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Bob Mackin 

A Vancouver Police officer who accompanied Const. Nicole Chan to Vancouver General Hospital four years ago was surprised she was not admitted to the mental health unit.

Const. Nicole Chan (VPD)

Const. Warren Head testified Jan. 26 at the B.C. Coroners’ Service inquest into Chan’s Jan. 27, 2019 suicide that he responded with partner Const. Bentley Williams to a call for a suicidal woman in an Olympic Village apartment on Jan. 26, 2019. 

Williams interviewed Chan’s boyfriend, Jamie Gifford, who had seized a knife and scissors from Chan. The 30-year-old suffering depression and anxiety was on leave from the force after complaining to Chief Adam Palmer that two senior officers had coerced her into sexual relationships. 

Head said Chan was agitated, but managed to calm her and convince her that going to hospital was best for her. Head recalled how, when he was a rookie, Chan and her partner on duty were at the same sudden death call where he saw a dead body for the first time.

“She made a comment at one point, something to the effect of ‘you don’t know anything about me, you don’t care’,” Head told presiding coroner Susan Barth and a five-person jury in Burnaby Coroners’ Court. “Guess what [I said], I do know who you are, and I do care about you, because you helped me through my first ever call, which was going to be a difficult call for me to have to go through. When that conversation happened, her demeanour changed quite a bit.”

Chan eventually went willingly, without handcuffs, to a waiting ambulance. Williams travelled with her to VGH. Head followed in their squad car. 

At the hospital’s access and assessment centre, Head briefed a doctor about the knife and scissors her boyfriend took away. He emphasized that she was a danger to herself and  recommended she be admitted because it would be inappropriate to release her to go home alone where she could follow through on threats to harm herself. Then Chan went in. 

“They had a conversation, and Nicole came back out, and then I went back in with the doctor,” Head said. “They informed me at that point in time that they would not be admitting her to the hospital under the section 28 [of the Mental Health Act] and then that’s when I came back out again.”

Two human resources officers had arrived. Head briefed them that the doctor was satisfied with her treatment plan.  

“I just I remember advocating, saying that I believe that this was a mistake and these are the reasons why,” he said.

He testified that when he spoke with Chan earlier at the apartment, she denied thoughts of suicide. When he got to hospital, Williams mentioned to him that she admitted in the ambulance that she had taken a dog leash into the bathroom and had a pair of scissors underneath the sheets in her bed for such a purpose. 

“Regardless of my my efforts, they still were steadfast on the fact that they were not going to admit her.”

The HR officers took Chan back home. Gifford testified Wednesday that he decided to stay with a friend, because police were concerned that if she came back, that she might harm them both. To his surprise, she did return as he was preparing to leave. 

“We called the police again and reported to them that I was leaving and that she was going to be alone,” Gifford testified. “The police told me that they were going to check up on her. They said it was fine.”

The next morning, he returned with a friend. 

“When I entered the apartment, it was very quiet. I called for Nicole, there was no answer,” Gifford said.

He opened the bedroom door and found her body. There was a note left on the kitchen counter. 

“Please give Ollie [Chan’s dog] to my sister Jen, please take care of him. I love him, I love you, Jen. I’m so sorry. There’s nothing anyone could have done.”

The hearing is scheduled to conclude Jan. 30. 

A coroner’s inquest is not a fault-finding exercise, but a fact-finding exercise aimed at generating recommendations to 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  A Vancouver Police officer who accompanied

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An Ontario Conservative senator visiting the Lower Mainland for Lunar New Year festivities held a ceremony Jan. 23 in a Richmond dance school to recognize members of an organization that promotes the Chinese government. 

Senator Victor Oh awarded 24 people the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee medal to “recognize some of our community’s most-outstanding citizens, who have contributed so much to this great country, Canada.”

Senator Victor Oh honours Wang Dianqi, honorary chair of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, at a Jan. 23 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee award ceremony in Richmond. (China.Canada.Com)

In Mandarin, he also said he hoped Canada and China would resolve their differences this year. 

Among those honoured at the Stage One Academy were the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations chair Xue Xiaomei and past chairs Wang Dianqi, Yongtao Chen and Miaofei Pan. 

The CACA website says the organization actively participates in activities of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front foreign influence program. 

Wang and Chen both attended official Beijing celebrations for 70 years of CCP rule in 2019. Pan hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at his Shaughnessy mansion in 2016 for a controversial private fundraiser. 

