tion of exit routes,” documents said.
What the documents do insist on is that “each deceased person be covered with a shroud or body bag, which will remain intact with the deceased person.
“The shrouding may be of plastic material. Body bags and shrouds must be BC Coroners Service approved,” documents said.
Further, contractors must ensure bodies are “clearly identified by a tag (i.e. toe tag or arm bracelet) that remains intact during transit and storage, and cannot be destroyed by water or other environmental elements.”
For scenes where there are multiple dead people, the government pays on a two-forone basis.
The hourly rate is $25 but increases if the deceased weighs more than 250 pounds.
If a body must be refrigerated, the government pays $25 per day.
Should a body need to be transported in a sealed, leak-proof container – or ‘homicide tank’ – the government pays another $15 per day.
Contractors must remove or conceal company names, logos and other identifying markings on vehicles, uniforms or body bags and not suggest they are employees of the coroners service.
To give contract bidders an idea of the work involved, each contract description lists the number of decedents – or ‘units’ –for a previous 12-month period.
Trump gone tops poll results for 2019 wishes
Citizen staff
During the last online poll The Prince George Citizen asked “What would you most like to see happen in 2019?”
Narrowly in top spot is “Donald Trump removed from office,” which took 30 per cent of the vote with 540 votes. And on the flip side “Donald Trump remains in office,” took just under 30 per cent of the vote with 537.
“Justin Trudeau loses re-election bid,” took 27 per cent and 488 votes and then after a wide gap there’s “Justin Trudeau wins
re-election bid,” taking six per cent and 114 votes. “John Horgan calls a provincial election,” took just under six per cent and 106 votes. Trailing with one per cent and 17 votes is “John Horgan doesn’t call a provincial election.”
The total number of votes was 1,802. Remember this is not a scientific poll. Next up the Citizen is asking online pollsters “What do you think of your property assessment?”
To make your vote count on this hot topic visit www.princegeorgecitizen.com
‘This has never been a police issue’
— from page 3
The RCMP also say they are not taking sides in the dispute
“The conflict between the oil and gas industries, Indigenous communities, and governments all across the province has been ongoing for a number of years,” the force says in a statement.
“This has never been a police issue. In fact, the B.C. RCMP is impartial and we respect the rights of individuals to peaceful, lawful and safe protest.”
The broader concerns Phillip said in his statement the RCMP’s actions are in “direct contradiction” to stated federal-government commitments to true reconciliation and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“The provincial and federal governments must revoke the permits for this project until the standards of free, prior and informed consent are met,” he said. — Citizen news service
James.
CP FILE PHOTO
Verne Tom photographs a wildfire burning approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Fort St. James on Aug. 15, 2018.
‘That’s all I needed to hear’
Truck driver in Broncos crash pleads guilty on all counts
Ryan McKENNA Citizen news service
MELFORT, Sask.
— Scott Thomas was sitting nearby in the courtroom Tuesday when a truck driver pleaded guilty to every charge against him in a highway crash that killed 16 people on a junior hockey bus and left 13 players forever scarred by the disaster.
Thomas lost his 18-year-old son, Evan, in the Humboldt Broncos collision and always wanted the trucker to take responsibility.
Standing in the bitter cold outside the provincial courthouse in Melfort, Sask., the Saskatoon father said he’s relieved the case is moving on to sentencing.
He isn’t worried about whether Jaskirat Singh Sidhu will go to prison for a long time.
“If he spends a day, if he spends 10 years, time is irrelevant,” Thomas said, fighting through his emotions. “He was guilty. He acknowledged that. That’s all I needed to hear.”
Sidhu was driving a transport truck loaded with peat moss last April when the rig and the Broncos team bus collided at a rural intersection. The team had been on its way to a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League game.
“I plead guilty, your honour,” Sidhu said as he stood before the judge.
Guilty to 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death. Guilty to 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He made no other comment as he left the courthouse and put his head down as he stood next to his lawyer.
Mark Brayford, who recently took on the case, said more evidence still needs to be handed over to the defence, but Sidhu wanted to avoid further delays and plead guilty.
“Mr. Sidhu advised me: ‘I don’t want to make things any worse. I can’t make things any better, but I certainly don’t want to make them worse by having a trial,”’ Brayford said.
“He wanted the families to know that he’s devastated by the grief that he’s caused them. And he’s overwhelmed by the expressions of sympathy and kindness that some of the families and players have expressed to him in spite of the fact their grief is entirely his fault.”
Crown lawyer Thomas Healey said he might need up to five days for a sentencing hearing, which is to begin Jan. 28. He would not comment further.
The maximum penalty for dangerous driving causing death is 14 years. It’s 10
years for dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Evidence from the crash and of the truck driver’s actions have not yet been submitted to the court.
The bus was travelling north on Highway 35 and the semi was westbound on Highway 335, which has a stop sign.
A safety review done for the Saskatchewan government was released last month. It said sight lines at the spot are a safety concern and recommended removing a stand of trees that obstructs the view of drivers approaching from the south and east – the same directions the bus and semi-trailer were coming from when they collided.
The review further recommended rumble strips, larger signs and painting “Stop” and “Stop Ahead” on the road.
The owner of a Calgary trucking company that hired Singh was also charged after the crash. Sukhmander Singh of Adesh Deol Trucking faces eight charges relating to
Trump pleads on TV for wall money
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump urged congressional Democrats to fund his long-promised border wall Tuesday night in a sombre televised address that was heavy with dark immigration rhetoric but offered little in the way of concessions or new ideas to break the standoff that has left large swaths of the government shuttered for 18 days.
Speaking to the nation from the Oval Office for the first time, Trump argued the wall was needed to resolve a security and humanitarian “crisis,” blaming illegal immigration for what he said was a scourge of drugs and violence in the U.S. and asking: “How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?”
Democrats in response accused Trump appealing to “fear, not facts” and manufacturing a border crisis for political gain. Using the formal trappings of the White House, Trump hoped to gain the upper hand in the standoff over his demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He plans a visit to the border Thursday as he continues to pitch what was a signature promise of his 2016 presidential campaign.
He addressed the nation as the shutdown stretched through its third week, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay and some congressional Republicans growing increasingly jittery about the spreading impact of the impasse. Trump will visit the Capitol today to meet
with Senate Republicans, and has invited Democratic and Republican congressional leaders to return to the White House to meet with him later that day.
He claimed the standoff could be resolved in “45 minutes” if Democrats would just negotiate, but previous meetings have led to no agreement.
For now, Trump sees this as winning politics. TV networks had been reticent about providing him airtime to make what some feared would be a purely political speech. And that concern was heightened by the decision Tuesday by Trump’s re-election campaign to send out fundraising emails and text messages to supporters trying to raise money off the speech. Their goal: A half-million dollars in a single day.
“I just addressed the nation on Border Security. Now need you to stand with me,” read one message sent out after his remarks.
In their own televised remarks, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of misrepresenting the situation on the border as they urged him to reopen closed government departments and turn loose paychecks for hundreds of thousands of workers. Negotiations on wall funding could proceed in the meantime, they said.
Schumer said Trump “just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.”
non-compliance with federal and provincial safety regulations in the months before the crash.
In December, the Saskatchewan government introduced mandatory training for semi-truck drivers.
No details have been released about Sidhu’s training, although a lawsuit by the family of 16-year old Adam Herold, who was killed, alleges it was inadequate.
Tom Straschnitzki of Airdrie, Alta., whose 19-year-old son Ryan was one of two survivors who were paralyzed, said he wants more answers about what happened and what the trucker was thinking.
