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Ken Sim speaking at his Nov. 7, 2022 swearing-in (City of Vancouver)

Bob Mackin

Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver party raised more than $1.9 million in donations to dominate the 2022 Vancouver civic election, according to campaign finance returns released Feb. 2 by Elections BC. 

ABC reported $1,008,687.88 in donations and $414,003.38 in other income and transfers received, for a total $1,422,691.26. The party said it spent $800,077.27 of that to defeat Mayor Kennedy Stewart and win majority control of both city council and park board on Oct. 15.

Its biggest advertising expenditure was $100,652.13 for radio ads, a sum dwarfed by the $321,613.93 on unspecified “professional services.” 

On a separate disclosure, Sim reported raising $915,745 income from 2019 to 2022 and spent $180,684.69 of that. He fell $50,000 under his individual expense limit for the 2022 election. 

However, elsewhere in that report, Sim disclosed $302,500 in transfers given to ABC in 2021 and 2022 and $432,560.31 in expenses racked-up between 2019 and 2021. 

Of the latter category, Sim paid out $204,828.15 for research and data, including election surveys and polls, $87,275.63 in salaries and benefits, $58,756.64 in professional services, $24,596.25 for website displays and $9,470.11 for social media. 

Donors who gave ABC the maximum-per-individual $1,250 donation in 2022 included: Lululemon founder and Low Tide Properties owner Chip Wilson, and each of his wife and three sons; Bonnis Properties’ Kerry and Zohra Bonnis; Polygon’s Michael Audain and Neil Chrystal, Reliance Properties’ Jon Stovell; Hallmark Farms Clifford Pollon and four family members; Canaccord Financial founder Peter Brown; Royal Pacific Realty’s Sing Yim Leo and David Choi; CTG Brands’ Johnny Fong; Phantom Creek winery’s Richter Jiping Bai; seven members of the Onni Properties and Amacon Developments’ De Cotiis family; Army and Navy heiress Jacqui Cohen; Shato Holdings’ Peter Toigo; Townline Homes’ Rick Ilich; Westbank Developments’ Ian Gillespie; and lobbyist Mark Jiles. 

ABC website, post-election: no links to platform, news releases (ABC Vancouver)

Peter Armstrong, who recruited Sim into politics with the NPA in 2018, gave ABC $1,200 in 2022. 

Meanwhile, Forward Together With Kennedy Stewart reported $618,081.90 income and almost $1.1 million in expenses. Stewart’s party fell short of the $783,000 fundraising goal that was contained on a spreadsheet found by a Georgia Straight contributor early last September.

Stewart and each of his six candidates for city council, who were all shut out, reported $93,929.67 each in expenses. 

Stewart’s biggest fundraising event was April 25, 2022 at Rogers Arena, where 54 individuals paid $1,250 each and Stewart’s campaign grossed $60,100. Luigi Aquilini, patriarch of the family that owns the arena and the Vancouver Canucks, and eight other Aquilinis donated the maximum to Stewart’s re-election drive before the event.

Meanwhile, in Surrey, a record amount raised and spent in the province’s most-competitive race, as four high-profile candidates chased incumbent Mayor Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition. 

In total, the five campaigns reported $2.375 million income and $2.47 million in expenses. 

New Mayor Brenda Locke’s Surrey Connect party had the most-frugal organization: she spent $278,075.61 to move from a city council seat to the mayor’s chair after raising $289,448.60. 

Locke narrowly defeated McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition, which raised $566,729.05, but spent $691,955.54.

Surrey-Newton Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal’s United Surrey was one of the late challengers, but he reported a whopping $637,642.25 income and $653,547.63 expenses. 

Surrey-Panorama NDP MLA Jinny Sims also started late, but her Surrey Forward party managed to bring in $515,953.59 and spend $513,018.83.

Former White Rock Mayor, federal Liberal MP and BC Liberal MLA Gordie Hogg ran under the Surrey First banner in a bid to make a comeback. The Hogg-led Surrey First party had $377,453 income and $322,971.74 expenses. 

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[caption id="attachment_12807" align="alignright" width="663"] Ken Sim speaking

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Eight of the 12 recommendations made Feb. 1 by a jury after the inquest into the 2019 suicide of Const. Nicole Chan were directed to the Vancouver Police Department.

