At least nine killed after car driven through Vancouver street festival

px_eliezer_ · 2025-04-27T15:31:29+00:00

At least nine people have been killed after a car was driven into a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver, police have confirmed. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said more than 20 people were injured in the incident, which occurred at approximately 20:14 local time on Saturday (03:14 GMT on Sunday). A 30-year-old male suspect is in custody and the Vancouver Police Department said it was “confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism”. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkgp8km51jo Just awful, what can one say. Condolences to everyone affected.

Dks01

[deleted] Even if the guy gets the maximum, they don’t stack the sentences, they are all combined which is an absolute joke. He’s 30 years old he’ll be out before he’s 45-50.

Not true. He may apply for parole. Parole is not guaranteed. Canada also presumes the potential for rehabilitation as basic principle of sentencing.

taraf

ThirdShifter To get around this they should find a way to charge him with breaking laws under separate jurisdictions and give him separate sentences.

You’re openly speculating about how to go about suppressing the man’s constitutional rights. My guy, take a look at yourself.

ThirdShifter

taraf I merely stated that if someone breaks the laws of two separate jurisdictions he can be tried and convicted separately under those jurisdictions. Are you claiming this is not true and Canada does not have dual sovereignty?

You may be charged with a provincial offence under provincial laws, such as The Traffic Safety Act or The Alcohol and Gaming Regulation Act, or a criminal offence under federal laws such as the Criminal Code or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

https://www.plea.org/crimes-fines/criminal-offences

taraf

ThirdShifter Are you claiming this is not true and Canada does not have dual sovereignty?

No, I’m saying that you wouldn’t be entertaining the discussion if the person at question hadn’t done something you find personally reprehensible and/or abhorrent, and that the purpose of your suggestion isn’t about how best to prevent recidivism or protecting people, but finding a way and an excuse to punish him personally. It doesn’t appear to be about justice for you, it appears to be about vindictiveness.

We don’t need to go looking for additional things to throw at him: 7 counts of murder where there’s really no question of who did it will be enough to put him away for a long time. And as I said above: if, for some reason, he does actually manage to walk away from this, that’s when we entertain a discussion about what went wrong & how we can do better.

Dks01

ThirdShifter Are you claiming this is not true and Canada does not have dual sovereignty?

We have an different set of laws. The Criminal Code is federal while provinces have their own local statutes for matters outside of the Criminal Code. There is one set of laws for serious crimes. Criminal Code can take priority. Often for the sake of efficiency, expediency and justice, lesser charges are dropped so as to address the most serious issue. The initial charge sheet may look horrendous, but I have seen charges dropped before trial. Charges such as being a flight risk or risk of re-offending are used to deny bail and keep the charged person in custody. That time also counts as 2 for 1 as a post sentence credit. We also don’t have cash bail.

px_eliezer_

ThirdShifter However, the principle of “double jeopardy” applies, meaning that a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense in the same jurisdiction. But since federal and provincial laws are considered separate, being charged under both does not violate this principle.

Canada is not the United States.

The Criminal Law of Canada is Federal, for the whole country.

There is just ONE Criminal Code in Canada, no separate Criminal codes for provinces.

Provinces have their own Motor Vehicle laws, such as for B.C.
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96318_05

But that doesn’t get us very far here.

Dks01

The person was under the care of a health team for mental health issues and was on a pass. https://toronto.citynews.ca/2025/04/29/vancouver-health-lapu-lapu-day-accused-mental-health-team/

Somewhat-Reticent

Dks01 Thank you for the added info.

[deleted]

So he was on leave from a mental health facility… Was that his car? Was he allowed to keep a driver’s license?

If not where did he get the car?

Dks01

[deleted] So he was on leave from a mental health facility… Was that his car? Was he allowed to keep a driver’s license?

If not where did he get the car?

All are questions yet to be answered. The information will likely come out at trial, if it reaches that stage. The potential for a decision by a judge to decide the person is NCR is reasonable. In addition, there is a publication ban in place.

He appeared very briefly in court from a jail cell wearing grey sweats a few minutes ago. He’s been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder. Lo did not request bail, so he’s staying in custody. As below, a publication ban covers other details.

The case has been put over to May 26.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/livestory/lapu-lapu-killings-suspect-charged-with-multiple-counts-of-second-degree-murder-in-vancouver-9.6737566

For Americans, publication bans are standard in Canada. However the statute, S. 648 of the Criminal Code, is interpreted differently in several provinces.

There is also conflicting precedent in British Columbia, Ontario and Québec, with some courts interpreting Section 648 >as an automatic publication ban on all pre-trial hearings.

https://nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articles/law/in-depth/2023/should-publication-bans-be-automatic-for-pre-trial-hearings-before-jury-selection

ThirdShifter

Dks01 In addition, there is a publication ban in place.

I don’t think that is very effective. Banning the free press from reporting information is an anachronism in modern Western Civilization. Information is global and it cannot be contained. Today people less commonly sit down with a physical newspaper or watch broadcast TV. People are getting their news from the Interwebs. The Web has global reach into every household. News organizations outside of the reach of Canada law publish information on the internet. People will just turn to outside sources for the information. Any reporter committed to Free Press can anonymously leak whatever information they uncover to an outlet across the border who will publish it on the internet. Once info gets to a publisher in a place where a ban cannot be enforced publishers cannot generally be forced to give up their sources.
People just get on the internet and read Australian, Japanese or Indian web outlets among others.

Dks01

ThirdShifter Frankly, I don’t give a damn. It is the law in this country.

Despite the rhetoric, the common law’s commitment to open court has yielded a variety of exceptions from the rule. As fundamental as its underlying values are, securing the fair trial of the accused at times requires a ban on the publication of information which could prejudice his right to be presumed innocent. In Canada, many such exceptions are found in the Criminal Code , which was enacted for the first time in 1892. [xxxv] For instance, publication bans today prevent the disclosure of information revealed in pre-trial proceedings, such as bail hearings [xxxvi] and preliminary inquiries. [xxxvii] Such information can impair fair trial rights by revealing evidence that is inadmissible or by undermining the presumption that an accused is innocent until proven guilty. In default of a Code provision, the judge can order a publication ban at trial, as an aspect of his or her common law jurisdiction to prevent bias against the accused. [xxxviii] Bans safeguard the integrity of the process in other ways as well; for example, the identity of a juror or jurors is protected, [xxxix] as is the confidentiality of jury proceedings. [xl]

https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr03_vic1/index.html

A much deeper dive into the issues. They are not as clear as you suggest. Emphasis added.

ThirdShifter

Dks01 It is the law in this country.

I did not dispute that. I merely stated that the information can or will get out beyond the control of your courts.

https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0413/p09s01-coop.html

The only way to totally censor information is to build a China-like Great Wall of the internet and filter your citizens web access.

Dks01

ThirdShifter Again, you are incorrect. Reporting information from a trial under a publication ban order in Canada is a serious breach of the law. The issue of reporting information under the publication ban was dealt with in the Paul Bernardo trial. Reporters breaching conditions were removed from the court room. And that was in the time of the internet.

taraf

Dks01 not to mention that you can actually go to jail for contempt for violating a publication ban.

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