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Bob Mackin 

Embattled Richmond immigration and real estate lawyer Hong Guo avoided jail again for civil contempt of court, after she came to B.C. Supreme Court Nov. 7 with a high-profile lawyer.

Justice Gordon Weatherill had threatened Oct. 14 to keep Guo in custody for 40 days after she failed to provide financial documents to a civil case in which she is a defendant.

Special prosecutor David Butcher (Mackin)

Guo retained David Butcher on Oct. 28, the week after her previous appearance before Weatherill. Weatherill agreed to adjourn the case to Dec. 8 to give Butcher more time.

“Mr. Butcher you are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise disastrous situation involving your client,” said Weatherill, who took a break so that Butcher could confer with Guo about the length of his retainer. 

“I intend to get to the bottom of this and, with you involved, there’s some hope.”

After the break, Butcher said he would remain Guo’s lawyer, but revealed that she had begun counselling. 

“It is very apparent that she has some issues that have not been explored at any point to date, so I’m prepared to stay till the end of that,” Butcher told the court. “My willingness to do that does depend on Ms. Guo’s cooperation in every way that clients are supposed to cooperate with counsel.”

In May 2018, immigrant investors Qing Yan and his wife Kai Ming Yu sued Guo, Zhong Ping Xu, Xiao Hong Liu, 1032821 B.C. Ltd., Vancouver Soho Holding Ltd and Canada Sparkle Long Holdings Inc. for fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract relating to a collapsed $40 million real estate deal. 

Yu and Yan hired Guo in 2013 to assist their immigration application. Guo introduced them to Xu and Liu, the principals behind Canada Sparkle, and they entered a joint venture for the Vancouver Soho high-density commercial and residential project on Minoru and Lansdowne in Richmond. 

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Guo acted as lawyer for both Vancouver Soho and Canada Sparkle and took advantage of the plaintiffs’ poor English skills.

Pro-Beijing lawyer Hong Guo unsuccessfully ran to be Richmond’s mayor in 2018.

Butcher told Weatherill that he agreed with Glen Forrester, the lawyer for Yan and Yu, that Guo’s office records are “a complete mess.” She attributed that to the alleged 2016 theft of $7.5 million from her firm’s trust account by her accountant. 

“He did make the comment that Ms. Guo is of little practical assistance in helping herself: In her affidavit, she says, at times she feels paralyzed, and she’s her own worst enemy, and is not really capable of assisting herself and that’s why I suggested others get involved,” Butcher said.

Weatherill warned Guo to not mislead Butcher like she had done to him. 

“I expect you to cooperate with Mr. Butcher, you understand?” Weatherill asked. “If you do not cooperate with Mr. Butcher, then I’m not going to be happy. Do you understand that?”

Guo replied: “Yes.”

Earlier this year, Butcher was one of two special prosecutors in the trial of disgraced former B.C. Legislature clerk Craig James, who was found guilty of breach of public trust. 

Butcher represented Brad Desmarais, the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s former chief operating officer, during the Cullen Commission public inquiry on money laundering in B.C.

Guo was not called to testify at the inquiry, but her name was mentioned because she had represented Paul King Jin, the Richmond man banned from B.C. casinos for alleged money laundering and loan sharking. 

Guo finished fourth in the 2018 Richmond mayoral election after denying that China had any human rights problems. Her firm has offices in Richmond and Beijing, where she once worked as a lawyer in the Chinese Communist Party government’s state council. 

The Law Society of B.C. issued nine disciplinary citations against Guo from September 2018 to July 2021 and is seeking her disbarment.

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Bob Mackin  Embattled Richmond immigration and real estate

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Bob Mackin

The weak tornado that touched down at University Golf Club a year ago on Nov. 6, 2021 came as a blessing to Prof. Roland Stull.

Nov. 6, 2021 tornado that formed off YVR (UBC/EOAS)

He teaches a meteorology of storms course at University of B.C.’s Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Department and the extreme weather event became an easy addition to the curriculum. 

“The tornado came from a supercell thunderstorm, where the whole thunderstorm was rotating as a mesocyclone,” Stull said. “These storms are very rare for Vancouver.”

Indeed, the previous Vancouver tornado had been in 1976. 

