Police say the murder of a 28-year-old man at the Vancouver International Airport on Sunday was the city’s latest instance of gang violence.
Richmond Police responded to the shooting at around 3:00PM outside the departures area of the airport. Several gunmen reportedly opened fire in the crowded area.
The deceased has been identified as Karman Singh Grewal, a longtime member of Vancouver’s United Nations gang. The suspects are also believed to be associated with the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict.
Richmond Police intercepted the getaway vehicle but were shot at by the suspects before they escaped. No officers were injured.
Police later found a burnt-out vehicle on the 9700-block of Princess Drive which is suspected to be the getaway car.
The suspects have not been identified and remain at large.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Chief Superintendent Will Ng said the attack “was targeted and carried out in broad daylight, with absolutely no regard for public safety.”
Ng warns that gang violence in Vancouver is becoming more brazen, noting that a large number of bystanders were put at risks by the shooters.
“This generation of gangsters is taking things to another level,” he said.
“They will stop at nothing to target rivals, even if it’s at an international airport in broad daylight on Mother’s Day, and putting everyone at risk, including shooting at a police officer, which indicates to me these people have no care whatsoever,” Ng said.
Metro Vancouver has seen a series of deadly shootings recently. In the past month, two other known gangers have been murdered in public places, both in the Langley area.
Earlier in the month, corrections officer Bikramdeep Randhawa was fatally shot in the parking lot of North Delta’s Scottsdale Mall. No arrests have been made in connection to the murder.
A Superior Court of Justice judge has indefinitely extended the lockout of the Trinity Bible Chapel near Waterloo, Ont. True North’s Andrew Lawton takes aim at the indefinite nature of the extension, and the fact that a country with supposed religious freedom locked the doors of a church at a time when people need their faith most.
Watch the latest episode of The Andrew Lawton here.
University of Toronto clinical psychologist and public intellectual Dr. Jordan B. Peterson makes the point that our society needs a balance between left and right wing ideas. He also warns that both sides have the capacity to go too far.
This played out during the 20th century, when horrific acts of depravity characterized the far-right in Nazi Germany and the far-left under Stalin, Mao, Pol Pots and other communist dictators.
Our society today is acutely aware when the right crosses the line, according to Petersen, but we have a blindspot for acknowledging when the left goes too far.
“We’ve kind of figured out when the right-wingers go too far. Right-wing identity politics devolves into claims of ethnic and racial superiority,” said Peterson in a 2018 interview.
“When do the left wingers go too far? Oh we don’t know. Well, first of all we certainly know that they can go too far,” said Peterson, noting that those who ignore the far-left are either “woefully ignorant or you’re willfully blind.”
A perfect example of the blindspot for left-wing extremism appears to be the case in the Trudeau government’s compiling of Canada’s list of banned terrorist entities.
#BREAKING The Trudeau Government failed to consider any violent left-wing protest groups associated with urban riots and bombings when compiling its annual list of banned terrorist groups.https://t.co/W5KXI65S79
A government document obtained by True North shows that the Department of Public Safety did not provide any records whatsoever to the Minister on a long list of Antifa-affiliated groups who operate in Canada — this despite a long rap sheet of violence and incitement — when compiling its terror watch list.
Antifa openly calls for violence, although they disguise it in Orwellian language by calling it “direct action” or “self-defense.” Their violent rhetoric is given a platform by left-leaning journalists who treat them with kid gloves, give them fawning news coverage and downplay their intentions by calling them “counter-protestors” and “anti-fascists.”
In reality, Antifa operatives act like the fascists they claim to oppose. They dawn black masks to conceal their identities and have engaged in rioting, looting, arson, assault and even murder in cities throughout North America and Europe.
Canadian British journalist Chris Tomlinson has been covering Antifa for years and documenting their terrorists tactics. Last year, he reported on an Antifa guidebook that gave instructions on building bombs, sabotaging infrastructure and evading the police.
Here in Canada, Antifa and its affiliated groups have been implicated in a wide range of criminal activists, including bombings, assaulting police officers, destroying private property and uttering threats.
One of the groups listed in True North’s information request was Resistance Internationaliste, which claimed responsibility for a number of bombings between 2004 and 2010, with targets including an oil and gas executive in Montreal and a Canadian Forces recruitment centre in Trois-Rivieres.
