Month: August 2016

Province invests $36,000 in trades training at Burnaby School District 41

BURNABY – The Province announced today that it has invested, through

the Industry Training Authority (ITA), $36,000 in the Burnaby School

District for skills training seats in the district’s Community and

Continuing Education program.

 

The investment will fund 32 Landscape Horticulturist seats in School

District 41 through to March 31, 2017.

 

The funding is part of the ITA’s allocation to B.C. post-secondary

institutions and training providers to run various training programs

throughout the province.

 

“Apprentices and their educators are an invaluable part of our

province’s economy. They help fill our labour market demands and keep

our economy diverse and strong. I am happy to see that School District

41 has been recognized as a part of this winning solution for B.C.’s

economy,” says Richard T. Lee, MLA for Burnaby North.

 

This investment is in addition to two recent funding announcements for

Burnaby: $18 million to fund 6,769 skills training seats at the B.C.

Institute of Technology; and $323,000 to fund 160 seats at the

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115.

 

In response to the objectives outlined in B.C.’s Skills for Jobs

Blueprint and the McDonald Report, the B.C. government has worked in

partnership with the ITA to begin building a demand-driven trades

training system with funding aligned to specific in-demand trades.

 

The provincial government invests more than $94 million annually in

industry training through the ITA. The ITA leads and co-ordinates

British Columbia’s skilled trades system by working with employers,

employees, industry, labour, training providers and government to issue

credentials, manage apprenticeships, set program standards and increase

opportunities in the trades.

Overnight shooting in Abbotsford a targeted event

Abbotsford: On August 18, 2016 just after 9:00 pm, the Abbotsford Police Department responded to a report of shots fired in the 3100 block of Crown Court, Abbotsford.  Upon police attendance, a male victim was located who had suffered gunshot wounds.

Police performed first aid on the male victim until members of the BC Ambulance Service attended and took over the victim’s treatment.  The victim was transported to hospital but succumbed to his injuries just before 10:00 pm, and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called to take conduct of the investigation.

IHIT investigators are working closely with the Abbotsford Police Department, the APD forensics unit, the Coroner’s Service to examine the evidence collected, and to ensure a thorough investigation is completed and that nothing is overlooked.  The 3100 block of Crown Court will be cordoned off for undetermined amount of time.

The investigation is in its infancy but from the evidence gathered so far, the homicide appears to be a targeted shooting and not a random act of violence.  The male victim is known to police, but the next of kin has not been notified and the victim’s name cannot be released.

Cpl. Meghan FOSTER of IHIT says, “It’s too early to tell if the homicide is linked to an ongoing conflict, but those who chose to engage in a criminal lifestyle should be aware that they are not immune to the dangers and risk associated to it.”

IHIT is asking anyone with information to contact the IHIT Tipline at 1-877-551-4448, or if you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers.

Help identify suspects in residential break and enter

Surrey RCMP is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying suspects in a residential break and enter captured on surveillance cameras. (see YouTube video)

On April 20, 2016 at 11:30am, two suspects, a male and female, attended a residence in the 10000 block of  127A Street in Surrey. The female knocked and unsuspecting occupants opened the door. The male suspect then forced his way into the home and threatened the occupants with a weapon. The male and female suspects fled in a silver Volkswagen Beetle after robbing the occupants. No one was physically harmed during the incident.

The male suspect is described as dark-skinned,  30-40 years old, with a thin build and short, black receding hair. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a white pattern or writing, grey denim jeans, and grayish deck-style shoes. The male spoke Fiji Hindi .

The female is described as a fair-skinned Caucasian, 25-35 years old, with a medium build and shoulder length, brown, curly/frizzy hair.  She was wearing a grey tank top, denim jeans with a large hole torn in the left knee and pointed flaps covering the back pockets, and distinctive off-white and tan coloured boots with 1/2 inch raised heels .

The Volkswagen is a 1998-2005 silver Volkswagen Beetle with 6-spoke wheels .

