Yaletown shooting

CBC is reporting that after a man was shot near a Starbucks store in Vancouver this morning, the suspect was chased to Science World where shots were exchanged with police officers, leaving the suspect with a bullet wound and an officer with injuries from broken glass. Police said the shooting victim was a 52-year-old man. Several witnesses told CBC News that the victim was Paul Dragan, owner of the Reckless bike shop on Davie Street. Surprisingly enough this one doesn't sound gang related. It sounds like a crazed disgruntled employee. We had one of those on Vancouver Island not too long ago. Tragic. Yet the drug related shootings are avoidable.

Catherine Galliford and Grant Wakefield are Cousins

In the wake of the Jim Brown cover up hearing we find out that Catherine Galliford and Grant Wakefield are cousins. Catherine Galliford was the RCMP spokesperson during the Pickton arrest and the Air India scandal. After going public with her sexual harassment complaint several other female RCMP officers joined a class action law suit with Klein/Lyons. Catherine isn't part of the class action. She just has her own complaint that has fallen on deaf ears.

Grant Wakefild was the whistle blower that pointed out Jim Brown still had BDSM pictures on the Internet soliciting sexual partners who are into BDSM which the RCMP did nothing about. He claimed he was looking for a BDSM slave. That was on the public profile I saw. The RCMP had investigated it and did nothing about it so the media started making inquiries. After the public uproar the police launched a second bogus disciplinary hearing which was supposed to happen today but they aren't letting the public know anything about it.

It turns out these two stalwart individuals are cousins. When the RCMP illegally searched Grant's home he was asked about his cousin. That had nothing to do with the DVD they claimed they were looking for. The one they thought Jim Brown had that was pertinent to the Pickton investigation. Instead of searching Jim Brown's home for it they searched Grant Wakefield's home and seized his computer hard drive. They stole private property and have not returned it. That is theft. Sgt. Dave Chauhan's unprofessional conduct during that illegal search was disgusting.

CBC already reported on the disturbing abuse of power the RCMP exhibited when they illegally searched Grant Wakefield's home and stole his personal property. It had all the appearances of a cover up. Jim Brown erroneously sued Grant as well as Cameron Ward, the lawyer for the families of the missing women in the Inquiry for defamation. Jim Brown lied and said it was a private profile he posted pictures on which was false. I saw the public profile myself. I didn't have to log into anything to see it. The RCMP seized pictures from Grant's hard drive so he couldn't defend himself in that court action. They aided and abetted that disgusting cover up. Again.

Just as Stephen Harper slandered Catherine Galliford for being a whistle blower, Jim Brown slandered Grant Wakefield claiming he was some kind of fraudster. In reality Jim Brown admitted Grant Wakefield was employed as a police agent August 1999 on the Pickton farm. September his contract was terminated because the police "no longer considered Robert Pickton a suspect in the murders." That's a whole other cover up all on it's own. The point is, Grant Wakefield was a police agent not a fraudster and Jim Brown knew that. Jim Brown knew Grant Wakefield had dirt on him and the RCMP helped Jim Brown censor and harass him. That is shameful.

Diane Rock and Vince McMurchy

We've already talked about how the Dianne Rock story has blown the lid off the Pickton cover up. Her friend Janice Edwards testified how she picked Dianne up at a gas station after she was gang raped at the Pickton farm. A colleague gave me a copy of the cross examination of Janice Edwards from the preliminary hearing at Port Coquitlam in a brown envelope.

The transcript states Janice Edwards picked up Dianne Rock from the gas station the second time in August 2001. She was badly bruised and was hysterical. Janice stated Diane's arms had marks on them like she was being held tightly with human hands. Obviously skeptics will challenge the credibility of Dianne Rock claiming she was "just a drug addicted sex trade worker" but Janice Edwards was not. She saw the physical effects of assault. She also gives startling testimony on how Dianne Rock got addicted to drugs.

We already mentioned how the book On the Farm claims Diane Rock's boyfriend was a longshoreman named Vince McMurchy. The court transcript goes into detail about that relationship. I will clarify that the court transcript was covered by a Section 539 publication ban. That is a publication ban according to section 539 of the criminal code. It was fulfilled when Robert Pickton was convicted and his appeal had been heard. Stevie Cameron wrote the book On the Farm about the trial and had to wait until Pickton's appeal had been heard before she was able to publish her book which she did in 2010. The publication ban on the Pckton trial has expired. If it wasn't, Stevie Cameron would have had to have pulled her book from the shelves.

Alright, so here it is. Janice Edwards testified that Dianne Rock was off the drugs. She stated it was her boyfriend Vince McMurchy that reintroduced her to drugs. They went to a party and he told her it was OK to do a little bit. That is what Janice Edwards stated Dianne Rock told her at the time. Not after the addiction had taken hold of her.