“You’re taught when you’re young: red light, green light, and look both ways,” he said.
“Why didn’t he do that? Was he just in a hurry? Did he have to get a load in right away? Was he pressured by his bosses?”
His wife added she’s worried the guilty plea will lead to a lighter sentence for Sidhu.
“I’m glad he won’t be putting everyone through a lengthy, exhaustive and heartbreaking trial,” she said. “However, I also hope that by doing so, he doesn’t get an absurdly reduced sentence.”
The family of 21-year old Logan Boulet of Lethbridge, Alta., said in a statement that “as much as this sounds crazy, we appreciate his remorsefulness.”
The statement said the plea has “saved our family and all the Bronco families (from)... the water cooler talk, the video images of the crash site, the intricate details that are private to the families and surviving victims of this crash, and a potentially... long and exhausting trial.”
Broncos president Jamie Brockman agreed that Sidhu has spared those grieving and struggling a painful trial.
He said Sidhu is also suffering.
“I know Mr. Sidhu has also been deeply affected by this tragedy. His careless actions will haunt him for the rest of his life, and I’m sure it is a relief to move forward.”
CP PHOTO
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu leaves provincial court in Melfort, Sask., on Tuesday.
Canada must reevaluate ties to China
An omnipresent danger in Canadian foreign policy is that a mix of avarice and anti-Americanism will cloud the country’s capacity to distinguish friend from foe. That’s as good an explanation as any for why Canada finds itself mired in such a painful and exploitative relationship with the Chinese dictatorship – the latest of many foreign policy crises to consume Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
During the 1990s, Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien was one of the West’s most credulous advocates of the idea that the reforms of the Deng Xiaoping era represented the dawn of a new, more liberal China. Trade junkets to Beijing became a hallmark of his premiership. In 2005, Chretien’s successor, Paul Martin, signed a formal “strategic partnership” with then-President Hu Jintao that proved to be the bureaucratic roadmap for a dramatic deepening of relations.
The Conservative government of Stephen Harper that replaced Martin in 2006 was often blasted by the Liberals for insufficient deference to China’s majesty, but wasn’t terribly different in substance.
In 2012, Harper’s government approved the purchase of the Albertan oil sands developer Nexen by the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. – the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese firm – and signed multiple trade deals that the prime
minister bragged would “take bilateral commercial ties to new heights.” Other ties were similarly heightened, with new visa programs and a full normalization of travel policy significantly increasing the presence of Chinese nationals in Canada.
Today, Canada’s ties to China are every bit as deep and substantial as the last few prime ministers promised.
Valued at more than $90 billion (Canadian dollars) annually, Canada-Chinese trade dramatically overshadows Canada’s economic relationship with regional free-trade partner Mexico, as well as Japan, India and every nation in Europe. In November 2017, Trudeau – who once infamously cited China’s “basic dictatorship” when asked to name his second-favorite country – promised to pursue free trade.
Canada’s public pension plan is heavily invested in China and intends to get significantly more so. Canada is the only North American member of Beijing’s profligate infrastructure investment bank. Despite a cool reception in the rest of the English-speaking world, the Chinese cellphone company Huawei has been a heavy player in Canadian telecommunications research – and a prominent sponsor of the country’s iconic sports program “Hockey Night in Canada.”
Expansion of the Alberta-to-British-Columbia Trans Mountain pipeline, Canada’s leading infrastructure priority, has been largely justified as a means to get more Canadian oil to Chinese markets. China, for its
part, is excited about the potential to enrich the many Chinese investors in Canada’s petroleum sector. For the past two decades, Canada’s intake of Chinese-born permanent residents has averaged around 30,000 per year, and according to Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, 120,000 Chinese students study at Canadian universities. Integration also manifests in other ways, however.
The attractiveness of Vancouver real estate as a safe investment for wealthy Chinese nationals has been widely blamed for turning the city’s housing into some of the most unaffordable on earth. An explosive report from the attorney general of British Columbia in June found widespread Chinese money laundering in Vancouver casinos. Global News has gruesomely documented the degree that Chinese gangsters have become major players in the illegal Canadian fentanyl market.
The Canadian intelligence community, meanwhile, has repeatedly warned that so much Chinese-Canadian integration has put the country’s leading civil institutions in considerable danger of infiltration by Chinese spies – the monitoring of whom has been said to occupy half the time of Canada’s spy-watchers. Canada’s political, academic and corporate secrets have all been identified at being at high risk of Chinese espionage. In 2014, the Canadian government experienced a major Chinese sponsored cyberattack resulting in an
YOUR LETTERS
Questions for Trump
Dear Mr. President, congratulations for your third year in office.
I would appreciate if you would cover up some loose ends for my edification. You called for a committee to verify that more people attended your inauguration than President Obama’s. Has that committee come to any conclusion? You also wanted an investigation as to whether the Obama administration wiretapped your phone in the Trump Tower. Any results?
On the campaign trail, you told us that you would release your tax returns following the audit. Gosh, is that audit still going on? I have been told that the IRS completes an audit of the federal government within four months. I know your a man of tremendous wealth but I had no idea of the magnitude.
Upon announcing the troop withdrawal from Syria, you told us that you knew more about war than the generals. This must come from your extensive military background. By the way, how are you managing those bone spurs?
At a recent campaign stop, you
mentioned that you need ID to get into a grocery store. Since then, I have shopped at three and each time I was never asked for identification. Could you let me know where you shop?
On CNN, you mentioned that you made possible lower fuel prices by calling a couple of OPEC countries. A recent economics graduate from Trump University could not figure out how you managed this but is amazed at the accomplishment.
During the midterms, you campaigned for Senator Ted Cruz who you called a liar during the race for the Republican nomination. Why would you endorse a liar? By the way, Mr. President, don’t sweat his candidacy in 2020 as he was born in Canada. Boy, and you thought Obama was born in Kenya. You also hinted that Ted’s father was involved in the JFK assassination. This was a story widely reported in the National Enquirer. It’s comforting to know that you base your opinions on such esteemed reliable sources.
And finally, you were recently visiting the troops in Iraq and reminded them that they had not received a pay raise for 10 years. Two members countered that by
claiming that they had received raises of 2.5 per cent over the past two years. Mr. President, for the sake of equity, you must contact their commanding officer and demand the necessary rollback. The American people will not tolerate such favoritism especially from the White House. Your reelection depends on it.
Good luck in 2020.
I think you will need it.
Doug Strachan, Prince George ‘Brutal’ headline
The headline on the Jan. 8 edition of The Citizen (RCMP use ‘brutal force’ to break through blockade) is one of the most blatantly biased and misleading I have ever seen.
It seems to be based only on a post by one of the arrested persons and is not backed up with any facts.
To make matters worse, there is an unrelated picture of a skid steer above it that at first glance you assume it was part of the ‘brutal force’ used to break through the blockade. Was this deliberate?
I expect better from my local newspaper.
Bill Lindsay, Prince George
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estimated loss of “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Ottawa’s 2017 decision to approve China’s purchase of the Vancouver tech firm Norsat, whose technology the Pentagon uses, prompted an official rebuke from Washington for endangering continental security.
Most recently, Canada has faced a grotesque spectacle in which two Canadian nationals have been detained in China as punishment for Ottawa’s decision to arrest Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou during a December stopover in Vancouver. On Thursday, Canada said that 13 of its citizens have been detained in China since Meng’s arrest. She is accused of breaking U.S. law, and Canada has an extradition treaty with the United States (but not China, though the Trudeau government has toyed with the idea).