“If you know these people, please contact the Surrey RCMP,” says Corporal Scotty Schumann. “Remember to exercise caution when strangers come to your door. Keep your doors and ground floor windows locked even when you are home.”

Anyone with more information is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers, if they wish to remain anonymous, at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca.

Search continues in Cheam mountain range for missing hiker, support pouring in

Vancouver, BC, Canada / News Talk 980 CKNW

As officials continue to search for a missing Delta hiker, messages from those who know him continue to pour in on social media.

One friend’s message says they are praying for him, while another says he is missed and loved by many.

Friends say 50-year-old Gordon Sagoo is an experienced hiker.

Edwin Kumar says Sagoo is versed in trail running, mountaineering, and ultra running.

Sagoo was last seen hiking Baby Munday Peak in the Cheam Mountain range on Sunday.

A go-fund-me page has been set-up to benefit the rescuers who are out searching for him, with nearly $6,000 already raised.

There is also a Facebook page set-up for Gordon.

As the search continues, friends on social media are tweeting in support of Mounties and Chilliwack Search and Rescue to bring the man home.

Edwyn Kumar has been friends with Sagoo for 5 years and they often run and hike together, calling him an avid hiker.

On the particular trail Sagoo was on near the Chilliwack river Valley, Kumar says that was a new route for him.

“Kind of a new area for him, some of the lower areas of Chilliwack trails he has explored, but he had the GPS coordinates of where he wanted to go. He was with friends, from talking with them as well, he wasn’t really that far out of sight.”

He was last seen while hiking Baby Munday Peak in the Cheam mountain range on Sunday.

Why bigger isn’t better in weight training

MONTREAL GAZETTE

When it comes to building muscle in the weight room, size doesn’t matter. So before you grab the biggest weight in the rack, consider the latest study from McMaster and Waterloo universities, stating muscle size and strength are not related to the size of the weight lifted.

That’s a bold statement considering the long-held belief that the heavier the load, the bigger the muscles. But the Canadian researchers took tradition to task and found that lifting smaller weights for more repetitions was as effective at building muscle as lifting heavier weights for fewer repetitions, as long as the muscle was appropriately fatigued by the end of the last rep of the set.

To be clear, the definition of a heavy load is 70 to 85 per cent of one repetition maximum (the heaviest load that you can lift once). And the recommended number of repetitions of a heavy load, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, is eight to 12 reps for one to three sets.

Taking on the ACSM, not to mention the gym rats who are wary of change, is no small task, but there were inklings a few years ago that the ACSM’s recommendations are out of date. The McMaster researchers published a couple of studies in 2010 and 2012 that foreshadowed their latest results. This most recent study, published this year in the Journal of Applied Physiology, adds to the growing evidence that bigger isn’t better.

To prove their point, the researchers gathered 49 young men with at least two years of weight training experience, divided them into two groups — one high rep and one low rep — and sent them to the gym, where they worked out four days a week for 12 weeks.

The high-rep group performed three sets of 20 to 25 reps with a load that varied between 30 and 50 per cent of one repetition max (1RM), while the low-rep group performed three sets of eight to 12 repetitions with a load between 75 and 90 per cent of 1RM. The workout consisted of five exercises that targeted both upper and lower body muscles, and each of the subjects had their loads adjusted so that they reached muscular fatigue by the last rep of each set.

At the end of the 12-week program, there was little difference between the amount of muscle and strength gained in the two groups, with the exception of the bench press, where 1RM increased to a greater extent in the low-rep group.

Also worth noting is that there was no difference between the high- and low-rep groups in the surge of muscle-building hormones reputed to occur after a weight-training workout. This suggests that strength training does little to promote a hormonal-based increase in muscular size or strength.

Keep in mind that the results of this study are based on training to muscular fatigue, or what the authors call “muscular failure.” This term can be defined as occurring when exercisers are no longer able to perform an additional repetition while maintaining good form. Basic muscle physiology suggests that only when muscles are taken to full exhaustion do they adapt by building themselves back up bigger and stronger. So the lesson learned from these results is that your muscles don’t care what size weights you lift, as long as you lift enough weight often enough to reach muscular fatigue.