Const. Nicole Chan (VPD)

The five jurors heard evidence in Burnaby Coroners Court over seven days, beginning Jan. 23, into what led to the 30-year-old’s death. They spent a day deliberating on the verdict and recommendations. To no surprise, they officially classified Chan’s death a suicide by loss of oxygen to the brain due to strangulation, sometime between midnight and 7:45 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2019 at her apartment in the Olympic Village area.

Their mission was to find facts, not fault, and recommend ways to prevent a similar tragedy. To that end, the majority of recommendations stemmed from evidence of Chan’s decline in a toxic work environment at the VPD, where she complained to Chief Adam Palmer that two senior officers exploited her sexually. One of them blackmailed her to have sex. 

The rest of the recommendations were related to the lack of treatment from a specialized mental health unit at Vancouver General Hospital on the final night of Chan’s life. 

The jury suggested everyone seeking a job as an officer undergo a mandatory psychological interview and that there be mandatory annual check-ins with a psychologist. That was based on evidence from VPD psychologist Dr. Randy Mackoff who testified that he had reviewed Chan’s original psychological assessment, during her application to become an officer, and that it “expressed 14 concerns where the average concerns would be five.” Among those concerns was a history of suicidal thoughts. 

The jury cited the testimony of VPD labour and employee relations director Christine McLean, who stated that major crime units and forensic units get regular check-ins, but others do not. 

“It is believed that such check-ins should be made available to all officers, all ranks and all sections,” said the jury’s statement, ready by one of the jurors. 

The VPD should also have a human resource or peer-support case representative assigned to regularly contact each employee suffering from mental health issues and, if permitted by the employee, the employee’s family and/or support circle also be contacted. 

Coroner Susan Barth (LinkedIn)

Jurors recommended the VPD “ensure respectful workplace training is mandatory, rigorous, in-person and on a regular basis for all ranks of police officers” and that the force’s policies formally recognize rumours and gossip as unprofessional behaviour. 

The jury also pointed to the dearth of training for officers in specialized roles, such that it institute promotions-related administrative and management training, and specific training to officers in the human resources department. 

The latter recommendation was sparked by the testimony of the two officers who drove Chan home from VGH on the last night of her life. 

“Supt. Shelley Horne and Insp. Novi Jette, the HR officers, indicated they did not have any education in human resources management while being assigned to that section,” said the jury’s statement.

The jury also recommended that each section within the human resources department should work “interdependently rather than independently of each other.” 

Three recommendations were directed to the access and assessment care centre (ACC) at VGH, where paramedics took Chan on Jan. 26, 2019 after a suicide attempt at her apartment. Despite the concerns of police officers and information gleaned from her by a paramedic, a psychiatrist at the unit declined to admit Chan to hospital under the mental health act. 

The jury recommended the attending doctor at ACC be in direct communication with paramedics, police officers and or friends and family members in attendance. Both Jette and Const. Warren Head said that they unsuccessfully asked to speak to the psychiatrist, Dr. Kiran Sayyaparaju.

“At one point Insp. Jette and Dr. Mackoff were on the phone together and the phone could have been passed to that doctor, but communications did not occur between them,” said the jury’s statement.

Vancouver General Hospital (VCH)

The jury also recommended the ACC review the ability of physicians to access a patient’s history from all sources and that the ACC needs to ensure the attending doctor can take phone calls from community healthcare providers.

“Dr. Sayyaparaju gave evidence that having more information regarding Ms. Chan’s medical health history would have been beneficial for the assessment,” said the jury. 

“We heard from both Dr. Mackoff and Dr. [Diane] McIntosh, that it is difficult for them to reach the attending physicians via phone.”

Finally, the jury wants Health Minister Adrian Dix to consider integrating a specific database containing medical records of patients who have had suicidal thoughts to be accessible across all health authorities. Sayyaparaju and social worker Monika Dewan testified they had access to two systems, but more systems would have been beneficial in Chan’s case.

Presiding coroner Susan Barth, in her charge to the jury on Jan. 31, said the non-binding recommendations would be forwarded to Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe for her to bring to the attention of those officials or entities named in the recommendations. 

In a statement Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon, Palmer said the VPD “will take time to review the jury’s recommendations.”