As punishment for following its laws, Canada must pay a “heavy price,” according to Beijing’s propaganda machine.
The decision of Canada’s leadership to forge closer relations with China always required ample self-delusion. Starry-eyed over imagined future wealth and a new great power ally to offset “dependence” on the United States, Canadians in high places have wallowed in decades of denial over the realities of the Beijing regime.
Canada needs to abandon its fantasies of changing China before China irreversibly changes it.
— J.J. McCullough
Common sense best with border security
As is well known by all here, I am not one for truncated columns. What follows then is a meditation on the question of the border, both our southern cousin’s and our own.
Our Mr. T and America’s Mr. T could not be further apart in their attitudes towards border security. While U.S. President Donald Trump has shut down the most powerful government on Earth in order to pressure his opponents into funding his wall, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has personally encouraged illegal or undocumented migrants to come into Canada, stated there are jobs for them and still not hired more case workers to process their files and determine their status in a timely fashion.
The opposition members in both cases are just as vehement. In Congress, the small majority won by Democrats in November 2018 has given them the purse strings to say no to Trump’s wall, just as leaders in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the federal Tories are stating unequivocally that the money spent on migrants means less for citizens and the possibility of new security threats, is very real, inferring negligence on the part of the federal government.
The last aspect to mention here is one of jumping from actions to motive. With respect to Mr. Trump, many argue that his rhetoric denotes a disturbed mind and racist soul, which they use to justify a “no one is illegal” mentality, complete with sanctuary cities or open borders; in Canada, the media has focused on the prime minister saying much the same of his critics.
The first point to be made is border security is one of those few debates where everyone’s on the same side whether they realize it or not – nobody let’s strange people into their homes or yards without some kind of clear justification.
Given that the nation is just all of our communities, towns, and cities combined into a single geographic area, is it not fair to ask for proper documentation from entrants, or in lieu of that, a plausible story about a dire escape?
The slightly darker version of this same argument is once people come into this country, they have an innumerable amount of rights (and methods of recourse) to be keep from leaving it – and despite popular opinion, much the same is true of the United States. I encourage any doubters to look up even
one case of failed deportation on just grounds, then understand that these are thousands of dollars that could go to services for citizens or lawful new arrivals.
The other question at hand is when did those in favour of irregular or illegal immigration lose their collective doubts on this issue? History is not so flexible that it has not forgotten that as recently as the mid-1990s, all left-leaning parties were of a single mind on the issue of illegal immigrants: a zero-tolerance policy for any and all breaking the cornerstone of liberalism - rules.
Yet somehow left-leaning parties and personalities have made open borders their cause du jour since 9/11, even in the face of enormous backlash from their traditional base made up of what is “the indigenous working class.”
Some of this has been ugly, as in many parts of Europe today; but in the English speaking world, it’s been truly democratic, with public sentiment coming to light in the Brexit referendum as well as the 2016 presidential election.
And if I may reason from policies to motives, the iconoclasm progressives constantly pursue does not find much standing amongst the “old stock” that made up their former voters, instead, pork-barrelling and redrawing laws for new arrivals, along with a make-work system of policies and language from pseudo-academic advocates, is what they hope produces power. For any further reference, one need only read G.K. Chesterton’s The Flying Inn, published 1914.
In the spirit of the moderation I vowed this new year, I will concede that many people who support more open borders and increased immigration do it from a place of charity and not cynicism. And I will be the first to honour Wilfred Laurier and many more who made a viable thing out of Canada by bringing in peoples of every background from teeming shores far away.
But the people here still have rights, first and foremost to the practical sense of home all have created by their labour and loyalty to this Queen’s Dominion. And whether it be the cousins or our own masters in Ottawa, that must be the priority when adjudicating our border security.
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Member of
NATHAN GIEDE
Right of Centre
Uncertain hours in fast-food sector leaving workers stuck in limbo
Citizen news service
Madeleine Miller started working part-time at a Kanata, Ont., Tim Hortons as soon as she turned 15.
She found her work schedule erratic. She’d often be scheduled for a three-hour shift on the weekends, but would then be asked to stay much longer on busy days. Sometimes, her boss would then renege and cut back those extended hours.
She saw people, including a recent immigrant trying to save for higher education, sent home early several times because of slow sales.
“I never knew how much money I was going to be making and I could never plan anything around my schedule,” said the now 16-year old who quit her job after eight months to focus more on school. She plans to look for another job once this semester ends, but will apply at independent retailers where she’s heard owners treat employees better.
The practice of regularly sending workers home early falls within the law, but further complicates life for precarious workers in low-wage jobs and may be ultimately detrimental for businesses in an industry with high employee turnover.
Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Tim Hortons, did not respond to questions about the practice and the difficulties it can create for employees, but instead emailed a short statement.
“Most Tim Hortons restaurants are operated by franchisees who are empowered to use their best judgement in managing their employees and to comply with all provincial employment regulations,” wrote spokeswoman Jane Almeida.
The coffee-and-doughnut brand is not the only restaurant chain that sends staff home during a quiet shift.
The Canadian Press heard from a former manager-in-training for McDonald’s Canada who said each location tracks hourly sales and staff costs on a spreadsheet in-store and a formula determines if they’re over- or under-staffed at
any given hour. The former employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to continued ties to McDonald’s, said it was common to send employees home if the formula resulted in a plus one, two or more. The source said they’d been sent home numerous times while working for the burger chain.
“Restaurants try to balance employee preferences and the requirements of the business, while at the same time complying with the law,” wrote McDonald’s Canada spokeswoman Kristen Hunter in a statement, adding that’s the same for locations operated by franchisees or the corporation.
She also did not respond to questions posed about the company’s practices.
Cutting scheduled shifts is legal and allows businesses to make staffing changes according to business needs, said Marc Rodrigue, a senior associate at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.
“Practically speaking, if a fastfood establishment has no customers coming in, it’s not making money, frankly,” he said. “Maybe you don’t need to have 10 people
on. Maybe five people is good enough.”
Policy-makers have tried to strike a balance and offer some protection to businesses in those circumstances, while allowing a level of certainty for employees, he said, adding it’s unlikely businesses over-schedule on purpose.
At least in Ontario, the threehour mark is typically the time employees would get sent home, he said.
Provincial legislation states that is the minimum amount of time an employee who regularly works more than three hours a day must be paid for if their shift is cancelled.
But just because a company meets the minimum work hours doesn’t mean it hasn’t breached a worker’s employment agreement, said Sunira Chaudhri, a partner with Levitt LLP in Toronto.
If an employee’s contract states, for example, that they will work a 40-hour week, but management consistently cuts their shifts to half that, “that’s a material change and oh, I have one heck of a law case on my hands,” she said. It may be that employers have
No-deal Brexit option quashed
Britain’s Parliament narrowly approved financial roadblocks that are designed to make it more difficult for the country to leave the European Union without a Brexit deal, giving a defeat to Prime Minister Theresa May’s government Tuesday.
Lawmakers voted 303-296 to back a Finance Bill amendment that would prohibit government spending on “no-deal” Brexit preparations that Parliament didn’t authorize. The vote in the House of Commons illustrated the substantial opposition to the real possibility of Britain withdrawing from the EU on March 29 without a divorce agreement in place on the terms of its relationship with the remaining members.
Business leaders and some economists have predicted disruption in the lives of U.K. residents and financial damage if that happens. Without a trade deal in place, Britain could see tariffs slapped on its exports to the EU and possible food and medicine shortages.
