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Thursday, April 11, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

The RCMP emergency response team (ERT) clear a house on Tamarack Street on Wednesday.

Search for shooting suspects comes up empty-handed Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca RCMP left with empty hands Wednesday after converging on the 2100 block of Tamarack Street in their a search for two suspects in last week’s targeted shooting. Both Eric Vern West, 38, and Kenneth Ricardo Munroe, 33, remain at large, police said in a statement issued late Wednesday afternoon. Backed by an emergency response team, RCMP showed up at a multi-tenant building at about 10 a.m. Over the next four hours,

residents left the building one-by-one and were checked by police. At about 2:15 p.m., RCMP entered the building and carried out a search for the two over the next 1 1/2 hours but without success. In the statement, RCMP thanked those in the neighbourhood for their patience. West and Munroe are wanted in connection with a confrontation that broke out Friday afternoon in an alley adjacent to the 2200 block of Quince Street. An unidentified man was taken to hospital suffering from a not-life-threatening gunshot wound.

West is decribed as First Nations, 38 years old, five-foot-11, 180 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Munroe is described as First Nations, 33 years old, five-foot-10, 161 pounds with black hair, brown eyes and the letters KRM tattooed on his neck. Two others – Kyle Devro Teegee, 31, and Joseph Karl Larsen, 26 – have been arrested and remain in custody. All four have been charged with one count each of extortion with a firearm, attempted kidnapping, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.

Peace region pressures province to halt caribou plans Alaska Highway News Political and business leaders from the Peace region were in Victoria on Wednesday calling on the province to stop its caribou recovery plans for the South Peace. “One of the challenges were faced with right now is that our government, the NDP government, is coming in and imposing on rural British Columbia, a chance that’s going to shut down the entire backcountry, that’s going to devastate communities,” Peace River South MLA Mike Bernier said during a news conference with provincial media. “We have a chance here where towns like Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge, Dawson Creek, where people are going to be losing their jobs.” Bernier was joined by his northern counterpart MLA Dan Davies, along with business leaders including Kathleen Connolly and Tim Schram of Corlane Sporting Goods in Dawson Creek. The group is pressuring the government to scrap two agreements being developed with area First Nations and the federal government to help recover caribou herds around Chetwynd and

Today’s Weather Hi +5° Low -4° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

LOCAL HOROSCOPE OPINION NEWS SPORTS A&E

Tumbler Ridge. Included in those agreements are planned restrictions to industrial development in high elevations considered crucial to the survival of the caribou, and looming restrictions to backcountry access. The agreements were drafted without first studying how the restrictions will impact local economies, and without the involvement of local governments. It’s put leaders and residents on high alert, with rumours the agreements could lead to up to 500 job losses, mill closures, and shutter recreational activities across wide swaths of the backcountry. More than 30,000 people have signed a petition to stop the ongoing negotiations. “The petition asks for some very specific things from government,” said Connolly, executive director of the Dawson Creek Chamber of Commerce and team lead for the Concerned Citizens for Caribou Recovery. “The first thing we asked is that they stop all negotiations on the partnership agreement and Section 11, they didn’t do that. We asked them to do consultations with stakeholders – industry, local

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COMICS CROSSWORD CLASSIFIEDS MONEY SCIENCE

government, anybody who is going to be impacted by backcountry closures potentially – they didn’t do that. We asked them to do a socio-economic impact assessment, they didn’t do that. We asked them to give us science and data to support the closures… and what they were looking at doing in our community, they didn’t do that either.” Southern mountain caribou in the region have been listed as a threatened wildlife species under the federal Species At Risk Act since 2003. Last year, the federal government declared the species to be under imminent threat of recovery, starting a year-long timeline to put a recovery strategy in place. B.C. has drafted a partnership agreement with the Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations that proposes a series of moratoriums on resource development, and continuing support for a maternal penning program as well as an ongoing wolf cull. It’s also drafted an agreement under Section 11 of the federal Species At Risk Act with Ottawa that outlines “broad recovery actions” and gives the province access to federal funding to support those efforts. — see CARIBOU, page 3

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Scientists snap pic of black hole SCIENCE 18

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West has also been charged with possession of a dangerous weapon dangerous and Teegee has also been charged with obstructing a peace officer. Anyone with information on where West and Munroe may be is asked to contact the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www. pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca (English only). You do not have to reveal your identity to Crime Stoppers. If you provide information that leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward.

B.C. safety act faces human rights challenge Jeremy HAINSWORTH Glacier Media B.C.’s solicitor general is confident his Community Safety Act amendments are legally sound despite civil libertarians’ assertions proposed changes violate basic Canadian constitutional legal rights. Both the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association say Minister of Solicitor General and Public Safety Mike Farnworth’s additions to the 2013 law violate rights such as the presumption of innocence when charged with a crime and due process in the court system. The groups said the changes violate the Constitution’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms section on right to life, liberty and security of the person. “They can think whatever they like,” Farnworth said as he defended the changes, saying similar acts have been passed in other provinces and that local governments support the proposals. Farnworth said B.C.’s amended law is similar to those in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Yukon. However, only the Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick laws go as far as apparently presuming people to be guilty based on past convictions. — see ‘WE HAVE, page 3

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