Why has it taken so long to make this discovery? The study’s authors suggest that most researchers use similar training volumes (total number of reps) when studying the effects of weight training, so it makes sense that heavier weights would produce greater muscular fatigue. But when the volume of training was based on the end goal of reaching muscular failure, with the low-weight group able to perform the extra reps necessary to fatigue the muscle, the results showed similar gains in muscle strength and size. In the McMaster study, the subjects in the high-rep/low-weight group performed 38 per cent more reps than the low-rep/high-weight group.

“We propose that exercising until volitional failure with adequate volume and load (between 30-90 per cent 1RM) will sufficiently activate muscle motor units, which drives skeletal muscle hypertrophy,” said the researchers.

How does this affect the average Joe and Jill’s gym workout? It suggests that anyone looking to build muscle size and strength should focus not on the heft of the weight or an associated recommended number of repetitions, but they should ensure that they perform enough repetitions to take the muscle to full fatigue or failure.

So whether you reach exhaustion doing 50 squats while holding a couple of dumbbells or by performing six squats using a bar loaded with as much weight as you can muster, your muscles will realize the same degree of adaptation. That’s good news for anyone who routinely tries to lift too much weight in an effort to gain the best results. Being more conservative in the amount of weight you lift reduces the risk of injury and ensures that you can maintain proper form throughout your workout — something your body will thank you for later.

By JILL BARKER

Canadian government pledges $35 million to fight radicalization

Katherine Wilton, Montreal Gazette

Ottawa will spend $35 million over five years to fund programs that reach out to vulnerable people open to radicalization in a bid to prevent terror attacks in Canada.

The federal government will establish a national centre for de-radicalization that will coordinate efforts across Canada to fight extremism.

Most of the money will go to groups and organizations at the community level that are best equipped “to intervene in the right way, with the right tools and at the right time,” Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale said on Monday.

Goodale visited Montreal’s de-radicalization centre to learn what the centre is doing to help young people who are vulnerable to extremism and violence.

Last week, police stopped an alleged terrorist attack by an Ontario man who had become radicalized. The FBI informed the RCMP about a martyrdom video that Aaron Driver made pledging allegiance to ISIS.

“The events of the last week or so have demonstrated in Canada that we need to get better and better and better at understanding and dealing with the serious issue of radicalization,”Goodale said.

More information about the national centre will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, federal officials are consulting experts in order to recruit the right people to work at the centre.
Herman Deparice-Okomba, Ph. D. Executive Director, Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, Martin Coiteux, Quebec's Minister of Public Security, Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, left to right, met at the centre in Montreal, on Monday, August 15, 2016.
Herman Deparice-Okomba, Ph. D. Executive Director, Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, Martin Coiteux, Quebec’s Minister of Public Security, Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, left to right, met at the centre in Montreal, on Monday, August 15, 2016. DAVE SIDAWAY/ MONTREAL GAZETTE

“We don’t have national coordination to bring all of this talent together and focus it on the problems where they exist,” Goodale said, adding that Ottawa wants to learn from experts in Montreal and Calgary, where anti-radicalization centres have already been established.

Ottawa will also consult experts in the United Kingdom and France “to make sure we tap into the best expertise wherever we can find it.”

Canada will have to become among the best in the world at dealing with radicalization and violence if it wants to maintain its “open, pluralistic and democratic society,” he said.

“We will be trying to ensure that we in Canada are among the best in the world at understanding radicalization: who is vulnerable to it, what causes it, what are the insidious messages that draw people in to this very perverse and damaging behaviour, and what are the techniques to counteract all of that negativity. What is the antidote to the poison?”

Police turn to public for help after four weekend shootings

Megan Gillis,Ottawa Citizen

Police are mobilizing every resource to investigate four shootings that happened on Sunday, including the nightclub killing of a known gang member in which an armed suspect is still at large, brass told a hastily arranged press conference Monday.

