The lawyer for a Calgary city councillor who faces a criminal charge in connection with an alleged road rage incident says he plans to mount a “vigorous defence” and questions why Edmonton police took more than eight months to investigate a minor offence. Ward 9 […]
LawyerTim Schober was an active tennis player, cyclist, hiker and a practising lawyer well into his 60s before a car made an illegal exit on a Victoria highway and crashed into him while he was cycling to work last August. “By the time things settled down, […]
AccidentForeign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says she plans to use new law to divert assets from sanctioned Russians Canada’s attempt to seize and forfeit a Russian oligarch’s holdings will be a major test of how the federal government balances sanctions and Charter rights, says an […]
GovermentA Calgary Police Service spokesperson said it assisted in Carpay’s arrest but deferred other questions to Winnipeg police. Carpay’s decision to hire a private investigator to follow Joyal, chief justice of what was then Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench, came to light in July 2021 during […]
LawyerA Calgary Police Service spokesperson said it assisted in Carpay’s arrest but deferred other questions to Winnipeg police.
Carpay’s decision to hire a private investigator to follow Joyal, chief justice of what was then Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench, came to light in July 2021 during a hearing for a case against pandemic rules brought forward by seven rural Manitoba churches who were represented by Carpay’s organization.
A lawyer who represented a number of churches across Canada fighting COVID-19 restrictions in court has been charged by police in Winnipeg after admitting in 2021 he hired a private investigator to follow senior government officials and the Manitoba judge who presided over one of the organization’s cases.
The Winnipeg Police Service said it has charged John Carpay, 55, with intimidation of a justice system participant and the attempt to obstruct justice.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said it learned on Friday of the warrant issued by Winnipeg police for the arrest of Carpay, president of JCCF when the allegations surfaced last year.
“This warrant was apparently issued in connection with the events that took place in 2021 and alleges obstruction of justice,” the Alberta-based organization said in a statement posted on its website on Sunday.
Carpay immediately turned himself in to the Calgary Police Service after learning of the warrant, the statement said.
It also indicated Carpay has been released on bail, with the sole condition that he not contact Glenn Joyal, chief justice of what is now Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench. It said the Calgary-based lawyer has not had any communication with the judge since an apology he made for having Joyal followed in 2021.
A spokesperson for the Law Society of Manitoba said its investigation is complete and charges of professional misconduct have been authorized against Carpay.
The Law Society of Manitoba’s website says the three-day hearing for Carpay’s case is scheduled to begin Feb. 8. Carpay is accused of breach of integrity, undermining public respect for the administration of justice and failing to treat court with candour, fairness, courtesy and respect, the website says.
A lawyer found guilty of professional misconduct can face consequences including being fined, suspended or disbarred, Manitoba’s Legal Profession Act says.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Manitoba Courts characterized the allegation as an “unprecedented surveillance of a sitting judge of this court.” But neither the court nor the chief justice would comment further, the statement added.
Ottawa human rights lawyer Richard Warman, who filed complaints with the law societies of Manitoba and Alberta, said he, too, thinks the case is unprecedented in terms of professional misconduct by a lawyer.
“I’m unable to remember any lawyer going so far off the rails as to hire a private investigator to stalk the chief justice who’s presiding over a case that they’re appearing in,” he said on Monday.
“I have no doubt that it will be studied for years to come as a prime example of professional misconduct. And when you have extreme conduct, it calls for extreme sanction.”
Warman said he’s relieved to hear Carpay would also be charged criminally, but wondered why it took so long — especially since the case involved an admission of guilt in open court.
Given that factor, he said it comes off as “naive in the extreme” that Carpay’s organization says the charge against the lawyer was unexpected.
City’s lawyer says Sheegl’s motive for accepting money while CAO is irrelevent, it’s a still a bribe Phil Sheegl’s lawyer says his client made a poor decision to accept $327,200 while acting as Winnipeg’s chief administrative officer, but argues a judge erred in deciding he took […]
LawyerCity’s lawyer says Sheegl’s motive for accepting money while CAO is irrelevent, it’s a still a bribe
Phil Sheegl’s lawyer says his client made a poor decision to accept $327,200 while acting as Winnipeg’s chief administrative officer, but argues a judge erred in deciding he took a bribe.
Lawyer Robert Tapper appeared in front of a panel of three Manitoba Court of Appeal judges Tuesday morning on behalf of Sheegl, and Sheegl’s two companies FSS and 2686814 Manitoba Ltd.
Tapper said Manitoba Court of Kings Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal made three critical mistakes in his March 12, 2022, summary judgment when he found Sheegl took a bribe and should pay the money back to the city.
