The 23-year-old man who killed two UBC students in a 2021 crash has been sentenced to three years in prison and a five-year driving ban. Provincial court Judge Glenn Lee said in court that Tim Goerner (gare-NER’) will still be young when his sentence is completed, allowing him to spread the message about the dangers of drinking and driving. The court heard that the high-speed crash saw Goerner driving at between 100 and 120 kilometres an hour in a 40-kilometre-per-hour zone, crashing into Evan Smith and Emily Selwood on a sidewalk. The three-year sentence is in line with a joint submission by the Crown and Goerner’s defence lawyer.
Halfway house operators and researchers say the facilities play a crucial role in Canada’s justice system, and instances of escape such as the Randall Hopley case are rare. John Howard Society of BC chairman Hank Mathias says the organization runs a number of halfway houses in the province. Mathias says while no setup is completely fail-safe, halfway houses play an indispensable role in moving the justice system in the right direction by safely reintegrating individuals from jail into society. Hopley, who is 58 years old, walked away from a Vancouver halfway house just days before he was scheduled to appear in court to face charges for violating his release conditions.
Environmental groups are applauding a new deal between the federal and BC governments as well as the province’s First Nations to strengthen conservation efforts. The signing of the tripartite framework agreement comes with funding totaling one-billion-dollars from sources both new and previously announced. The agreement also comes with the understanding that all three parties will have input in an inclusive and equal forum on decisions affecting conservation, plant restoration and wildlife biodiversity. BC Premier David Eby says the framework agreement is a “paradigm shift in the province.”
A man has been found dead under a bridge in the eastern B-C town of Golden, and police are investigating the case as a serious crime. Mounties say the body was found under downtown Golden’s North Bridge on Monday morning, and police have not identified the man. RCMP say their serious-crime unit has been deployed to investigate the case. Investigators believe there are no public safety concerns at this time.
The BC government is expanding five provincial parks. Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister George Heyman says his government bought pieces of land across the province that will be added to the parks. In total, he says they acquired 109 hectares of land worth roughly 1.9-million dollars. That includes 64 hectares of land around Haida Gwaii’s Naikoon Park.
The BC Securities Commission says it will start paying people who provide information about investment fraud and other market misconducts. The securities commission says its whistleblower awards will range from one-thousand dollars to 250-thousand dollars in size. The awarded amount depends on the how quickly the information is provided, how it contributes to the enforcement outcome and the seriousness of the offences. The commission says it will use a special online portal to receive tips from whistleblowers.