Potential links between the incidents of gunplay are being investigated and police are asking anyone with information to come forward – while promising to protect them from any retaliation – and reassuring all Ottawans that the city remains safe.

But in three decades of policing, Supt. Don Sweet said he doesn’t think he’s ever seen four shootings in the span of 12 or 13 hours.

Police rallied officers from forensics, guns and gangs, general investigations and patrol over multiple scenes with lots of evidence and witnesses, Sweet said.

He said he’s confident there will be an arrest soon in the homicide of Omar Rashid-Ghader, 33, who was shot multiple times inside the Sentral nightclub in the ByWard Market at about 3:20 a.m. Sunday.
A known association of the dead man, 28-year-old Mustafa Ahmed, is wanted for second-degree murder.

“He is considered armed and dangerous,” Sweet said. “Somebody knows where this person is. We have to get him off the street before any more damage occurs.”

Minutes after the killing, there was a drive-by shooting on Presland Road at Whitton Private. Two people were treated for minor injuries and released.

Another drive-by shooting happened at 5:15 a.m. in the 2600 block of Innes Road. No one was hurt when a house was shot at several times. Police believe it happened at a post-clubbing after-party but do not yet know if it’s related to the ByWard Market shooting.

Finally, shots were exchanged between two vehicles near Ogilvie Road and Cummings Avenue in Overbrook at 4:50 p.m. Police recovered an older-model silver Ford Mustang but are still looking for a grey Nissan Altima.

It is only sheer luck that no bystanders were hurt, Sweet said.

Repeatedly, he said that co-operation of victims was a “challenge” for police.

Chief Charles Bordeleau said that while he understands residents are concerned, the incidents were targeted shootings involving criminal activity and gang members.

“They are not random,” Bordeleau said at the Shaw Centre, where the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is holding its national meeting.

Bordeleau said that Ottawa is not alone as urban police forces see an increase in gang-related shootings. Ottawa police are working with the RCMP and border forces to stem the flow of smuggled handguns, such as a recent arrest of someone bringing the illegal guns through Cornwall to Ottawa.

Bordeleau urged any witnesses to come forward despite what he called legitimate concerns that have been expressed about retribution for going to police.

“We can do things to prevent that,” he said, urging anyone with information to “take that one step.”

The chief said that police are working to ensure that Ottawa, which will soon be the focus of the nation’s 150th birthday celebrations, remains a safe city.

“That’s not something we can do alone,” he said. “We need help from the community.”

Mayor Jim Watson said Monday the weekend shootings were alarming.

“There’s no question the situation on the weekend was very frightening and very disturbing. Even though Ottawa is a safe community by all standards in North America – one of the safest – when you see that kind of violence and murder and guns being shot randomly, that’s a concern,” Watson said.

It’s why police budgeted to hire 25 new officers this year and the city put more money into anti-gang initiatives, Watson said.
Watson is encouraging people to call police with any information to help investigators. Families should be pressured to find out if their children have guns, he said.

“If they know their child has a gun, they should be contacting the police. There’s no room for people to have handguns in an urban setting like the City of Ottawa,” Watson said.

“We are a safe city, but people don’t feel safe when they see this kind of brazen activity taking place in a crowded bar or residential street.”

Baby found dead in hot SUV after Texas dad forgets to drop son at daycare, leaves him in parking lot

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HELOTES, Texas — A six-month-old boy died after being left all day in a hot sport utility vehicle in a San Antonio-area Wal-Mart parking lot, authorities said.

His death brings the number of children who have died in hot cars in the U.S. this year to at least 27, including six in Texas, said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national child safety non-profit based in Philadelphia. That’s up from last year’s total of 15.

The baby’s father, who works at the store in the suburb of Helotes, told officers that he forgot to drop his son off at day care before going to work about 6:15 a.m. Friday, said Helotes police Capt. Anthony Burges. The father found his child dead after finishing work and returning to the SUV about 3 p.m.

Temperatures in the area hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit much of the afternoon.

