Five stories in the news today, Jan. 26

Five stories in the news for Thursday, Jan. 26

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TORONTO POLICE TO ISSUE REPORT ON FORCE’S FUTURE 

Toronto police are set to release a report today on ways to modernize the force. The service’s Transformational Task Force is set to table the document — called “Action Plan: The Way Forward ” — with the Toronto Police Services Board at a meeting this afternoon. The task force began its work last February and is expected to put forward a multi-year plan to strengthen the service.

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modified weapon

Sawed-off shotgun seized after Nanaimo RCMP spot well-known offender

2h ago

rainbow eyes

Nanaimo judge hands old growth logging protestor additional jail time

4h ago

Paris Bound

Nanaimo race walker Olivia Lundman qualifies for Paris Olympic Games

6h ago

APPLEBAUM FRAUD VERDICT COMING TODAY

A judge will rule today on whether ex-Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum is guilty of 14 corruption-related charges. Applebaum has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including fraud against the government and breach of trust. The Crown alleged Applebaum accepted cash through a former aide in return for favours given to local real-estate developers and engineering firms.

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IMPROVE ACCESS TO DRUG TREATMENT: OVERDOSE INQUEST 

Jurors at a coroner’s inquest into the fatal overdose of a 20-year-old man in British Columbia have recommended the province improves treatment options for people struggling with addiction, including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin. Brandon Jansen was at a Vancouver Island treatment centre for an addiction to fentanyl when he died in March, a month before the province declared a public health emergency into opioid-related deaths. He was among 914 people in British Columbia who died from a drug overdose in 2016.

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VANCOUVER CLINIC PROVIDES MEDICAL HEROIN FOR RECOVERING ADDICTS

The only clinic in North America to provide pharmaceutical heroin to people hooked on the drug is Vancouver’s Crosstown Clinic, which currently treats about 94 people. The program is gaining more attention amid a growing death toll from illicit drugs which killed 914 in British Columbia last year. Lead physician Doctor Scott MacDonald says some people have tried 11 other methods to quit their heroin use before ending up at Crosstown, which also provides services such as housing, work training and a dietician.

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NOT GUILTY FOR 3 OF 4 ACCUSED HUMAN SMUGGLERS 

A B.C. Supreme Court jury has acquitted three of four men accused of bringing hundreds of Tamil migrants into Canada illegally, more than six years after a dilapidated cargo ship packed with asylum seekers arrived off the shores of British Columbia. Justice William Ehrcke declared a mistrial for the fourth man after the jury told the court Wednesday it couldn’t reach a verdict in the case of Kunarobinson Christhurajah.

The Canadian Press