Eyewitness video emerged quickly from the driving range of swirling winds and broken branches. A few large trees fell across University Boulevard, temporarily snarling trolley bus service in Point Grey. Environment Canada assigned it an EF-0 rating and estimated winds blew at 90 km-h to 100 km-h when it touched down at 5:10 p.m.

Campus surveillance video released from UBC under freedom of information shows what happened 2 kilometres west of the golf course: wind, heavy rain and hail. 

Graupel, to be precise, according to Stull.

Radar imaging of the Nov. 6, 2021 tornado (NTP)

“The atmospheric ingredients were there for this kind of rotation to develop,” said Dave Sills, a former Environment Canada severe weather scientist who is co-leader of the National Tornadoes Project (NTP) at University of Western Ontario. 

“It was just a little bit of enhanced rainfall among a large area of rainfall and then it really started spinning up just west of the airport,” Sills said. “Then we could see the reflectivity, which is the radar echoes that show you how intense the rainfall is. It really took off once it approached University Hill, and that’s indicative of hail, so I’m glad to see that there’s evidence of hail there.”

Indeed, the images show graupel blanketing sidewalks, streets and grass around the campus while trees and bushes swayed in the wind, sometimes violently reacting to gusts. To the east, there are moments of black clouds briefly darkening the skies.

The tornado started west of Vancouver International Airport, over the Strait of Georgia.

Nov. 6, 2021 tornado hit the UBC golf course and caused damage at the nearby campus (UBC/EOAS)

NTP found reports of damage around Southwest Marine Drive, West 16th Avenue, West 10th Avenue, Chancellor Boulevard and Northwest Marine Drive. 

“That ended up being track length of 3.9 or so kilometres with a maximum path width of 310 meters, and that was pretty much coming straight up from the south,” Sills said. “It’s 190 degrees, so it’s a little bit west of south but almost straight from the south with the supercell thunderstorm that developed over the water. It just kept going north.”

The storm was detected around University Hill at 5:08 p.m. A secondary area of rotation occurred to the northwest late in the hour. 

The storm system continued traveling across to the North Shore, but Sills said the only hint of damage there was a power outage due to a downed line on Cypress Bowl Road. He doesn’t know for certain that the storm was to blame. 

It dissipated but then the rotation redeveloped just north of Grouse Woods in North Vancouver. 

“This is a bit of a unicorn. It was late in the season and just tornadoes in general in Vancouver are pretty rare,” Sills said.

NTP and its new companion, the National Hail Project, are based at UWO in London, Ont., with a mission to detect, document and assess data about the respective weather phenomena across Canada. 

No repeat in Vancouver this year, but Sills said there were reports of a dust devil in Prince George and a vortex on the Sumas Prairie near Abbotsford. “Pretty quiet as far as downbursts and tornadoes in B.C. in 2022.”

The Nov. 6, 2021 tornado was part of the wildest weather year in memory for B.C., that included the late-June heat dome in which 619 people succumbed and mid-November parade of atmospheric rivers that flooded Fraser Valley farms and destroyed stretches of the Coquihalla Highway.

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Bob Mackin The weak tornado that touched down

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For the week of Nov. 6, 2022:

The biggest story in Canadian soccer last week was not the men’s national team preparing for the World Cup in Qatar. It was the 16-month jail sentence in North Vancouver Provincial Court to former women’s national junior team coach Bob Birarda. 

Birarda, who also coached the Whitecaps women’s team, pleaded guilty last February to sexually assaulting four players between 1988 and 2008.

Birarda was charged nearly two years after former Whitecap Ciara McCormack blew the whistle in a February 2019 blog post about his return to coaching girls soccer. 

“The positive is that the truth came out, and that he suffered consequences,” thePodcast guest McCormack told host Bob Mackin. “At the end of the day, 16 months for all the carnage he caused? I don’t think there’s ever going to be a sentence that’ll truly give justice and be proper punishment for what was taken away from people.”

The sentence comes amid a watershed year in Canadian sport activism, as athletes across winter and summer sports are demanding an end to abuse and corruption. McCormack got the ball rolling almost four years ago. 

“It was a massive, collective effort to just shift the narrative that it’s not okay to stay silent, it’s not okay to put success in sports ahead of taking care of people and doing the right thing,” she said.