But Britain has been headed in that direction because May has so far been unable to persuade a majority in Parliament to back the divorce deal her government negotiated with the EU.
Concerns about the risks of a “no-deal” scenario has prompted talk of postponing Brexit day and even calling another referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the spending restriction
lawmakers passed was “an important step to prevent a no-deal Brexit.”
Earlier Tuesday, a government minister ruled out Britain seeking an extension to its March 29 date for leaving the EU. The date was based on the two-year breakup period that started when May gave official notice Britain was pulling out.
Brexit minister Martin Callanan told reporters in Brussels that May’s government was not going to seek an extension to the countdown despite calls from some British politicians for a brake on the chaotic and uncertain Brexit process.
“We are leaving the EU on the 29th of March this year, because that’s what Article 50 says, that’s what Parliament voted for, and that’s now what domestic British legislation says as well,” Callanan said, referring to the EU regulation governing Brexit.
Britain can request an extension to the Brexit procedure, but the agreement of the other 27 EU countries would be needed, and the bloc’s leaders said last month that they would need good reasons to prolong it. European leaders have said a second Brexit referendum could be one good reason to do so.
May continued to seek further concessions from the EU on Tuesday ahead of lawmakers voting on the unpopular withdrawal deal next week.
The prime minister has pushed for fresh guarantees to ease its passage.
France insisted Tuesday that the EU can only offer political reassurances – not legally
worked the ability to change employee shifts with little notice into their contracts, she said.
“I think it sets people up for precarious employment,” she said, referencing a term that lacks an agreed upon definition but tends to mean work that is insecure, and without the benefits and protections afforded to full-time, permanent staff.
Andrew Langille, a Torontobased labour lawyer and activist, agrees “there’s a range of problems when it comes to shorting people on shifts.”
In addition to grappling with an unsteady income, employees could have trouble co-ordinating their work hours with a second job or childcare, he said.
Securing safe transportation could be a difficult for shifts that end late at night or early in the morning.
Consistently shorting employees’ on promised hours can hurt businesses too, said Langille, leading to higher labour costs thanks to increased turnover.
“If it happens too frequently, your employees are going to go find another job.”
binding changes to the agreement – to help May persuade reluctant lawmakers to endorse the deal.
“We really need to have a ratification of the withdrawal agreement. This is the best solution for both parties,” French European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau told reporters.
The withdrawal agreement, which is required before more wide-ranging discussions on future relations can commence, foresees relatively close economic ties with Europe. That is particularly true in the immediate aftermath of Brexit to avoid the imposition of a hard border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.
As well as frustrating lawmakers who want a complete break from the EU, the plan’s critics said the arrangement could result in the U.K. being “trapped” in the bloc’s customs arrangement if a superseding agreement on future trade ties is not reached.
Some lawmakers have said they will vote against the deal because they prefer another referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
The prolonged period of uncertainty has intensified political divisions over Brexit and led to some verbal confrontations in London.
Some 55 British legislators have expressed safety concerns in a letter to London’s police chief after a lawmaker was verbally abused while discussing Brexit outside Parliament.
The letter was sent to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick following verbal assaults on Conservative Party legislator Anna Soubry.
Positive signals from U.S.-China trade talks and rising oil prices helped Canada’s main
index to reach a near four-week high on Tuesday.
Investors latched onto hope of a trade deal as markets have been fragile and lacked a solid direction in recent months, says Dominique Barker, portfolio manager at CIBC Asset Management.
“Things have been so battered that any inkling of good news is interpreted with enthusiasm and stock prices are reacting accordingly,” she said in a phone interview.
U.S. President Donald Trump gave investor sentiment a boost when he tweeted that talks with China were “going very well.”
The involvement of a senior Chinese official also buoyed expectations, said Barker.
But she warned about the impact of failure.
“If we get a poor outcome from the trade talks we could see the market down again, potentially even below those levels from four weeks ago.”
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 101.02 points to 14,605.15 after hitting 14,645.61, the highest level since Dec. 13. The biggest gainers on the day were Nutrien Ltd., CGI Group Inc., Enbridge Inc., Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Alimentation Couche-Tard.
The weakest were the Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life Financial Inc., Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Telus Corp. and Thomson Reuters Corp.
All sectors save for health care were in positive territory, led by technology, utilities and consumer discretionary.
The influential materials, industrials and financials sectors were in the middle of the pack.
The February gold contract was down US$4 at US$1,285.90 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 1.9 cents at US$2.66 a pound.
The key energy sector rose slightly as the February crude contract was up US$1.26 at US$49.78 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up 2.3 cents at US$2.97 per mmBTU.
Oil prices rose for an eighth consecutive day as the result of production cuts from OPEC, Russia and Alberta taking effect in the new year.
The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 75.23 cents US compared with an average of 75.11 cents US on Monday.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 256.10 points to reach 23,787.45. The S&P 500 index rose 24.72 points at 2,574.41, while
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO
In this Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014 file photo, fast food restaurant signs line Peach Street in Erie, Pa.
Biathlon strengthens family ties
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Brynn Witwicki had two goals in mind when she lined up in the start gate for her B.C. Cup biathlon race Sunday at Otway Nordic Centre.
First and foremost, she wanted to ski and shoot as fast as she could to go after the medals in the senior girls class. For added inspiration she made it her mission to try to catch up to her 40-year-old dad Alan, who was making his debut representing the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club as a biathlon racer after six years as her coach.
Alan started his masters sprint race 10 minutes before the clock started on 15-yearold Brynn’s senior girls race and she didn’t quite catch him on the course but she got her medal, placing second in the six-kilometre sprint, 1:34 behind race winner Kira Friesen of West Kelowna’s Telemark Biathlon Club, who won in 34:41.
“It’s really good to have my dad out here – he’s a good role model,” said Brynn, who began the weekend with a bronze-medal win Saturday in the 7.5 km individual race. “It’s good to finally see him out here and he understands what it’s like to race and that it’s not super-easy. He has a better understanding now.
“I tried to pass him but he was too quick. I was really close. I just heard everybody saying, ‘Pass him Brynn, pass him.’ When I was trying to catch him he was going to the finish and I was going back into the range so I never had the chance to get him.”
Alan grew up in Penticton and has a background in cycling as a road and mountain bike racer, but until the weekend he’d never ski raced. Having to hit rifle targets only complicated matters. He nailed eight of 20
targets in the individual race Saturday and went five-for-10 in the sprint.
Brynn shot 11-for-20 in the individual race and six-for-10 in the sprint.
“It was a total eye-opener – things I tell her start to make sense,” said Alan. “When I say ‘sight picture’ (a critical part of aiming the rifle) it seems really easy, but it’s not at all. As soon as you’ve got a (rapid) heart rate, that all goes out the window trying to aim. It’s tough. It’s so hard to come in to the range when you’re breathing hard, to try to control that breathing long enough to get that shot off.”
Pettis powers to 10th spot in supercross event
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
Jess Pettis has something new to brag about – a top-10 finish against the best motocross racers in the world.
The 21-year-old Prince George rider, in his first race since signing a sponsorship deal with KTM Red Bull THOR Factory, finished 10th in the SX 250cc class Friday at the Monster Energy AMA Supercross event at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in California.
Pettis qualified eighth-quickest out of 40 riders and finished fourth in his heat race to advance to the 22-rider main event.
Colt Nichols of Muskogee, Okla., won the 250 main, completing 16 laps in 16 minutes 47.18 seconds. Dylan Ferrandis of Murieta, Calif., was second, 16.398 seconds behind Nichols, and Shane McElrath of Canton, N.C., was third, 20.268 behind. Pettis completed 15 laps.
