Fire chiefs say the fight against devastating wildfires that have been rampaging around Lake Okanagan, B.C., has turned a corner after days of destruction.
West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund said “things are finally looking better,” with an army of 500 firefighters engaged in a battle that is now in a new phase.
He told a news briefing Sunday that no more homes in West Kelowna had been destroyed by the McDougall Creek wildfire in the past 24 hours and it was possible to begin to “talk about recovery.”
Kelowna fire chief Travis Whiting told the briefing he was also “very excited” about the advances being made, with his crews optimistic and in good spirits.
He said there had been decreased fire activity, compared to the extreme behaviour of fires in recent days as they tore through neighbourhoods and destroyed homes in both West Kelowna and Kelowna, on either side of the lake.
The positive developments in the Central Okanagan come amid a desperate battle against hundreds of fires across the province, with 30,000 people under evacuation orders and a provincial state of emergency in effect.
“It’s a day when we can take a deep breath” and focus on strategy, said Whiting.
Brolund said he was “finally feeling like we’re moving forward, rather than moving backwards.”
“And that’s a great feeling for all of us to have,” he said. “In saying that, make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead.”
Lake Country fire chief Darren Lee became emotional as he paid tribute to the firefighters, some of whom had fought to save their own communities from destruction.
“I just want to congratulate all our firefighters. You know, for thousands of years, just regular people step up to to be warriors to protect their villages, protect their neighbours, there’s people out there working 36, 48-hour shifts, and they take an absolute beating,” Lee said, choking up.
“They know their family’s being evacuated while they’re trying to defend their neighbour’s home and they just keep going.”
On Sunday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on social media that the federal government is deploying military assets to B.C. and will be helping with evacuations, staging and other logistical tasks.
Speaking in Charlottetown, he said the fire situation in B.C. and the Northwest Territories is “extraordinarily serious.”
“(Canadians have) stepped up, have shown who they truly are, as people are there for each other, welcoming friends, neighbours, strangers, into their homes, into their communities, to support them.”
B.C.’s fire fight continued on multiple fronts Sunday, but no new evacuation orders were added overnight to those already in place, covering thousands of properties across the province.
B.C. Premier David Eby said Saturday the situation was “grim” as he announced an emergency travel ban to fire zones to free up accommodation for evacuees and fire crews.
The province’s last new evacuation order was issued at 1:33 p.m. Saturday for residents of the tiny lakeside community of Sorrento on Highway 1, due to the Lower East Adams Lake fire complex that has caused extensive regional destruction in the Columbia Shuswap in the southern Interior.
In Central Okanagan to the south, no new orders have been issued since 9:18 p.m. Friday.
Most of the province’s evacuees are from the central Okanagan. Whiting said Saturday that about 10,700 properties were evacuated in the region, with a further 9,500 on evacuation alert.
There has been no known loss of life in the Central Okanagan, while the number of properties destroyed has yet to be tallied.
About 36,000 people are subject to evacuation alerts across B.C., warned to be ready to leave their homes at a moment’s notice, the government said.
A woman carries a young boy outside an evacuation centre for those forced from their homes due to wildfires, in Kelowna, B.C., Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Some evacuation orders are being lifted. Residents of several RV parks in the Okanagan on Highway 3 that had been threatened by two fires are being allowed back, although they remain subject to evacuation alerts.
Kelowna’s Prospera Place arena, home to the Kelowna Rockets hockey team, is now the temporary home for many displaced from their homes.
Volunteers mixed with evacuees at the facility on Saturday afternoon, filling plates from tables of food.
Jason Bedell, the emergency support services supervisor for the Kelowna Fire Department, said they’re seeing “monumental evacuee needs.”
But they are also facing the “unique problem” of being inundated with donations of perishable food from individuals.
“What we are asking is if people are willing and able to donate, please look to your make local food banks or your non-profits, he said.
“If there are commercial kitchens that are looking to do food, they can come to Prospera and meet with a staff member, get on a schedule that we’re creating as we’re finding all the foods coming at once and we don’t want to waste anything.”
