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Police halt pro-Palestinian encampment at Quebec’s City’s Université Laval

By: Coralie Laplante

MONTRAL (CP) – Quebec City police say they have forced protesters to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment that was being set up on the grounds of Université Laval. 

The force said today that three people were given tickets and one was detained and taken to the police station to prevent a repeat offence. 

Police issued a statement saying they arrived on school property Saturday evening to find a protest involving about 30 people, including some who were setting up an encampment.

They say officers explained that the camp violates a municipal bylaw prohibiting people from setting up tents and other structures on public property without permission.

The Université Laval protesters are demanding the university disclose all its investments and partnerships that are linked to Israel, call for a ceasefire and denounce the Israeli state’s actions against the Palestinian people, and commit to divesting from companies complicit in what they call a genocide.

Last week, pro-Palestinian protesters at Université du Québec à Montréal agreed to dismantle their encampment in the coming days after the university adopted a resolution. Meanwhile, It’s a similar story at the University of Toronto, where an encampment has been in place since early May and is poised to remain as convocation ceremonies get underway on Monday. More than 30 ceremonies are scheduled to take place through June 21, and the university says all events will proceed as planned with extra precautions in place.


Expert to testify in Winnipeg trial about mental state of admitted serial killer

WINNIPEG (CP) – An admitted serial killer’s mental state is expected to be the focus of a murder trial that resumes in Winnipeg.

Jeremy Skibicki, who is 37, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg in 2022.

Crown prosecutors have said the killings were racially motivated and Skibicki preyed on the vulnerable victims at homeless shelters.

Skibicki’s lawyers admit he killed the women but argue he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

They are expected to start calling evidence, including their own expert, about Skibicki’s state of mind at the time of the slayings.

Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal also ordered Skibicki undergo a mental health assessment last month with a Crown-appointed expert.

The trial has so far heard that Skibicki assaulted his victims, strangled or drowned them and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins in his neighbourhood. Two were dismembered.

The killings came to light after the partial remains of Rebecca Contois, 24, were first found in a garbage bin in Skibicki’s neighbourhood in May 2022. More of her remains were discovered at a city-run landfill the following month.


A CBSA strike could soon snarl border traffic. Here’s what you need to know

By: Anja Karadeglija

OTTAWA (CP) – Just as the summer travel season gets into gear, Canadians and visitors could find themselves waiting in long lines at the border — delays that could also deal a blow to the economy. 

It all depends on what happens with a potential strike by workers at the Canada Border Services Agency, which could start as soon as Thursday. 

What’s going on?

More than 9,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada members who work for the CBSA, including border guards, have secured a strike mandate. The two sides go into mediation on June 3, and the union will be in a position to strike as of June 6. 

Union members could use work-to-rule, a tactic where employees do their jobs exactly as outlined in their contracts. 

Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University’s school of business, said that means a border crossing could take much longer than it usually does. That wouldn’t just be a problem for tourists, but disrupt the economy, given $2.5 billion a day in goods crosses the border, he said.

The Treasury Board says “employees in essential services positions must provide uninterrupted border services. They cannot work to rule and they cannot intentionally slow down border processing.”


Vancouver police arrest 14 pro-Palestinian protesters after rail lines blocked

By: Ashley Joannou

VANCOUVER (CP) – Police have arrested 14 people at a protest by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were blocking rail lines in Vancouver on Friday.

Cst. Tania Visintin said protesters who were blocking the Canadian National Railway lines in East Vancouver refused multiple requests to move and some “became hostile” with officers.

She said in a statement that more than three hours after police were called, 14 protesters were arrested for mischief and obstruction at 2:30 p.m. 

“Unlawful protests that block vital infrastructure put people’s safety at risk,”  said Visintin.

She said the police action was “to prevent a prolonged blockade” and also involved CN Police — the railway’s private police force — and Metro Vancouver Transit Police.

The protesters had earlier issued a news release showing people on the tracks, saying they were demanding sanctions against Israel over its actions in Gaza.


‘Surely the dumbest’: Tories, NDP sling mud amid squabbles over Speakers’ neutrality

OTTAWA (CP) – A third member of the House of Commons leadership team is in the hot seat as accusations fly over allegedly partisan online posts featuring MPs who sit in the Speaker’s chair. 

The squabbles over chair-holders’ neutrality — and parties’ hypocrisy — have been dominating the lead-up to a parliamentary summer break.

Conservatives are chiding the NDP for posting the title of assistant deputy Speaker Carol Hughes on a party website near donation buttons, and for touting her election to that position in a press release on its website nine years ago.

The Tories raised those concerns as they responded to the NDP’s own questions over the impartiality of the deputy Speaker, a Conservative MP.