A former Canadian diplomat who served at the embassy in Beijing said it is unusual for a federal government function in Canada to occur mainly in Mandarin. 

“There is no explanation as to why these Canadians have been singled out for this honour,” said Charles Burton, a fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. “It does call into question whether our late sovereign’s prestige is being manipulated to dignify people whose service on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department-supported organizations has been of benefit to the Chinese authorities’ global agenda more than to Canada.”

Oh is a native of Singapore with a background in real estate development who was appointed to the senate in 2013 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In 2020, the Senate Ethics Officer found Oh broke conflict of interest rules for accepting a free 2017 trip to China.

Oh did not respond to email or phone messages. 

Oh also held an awards ceremony in October in Toronto for 60 recipients, including Hazel McCallion, the former longtime mayor of Mississauga. 

Keith Roy, the Western Canada regional coordinator for Monarchist League of Canada, said the federal government broke from tradition and did not produce a national medal to honour deserving Canadians during Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th anniversary year. Six provinces created their own medals, but B.C. was not among them. Roy said some Senators and Members of Parliament took it upon themselves to hold their own ceremonies, but wonders if they are actually vetting recipients on the basis of merit.  

Charles Burton (MLI)

“Anytime that we’re celebrating good in our community in the name of the late Queen, I’m going to be supportive of it, but I have some concerns that this has been turned into a partisan initiative,” Roy said. 

On Saturday, Oh joined People’s Republic of China Consul-General Yang Shu, heads of CACA and allied organizations at the Central Walk Tsawwassen Mills shopping centre for an indoor festival on the eve of the Year of the Rabbit. 

Both the Canadian and Chinese anthems were played at the opening ceremony. There were no politicians from Delta council or the Tsawwassen First Nation in attendance. On the Central Walk website, mall owner Weihong Liu boasts membership in several CCP-affiliated organizations.

Burton said Lunar New Year and Spring Festival are wonderful ethnic celebrations shared with fellow Canadians by people from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia and they should not be politicized by a national anthem or flag display.

Senator Victor Oh honours Xue Xiaomei, chair of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, at a Jan. 23 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee award ceremony in Richmond. (Canada.China.Com)

“I just don’t think that we should be supporting the idea that the Chinese embassies and consulates here in Canada represent the Canadian Chinese community,” he said.

Oh is not the only senator who has attracted attention lately. When the Chinese consulate hosted its Lunar New Year event on Jan. 16, the most-senior Canadian politician was Yuen Pau Woo, the senator Trudeau appointed in 2016 to represent B.C.

“We cannot have a prosperous Canada, we cannot have a peaceful country or a peaceful world without good relations with the People’s Republic of China,” Woo said in an interview with pro-Beijing Phoenix TV. “And we must find a way to talk to them, to work out some very difficult problems in the world today.” 

Burton called such comments totally inappropriate for a Canadian politician, especially since China’s leader Xi Jinping has done nothing to stop ally Vladimir Putin and Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine.

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Bob Mackin An Ontario Conservative senator visiting the

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When Vancouver Police Department Const. Nicole Chan sought compensation in July 2018, she described how she could not work due to the toll of intimate relationships with two senior officers between spring 2016 and fall 2017.

The statement to WorkSafeBC was read Jan. 25 at the Coroner’s inquest into Chan’s Jan. 27, 2019 suicide. Presiding coroner Susan Barth and a five-person jury are approaching the halfway point of a hearing that began Monday in Burnaby Coroners’ Court, to gather facts and make recommendations aimed at preventing a similar tragedy.

Late VPD Const. Nicole Chan (Legacy.com)

Sgt. David Van Patten, according to Chan’s statement, had told her on numerous occasions that they needed to have sex in order to relieve his stress, and “then, if I helped him, he knew many powerful people at VPD who could help me get ahead.”

Van Patten had access to Chan’s human resources files, including medical information. In May 2016, the statement said Chan was removed from active duty for six-to-seven months after sending texts to Van Patten and her partner, Const. Shawn Hardman, about feeling suicidal. She said Van Patten referred her to psychologist Dr. Randy Mackoff, but told her not to tell him about their relationship or how poorly she was really feeling, because it would impact the future of her career in the force. 

While still off active duty, in about August or September 2016, the statement said Van Patten became aware Chan was having a sexual relationship with another officer and he obtained that officer’s phone under false pretences. 

