WARNING: This story contains details of murder and attempted suicide.
A woman serving a life sentence for killing her eight-year-old daughter has died in custody at the Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford, B.C.
Lisa Batstone, 50, died on Jan. 1, according to a news release from the Correctional Service Canada (CSC). The cause of death has not been released.
Batstone was found guilty of second-degree murder four years ago for the 2014 suffocation death of daughter Teagan Batstone and sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for 15 years. The decision was upheld on appeal.
CSC said an internal investigation has been launched into Batstone’s death, as is the policy with all in-custody deaths. The Abbotsford Police Department and B.C. Coroners Service have also been notified.
In a statement sent to CBC, Teagan’s father Gabe Batstone said news of his former wife’s death was “no cause for mourning.”
“Her death does not erase the pain and loss of Teagan, whose absence is felt every day. Nothing can bring our precious daughter back, and this unalterable truth weighs heavily on our hearts,” he wrote.
Eric Gottardi, Lisa Batstone’s lawyer at trial and appeal said in an email to CBC that her death was another terrible tragedy.
“The criminal justice system is not the place for single mothers struggling with mental health issues, no matter the circumstances,” said Gottardi.
“Furthermore, Lisa should have been protected and safe from all forms of harm while in custody, even self-harm.”
High-profile trial
During a high-profile trial the court heard that Lisa Batstone had written a four-page letter at the time of killing explaining what she had done and why, specifically blaming the girl’s father.
At sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray said the court needed to send a strong message to warring parents who might use their children as weapons.
Teagan Batstone was found dead on Dec. 10, 2014. (submitted by Gabe Batstone)
“The breach of trust could not be more abhorrent,” Murray said. “Children are not to be used as pawns in matrimonial or personal disputes.”
Batstone’s lawyers claimed she had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and was suffering from anxiety at the time of the murder. But Murray said those factors didn’t take away from her moral culpability in planning and committing the most extreme breach of trust imaginable for a parent.
The court heard that Batstone, who was 41 at the time of the murder, held a heavy plastic bag over Teagan’s nose and mouth for four to five minutes at their home in Surrey, B.C. Batstone then tried to kill herself using two smaller plastic bags, but couldn’t go through with it.
She threw out the bags, including the one she had used to smother Teagan, placing a note on top that read, “I’m so sorry.”
Later that morning, Batstone loaded Teagan’s body into the trunk of her car, the ruling says, as she planned to drop her dog at her dog sitter’s before attempting suicide again. But the car got stuck in a ditch, prompting Batstone to go to a nearby Surrey, B.C., home seeking help.
A resident called 911 and first responders arrived to find Batstone in the trunk, cradling Teagan’s body and sobbing, with a superficial wound to her own neck. A large kitchen knife was found in the car.
Batstone admitted to suffocating her daughter and the sole issue in the murder trial was whether the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she had intended to cause Teagan’s death.
The Appeal Court ruling says that before killing Teagan, Batstone had been “a loving and devoted mother,” with no criminal record or history of violence.
The appeal ruling says that after the murder on Dec. 10, 2014, Batstone left a note accusing her ex-husband of mental and emotional abuse, saying she feared that if Teagan lived “her dad would then betray her too.”
She had also previously attempted suicide the spring of 2012.
Batstone’s claims against her ex-husband have not been substantiated.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
