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Manslaughter charges dropped against man who was zip-tied and held at gunpoint in own home

The Crown has withdrawn manslaughter charges against a 59-year-old man from Collingwood, Ont., who shot and killed two masked men who zip-tied and held him at gunpoint in a chaotic home invasion. “It was terrifying,” Cameron Gardiner said, speaking publicly for the first time since the event. The details of the case had previously been under a publication ban. It was the early-morning hours of Jan. 22, 2019, and Gardiner and his girlfriend were watching a movie in their townhouse in Collingwood, about 150 kilometres north of Toronto. “And next thing I know, the door gets kicked in,” Gardiner said in an interview with CBC News. Three masked men forced their way into his home. One was wearing a clown mask; the other a balaclava; and the third had a scarf pulled up to his eyes. One of the men was armed with a sawed-off shotgun. “My girlfriend tried to run for the stairs, but they tackled her and put her back on the couch,” Gardiner said. “[They] zip-tied us both and zip-tied my dog to my leg with another zip tie.” The men took turns guarding the couple while searching the house. They brought a safe downstairs to the living room, and Gardiner said they began hitting him and demanding he tell them the code, but Gardiner didn’t have it because the safe didn’t belong to him. “You can’t give something you don’t know,” he said. “And my girlfriend was screaming and crying. She was terrified, and so was I.” Surveillance cameras in home Unbeknown to the home invaders, there were surveillance cameras in the house linked to an app on Gardiner’s son’s phone. Gardiner’s son, who was 19 at the time, didn’t live with him, but he was at the home regularly and, according to court documents, was known to sell marijuana from a bedroom on the third floor. When he saw what was happening, he made a beeline from his home to his father’s house. He arrived just as his father managed to slip out of his zip ties. According to court documents, as Gardiner’s son grappled with one of the intruders outside the back door, the shotgun was dropped. His father grabbed it, and another intruder tried to wrestle it away from him. The gun fired, and the intruder who was fighting with the son was hit. The elder Gardiner and the intruder in the clown mask continued to struggle over the gun. It was racked in the struggle, which put another load in the chamber, and according to Gardiner, that’s when it fired and killed the man in the mask. In the court documents, Gardiner says the masked man then staggered out of the house. In the end, two men lay dead in the snow in the backyard, both shot in the chest. They were later identified as Dean Copkov, 52, and Donovan Bass, 42. Copkov was a longtime stuntman whose resumé included RoboCop, the Resident Evil franchise, The Incredible Hulk and the Canadian series Lost Girl. Copkov was about to be sentenced on drug charges in Montreal before he died, according to court records. Dean Copkov, 52, a longtime stuntman, was one of the intruders in Gardiner’s home who was shot and killed. He was about to be sentenced on drug charges in Montreal before he died in 2019, according to court documents. (Courtesy IMDb) Bass was described in his obituary as a “beloved son” and “loving father.” The families of Copkov and Bass did not immediately reply to a request for comment from CBC News. Surprised to be taken into custody During the mayhem, the third intruder leapt out of a second-storey window and escaped. Court records also reveal that Gardiner’s son left the scene with the safe and a bag before police arrived. Gardiner defends his actions and points out that his eight-year-old daughter was also sleeping next door. “I’m assuming that they’re going to kill me,” he said. “What are you supposed to think that they’re just going to … it’s a what? A polite home invasion with a gun? I can’t take no chances with any of that in my life. It’s my kids. I’m not taking chances.” Police investigators are shown outside Gardiner’s home in Collingwood, Ont., in January 2019 after the home invasion during which two of the intruders were fatally shot.(Jason Whyte/CBC) Gardiner said he was surprised when Ontario Provincial Police officers took him into custody. “I told them that the third guy was running. If you hurry, you can catch them. They decided to come to the apartment first,” he said. Shortly after, Gardiner was loaded into a police cruiser. “I really was in shock. Like, I just went through hell,” he said. Crown initially pursued murder charges The Crown originally pursued second-degree murder charges against Gardiner, but in November 2020, after a preliminary inquiry, a judge decided the evidence — which she noted in her decision was largely circumstantial — merited manslaughter charges instead. In her November decision, Ontario Court Justice A.M. Nichols said that while there was some evidence Gardiner had control of the weapon when the shots were fired, no witness saw the shootings take place. She described the evidence as “murky.” On Tuesday afternoon in Barrie, Ont., Crown prosecutor Bhavna Bhangu withdrew all charges against Gardiner during a video court hearing, saying that after a thorough review, the Crown determined there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. Acting Sgt. Martin Hachey of the OPP detachment in Collingwood said he couldn’t comment on why the charges were withdrawn. “I can tell you that, certainly, our jobs as officers is to investigate an occurrence and, of course, lay charges accordingly based on the investigation and the evidence collected,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what took place in this case or what brought about that particular decision, but on our end … that’s the job we [had] to do, and that’s what we did in this case.” In a statement, the Ministry of the Attorney General said, “The Crown has a duty to assess the strength of a case … and after careful consideration, the Crown determined that a withdrawal of these charges was appropriate. Lawyers worry about ‘chilling effect’ for others Toronto criminal lawyers Robb MacDonald and Elliott Willschick, who represented Gardiner, said they’re pleased the charges were withdrawn. “I think it’s an indication that at the end of the day, the Crown attorney, the Crown attorney’s office, finally sees this case for what it is. And it was a man defending himself and his house and his loved ones,” MacDonald said. Toronto criminal lawyer Robb MacDonald, who was one of Gardiner’s lawyers, says the case involved ‘a man defending himself and his house and his loved ones.'(Andy Hincenbergs/CBC) But Willschick said he worries people may see what his client went through and hesitate to protect themselves in similar situations. “It may have a chilling effect on people,” he said. “You don’t want people to think when someone is facing a home invasion and a gun’s at their head and they have to think, ‘Well, if I do this, am I going to spend a few months in jail? Am I going to be punished criminally?’ “It’s a dynamic situation. You have someone who’s in shock, whose adrenaline is pumping. And so, essentially, you have someone who did the right thing. He was trying to protect his family.” WATCH | Ontario man describes when 3 intruders entered his home in 2019: As for Gardiner, he said that while he is relieved the charges were withdrawn, the event left him traumatized. “I’m always worried about the door, always looking at the door or seeing [if] someone else is going to kick in. But it’s just something you don’t forget,” he said. “I got to try and forgive myself and move on with my life.”