The father was taken to a hospital after reporting chest pains, Burges said. No charges have been filed in the case. The name of the infant’s father has not been released by authorities.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office on Saturday identified the infant as 6-month-old Dillon Martinez from San Antonio. Helotes police had initially said the infant was 7 months old.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and data collected by San Jose State University, the number of children dying of heat stroke in automobiles began to rise following the widespread introduction of passenger-side air bags in the 1990s. An increase in air-bag related fatalities of children in front seats prompted parents to buckle their children in rear seats, but while air bag-related fatalities began to decrease by 2000, the number of children dying of heat stroke rose due to children in back seats being less noticeable to parents and caregivers, according to researchers at San Jose State University.

With the children strapped into the back seat, drivers can tend to forget them, Fennell said.

Fennell said the numbers of heatstroke deaths of kids in cars fluctuated in the following decades, averaging 37 such deaths a year since 1998. The worst year was 2010, with 49, according to both a count by Fennell and Jan Null, a research meteorologist at San Jose State University, who also tracks numbers.

This year, on Aug. 4, twin 15-month-old girls died after being found in the back seat of a hot SUV parked in front of a duplex car Carrollton in northwestern Georgia. When police arrived, they found people holding the girls in the water of a baby pool behind the duplex, some with ice packs, trying to cool the girls off.

The temperature inside a parked car on a 90-degree day will reach 119 degrees in 20 minutes and 133 degrees after an hour, Null said.

 

Parents should get into the habit of always opening their back doors when they leave the vehicle, according to Fennell. Leaving a purse or cellphone in the back seat can help. Parents also need to make sure their day care calls them if the child doesn’t show up, she said.

Surrey RCMP arrest six males allegedly linked to gun violence

Metro Vancouver — It was with “a joyful heart” that Surrey’s mayor joined the officer in charge of the Surrey RCMP on Monday to announce that police had made more headway in the fight against street-level gun violence in the city.

“Today is a day to say we’ve made another round of significant progress with these most recent arrests,” Linda Hepner told reporters.

On Friday, investigators arrested six males linked to a conflict over drug turf involving low-level members of two groups of dial-a-dopers.

Police released the names and photos of four men who have been arrested and charged. Baltej Singh Gill, 18, of Surrey, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit the indictable offence of recklessly discharging a firearm. Gill was previously arrested in connection with an unrelated incident and charged with four firearms offences. Himmat Singh Virk, 18, of Surrey, is charged with two counts of conspiracy. Randeep Singh Johal, 18, of Surrey, is charged with one count of conspiracy. Manpreet Michael Johal, 24, of Delta, is charged with two counts of conspiracy.

Also charged is a 16-year-old young offender, who cannot be named because he was under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offences. The Surrey youth is charged with four firearms-related offences. A sixth man — a 24-year-old from Surrey — has been arrested but has not yet been charged. His name was not released.

Assistant Commissioner Bill Fordy, who is also the acting officer in charge of Surrey RCMP, said the men were arrested after they were “strategically targeted” by police.

Investigators received information that individuals had plans to commit a drive-by shooting. Surrey RCMP teamed up with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit and Lower Mainland emergency response team to investigate and conduct the arrests.

“These arrests and charges stem from an ongoing investigation — a series of ongoing investigations that flow directly from shots fired complaints and incidents that have played out on our streets over the past five months,” Fordy said.

Fordy told reporters that he’s confident that there will be more announcements about arrests related to the conflict the coming months.

Public safety is a priority, Fordy said, and he believes these arrests have prevented further violence from playing out on Surrey streets, where there have been a total of 51 shootings — both related and unrelated to the conflict — since the beginning of 2016.

He said that since March, there have been 30 arrests related to the conflict. Fifteen firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition have been seized. He could not say how many charges have been laid against those individuals. Their cases are currently before the courts.

Hepner said the next step is for the courts to deal appropriately with those who are convicted of gun-related crimes in Surrey. She said she has spoken to federal and provincial politicians on the subject.