With other neighbouring communities dealing with their own fire issues, Bedell said co-ordination has been a challenge, but he called the flood of donations a “testament to the community’s spirit.”
“What we’re missing out on right now is trained volunteers,” he said.
“But we’re working diligently with our partners at the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, who’s providing us with additional resources.
“We are pulling out all stops to make sure we have what we need.”
Curt Derkson sprays water on hot spots near a house in Celista, British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. (Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
To the north, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District said firefighters have been “working tirelessly” in the battle against the Lower East Adams Lake fire complex, which has forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 properties.
The merged fire complex has officially been designated the Bush Creek East fire and the BC Wildfire Service said the combined fire is more than 410 square kilometres.
District officials confirmed Saturday there were structural losses due to the explosive growth of the fire, which the BC Wildfire services said raced more than 20 kilometres in about half a day.
John MacLean with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District said no lives have been lost.
Firefighting officials have said cooler and calmer conditions Saturday helped crews battle the fires in the southern Interior, but they are expecting difficult days ahead as conditions warm up again Sunday.
B.C. officials have restricted travel for the purpose of staying in temporary accommodations such as hotels and campgrounds in several communities in the Okanagan.
Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma has said those accommodations are no longer available for anything other than essential travel so the rooms can be available for firefighters and evacuees.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Eby discussed the wildfire situation Saturday. Trudeau’s office said the prime minister promised to provide all necessary aid from the federal government.
The BC Wildfire Service lists more than 380 active wildfires burning in the province, including 14 that are considered “of note,” meaning they are highly visible or threatening public safety.
The 100-square-kilometre Kookipi Creek fire has forced evacuation orders or alerts in multiple communities in recent days, including the Village of Lytton, that was almost destroyed by wildfires in 2021.
The fire, which has been burning for six weeks but erupted in size recently, forced the closure of Highway 1 on Sunday for about 105 kilometres between Hope and Lytton.
— With files from Brieanna Charlebois and Ashley Joannou in Vancouver and CHNL. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2023.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick’s finance minister says the province recorded a surplus of $500.8 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Ernie Steeves says the amount — more than 10 times higher than the province’s original $40.3-million budget projection for the 2023-24 fiscal year — was largely the result of a strong economy and population growth.
The report of a big surplus comes as the province prepares for an election campaign, which will officially start on Thursday and end with a vote on Oct. 21.
Steeves says growth of the surplus was fed by revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax and federal money, especially for health-care funding.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has promised to reduce the HST by two percentage points to 13 per cent if the party is elected to govern next month.
Meanwhile, the province’s net debt, according to the audited consolidated financial statements, has dropped from $12.3 billion in 2022-23 to $11.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Liberal critic René Legacy says having a stronger balance sheet does not eliminate issues in health care, housing and education.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
HALIFAX – Some Halifax-area landlords say fixed-term leases allow property owners to recoup operating costs they otherwise can’t under Nova Scotia’s rent cap.
Their comments to a legislative committee today are in reaction to plans by the government to extend the five per cent cap on rental increases to the end of 2027.
But opposition parties and housing activists say the bill’s failure to address fixed-term leases has created a loophole that allows large corporate landlords to boost rents past five per cent for new tenants.
But smaller landlords told a committee today that they too benefit from fixed-term leases, which they said help them from losing money on their investment.
Jenna Ross, of Halifax-based Happy Place Property Management, says her company started implementing those types of leases “because of the rent cap.”
Landlord Yarviv Gadish called the use of fixed-term leases “absolutely essential” in order to keep his apartments presentable and to get a return on his investment.
Unlike a periodic lease, a fixed-term lease does not automatically renew beyond its set end date. The provincial rent cap covers periodic leases and situations in which a landlord signs a new fixed-term lease with the same tenant.
However, there is no rule preventing a landlord from raising the rent as much as they want after the term of a fixed lease expires — as long as they lease to someone new.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Former vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson has been found not guilty of sexual assault and committing an indecent act, concluding a trial that began in February.