On this edition, hear the full interview with McCormack. Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest news headlines and a commentary on the end of John Horgan’s premiership. 

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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For the week of Nov. 6, 2022:

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Bob Mackin

The key provincial bureaucrat overseeing the Surrey police transition has quit, just over two weeks since Brenda Locke beat Doug McCallum for the Surrey mayoralty on a promise to keep the RCMP.

Wayne Rideout (LinkedIn)

Wayne Rideout joined the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General in 2016 as deputy director of police services after a 34-year career in the RCMP. In 2021, he replaced former B.C. RCMP commanding officer Brenda Butterworth-Carr as the assistant deputy minister in charge of the Policing and Security Branch. 

A prepared statement attributed to Solicitor General Mike Farnworth thanked Rideout for his time in the job, but did not shed light on why he departed. 

“Since joining the Policing and Security Branch in January 2021, he has supported the government’s pandemic response, the police response to natural disasters, and new measures to combat organized crime. He has also played a critical role in laying the foundation of modernizing policing in British Columbia,” said the Farnworth statement. “I am proud of what he has accomplished in extraordinary, demanding times and we will miss him greatly. I am confident that the Branch will continue its high standard of support for policing and public safety in British Columbia.”

Locke ran on a platform to end the Surrey Police Service, McCallum’s municipal police force that was created to replace the RCMP detachment. She won by fewer than 1,000 votes in the Oct. 15 civic election. 

Mike Farnworth announces $2,000 fines on April 19 (BC Gov)

In addition to managing the province’s RCMP contracts, Rideout also played a role in reversing a Vancouver Police Department budget freeze in early 2022 after an appeal from the police board. Rideout’s decision restored $5.7 million in funding after the December 2020 city council decision amid the “defund the police” movement. 

Rideout joined the Mounties as a general duty officer in 1982 and climbed the ranks from detachments to provincial headquarters. He was officer in charge of the fledgling Integrated Homicide Investigation Unit from 2003 to 2008. 

In 2007, after the Vancouver International Airport taser death of Robert Dziekanski, Rideout refused to let the public information officer correct the record when an eyewitness video emerged of the incident. A coroner’s court heard in 2018 that the decision sent Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre into a tailspin and he eventually died in 2013 of suicide. 

Rideout was assistant commissioner in charge of criminal operations, investigative services and organized crime during the Canada Day 2013 Legislature pressure cooker bomb plot. What originally looked like an Islamist terror scheme turned out to be an RCMP “Mr. Big” sting operation involving two drug addicts. 

Three years later, a judge stayed the charges against John Nuttall and Amanda Korody due to entrapment. The couple filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court last August, accusing the federal and B.C. governments and Crown prosecutors of violating their constitutional rights. 

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Bob Mackin The key provincial bureaucrat overseeing the

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Bob Mackin

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum could have escaped a broken foot if he was run over in a Save-On-Foods parking lot, a Provincial Court judge heard Nov. 2.

Doug McCallum on Sept. 4, 2021 (Provincial Court exhibit)

McCallum’s defence team called expert witnesses who analyzed aspects of the Sept. 4, 2021 incident. McCallum complained to police that Keep the RCMP in Surrey activist Debi Johnstone drove over his left foot in her Mustang, but Mounties instead investigated McCallum for making false statements. 

The Peace Arch Hospital expert who analyzed McCallum’s x-ray said there was a “moderate degree of soft tissue swelling” of his left foot, toward his small toe. But Dr. Hamed Basseri said there was no evidence of fractures or malalignment of bones or joints. 

Under cross-examination, Basseri said he did not conduct a physical exam.

“You’re not able to say what degree of soft tissue swelling may have been present, the day before or the week before, anything like that, correct?” asked Special Prosecutor Richard Fowler.

“That’s correct,” Basseri replied.

“And, of course, you didn’t examine the right foot so you can’t tell us whether there was any moderate soft tissue swelling of the right foot, for example,” said Fowler, who also suggested McCallum may have had pre-existing fluid buildup in his feet.

Basseri replied: “That’s correct.”

