The Asian Star January 27 2024

QUICK MORTGAGE APPROVAL BANK MORTGAGE Low Rates and Cash Back

PRIVATE MORTGAGE Instant Approval

SECOND MORTGAGE 5-Day Funding

CREDIT LINE CALL TODAY!

www.theasianstar.com Vol 22 - Issue 52

Jeet Singh

Saturday, January 24, 2024

778-320-9494 www.crownfunding.ca

Tel:604-591-5423

India overtakes Hong Kong as World’s fourth largest stock market India’s stock market is booming, and its value has ballooned so much that it overtook Hong Kong’s on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

The total value of shares on Indian exchanges hit $4.33 trillion at Monday’s close, compared to Hong Kong’s $4.29

trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, making it the fourth largest stock market in the world.

India passed the $4 trillion mark on December 5, with half of that value

Ram Mandir may offer a way forward for India & South Asia This week, Hindus around the world and Indians of all faiths are marking the opening of the Ram Mandir, a temple planned and built over decades in Ayodhya, the northern Indian city believed

to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, the Hindu deity whose renown extends beyond the Hindu faith.

The opening of the temple has been an emotional event for many in India and in the Continued on page7

How a BC man racked up 21 impaired driving convictions Roy Heide was drunk when he drove a Cadillac into a woman on Nanaimo street in 2001.

At his sentencing hearing for impaired driving, Heide’s defence lawyer told the judge “no amount

of prohibitions will deter him from driving.” The words still have a ring of truth more than 20 years later.

In December, a judge handed Heide his fourth lifetime driving prohibition and almost five years Continued on page 6

built up in just the past four years.

The stock market has been galvanized by a growing number of retail investors and strong corporate earnings.

Meanwhile, the country’s population overtook China’s last year, and it has been gearing itself up for boom-time economic growth and a flood of foreign investment.

Indian judge to rule who invented Butter Chicken Butter chicken - one of India’s brought by the family behind best-known dishes globally is Moti Mahal, a famed Delhi delicious and apparently also restaurant brand that has counted contentious, with two Indian late US President Richard Nixon restaurant chains doing battle in and India’s first Prime Minister court over claims to its origins. Jawaharlal Nehru among its guests.

The lawsuit which has It claims restaurant founder, become a hot topic in India was Kundan Lal Gujral, created the Continued on page 2

BC plans crackdown on private colleges as Ottawa announces international student cap When Anjalika Kukretti finished her undergraduate degree in New Delhi, she considered postgraduate programs in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The 28-year-old, who now

works in IT sales in Victoria, decided to pursue her education in Canada because the financial threshold was lower than other countries and because of Canada’s image as a welcoming nation.

Metro Vancouver’s population to reach 3 million

Metro Vancouver will top three million residents by July 1, according to a population projection by B.C. Stats.

Hitting three million is a milestone for the region, which stretches from Lions Bay to Langley and includes

23 municipalities. But planner/real estate consultant Michael Geller says it isn’t that big in a deal, in and of itself.

“Going from 2.9 to 3.0 million to my mind is not that significant,” said Geller.

“But how we accommodate the next million, that’s significant.” The provincial government has already taken a dramatic step with its so-called density legislation, which allows several units on former Continued on page 6

2

Saturday, January 27, 2024

From page 1

Indian judge to rule who invented Butter Chicken

curry in the 1930s when the restaurant first opened in Peshawar before it moved to Delhi. In a 2 752-page court filing it has sued rival chain Daryaganj, accusing it of falsely claiming to have invented the dish as well as dal makhani, a popular lentil dish that is also laden with butter and cream.

The Gujral family is seeking R4.5 million in damages, also alleging that Daryaganj has copied the layout of Moti Mahal’s website and “the look and feel” of its restaurants.

“You cannot take away somebody’s legacy ... The dish was invented when our

grandfather was in Pakistan,” said Monish Gujral, managing director at Moti Mahal.

Daryaganj - which was established relatively recently in 2019 - counters that its late family member, Kundan Lal Jaggi, had partnered with Gujral to open the Delhi restaurant in 1947, and the dish was invented there. That gives it the right to also lay claim to the creation of the dish, it argues.

Daryaganj shared with Reuters a faded, hand-written partnership document registered in 1949 to back its argument.

Metro Vancouver bus strike threatend next week if deal not reached The union representing transit supervisors for Coast Mountain Bus Company has announced it will launch a new 72-hour strike stopping Metro Vancouver buses from operating if a tentative agreement on a new contract isn’t reached by next week.

The warning came after the B.C. government appointed a special mediator in a bid to resolve the dispute that prompted a two-day shutdown of bus services that ended Wednesday morning.

CUPE Local 4500 said in a statement that it welcomed the appointment of Vince Ready, but if a deal on a new contract for about 180 supervisors wasn’t reached by 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 3, they would withdraw services for three days.

It also said that if the Labour Relations

Board allowed it, picketing would be expanded to SkyTrain stations.

“This will effectively shut down all buses, the SeaBus, and all SkyTrain lines for three days,” union spokesman Liam O’Neill said in the statement.

“We are running out of options with Coast Mountain and TransLink. CUPE 4500 members have been more than patient, and the union has done all it can to get the fair deal our members deserve.”

A separate union that represents SkyTrain workers previously said its members wouldn’t cross pickets.

Labour Minister Harry Bains said Wednesday that Ready, who is a veteran mediator, would work with two sides starting Thursday for six days.

