British Columbia’s premier says he is “deeply disturbed” that a high-risk sex offender who abducted a three-year-old boy in 2011 is on the loose after failing to return to his halfway house in Vancouver.
Police say 58-year-old Randall Hopley is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant and was last seen Saturday afternoon.
Police say Hopley has a history of convictions for assault, property and sexual crimes, including three sex offences against children.
He was convicted of the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy in southeastern British Columbia, which touched off a Canada-wide search for the child.
Hopley had taken the boy from his family home, held him captive in a cabin for four days before returning him apparently unharmed — although the parole board said later that “serious harm did occur.”
Speaking from the Canadian premiers’ meetings in Halifax, B.C. Premier David Eby said it was inconceivable that a known sex offender who targeted children was able to escape supervision.
“I’m certainly, as I imagine all British Columbians are, deeply disturbed to hear about the release of a sex offender who targets children, that he was insufficiently supervised and able to walk away from the halfway house,” Eby said. “I don’t understand why there weren’t sufficient safeguards put in place by the parole board on this individual to prevent this from happening.”
Hopley served his full term for the 2011 abduction and was released in October 2018, but the National Parole Board said in January that a long-term supervision order was needed because he is at high risk to reoffend as an untreated sex offender.
In January, the National Parole Board also recommended charges against Hopley after determining that he didn’t comply with supervision orders related to his release.
The parole board said in a statement at the time that the recommendation for criminal charges would go to the B.C. attorney general after Hopley was allegedly caught using a computer at a public library — less than a metre from a group of children.
The BC Prosecution Service said in January that it had received a report related to Hopley and would review the allegations for potential charges.
The service didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on whether charges were laid.
Eby said items such as current bail-reform legislation that is stuck in the Senate need to be prioritized to target dangerous repeat offenders and protect the general public.
“We really look to the Senate to approve the bail reform bill as quickly as possible,” he said. “And it’s unacceptable that they are sitting on this bill because it is compromising the safety of British Columbians.”
At the time the parole board said a long-term supervision order for Hopley was needed in January, it also extended his supervision order for another year, forcing him to live in a residential facility under several conditions, such as obeying a curfew and not approaching children.
The parole board said at the time that Hopley does not “appear to understand or appreciate” the risk level of being in the library, adding that he lied to his case management team about the incident.
“You deny wrongdoing, which is worrisome, and you did not provide any reasonable explanation for your behaviours,” the parole board’s decision said.
“To date, no appropriate program of supervision has been established that will adequately protect society from your risk of reoffending.”
Police are asking anyone who has information about Hopley’s whereabouts to contact the authorities immediately.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2023.
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.
