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News, Opinion

Bob Mackin

They came bearing flowers of many colours as the rain kept falling.

Men, women and children. Old and young. Under umbrellas. Most wearing facemasks.

Lynn Valley Village, March 28, 2021 (Mackin)

The drops of water on their cheeks were not from the clouds above.

They walked by a window that displayed a Mavis Gallant quote: “A short story is what you see when you look out the window.”

The library was empty and dark. Nobody was looking out the windows. 

When all the facts are known about the most-horrific day ever in this middle class North Vancouver community, the story will not be short.

The flowers stretched across the gap between the North Vancouver District Library and the Brown’s Social House. Both closed on this dreary spring Sunday afternoon. There were signs on the exterior of the restaurant, seemingly made by children: “Love to Lynn Valley. Peace to Lynn Valley.”

A small card in a plastic bag, beside the flowers read: “You are my sunshine, thank-you,”

The restaurant and the library were both a haven of activity some 24 hours earlier, until something went horribly wrong.

Lynn Valley Village, March 28, 2021 (Mackin)

Violence and hate took over sometime after 1 p.m. on March 27. A woman in her 20s, dead of stab wounds. Another six seriously injured. Countless others in shock from what they saw unfold before their eyes. Nobody had seen so many ambulances in Lynn Valley before.

The names of the heroes will come in due course.

For now, the name of the man charged with second degree murder. Yannick Bandaogo, 28.

“[Bandaogo’s] background, history in BC and relationship to the victims, if any, is still being determined,” according to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

“Investigators, supported by the North Vancouver RCMP Investigative Services Team, are managing priority tasks, processing the scene, conducting witness statements and completing an extensive video canvass of the area.”

Before he was arrested, Bandaogo stabbed himself on Lynn Valley Road, in a crosswalk. Why did he stab others? Why did he stab himself? He underwent surgery.

He appears in a YouTube video from 2012 set in a Longeuil, Que. boxing gym called Techno Boxe. Little else is immediately known.

Lynn Valley Village, March 28, 2021 (Mackin)

IHIT spokesman Sgt. Frank Jang initially said he was known to police, but did not explain. Bandaogo does not appear to have a rap sheet in B.C.

Maybe that will be answered when officials give more details on March 29. Maybe it will have to wait until a trial.

Same goes for the motive. Why would anyone cause so much pain and fear?

A sandwich board from the previous day’s book sale doubles as a holder for the yellow police tape.

Only the Zazou hair salon was open for the day. That’s on the east side of the Lynn Valley Village complex. On the west side, beside a fenced compound of construction materials, a lone, potted flower yet to bloom, beneath a sign dampened by the rain. “For Emma, Speedy Recovery.”

Inside a heart it says “To the fallen, March 27, 2021.”

Lynn Valley Village, March 28, 2021 (Mackin)

Too many have fallen in Lynn Valley. In June 2018, a mother and child from an immigrant family died in an apartment fire, to the south of the mall.

A couple blocks to the west is the Lynn Valley Care Centre. The tragic site of the first death of the coronavirus pandemic in Canada in March 2020. There were a total of 20.

And now, March 27, 2021.

More than ever, Lynn Valley needs love and peace to heal the hurt.

If you were affected by the events of March 27 in Lynn Valley, North Shore Emergency Management is offering a drop-in resilience and wellness centre at the Karen Magnussen Community Recreation Centre, with counsellors on-duty 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Click here for more information.
Bob Mackin was a Lynn Valley resident from 2002 to 2014.

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Bob Mackin They came bearing flowers of many

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of March 28, 2021:

On this week’s edition of theBreaker.news Podcast:

Jim Mullin, president of Football Canada and host of Krown Gridiron Nation on TSN, checks in with the view from Bowen Island. Mullin discusses the state of Canadian football in early 2021, as the three down game seeks a way out of the pandemic.  

Plus, headlines from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest.

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn or Apple Podcasts.

Now on Spotify!

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

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For the week of March 28, 2021:

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The organizers of a March 28 rally billed as “Stop Asian Hate” announced on Facebook that Liberal cabinet minister Joyce Murray would be among the speakers.

Joyce Murray, the Trudeau Liberals’ minister of digital government (WeChat)

Murray has not responded to theBreaker.news about her participation in the protest at the Vancouver Art Gallery or the lead organizer, Asian Canadian Equity Alliance Association.

