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Sunday, August 29, 2010
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Costume shop gets makeover Page 33
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College recruiting 101 Page 37
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Province targets North Van toxic site
B.C. steps in after spat stalls cleanup Benjamin Alldritt balldritt@nsnews.com
THE provincial government has ordered two corporations finally to clean up a North Vancouver industrial site that has been left severely contaminated for decades.
North Vancouver shipping firm Seaspan International and Quebec-based paper manufacturer Domtar are both named in the environmental remediation order, which follows several years of failure to reach a voluntary solution. “It’s a sordid history,” said Mike Macfarlane, land remediation manager for B.C.’s Ministry of Environment. “We’ve gone to the trough so many times based on their promises, and we’re basically saying enough’s enough.” Between 1923 and 1965, Dominion Tar and Chemical used the area around the foot of Pemberton Avenue for applying creosote to wood products. During this time, thousands of litres of the coal-derived preservative were spilled onto the ground. In 1965, the company was renamed Domtar and began to focus on its paper business. The North Vancouver site was sold to Vancouver Shipyards, now known as Seaspan. Shipbuilding over the following decades introduced additional substances to the shoreline, mostly metals. The contamination was reported to the government in 1995, and the two firms said they would work together and to clean up the mess. But after 15 years, See Risk page 10
West Van man charged with child luring after police sting Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com
A West Vancouver man has been charged with luring a child over the Internet following a Vancouver Police Department sting operation. Police say the 42-year-old man posted an advertisement in early August on the popular classifieds website Craigslist soliciting school-age girls for sexual purposes. Posing as a 14-year-old girl, an officer with the department’s vice unit replied to the advertisement. The accused man then exchanged emails “of a sexual nature” with the officer, according to police. “There were various sessions — if you can call them that — between the undercover officer and the suspect,” said Sgt. Tony Cavezza, head of the Vancouver vice unit. “Police are allowed to use different . . . methods, which include taking on a covert identity and then interacting with the suspect once See Police page 4
Climbing is everything
NEWS photo Cindy Goodman
MUHAMMAD Iqbal, 80, takes the first steps up Grouse Mountain early Thursday morning on his second climb to raise money for flood-relief in Pakistan, his former home. Iqbal has committed to climb the mountain 20 times before winter, aiming to raise $800 each time. See story, page 11.