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Three pit bulls involved in a deadly attack on another dog last month in Kamloops, B.C., tested positive for methamphetamine and cocaine, and the city is going to court to have them put down.

Kamloops community services manager Will Beatty said the drugs were found in the dogs’ systems after they hopped a fence and mauled a 13-year-old border collie to death on Sept. 8.

Beatty said an investigation involving the city, veterinarians and animal behaviour specialists found the pit bulls beyond rehabilitation.

In an interview Thursday, Beatty said the decision to apply to have the dogs euthanized wasn’t “made lightly.”

“It’s made with a heavy heart in multiple ways,” he said.

“It’s a very passionate scenario. You’ve got dog owners that have dogs that they love that they have never seen those dogs do this before. You also have a … dog owner that is grieving the loss of their dog.”

Beatty said he’s “responsible to ensure that the community is safe, that all dogs are being kept in a responsible manner.”

“In this situation, based on professional reports, it’s indicated that these dogs cannot be rehabilitated,” he said.

The dogs lived on Jasper Avenue on the city’s north shore and were caught by Kamloops bylaw officials after killing the border collie.

Beatty said the city is going to provincial court to get authorization to destroy the animals, and no charges have been brought against their owner by police or the SPCA.

He said it’s unclear and difficult to determine how the dogs consumed the drugs.

“You have to also look at the totality of circumstances,” he said. “Did they ingest them in (the) community or did they ingest them at the actual house itself?”

He said the drugs the dogs consumed could have played a role in the deadly mauling, but the city is still seeking to have the animals put down.

Daria Evans, centre manager with the Kamloops SPCA, said in an interview that dogs deemed a public safety risk fall outside of the society’s scope and are handled by municipal authorities.

Evans said there had been situations over the years with dogs and cats coming in that have ingested “narcotics of various kinds,” but the cases are rare and maybe happen once a year.

— With files from Paul James

(CHNL)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

WINNIPEG – An Indigenous man convicted of killing a restaurant worker 50 years ago was acquitted Thursday by a judge who called the case a wrongful conviction that involved systemic discrimination.

Clarence Woodhouse, 72, held up his court papers, along with a T-shirt that said “Innocent”, outside court. He told reporters he is looking forward to spending time with his son and grandchildren.

“I’ll probably just relax,” Woodhouse said in a quiet voice.

Woodhouse is the third man to be exonerated in the 1973 death of Ting Fong Chan, a chef who was beaten and stabbed near a downtown construction site. Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were acquitted last year.

The federal justice minister ordered a review of their case as likely miscarriages of justice. Their 1974 convictions were based largely on statements given to police that were fluent in English, including what prosecutors called a signed confession by Anderson.

The men’s lawyers argued that the statements to police were not legitimate. Clarence Woodhouse and Anderson were not fluent in English and spoke Salteaux as a first language.

A Crown attorney told court Thursday that police coerced and manufactured the statement from Woodhouse, whose limited English was evident at trial. He was not provided an interpreter.

“Our justice system failed to provide Mr. Woodhouse and his co-accused a fair trial,” Michele Jules said.

Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Court of King’s Bench apologized on behalf of the justice system to Woodhouse, who spent more than a decade behind bars before being released on parole.

“There’s nothing I can say to you that can give you back those 12 years,” Joyal said.

“You were wrongfully convicted. You were innocent.”

Joyal spoke at length about past wrongdoings of the justice system and efforts being made to move toward “judicial reconciliation.”

Anderson served almost 11 years and was given full parole in 1987. Allan Woodhouse served 23 years. The two are suing three levels of government, saying their imprisonment was the result of racial discrimination.

A fourth man — Russell Woodhouse, Clarence Woodhouse’s brother — was also convicted. He died in 2011.

James Lockyer, a lawyer and director with Innocence Canada, which has represented all three men, has said there needs to be an examination of homicide convictions involving Indigenous people over the last five decades in Manitoba.

Jerome Kennedy, another lawyer with the group, said outside court Thursday that Innocence Canada is also working on cases involving Indigenous men in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario that are moving toward a request for a review by the federal justice minister

He said he’d like to see a national effort, led by the federal government, to take on wrongful convictions and reach out to people behind bars.

“There appears to be a deeper systemic issue that requires a targeted approach,” Kennedy said.

“Statistically, we know that with the disproportionate number of Indigenous people in jail that there has to be wrongful convictions. Oftentimes, these people don’t know who to reach out to or how to reach out.”

Later Thursday, Woodhouse met with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew at the legislature.

“I think the main thing we want to get across is to apologize and say we’re sorry,” Kinew said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Ting Fong Chan was killed in 1974.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.