Jane Seyd, North Shore News – May 16, 2022 / 4:49 pm | Story: 369164
Photo: Jane Seyd, North Shore News
Environment Minister George Heyman addresses media in North Vancouver Monday, to announce a new $76-million fund to help local governments mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The B.C. government has announced a new funding program to help local governments tackle the impacts of climate change that will funnel $76 million towards local projects over the next three years.
The program was announced Monday morning (May 16) in North Vancouver by George Heyman, minister of environment and climate change strategy, and Nathan Cullen, minister of municipal affairs.
The Local Government Climate Action Program will provide “predictable, stable funding” for municipalities, regional districts and First Nations to pay for projects aimed at preparing for and mitigating the impacts of climate change, said Heyman.
Communities will receive the money based on the size of their populations, Heyman said, with a minimum of $38,000 for smaller communities.
Money could go to a variety of projects, and could include converting heating of some civic facilities to electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for example, or “It could be a community that wants to create climate resiliency against extreme heat or against flooding.”
The money could also be used for planning studies or to hire staff to administer the projects, said Heyman.
He pointed to the City of North Vancouver’s Complete Street project, which will add bike lanes and provide trees for shade on Esplanade as an example of the type of project local municipalities are working on.
On the North Shore, the funding will include $301,000 annually for the District of North Vancouver, $236,000 annually for the City of North Vancouver and $204,000 annually for the District of West Vancouver.
Local governments will receive the funding at the end of the summer, according to the province.
Local governments will also be required to show how the projects support climate change preparedness or adaption, must sign on to the BC Climate Action Charter and demonstrate matching funding or in-kind contributions equal to 20 per cent of provincial funding.
Heyman was also asked at the announcement Monday morning how the province intends to help drivers in the Lower Mainland who are currently experiencing record high gas prices and pain at the pump.
Heyman said the government is “acutely aware” of the impact of high fuel prices and inflation in general on affordability. “We’re actively exploring a number of ways that we can alleviate this tremendous economic pressure,” he said.
“The issue of oil prices is one that is not a simple fix,” he said.
Stefan Labbe, Glacier Media – May 16, 2022 / 4:47 pm | Story: 369162
Photo: Canada Post live feed
Canada Post chair Suromitra Sanatani reveals five stamps depicting endangered whales in Canada, May 16, 2022
Canada Post has launched a series of stamps emblazoned with the likeness of five endangered whale species in a bid to bring attention to the multiple threats facing the cetaceans.
Revealed at the University of British Columbia’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum Monday morning, the stamps feature artwork by David Miller depicting underwater scenes of beluga, blue, North Atlantic right, northern bottlenose and killer whale species.
In a video screened at the unveiling of the stamps, Hal Whitehead — a biologist at Dalhousie University and co-chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Marine Mammals Specialist Subcommittee — drove home the importance of recognizing the whales as endangered.
“Partly, because that recognition can lead to legal protection. It can also lead people and organizations to act voluntarily to stop doing things that would harm the whales,” said Whitehead. “And thirdly, it raises the awareness that we have a problem here.”
“We need to do something about it.”
Canadian waters are home to over 30 species of whales. But the combined effect of vessel strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, pollution, overfishing, climate change and underwater acoustic disturbances from human activity are leading some to struggle for survival.
“Contaminants that come from human origin are extraordinarily problematic,” said Jackie Hildering of the Port McNeil-based Marine Education and Research Society.
Take B.C.’s southern resident killer whale population, which has languished for five decades ever since 45 members of the whale clan were killed or abducted as a spectacle for marine parks more than 50 years ago.
Today, where to begin the story of what’s killing the whales is not easy, though many scientists start with food.
Chinook salmon are already dwindling in the face of habitat destruction, overfishing, disease, and global warming effects on the sea. A suffering prey population means there are already fewer fish for whales to hunt.
Add noise from shipping traffic, which can effectively blind killer whales by interfering with their ability to echolocate prey and a whale’s prospect of getting enough fish to survive sinks.
Without enough fish, the whale begins to starve. And when a whale starves, it burns through its fat reserves — the same place where pollution like the banned industrial chemical polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, accumulate.