“[Van Patten] made a video with his phone of the messages between me and the other member, including nude photos of me,” Chan wrote. “Van Patten threatened to expose me and the other member to our spouses with the video.”

Chan said that Van Patten asked her to come to his home to discuss the video and told her he would feel better about it if they had sex. She feared he would disclose the video, so succumbed to his wishes. “I felt coerced into having sex and continuing the relationship with Van Patten.”

After returning to work on light duties, Chan said Van Patten asked her to come to his office, where they had sex on several occasions. She asked him repeatedly to delete the video from his phone. “I felt that I had to continue our sexual relationship until he deleted it.”

Chan also recounted the relationship with another senior officer, Sgt. Greg McCullough. 

“McCullough knew or should have known that I was not capable of voluntarily consenting to the sexual relationship, and that it was detrimental to my mental health,” Chan wrote.

(WorkSafeBC)

She provided WorkSafeBC an email that McCullough sent to her and another woman on April 30, 2018. 

“Nicole, I only wanted to help you get better and instead have done the opposite,” said the McCullough email. “We became emotionally and then physically involved, I should have known better than to let this happen, when what you needed most of all, was a true friend.”

Chan was of the belief that McCullough was the one person who understood what she was going through.

“He had experienced dealing with depression, had experienced suicidal thoughts, and I believed he had significant military training, dealing with PTSD and depression. I thought I could trust him because of this. And because he was my supervisor, I had confided in McCullough, about having sex with Van Patten. And McCullough told me that he did not think the situation with  Van Patten was healthy for me.” 

Neither McCullough nor Van Patten are scheduled to testify, despite being disciplined for their relationships with subordinate Chan. VPD fired Van Patten in January 2020 after an Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner investigation. McCullough was suspended, but retired in 2018. 

Psychologists and psychiatrists who treated Chan testified Wednesday that she was estranged from her mother and that her father died when she was 19.

The relationships with McCullough and Van Patten worsened her depression and anxiety to the point where she was often suicidal. She was tearful and angry at times during counselling sessions, because she was unable to work. Meanwhile, the two senior officers carried on in their jobs without any accountability. 

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Bob Mackin When Vancouver Police Department Const. Nicole

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Bob Mackin

Elections BC has fined a Duncan organization $750 for not registering as a third-party before last fall’s local government elections. 

A Jan. 24 enforcement notice to Cowichan Works chair Bryan Danilyw and director Patrick Hrushowy said the group spent almost $3,500 to print and distribute 15,000 postcards mailed at the end of last August. The cards did not name either real estate agent Danilyw or Hrushowy, a veteran lobbyist.

Elections BC director of investigations Adam Barnes (LinkedIn)

“The cards were branded as coming from Cowichan Works, included the organization’s website address, an email address and indicated ‘Local politicians are out of touch, putting Cowichan in crisis’,” said the enforcement notice from investigator Adam Barnes.

Elections BC had dismissed an Aug. 5 complaint that Cowichan Works was conducting election advertising without being registered, because it did not meet the legal definition of sponsored advertising. Based on its website, however, Elections BC suggested in an Aug. 8 email that Cowichan Works may need to register as a third-party because the pre-campaign period opened July 18. 

Danilyw replied Aug. 19 that Cowichan Works was “not positioning itself to be a third party sponsor for any candidates,” but instead encouraging residents to understand the importance of voting in the upcoming election. 

Elections BC received a complaint on Sept. 6 about the Cowichan Works mailing and indicated the next day that Cowichan Works was required to register as a third party. The next week, Elections BC requested copies of invoices and the original ads. 

“While the advertisements did not specify which local politicians were ‘out of touch’, they were clearly opposed to the existing council members in the region, and they were sponsored in that Cowichan Works paid to print and distribute the ads,” Barnes wrote. “Cowichan Works distributed the cards during the pre-campaign period, and was not a registered third party advertiser prior to distribution as required by [the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act].”

Cowichan Works finally registered on Dec. 22 — more than two months after the election — at the request of Elections BC. If that had not occurred, Barnes would have recommended an adjudicator impose a fine between $1,000 and $3,000.

(Elections BC)

The $750 fine against Cowichan Works is the biggest since October, when Elections BC announced two $500 fines against Pacific Prosperity Foundation, which does business as the Pacific Prosperity Network. The Chip Wilson-supported dark money political action committee was cited for unregistered third-party advertising on Facebook last August against Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart and the NDP candidate in the Surrey South provincial by-election. 

