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Prince George Citizen August 29, 2019

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Thursday, August 29, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Truck fire Prince George Fire/Rescue Department dealt with a vehicle fire over the lunch hour on Ferry Avenue at Highway 16 West Wednesday. RCMP shut down traffic in one direction on Ferry Avenue for a brief time so that fire crews could extinguish the fire.

Girls getting more involved B.C. selling less legal pot than most provinces in gang violence in B.C. Laura KANE The Canadian Press

Laura KANE, Amy SMART The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — As gang unit officers for the Vancouver police, detectives Sandy Avelar and Anisha Parhar often pull over boys and men in flashy cars with drugs and guns in the glove compartment. But they also meet girls and women in the passenger’s seat, toting designer purses and expensive jewelry. The detectives have noticed that often these females are assumed to be naive bystanders or helpless victims. While that may be true in some cases, Avelar and Parhar are pushing for recognition that many of these girls and women are more deeply involved. “We don’t sit there and say: ‘Every girl’s a victim. Poor girl. She’s going to get targeted. These are the big, bad boyfriends coming in with the tattoos,’ ” Parhar says. “That’s one facet of it, but I think something important is there are lot of girls that knowingly get involved. They want the money. They want the image. They want all that.” Girls and women are not immune from gang violence in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. Females often become involved as girlfriends, but experts say they’re increasingly active participants, carrying guns and drugs or providing their names for houses, cars, credit cards and phones. While females sometimes mistakenly believe they’re safe from gunfire, they have been killed over the years. Seventeen females

Today’s Weather Hi +15° Low +5° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

CP PHOTO

Detective Anisha Parhar and Sgt. Sandy Avelar, who run a program on their own time to try and keep girls out of gangs, pose for a photograph in Vancouver on July 3. have been killed in gang-related violence between 2006 and 2017, according to an analysis by B.C.’s anti-gang agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. Today, prevention programs are targeting girls and women to keep them out of gangs. Avelar and Parhar launched a program in 2017 to help discourage girls from gang life called Her Time. The program, which is not an official Vancouver police initiative but is supported by the department, educates young women on the dangers of dating gangsters and aims to shed the allure of the

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gang lifestyle. The detectives deliver their presentation in schools, community centres and anywhere else it’s requested. They’ve also teamed up with women who have managed to escape gang life to share their stories. One woman, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, says she had a “fantastic” life growing up and never got into trouble. But when she was 20, she befriended a woman who introduced her to work as an exotic dancer. — see ‘I KNOW WOMEN, page 3

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VANCOUVER — British Columbia sold less legal cannabis than any province other than Prince Edward Island in the first nine months of legalization and officials blame supply shortages and a slow rollout of retail store locations. Statistics Canada data shows B.C. sold $19.5 million worth of legal pot from October 2018 through June 2019. The only province that sold less was P.E.I., which took in $10.7 million with only a fraction of B.C.’s population. In its annual report, B.C.’s liquor distribution branch said problems with supply and slower than anticipated provincial and municipal approvals resulted in the province’s cannabis industry evolving at a slower rate. “Managing inventory levels in an environment of product shortages and unknown customer demand is very challenging,” the branch said. “The LDB is currently building inventory levels in anticipation of future public and private retail stores.” Alberta has sold the most legal pot, raking in $123.7 million from its dozens of licensed stores. Ontario, which only began opening brick-and-mortar shops in April, sold $121.6 million while Quebec sold $119.2 million. Saskatchewan and Manitoba sold $38.2 million and $32.2 million respectively. The Atlantic provinces also sold more than B.C., with Nova Scotia raking in $47.9 million

Is your credit card selling you out? TECHNOLOGY 8

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Managing inventory levels in an environment of product shortages and unknown customer demand is very challenging. — Liquor Distribution Branch statement

and New Brunswick nabbing $25.9 million. B.C.’s liquor distribution branch said in its report that Statistics Canada estimates $2.2 billion worth of cannabis was sold in the fourth quarter of last year across the country, but 65 per cent of it was purchased illegally. The branch report said its strategy on pricing is focused on being competitive with the illegal market and there were 212,000 retail transactions through store and online sales, with an average transaction value of $74.38, in the first six months of legalization. When edibles are introduced, the industry will need to adapt again, it said. Branch CEO Blain Lawson said it had a $2 million revenue shortfall this year, due mostly to the upfront costs of adding the distribution and retail sale of cannabis to its operations. — see ‘IT’S VERY, page 3

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