Charges Stayed Against Jamie Bacon In 'Surrey Six' Murders

VANCOUVER -- A trial stemming from the murders of six people in British Columbia has fallen apart after a judge stayed charges against a man Friday, referencing misplaced evidence, the testimony of a confidential informant and the fair trial rights of the accused in her decision.

Jamie Bacon was accused of the first-degree murder of 21-year-old Corey Lal, one of six people murdered in a highrise apartment in October 2007 in Surrey, B.C.

The B.C. Supreme Court released its ruling Friday in an application for a stay filed by Bacon's lawyers in the so-called Surrey Six case.

bit.ly/2F9CTzg via @CTVVancouver

How B.C.’S Ill-Equipped System Spawned The Longest Child Welfare Fight In Canada’s History

In the final part of a CKNW special investigation, reporter Charmaine de Silva uncovers how this case highlights why our system is ill-equipped to deal with families at their breaking point.

‘The longest child welfare, civil litigation, family custody fight in the history of Canada’
“If you want to see in one big picture, in one case, all the failures, all the flaws of the system, chronologically almost, you go to this case.”

That was how Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s former children’s watchdog, summed up the case of J.P., her ex-husband B.G., and their four kids. The parents’ names cannot be revealed due to a publication ban.

Turpel-Lafond called their case the “longest child welfare, civil litigation, family custody fight in the history of Canada.”

bit.ly/2C5T2CN via @globalnews

A B.C. Dad Who Couldn’t Afford A Lawyer Or Get Legal Aid Lost Access To His Kids

The B.C. Court of Appeal found that a Supreme Court judge’s decision was influenced by a fraudulent expert witness, despite the fact that she lacked credentials and never actually interviewed the father or the children.

The result? Kids who have been separated from their father for five years.

READ PART 1: How ‘flawed’ B.C. court rulings tore 4 kids away from their dad for 5 years and counting

READ PART 2: The B.C. judge who ‘ignored evidence,’ ‘erred in law’ and put a ministry under fire

READ PART 3: The family lawyer whose zealous advocacy missed ‘obvious red flags’ and helped an unfair trial proceed

bit.ly/2TC13Xj via @globalnews

The Family Lawyer Whose Zealous Advocacy Missed ‘Obvious Red Flags’ And Helped An Unfair Trial Proceed

From the time of the ancient Greeks up to now, the legal tradition has relied on the concept of an advocate to represent the accused.

The rules have changed with time but one idea has remained: a lawyer’s responsibility is to fight tooth and nail for their client.

But what responsibilities do lawyers have to the court system? And does winning at any cost serve children at the centre of family disputes?

READ MORE: B.C. government says judge ignored evidence

READ PART 1: How ‘flawed’ B.C. court rulings tore 4 kids away from their dad for 5 years and counting

READ PART 2: The B.C. judge who ‘ignored evidence,’ ‘erred in law’ and put a ministry under fire

bit.ly/2VaWF2Y via @globalnews

The BC Judge Who ‘Ignored Evidence,’ ‘Erred In Law’ And Put A Ministry Under Fire – BC

The stunning reversal of a shocking B.C. Supreme Court decision is raising questions about a judge’s ability to do his job.

In August, the B.C. Court of Appeal threw out lower court decision from Justice Paul Walker that found a father had sexually abused his kids, and that the children’s ministry allowed it to happen.

The mother, J.P., and father, B.G., in the case cannot be named due to a publication ban.
READ PART 1: How ‘flawed’ B.C. court rulings tore 4 kids away from their dad for 5 years and counting

bit.ly/2LRfZxR via @globalnews

How ‘Flawed’ B.C. Court Rulings Tore 4 Kids Away From Their Dad For 5 Years And Counting

In August, B.C.’s highest court delivered a stunning reversal of a lower court decision that found the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) allowed a father to sexually abuse his kids.

The court found one judge, presiding over two separate but connected cases, relied on the evidence of a fraudulent expert to not only tear four children away from their father, but to malign the reputations of psychologists, social workers, and the children’s ministry itself.