Another group, Hamilton Against Fascism, has been involved in a number of violent attacks that have led to many arrests. In late 2018, ring-leader Cedar Hopperton pleaded guilty to mischief over $5,000 and counseling to commit mischief after he led a riot that caused significant property damage.
Yet neither of these groups were at all mentioned in the Public Safety documents.
Herein lies the double standard.
Conservatives routinely condemn and disavow violent groups who subscribe to right-wing ideas, but Liberal and NDP politicians are rarely if ever asked to condemn left-wing violence. This allows violent groups like Antifa to act with impunity.
Earlier this year, the Trudeau government added 13 new extremist groups to the Criminal Code list of terrorist entities. The list included a number of groups that purport to operate on the far right, including neo-Nazi groups and the Proud Boys. A new section dedicated to “right wing extremism” was added to Public Safety’s report on the terrorist threat to Canada.
Meanwhile, there is no reference to Antifa or left-wing extremists associated with urban rioting and bombings. The term “left” appears zero times.
If the Trudeau government sincerely wants to crack down on domestic rioters and “ideologically-motivated violent extremism,” it absolutely must acknowledge that these groups exist on both sides of the ideological divide.
Instead, as the True North report shows, the feds are completely ignoring left-wing violence. As Dr. Peterson warns, Trudeau and company are either woefully ignorant or willfully blind.
Liberal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault says the government’s proposed Bill C-10 may regulate social media accounts with large followings, despite previously claiming that user-generated content will not be affected.
Speaking on CTV’s Question Period, Guilbeault said that the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) may have the power to regulate accounts run by individuals if they have large followings or are “acting like broadcasters.”
Speaking on CTV’s Question Period, Guilbeault said that the CRTC may have the power to regulate accounts run by individuals if they have large followings or are “acting like broadcasters.” #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/KAKO4WvItg
“What we want to do, this law should apply to people who are broadcasters, or act like broadcasters. So if you have a YouTube channel with millions of viewers, and you’re deriving revenues from that, then at some point the CRTC will be asked to put a threshold,” he said.
“But we’re talking about broadcasters here, we’re not talking about everyday citizens posting stuff on their YouTube channel.”
Bill C-10 sparked national controversy after the Liberals passed an amendment which would broaden the scope of the bill to include regulating the content ordinary Canadians post on social media.
Guilbeault has since promised a new amendment which clarifies what kind of content is subject to CTRC regulation but does not guarantee all user-generated content is protected.
When pressed on what criteria will be used to determine if user-generated content is subject to regulation, Guilbeault says Canadians can trust “experts” in the bureaucracy like the CRTC to make rulings.
“This is why we have a body of experts like the CRTC to make those determinations, it’s not up to politicians to decide that,” he said on CTV’s Question Period.
“Governments come and go, but these experts are there and they will be making this determination, after having consultations with organizations of different opinions on the subject matter.”
Guilbeault and the Liberals have attacked opponents of C-10 viciously, calling opponents “extremists” and labelling the Conservatives as conspiracy theorists for noting the potential risks C-10 poses to free speech.
From the onset of the pandemic, many pro-lockdown advocates have been pushing for a “COVID-Zero” approach. This approach would involve extreme lockdowns that will theoretically last a few weeks.
The problem is that jurisdictions that have taken a “COVID-Zero” approach have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Anthony Furey says a “COVID-Zero” approach is simply not sustainable.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is standing by his decision to impose new restrictions on Albertans and businesses amid an uptick in COVID-related hospitalizations. Kenney joined True North’s The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss the lockdown measures, as well as Alberta’s expansion of vaccine eligibility to anyone aged 12 and up.
China’s pollution has reached the point of no return, surpassing even the combined emissions of the developed world.
According to research by Rhodium Group and reported by BNN Bloomberg, China’s greenhouse gas and carbon emissions reached a stunning 14.09 billion tons in 2019.
China polluted so much that year that it surpassed the emission total of all of the nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by approximately 30 million tons.
With regard to global pollution, China accounted for 27% of all carbon emissions, surpassing the US’ 11% and India’s 6.6% by a substantial amount. Canada accounts for roughly 1.5% of global carbon emissions.
According to Rhomium Group’s head of international climate policy, China’s polluting puts a dent in the Paris Agreement global climate targets.
“The shifting dynamics of global emissions—with China surpassing the developed world for the first time—means that meeting the Paris goals will require significant and rapid action from all countries,” Kate Larsen told the Scientific American.
