Vancouver Information and Newspaper

Archive for January, 2010

BAIE-COMEAU, Que. – Two workers are dead after an accident at the Alcoa smelter in Baie Comeau, Que., some 400 km northeast of Quebec City.

Quebec provincial police constable Marc Butz said a 30-year-old man died Saturday after a one ton weight fell on a him as he was helping load a ship at the company’s harbour facilities.

Butz said at the same time, a 57-year-old man had a heart attack. He died at the hospital.

Another man was lightly injured in the 10 a.m. incident.

Quebec provincial police, the provincial workplace safety commission and Transport Canada are investigating the incident.

Alcoa is a worldwide aluminium company with many Canadian plants in Ontario and Quebec.

CALGARY – A five-member panel that has been appointed to look into animal deaths at the Calgary Zoo could get down to work by the middle of next month.

Laurie Herron, a zoo spokeswoman, says the five members of the review panel have been chosen.

Their names haven’t been released.

The panel members were chosen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, based in Washington, D.C., and its Canadian affiliate.

The zoo has been the subject of controversy for several animal deaths in recent months.

One mule deer broke its neck last month after running into a fence, while another was found with neck injuries – though officials couldn’t determine what led to its death.

BOYLE, Alta. – Fire officials in Boyle, Alta., have asked residents and businesses within a two block radius of a gas station to leave the area after a fuel spill.

Jim Giancola, mayor of the community north of Edmonton, says a trucker was filling a gasoline reservoir at a Co-op gas station when it overflowed.

He says the evacuation is a precautionary measure and says people are being asked to gather at the Word of Faith Church.

Erin Carrier, a spokeswoman with Alberta Environment, says as much as 10,000 litres may have spilled.

She says they’re trying to determine how extensive the spill is.

Carrier says there don’t appear to be any bodies of water nearby, though there is a storm drain in the area.

GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR, N.L. – A snowmobile accident in Newfoundland and Labrador has claimed the life of a 15-year-old girl.

RCMP say the accident occurred Friday in Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L.

Investigators say the girl is from the community of Norris Arm.

Her name is being withheld until family members have been notified.

Police say their investigation is continuing.

SURREY, B.C. – Mounties summoned to what was believed to be an early morning fight found the body of a man in the elevator of a Surrey, B.C., apartment building.

Police say BC Ambulance Service personnel attempted to help the man, but his injuries were too serious.

Several people were arrested Saturday morning and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been brought in to investigate the murder.

The team’s Cpl. Dale Carr says the 46-year-old man was stabbed to death.

Police are working on getting search warrants for a couple of the apartments inside the complex.

Carr says it’s too early to say if the death has links to gangs, drugs or organized crime.

The man’s name is being held until his family can be notified.

VICTORIA, B.C. – More than four decades after their homes, burial grounds and hunting territories were flooded over to create a dam, members of a B.C. First Nation have been compensated.

In 1967, the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation was forced from their Fort Grahame home in the Peace River Valley to make way for the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and the massive Williston Reservoir.

The agreement between the B.C. government, B.C. Hydro and the First Nation will give the native band a one-time payment of $20.9 million and annual payments of $2 million for as long as power is produced at the facility.

B.C. Aboriginal Relations Minister George Abbott says the agreement marks the closure of a difficult chapter in the communities history.

The native band launched legal action in 1999 against the province and B.C. Hydro for infringement of aboriginal rights and three years later the two sides began negotiations to address the impacts of the damages.

The Tsay Keh Dene’s main community is now at the northern end of the Williston Reservoir, which was created by the construction of the dam and is the largest body of water in British Columbia.