From the moment B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Walker delivered his July 2015 blow to MCFD, the story of J.P., her ex-husband B.G. (whose full names cannot be revealed because of a publication ban) and their four children has gripped people’s attention across the province.

bit.ly/2Fb2FmA via @globalnews

Prostitution Expert Doesn’t Like What She Sees In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

From the Downtown Eastside to the Whalley strip to various “backpage” websites, women continue to sell sex. Whether they should be selling sex has been a long-standing debate that continues to rage today.

Organizations like the Pivot Legal Society argue this is a job like any other, and that the women deserve laws that make their work safer.

Advocacy groups like Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter argue the industry abuses human rights and should be stopped. The country’s current prostitution laws are tricky to understand, and don’t make either side happy. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country’s prostitution laws, in a case led by former dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, a ruling that was celebrated by groups like Pivot.

bit.ly/2AuewsS via @VancouverSun

City Of Vancouver Homeless Count Surpasses 2,000 For First Time And 39 Percent Are Indigenous

The number of homeless people in the City of Vancouver has for the first time passed 2,000.

According to a staff presentation received by council today (October 4), in 2017, there are 1,601 people sleeping in shelters and 537 out on the street.

The total number of 2,138 homeless people living in Vancouver is up from 1,847 counted in 2016, 1,746 the year before that, and way up from 1,576 counted nine years ago, in 2008.

The figure for 2017 was determined via a city-wide count conducted on March 8. It’s likely lower than the actual number as it’s assumed some people sleeping on the streets, in their cars, and other places, were missed by the city employees and volunteers who conducted the tally.

The presentation includes information on characteristics of the homeless that are not surprising but still shocking.

bit.ly/2sOcwr3 via @georgiastraight

Week In History 1867 Gassy Jack Deighton Moves To Future Vancouver

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago today, John Deighton arrived on the south shore of Burrard Inlet in a dugout canoe. Within 24 hours he had set up a makeshift bar and was selling booze to workers from nearby Stamp’s Mill.

Deighton named his establishment the Globe Saloon, after a bar he had owned in New Westminster. He was a big talker, hence his nickname, Gassy Jack.

“He was a Yorkshireman, fat, florid and full of fun,” said a July 12, 1927, story in The Province. “Withal he was a past master of the art of invective, and had a ready wit and a flair for inventing nicknames.”

A tiny settlement quickly sprang up around his saloon, a squatter’s shack that was just outside the Stamp’s Mill timber lease. (Stamp’s Mill became Hastings Mill.) In 1870 the colonial government dubbed it Granville, after Britain’s secretary of state for the colonies. But many people continued to call the fledgling metropolis Gassy’s Town, or Gastown, after Gassy Jack.

bit.ly/2RnZuPj via @VancouverSun

Former B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake To Join Growing Marijuana Company

B.C.’s former health minister, Terry Lake, is moving to the Ottawa area this weekend to become a vice-president of a “luxury” medical marijuana company that is poised for massive growth.

Hydropothecary Corp. is a Health Canada authorized producer of medical marijuana with a 26-hectare facility in Gatineau, Que., that is about to get six times larger. The company was co-founded in 2013 by a stalwart Liberal, Adam Miron, who also helped start ipolitics.ca, a news website is popular with those involved in or following provincial and federal politics.

Miron met Lake in the early 2000’s when he attended Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops where Lake lived. Miron helped Lake with his successful mayoral campaign in 2005.

Lake said in an interview that he’s kept in touch with Miron over the years.

Miron was national director of Young Liberals of Canada from 2007 to 2009 and a provincial coordinator for the B.C. Liberals in 2007.

bit.ly/2S4ctqn via @VancouverSun

Portland Hotel Society, Vancouver Police Investigating PHS Staff Member

The Portland Hotel Society says the Vancouver Police are investigating a staff member after $15,000 was allegedly taken from the bank account of one of its vulnerable residents.

In an exclusive interview, PHS Community Services Society Executive Director Jennifer Breakspear says she first learned of the allegation in early May.

