On July 6, 2020, Adrian Crook won his battle for parents rights at the BC Court of Appeals, who slammed BC Child and Family Services for their bureaucratic overreach. “It’s a big relief, but also discouraging that it took so long," he said. "For over 3 years now I’ve lived with the threat, often literally a written or verbal threat from a social worker or Ministry Director, … [Read more...]
Teen Murders Teen in Saskatoon Days After Community Leaders Sign Deal for Youth Programs
On July 11, 2020, the body of 19-year-old Hailey Belanger-Weeseekase was found in a vehicle parked in an alley behind a Saskatoon apartment complex. The following day Saskatoon Police Service issued the following news release: On July 11, 2020 at 3:34 p.m., the Saskatoon Police Service attended to an apartment complex in the 3700 block of Diefenbaker Drive for the report of … [Read more...]
Is it Lawful to Resist an Unlawful Arrest?
Note: While I quote extensively from it here, Justice Fergus O’Donnell's decision in R. v. Duncan should be required reading for all of us, if only for the footnotes. It's also brilliant to read how skillfully this honourable judge essentially protected the defendant from himself. Abraham Lincoln, a crafty lawyer before he became an immortal president, said: … [Read more...]
Claira Janover: Personal Responsibility is Racist?
Whether Claira Janover was serious when she threatened "the next person who has the sheer nerve, the sheer entitled ‘caucasity,’ to say ‘All Lives Matter,’ I'mma stab you" or not, the cold hard reality is stupid actions have consequences. When grownups must face the consequence of their poor life choices they accept it, learn from it and move on. Children of all ages … [Read more...]
A Canada Day Like No Other
Happy Canada Day! This year's celebration of the birth of our country is unlike any Canada Day celebration in our history. For the very first time, we will celebrate Canada Day without, well, an actual celebration. So folks are doing what they can to keep that celebratory spirit alive in the absence of an actual party. Mark Strahl, Member of Parliament for … [Read more...]
Darius Sam – A Role Model for Our Time
A young man from Merritt, British Columbia, woke up one morning after another long night of drinking and took a hard look in the mirror. He didn’t like the person looking back at him. So he decided to change. Like many young people his age, Darius Sam spent a lot of time drinking too much and partying, indulging in the excesses of youth. It’s a natural part of growing … [Read more...]
Five Murdered University of Calgary Students Honoured by Quinterra Legacy Garden
Mass murderers leave legacies of evil behind. Their murder victims also leave legacies behind, but of a very different kind. The families of five University of Calgary students brutally stabbed to death on April 14, 2014 - Lawrence Hong, Josh Hunter, Kaitlan (Kaiti) Perras, Jordan Segura, and Zackariah Rathwell - came together to create monument to and a place of … [Read more...]
Dalien Illunga: Public Safety Cannot be Sacrificed on the Altar of COVID-19
“Public Safety Cannot be Sacrificed on the Altar of COVID-19.” – Justice Joseph De Filippis, R. v. Ilunga, 2020 ONCJ 270 On May 5, 2019, Dalien Ilunga, a 37-year-old immigrant from Congo, forced a young woman into his bedroom and raped her. Ilunga, who has a prior conviction for sexual assault, was already on probation for another assault, the probation … [Read more...]
Maryam Monsef: Minister of Women Slashes Funding to Women’s Shelters
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government keeps telling us how woke they are, how important women’s rights are, yet Maryam Monsef, Trudeau’s Minister of Women and Gender Equality, just slashed funding to programs designed to help abused women trapped in the world of human trafficking. Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC), said her … [Read more...]
Gun Bans in Canada’s Two-Tiered Justice System
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – George Orwell, Animal Farm “The Governor in Council is not of the opinion that any thing prescribed to be a prohibited firearm or a prohibited device, in the Annexed Regulations, is reasonable for use in Canada for hunting or sporting purposes...” – SOR/2020-96: The Liberal government's Order in … [Read more...]