Biomechanical engineer Dennis Chimich of Vancouver consultancy MEA Forensic estimated that if McCallum had been run over, his foot would have felt the weight of 413 kilograms from the rear of Johnstone’s slow-moving car. 

“Data do support, however, that feet can be run over by vehicle tires, with the expectation of an absence of fractures,” Chimich said.

Chimich based his report on images of McCallum’s shoes (Adidas size 10 with a padded tongue), the vehicle and the parking lot.

Surrey Provincial Court (Mackin)

“The contact between the right rear tire of the Mustang and that outer aspect of Mr. McCallum’s left forefoot provides an injury mechanism for that objective swelling that was identified by the radiologist,” Chimich said.

Collision reconstruction engineer Bradley Heinrichs of MEA Forensic testified that he conducted a site visit and produced a 3-D imaging analysis. 

Heinrichs detected McCallum’s head move down and arms move back as the vehicle turned. He also noted rear tires generally don’t follow the same radius as the front tires during a tight turn, but could not precisely pinpoint McCallum’s position. Shrubs in a traffic island obscure McCallum below his thighs, as captured by the Save-On-Foods outward-looking camera. 

“Did you come to a conclusion then about the rear wheel tire of the Mustang and whether it was possible that it could have contacted Mr. McCallum’s foot?” asked McCallum’s lawyer Eric Gottardi.

Heinrichs replied: “If you’re standing close enough, the rear tire would have tracked to the Mustang’s right but towards Mr. McCallum, compared to the side of the Mustang. So if you’d be standing close enough, yes, it could have.”

Crown witness Sgt. Andre Johnny of the RCMP testified Tuesday that police could not determine whether McCallum was run over. McCallum, he said, was not pinned by Johnstone’s vehicle, as he claimed to police. Video evidence also debunked McCallum’s claim that Johnstone sped away from the scene. The surveillance video shows him casually walk into the store where he shopped for more than half an hour. He later called police and went to hospital.

The trial is in recess until Nov. 8, due to scheduling of two more expert defence witnesses. It was not scheduled to sit Nov. 4 or 7.

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Bob Mackin Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum could have

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Bob Mackin

Outgoing Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum complained three times to the Surrey RCMP about protesters outside his house, including one dressed as a skeleton on Halloween 2021. 

Eight McCallum-related files since 2019 were summarized for investigators and submitted to McCallum’s Provincial Court public mischief trial, where McCallum’s lawyers have alleged he is a victim of criminal harassment.

Keep the RCMP in Surrey protester outside Doug McCallum’s house on Halloween 2021

The summary provides further details about friction with the grassroots group opposed to Safe Surrey Coalition leader McCallum’s drive to replace the Mounties with a municipal force. Brenda Locke, who defeated McCallum in the Oct. 15 civic election, has vowed to cancel the transition.

At 6:09 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2021, McCallum called 9-1-1 to report the costumed woman walking up and down in front of his Crescent Beach house with a Keep the RCMP in Surrey (KTRIS) sign. He also said there was a vehicle he could not describe with a Keep the RCMP in Surrey sign and people yelling “go home,” “retire” and “Keep the RCMP in Surrey.” 

No threats had been made, but it was not the first such occurrence. “McCallum stated he was tired of it,” said the summary and he asked police to identify the woman and ask her to move along.

“Police explained the female was not committing an offence, so they could not compel her to identify herself or move along, but they would ask,” said the police summary.

Police found the costumed woman carrying a sign which read “McCallum death of democracy.” She was cooperative, but said that she was aware of her right to protest under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

“Protester advised she would be leaving within the hour. McCallum was told to call back if there were further problems. No additional call was made,” said the report.

McCallum made similar calls to police about protesters outside his house on April 23, 2021 and July 24, 2021, but there was no wrongdoing and police made no arrests. 

The summary mentions allegations of two sinister, anonymous threats made to city hall.

Police were informed Jan. 4, 2021 that a supervisor in the engineering department received a photocopied letter that contained a swastika, picture of Adolf Hitler and various comments, including “It’s time for you to go”, “You are history” and “There is a bomb in your house ready for you.”

The employee and McCallum gave statements. McCallum mentioned KTRIS, but “stated his experience with this group had never been threatening before, only harassing in nature.” Police found no links to KTRIS and reviewed surveillance footage, “but the person who delivered the letter could not be found. Investigational avenues were exhausted and the file was concluded.”