Visit our Website

www.theasianstar.com

Bank of Canada holds interest rate steady at 5% The Bank of Canada decided to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at five per cent.

The move was widely expected, as after raising its trendsetting rate 10 times since early 2022 to slow down runaway inflation, the bank has been signalling recently that it thinks it may be nearing the end of that hiking cycle.

The bank’s rate influences the rate that Canadians get on things like variable-rate loans and some savings accounts.

The bank raised the rate to its current level in July, but has stood still ever since, as the Canadian economy shows signs of cooling.

“The slowdown in the economy is reducing inflationary pressures in a broadening range of goods and services prices,” the

bank said in announcing its decision.

New data suggests Canadian consumers are falling into the ‘lipstick index,’ spending more on cosmetics when financial times are tough. Several Canadian beauty retailers say they’re stocking up on products, expecting to build on last year’s holiday boom.

E c o n o m i s t s who monitor the central bank think it is indeed now done with hiking, and expectations are that the bank will in fact start to cut its rate some time in 2024.

In its statement, the central bank noted that the economy “stalled” in the middle quarters of this year, with GDP contracting in the third quarter and the jobless rate

More than 2,500 people died of toxic drugs ovdrdoze in BC last year More than 2,500 people died from unregulated, toxic drugs in B.C. last year, with fentanyl continuing to be a major driver.

The powerful opioid has been detected in 86 per cent of deaths each year between 2017 and 2023, according to B.C. Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe, who provided an update on the public health emergency on Wednesday.

“Your child, brother, sister, mom dad friend or colleague did not deserve to die this way. Their death was preventable.

Their loss — your loss — is our collective loss,” Lapointe said. “How many more families will join these statistics next year?”

Since the crisis was declared in April 2016, she said 13,794 lives have been lost. The province’s experts estimate some 225,000 British Columbians are currently accessing the drugs through the illicit market, Lapointe

added. Last year was the third in a row that more than 2,000 people died in B.C. from unregulated, toxic drugs. Seventy-seven per cent of them were men, and 70 per cent were between the ages of 30 and 59, according to the coroner’s office. The highest rates of death were in Vancouver in the area that includes the Downtown Eastside, along with Hope, Port Alberni and the Clayoquot area, Terrace, and Greater Campbell River.

Eighty per cent of unregulated deaths took place indoors and 19 per cent occurred outside. A single death occurred at an overdose prevention site — the first one on record. For many months, unregulated drug toxicity has been the leading cause of death in B.C. for people between the ages of 10 and 59, surpassing murders, suicides, natural diseases and accidents.

Local / National

Saturday, January 27, 2024

How BC gangsters are damaging a tropical paradise, Fiji SUVA, Fiji — The two young women sit at a bus shelter on Rewa Street in an area where sex workers wait for their clients. One in a red dress, the traditional frangipani flower tucked behind her left ear. The other in white, with the same kind of flower in her hair and a Mona Lisa smile. They look like teenagers, but say they’re in their early 20s. At first, they’re reluctant to talk when asked about the methamphetamine problem devastating this small South Pacific nation of fewer than a million people.

Then the woman in white opens up, speaking initially in the third person about others struggling with meth. It becomes clear she’s talking about herself, about the jolt she gets from injecting it.

“It’s not actually meant to be shot into the veins. You are supposed to smoke it.

But then we are using it the other way … it’s being shot into the blood and it goes to the heart.” It helps her stay awake so she can work longer hours and make more money.

She sometimes doesn’t sleep for days.

“It is very addictive. It’s expensive.

Once you’ve taken it, and you know how expensive it is, you will go to any extent just to get hold of something that gets you high.”

Postmedia met the young women last month while checking out some of Suva’s hardest hit areas with Kalesi Volatabu, the dynamic founder of Drug-Free World Fiji.

The methamphetamine ravaging people here is shipped by air and sea from B.C., the U.S. and Southeast Asia to lucrative

markets in New Zealand and Australia, according to Volatabu, Fijian police and transnational crime experts. Supt. Seru Neiko, the director of the Fiji Police narcotics bureau, said it’s impossible to grasp the scope of the problem given that this is a nation of more than 330 islands — most of which have no police or customs presence.

“We are unable to police our borders, especially our maritime border. And the possibility of drug consignments being dropped off at sea and then picked up and transported further to another destination, that’s something that we cannot really manage just because of the resources that we have,” Neiko said in December.

He has stopped a number of air freight shipments of methamphetamine — individual packages each weighing up to a kilogram — that began in early 2023 from the Lower Mainland.

“It’s coming as loose cargo as part of air freight. That’s the most that we’ve seen. And also what we’ve seen coming up from Canada is liquid methamphetamine,” he said.

3

Gunman guilty of murdering Brampton businesswoman A gunman has been found guilty of murder in the shooting of a Brampton businesswoman but a jury has rejected the Crown’s theory Sangita Sharma was killed in a targeted hit by paid assassins.

A gunman has been found guilty of murder in the shooting of a Brampton businesswoman but a jury has rejected the Crown’s theory Sangita Sharma (pictured) was killed in a targeted hit by paid assassins.

Gunman Fiseha Habtegabir Girmay, driver Malik Essue and accused but now acquitted plot organizer Abdullah Kaddoura were together on trial for first-degree murder in what the Crown alleged was a “well-executed plan by people who had motive to see it done.”