The lawyer asked Janice if Dianne supported her addiction working as a sex trade worker. Janice said yes, towards the end she did. The last few months of her life. From July until she went missing in August 2001. Before dating and living with Vince McMurchy, Dianne Rock was not addicted to drugs and was not a sex trade worker. He was the one who got her addicted to drugs and she ended up having to work as a sex trade worker to pay for the drugs.

Janice Edwards testified that Dianne Rock told her Vince McMurchy sold drugs and was the one supplying her. Janice testified that Dianne didn't use heroin she used crack. Obviously Vince McMurchy was not on trial. Janice was simply testifying to what Dianne Rock had told her before she disappeared. Before the drug addiction took over her. This is clearly hearsay evidence. I have heard it said that "Hearsay evidence is not admissible in court. Much. The admissibility of hearsay evidence is up to the judge's discretion as to how much weight it bears in court." However, this is not a court of law. This is just a blog quoting a court transcript of which the publication ban has clearly expired. I will leave it up to you to discern what merit this evidence bears.

Janice Edwards described Diane Rock's relationship with Vince McMurchy as abusive. She claims that Dianne confided in her that Vince beat her and that Janice saw physical evidence of his beatings. Janice said she did not contact the police about it at the time but did encourage Diane to go to the police about it which she unfortunately didn't.

Aside from the physical beatings Janice testified to the verbal abuse as well. She could hear him yelling at her in the background when Diane was on the phone with her. Janice testified that Vince had said Dianne was better off dead and told her that he was going to kill Dianne and dump her body in a ditch in Ladner. He had even driven Diane out to the spot in Ladner where he told her he was going to dump her body after he killed her.

Clearly the line of questioning by the defense is trying to establish other possible suspects in Diane Rock's murder. Do I think Vince McMurchy killed Diane Rock? No I do not. He did threaten to kill her and he was abusive to her. Although he definitely is a suspect in her murder I don't think he actually killed her. I think he exploited her, was abusive to her and cast her aside when he was finished with her. Finished making money off of her that is.

In my opinion the testimony of Janice Edwards sheds light on the making of a predator who got a wonderful young mother addicted to crack and forced her into prostitution to pay for the drug so he could make money. Even more money then he already made as a longshoreman which is disgusting. For him to do that was sheer greed.

Obviously not all Longshoremen are abusive to their girlfriends any more than every cop or every Hells Angel is. However, the longshoreman's ties to the Hells Angels and the Hells Angels ties to the Pickton farm need to be examined further as does the fact that Dianne Rock claimed she was gang raped. That would implicate more than one suspect.

Another Hells Angels Helicopter Jail Break in Quebec

CBC is reporting that Provincial police are searching for three inmates with previous ties to the Hells Angels who escaped from a Quebec City detention centre using a helicopter. A Sûreté du Québec spokesperson confirmed to CBC News that the prison break occurred at 7:45 p.m. ET from Orsainville Detention Centre and the inmates fled westbound in a green helicopter. Police are now searching for Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and 49-year-old Serge Pomerleau.

In 2010, Lefebvre was arrested by provincial police after a drug operation bust known as Project Crayfish that led to dozens of arrests. He was reported to have had ties to the Hells Angels. During the bust police seized multiple weapons, 41 vehicles, a plane, a helicopter and $905,000.

The three who escaped ere being held at the detention centre waiting to stand trial, but it was not immediately clear what charges they were facing. NBC posted a picture of the suspects at large.

Special thanks to a blog reader for the revised photo.

Global is reporting that the Treckies have been captured in Montreal.

Border Agents seize ecstasy substitute enroute to Calgary

The Calgary Sun is reporting that Border officials have intercepted a shipment of 10 kg of ethylone originating from China and destined for Calgary, preventing 100,000 doses from hitting the streets.

The Calgary Herald is reporting that Ethylone is an amphetamine-like substance, classified as a “new psychoactive substance.” New psychoactive substances are drug substitutes with similar effects to commonly known substances such as ecstasy or amphetamines.

Hells Angels support shop opens in Nova Scotia

After getting kicked out of Nova Scotia the Hells Angels are still trying to peddle their presence in that fine Province. The New Glasgow News is reporting that Clothing inside a storefront at 181 MacLean Street New Glasgow, Nova Scotia has 81 written on it. Support shirts for the Hells Angels. "A large number of bikes have been seen in front of the building. On Monday morning there was a bike in the window with Gate Keepers written on it. Gate Keepers is an affiliate of the Hells Angels. A man out front said he was there to pick up a part for his bike. Asked if it was a Gate Keepers store, he said it was HA."

Another stabbing at Oppenheimer Park

The Vancouver Province reported that there was another serious stabbing near Oppenheimer Park in East Vancouver. Their eloquent description of the event is as follows:

The trail of dried blood runs from Vancouver's East Hastings Street down Jackson Street to Oppenheimer Park. For almost three blocks, a man suffering from a serious knife wound to his neck staggered early Monday down the notoriously mean streets and then collapsed - all to the horror of a handful of people in the area. Vancouver police were summoned to the Downtown Eastside crime scene by a passerby at about 1 a.m. and found the 41-year-old man covered in blood.