A separate anonymous phone message through the main switchboard to McCallum’s office indicated his “life might be on the line.” 

“Despite inquiries with the city and Telus, the origin of the call could not be tracked,” said the summary of the June 18, 2021 incident report. “Safety plan discussed and victim services was offered but declined. Investigational avenues were exhausted and the file was concluded.”

The summary also mentioned a letter received by McCallum’s closest ally on city council and personal companion, Allison Patton.

Coun. Allison Patton (left) and Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum.

On June 8, 2021, Patton reported an unknown correspondent told her to resign and made reference to personal matters.

“Patton described ongoing investigations she had been involved with at her place of work. There was nothing overtly threatening, or efforts to threaten or extort Patton in the letters.  Patton felt she was being targeted by the Keep the RCMP in Surrey group, strictly because of their opposing political agenda.”

Police followed-up with KTRIS founder Ivan Scott and members of the group, “who advised they had sent emails in the past, but had never sent actual letters. File was fully investigated, no suspect was identified and the file was concluded.”

Scott complained to Surrey RCMP Oct. 19, 2020 after McCallum cut his microphone during a public hearing and asked for a security guard to eject him from the chamber. Scott refused to leave. He complained to police that a security guard touched his arm and wanted the guard and city manager Vince Lalonde charged. 

Investigators closed the file when they determined it would not meet Crown counsel charge approval standards.

Debi Johnstone complained to Surrey RCMP on Sept. 17, 2019 against McCallum, after she said he came close to her face and made a comment similar to “I advise you to watch what you say.” Johnstone admitted to saying “SUC, SUC, SUC” in reference to “Surrey Unsafe Coalition.”

“No offence committed, file concluded.”

McCallum alleged that Johnstone ran over his foot in a Save-On-Foods parking lot on Sept. 4, 2021. Police instead accused McCallum of lying about the incident and he was charged with public mischief. McCallum pleaded not guilty on Monday. 

Johnstone and Scott are among seven KTRIS activists banned from attending city council meetings in September 2021. McCallum’s majority also hired a law firm to seek an injunction against the seven, but they hired a lawyer to contest the application on constitutional grounds. McCallum eventually rescinded the motion in December 2021. 

The same seven also challenged the city’s sign bylaw. While B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nigel Kent dismissed their application, he ruled last July that city hall needed to rewrite the bylaw. Kent said that limiting political signage on private property to election periods would infringe on the right to political expression. 

“These particular petitioners have been directly targeted by certain members of Surrey city council for special treatment; they were the subject matter of a (quickly and appropriately rescinded) bylaw prohibiting their attendance at council meetings and an injunction lawsuit seeking to enforce that bylaw,” said Kent’s ruling. “Their organization (KTRIS) has even been accused, wrongly it appears, of inflicting physical injury on the Mayor.”

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Bob Mackin Outgoing Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum complained

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Bob Mackin

Special Prosecutor Richard Fowler wrapped his case against outgoing Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum Nov. 1 in Surrey Provincial Court by playing a series of surveillance video clips showing McCallum at the Southpoint Save-On-Foods, Peace Arch Hospital and a Surrey RCMP interview room.

Doug McCallum on Sept. 4, 2021 (Provincial Court exhibit)

McCallum had originally alleged that a member of Keep the RCMP in Surrey drove over his foot on Sept. 4, 2021. Instead, he was charged with a single count of public mischief. 

Court heard McCallum’s 9-1-1 call in which he accused Debi Johnstone of driving over his left foot and said that it was very numb. He was treated in hospital during a two-hour stay.

In the video recorded interview, McCallum described to an RCMP officer how another driver suddenly appeared beside him after he parked his car outside his usual grocery store. 

“She pulled up in this convertible so tight and literally just about pinned me to the car, I was at the back of my car and stopped, just yelled at me, screamed and so forth,” McCallum said to the officer.

McCallum said she went “on and on with obscenities that I can’t even say here” before she sped away.

“Then she actually floored it, I thought she was going to peel rubber.”

McCallum told the officer more about their interaction and the moment that he claimed she injured him. 