Those toxins are mobilized when the fat burns, coursing through the whale and often dampening its immune system.
“It’s a very complex, multifactorial death by a thousand cuts, which makes it difficult to manage,” said research scientist Sheila Thornton, who leads the marine mammal conservation physiology program at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
With the release of the stamps, Canada Post has signalled it wants to be part of the solution.
“We understand the scale of our environmental footprint,” said Canada Post chair Suromitra Sanatani, pointing to the postal service’s upcoming environmental plan expected to be released in the coming weeks.
With nearly 70,000 employees, Canada Post operates thousands of vehicles, many of which it’s working to transition into zero-emission models over the coming years.
The postal service, which saw a $490 million before tax loss in 2021, aims to operate on net-zero emissions by 2050 — the point where scientists say the world needs to become carbon neutral to stave off the most devastating effects of climate change.
This year alone, researchers have warned ocean heatwaves like ‘the Blob’ could threaten the carbon-sucking power of the Pacific Ocean and wipe out half of the Pacific’s wild salmon catch by 2050 — with obvious knock-on effects for the cetaceans that rely on those fish.
And in a study released Thursday in the journal Science, researchers found that if the planet continued on its current fossil fuel emissions trajectory, mass extinction events could ripple across the world’s oceans by 2300.
As sea creatures face their ecological limits, such mass die-offs would spiral into a “Great Dying” equivalent to the end-Permian extinction — a period 250 million years ago when over two-thirds of the planet’s marine species were snuffed out, found two scientists from Princeton University and the University of Washington in Seattle.
However, reversing greenhouse gas emissions trends would lower extinction risks by more than 70 per cent, “preserving marine biodiversity accumulated over the past [approximately] 50 million years of evolutionary history,” found researchers Justin Penn and Curtis Deutsch.
For Whitehead, hope for endangered whales in Canada also lies in taking lessons from the species humanity has already pulled back from the brink of extinction.
“There are other species which have responded to the things that we’ve done and are thriving,” he said. “We should take pride in that and use that as a template to go on.”
Or, as Hildering put it, pointing to the resurgence of humpback whales on B.C.’s coast: “There are good news stories, there really really are.”
Brendan Kergin, VIA – May 16, 2022 / 2:39 pm | Story: 369146
Photo: Brendan Kergin / Vancouver Is Awesome
It’s expected to get stormy Tuesday in Vancouver.
Environment Canada is warning Metro Vancouver residents to prepare for a spring storm.
In a special weather statement for the region, the federal agency warns that “strong, gusty winds” will arrive. In some areas storm activity will start Tuesday night, while it will hit Vancouver Wednesday.
“An unseasonably strong low pressure system will make landfall on Vancouver Island Tuesday night bringing strong southeasterly winds and heavy precipitation to much of the south coast,” states Environment Canada.
Who will feel the brunt of the storm hasn’t been determined yet.
“There is some uncertainty in the exact track of the low pressure centre. This will impact which communities see the strongest winds,” states Environment Canada, noting they’ll continue to update their warnings as more data is collected.
While it’s uncertain where the winds will hit, the rainiest weather will likely miss Vancouver as higher terrain areas along the Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound and the North Shore Mountains are being warned about clouds dropping up to 70 mm of precipitation during the storm.
Depending on the elevation, that might mean snow, thanks to the storm bringing cold temperatures as well.
“The storm will be accompanied by freezing levels of 1100 to 1500 m which means precipitation will fall as heavy snow in the mountains,” states Environment Canada.
Similar statements have been issued across Vancouver Island and all south coast regions.
Alan Campbell, Richmond News – May 16, 2022 / 2:04 pm | Story: 369141
Photo: Contributed
A serial rapist from Richmond has lost his appeal against his indefinite prison sentence.
Novid Dadmand, now 36, was given the term four years ago when he was found guilty of sexually assaulting five women after posing as a modelling agent.
During his trial, the court heard how Dadmand – described by a judge as “predatory and remorseless” – manipulated, intoxicated and/or drugged the women leading up to his crimes, which started in 2012.
Two of the victims were unconscious when he had intercourse with them — attacks that he taped on video and recordings of which were subsequently seized by police.