Pettis will be back on his bike this Friday in Glendale, Ariz., for the second of 17 stops on the AMA circuit. He plans to also race in Anaheim, San Diego and Oakland over the next month before the supercross series switches to the eastern U.S. Pettis is coming off his best year as a motocross rider. He quali-
expected to return to his home track at Blackwater Motocross Park when the Rockstar Energy Triple Crown MX Tour returns to Prince George on June 8 for the second of eight events in 2019.
Brynn, a Grade 10 student at PGSS who also attends the Engage Sport North Canadian Sport School at UNBC, offers pointers to her dad when they go out together to practice their skiing. None of that instruction was enough to prevent Alan’s face-plant when he tripped over a v-board that marked the course while skiing a penalty loop.
“It’s hard but it’s fun,” said Alan. “I never skied as a kid, I started when she started (at age 8). I wanted to be out here with her.”
He started out as a Jackrabbits coach and branched off to biathlon as Brynn’s riflehandler soon after she got involved, joining
It’s good to finally see him out here and he understands what it’s like to race and that it’s not super-easy.
— Brynn Witwicki
a group of biathlon parents who help share the coaching workload. Alan trained all summer with Caledonia’s senior group. Both Witwickis plan to race as many of the B.C. Cup events as they can the rest the season. Brynn is one of 40 biathletes selected by Biathlon Canada for a weeklong World Cup Experience camp Feb. 5-11 in Canmore when the Alberta city hosts the BMX World Cup Biathlon tour. The camp will be overseen by 2018 Olympic team coach Roddy Ward, Biathlon Canada’s long-term athlete development director and several other high-performance coaches who will lead the athletes in training sessions on the World Cup course. The camp will include nutrition, psychology and strength and conditioning sessions. Brynn gets to participate in a TV test race used to place the cameras for worldwide coverage of the races, will fore-run the course, and will serve as a volunteer. She’s also looking forward to spending time with Canada’s World Cup team, which includes Megan Tandy and Sarah Beaudry of Prince George.
“I’ll be getting exposure to the national level to see the amount of work they need to put in and the different schedules they have,” said Brynn.
Alan was also accepted for the camp as a volunteer coach, along with Nicole Perrin, the Caledonia club’s head coach.
Cougars blank Americans
Citizen staff
In the United States on Tuesday night, Taylor Gauthier put up his own version of a wall.
The Prince George Cougars goaltender faced 36 shots from the Tri-City Americans but stopped all of them in a 1-0 Prince George victory. Ethan Browne scored the only goal of the Western Hockey League contest, at the 16:05 mark of the second period. Gauthier was named the game’s first star, in Kennewick, Wash., around the same time U.S. President Donald Trump was in Washington, D.C., pleading on live television for U.S. Democrats
to give him the money he wants in order to build a wall along the country’s southern border with Mexico.
Gauthier had the more satisfying result. With the win, the Cougars improved to 14-21-1-2. Tri-City, meanwhile, dropped to 20-151-1. The Cats play the final game of a lengthy road trip tonight in Spokane against the Chiefs. They will be home on Friday night – for the first time since Dec. 2 – to play the Kelowna Rockets in the first game of a doubleheader. Thursday is trade deadline day in the WHL and in the B.C. Hockey League.
• Also Tuesday, the Cougars signed forward Blake Eastman to a standard WHL player agreement. The Cats chose Eastman in the second round (44th overall) in the 2018 bantam draft. “Blake has really developed this season,” said director of scouting Bob Simmonds in a media release. “He is playing with confidence and he has a strong power game – he plays with an edge. He has a knack for scoring and we expect him to continue to grow as a player and be a big part of our future.”
Eastman is currently playing at OHA Edmonton, at the Elite 15 level, in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
Vrana scores twice as Caps hand Flyers eighth straight loss
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jakub
Vrana scored twice to set a career high in goals and added an assist to help the Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 Tuesday night and hand their division rivals their eighth consecutive loss.
Vrana showed off his speed on his first goal and ended the defending Stanley Cup champions’ 0-for-12 power-play drought with his second. He reached a careerbest 14 goals in Washington’s 42nd game.
The 22-year-old winger assisted on Tom Wilson’s goal early in the first period as the Capitals scored on their first shot against journeyman goaltender Mike McKenna. When McKenna got the start, the Flyers tied an NHL record by using their seventh goalie of the season, a feat accomplished just three previous times. McKenna allowed four goals on 25 shots, becoming the seventh Philadelphia goalie to register a loss through 43 games. The Flyers have lost 13 of their past 16 and
are second-last in the NHL with 36 points. T.J. Oshie also scored twice –including an empty-netter with 2.1 seconds left – for the Capitals, who won their second in a row to bounce back from a three-game skid. Backup goaltender Pheonix Copley made a season-high 37 saves to pick up his 10th victory of the season. The Flyers look to avoid a ninth consecutive loss when they host Dallas on Thursday. The Capitals visit Boston on Thursday.
CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO
Alan and Brynn Witwicki pose for a photo outside the lodge at Otway Nordic Centre during the Biathlon B.C. Cup No. 2 event on Sunday.
PETTIS
Sports Jacobs ices third lineup as Fry returns
Gregory STRONG Citizen news service
After avoiding public comment since his ejection from the Red Deer Curling Classic, Ryan Fry returns to the spotlight this week as the Grand Slam series makes a stop in North Battleford, Sask., for the Canadian Open.
It’s unclear whether Fry will discuss his disqualification and the steps he took during a seven-week break to focus on growth and selfimprovement. His return to Team Brad Jacobs was confirmed on New Year’s Day and he’ll be in the lineup for today’s opener against Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz.
“I think the story kind of grew a life of its own and I’m sure he regrets what happened,” said curling commentator Mike Harris. “But I would anticipate that they get back at it pretty quickly and pretty readily. I don’t see there being a whole lot of pushback from the players, for example. The challenge is going to be with Brad himself.
“They obviously would have felt some pressure from sponsors and whatnot to address what happened in a reasonable and quick manner. So I’m hopeful that everything will focus back on curling. That’s what I’m hoping for for that team and we’ll see how it goes.”
Fry, who was playing as a substitute at the World Curling Tour event in mid-November, was kicked out along with teammates Jamie Koe, Chris Schille and DJ Kidby. Organizers said the disqualification stemmed from unsportsmanlike behaviour resulting from excessive drinking.
All four players issued state-
ments to apologize for their actions.
Fry, who recently declined an interview request, has kept a low profile and has only weighed in via social media on rare occasions since the bonspiel. He posted an apology statement on Twitter on Nov. 21 and didn’t post again until Jan. 1, the same day the team announced it was excited to confirm Fry’s return.
The team used a pair of substitutes while Fry was away. Jacobs won the Canada Cup with Marc Kennedy at third last month and
Obviously Ryan is under a microscope
—
Curling commentator Mike Harris
the team reached the quarterfinal at the National a week later with Matt Wozniak in the lineup.
“Obviously Ryan is under a microscope right now,” said Harris,
Raptors finish Hawks with dunks
TORONTO (CP) — Just as Kyle Lowry had Serge Ibaka’s back on the penultimate play of the Raptors’ 104-101 win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Toronto forward returned the favour in the dressing room.
Lowry threw a pass to Ibaka with 17.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter that the six-foot-10 centre slammed through the Hawks’ basket and into the face of Atlanta guard Jeremy Lin for a one-point lead on Tuesday night. Ibaka then pulled down a big defensive rebound on the next possession that led to another dunk by OG Anunoby for the game’s final score.