“She even came closer to me, like she turned right into me and then when she turned, she ran right over my foot, my leg, right at the top of my foot, went right over it here and took off,” he said. 

McCallum said he was pretty sure it was Debi Johnstone, a member of Keep the RCMP in Surrey. “They harass my family. If you look there’s at least four or five investigations going on. It’s common for them to harass all of us.”

At one point, McCallum took his left foot out of his shoe and took off his sock as the officer bent down with a flashlight and took photos. McCallum consented verbally to provide his medical records from his hospital visit.

Video evidence showed that McCallum had arrived outside the Save-On-Foods at 9:08 a.m. Johnstone did not show up until closer to 10 a.m. After their argument, McCallum walked casually into the store and shopped for 35 minutes, with no apparent limp.

Surrey Provincial Court (Mackin)

Earlier Nov. 1, Sgt. Andre Johnny testified by video that he reviewed the surveillance video obtained from the store and the statements given to police by both McCallum and Johnstone.

Johnny said he also reviewed photos of Johnstone’s vehicle taken by McCallum, McCallum’s medical records and a photo of McCallum’s left foot. 

“My conclusion was that we could not determine whether or not his foot was run over by Debra Johnstone,” Johnny told court.

However, Johnny said that video evidence disproved McCallum’s claim that he had been pinned against Johnstone’s vehicle. 

“The video review indicates that McCallum walked away from his vehicle and approached the crosswalk at Save-On-Foods, at which point Ms. Johnstone believed to have called out to Mr. McCallum, and then he turned around and approached Ms. Johnstone’s vehicle,” Johnny said.

“He stated that the vehicle at that point was pressed up against him, however video review indicates that Ms. Johnstone did not drive her vehicle into McCallum. Video footage indicates that it was Mr. McCallum who approached the vehicle and therefore had control over how close the vehicle was in proximity to his body.”

Under cross-examination, Johnny admitted to McCallum’s lawyer Richard Peck that the investigation team had considered, but rejected, various techniques. Those included surveillance of McCallum to test his claims of an injury and limp, and an undercover operation to gain access to his phone. Johnny said the ideas were discussed at a brainstorming meeting and did not gain management approval. 

The investigation was later transferred from the Surrey RCMP detachment to major crimes in E Division, to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. McCallum ran on a 2018 platform to replace the RCMP with a municipal force. 

McCallum, who lost the mayoralty to Brenda Locke in the Oct. 15 civic election, pleaded not guilty when the trial began Oct. 31.

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Bob Mackin Special Prosecutor Richard Fowler wrapped his

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Bob Mackin

A court sheriff handcuffed Bob Birarda and led him out of North Vancouver Provincial Court Nov. 2 to begin the journey to Ford Mountain Correctional Centre in Chilliwack.

Bob Birarda in 2005 (CSA)

The former women’s junior national soccer coach and head coach of the Whitecaps’ women’s team was sentenced to almost 16 months in jail, four months house arrest, four months under 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. curfew and three years probation. 

Birarda was charged in late 2020 and pleaded guilty last February for crimes that occurred between 1988 and 2008 — specifically, three counts of sexual assault and one count of touching a young person for sexual purpose. Crown prosecutor Linda Ostry had proposed a two years less-a-day jail sentence, while Birarda’s defence lawyer Bill Smart sought a one-year sentence — eight months in jail and four months of house arrest. 

Judge Deanne Gaffar said Birarda exploited a power imbalance and his crimes impacted his victims long after the offences. She said the degree of physical interference was more aggravating for one of the victims, “whose bodily integrity was sexually violated with acts leading up to and including oral sex and sexual intercourse.” 

“The stress, emotional and psychological detriment experienced by each victim,” Gaffar said in her ruling. “This pressure caused them to doubt themselves. In some cases, at least two of these teenagers felt compelled to apologize to an adult, Mr. Birarda, for their own reluctance to respond to his overtures. Due to Mr. Birarda’s reactions and interactions with them, it is both troubling and untenable. As adults, they continue to experience anxiety, self-doubt, and, in some cases, depression. Their ability to trust others, particularly men, has been impacted.”

