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ASIRT says police shooting was reasonable action

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Alberta Serious Incident Response Team ASIRT

From the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team:

Shooting reasonable during CPS critical incident

On Sept. 29, 2017, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) was directed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a 22-year-old man by members of the Calgary Police Service (CPS) that day. During the arrest, one CPS member fired his service pistol, resulting in the man sustaining an injury.

ASIRT interviewed all relevant police and civilian witnesses, including the 22-year-old man, about the events. Radio communication audio recordings, 911 open call recording, and CCTV video, including video from inside the convenience store where the incident occurred, were secured. The involved officer declined to provide a statement, as is his constitutional right.

Having reviewed the investigation, executive director Susan Hughson, QC, has come to the conclusion that force used during this incident was both reasonable and justified.

At approximately 8:08 p.m. that day, CPS received a 911 call reporting that a man, armed with a knife, was inside the 7-Eleven store located 4604 37 Street SW. The caller reported that the man, who wasn’t wearing a shirt, entered the store holding a can of beer and a knife, and had approached her asking for a lighter. As she spoke with the 911 dispatcher, the man grabbed her cellphone, entered the mailroom storage area and refused to leave.

A CPS officer, who came into the 7-Eleven store to buy something, became aware of the situation and talked to the man through the closed door of the storage room. At the same time, CPS dispatched officers in response to the call and customers were evacuated from the store. The cellphone taken from the 911 caller remained an open line, capturing audio of the incident and the conversation between the man and police. Once additional CPS officers were on-scene, police used the cellphone to continue to speak with the man.

While inside the storage area, the man set fire to the room and refused to come out. The man requested water, and officers persuaded him to exit the room to take a bottle of water. The man left the burning room briefly, still holding a knife. Officers shouted commands to drop the knife and deployed a Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW), commonly referred to as a Taser. It had no impact and the man quickly returned to the storage room. As the fire progressed, it disabled the store’s electrical power and the building switched to its emergency lighting system.

The man again left the storage room, still armed with the knife, and officers deployed a CEW two additional times, but the man was able to return to the room. At this point, it is likely that the growing fire made it difficult for the man to stay inside the room, as he emerged again shortly after. This time, he came out holding the knife and ran toward the officers. An officer fired two rounds from his service pistol, striking the man in the shoulder. The man fell to the ground and began stabbing himself in the neck with the knife. When he ignored verbal commands from officers to drop the knife, officers deployed a CEW again to stop the man from harming himself. While it successfully stopped the man from continuing to stab himself in the neck, it did not cause him to drop the knife. A police service dog was deployed to drag the man into an open area, where he was successfully disarmed. At this point, the smoke in the building was described as being almost intolerable.

Officers carried the man out of the burning building to a waiting ambulance, which provided emergency care and transported him to hospital. The man was treated for his injuries, including burns to his back, chest, and hands, and a gunshot wound to the shoulder. He was subsequently booked into custody at the Calgary Remand Centre. On Dec. 23, 2017, shortly after his release, the 22-year-old man died in circumstances unrelated to his contact with police on Sept. 29, 2017 or the physical injuries he sustained.

Initially, police responded to an armed man with a knife who had stolen a phone from an employee and effectively barricaded himself in a storage room at a public convenience store. His behaviour was erratic, unpredictable and concerning. While he appeared intent on self-harm, he still had the ability to hurt someone else. The fact that he was high and in the midst of a mental health crisis did not make him less dangerous and, arguably, would make him more dangerous as he was not making rational decisions or choices. Initially, all the CPS officers tried to do, was to “talk out” the situation to encourage his surrender. Unfortunately, when the man started a fire, it significantly increased the urgency of the situation for all involved, and limited the options available to police. As well, the limited visibility and the increasingly difficult environment inside the store made the situation even more problematic. Officers tried twice to apprehend him using intermediate force options, but both attempts were unsuccessful. This is the reality of some situations. Plans fail and officers regroup and look for alternate opportunities or approaches. Up until the final time the man emerged from the storage room, there was no intention to resort to lethal force and the plan was still to try and extricate him from the situation as safely as possible, with no loss of life.