Also Wednesday, Elections BC fined Keith Goforth $300 for placing anonymous flyers on cars outside the Oct. 4 Creston candidate forum.

After a complaint, Goforth told Elections BC he spent $72.75 and distributed 80 of the 300 flyers which promoted 10 candidates for regional district and town council.

Barnes decided on the $300 fine because the potential reach of the 80 flyers was insignificant and Goforth agreed to register as a third-party sponsor during the investigation. 

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Bob Mackin Elections BC has fined a Duncan

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Real estate developers and lobbyists were prominent donors to David Eby’s campaign for NDP leadership, according to the premier’s finance report to Elections BC. 

Eby succeeded John Horgan by default after the party board disqualified challenger Anjali Appadurai Oct. 19 for fraudulent memberships and collusion with environmental charities.

David Eby and John Horgan (BC Gov/Flickr)

The Jan. 24 disclosure shows that Eby spent $338,173.65 of the $383,570.27 in donations raised. Elections BC capped individual donations in 2022 at $1,309.09.

The list includes a total $6,359.09 from Giulio, Marcello, Morris, Paolo and Rossano De Cotiis, members of the family behind Onni and Amacon. Amacon’s director of business development, Stepan Vdovine, donated $1,300. 

Other real estate players included Polygon Homes chair Michael Audain and Nch’Kay Development Corp. director Mike Magee ($1309.09 each), Jameson’s Anthony Pappajohn and Thind Properties’ CEO Daljit Thind and COO Paul Thind ($1,000 each), Raymond Louie of Coromandel Properties Ltd. and Daisen Gee-Wing of Canadian Metropolitan Properties ($500 each).

Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc. lobbyist Katie Shaw of Earnscliffe and Rogers Communications lobbyist Angela Valentini gave $1,309.09 each. 

FortisBC and GCT Global Container Terminals lobbyist Gurpreet Vinning of Prospectus Associates and Jeff Guignard of B.C.’s Alliance of Beverage Licensees donated $1,300 and $1,000, respectively.

Other lobbyists of note were Canadian Home Builders’ Association of B.C. representative David Bieber of Counsel Public Affairs ($600) and Craig Keating of Strategies 360, the former NDP president who represents the Small Housing BC Society ($500).

Former Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart and Joel Solomon, the Hollyhock chair emeritus and member of the University of B.C. board, both gave Eby’s campaign the $1,309.09 maximum. 

Phantom Creek Estates winery owner Jiping Bai ($1,300), Omni TV producer and Rise Media commentator Guo Ding ($1,250), labour mediator Vince Ready ($800), and the NDP-appointed BC Ferry Authority chair Lecia Stewart ($500) were also listed. 

Eby’s campaign spent almost half the donations on professional services ($90,688.82) and salaries and benefits ($76,200.00) combined.

Of the $36,574.35 spent on advertising, $23,123.54 went to in-person or mobile phone canvassing.

Eby racked-up $13,807.26 in personal expenses, including $7,950.76 for air travel, $2,743.73 in vehicle expenses and $1,902.67 for accommodation.

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Bob Mackin Real estate developers and lobbyists were

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Almost a year after forming a company to organize illegal roadblocks, a leader of three climate change protest brands pleaded guilty to five mischief charges Jan. 23 in Vancouver Provincial Court.

Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq faces possible deportation (Save Old Growth)

Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq, a student from Pakistan, was scheduled to go on trial for mischief related to the July 24, 2021 Extinction Rebellion (ER) protest that blocked the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver.

He pleaded guilty to that incident and for blocking the Cambie Bridge on March 27, 2021, Granville Bridge on May 2, 2021, the intersection of Georgia and Burrard streets on Oct. 16, 2021, and the Templeton Street and Grant McConachie Way intersection leading to Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 25, 2021. 

Haq’s next court date is Feb. 9 for a pre-sentence report.

Just over two months ago, on Nov. 15, Haq pleaded guilty to mischief under $5,000 and breach of a release order. He had been charged for failure to comply with bail conditions after the Stop Fracking Around (SFA) anti-pipeline protest march blocked Cambie Bridge traffic on Aug. 15.

On Jan. 27, 2022, Haq and four others incorporated Eco-Mobilization Canada, a federal not-for-profit behind the ER splinter group Save Old Growth (SOG). In 2022, there were 48 arrests leading to charges for 34 individuals of the group whose tactics have failed to convince the NDP government to stop old growth logging. 

