Montreal dockworkers set to halt all overtime work as talks drag on

VANCOUVER – Members of Vancouver’s Jewish community say they are meeting the anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered their ongoing war with profound sadness and ongoing unease.

Multiple police and at least one police dog were posted outside the Talmud Torah School on Oak Street as parents dropped off their children.

Allie Saks, who has two children at Talmud Torah, broke down in tears as she described Oct. 7 as a “day of grieving” saying it’s hard to drop off a child at school where they “have to see police in front.”

Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt of the nearby Schara Tzedeck Synagogue says the Oct. 7 attack and the community’s reaction are “a little bit akin to the anniversary of 9/11,” referring to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in 2001.

The synagogue was the scene of an arson attack in May that blackened the temple’s doors.

Rosenblatt says a silver lining has been the response of most Canadians in the last year, and that people are “rediscovering how important it is to feel close and in lock-step with the Jewish community.”

The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people while about 250 more were taken hostage.

It triggered an Israeli counteroffensive in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip that the territory’s health ministry says has left more than 41,000 Palestinians dead, and the hostilities have since spilled into nearby Lebanon.

About a hundred of the hostages taken by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack have not been returned.

In a post on social media platform X, BC NDP Leader David Eby says the province’s residents still feel deeply “the pain and sorrow” from Oct. 7 and “stand firmly against violence and its glorification.”

Meanwhile, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad denounced the attack and the ongoing “celebrating the massacre of Jews and glorifying terrorist organizations” by some local protesters and calling for immediate action to crack down on those who “call for violence against minority communities, particularly Jews.”

Provincial Green Leader Sonia Furstenau also issued a written statement, saying that party members “are committed to the safety of all British Columbians and stand firmly against hate in all its forms.”

Vancouver Police have said they are stationing extra officers at faith-based schools today and places of worship.

Among the groups planning rallies and events on Monday is pro-Palestinian group Samidoun, which is promoting its events on social media by referring to the Oct. 7 attacks as “Al-Aqsa Flood,” the Hamas code name for the operation.

Samidoun says the events will include a “teach-in” about the operation and a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday, as well as attending an Oct. 8 court appearance the group says will be made by Samidoun organizer Charlotte Kates.

Samidoun director Kates was arrested last year in a hate-crime investigation after praising the Oct. 7 attack as “heroic and brave” in a speech at a rally.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VANCOUVER – Police in Vancouver say a man has been arrested after setting fire to a van filled with containers of gasoline outside City Hall.

They say in a post to social media that Vancouver Fire Rescue extinguished the blaze Sunday night and found about 100 litres of unburned gasoline in canisters inside the car.

Fire department information officer Matthew Trudeau says several people reported the incident and firefighters were deployed around 5:15 p.m.

He says six fire trucks were sent to the fire — which was soon deemed incendiary — and crews remained on scene for about two hours.

Police closed West 12th Avenue between Cambie and Yukon for their arson investigation, but it had been reopened by Monday morning.

They say in Sunday night’s social media post that a man was arrested and no one was hurt.

It says the suspect appears to have acted alone and the incident is isolated but his motivation is currently unknown.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Lawyers for a man accused of selling poison online to people who later used it to take their own lives are seeking to intervene in an application to Canada’s top court that they argue could affect his criminal case.

The legal team representing Kenneth Law has filed a motion for leave to intervene after prosecutors asked the Supreme Court of Canada to urgently review a recent Ontario ruling in a different case that could undermine the murder charges against him.

Law faces 14 counts each of first-degree murder and aiding suicide in a case scheduled to go to trial next September. He’s expected to plead not guilty.

In their application filed last month, lawyers writing for the Attorney General of Ontario pointed to Law’s impending trial as a reason for the Supreme Court to consider an expedited review of a ruling delivered by the province’s top court in June.

That ruling suggests a person may only be liable for murder if they provided a person who committed suicide with the lethal substance and “overbore the victim’s freewill in choosing suicide.”

Law’s lawyers argue in their motion that the Criminal Code distinguishes between homicide and assisting suicide.

“Mr. Law is not alleged to have been present at any of the deaths,” they wrote in the document.

“It would impermissibly warp the language of the Criminal Code to assert that someone who provides a toxic substance that another person later voluntarily consumes in another location has ‘actually committed’ their murder.”

They further argue their client has “a direct stake” in the Crown’s application, “as he may be adversely affected by this court’s decision.”

Crown lawyers have argued that the standard set in the Ontario ruling shifts focus from the accused’s actions to the victim’s intent, which may be unknowable in cases where the victim dies.

Police have said all charges against Law relate to the same 14 people, who were between the ages of 16 and 36 and died in communities across Ontario.

Investigators have alleged that Law ran several websites that were used to sell sodium nitrite and other items that can be used for self-harm, shipping them to people in more than 40 countries.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.