On Friday afternoon, after two days of deliberations, a Brampton jury returned a verdict rejecting that theory.

Girmay who admitted to shooting the 56-year-old Sharma in the head seconds after she arrived home to her Treeline

Boulevard garage on Aug. 13, 2020 was found guilty instead of second-degree murder; Essue was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter and Kaddoura, the man the Crown argued arranged Sharma’s killing on behalf of a business partner, was acquitted of all charges.

Juries do not need to explain the reasons for their decisions.

In their closing arguments, defence lawyers for both Girmay and Essue argued Girmay’s gun accidentally went off during a robbery attempt. They argued their clients should be found guilty of manslaughter.

The lawyer for Abdullah Kaddoura called for him to be found not guilty, saying he knew nothing of the plan to rob Sharma’s home.

Although they denied making a plan to kill Sharma, Girmay and Essue admitted to conducting surveillance in the days leading up to what they claimed was a planned robbery.

APPLIANCES REPAIR SERVICE FRIDGES WASHERS DRYERS STOVES DISHWASHERS Fast-Prompt-Reliable CALL US TODAY!

604 833 0068

BEST SERVICE AND MORTGAGE RATES

Call us for Lowest Mortgage Rates on Your Mortgage Renewals and New Mortgages.

We have helped thousands of our clients.

We have a big pool of Private Mortgages to help you.

2TKXCVG /QTVICIG 4GUKFGPVKCN 4G ƒPCPEG 5GNH 'ORNQ[GF %QPUVTWEVKQP /QTVICIG

WESTWIDE MORTGAGE CORP. #204 8334 128th Street, Surrey, B.C. V3W 4G2

Ajitabh Gandhi Mortgage Consultant

778 707 1028 Email: westwidemortgage@gmail.com

4

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Canada weighing extra border measures for asylum seekers from Mexico, says minister

STREET DRUGS KILL MORE PEOPLE THAN CARS.

ANY DOSE CAN BE DEADLY. STREET DRUGS ARE THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF DEATH FOR PEOPLE AGED 10 TO 18 IN BC.

TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT THE FACTS. PoisonDrugs.gov.bc.ca

Canada is weighing several measures to prevent Mexican nationals from flying into the country to request asylum, a top official said on Sunday, after Quebec’s premier said earlier this week the lack of visa requirements for Mexican travelers meant more refugees were arriving by plane.

Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he and the Immigration Minister Marc Miller were considering visas and other measures.

The two ministers are looking for “the appropriate way to ensure that people who arrived from Mexico arrived for the appropriate reasons and that this doesn’t become sort of a side door to get access to Canada,” LeBlanc said.

“We’re looking at some measures that would put us in a position to have done what’s necessary to ensure that these flights directly from Mexico don’t become sort of an indirect way to get access to Canada and to claim asylum,” he added.

In a letter last week, Quebec Premier Francois Legault urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stem the flow of refugees into the province and to compensate it for costs, claiming Quebec’s services were close to a “breaking point” due to the rising number.

“Mexican nationals represent a growing proportion of the asylum seekers arriving in Quebec, the possibility of entering Canada from Mexico without a visa certainly explains part of the flow of asylum seekers,” Legault wrote in the letter.

Green Party deputy leader convicted of criminal contempt A member of the federal Green party, Angela Davidson — also known as Rainbow Eyes — has been convicted of seven counts of criminal contempt for her participation in the Fairy Creek logging blockades on Vancouver Island beginning three years ago. In a B.C. Supreme Court decision released Thursday, Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled Davidson breached a court-ordered injunction and her bail conditions in connection with protest activities on May 18, June 23 and 25, Aug. 10, Nov. 28, 2021, and Jan. 15 and 28, 2022. Hinkson said Davidson’s conduct was “defiant, repeated and public, and certainly not minimal,” and declined

to acquit her for her role in blockades of the Fairy Creek logging site in 2021 and 2022.

The Fairy Creek protest began after logging permits were granted in 2020 allowing Teal Cedar Products to cut timber, including oldgrowth trees, in areas including the Fairy Creek watershed northeast of Port Renfrew.

Protest camps were set up close to the cutting site in August 2020 and the RCMP began enforcing a court injunction granted to the Teal-Jones Group, the forestry company that holds the harvesting license in the area.

Over the next two years, more than 1,100 demonstrators were arrested in a mass act of civil disobedience.

Enhanced wildland firefighter recruitment underway Press release

VICTORIA - The Province is opening the door for more wildland firefighters with in-depth knowledge of local terrain to join the service.

Aligned with feedback from the Premier’s expert task force on emergencies, the improvements to the BC Wildfire Service’s hiring process have resulted in more than 1,000 firefighter applicants, with another three months of hiring to go. Interested applicants can learn more about opportunities at: https://gov.bc.ca/WildfireFighters “Climate change causes hotter and longer fire seasons, so the demand for skilled firefighters with local knowledge has never been higher,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. “By expanding our hiring process to bring in more highly trained professionals, especially in rural communities, we will be more effective at responding to wildfires when and where they happen.”

Aligned with the work of the Premier’s expert task force on emergencies, a series of enhancements have been made to strengthen pathways for participation in wildfire response, specifically for applicants in rural and remote communities. This work includes expanding First Nations bootcamps, extending the hiring period for new recruits and encouraging applicants to indicate work location preference.