Four more victims came to light at appeal hearing
Indeed, when Dadmand appealed his convictions and dangerous offender designation last year, it came to light that he had inflicted sexual assaults on four more female victims.
Nonetheless, he took his case against his indefinite sentence to the BC Court of Appeal in April of this year, citing “errors” with the judge’s decision.
Dadmand’s lawyer claimed that the judge “failed to consider all relevant principles of sentencing” and failed to consider that Dadmand’s risk of “re-offending may reduce with age.”
However, in a ruling published on Monday, the appeal court judges dismissed the appeal, stating that Dadmand’s legal team had not “established errors of law or unreasonable findings of fact.”
Rapist Dadmand “can’t control” his sexual impulses
The original sentencing judge had noted that Dadmand had shown “repeated failures to control his sexual impulses” and that there was a “likelihood of causing injury, pain or other evil, including psychological harm, to other persons through a failure in the future to control his sexual impulses.”
He added that Dadmand “constitutes a threat to the life, safety, physical or mental well-being of other persons” and that an indeterminate jail sentence was the only way to “adequately protect the public.”
The trial six years ago heard how Dadmand was born in Italy and immigrated to Richmond as a child.
He graduated high school in 2002 and received a criminology degree at Simon Fraser University in 2010.
In the midst of his known crimes, which began in 2012, he was pursuing an education degree.
He reported to court he was a poor retail employee, bouncing from job to job. The News understands at one time he lived on No. 2 Road and once worked at the nearby Rogers Video.
Dadmand claimed his victims consented to sex
During his 2016 trial, Dadmand’s counsel claimed several of the victims understood the nature of the sexual activities as being part of the auditions, which included the possibility of pornographic work.
They argued that while the accused’s actions may have been immoral, they were not illegal because the victims consented.
The trial heard how Dadmand persuaded one of his victims to do an audition and picked her up at the Richmond-Brighouse Canada Line station and drove her to his home, saying his studio was not available. At the home and during the course of an “audition,” he touched her sexually.
Allie Turner, Glacier Media – May 16, 2022 / 1:57 pm | Story: 369138
Photo: BC SPCA
59 cats ranging in age from a few days old to seven years were rescued.
Fifty-nine cats and kittens and one injured ewe were rescued from a property in the Cloverdale area of Surrey last Friday, May 13 by the BC SPCA.
The animals were taken into care when it became apparent that they had been left abandoned in “extremely unsanitary conditions.”
According to Eileen Drever, senior officer for protection and stakeholder relations for the BC SPCA, there were “large amounts of feces piled throughout the house and smeared on multiple surfaces, urine-soiled carpets and furniture, piles of garbage, flies and mounds of hoarded items.” So much so that it was challenging for animal protection officers to even navigate the home.
Drever adds that the cats were left alone inside the home with huge amounts of garbage and debris but no food or water to be seen.
When officers arrived the cats, who range in age from a few days old to approximately seven years, were excessively thirsty and “immediately crowded around the bowls of water and food” the officers put down.
The cats are domestic shorthairs and were triaged and assessed at the SPCA facilities in Surrey and Chilliwack where it was revealed that they “are suffering from a number of medical issues, including upper respiratory infection, bloody diarrhea, limping, dehydration and emaciation,” says Drever. The cats will receive ongoing care until they are well enough to be put up for adoption.
The injured ewe that was rescued from the property was found in the backyard surrounded by overturned furniture and garbage such as broken glass and wires.
Rescuing such a large number of animals at once has put a tremendous strain on the resources of the BC SPCA according to a recent press release and they are asking for the public to help their already busy shelters by donating if they can to help these 60 animals.
The Canadian Press – May 16, 2022 / 12:43 pm | Story: 369133
Photo: CTV News
Vancouver police say they believe speed was a factor in a four-car collision that killed one person and sent two others to hospital on Monday.
Police say in a news release that a Toyota Corolla had topped the speed limit when it crossed into oncoming traffic on Granville Street at West 46th Avenue.
They say the vehicle side-swiped a taxi, struck a Porsche, and went airborne over a truck before landing on top of a Hyundai Elantra and coming to rest on the pavement.