Edmundson was head of the military’s personnel in 2021 when he was accused of assaulting another member of the navy during a 1991 deployment.
The complainant, Stephanie Viau, testified during the trial that she was 19 years old and in the navy’s lowest rank at the time of the alleged assault, while Edmundson was an older officer.
Edmundson pleaded not guilty and testified that he never had sexual contact with Viau.
In court on Monday, a small group of his supporters gasped when the verdict was read, and Edmundson shook his lawyer’s hand.
Outside court, lawyer Brian Greenspan said his client was gratified by the “clear, decisive vindication of his steadfast position that he was not guilty of these false accusations.”
Justice Matthew Webber read his entire decision to the court Monday, concluding that the Crown did not meet the standard of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
He cited concerns with the complainant’s memory of what happened more than 30 years ago, and a lack of evidence to corroborate her account.
“There are just too many problems, and I’m not in the business of … declaring what happened. That’s not my job, you know, my job is to just decide whether or not guilt has been proven to the requisite standard, and it hasn’t,” Webber said.
During the trial, Viau testified that one of her responsibilities on board the ship was to wake officers for night watch and other overnight duties, and that she woke Edmundson regularly during that 1991 deployment.
The court has heard conflicting evidence about the wake-up calls.
Viau estimated that she woke Edmundson every second or third night, and she told the court that his behaviour became progressively worse during the deployment.
She testified that he started sleeping naked and that one night she found him completely exposed on top of the sheets.
Viau said she “went berserk,” yelling at him and turning on the lights to wake the other officer sleeping in the top bunk.
That incident was the basis for the indecent act charge.
Webber said he did not believe that Viau could have caused such a disruption on board a navy ship at night without notice from others.
“I conclude that (Viau’s) overall evidence on the allegation that Mr. Edmundson did progressively expose himself to her as being far too compromised to approach proof of those allegations that she has made,” he said in his decision.
Viau alleged that the sexual assault happened a couple of days after her yelling at Edmundson.
She testified at trial that he stopped her in the corridor and called her into his sleeping quarters to talk. Viau said Edmundson kept her from leaving the room, and he sexually assaulted her.
When Edmundson took the stand in his own defence he denied having physical or sexual contact with Viau.
During his testimony, Edmundson also said Viau did not wake him regularly during that deployment because his role as the ship’s navigator kept him on mostly day shifts.
Defence lawyer Brian Greenspan took aim at the Crown’s corroborating witness during cross-examination. The woman, whose name is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, was a friend of Viau’s on the ship.
She testified that she remembered the evening of the assault because she and Viau had been getting ready for a night out during a port visit, and she misplaced her reading glasses. She said Viau offered to go fetch them from another part of the ship but never came back, and that she went looking for her friend.
On cross-examination, the woman explained that she had told all of this to a CBC reporter in early 2021.
Greenspan produced a transcript of that interview that he said suggests the reporter told her key details of Viau’s story before asking her any questions.
Greenspan argued the reporter provided information to the witness and she wouldn’t have been able to corroborate the story otherwise.
In his decision, Webber said the woman’s evidence “cannot be relied upon in any respect to corroborate that evidence of the complainant, because it’s it’s clearly a tainted recollection, doesn’t represent a real memory.”
Edmundson was one of several senior military leaders accused of sexual misconduct in early 2021.
He stepped down from his position as head of military personnel after the accusation against him was made public in 2021. The charges were laid months later, in December 2021.
Edmundson testified that in February 2022, he was directed by the chief of the defence staff to retire from the Armed Forces.
The crisis led to an external review by former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour in May 2022, whose report called for sweeping changes to reform the toxic culture of the Armed Forces.
The military’s new defence chief, Gen. Jennie Carignan, was promoted to the newly created role of chief of professional conduct and culture in an effort to enact the reforms in the Arbour report.
Outside court, Edmundson declined to comment on whether he was considering legal action against the government or the military.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
A woman carries a young boy outside an evacuation centre for those forced from their homes due to wildfires, in Kelowna, B.C., Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Curt Derkson sprays water on hot spots near a house in Celista, British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. (Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