“People living in First Nations, rural and remote communities bear a disproportionate impact from the rising threat of wildfires,” said Wayne Schnitzler, task force member and executive director of First Nations’ Emergency Services Society. “I’m pleased to see the Province is boosting recruitment initiatives, including expanding First Nations bootcamps as recommended by the Premier’s expert task force on emergencies. These initiatives break down barriers and pave the way for increased participation of Indigenous peoples as wildland firefighters.”

A dedicated training and recruitment model for First Nations communities is being expanded. After a successful pilot in the Cariboo Fire Centre, the First Nations bootcamp will also be offered in the Coastal Fire Centre in spring 2024. These dedicated sessions address needs heard from communities, build local capacity, strengthen relationships between the local First Nation and fire centre, and improve response to wildfires.

Learnings from First Nations bootcamps will be adopted into the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) core curriculum and serve as a model for other First Nations interested in augmenting their response capacity.

Additionally, the use of Indigenous initial-response crews is being expanded.

Ministry of Forests Media Relations

5

Saturday, January 27, 2024 Postmedia News

Another fine mess the feds created

Attempting to fix yet another problem its own policies created, the Trudeau government on Monday announced a twoyear cap on international students, in a system Immigration Minister Marc Miller described last week as “out of control.” “It’s not the intention of this program to have

sham commerce degrees or business degrees (from colleges) that are sitting on top of a massage parlour that someone doesn’t even go to and then they come into the province and drive an Uber,” Miller said Monday.

If things are that bad, why was it allowed to continue for so long?

In addition, how could the Trudeau government not have anticipated the problems it would create by dramatically hiking its immigration targets for permanent residents, imposing no limit on the number of international students and temporary foreign workers, and overwhelming cities with asylum seekers?

It ignored warnings from its public servants two years ago that such policies would contribute to Canada’s housing, affordability and health-care crises, when it announced an “ambitious” plan to boost Canada’s annual immigration targets to 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.

It’s since announced another 500,000 target for 2026, compared to 272,000 when the Liberals came to power in 2015.

There are currently 900,000 international students in Canada — permits last for three years at a time — compared to 352,325 in 2015 when the Liberals came to power.

So don’t expect Monday’s announcement to reduce the number of international student visas this year by 35% — to 364,000 compared to 560,000 last year — with the 2025 target to be set later this year, to perform miracles.

To be fair, not all of this is on the federal government.

The provinces decide which schools are authorized to accept international students, which has led to situations where some schools are degree mills churning out useless diplomas as a way to shortcircuit the normal process for being accepted into Canada from abroad.

www.theasianstar.com # 202 - 8388, 128 St., Surrey, BC V3W 4G2 Ph: 604-591-5423 Fax: 604-591-8615 E-mail: editor@theasianstar.com Editor: Umendra Singh Associate Editor: Chhavi Disawar Marketing and Sales: Ravi Cheema......................604-715-3847 Shamir Doshi....................604-649-7827 Harminder Kaur...............778-708-0481 Parminder Dhillon..........604-902-2858 Pre-Press: Iftikhar Ahmed

Design: Avee J Waseer Contributing writers: Jag Dhatt, Akash Sablok, Kamila Singh, Jay Bains, Hardam S. Mann Publication Mail Agreement No 428336012 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Dept.

New address: # 202 - 8388, 128 St., Surrey, BC V3W 4G2 All advertising in The Asian Star is subject to the publishers’ approval and the advertiser agrees to indemnify the publishers against claims arising from publication of any advertisement submitted by the advertiser.

6

Saturday, January 27, 2024

From page 1

How a BC man racked up 21 impaired driving convictions jail after his 21st impaired driving conviction.

The number is believed to be a Canadian record.

The 66-year-old man was found guilty of impaired driving after a motorcycle crash in Abbotsford in summer 2022.

“He has already got three lifetime driving prohibitions,” B.C. provincial court Judge Susan Mengering said at Heide’s sentencing hearing on Dec. 15, “now he has got a fourth.”

Metro Vancouver’s population to reach 3 million

In the years between the Nanaimo and Abbotsford crashes, Heide continued to rack up convictions. By the time police were called to a roundabout near Clearbrook Road and the Highway 1 on-ramp on the evening of Aug. 15, 2022, he had 19 convictions for impaired driving, 14 for driving while disqualified and 12 for failing to obey a court order.

lots and much higher density around “It’s a bus loop rather than a SkyTrain, but “transit-oriented development” sites they’re (still) talking about 12 storey buildings, near SkyTrain stations and bus loops. what they call a floor space ratio of four, “If you need an illustration, just which is sort of six times the current (zoning). take the intersection of Dunbar and “The question is, what kind of sewer and water 41st, which is basically surrounded by capacity do we have to accommodate that?” single family houses and two-storey Putting in the infrastructure commercial buildings,” said Geller. will be expensive, but necessary.

“But under the provincial proposal they’re “I think the key thing is the rate of change now talking about significantly higher and the pace of development,” said Geller. buildings, at significantly higher densities.