The details of the case date back to 2011 when Winnipeg contractor Armik Babakhanians, the owner of Caspian Projects Inc. and Caspian Construction, was awarded a multi-million dollar contract with the city to build the Winnipeg Police Service’s headquarters building.
In May of 2011, Babakhanians gave Sheegl a $200,000 cheque and wrote it was for consulting services, which Sheegl split with then-mayor Sam Katz and called it a loan. Then in August 2012, Babakhanians paid Katz $127,200 US, which Katz split with Sheegl.
The city sued Sheegl, and in March 2022 Joyal found the former CAO took a bribe when he accepted the money from Babakhanians and didn’t disclose it to his employer. Joyal order Sheegl and his two companies to pay back the money and his severance package, as well as damages, for a total of about $1.1 million.
Tapper told the appeal court judges that Joyal’s first mistake was that he relied solely on hearsay evidence given through the affidavits of current Winnipeg CAO Michael Jack. He also argued that the city didn’t provide any evidence from civic employees who sat on committees and were involved in the decision-making process to construct the police headquarters building.
Tapper doesn’t dispute that Sheegl breached his fiduciary duty to the city, but maintains he didn’t take a bribe.
“What got lost in this case was the fact that the alleged bribe did not occur in darkness, in currency of a brown paper bag,” said Tapper.
“Whether it was in a paper bag or in a Swiss bank, doesn’t really matter, he had no right to get the $327,000,” responded Manitoba Court of Appeal Justice Chris Mainella.
Tapper agreed it was a poor decision on his client’s part, but says the money was part of an Arizona land deal Sheegl and Katz did with Babakhanians.
Tapper said Joyal’s second error was that the chief justice wouldn’t let him cross-examine an RCMP officer who travelled to Arizona to investigate the land deal claims. Tapper says Sgt. Breanne Chanel had written in an affidavit to the court during a criminal investigation into the police headquarters project that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove or deny the existence of a land deal.
City lawyer Michael Finlayson told the court there was no land deal and that the entire thing was made up in 2017 in response to questions from the us about the exchange of money.
In 2017, we are got a copy of search warrants and production orders that the RCMP got during a five-year investigation into allegations of fraud and forgery in the police headquarters project. That case concluded in 2019 with no charges laid.
In the documents obtained by LTD lawyers mississauga, Mounties alleged Sheegl took a bribe and split it with Katz during the police headquarters construction project. We asked Tapper, who represents both Sheegl and Katz, about those allegations and Tapper said the money was part of a land deal.
Tapper showed our reporters a handwritten document detailing the transaction. That document was only signed by Sheegl, but Tapper provided a copy of the document featuring Babakhanians signature later.
“If you keep your paper[work] and you’re asked for a copy of the so-called agreement, why don’t you produce the one that’s signed by both? If you keep your paper, where are the tax stuff, all the things that you would expect. The emails. The text was the only document ever produced by Sheegl,” said Finlayson.
He said out of 247 emails submitted to the court in this case, only two are from Sheegl, and the two are from 2018.
A woman is dead after a two-vehicle collision on Inkster Boulevard and King Edward Street early Saturday, Winnipeg police say. Police responded to the collision at the northwest Winnipeg intersection around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, a news release said. Paramedics were already on scene. Officers were […]
AccidentA woman is dead after a two-vehicle collision on Inkster Boulevard and King Edward Street early Saturday, Winnipeg police say.
Police responded to the collision at the northwest Winnipeg intersection around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, a news release said. Paramedics were already on scene.
Officers were told that one driver, a woman who has yet to be identified, died from her injuries.
The driver of the second vehicle, a 21-year-old man, was taken to hospital in stable condition.
Traffic was closed in all directions on King Edward between Kinver and Garton Avenues, and on Inkster between Groverdale Avenue and Keewatin Street, police said in a tweet just before 8 a.m.
Police ask that anyone with information, including dash camera footage of the crash, contact the traffic division at 204-986-7085 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).
Over the grinding wail of a chainsaw pruning trees, Oleh Braharnyk recalls how his crew sprang into action in Kyiv a week earlier to repair power lines downed by Russian missiles and keep electricity flowing. Braharnyk, an electric company foreman, knows the stakes: Like many […]
UkraineOver the grinding wail of a chainsaw pruning trees, Oleh Braharnyk recalls how his crew sprang into action in Kyiv a week earlier to repair power lines downed by Russian missiles and keep electricity flowing.
Braharnyk, an electric company foreman, knows the stakes: Like many others in Ukraine, his family has dealt with daily power outages caused by Russian airstrikes.
