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True motive of B.C. bank shooting may never be known, says criminologist

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Questions of what would motivate twin brothers to enter a British Columbia bank dressed in body armour and prepared for a gun battle remain unanswered, but a criminologist sees similarities to two other young men who terrified Canadians in 2019.

Prof. Robert Gordon from Simon Fraser University’s school of criminology said there are parallels with the Saanich bank shootout last week and the murders of three people in B.C. and the subsequent suicides of their killers.

A manhunt for Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, lasted nearly a month in the summer of 2019 before they were found dead in northern Manitoba.

Twenty-two-year-old Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie of Duncan, B.C., were killed by police in a shootout that left six officers injured outside a Bank of Montreal branch in Saanich on June 28.

Police have said the men also had explosive devices in their vehicle.

“There’s a bigger issue here, and I find it kind of fascinating, is the infectious nature of some of this stuff,” Gordon said in an interview.

The minds of men who are drawn to firearms and not doing “very well” in life are intriguing, he said, noting the failed application of one of the twins to join the armed forces.

“What gets into the minds of these young men is beyond belief.”

A statement from the Canadian Armed Forces said Mathew Auchterlonie had applied to be part of the military but didn’t pass the aptitude test.

Isaac Auchterlonie participated in the Soldier for a Day program in 2018, it said.

“As the name implies, the program lasts one day, and participants are provided a certificate at the end as a keepsake,” it said. “It’s not a training activity, but more of a simple “open house”, and often a type of field trip for high school classes.”

Neither man has ever been part of the Canadian Armed Forces in any way, it added.

Three officers remain in hospital, including one who is in intensive care after three surgeries.

A classmate of the twins described the men as “shy and quiet.”

Courtney Dougan lives in Cobble Hill and attended Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay, B.C., with the twins.

“I was not friends with the Auchterlonie brothers,” she said. “They were very to themselves. I mainly saw them in passing through halls or in classrooms. They were very nice kids.”

Having gone to school with two men now involved in a bank shootout is “very weird and strange,” she said.

“We’re all very shocked still. It’s a very tight community around here,” Dougan said. “(I’m) just very surprised and just feel awful for the family going through this.”

Gordon called the bank robbery and subsequent shootout a “tragedy of wasted life, wasted talent.”

“Because they get caught up in some bizarre mixture of entertainment and news, and decide to create their own reality.”

Comparisons have been made to the shootout with the North Hollywood Bank of America robbery in 1997 where two robbers were killed in a hail of gunfire.

Gordon said some police departments use footage from that shootout for training purposes to understand what went wrong and what was done right.

The main issue of that robbery was the heavy firepower used by the robbers while the police were not that well-armed, he noted.

“What happened a week ago in Victoria, bears some similarity in that it was a small, suburban bank that was attacked,” he said.

“But the guys who were involved with the North Hollywood bank robbery, were older men, experienced men who had done crimes before and who were carrying a lot of really serious firepower.”

Saanich Police Chief Const. Dean Duthie said he is not aware if the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team has viewed the North Hollywood robbery video.

“But I know that the training, the research and the connections to ensure that they are prepared for the most dangerous situations is something that they do.”

The emergency response team was in the area last Tuesday on another matter and changed course to immediately respond to the robbery call at the bank, police have said.

Gordon said he understands that there are a number of questions about what happened last week, and people might look to that old shooting for answers. But these would be questions police and the Independent Investigations Office have on their list as well, he added.

“And foremost is, what kinds of firearms were being used.”

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Alex Bérubé said investigators have made some initial evaluations about the weapons used by the twins, but further analysis is needed.

“We are not in a position at this time to provide further specifics,” he said in an email.

Police have not been able to establish a motive either, Bérubé said.

“Every investigation has theories and investigators need to gather information and evidence and ultimately eliminate or confirm those theories or even follow the evidence to other possibilities.”

Gordon said the true motive of the armed bank robbery by the twins may never be known.

“Usually the motive is cash. That’s the purpose of a robbery. You’re not doing it for any other reason,” he said.

“So, they were probably out to get some quick and easy money. And or do it with a bit of excitement. Usually people who rob banks, there aren’t that many of them anymore, do it purely for the cash. It’s a question with an obvious answer, in many respects.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2022.

 

Hina Alam and Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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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 Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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