Police say the driver of the Corolla was trapped in the vehicle and died at the scene.
They say the drivers of the Porsche and Hyundai were taken to hospital with injuries, but no one in the taxi, which was carrying a passenger, was injured.
The crash closed traffic on Granville Street near the south end of the city for several hours Monday.
Brendan Kergin, Vancouver is Awesome – May 16, 2022 / 11:42 am | Story: 369123
Photo: Brendan Kergin
Man faces multiple sex assault charges after allegedly groping strangers in downtown Vancouver
Police are commending two women who were allegedly groped by the same man for their quick thinking this weekend.
Both were assaulted within minutes of each other on Saturday, May 14, according to police, while in the city’s core.
“A 29-year-old woman was standing outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, near Howe Street and West Georgia, when she was groped by a man she did not know,” say police. “Minutes later, a 24-year-old woman was walking near West Georgia and Thurlow Street when she was also sexually assaulted.”
A witness saw the second incident, called police, and followed the suspected groper, the VPD explains. On top of that, the two victims both called the police to report the assaults and gave detailed information.
“Their quick thinking, and help from an alert witness, helped VPD officers track the suspect and quickly take him into custody,” says Sgt. Steve Addison in the release.
Tyler Delorme, 23, was arrested shortly after on Robson Street and charged with two counts of sexual assault.
Nelson Bennett, Glacier Media – May 16, 2022 / 10:26 am | Story: 369111
Photo: pixabay
B.C. professional hunting guides and outfitters are in court today to challenge a provincial ban on grizzly bear hunting that they say was purely political and not based on sound wildlife conservation science.
B.C. hunting guides and outfitters, led by Ron Fleming and his wife, Brenda Nelson, of Love Bros. & Lee are seeking certification of a class action lawsuit against the government, arguing the ban has caused them undue financial harm and was not warranted by conservation concerns.
In their petition to the BC Supreme Court, they argue that the decision to outlaw the grizzly bear hunt in B.C. has been devastating to the more than 100 guide outfitters in B.C. that relied on grizzly bear hunting as part of their business.
“The opportunity for that hunt was extremely important to Ron and Brenda’s business, even though many of their clients did not actually harvest a grizzly bear,” their petition to the court states.
The B.C. government used guide outfitters to help manage B.C.’s grizzly populations, based on wildlife conservation plans which, up until 2017, had not identified any need for a ban on grizzly bear hunting, they argue.
“That all changed abruptly in 2017 when the minister responsible for the Wildlife Act – without notice and for reasons that were completely unconnected to the responsible management of wildlife – suddenly banned grizzly hunting across all of B.C. and cancelled notional quota allocations,” the petition says. “This sudden change was devastating for Ron and Brenda Fleming. And it was devastating to the 118 other guide outfitters (and) small business owners … who also relied on the grizzly bear hunt for some or all of their livelihood.
“With the stroke of a pen, using statutory powers for an improper purpose and contrary to law, the minister banned them from doing what they had lawfully been doing for years. It pulled the rug out from under them because of purely political purposes that were not consistent with the purposes of the Wildlife Act, and were an abuse of the authority that act conferred.”
In B.C., non-resident hunters are required to hire a certified hunting guide, who receive quotas to hunt a variety of species within a region for five years. Fleming testifies each grizzly bear hunt was worth US$12,500, with an added fee if the customer was successful in killing a grizzly bear.
“Mr. Fleming deposes that he has suffered a financial loss as a result of the grizzly bear hunting ban and that he is aware of other guide outfitters who are similarly situated and have also suffered a financial loss.”
The lawsuit argues that the government’s wildlife conservation plan up to 2017 did not include any plans to eliminate grizzly bear quotas. When Fleming asked for an explanation, he says got no answer from the ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD) and after filing a freedom of information request, the response he got was heavily redacted.
The lawsuit further claims that Tim Sheldan, former deputy minister for FLNRORD confirmed “that at the time of the grizzly hunting ban the province’s grizzly bear population was generally healthy and stable.”
The Canadian Press – May 16, 2022 / 6:08 am | Story: 369085
Photo: The Canadian Press
Emerson and Amelia Nelson are seen in a handout photo.