“We remain committed to ensuring Nicole’s death continues to lead to positive change within policing and for anyone struggling with their mental health,” said Palmer’s statement.

Palmer did not testify, but sent two lawyers to the inquest on his behalf. Former sergeants David Van Patten and Greg McCullough, the two subjects of Chan’s complaints, were not called to testify. 

  • If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 1-800-784-2433 (1-800-SUICIDE), or call your local crisis centre.

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Bob Mackin Eight of the 12 recommendations made

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is projected to outspend predecessor Kennedy Stewart with 10 staff in his office whose annual salaries add up to almost $880,000. 

Nine have backgrounds working in political jobs for Sim’s ABC Vancouver party or the BC Liberals or as candidates for civic office. According to a list released by the city hall freedom of information office, chief of staff Kareem Allam leads the pack with a $150,067 annual pay rate, followed by senior advisor David Grewal at $135,052.

Clockwise, from upper left: Morphy, Allam, Grewal, Qiu, Doherty, Santos, Ford, Verrall and (centre) O’Connor (LinkedIn/Twitter)

Allam started 2022 as campaign manager for Kevin Falcon’s successful political comeback to win the BC Liberal leadership. Allam also managed ABC’s campaign that resulted in landslide victories on Oct. 15 for city council and park board. He is still listed as a partner on the website of Fairview Strategy, a strategic communication, public opinion research and Indigenous relations firm. 

Grewal co-founded natural gas supplier Absolute Energy Inc. and ran on the Sim-led NPA ticket in 2018, but finished 11th in the race for one of 10 city council seats.

Director of policy Mellisa Morphy, a former Hill and Knowlton Strategies consultant and aide to ex-BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson, is the third-highest paid in Sim’s office, at $88,031-a-year.

The pay rate is $85,036 each for director of communications Taylor Verrall, director of legislative affairs Patrick O’Connor and director of operations Trevor Ford. All are veteran BC Liberal campaign workers who worked on the ABC Vancouver election campaign. Verrall also worked under Allam for Falcon’s campaign. 

Sim also has two outreach directors, Yunxia (Chris) Qiu ($80,045) and Manuel Santos ($70,022), and a research coordinator, Conor Doherty ($60,019).

Qiu unsuccessfully ran for school board with the NPA in 2018 and was the spokesperson for the Marpole Residents Coalition that opposed the 78-suite temporary modular housing project at 59th and Heather. Santos was director of field operations for ABC after working as a regional organizer and office manager for the BC Liberals. Doherty is a former political assistant to ABC Coun. Rebecca Bligh. 

The other employee listed is Billa Medhurst, an assistant inherited from previous administrations whose pay rate is $39,054.

Ken Sim with ABC councillors Rebecca Bligh (left) and Sarah Kirby-Yung at Union Gospel Mission (Twitter)

The total for all 10 is $878,398. 

Neither Allam nor Verrall responded for comment. 

Stewart’s last full year in office was 2021 when he spent $824,313.88 of his $1.1 million office budget on political salaries. Unlike Sim, Stewart had two chiefs of staff: Anita Zaenker ($137,904) and Neil Monckton ($126,366). The communications director was Alvin Singh ($125,567), who ran on Stewart’s Forward Together ticket, which was shut-out in the civic election.

Combined, the trio accounted for 47% of salaries in Stewart’s office.

Through Dec. 15, the date of the freedom of information request, nearly $119,000 in salaries had been paid since Oct. 7 to Sim’s 10 staff and two auxiliaries. Allam received the most at $16,698.77. 

Vancouver residents are facing a 5% property tax hike in the 2023 civic budget. In its campaign platform, ABC Vancouver promised that if it won a majority of the seats on city council, that it “will limit partisan activity from mayoral office staff.”

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Bob Mackin Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is projected

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Bob Mackin

The Transportation Safety Board said it is monitoring, but not investigating, an incident aboard an Air Canada flight early afternoon on Jan. 30.

Vancouver International Airport control tower (YVR)

Flight 114 from Vancouver to Toronto safely returned to YVR after air pressure suddenly changed, the pilot announced to passengers that a cargo door was open and reassured them that the situation was under control. 

