The Walkervilles Windsor band channelling Motown
JAYS GET BIG WIN OVER BOSOX
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Red Deer Advocate WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9, 2015
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Wildlife centre prepping for winter
DRAGON RESURFACING
Abrupt end to murder trial
BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF A murder trial for a man accused of killing a woman and then putting her body into a recycling dumpster has been cancelled. Nathan Michael Desharnais, 26, of Red Deer faces charges of second degree murder and interference with human remains. The trial was scheduled for this week. The body of Talia Meguinis, Talia Meguinis 27, was dumped in a recycling bin in Riverside Meadows on Feb. 22, 2012. A recycling truck picked the bin up and transported the body to a Red Deer recycling plant in Riverside Industrial Park. It was there that the body was discovered. Desharnais’ Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench trial before a judge and jury was to start on Tuesday, but the trial was cancelled abruptly. The trial was to run until Oct. 2. Some potential jurors only found out the trial had been cancelled on Tuesday morning when they came to the court house and were notified at the front door by signs or by Alberta Sheriffs. It is unclear why the trial was cancelled, but Desharnais will appear in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench in arraignment court on Sept. 14 to speak to the charges. A three-day preliminary hearing to test the strength of the Crown’s case, determining if it the matter could proceed to trial, was held on Dec. 16, 18 and 19, 2013. After that, a trial was ordered.
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Alberta Art and Drafting employee Zach Lesyk works to apply a fresh coat of varnish to the mural on the south side of the Alberta Art and Drafting building in downtown Red Deer Tuesday.
Please see MEGUINIS on Page A2
Medicine River Wildlife Centre will have heat to continue running this fall and winter while construction of its new animal hospital continues. “It won’t be pretty, and it won’t be the most efficient, but it will be better than freezing here or having to shut down,” said executive director Carol Kelly on Tuesday. She said a plumber will be putting together a coil heating system to operate in the three rooms that were once public spaces but have since been turned into the hospital during construction. Kelly was worried the hospital would have to shut down while the centre fundraises to build its replacement hospital. She said thankfully word spread and $70,000 was raised this year, and about $15,000 in gifts and in-kind donations. “We’re getting up to the $100,000 mark. We’re hearing from people all over the province,” Kelly said. A few community fundraising projects are also underway. “We’re optimistic we’ll continue to move forward, and continue to build over the winter and have it set up in the spring.” The $900,000 project includes a replacement building and new septic system. So far about $400,000 has been raised, with $250,000 to $300,000 in grants pending. She said enough money has come in so that concrete and septic system work continues. “We’ve got the concrete foundation in for the new wing and part of the old wing. The septic system is going in next week. “I’m desperate to make sure (the walls) are up before the snow flies.” Throughout construction, injured and sick animals in Central Alberta have still been treated at the centre. So far this year, staff have seen about 1,500 patients.
Please see WILDLIFE on Page A2
Where’s the money coming from to pay for refugees? PROVINCIAL CALLS FOR MORE SYRIANS IGNORES QUESTION: EXPERT
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BY THE CANADIAN PRESS VANCOUVER — As British Columbia joins other provinces pledging support for displaced Syrians, an immigration expert says that calls for Canada to accept more refugees fail to address the crucial question of who would foot the bill. University of Toronto sociology professor Monica Boyd said such requests amount to asking the federal government to pay the tab — about $35,000 per refugee family in the first year. But the topic of funding is absent from the discussion taking place publicly between a growing list of provinces and Ottawa, she noted. “They’re having a conversation in the middle of a marshmallow,” said Boyd, who is also the Canada Research
WEATHER Mainly cloudy. High 14. Low 6.
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Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark becomes emotional while announcing a $1-million fund to help Syrian refugees settle in the province on Tuesday. Chair in Immigration, Inequality and Public Policy. “What that means is
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there are certain things that aren’t being said, namely: ‘Where’s the money
coming from?”’ Under current regulations, provinces are legally not allowed to sponsor refugees — only the federal government and private citizens have that power. But that hasn’t stopped provinces from chiming in with announcements ranging from demands to boost immigration numbers to provincial funding for refugee support programs. On Tuesday, Premier Christy Clark announced a $1-million “readiness fund” to help refugees from war-torn Syria settle in B.C. The one-time investment will provide trauma counselling, assist professional associations to recognize foreign credentials, support job placement programs and help private sponsors navigate the refugee-sponsorship process. On Monday, Quebec announced it was prepared to take in 3,650 Syrian refugees by the end of the year — 2,450 more than initially planned.
Please see REFUGEES on Page A2
A delicate dance between art, science Julius Csotonyi’s portraits of dinosaurs are so compelling, you can almost hear his subjects tramp through the forest. Story on PAGE A3
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