Police arrest fourth person in death of Halifax teen Devon Marsman

TORONTO – New details are emerging that link a suspected transnational drug trafficking ring allegedly run by a wanted Olympian to an April homicide in Ontario.

An affidavit filed by a Toronto police officer assigned to the fugitive squad says evidence collected from the cellphone of a suspected ring member shows how the group orchestrated the man’s death.

The documents kept by a Toronto court allege the ring’s second-in-command Andrew Clark would hire “hit men,” including Malik Damion Cunningham, who used the aliases Jamal Abukar and MrPerfect (sic).

The documents allege Clark provided Cunningham with a list of targets to murder, including one man known in court records as R.F.

The documents say the pair chatted over encrypted messaging service Threema about the target list, with Cunningham allegedly telling Clark, “Give me the easiest one first,” adding he would need a car, a fake ID, and a “place to bring the gun after.”

Clark, meanwhile, allegedly told Cunningham to “drive over niagra blow this guys top off.” (sic)

The affidavit says the conversations occurred before R.F. was shot and killed in front of his Niagara Falls home on April 1.

On Oct. 17, Niagara Regional Police said the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested several individuals in connection with the April 1 murder of 29-year-old Randy Fader.

The same day Clark, Cunningham and former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding were named in a California indictment filed against 16 suspects who allegedly moved hundreds of kilograms of cocaine through North America and orchestrated several murders.

The indictment said Wedding, Clark and others were involved in a scheme to transport cocaine from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where it was allegedly stored in stash houses before delivery to couriers for transportation to Canada using long-haul semi-trucks.

“The organization resorted to violence — including multiple murders — to achieve its aims,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in an Oct. 17 press release.

Wedding and Clark, the office alleged, directed the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two people in Ontario in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California. Another member of that family survived the shooting but was left with serious physical injuries, the office said.

Wedding and Clark allegedly also ordered the murder of another victim on May 18 over a drug debt, while Clark and Cunningham have been charged with the April 1 murder in Niagara.

Clark was arrested on Oct. 8 by Mexican law enforcement.

Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been living in Mexico.

His aliases include “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy” and he is facing eight felony charges, including conspiracy to export cocaine, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and one count of attempted murder.

He is considered a fugitive, with the FBI offering a US$50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and extradition to the U.S.

If convicted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says Wedding, Clark, and Cunningham would face a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison on the murder and attempted murder charges.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

— with files from Sonja Puzic in Toronto

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN AND THE ISLANDS, Ont. – Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree has apologized on behalf of the Canadian government to a group of Ontario First Nations for mismanagement of their money over a century ago.

The minister issued the apology Saturday at Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation on Manitoulin Island, about 350 kilometres northwest of Toronto, during a ceremony that also commemorated a $447.9 million compensation settlement that will be shared among the five First Nations.

A news release from the federal government says the Crown made an agreement with the First Nations in 1862 for sales of Indigenous land, but used the profits from the sales to build roads and open up Manitoulin Island for settlement rather than giving the money to the First Nations as intended.

The release says “the Crown failed to act honourably and uphold its relationship with the First Nations, which went against the spirit and intent of the Treaties, broke promises and created injustices which continue to be felt by the communities today.

The five communities include Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation, M’Chigeeng First Nation, Sheguiandah First Nation, Sheshegwaning First Nation and Zhiibaahaasing First Nation

The settlement for the historical claims, which are often called “the Manitoulin Project,” was reached last December and was approved in community votes held in March, with 98 percent of participants voting in favour.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

The resumption of counting in last week’s nail-biting British Columbia election has seen the NDP widen its lead in two crucial races and move within 12 votes of the B.C. Conservatives in another.

No leads have changed among a handful of tight races, but tally updates provided by Elections BC increase the prospect of an NDP government.

The Conservatives had been hoping to flip NDP leads in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre, the two closest races after the initial count ended last Sunday, but instead the ongoing tally of mail-in votes saw the NDP pull further ahead.

The NDP now leads in Juan de Fuca-Malahat by 106 votes, up from 23, while the party’s candidate leads in Surrey City Centre by 178 votes, up from 93.

Narrow Conservative leads in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna Centre have dropped below 100.

The initial tally after the Oct. 19 election ended with neither David Eby’s NDP nor John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives securing the 47 ridings needed to form a majority in the 93-seat legislature.

As of the Elections BC update at 4 p.m. on Saturday, standings remain unchanged with NDP elected or leading in 46 seats and the Conservatives in 45, while the Greens could hold the balance of power after winning two seats.

But those could change, with the Conservative lawyer Honveer Singh Randhawa’s lead in Surrey-Guildford over incumbent New Democrat Garry Begg dropping from 103 votes to just 12, with 226 ballots left to count when absentee and special votes are tallied provincewide on Monday.

Begg, a former RCMP officer, was first elected in 2017 and won the seat in 2020 with more than 60 per cent of the vote.

In Kelowna Centre, a Conservative lead of 148 votes has been pared back to 72, with 228 absentee and special votes to be counted.

If the NDP holds onto its current leads in the undecided races, it will be in a position to form a minority government if it secures Green support, but if it also wins a Conservative-led race such as Surrey-Guildford, it would have the narrowest of majorities.

To form a majority, the Conservatives must flip two ridings where the NDP leads, and while a minority Conservative government remains a possibility, the party’s ideological gap with the Greens is wide.

The NDP lead widened in Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, while Conservative leads were cut in ridings including Courtney Comox, Maple Ridge East and Surrey Panorama.

There were more than 43,000 mail-in ballots to be counted in all 93 ridings across the province, in a process expected to be completed Sunday.

The elections authority will also conduct full recounts beginning on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the ridings of Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre because their margins after the initial count were under 100.

There will be a partial hand recount in Kelowna Centre due to a transcription error involving one tabulator used in the riding.

The final tally will then be completed on Monday with the counting of more than 22,000 absentee and special ballots, with results updated on Election BC’s website hourly that day.

But even after that, judicial recounts could occur in ridings where the margin is less than 1/500th of all votes counted.

The B.C. Conservative candidate in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, meanwhile, is facing criticism from within her own party over reported comments about Indigenous people.

On Friday, the Vancouver Sun published a recording in which a person it identifies as Marina Sapozhnikov calls First Nations people “savages.” The newspaper says the comments came during an election-night conversation with a journalism student.

Peter Milobar, the Conservative candidate in Kelowna Centre, said on social media platform X that he was “outraged” and “filled with sadness” over Sapozhnikov’s alleged comments, which he called “reprehensible.”

Sapozhnikov did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Rustad issued a statement on Saturday saying he was “appalled and deeply saddened” by Sapozhnikov’s reported comments.

“Her words are not only inaccurate but profoundly harmful, painting a distorted picture of the communities I have worked alongside for many years,” the statement read.

Rustad said the remarks do not reflect his party’s values.

“We are taking this matter seriously,” he said. “As leader, I am fully committed to ensuring that our party leads with respect and understanding for all British Columbians.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said there were more than 66,000 mail-in ballots to be counted from Saturday. In fact, there were more than 43,000, plus more than 22,000 absentee ballots. A previous version also reported the B.C. Conservatives ended the initial count leading in six too-close-to-call races and the NDP in three. In fact, the Conservatives led five and the NDP four.