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Measles case reported locally turns out to be negative: health unit

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NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE MUSKOKA DISTRICT HEALTH UNIT
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On March 26, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) was notified by Public Health Ontario’s (PHO) laboratory that due to laboratory error, the case of measles that had been lab-confirmed positive on March 12, based on symptoms and a positive urine measles laboratory result by PHO’s laboratory, is in fact negative for the measles virus.

“With this new information of the negative lab result, we believe that that individual was not infected with measles and that there has not been any public exposure to measles resulting from this individual’s illness,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health. “We recognize that notifying the public of what we believed to be a positive measles case in our area created worry, anxiety and disruption for some, and we regret this.

“We do know that, despite best efforts, on rare occasions laboratory errors can occur. We are working closely with the PHO’s laboratory to do all that we can to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.”

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads very easily through airborne transmission. The measles virus can live in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours.

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Symptoms of measles begin seven to 21 days after exposure and include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, and red eyes. Small white spots appear on the inside of the mouth and throat but are not always present. Three to seven days after symptoms begin, a red, blotchy rash appears on the face and then progresses down the body.

The risk of transmission to those vaccinated with two doses is low, and when it does occur tends to show a reduction in the severity of these symptoms.

“Although we are relieved for the individual involved, and for all Simcoe-Muskoka residents, that this case has now been confirmed as negative, we know that measles is still active in Ontario at this time and the potential remains for new cases to arise, especially given the increase in Ontarians travelling to areas in the world that have higher numbers of measles cases,” said Dr. Gardner. “This is why we continue to advise individuals to keep up to date with their routine immunizations, including measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.”

The risk of measles is low for people who have been fully immunized with two doses of measles vaccine or those born before 1970; however, many children have been delayed in receiving their routine childhood immunizations and people who have not had two doses of measles vaccine are at higher risk of contracting the disease.

People who do get sick usually recover without treatment, but measles can be more severe for infants, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems. Possible complications include middle-ear infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, or encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and occasionally death in the very young. Even individuals who are up to date with the measles vaccine should watch for symptoms of measles for 21 days after exposure.

For more information about measles, please visit smdhu.org or call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520, Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to speak with a public health professional.

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Kate Middleton Not Alone. Cancer On Rise For People Under 50, Say Experts

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Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery

London:

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When Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she was being treated for cancer last week, part of the shock was that an otherwise healthy 42-year-old has a disease that mostly plagues older people.