ACEA says it is holding the event to mourn the six Asian massage parlour workers gunned down March 16 in Atlanta and to oppose racism against Asian people. However, its group on China’s state-monitored WeChat app includes multiple messages supporting the mass-incarceration of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province. 

Vancouver Quadra MP Murray is the minister for digital government in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, which abstained en masse from a House of Commons vote critical of the Chinese Communist Party last month. Murray has previously taken positions on high profile international human rights issues, from apartheid to anti-semitism. 

The Conservative-tabled motion passed 266-0, with support from all parties, to declare China is committing genocide against Uighur Muslims and to call on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Games out of Beijing.

On March 21, Canada joined the United States and United Kingdom to sanction four CCP officials and a security agency, citing evidence from Chinese government documents, satellite imagery and eyewitness testimony. “China’s extensive program of repression includes severe restrictions on religious freedoms, the use of forced labour, mass detention in internment camps, forced sterilizations, and the concerted destruction of Uighur heritage,” read a joint statement.

Notice for March 28 rally in Vancouver, with ACEA/MLARA logos

If Murray attends, she will be publicly aligning herself with an ACEA ally that she disavowed in May 2020. Maple Leafs Anti-Racism Alliance (MLARA) used Murray’s WeChat group to raise funds for a class-action lawsuit against Global journalist Sam Cooper. MLARA claimed to be offended by Cooper’s story about the Chinese government’s international effort to hoard personal protective equipment, which led to scarcity at Canadian hospitals as the coronavirus pandemic hit. No lawsuit was filed.

The supporter, Maria Xu, is a Liberal donor who used her photograph with Trudeau as her avatar. Xu was eventually banned from Murray’s WeChat group after her fundraising solicitation gained national media attention, including a debate in Question Period.

MLARA incorporated May 14, 2020 with three directors: Royal Pacific Realty agents Morning Li Huimin and Jason Xie Sheng, and Ivan Ngai Pak, a former People’s Party of Canada candidate. Morning Li’s moving company was hired to deliver PPE to and from the Chinese consular mansion in Vancouver last spring.

ACEA registered June 29, 2020, the week after a University of B.C. Okanagan nursing student’s police brutality lawsuit against the RCMP went public. ACEA organized protests in support of Mona Wang, but has been relatively quiet until this week. The Association was registered at the Richmond address of Guo Law Corporation and one of its directors was listed as Hong Chen, the alternate name of lawyer Hong Guo.

The real estate and immigration lawyer finished fourth in the Richmond mayoralty election in 2018 on a platform to forge closer ties with China. In an interview with theBreaker.news during her campaign, Guo said China has not committed any human rights abuses and claimed media coverage about Uighur Muslim concentration camps in Xinjiang was false.

From the ACEA WeChat group (WeChat)

Guo is a former lawyer in the Chinese government’s state council and her website says she maintains a law office in Beijing. Last November, the Law Society of B.C. ruled that she committed professional misconduct over handling of clients’ funds. It is applying to revoke her licence to practice law in B.C. Guo has not responded for comment.

The Guo-established ACEA WeChat group has featured numerous messages this week echoing Chinese government statements supporting the internment of Uighurs. Messages were posted by users in both Canada and China. It also contains a link to a Zoom discussion among left-wing peace activists in Hamilton, Ont. and the Chinese consul general for Calgary aimed at refuting western media overage of Xinjiang.

An Australian think tank’s report published last year described how the Chinese government runs a campaign to meddle in western countries, promote CCP positions and stoke divisions within Chinese communities.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s report, The Party Speaks For You: Foreign Interference and the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front System, said the CCP exports its political system by reaching into foreign political parties, diaspora communities and multinational corporations.

Wrote researcher Alex Joske: “This undermines social cohesion, exacerbates racial tension, influences politics, harms media integrity, facilitates espionage, and increases unsupervised technology transfer.”

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Bob Mackin The organizers of a March 28

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The global container shipping industry was already making waves before the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal earlier this week.

Ever Given stuck (Suez Canal Authority)

The 400-metre, 2018-built behemoth that can hold 20,000 of the 20-foot equivalent containers was blown off-course by a sandstorm and ran aground. The Egyptian blockage affects more than 100 other ships and will result in delays at ports far from the Mediterranean Ocean and Red Sea.