According to Flightaware.com, AC114 departed 35 minutes late at 12:30 p.m. and returned at 1:08 p.m. after flying a figure eight pattern. The jet took off towards Blaine, Wash., then took a sharp turn toward Tsawwassen and headed west over Gabriola Island before a sharp turn south over Nanaimo and another turn east over Galiano Island back to YVR.

“Someone didn’t fasten the cargo door properly and it opened during take off,” Tweeted passenger Randy Govang. “Flight was depressurized and we had to circle to lighten the fuel load to land back in Vancouver.”

Air Canada’s media relations office denied that the door was open. Instead, it blamed the incident on a door indication signal that the pilots received. 

“At no time was any door open when the airplane was in the air,” said a statement from the airline. “Passengers were rebooked to other flights with everyone re-departing yesterday. The aircraft was taken offline for technicians to complete a sensor change, it returned to service after final checks were complete.”

TSB spokesman Liam MacDonald said the independent agency has not deployed investigators, because it is not obliged to probe all reported incidents. 

“The TSB may launch an investigation if there is likelihood of identifying new safety lessons to advance transportation safety,” MacDonald said. “Mechanical issues that do not result in a crash, injury or fatality are typically classified as class 5 occurrences.”

Under the TSB’s Occurrence Classification Policy, incidents ranked fifth on its six-step scale are not subject to comprehensive investigations and reports. However, data is gathered and recorded for statistical reporting and future analysis.  

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Bob Mackin The Transportation Safety Board said it

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Bob Mackin

The coroner presiding over the inquest of Vancouver Police Const. Nicole Chan’s 2019 suicide adjourned the hearing Jan. 31, telling the jury to avoid finding fault and to seek unanimity in whatever it decides.

Coroner Susan Barth (LinkedIn)

Susan Barth spent almost 15 minutes instructing the five jurors, who face a task more complicated than jurors do in criminal trials.

“You must not make any findings of legal responsibility nor express any conclusions of law,” Barth said in Burnaby coroner’s court. “Your findings must not blame or vindicate any person or agency. At times when the evidence conflicts you may have to determine which evidence to rely on. In doing so you should consider the reliability and the weight that you will give to particular evidence.”

Barth told the jurors they are not required to make recommendations, which are intended to prevent a similar tragedy, but to carefully consider the wording of any recommendations they may make, so as to ensure they are reasonable, achievable and practical.

“A few meaningful recommendations focused on addressing broader failures of systems and standards can be much more effective than a number of recommendations addressing unique circumstances,” Barth said.

She told them to direct recommendations to the appropriate agency or organization and that the verdict and recommendations would be forwarded to the Chief Coroner of B.C., Lisa Lapointe, who may bring them to the attention of the appropriate persons, agencies and ministries of government. She reminded jurors to stay true to their oath, consult one another, rely only on evidence they heard in court and shut out any outside influence or prejudices. 

“If you believe a recommendation is warranted, I suggest that you consider the goal to be achieved and recommend that the agency develop a plan to achieve it. There may be a variety of ways that the agency could achieve that goal using their expertise.”

Barth said the jury must come to a conclusion on the medical cause of 30-year-old Chan’s death and officially classify her death under one of five categories: natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. 

“To classify a death as a suicide, there must be clear, convincing and logical evidence that establishes on a balance of probabilities that at the time of the self inflicted injury, the person intended to die, and that the person understood the consequences of their actions.”

The inquest began Jan. 23 and the jury heard overwhelming evidence that Chan died by hanging. The jury also heard testimony that Chan, who joined the VPD in 2009, had pondered suicide since she was a 12-year-old and tried to end her life in 2012 and 2016. 

In January 2019, she had been suffering depression and anxiety after complaining in 2017 to Chief Adam Palmer that two superiors in the human resources office had coerced her into sexual relationships. One of them had blackmailed her and she feared he would not face consequences. Meanwhile, Chan also felt her policing career was over and reputation ruined by workplace gossip.

On the last night of her life, Gifford took away a knife, scissors and dog leash that Chan threatened to use to harm herself. Police officers responded to Chan’s apartment and an ambulance whisked her to VGH, but a psychiatrist refused to admit her under the mental health act. A VPD officer who drove Chan home said she promised not to harm herself, but was found dead the next morning with a note nearby.

Late VPD Const. Nicole Chan (Legacy.com)

Barth recounted basic facts provided in testimony by one of the VPD’s human resources officers, Chan’s boyfriend and his friend, and a police officer who mentored Chan and became her friend.