“We, too, sit in the dark,” said Braharnyk, whose home gets power for only about half of each day.
In recent months, Russia has rained missiles on Ukraine to try to take out power grid equipment and facilities that keep lights on, space heaters warm and computers running.
It’s part of Moscow’s strategy to cripple the country’s infrastructure and freeze Ukraine into submission this winter.
Braharnyk’s crew is one of many from energy company DTEK that moves swiftly in Kyiv — occasionally under artillery and rocket fire — to keep the city ticking. Colleagues across Ukraine do the same.
From Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on down, leaders have warned that gas systems, watermains and power stations have become a new front in the war.
About half of Ukraine’s energy supply network is still damaged following widespread attacks on Nov. 23, when DTEK declared that “the power system failed.”
During that barrage, six of the company’s thermal power plants were shut down, and as many as 70 per cent of residents in Ukraine’s capital lost power.
The plants were brought back online within 24 hours, although power cuts affect about 30 per cent of Kyiv’s residents during the day, dropping as low as 20 per cent at night, a DTEK spokesperson said.
DTEK says Russian forces have attacked its facilities 17 times since early October, including twice on Monday alone.
The company has reported the deaths of more than 106 employees since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the vast majority of them members of the military. Fourteen were killed while either off-duty or working.
Three Ukrainian energy workers were killed and 24 injured in the past week, DTEK said.
Braharnyk’s crew had little more to worry about than freezing temperatures and piles of snow as they trimmed branches on Thursday near overhead electricity lines that power homes and businesses on much of the left bank of the Dnipro River.
That doesn’t diminish their constant state of alert. When the missiles started dropping mid-afternoon on Nov. 23, the crew rushed to an unspecified emergency site, assessed the damage and quickly determined what repairs needed to be done. A second “brigade” was then called in to do the actual repair work.
The crews can’t just rush in. In theory, but not always in practice, de-mining experts are expected to arrive first and give the all-clear.
Clean-up crews, when needed, clear away debris and fragments from downed lines and blast destruction so trucks and heavy equipment can get through to complete the repairs.
The infrastructure-targeted strikes aren’t as perilous as the attacks carried out in the opening phase of the war, when Russian forces advanced to the outskirts of Kyiv and nearby neighbourhoods before being pushed back. At that time, repair work was done under fire.
“These days, it’s better because the rockets are being fired from farther away,” Braharnyk said.
In light of the new Russian strategy, “when we hear that there is an incoming strike from Russia, we already know they’re going to aim at the power supplies or power lines,” Braharnyk said.
DTEK’s crews now stay close to their operational base, ready to deploy on a moment’s notice. The risks remain real.
“Even now, we’re not really confident because no one knows if they will do a double hit when we deploy to repair a site that they’ve just struck,” he said.
The psychological strain is heavy.
“The hardest thing is … hearing the explosions and the strikes, and we don’t know what it is exactly. It could be incoming missiles or SWAT teams de-mining fields so other brigades can get through,” Braharnyk said.
For the electric company crews, it’s about getting the job done, “no matter what’s happening around us,” he said.
Four men charged in connection with an alleged racially motivated assault in Abram-Village in early September had their first court appearances in Summerside Wednesday. Three of the four accused were not present in court, but their lawyers asked for their cases to be adjourned because […]
LawyerFour men charged in connection with an alleged racially motivated assault in Abram-Village in early September had their first court appearances in Summerside Wednesday.
Three of the four accused were not present in court, but their lawyers asked for their cases to be adjourned because the Crown had just disclosed its information. The lawyers for the accused say it’s a large package of information that they have to sort through before their clients enter a plea.
The lawyer for one of the accused questioned comments made by Premier Dennis King in the days following the incident.
In a statement posted to Twitter on Sept. 7, Premier King condemned the incident as what he called “an act of racism and hate” that “tarnished” the Island.
“It’s not the place of elected officials to litigate or to find these people guilty in the media or out there, essentially, our clients are all still not guilty in the eyes of the court and in the eyes of the law,” said Daniel Gallant, with Noël & Associates.
Police were called to the Évangéline Recreation Centre during the early morning hours of Sept. 3, as an event connected to the P.E.I. Acadian Festival was wrapping up.
Two men were injured and were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Local groups say the victims were immigrants from Algeria who had settled in the area, and called the attack racially motivated.
Police made four arrests within days of the incident, but charges were not laid until late November.
Police charged:
Troy Gallant was the only one in court Wednesday and made a brief appearance. All four who have been charged will be back in court Jan. 18.