Financing Option Available 1899

.99

$

CENTAURI FOLDING 36V 300W

www.armadascooters.com BUY NOW and PAY LATER FINANCING

armadascooters@gmail.com

IAL SPEC N IO EDIT

MANTIS SUPREME 72V

AVENGER 60V ELECTRIC

BATTALION III 60V 1000W

PREDATOR ELECTRIC MOTO 72V

Larry Mah 604.765.3589

INVADER II ELECTRIC

"No Gas, License or Registration Required"

COMBATANT II 72V 500W

ION 60V 500W ELECTRIC

RETALIATOR 72V 500W

Central Warehouse Showroom/Parts Depot

Technical Service Center

13890 104th Ave., Surrey, BC

14333 - 104th Ave., Surrey, BC

Saturday, January 27, 2024

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Ram Mandir may offer a way forward for India & South Asia From page 1

While galvanizing Hindu pride, the mandir is built over the remains of Babri Masjid, a 16thcentury mosque commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Babur, which in turn was likely built over the remains of a more ancient temple dedicated to Lord Ram. While it was common for Muslim rulers and Portuguese Catholic colonizers to destroy Hindu temples and build their own houses of worship over them, the Ayodhya site was more contentious, occupying ground with deep scriptural significance to Hindus as well as Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.

The debate over who had the right to build on the spot turned into litigation.

As it dragged on, an impatient mob of right-wing Hindus destroyed the mosque in 1992, triggering riots and years of recriminations. Some Hindu organizers of the protests expressed regret about the mosque’s destruction, arguing that it ran counter to the principles of Ram as he is depicted in epics such as the Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas, and of dharma itself.

Visit our Website

www.theasianstar.com

7

8

Saturday, January 27, 2024

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Man charged after racking up $1M in outstanding credit card debt A Mississauga man has been arrested and charged with fraud after allegedly racking up more than $1 million in credit card debt he never paid back.

In November 2020, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) launched an investigation after a large credit card

company notified them that an individual had more than $1 million in outstanding payments. Investigators allege that the suspect used their credit card to make payments to financial aggregators, “cycling money through companies and individuals controlled by or associated to them.”

2 people charged in 2023 stabbing on Surrey bus A 19-year-old man from Richmond and a 17-year-old from Surrey have been charged with aggravated assault in connection with a stabbing on a public bus in Surrey, B.C., last summer.

According to Metro Vancouver Transit Police, two suspects had an altercation with a young couple at the Guildford Mall, where derogatory comments were reportedly made to a teen’s girlfriend.

The parties went separate ways, with the couple boarding a bus at 104th Avenue and 152nd Street around 3 p.m. The two suspects, however, boarded the same bus at the next stop and a second altercation took place.

That’s when police said one of the suspects took a knife from his pocket and stabbed the victim in the stomach — a serious injury that required emergency surgery.

NOW ORDER ONLINE:

Mon-Fri - 12:00 - 9:30 Sat-Sun - 12:00 - 10:00

3211 - 152 st., Unit 205, Surrey, BC, V3S 3M1

9

10

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Canada weighing extra border measures for asylum seekers from Mexico, says minister

Bank of Canada says cap on foreign students to relieve some pressure in housing market The Bank of Canada says record levels of immigration are driving up the cost of housing and recent government efforts to cut the number of non-permanent residents and encourage home building will help lower housing costs, but “only gradually.”

“In the short term any increase in population, particularly in an environment of constrained

supply, is going to put upward pressure on prices,” said Carolyn Rogers, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada.

“What’s happened in the Canadian economy over the last year is we had a particularly big surge in population growth through immigration. It came at a time when there was constrained

1 dead, 2 rescued in separate incidents in the Rocky Mountains’ Golden region B.C. RCMP are reminding backcountry users to stay safe after they responded to two incidents, including one involving a fatality.

In a release, Golden-Field RCMP said it responded to two backcountry SOS activations in the Rocky Mountains over the past week.

One of those involved a group of snow mobilers on Jan. 21.At about 5 p.m., police received an alert from a Zoleo device in a backcountry area near Frigate Mountain in

Donald, B.C.“Six snowmobilers were heading back to the Hope Creek snowmobile staging area after a day of sledding when one of them left the trail down a steep embankment and hit some trees,” RCMP said.“Regrettably, the 24-year-old man died on impact.”The Golden Area District Search and Rescue Team was dispatched to the region, but found it was so remote, it took them several hours to arrive.

Canada is weighing several measures to prevent Mexican nationals from flying into the country to request asylum, a top official said on Sunday, after Quebec’s premier said earlier this week the lack of visa requirements for Mexican travelers meant more refugees were arriving by plane.

Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he and the Immigration Minister Marc Miller were considering visas and other measures.

The two

ministers are looking for “the appropriate way to ensure that people who arrived from Mexico arrived for the appropriate reasons and that this doesn’t become sort of a side door to get access to Canada,” LeBlanc said.

“We’re looking at some measures that would put us in a position to have done what’s necessary to ensure that these flights directly from Mexico don’t become sort of an indirect way to get access to Canada and to claim asylum,” he added.

Man warns people in India to steer clear of Toronto A man on TikTok video warning people in India not to move to Canada.

A newcomer says his family’s income of $230,000 a year just doesn’t cut it, given the high-priced real estate market, so he’s heading back to live in India. And the man behind Canada Tried and Tested — which appears on various social media platforms — posted that international students

200 – 6245 - 136th St., Surrey, B.C. V3X 1H3

11

Saturday, January 24, 2024

Surrey Police Service proposes $141 million budget in 2024 to hire another 180 officers The Surrey police board hopes its proposed 2024 budget will give the municipal force two-thirds of its officers in the city by the end of the year in a transition from the RCMP. Mike Serr, the B.C. government-appointed Surrey police board administrator, made the Surrey Police Service (SPS) budget public Thursday, two months after delivering it to the city. He hasn’t had a formal response from the city. The SPS request for $141.5 million in 2024 would provide money to hire another 180 officers, bringing the total number of municipal police officers to 526. The budget includes $15

million in already-approved one time transition funding that is for items such as a computer system for the new force.