British Columbia is set to launch one-stop support centres for children with issues like ADHD, autism and Down syndrome, but parents say promises of a no-wait system that won’t require assessments or a diagnosis seem unrealistic due to a shortage of health-care professionals.
The plan is to open 40 so-called family connections centres, or hubs, across the province.
Four are slated to provide services under a pilot program from next year — three in northwestern B.C., and another in the central Okanagan.
The province has given community agencies until July to tender for initial implementation of the program, and contracts are expected to be awarded in the fall. More proposals will be sought for the remaining centres that are to begin operating by 2024 to support neurodiverse kids and youth up to age 19.
Families of autistic children will then no longer get the current funding of up to $22,000 a year until age six, and $6,000 annually to age 18. Instead, they will be provided services through the new system.
Julia Boyle, executive director of Autism BC, said the province has not provided information about staffing and protocols for the “complex transition” to a new system that could have parents of thousands of neurodiverse kids “knocking on the doors of these hubs.”
There is not enough time for consultations with advocacy groups before the pilot program starts, and to fully shift from individualized funding for autistic kids to the new hubs is another major change in two years, Boyle said.
“It makes more and more sense to have a phased rollout,” she said. “That’s ultimately what I’m pushing for.”
Government “spin” over autism funding has created divisions about inequity because many parents of children with other needs have been paying out of pocket, Boyle said. That has led some to accuse the autism community of being “selfish,” she said.
“It’s on the government to come up with solutions,” Boyle said, suggesting funding could have been provided more equitably to all families in need, instead of being taken away from those who had fought to get it.
The first four hubs will be in Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, and Kelowna. But it’s unlikely many parents of autistic kids in those communitieswould choose to immediately give up funding and switch to the hubs, Boyle said, since participation in the pilot program will be optional.
That could hinder evaluation of the hubs before the program is launched provincewide, she said.
Mitzi Dean, minister of children and family development, said her ministry will be “observing where families are able to make that transition and what it is that’s working for that transition.”
Dean said the goal of the new system is to give families access to a team of service providers from speech and occupational therapists to behavioural interventionists and replace a patchwork of programs that are “not working for far too many families.”
“Each family will have a primary member of a team that they will connect with, and they’ll work together to design the circle of care to wrap around their children and youth with support needs,” she said.
Dean did not directly respond to a question on whether psychologists and psychiatrists would be part of these teams but said mental health support and professionals will be available without a referral.
Parents can access the centres when they start noticing their child is not meeting certain milestones, she said.
“The problem at the moment is that services are locked behind a diagnosis,” she said. “And that limits access to services at the time that a parent or family might recognize that there might be a need or an issue. Then that causes that bottleneck as well. Then, even depending on what diagnosis you get, you still might not get services, or you become a case manager for your own child.”
Dean said parents are “exhausted” trying to find and co-ordinate support on their own and will no longer need to make that effort under the new system, which aims to provide disability and support services to about 28 per cent more children earlier in their development.
As for staffing, she said the province is working with service providers to bring multidisciplinary teams together.
“By building a system and having local community agencies be able to employ a range of health professionals and also subcontract with other people who are able to provide services in the community, that’s how we’re going to be able to deliver this system and work in partnership with community agencies.”
Candice Murray, a registered psychologist and clinical instructor at the University of British Columbia, questioned how a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is her specialty, would get help at a hub without having had an assessment, which can be time consuming and complicated.
Behaviour, medication, sleep and eating patterns, parenting and triggers are among the many factors that must be considered during an assessment, said Murray, former head of the ADHD clinic at BC Children’s Hospital. Most effective intervention strategies were based on such an assessment, she said.
“Who’s going to be working in the hubs? The child and youth mental health teams don’t take kids with ADHD,” Murray said of the service currently provided by the Children’s Ministry.
“I don’t know if they would be involved in hubs but they don’t have any experience or training, so that’s another concern I have. Where are all these people going to come from, and who’s going to train them?”
ADHD is not officially recognized as a disability, so children often do not get the support they need at school, even after their parents have spent thousands of dollars on assessments through the private system, she said.
“I worry that this is a watered-down version of an appropriate assessment,” she said of the hubs.
