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Crime

Lac La Biche RCMP and Eastern Alberta District Rural Crime Reduction Team arrest 10 in enforcement operation

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Lac La Biche, Alberta – Between April 10, 2019 to April 12, 2019, the Lac La Biche RCMP and Eastern Alberta District Rural Crime Reduction Unit (EADRCRU), in conjunction with Cold Lake Police Dog Services (PDS) and EAD Criminal Intelligence, conducted operations in the Lac La Biche area which resulted in 10 arrests, search warrants being executed, the seizure of firearms and drugs, and the recovery of several stolen vehicles.

On April 10, 2019, EADRCRU and Lac La Biche RCMP located a stolen truck in a rural location South of Lac La Biche near Highway 36.  Two individuals in a residence near where the stolen vehicle was located were wanted on outstanding warrants from Rocky Mountain House, Smoky Lake, Beaumont, St Paul, and Edmonton.  Both were arrested.

A 16-year-old from Beaumont, who cannot be named due to the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), was arrested for outstanding warrants, which included charges of:

  • Resisting a peace officer
  • Failing to comply with conditions of a youth sentence order

The male was released to an adult and is scheduled to appear in court in Edmonton on May 22, 2019 and Lac La Biche on May 24, 2019.

Tyler Monias (19) from St Paul was arrested for outstanding warrants, which included charges of:

  • Failing to attend court
  • Failing to comply with a recognizance (X3)
  • Failing to comply with the conditions of a youth sentence order

He was additionally charged with resisting a peace officer and failing to comply with a recognizance.  He was released following a bail hearing and is scheduled to appear in court in Rocky Mountain House on April 24, 2019 and Fort Saskatchewan on May 9, 2019.

The stolen vehicle was towed for forensic analysis.

Later that day, a vehicle was spotted by EADRCRU avoiding Peace Officers conducting traffic control on the South end of Lac La Biche.  RCMP members stopped the vehicle and learned that the driver was criminally prohibited from operating a motor vehicle.

Joel Hope-Jackson (29) of Hay River was charged with driving while prohibited.  He was released and is scheduled to appear in court in Lac La Biche on June 10, 2019.

RCMP members then moved to a residence in Beaver Lake where they determined a priority offender was hiding from police.  RCMP members entered the residence and located the offender in the basement who resisted arrest, but was apprehended without injury.

Aaron Anderson (33) from Beaver Lake was charged with resisting a peace officer and was arrested for his outstanding warrants, which included charges of:

  • Failing to comply with a recognizance (X3)
  • Resisting a peace officer (X2)
  • Escaping lawful custody

He was held in custody following a bail hearing and is scheduled to appear in court in Lac La Biche on April 15, 2019.

On April 11, 2019, EADRCRU and Cold Lake PDS located two stolen vehicles nearby a residence in Heart Lake while looking for a priority offender in that area.  Another male wanted on outstanding warrant from Edmonton was also located nearby and arrested.

Cody ERASMUS (37) of Heart Lake, was arrested for his outstanding charges, which included:

  • Fraud
  • Possession of a stolen credit card
  • Possession of property obtained by crime (X3)
  • Failing to comply with a probation order (X2)
  • Dangerous driving
  • Flight from police (X2)
  • Obstructing a peace officer

He was later released and is scheduled to appear in court in Edmonton on May 8, 2019.

The search for the priority offender continued and brought RCMP members to a row of apartment buildings in Lac La Biche.  During the search of an apartment of interest, EADRCRU located another wanted offender and arrested him without incident.

Tristan Monias (22) of Heart Lake was arrested for his outstanding charges from Lac La Biche, which included:

  • Aggravated assault
  • Breaking and entering
  • Theft of truck (X2)
  • Mischief

He was held in custody following a bail hearing and is scheduled to appear in court in Lac La Biche on April 15, 2019.

Further investigation in the apartment buildings resulted in RCMP uncovering a drug trafficking operation being run out of one of the apartments.  RCMP members executed a search warrant on the apartment and recovered stolen firearms, prohibited devices, over 35 grams of a substance believed to be crack-cocaine packaged for sale, nearly 400 grams of cannabis, and approximately 250 “scratch and win” style lottery tickets.