The man, who has yet to be identified, was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery and is now listed in stable condition. "It is bad down here," said Shirley Morgan, 64, who lives close to Oppenheimer Park and visits the park daily, but only during the day. "You don't want to be here late at night. "People get drunk or high on drugs and then start fights," she added.

Once again they are highlighting the drug related violence in the DTES that is continuous but we rarely hear about. They also point out that Oppenheimer Park was the scene of another knife attack in April, with the victim suffering fatal injuries. Residents of the neighbourhood have witnessed shootings, constant injection drug use, crack cocaine-fuelled craziness and mentally-ill people in the depths of despair.

"People get crazy around here," said area resident Sean Keoman, 59. Vancouver police spokesman Sgt. Randy Fincham said that so far this year he said there have been nine serious assaults in the Oppenheimer Park area, compared to only three in the same time frame in 2013. Everyone said that letting the Hells Angels take over the drug trade in Oppenheimer Park cleaned it up. Evidently not.

Moncton RCMP shooting suspect arrested - Motive Update

Obviously the big news is the fact that some white guy in Moncton New Brunswick shot and killed three RCMP officers and wounded two others. The suspect, Justin Bourque has been found and arrested. Still no word on a possible motive for the murders. He did have an interesting link on his facebook to the number of guns Canada sells to terrorist countries. CBC posted an interesting article on the matter. Nevertheless, shooting RCMP officers is off the hook as in messed up.



Update: Blog readers have been trying to discover a motive that would make Justin Bourque target police officers. One possible theory is the murder of Daniel Levesque who was shot and killed by Moncton RCMP in 2013. Daniel was accused of trying to break into a car and he was shot dead by police. The police investigation claimed Daniel was killed by a previous stab wound not by the police shooting. It's kind of hard to visualize how someone would break into a car with a fatal stab wound. The media co-op suggests that Justin Bourque was friends with Daniel Levesque.

If that was the case, then it would reveal a double tragedy. First is the murder of Daniel Levesque which went unpunished. The second is the murder of three other police officers who were likely not unloved in that shooting. It reminds me all too well of the Belfast / Jerusalem dilemma. You kill one of ours and we kill one of yours. That logic fails.

The old law of an eye for an eye never meant that if someone commits murder then you execute some other innocent person from the same race, religion or in this case occupation. Natural justice means if someone commits murder, that person is charged and tried not someone else. Indeed, as Martin Luther King would say, that definition of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

VPD Issue Warning about Bad Heroin

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as good heroin but the Vancouver Province reported that Police are warning drug users to be “extremely cautious” after seven people were reported to have overdosed on heroin Tuesday. The suspected overdoses occurred in the Downtown Eastside, according to a news release from Sgt. Randy Fincham, a VPD spokesman. After issuing the warning about bad heroin on the streets, how about arresting the drug dealers selling it? Wouldn't that be a novel idea?

In B.C., 61 per cent of overdose deaths between 2005 and 2010 were accidental and related to the use of prescription drugs. At St. Paul’s Hospital, there has been an 89-per-cent increase in all addiction-related emergency room visits in the last four years. Evidently Insite is just helping spread the plague. That's not harm reduction, that's harm promotion.

MSN News is reporting that Fatal drug overdoses spike in Montreal as well. Gee you'd think they were getting it from Vancouver. Montreal health workers are battling an influx of fatal drug overdoses. In the last month, 15 people have died of drug overdoses — including six people in the last week alone.

Officials who are investigating the increase in deaths said many factors are at play. One of the possible causes could be that the drugs are being 'cut' — or diluted —with fentanyl. Fentanyl is an anesthetic meant to treat chronic pain. In high concentrations it could stop a person from breathing. A derivative of the drug, desmethyl fentanyl, is chemically modified to be even more potent — it’s considered to be 40 times stronger than heroin. Fentanyl made its first appearance on Montreal’s black market last spring.

Health officials said they are warning drug-users to lower their doses and to inject them slowly. That's it. Make sure you lower your dose of sheer poison and inject it slowly with your government issued needle at Insite where your tax dollars are hard at work killing humans slowly.

Child graves found in Ireland

This one breaks my heart. The Vancouver Province reported that the remains of 796 chidden were buried in a mass grave beside a former orphanage for the children of unwed mothers in Galway county. What a horrific tragedy. The Province states that County Galway death records showed that the children, mostly babies and toddlers, died often of sickness or disease in the orphanage during the 35 years it operated from 1926 to 1961.

A 1944 government inspection recorded evidence of malnutrition among some of the 271 children then living in the Tuam orphanage alongside 61 unwed mothers. The death records cite sicknesses, diseases, deformities and premature births as causes. This would reflect an Ireland that, in the first half of the 20th century, had one of the worst infant mortality rates in Europe, with tuberculosis rife. The Potato Famine was between 1845 and 1852.