“I think that what is happening now on our streets is so unacceptable that when these folks get before the courts I hope the courts recognize the severity of a crime utilizing a gun on city streets and come down with a full — with some very significant acknowledgment in the punishment phase of this should all of those who are currently before the courts be found guilty,” she said.

Surrey-Tynehead MLA Amrik Virk, who is also a former police officer, said he thinks all people in society generally want to see the toughest possible sentence imposed.

“I expect the full weight of the law to come down upon these individuals,” he said.

Shouldn’t the seller have told you about the ghost in your new house?

STEPHEN MORANIS, FOR POSTMEDIA

Do you really believe in ghosts? Is this a deal breaker? Is the house that you purchased and are now moving into really haunted with ghosts and spirits? Because I am sure most people do not want to be celebrating Halloween every day.

This brings up the fundamental question of stigmatized properties: what are the disclosure requirements and ultimate ramifications of discovering peculiar or disturbing facts and circumstances about your new home? And what happens if you learn about them after you have already firmed up the purchase?

Of course, this all depends on who the buyers are and what their personal sensitivity is to these kinds of queasy, eerie and dramatic real life circumstances – or what are called stigmatizations – that may have occurred at some time in the home’s history.

Normally a buyer can investigate the neighbourhood by googling a number of sites that describe the quality of the schools, the safety of the community and availability of various features and amenities.

But what if something happened in the house or nearby that might be a psychological negative to you and your family? Would this be something that could affect the value of the property if it were widely known and disclosed?

Provincial real estate regulators have devised a common definition of stigma in the context of a real estate transaction. They describe it as a non-physical, intangible attribute of a property that may elicit a psychological or emotional response on the part of a potential buyer. These may have been an event or circumstance that occurred on or near the property that does not affect the property’s function or appearance, but might be considered by some as emotionally disquieting. Unlike a latent or patent defect like a wet basement or leaking skylight, there is nothing physically observable or measureable associated with a stigma.

Of course, real estate agents are required to attempt to uncover the facts of a property by doing their research and due diligence. The Realtors Code of Ethics requires agents to disclose material facts affecting the property to all of their customers and clients. But there seems to be no real estate case law that requires a seller or their representative to disclose the existence of a stigma to a potential buyer. For instance, what if the seller does not want their agent to disclose that there was a grizzly murder that had been committed in the house?

Other stigmatizations could be that the house was the scene of a death, suicide or violent crime. It may have been frequented by gangs or drug dealers, or perhaps at some point operated as a brothel, meth lab or marijuana grow op. None of these facts have to be disclosed by the agents and/or by the law. Agents typically will try their best to disclose all that they know and discover, but many of these events may have taken place 10, 20 or 50 years previously and it is sometimes hard to find all of this out now.

One of my best suggestions is to go to www.housecreep.com, a site that discloses murders and other serious occurrences that may have taken place in the home. It is a definite must-visit website as part of a home buyers’ own research when looking at prospective homes.

The principle “caveat emptor” is really in effect here: let the buyer beware. This is extremely risky and troublesome, especially if the stigma is one that is particularly disturbing to a potential buyer. It is so important to dig deep and find out what the full story is beneath the surface of the home. You need to be in tune as well with the surroundings, which could affect the value and safety of your purchase.

I can recall we once considered a home that was close to a hydro substation. My scientist wife insisted we dig deeper to see if there were any possible health effects. We found someone who measured EMFs (electric and magnetic fields) and discovered that the readings were very high. In addition, he told us about a Swedish study that linked high EMFs to cancer; because of this stigma, we took a pass on the home.

As a buyer, you must be thorough and relentless in uncovering as much as you can about any house you are considering for purchase. Besides the features and condition of the house, you must ensure that any concerns about safely, health and security are met, as well as uncover any stigmas which might prove troublesome to your psyche and ultimate peace of mind.

Stephen Moranis, B.Comm., MBA, FRI, CMR has been active in the North American Real Estate Industry for more than 40 years. He is a former President of the Toronto Real Estate Board and a former Director of the Canadian Real Estate Association.