Global supply chains were already facing a perfect storm of shipping container shortages, port congestion, labour shortages due to coronavirus infections and higher prices.

Los Angeles and Long Beach have seen as many as 40 container ships waiting to enter the port.

Ripple effects have extended up the west coast to Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma and Vancouver.

As of March 9, there were four container ships at anchor and four at berth in Vancouver. By March 24, there were six berthed at Global Container Terminals or Dubai Ports World docks and two at anchor.

“Vancouver gateway is performing a lot better than other ports up or down the coast,” said GCT’s vice-president of public affairs Marko Dekovic.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which is the combined Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, saw cargo volumes increase 9% in January. It reported 21 extra loader vessels by March 9 and extra traffic because of three new lines serving the port: CMA, Wan Hai and ZIM.

“While we are seeing these new lines call our gateway, we are also heavily impacted by the congestion along the west coast,” spokeswoman Melanie Stambaugh said. “The congestion is causing frequent disruptions in vessel schedules, making it difficult for both importers and exporters to plan their shipments. The lack of vessel schedule integrity is causing exporters to lose market opportunities as ocean carriers expedite their services back to Asia.”

Ever Summit at Vanterm (Transportation Safety Board of Canada)

The Panama-flagged Ever Given is part of the Taipei-headquartered Evergreen Transport fleet, which also includes the Ever Summit. The 2007-built, 300-metre Ever Summit crashed at GCT’s Vanterm more than a year ago.

The Ever Summit carries up to 7,024 containers. On Jan. 28, 2019 it had 3,462 containers stacked eight-high above deck when it struck a berth and shore gantry crane at GCT’s Vanterm. The vessel, berth and crane were damaged, but no injuries or pollution were reported according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

“The investigation determined that the Ever Summit struck the berth after the vessel made a close approach and that the pilot inadvertently gave the assisting tugs the opposite instructions from what was intended during the berthing manoeuvre,” said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation report.

The report found that container ships had been growing in size faster than berths. Over the last 10 years, vessel length had increased 25% at Vanterm.

“Container vessels around the world have increased in size over the last decade,” TSB said. “The growth rate has been primarily driven by liners in search of economies of scale. The dimensions of large vessels pose challenges during berthing.”

GCT is proposing to expand Berth 4 at its Deltaport on Roberts Bank, but is “experiencing significant challenges from our government agency landlord,” Dekovic said.

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Bob Mackin The global container shipping industry

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The Canadian government’s system to warn of a pandemic was not working as the coronavirus spread from Wuhan in late 2019 and it failed to improve information technology after 2003’s SARS epidemic and 2009’s H1N1 pandemic.

(Office of the Auditor General Canada)

Those are some of the conclusions of the Auditor General of Canada’s March 25 report on pandemic preparedness, surveillance and border control measures. The report was highly critical of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s planning and response to the nation’s biggest public health crisis in more than a century.

“Given that it is impossible to predict when a pandemic may occur or how severe the impact on Canadians will be, the Public Health Agency of Canada must be ready to respond to a pandemic at any time,” said the report.

The report found PHAC took some steps to develop plans and national guidance after H1N1, but, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency did not update all of the plans or complete a test exercise with provincial and territorial governments. A test exercise had been scheduled for 2020.

“A national advisory committee on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and public health officials found that during the 2003 SARS epidemic, an inappropriate information technology infrastructure had a negative impact on information flow and on the management of the outbreak,” the report said. “The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology also mentioned the importance of information technology infrastructure in its review after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.”

There were data-sharing agreement gaps between PHAC and partners, even after a 208 audit report on infectious disease surveillance. The 1997-established Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) was supposed to offer alerts and risk assessments. Instead, it offered only links to news articles for its 450 domestic and 520 international subscribers.

“We found that no alert from the GPHIN was issued to provide early warning of the virus. According to the agency’s criteria, an alert is to be issued for an unusual event that has the potential for serious impact or spread. However, no alert was issued when news of an unknown pneumonia was first reported, when the virus had spread outside of China, or when domestic cases were first suspected and confirmed.”