When Lowry faced the waiting media in front of his locker after the game no reporters had a question ready, so Ibaka stepped up and asked how he was feeling. “My guy Serge had a big dunk down at the end, had a great defensive rebound,” laughed Lowry. “Serge played well tonight. We had a great team effort. Kawhi Leonard came up with some big stops down the stretch. Good team win. Any other questions?”
Leonard led Toronto (31-12) to its thirdstraight win with 31 points, six assists and four rebounds. Lowry had 16 points in the first game that he and Leonard played in together since Dec. 9. Ibaka finished with 13 points and Anunoby had 14.
“Leonard’s making a really assertive effort to make some extra plays and try to be
a little bit more aggressive in playmaking,” said Lowry. “That’s the stuff that we’re gonna need from him because he commands such attention on the floor that he’s gonna be able to get double-teamed, and he’s gonna be able to find guys, and we’ve just gotta make shots for him.”
John Collins had 21 points, seven in the fourth quarter, for Atlanta (12-28), while Lin added 20 with nine assists.
Vince Carter had six points in 13 minutes of play for the Hawks in what may have been his final game in Toronto. The 41-year-old played the first seven seasons of his 21-year career with the Raptors.
He told reporters earlier Tuesday that he wasn’t quite ready to retire, despite being tied with Robert Parish, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Garnett for longest playing career in NBA history.
“I’m not a guy who likes to look back, I live in the now,” said Carter, who got a standing ovation when he entered the game in the first quarter. “Over so many years I’ve seen so many things, gone through the ups and downs. The joy of coming to this arena, each and every year is something I look forward to.”
Lowry missed 10 of 11 games with a thigh contusion and then lower back pain, only appearing against the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 22, before returning for Sunday’s 121-105 victory over Indiana.
a Sportsnet broadcaster and 1998 Olympian.
Jacobs, Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden won gold at the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia, a year after winning the Tim Hortons Brier and a world silver medal.
Former Team Rachel Homan coach Adam Kingsbury started working with the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based rink this season. A PhD candidate in clinical psychology, Kingsbury specializes in helping players with mental preparation.
Jacobs has risen to the No. 3 spot in the world rankings behind
Kevin Koe and Niklas Edin.
“There’s no lack of commitment or talent there,” Harris said. “Certainly they needed to change something to get back to their winning ways and it’s worked. So I look forward to seeing what (else) Adam can do to help them. He’ll certainly help a lot with this transition as Ryan comes back into the mix.
“You’ve got three new players (in) three events, they’ve got the perfect coach for that.”
Jacobs won the Tour Challenge on the Grand Slam circuit earlier this season and finished second at the Shorty Jenkins Classic.
The Canadian Open uses a triple knockout format. The first draw happened Tuesday night at the Civic Centre with play continuing through the weekend playoffs.
“This is the last Slam before the (provincial) playdowns start,” Harris said. “All of the teams will want to be peaking if you can for the next couple months of curling.”
Ice chips
The field is set for this month’s Canadian junior curling championships in Prince Albert, Sask. B.C.’s Tyler Tardi and Northern Ontario’s Tanner Horgan are some of the rinks in the 14-team men’s draw. Nova Scotia’s Kaitlyn Jones is a favourite in the 13-team women’s field.
The Jan. 19-27 competition will be held at the Art Hauser Centre and the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club.
The winners will represent Canada at the Feb. 17-24 world junior championships in Liverpool, N.S.
Jets outgun Avalanche
WINNIPEG (CP) — Blake Wheeler knows the Winnipeg Jets have offence that can explode at any time. It did Tuesday night.
The captain was one of seven players who scored, and he added three assists, as the Jets defeated the Colorado Avalanche 7-4.
Mathieu Perreault, Kyle Connor, Bryan Little, Andrew Copp, Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba also scored for Winnipeg. Trouba, Scheifele and Tyler Myers each added a pair of assists.
“I think we like what we can do offensively,” Wheeler said. “So there’s gonna be nights where we pour it on and their goalie plays well. And there’s going to be nights where we get a few and make the most of our chances.”
Gabriel Landeskog scored twice for Colorado to reach a career-high with 27 goals in a season. Carl Soderberg and Ryan Graves also scored. Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie each contributed a pair of assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves for the Jets (27-13-2), who have won two straight and improved to 3-3 in their last six games.
Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots for Colorado (20-15-8), which had ended a sixgame losing streak with a 6-1 win over the New York Rangers last Friday.
The Jets scored three times on the power play and once shorthanded to lead 2-1 after the first period. They mounted a 4-1
lead early in the second, but the Avalanche scored twice late in the period to squeeze the score 4-3 after two.
Winnipeg responded to Colorado’s surge with Copp and Scheifele’s third-period goals that made it 6-3 at 11:12.. Landeskog netted his second at 16:24, which was originally credited to MacKinnon, and then Trouba finished it with an empty-net goal on the power play with 1:06 remaining.
“That was pretty fun,” Scheifele said of the open game. “I’m sure the fans loved it. I’m good with it.”
MacKinnon extended his point streak to seven games with four goals and six assists. Barrie is on a five-game point streak with one goal and seven assists.
The game got off on an iffy note when Wheeler was called for tripping 13 seconds after the puck dropped. But the Jets killed off the penalty and Perreault scored his ninth of the season with a shot through Grubauer’s pads at 3:05.
Winnipeg’s first power play of the game led to Connor’s 15th goal of the season at 13:57. Patrik Laine took a slashing penalty just over a minute later and Landeskog redirected in Barrie’s long shot at 16:04. Laine was dinged for tripping early in the second, but Wheeler scored shorthanded with slick sequence with Scheifele.
Skip Brad Jacobs, right, talks with third Ryan Fry during a game against Team Morris at the 2017 Roar of the Rings Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Ottawa in December 2017.
right now.
Trump gold for Doonesbury fans
Citizen news service
As Garry Trudeau sat on the stage of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, the Doonesbury creator was asked how his three decades of satirizing Donald Trump have proved so prescient.
Trudeau denied any powers of cartoon prognostication, chalking it up to a humorist’s trained response to the news of the day, including Trump’s earlier occasional feints at running for president. With a wry smile, the artist insisted he was doing little more than reading headlines and meeting deadlines.
Yet Trudeau, on a stop to promote his latest Doonesbury-on-Trump book, was playing it humble.
In those early days of the late ‘80s, Trudeau initially saw Trump as other New Yorkers did: a consistent glitzy presence in the gossip and business columns, almost a caricature of a real estate titan who wanted to shine brightest along the Manhattan skyline, like a beckoning light along a Gatsby dock.
Yet when Trump began to criticize Washington in full-page newspaper ads, positing that he would make a better national leader than the Reagan/Bush-era Beltway losers, Trudeau began fitting Trump for an insightful bespoke debut in his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip.
Back then, the leaner, auburn-locked Trump was a satirical target almost entirely because of twin exercises in excess: his gilded acquisitions and the lengths he would go to bask in a limelight.
This Trump, in Trudeau’s sardonic vision, was given to ordering up his own Sistine Chapel-style frescoes, only it was The Donald whose finger touched the hand of God. This Trump could seemingly buy everything except a sense of self-deprecation.
The other Trumpian trait that the cartoonist pegged and parodied right away was the salesman’s patter larded with superlatives. Even then, everything was the biggest and best, as Trudeau skewered the brands and beauty pageants and sex-life bravado of the Doonesbury Trump – a relatively harmless huckster who put the “hype” in “hyperbole.”