“It was brought to light by another employee who was caring for this client,” she said. “The client themselves has cognitive deficits, and isn’t always wholly aware of situations in regards to his financial situation.”

bit.ly/2Q2CvV3 via @globalnews

Vancouver Police, Portland Hotel Society Investigate Internal Fraud Complaint

Vancouver police and PHS Community Services Society are investigating an alleged incident of fraud involving a PHS client.

“PHS is conducting an internal investigation of the incident, and the VPD is also conducting its own investigation,” PHS executive director Jennifer Breakspear told Postmedia News on Tuesday.

“We are co-operating fully with the VPD, and have provided them with evidence as requested. We are working closely with police to ensure the investigations are done properly, and concluded as expeditiously as possible,” said Breakspear.

“I am not at liberty to comment further on the specifics of this alleged incident until all investigations are concluded. However, we want to emphasize that there is nothing more important to PHS than the safety and security of the people we serve. Nothing is more important to us.”

Global B.C. is reporting that a PHS staff member allegedly took $15,000 from the bank account of a vulnerable member.

bit.ly/2FJSR4f via @globalnews

This Week In History 1907 The Asiatic Exclusion League Is Formed

Anti-Asian hysteria was rampant on the west coast of North America in the early 1900s.

In San Francisco, whites formed the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League in 1905. Two years later, a Canadian version appeared in Vancouver, the Asiatic Exclusion League.

bit.ly/2QN8HRz via @VancouverSun

Christy Clark To Walk-Away With Hefty Pension Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Following Christy Clark’s resignation as leader of the BC Liberals and as MLA of her Kelowna-West riding, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is warning British Columbians about the cost of Clark’s departure.

“She will be collecting about $100,000 dollars a year initially, and that will be indexed to inflation. Totalling we think about a grand total of $1.7 million by age 80,” said Scott Hennig.

READ MORE: Christy Clark to resign as leader of BC Liberal party next week

He said the new government should revise MLA pension plans introduced 10 years ago by the BC Liberals.

“I think it would be a great idea for the new NDP-Green coalition government here to review these MLA pensions, bring them back in line with what’s sort of the expectation now in the private sector. And certainly also at the very least have a look at reining them back into the level that even just government employees are getting.”

bit.ly/2FkxnK5 via @globalnews

Vancouver Activists Remember Tracey Morrison As A Woman Who Refused To Accept The Status Quo

The Downtown Eastside is in mourning after Tracey Morrison passed away on Friday (July 15).

The Ojibwe woman was president of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS) and an active member of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). Since 2012, she was also increasingly involved in housing issues. She represented WAHRS on a city planning committee and, especially in recent years, became a vocal advocate for tenants’ rights for residents living in the Downtown Eastside’s shabby SRO hotels.

Jean Swanson, a friend of Morrison’s and a 2016 recipient of the Order of Canada, told the Straight that Morrison positioned her very existence as a challenge to prejudices and inequalities that remain inherent in society and the status quo.

“She always introduced herself by saying, ‘I am an Indigenous woman and I am poor and I am a drug user’,” Swanson told the Straight. “Right there, she listed four categories of discrimination. And often, governments don’t do what should be done to people because someone is a women or because they are Indigenous or because they are poor or because they are a user. They are considered undeserving. And Tracey was right there, with her brilliant, bright personality, saying, ‘Here I am. I am a living, wonderful human being, and you need to treat me right.’

“She really tackled the idea of governments treating people as lesser-than because of various issues,” Swanson continued.

“The lesson from her is, if we can stop discriminating against people, we will eliminate the rationale for government inequality.”

bit.ly/2trMavt via @georgiastraight

Vancouver Man Shares Possible Photo Of ‘The Lady In Red’, Local Ghost

The Lady in Red is one of Vancouver’s most famous ghosts. According to legend, she haunts the historic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver at 900 West Georgia St., built in 1939, walking the top floors in her elegant red gown, occasionally stopping at the window to stare wistfully out at the city.