Dr. Theresa Tam (Government of Canada)

PHAC officials confirmed that other international sources had already shared news of the virus by the end of December 2019, but the auditor general noted that GPHIN issued an alert in May 2019 about an Ebola-like illness in Uganda, and an alert in August 2020,about a virus infection caused by tick bites in China.

The auditor found Canada Border Services Agency acted quickly to enforce emergency orders against foreign nationals entering the country, except those who were essential workers. But CBSA did not review whether officers were consistently applying exemptions for essential workers.

Enforcement of mandatory quarantine was limited during March 31-June 30, 2020. PHAC “did not always meet the targets it set to verify whether travellers subject to the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon entering Canada were following the quarantine orders.”

Because of limitations of public health information, the agency could not track new cases to see if they could be connected to travellers that ignored quarantine orders.

“Of the individuals considered to be at risk of non-compliance, the agency referred only 40% to law enforcement and did not know whether law enforcement actually contacted them. The agency had not contemplated or planned for mandatory quarantine on a nationwide scale and, as a result, had to increase capacity to verify compliance.”

The agency missed an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of quarantine measures in limiting the spread of the virus.

“From May 5 to June 30, we found that 60% of all travellers subject to mandatory quarantine received a follow-up call. We note that during this time, the agency increased the number of calls it made to travellers. Over the entire time period, only 58% of travellers showing possible symptoms of COVID-19 received a call, despite being a priority for follow-up.”

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Bob Mackin The Canadian government’s system to warn

Business, News

Bob Mackin

WorkSafeBC found driver error and mechanical problems to blame in the death of a Vancouver civic worker.

But it issued an administrative warning, rather than a fine.

(WorkSafeBC)

Worker Moreno Cerra, a 49-year-old who worked 17 years for City of Vancouver, died Sept. 28, 2019 on the Burnaby side of Boundary Road. He was with another worker when the 2002 Ford F-350 city truck towing a compressor trailer stalled before the crest of the hill on 2nd Avenue.

The driver, who was not named, had collided with a parked vehicle on one of the attempts to scale the hill, but failed to stop activity, preserve the collision scene and notify his supervisor immediately.

“Instead, the driver attempted to handle the situation prior to notifying his supervisor,” said the WorkSafeBC report, from June 2020. “Had the driver followed the procedures, the incident could not have occurred.”

The driver disconnected the trailer on a steep incline but did not secure it. The jack stand wheel moved away from the curb and rolled down hill uncontrolled.

“Without the resistance from the curb, the compressor was able to begin to roll down the hill with rapidly increasing speed and momentum. The driver became entangled with the compressor as It rolled down the hill.”

Video evidence and vehicle telematics indicated the wrong gears had been selected at numerous points throughout the incident.

Late City of Vancouver worker Moreno Cerra

WorkSafeBC found the city failed to ensure pre-use vehicle inspections. The brake pedal rubber foot pad was not installed, vinyl flooring on the driver’s side had buckled and the wrong kind of shifter knob had been installed.

Instead of the actual 6-speed shift pattern of the 2002 Ford F-350, the knob showed a typical 5-speed transmission shift pattern.

WorkSafeBC also found the city failed to address the driver’s documented history of “preventable metal on metal” collisions and poor driving assessments.

The driver had been involved in preventable incidents in November 2016 and 2017, March 2018 and February 2019. In a May 2018 assessment, the city deemed the driver not qualified. An assessor recommended further one-on-one training followed by a complete assessment.

“No records were provided by the City of Vancouver to demonstrate that the worker underwent additional training as recommended,” said the WorkSafeBC report.

The driver underwent another assessment in May 2019, after a late February 2019 incident, but WorkSafeBC found that the driver’s privileges should have been suspended.

“No records were found regarding a warning of suspension to the driver or of a suspension of driving privileges as per the City of Vancouver’s policy.”

Vancouver city hall at night (City of Vancouver)

A subsequent WorkSafeBC report from July 2020 found that City of Vancouver had complied with orders on inspection of manual transmission trucks, created a new training and tracking database and improved its safe driving policy.

Two weeks earlier, CUPE 1004 president Andrew Ledger said in a memo to members that “it was with great shock and sorrow that our union has learned WorkSafeBC determined the City of Vancouver ‘failed to take all reasonable measures to ensure the health and safety of its workers’.”