Recently, Conservative MP Michael Cooper blasted China’s performance in a House of Commons statement in response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to increase Canada’s emission targets following pressure from US President Joe Biden.
“What was President Xi’s commitment at the summit? He said that China would ‘strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030.’ Let us let that sink in. In other words, President Xi committed to increasing GHG emissions over the next 10 years. This is from a country that contributes to 28% of global emissions, and is rising every day, compared to Canada’s 1.5%,” said Cooper.
“What was the Prime Minister’s response to President Xi’s total lack of a commitment? He said nothing. He is apparently fine with China increasing GHG emissions. He is apparently fine with China building hundreds of coal-fired power plants as we speak.”
While the Trudeau government plans to raise its carbon tax to $170 a tonne by 2030, Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole unveiled his own carbon pricing plan last month despite promising to axe Trudeau’s federal carbon tax.
According to O’Toole’s carbon tax, Canadians will be allowed to withdraw from a government savings account and make purchases on government-approved green goods.
Calgary Police have arrested Pastor Artur Pawlowski after he allegedly held a service which violated public health orders.
On Saturday, Pastor Pawlowski and his brother Dawid were charged with organizing and attending an illegal in-person gathering earlier in the day.
BREAKING: Calgary Police have arrested Canada's second religious leader in the name of COVID non-compliance. Artur Pawlowski and his brother were just taken in to custody.
In a video posted to Facebook, Calgary police pulled over the brothers’ vehicle immediately after the church service and took them away in handcuffs. Several police cars and officers can be seen surrounding the vehicle.
Artur Pawlowski is pastor of the Cave of Adullam congregation in Calgary and a longtime street preacher. He has opened his church multiple times in defiance of the province’s limits on in-person worship.
A heavily-armed SWAT team just took down a Christian pastor heading home from church. Police say he’s charged with “inciting” people to go to church. This is the second pastor jailed this year. We’re crowdfunding his lawyers at https://t.co/bMwAj1iNfPpic.twitter.com/RZ913cQns3
In April, a video of Pawlowski kicking Calgary police out of his church on Easter made international headlines.
The arrests come after Alberta Health Services received a pre-emptive injunction to stop various gatherings and rallies that violate public health orders across the province.
Police used the same injunction to physically close the Whistle Stop Café in Mirror, Alta. earlier in the week for violating the orders of the Chief Medical Officer of Health
In a statement, Calgary Police Services (CPS) claim the Pawlowskis were aware that they were in violation of restrictions but held services anyway.
“The service organizer acknowledged the injunction, but chose to ignore requirements for social distancing, mask wearing and reduced capacity limits for attendees, and continued with the event,” CPS said.
“As we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, we all must comply with public health orders in order to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing.”
Alberta is vastly expanding vaccine eligibility as the provincial government imposes new restrictions, citing a sharp uptick in COVID-19 cases. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney joins True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the province’s pandemic response.
Also on the show: Ontario’s Trinity Bible Chapel remains locked by court order, plus an access to information request finds the federal government is uninterested in investigating left-wing political terrorism.
Human trafficking in Canada reached unprecedented highs between 2018 and 2019 according to the most recent data available from Statistics Canada.
In data released earlier this week, the agency reported that known instances of human trafficking have spiked dramatically.
“In 2019, police reported 511 human trafficking incidents, representing a rate of 1.4 incidents per 100,000 population—the highest number and rate reported since comparable data became available in 2009.” StatsCan wrote.
“Overall, both the number and rate of police-reported human trafficking incidents have been generally trending upward. The number of human trafficking incidents reported in 2019 marked a 44% increase from the previous year.”
Ontario was the epicentre of human trafficking in 2019, with 62% of known instances occurring in the province.
Out of the hundreds of known victims, 95% were women and 21% were girls under the age of 18.
It is notoriously difficult to achieve a guilty verdict on human trafficking charges in Canada. Since records began in 2009, the vast majority of human trafficking charges were either stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged.
While reported instances continue to increase annually, the annual numbers are likely much higher.
The executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre Megan Walker told the Globe & Mail that 481 women and girls sought help from the centre for trafficking from 2015 to 2015.
“We know that 500 is not actually the number,” she said.
The pandemic has also created an environment for greater rates of exploitation. Lockdowns have kept many vulnerable people isolated and have prevented people in dangerous situations from seeking help.
In February, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection reported that cases of online sexual exploitation of children have increased 88% over the past year.