Under Sec. 25 of the Criminal Code, police officers are entitled to use as much force as is reasonably necessary to carry out their lawful duties. Furthermore, under Sec. 34 of the Criminal Code, any person, including a police officer, is entitled to the use of reasonable force in defence of themselves or another. An assessment of the reasonableness of force used requires consideration of the nature of the threat presented, the urgency of the situation, and the availability of other alternatives. In this case, the action of running directly towards a police officer, in close proximity, while armed with a knife created a serious and immediate threat. In the circumstances, it would be reasonable for the officer to perceive a threat capable of causing death or grievous bodily harm to himself, other officers or any other person. Accordingly, it is reasonable that he resorted to the use of lethal force.

This incident began and escalated due to the effects of drugs and their interaction with pre-existing mental health issues. In light of these factors, it is extremely unfortunate that the man sustained an injury during his arrest, but the escalation of the situation and the interpretation of his actions following his final exit from the room created a reasonable apprehension that he presented a risk of grievous bodily harm or death to an officer. Considering that assessment, the force used to address that danger was reasonable given all of the circumstances.

As such, there are no reasonable grounds, nor even reasonable suspicion, to believe that the officer committed any Criminal Code offence. All officers were lawfully placed and acting in the lawful execution of their duties. They all attempted to exercise restraint until the armed man, desperately suicidal, forced their hand. The force employed was reasonable in the circumstances. As such, no charges are appropriate.

ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person.

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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Alberta

Calgary Ring Road opens 10 months early

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Christmas comes early for Calgary drivers

The Calgary Ring Road is now ready to be opened to public traffic, several months ahead of schedule.

Calgary’s ring road is one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Calgary’s history and includes 197 new bridges and 48 interchanges. The 101-kilometre free-flowing Calgary Ring Road will open to traffic Dec. 19, completing a project decades in the making.

“Calgary’s ring road is a project that has been decades in the making and its completion is a real cause for celebration. This has been an important project and our government got it done. With this final section completed, travelling just got a little easier for families and for workers. This will not only benefit Calgarians and residents in the metro region, it will provide a boost to our economy, as goods can be transported more easily across our province.”

Danielle Smith, Premier

Although construction of the entire ring road project began in 1999 under former premier Ralph Klein, discussions on a ring road around the City of Calgary began as early as the 1950s. In the late 1970s, under former premier Peter Lougheed, high-level planning and land acquisition started and a transportation utility corridor was established to make the Calgary Ring Road a reality.

“The final section of the Calgary Ring Road is now complete, and I’d like to acknowledge the work done by former premiers and transportation ministers and their vision to build Alberta. I’m proud to announce that the final section was completed on budget and months ahead of schedule.”

Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors

“I’m thrilled to see the Calgary Ring Road project completed. It was something I have helped shepherd through the process since 2014. Finally, all the hard work put in by everyone has become a reality. The Calgary Ring Road will provide travellers with over 100 kilometres of free-flow travel, create new travel options for the City of Calgary and surrounding area and provide improved market access across the region.”

Mike Ellis, MLA for Calgary-West

Opening the ring road means new travel options for Calgarians, which will draw traffic away from heavily travelled and congested roads such as the Deerfoot Trail, 16th Avenue, Glenmore Trail and Sarcee Trail. For commercial carriers, the ring road provides an efficient bypass route, saving time and money for the delivery and shipment of goods and services.

“The ring road investment generated thousands of local jobs and will now play an integral role in keeping Calgarians and the economy moving. This important transportation link will ease congestion on city routes and greatly improve connectivity and access for businesses transporting goods.”

Jyoti Gondek, mayor, City of Calgary

The ring road is a critical component to growing economic corridors in Alberta and Western Canada, as it connects the Trans-Canada Highway to the east and west, and the Queen Elizabeth II Highway and Highway 2 to the north and south. It is also part of the CANAMEX corridor, which connects Alberta to the highway network in the United States and Mexico.

The completion of the ring road is a major boost for Calgary, opening new business opportunities and supporting key components of the Calgary economy. It sends a signal to businesses and investors that Calgary has a strong highway infrastructure, providing economic corridor connections through the entire region.