Clayton Lucier (30) of Lac La Biche was charged with multiple offences, which include:

  • Possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking
  • Possessing cannabis for the purpose of selling
  • Possession of a prohibited weapon (X2)
  • Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
  • Possession of property obtained by crime
  • Possession of a weapon obtained by crime (X2)
  • Unsafe storage of a firearm (X2)

He was released following a bail hearing and is scheduled to appear in court in Lac La Biche on April 29, 2019.

“Getting illegal guns off of the street is a priority for our unit,” said Cst. Guillaume Wilson (EADRCRU).  “It’s particularly concerning in this case that the firearms were seized in such close proximity to an elementary and middle school.  We will continue to partner with the Lac La Biche RCMP to do everything we can to eradicate this type of crime in the community.”

Late that afternoon, an anonymous tip was received indicating the location of the priority offender EADRCRU had been looking for earlier that morning.  RCMP members intercepted a vehicle the offender was occupying in Lac La Biche.  The offender tried escaping, but was quickly apprehended by EADRCRU after a short foot chase.

Cason Monias (18) of Lac La Biche was charged with resisting a peace officer (X2) and failing to comply with a probation order (X2).  He was also arrested for his outstanding warrants, which included charges of:

  • Failing to comply with a youth order (X6)
  • Possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 (X2)

He was held in custody following a hearing and is scheduled to appear in court in Lac La Biche on April 15, 2019.

On April 12, 2019, as a result of collaboration with the Strathcona County General Investigation Section, a joint operation was organized by EADRCRU, Lac La Biche RCMP, Cold Lake PDS, and EAD Criminal Intelligence to apprehend Clayton Huppie who was wanted in connection with an armed robbery incident in Sherwood Park.  A Crime Stoppers tip had been received that Huppie was hiding at a residence in Beaver Lake.

RCMP members located the residence and surrounded it.  RCMP members entered the residence and located Huppie hiding in the basement of the house with another male.  Both were arrested and a prohibited firearm was also recovered.  Additionally, a stolen vehicle hidden behind the residence was located by EADRCRU.

Clayton Huppie (35) of Lac La Biche was arrested for his outstanding charges, which included:

  • Robbery
  • Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
  • Driving while prohibited
  • Failing to comply with a recognizance (X3)

He was also charged with several new offences, including:

  • Failing to comply with conditions of a recognizance
  • Possession of a prohibited firearm
  • Possession of a weapon contrary to an order

He was remanded in custody following a bail hearing and is scheduled to appear in court in Sherwood Park on April 24, 2019 and Lac La Biche on April 15, 2019.

Brian Boostrom (24) of Lac La Biche was charged with resisting a peace officer and failing to comply with a probation order.

He was released and is scheduled to appear in court in Lac La Biche on May 13, 2019.

“The offenders operating in Eastern Alberta need to recognize that EADRCRU is not going away,” said Cst. Wilson.  “We are going to continue using an intelligence based approach and partnerships to apprehend offenders and make our communities safer.”

Crime

Canadian receives one-year jail sentence, lifetime firearms ban for setting church on fire

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Jordan Willet was convicted of starting a blaze in February at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Regina, Saskatchewan.

A man who was charged with arson after trying to burn down a historic Catholic church earlier this year was handed only a one-year jail sentence for his crime but has also been banned from being able to possess firearms for life.

On April 9, a court sentenced Jordan Willet, 31, to 278 days in jail for intentionally or recklessly causing damage by fire or explosion to property and for not complying with a probation order. In February, LifeSiteNews reported that Willet had been arrested and charged with starting a fire at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Regina, Saskatchewan, on February 9.

He pleaded guilty to both charges and also received an 18-month probation sentence along with a lifetime firearm prohibition.

Over the weekend, Fr. James Hentges, the parish pastor, said he was “relieved he is in custody and is not a threat.”

The parish had posted footage of the February 9 attack on social media and put out a plea for anyone who had information on the event to report it to police.

The video footage of the attack, taken from a doorbell camera, shows Willet, in a mask, pouring fuel on the church before setting it on fire.

Fire investigators determined that the blaze was caused by a direct act of arson.

Since the spring of 2021, more than 100 churches, most of them Catholic, have been burned or vandalized across Canada. The attacks on the churches came shortly after the unconfirmed discovery of “unmarked graves” at now-closed residential schools once run by the Church in parts of the country.