“Evidence was given by Supt. Shelley Horne, referring to when she and Insp. Novi Jette, dropped Ms. Chan off at her residence on Jan. 26, 2019, after she was seen at the [Vancouver General Hospital access and assessment centre]. They received a text from Miss Chan at 23:56 hours, or otherwise four minutes before midnight, notifying them that she was safely in her apartment. 

“You heard evidence from [boyfriend] Jamie Gifford that he was home when Ms. Chan arrived, and that they had a brief conversation before he left for the night,” Barth said. “You also heard from [Sgt.] Corey Bech that he and Nicole spoke on the phone that night once she arrived home. 

“You then heard evidence from Brandon Gray that Ms. Chan’s body was discovered on Jan. 27, 2019, at approximately 7:45 in the morning.”

Bech was the last person to talk to Chan by phone and, given the evidence, Barth said it was reasonable to believe that Chan was last heard from in the early morning hours of Jan. 27, 2019.

“Following your review of the evidence presented, if there are no reasonable or practical recommendations to be made, then please have the courage to state no recommendations on the verdict form,” Barth said. 

Barth concluded by telling the jurors to try to be unanimous, but a majority would suffice for any findings and recommendations. She said the inquest would reconvene if the jury had any questions or concerns. 

The inquest heard from almost three dozen witnesses, but not former sergeants David Van Patten and Greg McCullough, despite both being disciplined for their inappropriate relationships with subordinate Chan. McCullough was suspended for 15 days, but retired in 2018. Van Patten was fired in 2020 after an Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner investigation.

  • If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 1-800-784-2433 (1-800-SUICIDE), or call your local crisis centre.

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Bob Mackin The coroner presiding over the inquest

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Bob Mackin 

Vancouver Police Sgt. Corey Bech said he originally met Nicole Chan when his squad regularly visited the coffee shop she worked at while attending college.

Corey Bech (Twitter)

“She asked more and more about the [policing] occupation, what are the challenges, sort of what the process is to get hired and what she needed to do to better herself to get there,” Bech testified Jan. 30 at the B.C. Coroners Service inquest into 30-year-old Chan’s 2019 suicide. “We had lots of conversations over several months that led along to her thinking that’s what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.”

Bech said he helped Chan get a volunteer post at a community policing centre. She got hired by Paladin Security to work in a hospital and in catching shoplifters, before successfully applying to start with the VPD as a jail guard in 2009.

Bech said he went from mentor to a friend and she joined him in the ceremonial squad, the volunteer group of officers who attend retirements, funerals for fallen officers and civic events. Being a police officer was her life goal and she wanted to give back to the community, he told presiding coroner Susan Barth and the five-person jury in Burnaby coroner’s court. 

Bech said he was unaware of Chan’s psychological issues until the last few years of her life. He recalled rushing to Washington State in 2016 with members of the VPD missing persons unit, when Chan went south of the border intent on ending her life. 

“I started furiously trying to find out where she was, eventually she did answer her phone and we had a conversation,” Bech said. “She was at a low point at that time, she did tell me where she was, she was in Burlington in the United States and I offered to come and get her because I had a huge fear that she was going to flee if she knew people were coming to get her.”

In 2017, Chan complained to Chief Adam Palmer about sexually exploitive relationships with senior officers Sgt. David Van Patten and Sgt. Greg McCullough between spring 2016 and fall 2017. She went on leave for depression and anxiety. Bech said she became very agitated in December 2018, when it looked like neither Van Patten nor McCullough would face any consequences. He said her troubles became fodder for the rumour mill and she felt her police career was over. Bech said she didn’t want any contact with VPD officers except for him. He said there was even a rumour they were engaged in something other than a friendship or mentorship. 

Const. Nicole Chan (VPD)

“Our relationship had no romantic or sexual component to it at all. Nicole was a great friend to me and that grew over years, basically, a good trust that we had in each other.”

Bech said the rumour mill is a dark part of the police culture and people are still gossiping about Chan. 

“I know for a fact, she’s a topic of conversation today, with myself being included in that unfortunately,” he said. “That part of our work culture is not healthy, but very difficult to control.”

