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VOL 25 - ISSUE 19

www.theasianstar.com SATURDAY, JUNE 21 2025

`Pretendian’ or victim?

Judge acquits BC man in sex assault case because he was high on drugs Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is expressing deep concern over the recent acquittal of a man who attacked a woman in 2019 while under the influence of magic mushrooms and cannabis. Leon-Jamal Barrett was charged with break and enter to commit the indictable offence of sexual assault, sexual assault, resisting or wilfully obstructing a peace officer in the execution of their duties, and public nudity, all concerning a bizarre series of events that occurred in the early morning hours of March 9, 2019, in Surrey. The public nudity charge

was stayed before trial. In a ruling posted online in March, Judge Hinkson said this was an unusual case. “There is no doubt as to whether or not Mr. Barrett did what he is accused of,” Hinkson wrote. However, Barrett was acquitted on all charges as the judge ruled he was too high on mushrooms to know what he was doing when he violently attacked a stranger.Barrett described a complex hallucination from the mushrooms in which he concluded that humanity was corrupt and destined to be punished. Continued on Page 3...

Khalistanis active on our soil: Canada intel

A report by the Canadian intelligence agency has acknowledged the use of country’s soil by Khalistani extremists as a base for “promotion, fundraising or planning” of violence in India, but also accused New Delhi of foreign interference. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) report on activities in 2024 came out a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi left the country after attending the G7 Summit. The report said Canada-based Khalistani extremists (CBKEs) were seeking to use and support violent means to create an independent nation state — Khalistan — largely within Punjab, India. “A small group of individuals are considered Khalistani extremists because they continue to use Canada as a base for the promotion, fundraising or planning of violence primarily in India,” it said. While there were no attacks by such elements in Canada in 2024, their ongoing involvement in violent activities continued to pose a “national security threat” to Canada and its interests, the report said. Continued on Page 13...

TEL: 604-591-5423

Originally from the GTA, she played on Canada’s youth national soccer team. At 16, she entered university in the U.S. on athletic scholarships, where she excelled on the pitch and in the classroom and earned the first of five post secondary degrees. A coach told a Connecticut TV station her competitive drive could easily lead her to becoming a lawyer, a doctor, or “a UN ambassador.” Continued on Page 7...

Surrey businessman say police are not doing enough to protect them A day after he organized a public forum to talk about extortionists targeting South Asian business owners in Surrey, organizer Satish Kumar says, “My life is on the line. My family’s life is on the line.” Kumar, the president of the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir Temple and owner of Reflections Banquet Halls, said authorities are not

doing enough for South Asian businesses and individuals receiving threats from extortionists. Kumar’s life was threatened after he said he wouldn’t pay $2 million to an extortionist. He has since been targeted by two shootings. “Nobody in Canada has $2 million in cash,” said Kumar. Continued on Page 6...

A number of temporary residents and foreign students in Canada drops drastically, leading to lower population growth Canada’s population rose at a slower pace in 2024 than in previous years as a series of steps taken by Ottawa to reduce the total number of temporary residents seem to be taking effect, according to Statistics Canada’s latest estimates. The population increased by 744,324 people in 2024, a growth rate of 1.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada, which is lower than the 3.1 per cent rate posted in 2023 and 2.5 per cent in 2022. “This may reflect a transition back to the population growth patterns seen before the start of the pandemic,” Statistics Canada said on

March 19.

Continued on Page 10...