Today, though, Trudeau can no longer treat Trump like the occasional one-week sideshow.
The cartoonist draws weekly instead of daily now, and more often than not, the Sunday Doonesbury pans for comedy gold amid the president’s 24/7 largesse. The resulting strips have proved popular, as collected in two recent books, including this fall’s “#SAD! Doonesbury in the Time of Trump.”
Shortly before the 2016 election, Trudeau published the bestseller YUGE!, which collected 30 years of Doonesbury strips featuring Trump.
Looking back at the vintage work, it’s easy to see how quickly Trudeau grasped the essence of public Trump – the insatiable hunger for attention, the dizzying sense of entitlement, the playground petulance of one-upmanship, the embarrassing sense of decor and decorum and, always, the ravenous appetite for acquisition of objects and locations and people.
#SAD!, by contrast, is a more contemporary, mostly post-election take. We have fully moved into “Trump’s America,” in which the president tweets insults at all hours, the White House press office scrambles to explain his rogue rants and most any report that isn’t glowing might be decried as “fake news.”
Trudeau is often asked whether a figure as over-the-top as Trump is beyond lampooning – a question that also gets asked of such late-night comedic presences as Stephen Colbert and Saturday Night Live regular Alec Baldwin.
But at his recent Smithsonian Associates talk at the portrait gallery, Trudeau noted that exaggeration is but one tool in the satirist’s belt.
That fact is deftly reflected in #SAD! The comic strip that would become Doonesbury was born 50 years ago this autumn in the Yale Daily News, and Trudeau has spent a half-century refining his angles of attack.
Unspeakable series looks at tainted blood scandal
Citizen news service
Robert C. Cooper still isn’t comfortable talking about the difficult period in his life when he contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood products in the 1980s.
But the Toronto-based television creator, who needed transfusions to treat his hemophilia, also realizes viewers will be interested in his unique perspective as he debuts his new miniseries about that very subject matter.
Premiering today on CBC TV, Unspeakable is a dramatization of the tragedy in which contaminated blood and blood products infected thousands of Canadian patients with HIV. Many thousands more were infected with hepatitis. Four doctors, the Canadian Red Cross Society and an American drug company were criminally charged.
Cooper says he called the series Unspeakable because of the prejudice that existed at the time, which kept people from speaking out.
“We were afraid to let anybody know. I was afraid to let anybody know I was hemophiliac because of the stigma attached to it and how people reacted,” the writerdirector-producer said.
“It’s still not comfortable for me to talk about it that way. I’ve never been someone who liked to draw that type of attention to myself. I wear a bracelet now that has my medical information on it, but there were a lot of situations where I would take it off because I didn’t want people (to see it).”
Sarah Wayne Callies, Shawn Doyle, Michael Shanks and Camille Sullivan are among the stars of the series, which looks at the scandal from the perspectives of two families.
The storylines are based on personal accounts as well as two books – Gift of Death: Confronting Canada’s Tainted Blood Tragedy by Andre Picard, and Bad Blood: The Tragedy of the Canadian Tainted Blood Scandal by Vic Parson – and the public inquiry launched in 1993 and led by Justice Horace Krever.
So although Trudeau’s Trump relies on exaggeration for physical caricature – the Doonesbury president is a heavily jowled and hunched-over figure with patchwork sprigs of hair – the writing of the recent strips aims closer to reportage in tone, with the jokes often sprouting out of blatant, blunt-force contradictions of fact and logic that closely mirror reality.
That parodic approach works best when you can nearly hear Trump giving voice to this verbiage in a real-world setting.
In a strip from late 2016, for instance, a month after the election, Doonesbury’s Trump is decrying “nasty stories,” “lying, disgusting reporters” and the “slime” that is the mainstream media.
The strip’s language hews so closely to the truth of a Trump salvo that it verges on winking dictation.
Trudeau finds humour, too, in skewering those who seem to embrace the president uncritically.
His best foil in this service is the strip’s conservative correspondent, Roland B. Hedley Jr., who deploys a true believer’s ability to deny journalism thanks to an “a la carte” comprehension of the facts and a shameless habit of tweeting his half-baked retorts.
Trudeau won his editorial cartooning Pulitzer in 1975 largely for his depiction of President Richard Nixon as a paranoid
Cooper, who’s been showrunner on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and the Stargate TV franchise, said he made a drama rather than a documentary because this is the world he comes from.
“You couldn’t make a documentary about this, because most of the people involved are dead,” added Callies, an Illinois native whose character is “kind of” based on Cooper’s mother.
As time passes, there’s also the danger of the tragedy fading from the mind of the general public, Cooper said.
“So it felt like we were at a time when some of the people who did live through it are not going to be with us that much longer and it was important to get that eyewitness testimony so that this incredible story isn’t forgotten,” he added.
Doyle, who plays a journalist investigating the scandal that affects his hemophiliac son, said the story reminded him of the time his mother was sick in the early ‘80s and needed blood transfusions during several surgeries in Labrador.
“It’s only for the grace of God that she didn’t become infected herself, because she had God knows how many pints of someone else’s blood put through her,”
said Doyle, whose other credits include Big Love, Bellevue and The Expanse.
“That’s something that’s come back and haunted us over the years, is how lucky she was that nothing happened during those surgeries.”
Unspeakable spans 30 years as it explores various facets of the scandal.
“I think there’s an added insult to injury because it was preventable,” Cooper said.
“We had some poor decisions that were made and a lot of the deaths didn’t have to happen.”
At a time when the truth is constantly coming into question amid accusations of so-called fake news, he feels it’s also important to show a story in which journalists got to the bottom of a story being concealed from the public.
“We are at a time when we have to hold our public institutions accountable, and if we take our eye off that ball, I think this is a story about what happens,” added Callies, who also directed an episode of the show and is known for her starring role on Prison Break.
“The two people who wrote the books that this is about, it took them 10 years to get to the truth of what happened, because so much of it happened in the dark.”
Shakespearean figure who tried hiding behind the escalation of his stonewalling tactics. Since then, the left-wing cartoonist has consistently been hardest on Republican presidents – yet even Trudeau puts Trump in a league of his own.
The cartoonist renders the 45th president as unleashed id free of guilt, empathy or deep self-examination. Doonesbury’s satiric Trump has so many blind spots, it’s as if he’s encircled by steel slats.
The cartoonist also smiles at the kind of president who suggests that the legality of Saturday Night Live satire should perhaps be challenged in the courtroom.
Parody and satire have had their day in the Supreme Court and won, Trudeau notes, in the famed 1988 Hustler Magazine v. Falwell case that specifically cited Doonesbury. So when Doonesbury’s Trump jokes about “loosening the libel laws,” as he does in a 2016 strip, Trudeau obviously delights in prodding and poking the president precisely where he seems most sensitive.
Trump once praised Doonesbury, early on. Since then, he has called the strip “a lesson in pure salesmanship” – an intended swipe, yet a trait that the president typically admires. Between Trump and Trudeau, clearly only one is suffering from an irony deficiency.
The above cartoon is part of a collection from Garry Trudeau’s latest Doonesbury collection, #SAD! Doonesbury in the Time of Trump.
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE HANDOUT PHOTO COURTESY CBC
Sarah Wayne Callies as Margaret Sanders, Michael Shanks as Will Sanders and Ricardo Ortiz as Ryan Sanders are shown in a scene from Unspeakable.
