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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.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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