Children with ADHD who don’t get help can end up with disruptive behavioural problems, Murray said. Some later suffer silently until depression and anxiety set in, so their needs should be adequately met in the new system, she added.
Jaymie Nelson, whose two children, Emerson, 12, and eight-year-old Amelia, both have ADHD, said it’s hard to believe there won’t be any wait lists at the hubs “because there are wait lists for everything, even paying privately there’s a wait list.”
Nelson said her children have a rapport with their occupational therapist and speech-language pathologist, and she worries about losing access to these professionals under the hub system.
She attended a town hall last fall after the government announced the hubs and said she felt hopeful that children and youth with ADHD could finally get some support, which isn’t provided at most schools because many teachers are not trained in basic knowledge about the condition.
“It was not clear on details,” she said. “There was really nothing ironed out. Initially, it was like, hey guys, this is awesome. But really it is not. There are so many concerns.”
The Canadian Press – May 16, 2022 / 5:50 am | Story: 369080
Photo: CTV News
A swearing-in ceremony is set for this afternoon in Victoria as B.C.’s new Liberal leader enters the legislature as Leader of the Opposition.
Kevin Falcon won the party leadership in February and followed that on April 30 with a byelection victory in the Liberal stronghold of Vancouver-Quilchena.
The 59-year-old will be sworn in and sign his oath of office in a brief ceremony at 12:45 p.m. in the legislature’s Hall of Honour, followed by a welcome to the legislative assembly at 1:30 p.m.
Falcon replaces former leader Andrew Wilkinson, who resigned his seat earlier this year after stepping down in 2021 following the party’s loss to the New Democrats in the last provincial election.
Falcon’s return to the house comes a decade after he quit as finance minister in former premier Christy Clark’s Liberal government after finishing second to her in the party’s 2011 leadership race.
Soon after his byelection win, Falcon said high gas and housing prices, as well as a lack of access to family doctors, would be key issues for his party this session and he says he’s ready to look NDP government leaders “straight in their eyes and ask tough questions.”
Photo: BC SPCA
Looking for some big love in a small body?
From May 16 to 31, BC SPCA shelters across the province are holding a ‘pay-as-you-can’ adoption event for all small animals, birds and reptiles.
The “Little Creatures, Big Hearts” promotion is being presented to highlight some of the animals who may get overlooked by potential adopters.
“Some people visit their local SPCA looking for a dog or cat, but best friends come in all shapes and sizes, and we have so many interesting and wonderful animals looking for loving homes,” says Lorie Chortyk, general manager of communications for the BC SPCA.
“During our May small-animal promotion, we will be featuring rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, birds, gerbils, mice and rats and reptiles.”
Chortyk says small animals can create strong bonds with their guardians, but it is important that adopters understand their specific care and welfare needs.
“We have many resources on our BC SPCA website to help guardians understand how to help their pint-sized pets live their best life, and our staff and volunteers are always happy to help with information and advice.”
Chortyk notes that cats, dogs, kittens, puppies, horses and other farm animals are not part of the May “pay-as-you-can” promotion.
“We certainly do have other types of animals available for adoption but for this special promotion we are giving our little ones a chance to shine.”
If you are interested in adopting a new best friend, visit spca.bc.ca/adopt.
View animals currently looking for their forever homes and follow the online instructions for the adoption process.
Neil Godbout, PG Citizen – May 15, 2022 / 3:15 pm | Story: 369064
Photo: Prince George Citizen
File photo
The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia is looking into an incident on Saturday night in Prince George in which one youth was injured.
On May 14 at approximately 10 p.m., Prince George RCMP officers were conducting patrols at Exhibition Park where there is a fair going on when they were flagged down by security staff, reporting that a youth male had allegedly been involved in a fight. An officer approached the youth in connection with the assault investigation and indicated he was being detained.
The youth fled on foot and was struck by a vehicle traveling southbound on Ospika Boulevard. He was transported to hospital with serious injuries.
The Prince George RCMP is conducting a concurrent investigation for the initial allegation of assault.
The IIO will be investigating the incident in an effort to determine whether injuries sustained were as a result of police actions. As the matter is now under investigation by the IIO BC, no further information will be released by police.
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