On Jan. 26, 2019, Bech learned Chan had been taken to hospital and later released. He spoke with her late that night, after she had returned home. She was initially “upset and angry,” but he managed to calm her. 

She blamed a breakup with her boyfriend, Jamie Gifford, but did not share other details. Gifford and the officers who attended the scene testified last week that Chan had a knife, scissors and dog leash that she planned to use to end her life. 

“What she was most upset about at that time was members of our [human resources] department being at the hospital and what that signified to her is that her career was essentially over,” Bech said.

Bech offered for her to stay with his family for the night, so they could talk more. But she said she was too tired and wanted rest. 

“Not unlike other conversations I’d had with her, when she’d had sort of a very emotional day and needed to rest. So I took her at her word that she was just going to go and sleep and then we’re going to talk to the morning. We’d agreed to meet for coffee the next morning.”

If he had any hint she would do harm to herself, Bech said he would have taken her back to hospital. Gifford found her body the next morning, Jan. 27, 2019.

“This is one of these guilt things that eats away at you, did I not see something or did I miss something? At the time I didn’t,” Bech said. “I knew she’d been to hospital, she’d seen somebody, I knew she had contact with our human resources section and I’d spoken to her. I thought at the time that given the fact that so many people had checked on her, that she would be okay. That was my sincere thought at the time.”

Barth asked Bech if he had any recommendation to prevent a death under similar circumstances. He suggested a mandatory mental health check for every single member of the department. 

“At least somebody with some training to check in with people on an ongoing basis would be my best recommendation,” Bech said.

The inquest is expected to conclude Jan. 31. The jury’s job is to find facts and make recommendations, not to find fault. 

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Bob Mackin  Vancouver Police Sgt. Corey Bech said

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Bob Mackin

The Vancouver General Hospital psychiatrist who saw Nicole Chan the night before she died of suicide explained the reason why he did not keep her there under the mental health act.

Vancouver General Hospital (VCH)

“From my assessment, the patient has recovered from the emotional distress by the time I saw her,” Dr. Kiran Sayyaparaju testified Jan. 27 in Burnaby coroner’s court, on the fourth anniversary of the 30-year-old Vancouver Police constable’s death. 

Chan had been whisked by ambulance to hospital around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2019 after police were called to her Olympic Village apartment. Her boyfriend told police Chan was suicidal after taking away a knife, scissors and dog leash. She was on leave from the force, suffering depression and anxiety after complaining to Chief Adam Palmer that two senior officers had exploited her sexually. 

Sayyaparaju said that there was no indication Chan was being manipulative or hiding the truth from him. He said it had been a traumatic experience for her, but there was no reason to get too suspicious about her reliability. She was “quite a decent stature as a police officer and who’s already getting help.” 

Sayyaparaju said he had received a verbal report from a paramedic, but did not recall speaking to a police officer. He became aware of Chan’s suicide attempt in 2016, but knew little else of her history. 

“I didn’t know that she tried to do multiple things since she was, I think, 12 years. Yeah, I know that would have made me ask her more questions and get more history, like more detail of what those items were, when and context and severity, seriousness,” he testified. “I didn’t have that piece of information and, second was the dog leash. I think that’s very important to mention. I did not have that and that would have affected my decision.”

Late VPD Const. Nicole Chan (Legacy.com)

Insp. Novi Jette testified that she was tasked to attend the hospital after Chan arrived and called Staff Sgt. Shelley Horne to join her. Jette said she spoke with Const. Warren Head at the hospital. Head had accompanied Chan from her apartment to hospital and concerned she would be released. 

“He was worried because he felt that she was saying all the right things, having been a police officer, knowing what needed to be said,” Jette said.

Jette recalled “feeling really upset and frustrated” when the doctor decided not to admit Chan.

“I remember saying to Nicole, ‘before we leave, I need to get a commitment from you. I need to know that you’re not going to hurt yourself or anyone else.’ And I remember her looking me right in the eyes and saying: ‘I promise you, I won’t hurt myself or anyone else’.”

Jette and Horne drove with Chan in the back seat and she asked her again if they could take her to her sister’s place. Chan declined. She just wanted to go home and meet up with her sister the next day. 

“When we pulled up in front of her residence, we asked if she wanted us to stay with her, she said no. We asked to walk her up to her suite, and she said no,” said Jette, fighting back tears. 