Bozoki,John December26,1937-January3,2019
Itiswithgreatsadnessthatwesharethepassingof JohnwholeftusonThursday,January3,2019,at theageof81years.Heleavesbehindhiswife,Violet, whoheshared57yearstogether.Healsoleaves behindhisthreechildren-Michael(Anne),John,and Vanessa(Randy);andhisfivegrandchildren,Jordan (Ally),Alexandria,Dalainey,John-Michael(Bailey), andDominique(Eli).Hewaspredeceasedbyhis parents,SandorandReginaBozokiofSzeged, Hungary,andhistwograndchildren,Ashleyand Tristan. JohnlefthishomeinSzegedin1956andarrivedin Quebecin1957.Hemadehiswayacrossthe country,workingvariousjobsuntilhearrivedin PrinceGeorgewherehemethiswife.Heworked manyyearsattheShelleySawmillandthenbecamea rooferwhichheworkeduntilheretired.Althoughhe lefthisentirefamilyinHungary,hebecameapartof theLheidliT’ennehcommunityandmoreimportantly apartoftheSeymourfamily.Heisnowwithhis father-in-law,AllenSeymour,andhisbrothers-inlaw,Richard,Ron,andRoy,whohedeeplylovedand respected.
TherewillbeaCelebrationofLifeforJohnonFriday, January11,2019,at1:00p.m.attheUdaDune Baiyoh(HouseofAncestors)Halllocatedat355 VancouverStreet,PrinceGeorge.Thefamilyinvites thosewhowishtorememberJohnandcelebratehis lifeandshareinamealprovidedbythefamily.
It is with profound sadness we announce the sudden passing of Dallas Terence Coyle on Jan 1st, 2019 at the age of 31. Dallas is survived by loving wife Niomi and daughter Presley, parents Anita and Bob, Brother Sean, Sister Brandee, Nephews Cade, Brody, James and Joel, nieces Makenna, Olivia and Kinley. Also grieving his loss are many loving aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, coworkers and friends. Dallas graduated from College Heights secondary and made many lifelong and loving friends. As a young child he loved playing sports, especially hockey, and loved spending time in the outdoors hunting, fishing and camping with family and friends. He loved working with his hands and was immensely skilled building or fixing stuff for the people who surrounded him. He loved his job with Telus and left behind many good friends and coworkers during his four years with them. Most importantly Dallas will forever be remembered for his sensitive heart and fierce love and protection of family and friends. He would do anything for those he loved and would protect those who needed his help no matter who it was. In the short time he was with his daughter we could all see the intense love he had for her and how he already was growing immensely protective of her and wife Niomi.
A private family Memorial service will be held on Jan. 12th in Prince George. A celebration of life will be held at the Columbus Community Center (7201 Domano Blvd) on Jan. 12 at 6:00 PM. All are welcome to attend to help say our goodbyes and to remember the joy he brought to our lives. Dallas, you never said you were leaving You never said
Brandi Maye Folk
January 31, 1996December 25, 2018
It is with heavy hearts and great sadness that we announce the passing of our dearest beloved daughter, Brandi Maye Folk. Brandi will be lovingly remembered by her father and mother, Edward and Susan Folk, brother David, sister Brittany, nephew Darius, Grandparents and numerous Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Brandi was a beautiful, thoughtful young lady full of kindness and compassion. Brandi was a talented artist and expressed her feelings and passion through her art. A celebration of Brandi’s life will be held at 1pm on January 12, 2019 at the College Heights Baptist Church, 5401 Moriarity Cres. In lieu of flowers we would ask that you donate to any Mental Health Program for Youth.
In loving memory of a very special father, grandfather and great grandfather JOSEPH HORDOS
February 3, 1927December 29, 2018
Not a day goes by without the shedding of tears and the pain in our hearts. We know he is in the hand of the good Shepherd, our Lord and Savior Jesus in his heavenly home forever. We look forward to meet him waiting for us with open arms as always, Oh, how we miss your smile and laughter. Sadly missed by his companion Annie and his family; Ervin (Carol), James (Doreen), Carol (Howard), Donald (Colette), Patrick ( Jane), Paul (Lorna) and Joseph (Catherine), numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, one brother and three sisters survive him. Joseph was predeceased by his wife Elizabeth and son Vern. Vigil prayers for the deceased will be held on Friday January 11, 2019 at 7:00pm at Christ Our Saviour Catholic Church, 4514 Austin Road W. with a funeral mass to follow on Saturday January 12, 2019 at 11:00am At Christ Our Saviour Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Society.
MONAI, Maria
It is with great sadness that the family of Maria Monai announce her peaceful passing on December 28, 2018 at Haven Hill Care Home. Maria was born April 24, 1923 in Monteprato di Nimis, Friuli, Italia, to parents Giovanni and Teresa (Berra) Croatto. In 1950 she married Giuseppe Monai and their son Luciano arrived in 1952. In 1957 they boarded the ship Saturnia to come to Prince George, Canada. When Beppi retired from BC Rail in 1980 and Maria retired from the Prince George Citizen, they moved to Penticton to be closer to family and the sunny warmer climate. They shared many passions: family and friends, gardening, dancing, singing, Italian Club and St. Ann’s Parish, Giuseppe with the Knights of Columbus and Maria the Catholic Women’s League. Maria was predeceased by husband Giuseppe, sisters: Fiorita, Ines, Assunta, Delia and Gioconda. She is survived by son Luciano (Judy); grandchildren: Jennifer, Katherine (Tom), Michael, Christopher and the light of her life, great grandchildren Adam and Rosalia. Also surviving is Maria’s youngest sister Rita (Giovanni) and nieces and nephews of the large extended family and dear friends. Prayers will be offered on Sunday, January 13, 2019 at 7:15 PM at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, 1298 Main Street, Penticton where the Funeral Mass will follow on Monday, January 14, at 10:30 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Ann’s Catholic Women’s League or the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Condolences/memories can be shared at www.everdenrust.com
Alfred John Rolfes
Our Dad passed away on December 26th, 2018 at the Hospice House in Prince George, BC. Alfred was born on October 24, 1944, in Humbolt, SK (Son of the late Bernard & Maria Rolfes).
Dad battled with oral cancer and fought the good fight. We are all very proud of him. “Cancer is just one chapter in your life, not the whole story. “ There will be a celebration of life held on April 13th, 2019 - at 2pm with refreshments to follow. Pineview Hall, 6470 Bendixion Rd, Prince George, BC - for info please contact 1-250-614-9772
We kids: Barry (Michelle), Dwayne (Kari-Lynn) and Colleen (Les) along with Grandchildren, Jessica (Brandon), Micheal, Marinus, William, Kaya and Sam would love to see you all there! (Predeceased by wife Ann Kathleen 2007 and granddaughter Emily Rose 1997)
Jack (John Bruce) Nelson
Born in Prince George, BC, August 26 1954, died of sudden cardiac arrest, January 2, 2019, at New Westminster, BC. He is predeceased by his parents, Jack and Tekla Nelson. Leaving to mourn, his beloved children Arleigh and Ethan, former partner Catherine Hunt, brother David, and sisters Nancy and Lynn Patricia. Jack was raised in PG and moved to Salmon Arm at age 15 where he graduated from high school. His working career included laying cable wire in the North Sea, and building condos in Mexico. He furthered his studies at BCIT. Jack spent the past 20 years working as a construction superintendent for numerous projects in the lower mainland. His interests were cars, especially his third child the 1992 Ford Mustang convertible, swimming, and golf. His Celebration of Life will be held at The View on Lonsdale, 2121 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver, Saturday, January 12, at 2pm.