Sources close to the men injured say they and their families have since moved out of the Évangéline region because they no longer felt safe there.
For several weeks after being attacked by a dog while campaigning in this year’s municipal election, St. Catharines city councillor Joe Kushner says he felt support and sympathy from members of the community. Recently, more than two months after the incident, Kushner says he’s received an onslaught of […]
Dog AttackFor several weeks after being attacked by a dog while campaigning in this year’s municipal election, St. Catharines city councillor Joe Kushner says he felt support and sympathy from members of the community.
Recently, more than two months after the incident, Kushner says he’s received an onslaught of emails – and some phone calls – accusing him of corruption and of trying to have the dog put down.
“Until [recently], I was getting a lot of people who were concerned with my welfare,” said Kushner, who says he was bitten three times after a large dog jumped on him while he was door-knocking in early October.
“People were coming up to me on the street expressing sympathies, and also telling me about their experiences with dogs biting them.”
Suddenly, things shifted.
One day in late November he began receiving what would end up to be more than 100 emails from people upset that the dog, Rocky, was being held by the Lincoln County Humane Society (LCHS), after the dog was ordered to be removed from the owners. A court hearing was coming up that could determine the dog’s fate, and someone connected with the dog’s owner had created a Change.org petition that was gaining traction.
The humane society says Rocky, who is a large-size American Alsatian, has bitten several other people in the past and is an “aggressive” dog. Those participating in the petition campaign disagree.”Today I’ve had three telephone calls: two were obscene, one was by a lady at 1 o’clock in the morning,” Kushner told Toronto LTD lawyer, one day in late November. “They used very vulgar language, saying that I am a fragile old man, that type of thing. [They said I am] a disgrace to being a city councillor.”
Kushner says he was canvassing on Strada Boulevard with his two adult daughters Oct. 2 when a large dog lunged at him and knocked him on his back. He says he tried to kick the dog away while the dog bit him in the ankle and thigh, and that the dog’s owner eventually pulled the dog away.
“I must have been in shock because I handed him one of my election brochures,” Kushner told Long Term Disability Lawyer Mississauga
He says he sustained three bites and a shoulder injury from the fall. After seeking medical attention, he says he received a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
“My leg has healed extremely well but my shoulder still gives me pain,” he said.
The dog’s owners, Mark and Alba Kotyk, declined to comment, directing to speak with paralegal David Marynuik, who did not respond to inquiries.
However, in emails between Mark and Diane Hines, the petition’s creator, Mark alleges Kushner has “omitted a lot, exaggerated a lot and downright lied about what happened” in past media reports.
According to his account in the emails, Mark says Kushner fell on his back in front of his house that day, “well out of the reach of Rocky.”
Kushner says he gave a statement to the police after the attack. While Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) Const. Barry Ravenek wouldn’t identify people involved, he did confirm to Hamilton that officers were called to the area just before noon that day for an animal complaint.
“The individual sustained minor injuries,” said Ravenek in an email. “The dog was determined to have been in the front yard at the time and was tethered and confined to the property. No arrests or charges have been laid by the NRPS. The investigation has been turned over to the Lincoln County Humane Society.”
Kevin Strooband, executive director of the LCHS, says the agency’s records show Rocky has bitten two other people in the past, and that the dog’s supporters reference a fourth attack he was previously unaware of in the online petition.
One of the victims LCHS has a record of was an 11-year-old girl from the neighbourhood, who was chased down by an off-leash Rocky in 2019, pushed down and bitten on the back of her leg, above the knee. The girl required stitches, according to the statement her mother made to the humane society.
Strooband says as a result, the dog’s owner was convicted of allowing a dog to run at large and charged a fine.
Local police say they turned over Kushner’s case to the LCHS, after he called police to report the incident.
Strooband then ordered that Rocky be held by the humane society and the organization launched legal proceedings through the Dog Owners’ Liability Act in order to determine Rocky’s fate. Possibilities include an order to euthanize the dog or his return with stipulations for the owners.
He says a Justice of the Peace has ordered the organization to hold the dog until further directed by the courts.
“The LCHS had no authority to release the dog, until further directed by a Justice of the Peace,” Strooband says, a fact the many people emailing the organization asking it to set Rocky free appear unaware of, he added. “This is completely out of our hands.”
An explosion and fire in an apartment building on the Channel Island of Jersey killed at least three people and left others missing, police said on Saturday. Robin Smith, the chief officer of the States of Jersey Police, said during a news conference that “around a […]
AccidentAn explosion and fire in an apartment building on the Channel Island of Jersey killed at least three people and left others missing, police said on Saturday.