“With one of the smoothest commutes in Canada and the capacity to reach 16 million customers by road within a single day, Calgary offers unmatched quality of life and economic opportunities. The triumphant completion of the Calgary Ring Road further improves our capacity to attract even more companies, capital and talent to our city.”

Brad Parry, president & CEO, Calgary Economic Development and CEO, Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund

“This is an exciting step forward for the Calgary Metropolitan Region. This key artery will not only improve the quality of life for the residents of the region, it is also a key economic enabler and we are thrilled to see its completion.”

Greg Clark, chair, Calgary Metropolitan Region Board

Quick facts

  • Stretched into a single lane, the highway is 1,304 kilometres long, the distance from Calgary to Winnipeg.
  • Other sections opened in 2009, 2013, 2020 and 2023.
  • The West Calgary Ring Road is the final piece of the ring road project.
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Alberta

Canadian pizzeria owner planning civil suit against gov’t officials over tyrannical COVID mandates

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

They shut a man’s business down of 20 years, two families that depended on that, 30 people that were employed by the millions of dollars in taxes that I collected every year,’ Jesse Johnson said.

The owner of a popular Canadian pizzeria says he is planning a civil suit against government officials for a “travesty of justice” after enduring a prolonged legal battle on charges — that were just dropped — for defying COVID rules banning the vaccine free from eating at his restaurant.

On Wednesday, a City of Calgary court dropped all COVID-related charges against Jesse Johnson, who owned Without Papers Pizza, and in 2021-2022 refused to ask his customers for their vaccine passports so that he could serve “everyone.”

Johnson said when speaking with independent media reporter Mocha Bezirgan outside Calgary’s main courthouse Wednesday that he will be “pursuing a civil suit” against government officials and institutions that forced his restaurant to close.

“I plan on pursuing a civil suit, yes. It is a bittersweet irony what happened here today. My restaurant was shut unadjudicated,” Johnson said.

“They shut a man’s business down of 20 years, two families that depended on that, 30 people that were employed by the millions of dollars in taxes that I collected every year.”

Johnson said that the reason he got shut down was that he went against a system that discriminated against the vaccine-free, which was something he did not like.

“Because I did what? Because I chose to accept all and to extend my love to all the fine people of Calgary,” he said.

“A travesty of justice is what occurred? Really, truly a shame.”

Johnson said that he “hopes” and “prays” that his “brothers and sisters in the restaurant industry will stand up in the future and refuse to discriminate any of their customers for any reason whatsoever.”

“It’s the most difficult experience of my life. These bastards, they literally tried to break me. They tried to break me financially.”

Johnson praised “millions” of Canadians from coast to coast who came together to fight COVID dictates through various protests.

“Never give up hope. Never give up hope and believe in yourself. One thing I’ve learned across this journey is that the power of the human spirit is indomitable. And if there’s a mountain in front of me, that mountain shall move,” he said.

The Democracy Fund (TDF), which funded lawyers Martin Rejman and Chad Williamson in defense of Johnson, noted in a press release that the once-popular pizzeria was charged in October 2021 with “breaching multiple bylaws after its business license was suspended for not complying with public health orders and after undercover inspectors were permitted to purchase pizza and remain in the restaurant without providing proof of vaccination.”

“Among other things, the allegations against the pizzeria were that it permitted persons to enter and remain on the premises without proof of vaccination and that it did not display prescribed signage, all of which was contrary to bylaws passed by the City of Calgary,” the TDF noted.

Johnson’s charges being dropped came in the wake of a recent court ruling that declared certain public health orders effectively null.

At the end of July, Justice Barbara Romaine from Alberta’s Court of Kings Bench ruled that politicians violated the province’s health act by making decisions regarding COVID mandates without authorization.

The decision put into doubt all cases involving those facing non-criminal COVID-related charges in the province.

As a result of July’s court ruling, Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service (ACPS) said Albertans currently facing COVID-related charges will likely not face conviction but will instead have their charges stayed.

Danielle Smith took over from Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) on October 11, 2022, after winning the leadership of the party. Kenney was ousted due to low approval ratings and for reneging on promises not to lock Alberta down, as well as enacting a vaccine passport.

Under Kenney, thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs, leading Smith to say – only minutes after being sworn in – that over the past year the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

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