In the December sentencing of a Vancouver schoolteacher, Judge Nancy Adams said it is not the message of SOG protesters that is wrong, but their methods, which put both protesters and public in danger. She fined Deborah Sherry Janet Tin Tun $1,000 and sentenced her to 18 months probation after she “usurped public infrastructure in order to extort a democratically elected government to do something”

SOG’s website says the group receives most of its funding for recruitment, training, capacity building and education from the Climate Emergency Fund, which disbursed US$5.3 million to 43 protest groups around the world last year. The New York Times quoted Haq last summer saying that SOG had received US$170,000 in grants from the California-based charity. 

Last June, Canada Border Services Agency held Haq in custody for violating the terms of his Simon Fraser University student visa. Neither CBSA nor the Immigration and Refugee Board commented after a closed-door hearing. He resurfaced in August as the central coordinator of SFA. Activists from the anti-fracking campaign have sought media attention for their cause by vandalizing the Gastown Steam Clock, Olympic cauldron and an Emily Carr painting at Vancouver Art Gallery. 

In February 2022, Haq spent nine days in jail for contempt of court after blocking a Trans Mountain Pipeline construction site in September 2021. Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick’s verdict said that Haq had been protesting in his role as the national action and strategy coordinator for ER. 

Fitzpatrick expressed concern about Haq’s comments in the media about the potential for violence stemming from the pipeline, after he called government actions “treason.”

In an Instagram video shot outside the North Fraser Pretrial Centre after his release, Haq joked about spending his time in jail watching Seinfeld reruns. He also suggested Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be tried and sentenced for crimes against humanity. 

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Bob Mackin Almost a year after forming a

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That Hal Laycoe became the first ex-coach of the Vancouver Canucks on May 2, 1972 wasn’t a big surprise. 

Under Laycoe for their first two NHL seasons, the Canucks went 44-96-16. They were, after all, the only western franchise in the tough East division, playing against five of the original six franchises and fellow 1970 entrant Buffalo Sabres.

Rick Tocchet (left), Patrick Alvin and Jim Rutherford (Canucks/YouTube)

With Vic Stasiuk replacing him, Laycoe got kicked upstairs to the front office. The vice-president of player development and scouting became general manager in 1973. 

When Stasiuk was introduced, reporters of the day noted that owner Tom Scallen was absent from the news conference. 

Just like today’s owner, Francesco Aquilini, when Rick Tocchet replaced Bruce Boudreau on Jan. 22, the latest in the Canucks’ history of dubious departures. 

November 22, 1984

Roger Neilson was shown the door Jan. 18, 1984, about a year-and-a-half after he famously guided the suspended Harry Neale’s team to the Stanley Cup finals, losing to the New York Islanders in a sweep. Later in 1984, Neilson sued the Canucks for $53,500 for breach of contract. 

Neale stepped back behind the bench, but hired Bill LaForge in the off-season. The 32-year-old NHL rookie was famous for his “Pride, Hustle, Desire” mantra. 

But the Canucks began the season pitiful and hapless, with 14 defeats in 20 games. So Neale fired LaForge and returned to coaching after a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues in the half-empty Pacific Coliseum.

Neale got the axe at the end of the season, which was the club’s worst yet.

Francesco Aquilini (left) and Premier John Horgan in Abbotsford in 2021 (BC Gov/Flickr)

Nov. 4, 1997

Seattle’s McCaw family invested some of their cell phone profits into the Canucks when the Griffiths family felt the pinch of downtown arena construction cost overruns and the Grizzlies’ exorbitant NBA expansion fees. 

By 1996, the McCaws had bought out the Griffiths. Former BC Gas CEO Stephen Bellringer had been installed as the CEO of Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment. When the Canucks started the 1997-1998 season at 3-10-2, Bellringer fired president Pat Quinn rather than head coach Tom Renney during a seven-game losing streak. 

The mighty, beloved Quinn had been a member of that original 1970 team under Laycoe, the team’s “super boss” since 1987 and head coach of the 1994 Stanley Cup finalist who hired, fired and replaced coaches Bob McCammon and Rick Ley. 

Renney was next, nine days later. His replacement, Mike Keenan, was reunited with the Canucks’ controversial offseason free agent acquisition, Mark Messier. 

