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Friday, June 19, 2015
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Vol. 7 • Issue 101
Blewett musician debuts on BBC See Page 10
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Lemon Creek trial set for April 2016 BILL METCALFE Nelson Star A trial over the fuel spill into Lemon Creek nearly two years ago will be held in Nelson between April 18 and 28, 2016. The date was set at the Nelson courthouse on Tuesday. Slocan Valley resident Marilyn Burgoon has launched a private prosecution against the Calgarybased company Executive Flight Centre and the BC government under a provision of the Fisheries Act that states “no person shall deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish.” The case follows the July 26, 2013 spill of jet fuel into Lemon Creek by Executive Flight Centre, the company that was working for the provincial government at the time fighting a forest fire. “My major focus will be in fundraising,” Burgoon said Tuesday. “A two-week court case has a high financial cost and it will be a huge thing for me to get the funding.” Private prosecutions are not common in Canada, but Jeffrey Jones, a semi-retired lawyer from Sointula, says they are getting more frequent because “our governments are backing away from their regulatory frameworks” and enforcing fewer of their environmental regulations. This requires citizens to take up the slack, he says. Jones has 20 years of experience in pursuing charges under the Fisheries Act as a federal prosecutor. He has advised Burgoon and her lawyer, Lilina Lysenko, on this case and was the lawyer for biologist Alexandra Morton in two high-profile prosecutions related to fish farming in BC. Jones says the right to pursue a private prosecution is a “valuable constitutional safeguard.” When a citizen begins a private prosecution the federal government can choose to step in and prosecute, but in this case has decided not to, although it could change its mind and decide to intervene at any time. Jones calls this failure to intervene an “abdication,” and says the problem is magnified by the fact the provincial government is named as a party Continued on page 5
Missing man found safe See Page 4
Lobster menace In the ever-changing mural beside Thor’s Pizzeria on Vernon St. a menacing lobster captures a cartoon rabbit while lightning bolts rain down from the sky. The piece is the final result of Metamorphosis, a community art project that saw the wall populated by a gorilla in a hard hat, an osprey mid-flight and a myriad of other compelling images. Will Johnson photo
New model proposed for policing and mental health BILL METCALFE Nelson Star Following Nelson city council’s refusal to increase funding to its police department this year, the question of how to approach an increase in mental health case loads for police and other agencies has been a live issue. Last week, a meeting between the city, police, Interior Health Authority and several community service agencies started some dialogue. Deb Kozak initiated the meeting in her dual role as mayor and chair of the police board.
Car 87, where are you?
One suggestion advocated by the police is funding for Car 87, a police car with a mental health worker in it, but at the meeting the IHA’s Dave Harrhy said that model isn’t feasible for communities under 100,000. “We have done the research and the literature reviews,” he told the Star in an interview this week. “They show that for a community [with a population as small as Nelson’s] that doesn’t make financial or clinical sense.”
He said there wouldn’t be enough calls to justify it, and a social service agency would have to pull staff from their current jobs to fill the position.
Street outreach workers At the meeting, Rona Park of Nelson Community Services put forward a proposal for a team of two street outreach workers to interact with those who “rely on street culture to survive.” Continued on page 9
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