Chris d’Entremont asserted he had no knowledge that a photo of himself in his Speaker’s robes had been used to advertise a Conservative riding event on social media, and promised the post would be deleted. 

That, in turn, came after Speaker Greg Fergus survived a third Conservative attempt to have him removed, over a post advertising a summer barbecue event that featured partisan language.

The veritable merry-go-round of dubious partisanship snipes at Speakers of all stripes shows no signs of stopping. 

The Liberal party apologized to Fergus over the post, which advertised his presence at the event but which his office said it did not approve. A motion to remove Fergus was defeated in the House of Commons, with the NDP and Liberals voting against.


Elenore Sturko leaves BC United party for Conservatives to ‘defeat the NDP’

VICTORIA (CP) – Another BC United member has left the party to join the Conservative Party of BC just months before the provincial election. 

Surrey South MLA Elenore Sturko says in a statement that she’s joining the provincial Conservatives to “rebuild the coalition that’s needed to defeat the NDP.” 

Her move comes after Lorne Doerkson, the former BC United caucus chair, defected from the official Opposition on Friday, and Sturko now brings the number of Conservative members in the legislature to four. 

The Conservatives rejected a proposal last month from BC United to create a “non-competition” agreement, with Conservative Leader John Rustad and BC United Leader Kevin Falcon blaming each other for the talks’ collapse.

Sturko says in her statement that it’s easy to ignore the polls, but it is impossible to dismiss what she’s hearing when she’s talking to voters. 

“In B.C., the big tent coalition wins elections, and has a record of delivering for British Columbians. I want to help John Rustad build that grassroots coalition of Conservatives, Liberals, and Independents into a winning team that can repair the damage caused by the NDP and their mismanagement and incompetence,” Sturko says in the statement. 

She says she doesn’t believe the New Democrat government deserves to win the next election, but when the vote is split between the BC United and Conservative parties, they are handing the NDP victory.


AFN national chief blasts governments’ inaction on fifth anniversary of MMIWG report

By: Alessia Passafiume

OTTAWA (CP) – The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations blasted all levels of government on Monday, the fifth anniversary of a national inquiry’s report into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, for what she calls slow progress to stop the crisis.

Only two of the more than 150 calls to action focused on First Nations people have been implemented since 2019, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said.

That’s despite constant calls from advocates for more funding from all levels of government for Indigenous housing, justice and programs for LGBTQ people that they say would keep women and girls safer.

“There is a long, winding road ahead to address and prevent all forms of gender-based violence,” she said Monday morning. 

“But together, with all Canadians, we remain hopeful that we can get there step by step.”

The 2019 inquiry concluded Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to go missing or murdered than their non-Indigenous counterparts.

The commission brought forward a total of 231 calls to action to help curb the epidemic.

The final report was the culmination of testimony from more than 2,380 family members, survivors, experts and knowledge-keepers over two years to understand the crisis and come together to form solutions. 


Ex-husband of murdered B.C. woman Tatjana Stefanski charged by police

VANCOUVER (CP) – Police in British Columbia have announced a murder charge against the ex-husband of Tatjana Stefanski, more than six weeks after she was reportedly abducted from her home in the village of Lumby and was later found dead.

RCMP said Vitali Stefanski was charged with her second-degree murder on Friday and was in custody, pending a court appearance.

Police said Tatjana Stefanski, 44, was reported to have been taken from her home on April 13, and her body was found in a rural area the next day.

They said in a statement that a man believed to be involved in her death was found in the vicinity of the body but was released with conditions while police continued investigating.

The release prompted weeks of concern in Lumby, an Interior community of about 2,000 people in the North Okanagan, with Tatjana Stefanski’s partner and two children going into hiding in fear for their safety.


B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton dead after prison assault in Quebec

By: Nono Shen and Chuck Chiang

VANCOUVER (CP) – Robert Pickton, one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, died on Friday, 12 days after he was assaulted in prison.

Pickton, an inmate at Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec, was 74.

For some, the death brings closure. But it also leaves open questions about the botched police investigation into Pickton, who was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder but was suspected of killing dozens more women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Correctional Service Canada said in a statement that Pickton’s next of kin had been notified of his death, as well as victims who registered to be informed.

Among them was Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister, Georgina Papin, was among the six women whose deaths resulted in Pickton’s life sentence.

Pickton chose his victims from society’s margins, women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, many of them Indigenous. He once bragged to an undercover officer that he had killed 49 women.

“This is gonna bring healing for, I won’t say all families, I’ll just say most of the families,” Cardinal said.

“Because they didn’t get their day in court, (that’s) what I’m really sad about. But I’m also feeling really happy right now,” said Cardinal.

“I’m like — wow, finally. I can actually move on and heal and I can put this behind me.”

Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is Canada’s independent national news agency.

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