Chan texted Horne when she arrived at her suite. Jette sent a message to a VPD psychologist and went home. 

The next morning, Chan’s boyfriend returned to the apartment and discovered her body. 

Earlier Jan. 27, presiding coroner Susan Barth opened the session with a minute of silence in memory of Chan. 

The six-day fact-finding hearing is scheduled to conclude Jan. 30. The five-person jury is expected to then deliberate on recommendations to help prevent a similar tragedy. 

  • If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 1-800-784-2433 (1-800-SUICIDE), or call your local crisis centre.

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Bob Mackin The Vancouver General Hospital psychiatrist who

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For the week of Jan. 29, 2023: 

More than 10,000 people have died in British Columbia of toxic drug overdoses since the province declared a public health emergency in the spring of 2016.

Dr. Julian Somers of SFU (SomersPsych.com)

Desperate times call for desperate measures. On Jan. 31, possession of 2.5 grams or less of hard drugs, like heroin and cocaine, will be decriminalized in the province. It’s a three-year experiment, granted by the federal government.

Advocates for harm reduction and safe supply say it doesn’t go far enough. Advocates for recovery, who want to help addicts get off the drugs so they can lead healthy lives, say it’s a big step in the wrong direction. 

Simon Fraser University clinical psychologist Dr. Julian Somers is in the latter camp. He’s Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast.

“[Decriminalization] isn’t poised to have a positive impact,” said Somers, founding director of SFU’s Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction. “The way we’ve gone about it should, in my view, lead to some concerns about not only increased harms to people who are currently at risk, but the further distribution of risk throughout the population.” 

Hear the full feature interview. Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines.

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For the week of Jan. 29, 2023:  More

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Bob Mackin

The cost to Vancouver taxpayers for the FIFA 2026 World Cup has doubled. 

The provincial government estimated last spring that it would cost $240 million to $260 million overall to bring the U.S., Canada and Mexico-hosted tournament to BC Place Stadium, but it did not reveal the funding formula.

British Columbia and FIFA flags in 2015 outside the Westin Bayshore host hotel (Mackin)

“The city’s expected costs were estimated at approximately half of this amount at that time, based on a very preliminary assessment of hosting requirements,” said a provincial background statement released on Friday.  

Then-Mayor Kennedy Stewart earmarked $5 million for hosting matches, three months before FIFA officially named Vancouver as one of the 16 cities. City hall kept a tight lid on the actual proposed costs, directing reporters to contact the province.

Due to inflation and after further meetings with FIFA, the province now says the cost to the city will be $230 million for planning, staging and hosting. That does not include costs to renovate and erect temporary facilities in B.C. Place Stadium and procure two natural grass fields. 

The city must also pay $73 million for security and safety, $40 million for venues, $20 million for the FIFA Fan Festival, $15 million for a host city office, administration and volunteer services, $14 million for traffic and stadium zone management and services, $8 million for decoration and brand protection, and $8 million for insurance. 

The $230 million estimate is subject to change and include $52 million for contingency and inflation. 

The city plans to pay for the event over seven years, beginning Feb. 1, by charging a temporary 2.5% tax on short-term accommodations.

“The temporary tax could generate approximately $230 million in revenue over seven years,” said the provincial news release. 

Last fall, the provincial government amended the Provincial Sales Tax Act in order for city hall to increase the Musical and Regional District Tax on accommodations. 

Vancouver and Toronto are expected to see five matches each under FIFA’s 80-match, 48-nation format. However, during the Qatar 2022 World Cup, FIFA executives were privately mulling enlarging the tournament by two dozen games. The opening round of 16 groups of three teams could be modified for 12 groups of four, which would open the door for additional matches in Canada.

Destination Vancouver estimates the World Cup will draw 269,000 visitors, half of them from outside Canada and the U.S.

Research by sports economist Victor Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, has consistently cautioned that mega-event promoters and industry lobbyists rely on input-output modelling in order to attract or defend public subsidies.

In one of Matheson’s reports, “Mega-Events: The Effect of the World’s Biggest Sporting Events on Local, Regional, and National Economies,” he found that many large sporting events “simply supplant, rather than supplement the regular tourist economy.”

“In other words, the economic impact of a mega-event may be large in a gross sense but the net impact may be small,” Matheson concluded.