Jan. 24, 1999: 

More change at Griffiths Way. After Keenan’s first year as both head coach and de facto general manager, Brian Burke, Quinn’s understudy in 1987, had returned to the Canucks on June 23, 1998 to fill Quinn’s shoes. 

Under Keenan, the Canucks traded away fan favourites from the machine Quinn built, including Trevor Linden and Kirk McLean. Under Burke, Pavel Bure was dealt to the Florida Panthers on Jan. 17, 1999 in a blockbuster trade involving six players and two draft picks changing coasts. 

A week later, Keenan was gone, replaced by Marc Crawford, the former Canuck who coached the Colorado Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup championship in 1996.

The Canucks finished last-place in the Western conference, out of the playoffs for the third straight season. The highlight of the off-season proved the saying that it’s darkest before dawn.

With the second and third picks in the June 26, 1999 draft, the Canucks picked the Sedin twins. 

July 25, 2018

Owner Francesco Aquilini went to Twitter to say that Trevor Linden had “stepped down” as president of hockey operations, a role the team’s greatest captain had occupied since April 2014.  

Bruce Boudreau (Canucks/YouTube)“He’s looking forward to pursuing other opportunities and spending time with his family,” Aquilini Tweeted, leaving many Canucks’ fans confused.   

The move made Jim Benning the head of hockey operations, reporting directly to the Aquilinis. 

“Jim and Travis Green will continue rebuilding the team as per the plan we have in place. A new president will be named in due course.” 

Aquilini said he had one unfulfilled dream: “I want to bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver.”

Jan. 22, 2023

That dream remains unfulfilled. 

The Benning and Green era ended Dec. 5, 2021. Bruce Boudreau replaced Green the next day, and Jim Rutherford as president three days after that. 

The Canucks were a different team under modest, easy-going Boudreau, racking up pre-Christmas wins. Fans chanted “Bruce (There It Is)” a la one-hit wonder Tag Team’s “Whoomp (There It Is).” 

Boudreau lasted 412 days — less than Keenan’s 436. No tears were shed when Keenan departed. Different story for both Boudreau and Canucks’ faithful the night before Rutherford fired him and introduced Rick Tocchet.

Two coaches whose career paths couldn’t have been more different.

In 1977, Boudreau had a bit part in the ultimate hockey movie Slap Shot. 

Tocchet pleaded guilty in 2007, and got two years probation, for conspiracy and promoting gambling in New Jersey, after an FBI sting code named “Operation Snapshot.” Commissioner Gary Bettman reinstated Tocchet almost nine months later, in February 2008. 

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Bob Mackin That Hal Laycoe became the first

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Almost three weeks before she died of suicide, a Vancouver Police Department constable’s impact statement accused a senior officer of ruining her personal life and law enforcement career.

Late VPD Const. Nicole Chan (Legacy.com)

At the Jan. 23 opening of a B.C. Coroners Service inquest in Burnaby, Jennifer Chan paraphrased from the Jan. 7, 2019 statement by her late sister, Nicole Chan. The 30-year-old described suffering depression and anxiety, and feeling unsafe because of a superior in the human resources section, Sgt. David Van Patten. She had lost her ability to concentrate and could no longer talk to criminals, one of her talents, and experienced flashbacks of coercion.

”She believes that it stems from the sexual assault inside David’s apartment and she’s unable to develop and maintain personal relationships because of that,” Jennifer Chan testified. “She felt that she’s tried her best with different kinds of sessions, going to see psychologists and taking courses and therapies to try and help herself recover. It also says that she’s a solutions-based person and not someone who gives up easily. 

“At the end, she’s really just kind of pleading for justice, and someone to help fight for her. There’s only one person and it’s ruined her personal and professional life, and she wanted to be a survivor and not another victim.”

Nicole Chan originally complained in 2017 to Chief Adam Palmer. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) was investigating Van Patten in December 2018 for discreditable conduct. In January 2020, nearly a year after Nicole Chan’s death, OPCC ordered the VPD to fire Van Patten for exploiting the power imbalance. 

Jennifer Chan said her sister often visited her while off-work. They would watch movies or go for dog walks, and Nicole told her “bits and pieces” of the case against some officers at work after she had been put on desk duty. 

“I thought an officer was blackmailing her to have sex with her basically, it’s my understanding, and I knew that the officer was in HR,” she said.