However, researchers have been increasingly sounding the alarm that more and more people under 50 are getting cancer — and no one knows why.

Across the world, the rate of under-50s diagnosed with 29 common cancers surged by nearly 80 percent between 1990 and 2019, a large study in BMJ Oncology found last year.

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The researchers predicted the number of new cancer cases among younger adults will rise another 30 percent by the end of this decade, with wealthy countries particularly affected.

The increase in cases — and soaring global population — means that the number of deaths among under 50s from cancer has risen by nearly 28 percent over the last 30 years.

This occurred even as the odds of people of all ages surviving cancer have roughly doubled over the last half century.

Shivan Sivakumar, a cancer researcher at the UK’s University of Birmingham, called it an “epidemic” of young adult cancer.

Since Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery earlier this year, Sivakumar and other doctors have spoken out about the uptick in younger cancer patients they have been seeing at their clinics.

While breast cancer remains the most common for people under 50, the researchers expressed particular concern about the rise of gastrointestinal cancers — such as of the colon, pancreas, liver and oesophagus — in younger adults.

Colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in men under 50 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. For women, it is number two — behind only breast cancer.

One high profile case of colorectal cancer was “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman, who died at the age of 43 in 2020.

Why is this happening?

“We just don’t have the evidence yet” to say exactly what is causing this rise, Sivakumar told AFP, adding it was likely a combination of factors.

Helen Coleman, a cancer epidemiology professor at Queen’s University Belfast who has studied early onset cancer in Northern Ireland, told AFP there were two potential explanations.

One is that people in their 40s were exposed to factors known to cause cancer — such tobacco smoke, alcohol or being obese — at an earlier age than previous generations.

She pointed out that the “obesity epidemic” did not start until the 1980s.

Sivakumar felt that at least part of the puzzle could be explained by obesity.

However, there is “another wave” of under-50 patients who are neither obese nor genetically predisposed still getting cancer, he emphasised, adding that this could not be put down to “statistical chance”.

The other theory, Coleman said, is that “something different” has been going on with her generation.

Fingers have been pointed out a range of possible culprits — including chemicals, new drugs and microplastics — but none have been proven.

Some have suggested that so-called ultra-processed foods could be to blame. “But there’s very little data to back any of that up,” Coleman said.

Another theory is that the food we eat could be changing our gut microbiome.

While there is nothing conclusive yet, Coleman said her own research suggested that cancer causes changes to the microbiome, not the other way around.

Anti-vaxx conspiracy theorists have even tried to blame Covid-19 vaccines.

This is easily disproven, because the rise in young adult cancer has taken place over decades, but the vaccines have only been around for a few years.

What can be done?

To address the rise in younger colorectal cancer, in 2021 the US lowered the recommended age for screening to 45. Other countries have yet to follow suit.

But the researchers hoped that Catherine’s experience would remind people at home that they should consult their doctor if they sense anything is wrong.

“People know their bodies really well,” Sivakumar said.

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“If you really feel that something isn’t right, don’t delay — just get yourself checked out.”

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Almost 3,000 students suspended in Waterloo Region over immunization issues

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Close to 3,000 children attending elementary school across Waterloo Region were suspended from school on Wednesday morning for not having up-to-date immunization records.

The region says Waterloo Public Health suspended 2,969 students under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA).

For several months, the region has been campaigning for people to get their children’s vaccinations up to date, including sending letters home to parents on a couple of occasions, warning that students’ records needed to be up to date or they would be suspended.

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It announced in January that 32,000 students did not have up-to-date records: 22,000 elementary students and 10,000 high school students.


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“We have made remarkable progress from the original 27,567 immunization notices we sent to parents in November and December 2023,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.

“Since that time, we have resolved more than 24,500 outdated vaccination records, providing students with valuable protection against these serious and preventable diseases.”

The high school students still have a few weeks to get their records up to date or else face suspension.

The ISPA requires students to have proof-of-vaccination records for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) and meningitis, which must be on file with public health.

Public health says caregivers whose children are suspended will need to book an appointment at regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccines for clinics, which will be held in Cambridge and Waterloo on weekdays.

“Given the high number of suspensions, it may take several days before you can be seen at an appointment and return your child to school,” a release from the region warns.

“Record submission and questions must be done in person to ensure immediate resolution.”

The last time suspensions over immunizations were issued was in 2019, when 1,032 students were suspended.

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