Serr said the budget would fit into the city’s financial plan, but it requires approval from Mayor Brenda Locke and her majority city council who have been fighting to stick with the Mounties. The city has taken the province to court to stop the transition after the NDP government passed legislation last year making the continued transition law.

If Locke and her council don’t approve the budget, Serr will have to ask B.C.’s director of policing to order the implementation of the budget.

Community news Cruise Meeting for 60 members going on Cruise to South Africa in February 2024, on 28th January 2024 (Sunday) at 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall.

-------------------------In Person Yoga Classes at Shanti Niketan hall for members, from 2.00 pm to 3.30pm at Shanti Niketan hall.

Every Monday & Every Thursday from 10.00 am to 11.15 am. Pure Vegetarian Lunch on Thursdays after the Yoga session.

--------------------------

Special Event for Members :- February 1st 2024 (Thursday) from 11.00 am, after the Yoga Session at Shanti Niketan hall, Honouring 3 Vedic Senior Parivar Members for exceptional Volunteer services.

-------------------------Lakshmi Narayan Temple, 8321 140th street Surrey V3W5K9, BC Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945

Victim, suspect vehicle identified in Burnaby fatal shooting B.C. homicide police (IHIT) released more details regarding the fatal shooting in Burnaby that happened Tuesday night.

Johnson Viet Anh Do, 25, has been named as the victim in the shooting.

“We’re releasing Mr. Do’s name in hopes that those out there who had recent contact with him, will reach out and help us develop a timeline of his activity leading up to the shooting,” Sgt. Timothy Pierotti said.

IHIT also shared that the suspect vehicle is believed to be a silver 2010 Buick Enclave. It was last seen fleeing the scene on Kingsway.

An alarming detail, shared by IHIT Sgt. Tim Pierotti, was that the firearm used in the fatal shooting was found near a nearby elementary school and by a

student. “This is one of the reasons we ask the public to come forward and speak to us. If anyone did see the suspect running away (and contacted us), we could have found that firearm before a child did,” Pierotti said. “These are the careless things we are seeing with these homicides that we are trying to prevent. We want to make sure the people who are doing these careless acts are held accountable.”

Burnaby RCMP the shooting happened around 10:30 p.m. on Kingsway, near Denbigh Avenue. Police said first responders attempted life-saving measures but the Viet Anh Do was pronounced dead a short time later at the scene.

Video from the scene shows a blue SUV’s driver window riddled with apparent bullet-holes.

BC power line cut access to Highway 99 to and from US border for hours A power line that fell over Highway 99 in Surrey, B.C., cut off a key route to and from the U.S. Peace Arch Border Crossing for nearly three hours on Thursday. BC Hydro, the Crown power utility, says a vehicle crashed into a power pole, bringing the line down across both directions of the highway.

Traffic cameras showed long lineups southbound heading toward the border and

#106 - 7565 132 St. Surrey, BC 604.572.3005

all vehicles were diverted at King George Boulevard, while northbound traffic was also detoured. Hydro says the downed line also cut power to about 2,700 customers, but the electricity has also been restored.

The B.C. Transportation Ministry’s information site, DriveBC, says the highway reopened in both directions early Thursday afternoon.

12

Saturday, January 24, 2024

INDIA Israel turns to Indian workers amid Gaza war labour shortage

Israel is looking to address a major labor shortage, abruptly worsened by the conflict with Hamas, by recruiting tens of thousands of Indians at a time when Palestinians who have long played a crucial role in Israeli construction and other sectors are being barred from the country.

While Israel had already been in discussions with India about recruitment before the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas against Israelis and

Israel’s withering reprisal in Gaza, tough new restrictions on Palestinian workers have dealt a blow to the economy. Many foreign workers, notably thousands from Thailand, have headed home because of the conflict. Israeli authorities say they are hoping to see 10,000 to 20,000 Indian migrant workers in the coming months. That would be equal to the total number of foreign workers that entered the country through bilateral agreements in 2021,

Maldives allows Chinese vessel to dock at Male port A Chinese ship, equipped to carry research and surveys, will be docking at a Maldivian port after being permitted by the Male government to make a port call for replenishment.

The permission to allow the Chinese ship comes amid strains in ties between India and Maldives after its new President Mohamed Muizzu came to power and

made Beijing as his first port of call early this month after assuming office.

Traditionally, New Delhi has been the first port of call for a Maldivian President.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry said a diplomatic request was made by the Chinese government for the necessary clearances to make a port call,

Some American Hindus see a new beginning with new Ram temple The consecration of a temple to the Hindu god Ram, in the northern Indian city said to be his birthplace, will be marked with state-sponsored fanfare this weekend, completing a yearslong transformation of a once sleepy village into a bustling

destination for pilgrims and tourists.

But in the United States, the events surrounding the triumphant inauguration of the temple are seen as a chance to put Hindu Americans on the map as well. From Tesla car rallies to Times

Nikki Haley wants the White vote so bad that she forgot she is Indian

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley may have claimed that America has “never been a racist country,” but her 2012 memoir tells a much different story.

“Can’t Is Not An Option: My American

Story” details how Haley’s parents, The Randhawas, were Indians who entered the U.S. via Canada, and the book has all the proof you will ever need to know that America is, indeed, a racist country.