“As this tragedy has exposed systematic problems, CUPE 1004 will persist in demanding changes through labour management and occupational health and safety reps to continually improve oversight over city operations so that all employees are protected.”

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Bob Mackin WorkSafeBC found driver error and mechanical

Business, News

Bob Mackin

A luxury car dealership could be yours for the price of… a luxury car.

The business at the empty showroom at 1913-1915 Burrard Street in Vancouver is listed at $298,000 by Magsen real estate agent Jeffrey Lim.

Empty showroom at the New Way of Luxury auto dealership (Mackin)

“Location! location! location! Come and grab this auto dealership business which already set-up and ready to go. Easy to apply your D-plate. The interior is approx. 2,888 square feet and can fit approx. 6-7 cars,” the listing states. “Rare opportunity for the right entrepreneur. It will be gone soon before you even know it. Lots of luxury sport cars business and high end luxury cars nearby, which include Ferrari, Rolls Royce, MCL Motor and etc. It’s hard to find auto business in the area.”

The listing comes a month after the lawyer for landlord Toyo Burrard Developments posted legal notices of lease termination on the door of R.X. Luxury International, which was doing business as the New Way of Luxury or Luxury Motor. The notices claimed tenant R.X. Luxury and four guarantors failed to pay rent at 1913, 1923 and 1933 Burrard.

Named in the documents from Chen and Leung Barristers and Solicitors were Yi Shi, Pei Juan Xu, Yuan Shao and Xoap Ping Zhang.

What the New Way of Luxury looked like when it was open (Magsen Realty)

A hand-printed, undated note posted to the inside of the window read: “Due to COVID-19 safety measures with this situation, we closed. We will make announcement once things get back to normal. Stay safe.” 

R.X. Luxury was incorporated in February 2014 by Yi Shi, then of North Vancouver. The showroom, also known as Luxury Motor, featured an eclectic rotation of shiny Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, Bentleys and other six-figure vehicles. Sometimes it was empty. Often there was nobody there and the doors locked during business hours.

When it was operating, the dealership had accepted transactions via the Chinese payment platforms UnionPay, Ali Pay and WeChat Pay.

In 2019, Yi, who also uses the English first name Robin, was licensed by the Motor Vehicle Sales Authority along with Michael Shiu Ming Ho at the dealership.

The current registration lists only Yiyang Zhang, whose licence expires April 6. The dealership’s licence expires June 11.

Nobody answered the listed number when theBreaker.news called.

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Bob Mackin A luxury car dealership could be

Business, News

Bob Mackin

You could buy 5,378 Diplomat cakes from Bon Ton for $199,000.

The Notte’s Bon Ton signature Diplomat cake. (Bon Ton)

Or you could buy Notte’s Bon Ton Pastry and Confectionery and make your own.

The West Broadway institution, which was formerly located next to the Commodore Ballroom, remains on the market. It was offered last fall for $249,000.

“A Vancouver landmark since 1926,” declares the sales notice.

“This artisan bakeshop specializing in hand-made, custom wedding cakes, sculpted, special occasion cakes and more-and all products are baked using only the best quality ingredients available and we make them exactly the same way since the early 1900s.”

The shop is 3,895 square feet and reports $600,000 annual sales revenue with approximately $100,000 net income a year.

“Sales stable even in this cov19 season. All employees would like to stay. Motivated seller has personal personal reasons to sell this great business to the right owner/operator family.”

Famous Vancouver cake shop for sale (Bon Ton)

Meanwhile, the Kitsilano building anchored by Whole Foods is for sale.

Colliers is marketing the West Fourth Building for $36.38 million.

The strata general commercial complex at 2285 W. 4th, assessed last year at $17.45 million, last changed hands to Chip Wilson’s Low Tide Properties in 2018 for $20.89 million.

For sale separately is 2209 W. 4th, for $6.229 million. It was assessed at $2.34 million last year.

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Bob Mackin You could buy 5,378 Diplomat

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of March 21, 2021:

On this week’s edition of theBreaker.news Podcast:

Louis Huang protested outside Meng Wanzhou’s March 6 court date (Mackin)

Hear China experts Peter Dahlin of Safeguard Defenders and former Government of Canada official Margaret McCuaig-Johnston weigh-in on a police report in the Meng Wanzhou extradition court file. After Meng was arrested in 2018, and before Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested, police in Vancouver investigated ominous online death threats.