North Vancouver Provincial Court (B.C. Courthouse Libraries)

Gaffar weighed the impact on Birarda’s victims with his acknowledgment of wrongdoing. He had no prior criminal record, followed his bail conditions after arrest, demonstrated profound personal guilt and expressed apology to his victims. 

“In addition, his guilty plea has saved court resources. Most importantly, entering guilty pleas means that the victims do not have to testify and relive their trauma. I accept that Mr. Birarda feels tremendous remorse.”

Gaffar said Birarda attended extensive counselling to treat mental health issues, including depression and impostor syndrome. He had been admitted to hospital in 2019 for three or four days due to depression and suicidal thoughts, certified under the Mental Health Act and placed on medication. 

She said he had received 30 letters of support, showing respect from people who knew of his charges but spoke highly of him anyway. Some of the letter-writers were players, their parents and fellow coaches.

However, mitigating factors were diminished by his abuse of players’ trust. 

Birarda did not speak in court. He already gave an emotional 10-minute statement two months earlier, admitting that his conduct was “selfish, irrational and delusional” and it disgraced the sport he loved.

CSA and Whitecaps

“I’m truly sorry, to each of you for the pain, the upset and the trauma my behaviour has caused you,” Birarda said on Sept. 2. “I cannot find the words to adequately express the depth of my regret, sorrow, shame and even self-loathing I have been filled with for all these years. I have read the victim impact statements, and I feel so horrible for how much pain I have caused each of you.”

Birarda was originally investigated by police after former Whitecap and national team member Ciara McCormack blew the whistle in February 2019 about his return to youth coaching with Coastal FC in South Surrey.

McCormack’s “Horrific Canadian Soccer Story” blog post went viral. A dozen players from the 2008 Whitecaps and national team issued a public statement, alleging “incidents of abuse, manipulation, or inappropriate behaviour” by Birarda in 2007 and 2008.

FIFA VP Montagliani and president Infantino (Twitter)

Birarda coached the Whitecaps women’s team to the 2006 W-League championship. He also headed the under-20 national women’s team and assisted on Canada’s team that played in the quarter-finals of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

Behind the scenes, Birarda was the subject of sexual harassment and sexual assault complaints. Rather than firing Birarda outright and reporting him to police in October 2008, the Canadian Soccer Association and Whitecaps jointly agreed with Birarda for what they told reporters was a “mutual parting of ways.”

The CSA board in 2008 included Victor Montagliani, who is now a vice-president of FIFA representing the North and Central American and Caribbean zone. Peter Montopoli had joined the CSA as its general secretary in April of 2008. Last year, he moved to the 2026 FIFA World Cup organizing committee as the head of operations for matches in Toronto and Vancouver. 

A July 28-released investigation by world-renowned University of Western Ontario sports law professor Richard McLaren found the CSA allowed Birarda to operate with too much power and too little oversight. 

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Bob Mackin A court sheriff handcuffed Bob Birarda

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Bob Mackin

In one of his first public appearances since losing the Oct. 15 election, outgoing Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum pleaded not guilty on Oct. 31 in Surrey Provincial Court to a charge of public mischief at the beginning of a trial scheduled to last seven days.

Surrey Provincial Court (Mackin)

McCallum accused a pro-RCMP petitioner of running over his foot in the Southpoint Save-On-Foods parking lot on Sept. 4 last year. The RCMP investigated McCallum and Special Prosecutor Richard Fowler laid a single charge against the mayor.

Debi Johnstone, the woman McCallum accused, was the first witness before Judge Reginald Harris.  

Fowler showed outward-facing surveillance footage obtained from a camera inside the grocery store’s entrance. The sequence, beginning at 9:54 a.m., showed Johnstone driving around the parking lot, through empty parking spaces and stopping. McCallum stood next to the passenger side of her vehicle and they exchanged words before Johnstone drove away. 

The video then showed McCallum walking into the grocery store, not appearing to be injured in any way. 

Another camera, with a fish-eye lens, showed McCallum and Keep the RCMP in Surrey founder Ivan Scott speaking to each other near the volunteer tent and table, where the campaigners were seeking signatures in a bid to force a referendum on whether to proceed with the McCallum-promised Surrey Police Service. 

Johnstone’s car went out of the frame. She said she went to park and made her way to where the volunteers were set up, so she could start her shift.