Tech entrepreneur plunges to his death on stage during company celebration A Chicago-area tech CEO died after falling onto a stage at a packed company event in India last week.

Vistex CEO Sanjay Shah, 56, and company president Raju Datla, 52, were marking the software company’s silver jubilee celebration when the incident occurred on Thursday, according to CBS affiliate

WBBM-TV and The Times of India.

According to a CBS affiliate in India, 700 people were in attendance.

Both men were inside a suspended cage when the chain holding the cage broke on one side, causing them both to fall onto the stage, per Fox Business and WBBM-TV.

Delhi police arrest 2 people who killed airline staffer The Delhi Police have arrested two men alleged to have shot down an Air India crew member in Noida in a hit job ordered from inside the Tihar prison, an officer said on Monday. The accused, identified as Kuldeep of Delhi’s Bhajanpura

and Abdul Kadir of UP’s Bijnor, were arrested from near Sarai Kale Khan bus stand following an exchange of fire between them and a team of Crime Branch early Monday morning, said the officer.

4 Indian drowned at unpattrolled Australian beach Four Indians, including three women, on a family day out were killed when they drowned at an unpatrolled beach in Australia in the worst tragedy in the state of Victoria in almost 20 years, officials said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday at Phillip Island, Victoria and a close relative, who was devastated on Thursday, confirmed the names of the victims to Australian media.

Saturday, January 24, 2024

Canada sets two-year cap on foreign students visa Canada has said it will cap the number of foreign students admitted to the country for two years in an attempt to address pressure on housing and healthcare in the country.

The cap will result in a decrease of 35% in approved study permits.

Over 800,000 foreign students were in Canada in 2022, up from 214,000 a decade earlier.

The new measures are also meant to ensure the “integrity” of the system, officials said.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the cap on Monday, saying that Canada aims to approve around

360,000 undergraduate study permits this year. Canada mulls foreign student cap over housing crisis Each province and territory will be allotted a portion of that total, determined by population and current student intake. Provinces will then decide how to distribute these permits across their universities and colleges.

The cap will only apply to students at a diploma or undergraduate programme, and will not affect students applying for study permit renewals.

Uddhav Thackeray slams Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday invoked king Vali from epic Ramayana to launch a veiled attack on Chief Minister Eknath Shinde whom he accused of stealing the party. Addressing a party convention in Nashik city, Thackeray appealed to Shivsainiks to take a vow to “politically assassinate” the traitors.

“One will have to understand why Lord Ram killed Vanar king Vali. We will also have to kill today’s Vali (politically) who has decamped with our Shiv Sena. Make a resolve to kill this Vali (politically) who has escaped with our Shiv Sena.

“We will surely do political assassination of all those who decamped with our Shiv Sena, cheated the saffron flag, and their masters,” Mr Thackeray said.

As per Ramayana, monkey king Vali had allegedly usurped the kingdom of his brother Sugriva following a dispute.

Mr Thackeray said Shivsainiks would tear masks of “Ravanas donning the masks of Lord Ram”.

“Lord Ram is not the property of a single party. If you think so, we will have to make ‘BJP-mukt Shri Ram,” he said targeting the BJP.

12 killed as tanker drove wrong side of the road hitting rickshaw in U.P. Twelve people travelling in an autorickshaw died on Thursday in a headon collision with tanker driving on the wrong side of the road amid reduced

visibility due to dense fog, police said. The tragic accident occurred on the BareillyFarrukhabad road near Sugsugi village in the Allahaganj police station area.

Areas of Practice ICBC/Personal Injury Immigration Law Corporate / Commercial Real Estate / Property Development

Puneet P.K. Sandhar

Barinder S. Sanghera

B.A.,LL.B. (GND)

B.Comm.,LL.B. (UBC)

psandhar@slglawyers.com

bss@slglawyers.com

#201, 12565 88 Ave, #201 Ave Surrey, Su B.C. V3W 3J7

Phone: 604.543.8484 Fax: 604.543.8584

info@slglawyers.com www.slglawyers.com

13

14

FIJI People need to calm down and give Coalition Govt a chance

Former member of the SODELPA Management Board, Sainiana Radrodro says there is no motion being moved against the Coalition Government as far as she is aware in tomorrow’s

meeting, and she questions why should there be the moving of such a motion.

Radrodro has made these comments to fijivillage News today after former SODELPA Management Board member,

Debt level caused by former Attorney General: says Biman Aiyaz is forgetting he was Finance Minister of an economy that was in a mess, says Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad.

In a final response to the war of words with his predecessor, Prof Prasad said Fiji’s high debt level was caused by Aiyaz Sayed-

Khaiyum and the FijiFirst government.

Again, this man has become so irrelevant in what he is saying because he suddenly forgets that he in 2019 presided over an economy that had contracted and that had negative growth,” said Prof Prasad.

Sharvada’s suspension & termination unconstitutional - High Court High Court Judge, Justice Deepthi Amaratunga has ruled that the termination, suspension, suspension without salary decision was unlawful and taken without proper procedure and has declared all decision null and void.

He has ruled the advice given to President Jioji Konrote to suspend the Solicitor General, Sharvada Sharma in 2021 was against the Constitution and Sharma’s termination was illegal.

Judge grants leave in Grace Road case Fiji’s Constitutional arrangements tasks an independent judiciary with the duty to ensure that Government actions comply with the law in relation to accountability of the executive, said Justice Anare Tuilevuka at the High Court in Lautoka.