Several people claim to have seen the apparition. According to Ghosts of Vancouver, a website that catalogues Metro Vancouver’s spookiest tales, “once, a Japanese family that checked into a room on the 14th floor called the front desk to ask whether their room had been double-booked. They described seeing the Lady in Red in the room, which had caused their confusion.”

Now a local elevator mechanic claims to have taken her picture. Vancouver’s Scott Graham says he was working on a top floor at the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia, just around the corner from the Fairmont, when he decided to take a cellphone photo of the historic hotel, where he also does work.

bit.ly/2GK8OHf via @VancouverSun ‏

NDP MLA Jenny Kwan Betrayed By Ex- Husband & Gives Emotional Press Conference

From 2014 - NDP MLA Jenny Kwan emotional press conference after discovering her then husband misappropriated PHS Community Services Society funds for family vacations. Jenny Kwan has taken out two lines of credit to repay $34,992.27 to the PHS Community Services Society.

bit.ly/2DLrLGs via @YouTube

Vancouver-Fraserview Heats Up As RCMP Continues Probe Into Indirect Political Contributions

NDP candidate George Chow has brought in party muscle from the north side of the city in a final campaign push to knock off a senior cabinet minister in South Vancouver.

Chow has been joined by Shane Simpson and Melanie Mark in Vancouver-Fraserview, which was held by Attorney General Suzanne Anton prior to the dissolution of the legislature.

Simpson and Mark are seeking reelection in the safe NDP seats of Vancouver-Hastings and Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, respectively.

bit.ly/2F7CIVN via @georgiastraight

W5 Opioid Fentanyl Street Crisis Documentary

A terrifying and in depth look at how Vancouver first responders, addicts, hospitals and a neighbourhood is coping with an epidemic of fentanyl and opioid abuse. Unprecedented close up look at a growing crisis gripping most cities.

bit.ly/2BcWKee via @YouTube, @CTVW5

BC Coroners Service Reportable Deaths Of Homeless Individuals, 2007 - 2015

This report summarizes deaths between 2007 and 2015 that were reported to the Coroners Service and where the deceased met the BC Coroners Service definition of homeless. Deaths that must be reported to the coroner include all non-natural deaths, and all sudden and unexpected deaths where the person was not under the care of a physician. The report does not include the deaths of homeless individuals that did not meet the legal criteria of the Coroners Act for reporting.

bit.ly/2QO9IJ3 via @bccoroners

Accused Criminals Go Free Due To Shortages Of Sheriffs, Court Staff

In the latest twist on chronic court staff shortages, B.C.'s justice minister has revealed charges in seven criminal cases had to be stayed last year because of unacceptable delays.

Suzanne Anton made the confession in the B.C Legislature during question period Monday, after being grilled by the NDP opposition about another criminal charge that had to be thrown out in Victoria on Friday.

In that case, Justice Robert Johnston entered a stay of proceedings against accused drug dealer Richard D'Allesandro, citing a shortage of sheriffs and blaming "a lack of provincial will to provide necessary resources."

bit.ly/2GFRFQy via @CBCNews

Organ Transplants Surge In BC Because Of Fentanyl-Overdose Deaths

B.C.’s overdose epidemic, especially deaths involving fentanyl, is behind a significant increase in the number of organ transplant donors, according to a B.C. Transplant agency leader.

Experts started to see the trend six months ago when overdoses surged to record highs, said Dr. David Landsberg, provincial medical director of transplant services.

bit.ly/2VycMI5 via @VancouverSun

Prescription Heroin Program Ready To Rapidly Expand

The federal government overturned a ban on prescription heroin in September, but in a recent interview with CBC, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said provinces, including B.C., "have not used that opportunity to provide treatment to the people that need it."

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake told CBC's The Early Edition, "We don't have physicians that are capable at this point in time in numbers large enough to administer injectable, pharmaceutical grade heroin and finding those particular people that would be helped by that is not simple."

bit.ly/2GDgxZa via @CBCNews