Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
Taser video halts teens' B.C. travel plans

Last Updated: Monday, November 19, 2007 | 2:03 PM ET

CBC News

Two teenage girls from Chile have cancelled a trip to Canada after watching a video of the RCMP shocking Robert Dziekanski with a stun gun.

Claudia Connelly says her twin 14-year-old nieces from Chile had planned to spend their school break in the southern B.C. Interior town of Nakusp next month, but they decided to cancel their visit after watching the Dziekanski video online.

"They expressed to me that they are afraid of coming because they don't speak English and they're worried about what will happen if they cannot find me," Connelly said.

Connelly tried to persuade her sister and nieces that Canada is safe, but she said she understands why someone who doesn't speak English would be afraid to fly into the Vancouver airport after watching what happened to Dziekanski when he arrived.

For the full article, go here:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/...cellations.html

Posted
Criminal charges possible in Polish immigrant’s airport death

CanWest News Service

OTTAWA — Four RCMP officers could face criminal charges in the death of a Polish immigrant who died in Vancouver International Airport after being shot with a Taser last month, says Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.

Day cited the lead investigator in the case Tuesday, explaining an RCMP investigation “will include the possibility of criminal charges.”

Dziekanski, 40, died Oct. 14, shortly after being Tasered by RCMP officers. Videotape of the event, which was filmed by a bystander, has been seen around the world.

"If there is culpability to be assessed, it will be done," Day told reporters. "This is a very serious incident that has taken place, and there are a number of investigations that are going on to get to the bottom of it.”

Meanwhile, police have launched an independent review after a 36-year-old Chilliwack man Tasered Monday was listed in “extremely critical condition in the intensive care unit” in Chilliwack hospital, Lower Mainland RCMP said Tuesday.

For the full article on the Global BC website, go here:

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/story.ht...6c45&k=6379

Posted

Vancouver airport death won't dampen Olympic attendance: Vanoc

Vancouver Sun

Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2007

VANCOUVER - The public furor over the tasering and death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport won't stop people from attending the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vanoc officials said today.

But Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said the incident means Vanoc and YVR officials will have to work harder to assure visitors the airport is a welcoming place.

"The airport is an Olympic venue. There is no hiding the fact that the public's awareness of this incident is extraordinarily high," he said. "I think that will have a positive influence on all the parties that are trying to create this an extraordinarily welcoming atmosphere. It is the front door into the city."

Dziekanski's death after being tasered by four RCMP officers is not an image Furlong wants visitors to think about when they arrive in 2010.

"We will do our darnedest to work with the airport authority to make sure people coming through the airport to the Games have the best experience," he said in an interview in Richmond, following a Vanoc board meeting.

Furlong said he has written to YVR CEO Larry Berg offering to meet with him over the next few weeks.

Vanoc chair Jack Poole told reporters he, like many people, was disturbed by the video images showing Dziekanski being tasered by a RCMP officer last month before dying on the floor of the airport's arrival area.

"It's obviously not a day any of us are proud of," Poole said.

But he believes the incident won't affect public attendance at the Games and that Vancouver will survive the bad publicity just as other Olympic cities have.

"If you researched past Olympic Games you would find there are events not totally dissimilar to this surrounding every Olympic games," he said. "This is really an unfortunate, regrettable event but it's not going to impact on the 2010 Games."

Questions about the incident dominated a news conference following the board conference and annual general meeting. But Vanoc also revealed that it's venue construction contingency fund has grown by $250,000 in net savings.

Dan Doyle, Vanoc's vice-president of venue construction, said Vanoc saved $2.5 million on the reconstruction of the Coliseum venue, site of figure skating and short-track speed-skating, but spent $2.25 million more on contracts for the Hillcrest curling venue.

Part of the savings at Hastings Park came from a deal with Great Canadian Casinos, which installed slot machines at the adjacent Hastings Park race track. The two companies agreed to split the $1.2-million cost of upgrading the electrical service to the area, Doyle said.

Overall, the contingency still has $27.1 million, which Doyle said was adequate for the construction work that remains.

The meeting was the first Poole had chaired since June, when he stepped down temporarily to undergo radiation and chemotherapy for cancer of the pancreas. His presence was necessary because this was also the annual general meeting where the 19 appointed board members had to appoint a chairman and also reappoint Vanoc management.

Looking extremely thin but sounding strong, Poole said he was happy to be back and he even joked about his reappointment.

"The biggest news coming from the annual general meeting is that senior management and the chairman each got our jobs back. It was a very close vote, 19 to zero," he said. "The zeroes almost had it."

jefflee@png.canwest.com

×
×
  • Create New...