RCMP and CBSA Contradict Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, RCMP Relents
Late Friday night the RCMP declared all 12-gauge and 10-gauge shotguns are legal "because we say so." Please read my assessment of Minister Blair's similarly worded legal advice on Facebook and Twitter at the end of this article. My thoughts there apply to the RCMP's latest as well. Friday was not a good day for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair. The Canadian … [Read more...]
Officer Down: RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson
This is part of my ongoing series Officer Down - in honour of police officers slain in the line of duty. RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson’s courage and bravery are exactly what we expect from RCMP members. She epitomized our national image of an RCMP officer, both on and off duty, and is rightfully being remembered as a hero. On April 19, 2020, 23-year veteran Constable … [Read more...]
BC’s Residential Tenancy Branch: Where the Rules are More Important Than People
At some point common sense must trump rigid bureaucrats and their blind obedience to the rules. That point won’t be today for landlord Jason Rivero who rented an apartment to, unknown to him, a convicted killer in November 2018. Alexander Tanasescu did not disclose his manslaughter conviction to Jason Rivero when he rent Rivero's apartment. On January 10, 2020, … [Read more...]
Peter Snelson – Rest in Peace
UPDATE 2020-03-11: Added video of Blaine Calkins' speech in the House of Commons memorializing Pete Snelson This is via the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. I've known Pete Snelson for the better part of two decades and, like so many of us in the battle for our rights and freedoms, never met him in person until about five years ago. When I did finally look … [Read more...]
John Williams – Rest In Peace
This is via the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of John Williams, owner of Williams Arms and a long-time friend of the CSSA. John is remembered by his loving family and all those who dealt with him in his many business ventures over the years. A kind and generous man, John was also a valiant warrior in our … [Read more...]
St. Louis Cop Nathaniel Hendren’s Penchant for Russian Roulette Kills Fellow Cop Katlyn Alix
Occasionally, people who should know better do really stupid things. Those stupid things can leave a person dead, as they did in the early morning hours of January 24, 2019. St. Louis Police Department officers Nathaniel Hendren and Katlyn Alix played a game of Russian Roulette at Hendren’s home. Katlyn Alix lost. On February 28, 2020, Nathaniel Hendren pleaded guilty … [Read more...]
Remembering Mayerthorpe RCMP’s Fallen Four
This is part of my ongoing series on Canadian Mass Murders. On March 3, 2005, a violent man with a long criminal history and a lifetime firearms prohibition order against him used an illegal gun to murder four RCMP constables in Mayerthorpe, Alberta. Anthony Fitzgerald Orion Gordon Lionide Nicholas Johnston Brock Warren Myrol Peter Christopher … [Read more...]
Antonio Sampogna: Licenced Gun Owner’s Choices Baffle Lawyers and Judges Alike
What makes a licenced gun owner, avid target shooter and hunter, decide selling guns to criminals is a good idea? That’s the unanswered question remaining after Antonio Sampogna was, on February 14, 2020, sentenced to five years in prison for a series of gun crimes. Sampogna was once a law-abiding man who, for reasons nobody understands, he chose to sell a gun and … [Read more...]
Officer Down: Truro Police Service Constable Catherine Campbell
When Catherine Campbell didn't show up for work on September 14th,2015, she was presumed missing by her employer, the Truro Police Service. They notified Halifax Regional Police and, together, launched an intense missing person search to locate her. Police quickly established the last time Campbell was seen alive was at a downtown Halifax bar the night of September … [Read more...]
Child Terrorizes Kansas School With Finger Gun
Zero-tolerance rules sound great on paper but they quickly devolve into mindless bureaucratic stupidity. The case of one 12-year-old girl attending Westridge Middle School in Overland Park, Kansas, epitomizes this insanity. On September 18, 2019, she held her hand in the shape of a gun, pointing it at four other students while saying bang, then repeating the same gesture to … [Read more...]