“We were supposed to be there until 2 o’clock, but with all the kerfuffle that was created, the store manager made us leave between 12:30 and 1,” Johnstone said. 

She said she was not privy to McCallum and Scott’s conversation, but shot a photo on her smartphone of them facing each other.

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum on Oct. 31 (Mackin)

Afterward, she said, Scott came to her. “Mr. Scott said to me ‘did you run over Doug McCallum’s foot? And I laughed, ‘of course not’.” 

Johnstone said she received a phone call from Surrey RCMP around 4:30 p.m. on the same day and an officer asked her to come to the station, because “there’d been an incident.” 

“I wondered if it was to do with Mr. McCallum saying that I ran over his foot,” she said. “He told me that I would be investigated for assault with a weapon and criminal harassment.”

Johnstone said the officer told her she did not need to go to the station and did not need to provide a statement, but “I went on my own free will.”

Under cross-examination by McCallum’s lawyer Richard Peck, Johnstone said she hoped that McCallum would quit the mayoralty and considered her sighting of McCallum in the parking lot to be her “lucky day.”

Johnstone said that she had voted for McCallum in 2018, on the basis of his plan to replace the planned light rail transit system with a SkyTrain extension and because of his Safe Surrey Coalition party’s emphasis on public safety. But she began to disagree with the way McCallum and his caucus rammed through bylaws, developments permits and budgets.

“How did it make your day lucky?” Peck asked.

She had explained that civic bylaw officers had consistently appeared at locations the pro-RCMP petitioners set-up their table and believed they had been dispatched by McCallum to harass them.

Debi Johnstone of Keep the RCMP in Surrey (Mackin)

“Instead of bylaws there, he was coming in now to have us sent off the property,” she said. “Now he’s going to have to confront all of us on a day off.”

Peck asked if she wanted a confrontation with McCallum.

“It was never the intention to get out of my car and have a fistfight with him, if that’s what you mean, but I sat in my car and told him to resign,” she said.

Peck accused her of “vilifying him for one minute” and that she had demeaned McCallum’s skin condition by calling him a “scaly faced motherfucker.”  

“I swore at Mr. McCallum, quite a few times,” she admitted. “Using language very unfitting of a lady.” 

Peck noted that Johnstone had previously protested on the street in front of McCallum’s house in Crescent Beach and had called members of the Surrey Police Service “whores” and “scabs” while protesting outside the new force’s headquarters. 

Later, she told Peck that it had “been a long four years” under McCallum and that she tried to have her voice heard. 

“I’m disrespected, I’m cut-off, I’m ignored,” she said. 

Johnstone said she also felt harassed and most-recently complained to the RCMP after someone had spray painted “you’re dead” on her garage door. She assumed supporters of McCallum were responsible for a string of incidents, because nothing like that happened before she began going to council meetings after McCallum’s 2018 election.

As he left the court, McCallum said nothing to reporters. 

When she left the court, Johnstone was smiling and said: “I’m glad it’s over, but it’s good to tell the truth.”

McCallum is represented by Peck and Eric Gottardi, two downtown Vancouver lawyers who represented Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in her extradition hearings at B.C. Supreme Court from 2019 to 2021. 

McCallum has refused to say how much Surrey taxpayers are spending on his defence. 

Coun. Brenda Locke, who won the election by fewer than 1,000 votes, has promised to send the bill to McCallum and to end the Surrey Police Service.

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Bob Mackin In one of his first

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of Oct. 30, 2022:

It’s the most wonderful time of year for sports fans in North America: NHL and NBA regular seasons are still young, NFL and NCAA football are nearing mid-season, the World Series is here, Canadian Football League playoffs are nigh and Major League Soccer’s final is coming.

What better time than now to hear from Vancouver sports radio legend Dan Russell, the newest member of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame’s media wing?

Russell joins host Bob Mackin Jr. for part 2 of an interview about Pleasant Good Evening, Russell’s memoir of 30 wild and turbulent years hosting Canada’s longest running sports radio talkshow.

Plus the sounds of the end of B.C.’s 2030 Winter Olympics bid and headlines from the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

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For the week of Oct. 30, 2022:

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About Us

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