Saturday, January 24, 2024

PAKISTAN Pakistan-Iran agree to reinstate ambassadors after air attack Iran and Pakistan have decided to bury the hatchet after lobbing missiles at each other last week. In a joint statement, both countries announced the visit of Iranian

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian to Pakistan on January 29. Pakistan and Iran have also “mutually agreed” to reinstate their ambassadors in each other’s country,

Schools closed after suicide threats in Islamabad Schools colleges & universities in capital city Islamabad, closed after police reported a threat of a terrorist attack at education institutions by a banned militant group.

Islamabad Police received the threat

of a suicide attack, Inspector Inamullah Khan at Islamabad’s police control said on phone, without identifying the terrorist group that issued the threat. All education institutions are being closed, he said.

Cabinet approves deployment of armed forces for peace & security during federal elections The federal cabinet unanimously approved deployment of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces’ personnel for maintaining peace and security during upcoming general elections.

The cabinet meeting in Islamabad headed by caretaker PM Anwaarul Haq

in the chair, gavethe approval on the recommendation of Ministry of Interior.

It was also decided that these security personnel will be responsible for sensitive areas and polling stations and will also serve as rapid response force.

He made the statement in a judgement allowing Grace Road lawyers leave for Shahrukh asked Sania why she married Pakistani cricket player, goes viral Judicial Review on a decision made by the The actor asks the tennis star, “usme kya is the personal thing?” To this question the Minister for Home Affairs and the Director dikha aisa ki aapne jaldi se shaadi kar li. Indian tennis player replied, “maine to bahut Immigration to remove six Grace Road Khoobsurat hai, cricket bhi theek thaak kuch dekha hai in mein…bahut shy hai. (I members from Fiji in August, last year. khel leta hai, sabkuch badhiya hai but what have seen a lot good in him…he is too shy).

New hotel & rental housing tower to replace listel Real Estate 55-storey Vancouver residential condo and rental project in receivership hotel at Robson in downtown Vancouver Listel Hotel Vancouver on Robson Street will be undergoing a redevelopment to create a new mixed-use tower with a modern hotel.

Currently, the building at 1300 Robson Street — the southwest corner of the intersection of Robson Street and Jervis Street in downtown Vancouver — is a 1986-built, six-storey building with 129 hotel guest rooms and the home of two restaurants,

Forage and The Jervis Joint. Listel Hotel opened its Vancouver location in 1992.

A development permit application that has been newly submitted to the municipal government calls for a new 28-storey tower containing 174 hotel guest rooms within the lower levels — representing a net gain of 45 hotel guest rooms — and 126 secured purposebuilt rental homes within the upper levels.

A high-profile high-rise project planned for the West End of Vancouver will not be getting off the ground anytime soon, as the developers behind the project have been placed under receivership, according to filings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Planned for 830-850 Thurlow Street and 1045 Haro Street was a 55-storey strata condo tower and a 15-storey tower with a

total of 450 strata condominiums and 66 rental units, according to the project website, which remains online. Plans also called for 42,000 sq. ft of retail space, a 49-space childcare facility, and a new public plaza.

A receivership application submitted last year by the Bank of Montreal, a secured creditor of the project, claims the developers owe an outstanding $82.2M in principal and interest.

Saturday, January 24, 2024

Cold wave persists in Haryana & Punjab Chandigarh registered a minimum temperature of 4.6 degrees Celsius.

Cold weather conditions persisted in Haryana and Punjab on Thursday, with minimum temperatures hovering below normal at many places.

Sirsa was recorded as the coldest place in Haryana at 3.6 degrees Celsius, the meteorological department said.

Among other places in the state, Hisar and Fatehabad reeled at 3.8 degrees Celsius each, Ambala 4.6 degrees Celsius, Bhiwani 5.7 degrees Celsius, Karnal 4.4 degrees Celsius and Rohtak recorded 5.8 degrees Celsius. On Wednesday, the Union territory registered a sharp drop in its maximum temperature which settled at 8.4 degrees Celsius, making it the city’s coldest day in the past decade. In January 2013, Chandigarh had recorded a maximum temperature of 6.1 degrees Celsius.

Gurdaspur recorded a low of 4 degrees Celsius, Patiala, Bathinda & Faridkot 5

AAP party not to have poll pact with Congress The Aam Aadmi Party will contest the General Election independently in Punjab, said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann here today. “In 2024, Punjab will create history by giving 13:0 to AAP. There will be no alliance with the Congress in the state,” said Mann, after presiding over a meeting of the Council of Ministers this afternoon.

He, however, refused to be drawn into any talk of the future of the INDIA bloc if AAP was not to contest the elections with the Congress. His statement today comes after a meeting of top party leaders in Delhi last Saturday wherein Mann had reiterated to the party high command that “it will be politically disastrous” for the ruling party to go in for an alliance with the state’s principal opposition party, the Congress. This is because all through in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls and even after coming to power.’

Policemen get President’s Medal for bravery in encounter against Moosewala killers President’s Gallantry Medal has been announced for Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF) DSP Bikram Brar and four SPG jawans for showing bravery in the encounter against Sidhu Moosewala’s killers - Mannu Kussa and Jagroop Roopa.

This is the fourth President’s medal for DSP Brar.

PUNJAB

15

16

Saturday, January 24, 2024