Neither the government nor the RCMP will comment. 

Late politician Ian Waddell (Nightwood)

Also, hear former B.C. NDP Premier Glen Clark on the legacy of the late Ian Waddell. The retired MP and MLA was appointed tourism minister by Clark in 1998. Waddell was instrumental in the development of B.C.’s film and TV industry and in the successful campaign for the Canadian bid rights for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Plus, headlines from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest.

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For the week of March 21, 2021:

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The B.C. NDP government’s pandemic ban on indoor church services is constitutional, but the ban on outdoor protests is not.

That is what B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled March 18.

B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson (B.C. Courts)

“Containing the spread of the [coronavirus] and the protection of public health is a legitimate objective that can support limits on Charter rights,” Hinkson wrote. “An outbreak of a communicable disease is an example of a crisis in which the state is obliged to take measures that affect the autonomy of individuals and of communities within civil society.”

Riverside Calvary Chapel of Langley, Immanuel Covenant Reformed Church of Abbotsford and Free Reformed Church of Chilliwack challenged Dr. Bonnie Henry’s events and gatherings ban on the grounds that she was trampling on their constitutional right to gather peacefully and worship. The churches had received a combined 11 violation tickets worth almost $300,000.

The churches’ lawyer Paul Jaffe wondered why the public is free to shop in big box stores and drink beer while watching big-screen sports in pubs, activities not protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The fact that some religious activities are restricted and some secular activities are not is not necessarily evidence of arbitrariness,” Hinkson wrote. “There needs to be a comparison of comparables and a demonstration that there is no rational basis for the distinction. That is not present here.”

Hinkson found that bans on gatherings and events apply broadly, regardless of religious affiliation or no affiliation, and that Henry did not outright ban religious gatherings.

Adrian Dix (right) and Dr. Bonnie Henry (BC Gov)

B.C.’s temporary state of emergency public health laws allow drive-in services of up to 50 vehicles, personal prayer or reflection, and baptisms, weddings and funerals with up to 10 people in attendance. Henry also recently allowed the churches involved in the case to hold outdoor services in small groups and is promising further relaxations province-wide in time for Easter and Passover.

Evidence submitted in the case showed seven coronavirus outbreaks related to places of worship in the Fraser Health region as of Jan. 15, 2021, infecting 59 people. Vancouver Coastal Health submitted 61 cases related to outbreaks at 25 places of worship from Sept. 15, 2020 to Jan. 15, 2021. There was one death associated to a November 2020 outbreak that infected 28 people.

Hinkson found Henry considered the impacts of her ban and consulted with the inter-faith community. Her orders are attempts to protect the vulnerable and maintain the integrity of the healthcare system.

“Her decision was made in the face of significant uncertainty and required highly specialized medical and scientific expertise,” Hinkson said. “Although the impacts of the gatherings and events orders on the religious petitioners’ rights are significant, the benefits to the objectives of the orders are even more so. In my view, the orders represent a reasonable and proportionate balance.”

Meanwhile, Alain Beaudoin of Dawson Creek had a partial victory, when Hinkson ruled that his rights were infringed. Beaudoin organized Kelowna protests against Henry’s orders over three days in December 2020 and was fined $2,300 by the RCMP.

After he filed the challenge, Henry amended her order Feb. 10, to allow outdoor protests, with the expectation that organizers will follow public health guidelines.

Hinkson found that Beaudoin’s free speech and assembly rights were infringed, but he did not throw out the ticket because it has not been adjudicated.

The constitutional challenge was backed by Alberta’s Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which hired Jaffe.

On Feb. 17, Hinkson denied Henry’s bid for an injunction that would have allowed RCMP officers to arrest pastors and parishioners at the three churches. Hinkson cited the B.C. government’s failure to prosecute anti-pipeline protesters in early 2020, despite clear evidence they blocked port entrances in defiance of a court order.

Said Hinkson in the Feb. 17 verdict: “If it were granted and not adhered to, would the administration of justice yet again be brought into disrepute because the B.C. Prosecution Service considers that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute those who refused to adhere to the orders sought from this Court?”

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Bob Mackin The B.C. NDP government’s pandemic ban

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