In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some of the schools.

The claims, which were promoted by Trudeau among others, lack any physical evidence and were based solely on soil disturbances found via ground-penetrating radar.

In fact, in August 2023, one such site underwent a four-week excavation and yielded no remains.

Despite the lack of evidence, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and others have continued to push the narrative, even running a report recently that appeared to justify the dozens of attacks against Catholic churches.

In January, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre not only condemned the rash of church burnings in Canada but called out Trudeau for being silent on the matter.

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Addictions

Liberal MP blasts Trudeau-backed ‘safe supply’ drug programs, linking them to ‘chaos’ in cities

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First responders in Ottawa dealing with a crisis                                           Fridayman 0102 / YouTube
From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

‘There is certainly the perception by a lot of Canadians that a lot of downtown cores are basically out of control,’ Liberal MP Dr. Marcus Powlowski said, before pointing specifically to ‘safe supply’ drugs and injection sites.

A Liberal MP has seemingly taken issue with “safe supply” drug policies for increasing public disorder in Canada, policies his own party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has endorsed.

During an April 15 health committee meeting in the House of Commons, Liberal MP Dr. Marcus Powlowski, while pressing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), stated that “safe supply” drug policies have caused Canadians to feel unsafe in downtown Ottawa and in other major cities across the country.

“There is certainly the perception by a lot of Canadians that a lot of downtown cores are basically out of control,” Powlowski said.  

“Certainly there is also the perception that around places like safe supply, safe injection sites, that things are worse, that there are people openly stoned in the street,” he continued.   

“People are getting cardio-pulmonary resuscitation performed on them in the street. There are needles around on the street. There is excrement on the street,” Powlowski added.  

Safe supply“ is the term used to refer to government-prescribed drugs that are given to addicts under the assumption that a more controlled batch of narcotics reduces the risk of overdose – critics of the policy argue that giving addicts drugs only enables their behavior, puts the public at risk, disincentivizes recovery from addiction and has not reduced, and sometimes even increased, overdose deaths where implemented.

Powlowski, who has worked as an emergency room physician, also stated that violence from drug users has become a problem in Ottawa, especially in areas near so-called “safe supply” drug sites which operate within blocks of Parliament Hill.   

“A few months ago I was downtown in a bar here in Ottawa, not that I do that very often, but a couple of colleagues I met up with, one was assaulted as he was going to the bar, another one was threatened,” said Powlowski. 

“Within a month of that I was returning down Wellington Street from downtown, the Rideau Centre, and my son who is 15 was coming after me,” he continued. “It was nighttime and there was someone out in the middle of the street, yelling and screaming, accosting cars.” 

Liberal MP Dr. Brendan Hanley, the Yukon’s former chief medical officer, testified in support of Powlowski, saying, “My colleague Dr. Powlowski described what it’s like to walk around downtown Ottawa here, and certainly when I walk home every day, I encounter similar circumstances.” 

“Do you agree this is a problem?” Powlowski pressed RCMP deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald. “Do you agree for a lot of Canadians who are not involved with drugs, that they are increasingly unhappy with society in downtown cores which are this way? Do you want to do more about this, and if you do want to do more about this, what do you need?”  

McDonald acknowledged the issue but failed to offer a solution, responding, “One of the success factors required for decriminalization is public support.” 

“I think when you are faced with situations where, as we have experienced in our communities and we hear from our communities, where public consumption in some places may lead to other members of the public feeling at risk or threatened or vulnerable to street level crime, it does present a challenge,” he continued.   

Deaths from drug overdoses in Canada have gone through the roof in recent years, particularly in British Columbia after Trudeau’s federal government effectively decriminalized hard drugs in the province.

Under the policy, which launched in early 2023, the federal government began allowing people within the province to possess up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs without criminal penalty, but selling drugs remained a crime.  

The policy has been widely criticized, especially after it was found that the province broke three different drug-related overdose records in the first month the new law was in effect.  

The effects of decriminalizing hard drugs in various parts of Canada has been exposed in Aaron Gunn’s recent documentary, Canada is Dying, and in U.K. Telegraph journalist Steven Edginton’s mini-documentary, Canada’s Woke Nightmare: A Warning to the West.  

Gunn says he documents the “general societal chaos and explosion of drug use in every major Canadian city.”  

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