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Bob Mackin The cost to Vancouver taxpayers for

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Bob Mackin

The exiled Chinese billionaire connected to Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon paid $300 a day for picketers to march daily outside a Surrey journalist’s house in fall 2020.

Shiliang Yin (left) on Nov. 25, 2020 after attacking Louis Huang in Surrey. Yin has apologized and revealed he was paid by Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. (Huang Hebian/Twitter)

Shiliang Yin said in an interview that Guo Wengui (aka Miles Kwok) sent him US$50,000 to distribute cash to supporters of Guo and Bannon’s New Federal State of China [NFSC] campaign for a so-called “traitor punishment” operation against Gao Bingchen.

They marched, chanted and waved signs daily for more than two-and-a-half months in the Green Timbers cul-de-sac outside Gao’s home, alleging he secretly works for the Chinese Communist Party and should be deported.

Gao, who writes and livestreams under the name Huang Hebian, denies their allegations. He has frequently reported on real estate tycoon Guo, who fled to the U.S. in 2014 and is wanted for corruption in China. Guo was the developer of the dragon-shaped Pangu Plaza complex in Beijing that opened for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. 

In retaliation, Yin recruited picketers and led daily protests that he said were ordered and financed by Guo. 

“He always likes to tell people to do things for him,” Yin said. “So he appoints someone as leader and people wire money to the guy or to the association.”

Protesters connected to a Chinese billionaire have returned to a cul-de-sac in Surrey’s Green Timbers area. Their former leader says they are wrong about Bingchen Gas (photo submitted)

Yin, 33, is speaking out more than two years after he and another man, Mu Bai, 46, viciously attacked one of Gao’s friends, Louis Huang, in the cul-de-sac on Nov. 25, 2020. In 2021, a judge gave Yin a seven-month conditional sentence and 12 months probation for assault causing bodily harm. Bai received 12 months probation. 

The group that Yin formerly led returned earlier this month to Gao’s neighbourhood. Yin wants the public to know that Gao doesn’t deserve it and that he is deeply apologetic for what he did to Huang.    

“Mr. Gao is totally a good person and we don’t have any evidence to point out Mr. Gao is a CCP spy,” said Yin in an interview. 

Gao said he is deeply disturbed and feels threatened for the security of his family and his neighbours, who range from schoolchildren to senior citizens. 

“I urge the police to pay attention to this matter and protect the safety of my neighbourhood,” Gas said in a statement. 

“I sincerely hope that we will be protected in our homes and our children can go to school without fear and we hope that there will be no more bloodshed!”

Not only does Yin regret hurting Huang, who needed facial surgery after sustained kicking and punching, but he also regrets tarnishing the image of overseas Chinese. He said Guo promised to provide lawyers if anyone needed them, but Yin said the experience left him $100,000 in debt.

Bingchen Gao (Huang Hebian)

Yin issued a 10-point statement expressing shame and remorse, and to reveal what he said is the “truth behind this strange protest.” He has kept his WhatsApp communication with Guo, who has paid for similar “traitor punishment” actions in other cities in Canada and the U.S. Yin said many people involved were victims of fraud and some were duped into believing their participation could earn them political asylum visas in Canada or the U.S. 

“I hope that all the people who were in Guo Wengui’s gang, especially the members of the NFSC who still carry out illegal slander in this community, can learn from me, keep your eyes open, and stop being fooled,” Yin said.

Huang, co-founder of the Vancouver Chinese Human Rights Watch Group, said the court cases against Yin and Bai took too long and the punishment was insufficient, but he is encouraged by Yin’s change of heart and decision to tell the truth. 

Almost a year ago, Guo declared bankruptcy, with 159 creditors claiming he owes US$374 million. In 2021, Guo’s three media companies agreed to a US$539 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Bannon was arrested on Guo’s Lady May yacht in August 2020. He is expected to go on trial in November for allegedly defrauding donors to a campaign aimed at building part of Trump’s controversial wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

B.C. Securities Commission added the Guo/Bannon-formed GTV Media Group Inc., a subsidiary of Saraca Media Group Inc., to its caution list in May 2020. The regulator warned investors that neither are registered to sell securities in B.C. 

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Bob Mackin The exiled Chinese billionaire connected to

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