Nicole Chan left post-secondary schooling early in 2009 to pursue a career in policing, wanting to speak up for victims. She initially worked in the police jail cells and had ambitions of joining the emergency response team. She became a full-time officer two years later in 2011.

“She just wanted to be able to do right in the world,” Jennifer Chan said.

In early 2019, she said her sister was on a rollercoaster of emotions, feeling isolated and helpless, experiencing gossip at work and felt the union could not help, because her superiors were also members. She filled her time pursuing hobbies, like making dog collars. 

“She would talk to me about like, oh, I don’t know, what should I do next? Like, should I open a coffee shop or something out of the VPD world, I suppose. Because she didn’t feel like she could go back.”

Jennifer Chan recounted Jan. 26, 2019, when she received a call while attending a nighttime event at the Vancouver Aquarium with her partner. Nicole’s boyfriend said that she had locked herself in a bathroom at their residence in the Olympic Village and had the means to injure herself. 

“Eventually, I did get her on the phone, I think just for a brief minute and she kind of brushed it off like, ‘oh, I’m fine, we’re just having a fight.’ Like, I’ll talk to you later, kind of thing. And that’s pretty much the end of the phone call and that was actually the last time I talked to her.”

The mental health unit took Nicole to a hospital under the Mental Health Act. When Jennifer tried texting and calling Nicole the next morning, Jan. 27, 2019, there was no reply. A friend helped call around to hospitals to locate her ailing sister to no avail.

“We didn’t hear anything back, we didn’t know anything, basically, until later on that afternoon when Chief Adam Palmer and another constable came by my house and notified me that Nicole had passed away,” Jennifer Chan said. “And that’s when I learned that she actually passed away in the morning.”

Presiding coroner Susan Barth and the five-person jury also heard that Nicole Chan had prior suicide attempts, including an off-duty vehicle crash in 2012 and an incident in Bellingham, Wash. in 2016. 

Thirty-two witnesses were scheduled through Jan. 30. The list does not include Palmer, who sent lawyers David McKnight and Naomi Krueger. Also missing from the list are Van Patten and another former officer, Sgt. Greg McCullough, who had a relationship with Chan in 2015 and resigned after a suspension. 

Sgt. Cory Bech is scheduled to testify on Jan. 26. The Chan family’s lawsuit against the VPD and several officers alleges that Bech recruited Chan to join the force and had a sexual relationship with her. 

The objective of a coroner’s inquest is not to find fault, but to find facts and make recommendations to prevent deaths. 

  • 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 Almost three weeks before she died

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Bob Mackin

Another Coast Mountain bus window was destroyed, a year after a spate of pellet gun attacks in the Downtown Eastside.

A large hole was visible in a passenger side upper window of a route 210 bus after a post-11 a.m. incident Jan. 21 on Pender between Main and Columbia in Chinatown. TransLink spokesperson Dan Mountain deferred comment to police.

Metro Vancouver Transit Police officers responded to a report of a bus window struck “with a high velocity projectile,” said Const. Amanda Steed. 

“There were no reports of passengers being injured.”

Vancouver Police Department later took conduct of the investigation. 

“Thankfully, there were no injuries,” said VPD Sgt. Steve Addison. “We have not yet determined from where the BB gun was fired.”

There is no indication yet that this incident is connected to the pellet gun shooting of a bus two weeks ago on Jan. 7 or the series of shootings from Jan. 19-29, 2022, all in the Downtown Eastside.

William Frank Dale Tallio, 43, was charged last August with 11 counts of mischief and 11 counts of possession of a weapon after 26 buses were shot.

Tallio’s next appearance is Feb. 1 in Vancouver Provincial Court. 

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Bob Mackin Another Coast Mountain bus window was

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of Jan. 22, 2023: 

Kennedy Stewart is back.

At Simon Fraser University, that is.

Three months after Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver defeated him in the Vancouver mayoral election, Stewart has resumed his career as a political science professor as the new director of the Centre for Public Policy Research. He is also finishing a manuscript for a book called “Decrim: How We Decriminalized Drugs in British Columbia.” 

On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, hear Stewart reflect on the ups and downs of his term in office and last year’s campaign. 

Plus, remembering Gino Odjick, who died Jan. 15 at age 52.

Jeff Sandes covered the Vancouver Canucks for United Press International when Odjick debuted in the National Hockey League in 1990. He joins the podcast to ponder Odjick’s legacy.

Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines. 

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

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For the week of Jan. 22, 2023:  Kennedy

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