Robin Smith, the chief officer of the States of Jersey Police, said during a news conference that “around a dozen” residents were missing following the blast in the town of St. Helier.
Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, is a self-governing dependency of the United Kingdom located off the coast of northern France in the English Channel.
Smith said a three-storey building had “completely collapsed,” and there was also damage to a nearby building. He described the scene as “devastating” and warned there could be more fatalities.
The fire service was called to the area the night before after residents reported smelling gas, Smith said.
He said police would investigate if there was a safety issue with natural gas lines.
Police said in a statement that while the fire was extinguished, emergency service agencies were carrying out significant work at the scene.
Authorities advised residents to avoid the area of the blast, which was cordoned off.
One person was taken to hospital after a fire at an apartment block in east Regina Friday night, the city’s fire department says. In a Regina Fire and Protective Services tweet sent just before midnight, flames could be seen spouting from a top window at the back […]
AccidentOne person was taken to hospital after a fire at an apartment block in east Regina Friday night, the city’s fire department says.
In a Regina Fire and Protective Services tweet sent just before midnight, flames could be seen spouting from a top window at the back of the three-storey building on Froom Crescent.
Emergency personnel were called about the fire just before 10 p.m., according to a police officer on the scene.
Mobile crisis supported displaced residents of the building, the fire department said.
The cause of the fire is being investigated.
The London Police Service (LPS) has released additional information as they continue to investigate a hit-and-run that killed an international student in the fall. Jibin Benoy, 29, was struck while riding his bike along Hamilton Road in the early morning hours of Sept. 18 after […]
PoliceThe London Police Service (LPS) has released additional information as they continue to investigate a hit-and-run that killed an international student in the fall.
Jibin Benoy, 29, was struck while riding his bike along Hamilton Road in the early morning hours of Sept. 18 after leaving work at a downtown restaurant.
The LPS has yet to identify the suspect vehicle or the driver, but is looking for the owner of a two-door blue-coloured sedan with a loud muffler. There is possible damage to the front passenger side of the bumper and windshield, but it may have since been repaired.
“Prior to the collision, the vehicle, which was carrying passengers, was observed on Richmond Street,” LPS said in its latest release on the incident. “Investigators are currently in the process of reviewing video surveillance footage from that area.”
There is now a new publicly available photo still taken from the video surveillance.
Investigators are urging anyone who was on Hamilton Road that morning between 4:30 to 4:45 a.m., or who may have dash-cam, residential or business video that could assist with the investigation to contact the LPS.
Anyone with information in relation to this incident is asked to call the London Police Service at (519) 661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent in online anonymously to London Elgin Middlesex Crime Stoppers.
Jean-Talon Boulevard erupted in uncontrolled joy on Saturday afternoon as Moroccan supporters danced, cheered and cried over their team’s historic World Cup quarter-finals victory. Morocco beat Portugal 1-0, making them the first ever African squad to secure a spot in the World Cup semifinal, the largest soccer tournament in the […]
World CupJean-Talon Boulevard erupted in uncontrolled joy on Saturday afternoon as Moroccan supporters danced, cheered and cried over their team’s historic World Cup quarter-finals victory.
Morocco beat Portugal 1-0, making them the first ever African squad to secure a spot in the World Cup semifinal, the largest soccer tournament in the world. When the referee’s final whistle blew on Saturday, they flooded out of cafés and apartments to celebrate.
Red and green smoke wafted through the Petit Maghreb neighbourhood, the heart of Montreal’s sizeable Moroccan and North African community. The city is home to more than 50,000 Moroccan immigrants and tens of thousands of others with ties to the country.
“They deserved to win,” said Bouchaib Kaebori, who was born in Morocco, as the boom of fireworks sounded amid the revellers. He wore a Moroccan flag draped over his shoulders, a visible sign of the pride for his home country.
“We are really, really proud as Moroccan-Canadians. We won against some of the biggest teams in the world: Belgium, today Portugal, even Spain.”
Above the crowd, dozens of Moroccan flags fluttered in the wind. But the green star of Morocco was joined by the crescent moon of Algeria and the Palestinian ensign. Moroccan supporters say they feel the entire Arab world is throwing its support behind the team.
The crowd chanted and danced outside the Café Sable d’or on Jean-Talon Boulevard, just east of Saint-Michel Metro station, at the heart of the Petit Maghreb neighbourhood.
The neighbourhood held a sense of bubbling anticipation before the Saturday morning showdown with Portugal. But earlier this week, Moroccan Montrealers said they were confident of their team’s success.