KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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DECEMBER 29, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 156
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KTW
SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Mid-mountain: 104 cm Alpine: 123 cm Snow phone: 250-578-7232
IMBIBING 101:
STILL ON THE MEND
WEATHER
A lesson in tasting the finest on the shelf
Former Dorian owner recovers
A19
B1
Happy ending to saga of Kamloops’ TIE GUY IN saddest robber
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? This week, we look back at some of the stories and newsmakers of 2015 and years previous
MANITOBA Kim Sigurdson left Kamloops five years ago after failing to establish a gasification plant. KTW FILE PHOTO
CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
Long before KGHM Ajax proposed establishing an industry that threatened city air quality, a Manitoba entrepreneur armed with a government grant whipped up a frenzy of opposition with his plans. Despite receiving a permit from the Ministry of Environment allowing him to build a gasification plant, Kim Sigurdson made the decision five years ago to leave town after he was greeted with fierce and continued opposition. Using new technology and a grant from the province, Sigurdson’s firm, Aboriginal Cogeneration, proposed a clean
and green way of getting rid of old railway ties. The gasification technology would be used at a Mission Flats location to create power to add to the BC Hydro grid. After pulling the plug on his plans in March of 2010, Sigurdson failed to find another location and gave up on the deal. Still based in Manitoba, he said in a recent telephone interview the company is working on infrastructure solutions for remote, off-the-grid communities, be they in Canada’s north or in South America. He said a “containerized solution” would see old railway ties gasified in order to power a potable water plant or to process
sewage, for example. It is also working on solar, wind and runof-the-river projects. “They’re all containerized — plug and play,” he said. As for his failed Kamloops proposal, Sigurdson blames politicians, including MLA Terry Lake and Mayor Peter Milobar, for what he claims was an anti-business attitude that pandered to a minority of people with strident objections to his plan. “I should have just stood my ground,” he said. Sigurdson said he still has a valid permit to locate the gasification plant in Kamloops. He added an official protest lodged against it with the Environmental Appeal Board has now lapsed.
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CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
A permanent resident from Fiji threatened with deportation to a country he left at 11 years old will remain in Canada and is training to become a drug and alcohol counsellor. Feroz Buksh, dubbed the “saddest robber” after a failed hold up at a convenience store when he stole food and broke down in tears, was released from jail in July. He pleaded guilty to robbery and using an imitation firearm in the commission of an offence, crimes for which he received an 18-month jail sentence. After being released from jail, he entered a 35-day treatment program in Maple Ridge. Buksh said he received a letter from Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) telling him he will not be deported to Fiji. He has two adult children in Canada and has not lived in the South Pacific nation since he was a boy. Because he was given a sentence of more than six months, Buksh — who lived in Canada for 34 years, but never applied to become a Canadian citizen — came under review by the CBSA for removal from this country. There is no appeal of a decision by a single-member panel.
“They gave me a chance,” Buksh said in a telephone interview from the campus of Stenberg College in Surrey, where he is enrolled in a mental health and addictions counselling program. Buksh, 45, walked into the Tranquille Market store at 1170 Tranquille Rd. on an afternoon in September of 2014 and asked the clerk for some hot food and 10 packs of cigarettes. Buksh tried to pay for the items with a pre-paid Visa card. When that failed, he demanded money from the till and said he FEROZ BUKSH had a gun. Amid the demand, Buksh began to cry, telling the clerk he was going to use the money to pay for bills, explaining he was in midst of divorce. Buksh grabbed the money and ran outside. As he did, the bag broke and its contents spilled out.
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