The Friday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

SEVERAL KILLED AS TRAIN DERAILS ON BRIDGE IN WASHINGTON STATE: An Amtrak train making the first run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass Monday south of Seattle and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least six people, authorities said. The death toll was expected to rise. Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train moving at about 130 kilometres per hour derailed on a route that had raised safety concerns. At least 50 people were hospitalized, more than a dozen with critical or serious injuries, authorities said. An official briefed on the investigation said that preliminary signs indicate that Train 501 may have struck something before going off the track about 64 kilometres south of Seattle. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. A local official had raised concerns about the safety of the new bypass as recently as two weeks ago at a public meeting. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said several vehicles on Interstate 5 were struck by falling train cars and multiple motorists were injured. No fatalities of motorists were reported.

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BUSINESS LEADERS URGE PM TO JOIN NEW U.S.-FREE TPP: More than a dozen top business leaders are telling Justin Trudeau it’s time for Canada to immediately join the revamped Trans-Pacific Partnership that no longer includes the United States. An open letter to the prime minister from 18 chief executives comes after last month’s decision by Canada to withhold support from what appeared to be a breakthrough agreement by the 11 remaining TPP countries to sign a newly configured version of the Pacific Rim trade pact. Trudeau angered allies such as Australia and Japan at the APEC summit in Vietnam when he said Canada needed to address issues such as autos and culture before moving forward. The Business Council of Canada organized the letter to Trudeau and it represents a range of sectors, including natural resources, manufacturing, transport, food and financial services. The letter doesn’t specifically mention the ever-present threat of a U.S. withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement but says trade diversification is more important than ever.

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PRISON SEGREGATION LAW FOUND UNCONSTITUTIONAL: An Ontario judge says isolating a prisoner for more than five days in a process known as administrative segregation is unconstitutional. Superior Court Justice Frank Marrocco ruled Monday the system lacks proper safeguards. However, Marrocco says banning the practice immediately could be disruptive and dangerous, so he suspended his ruling for one year to give Parliament a chance to fix the problem. At issue are sections of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that allow a warden to order administrative segregation when an inmate is at risk of harm from others, or poses a risk to the security of the prison. Inmates spend 22 hours a day in a cell without any meaningful human contact. The provisions require the warden to have the placement decision reviewed within five days of ordering an inmate placed in solitary but only the warden can change the decision. Marrocco says the law is lacking because it doesn’t mandate an effective and independent review of segregation decisions.

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BARRY AND HONEY SHERMAN MOURNED BY JEWISH COMMUNITY: Members of Toronto’s Jewish community are paying tribute to Barry and Honey Sherman after the billionaire philanthropist couple was found dead in their home. A memorial web page for the Shermans, set up by the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto, has received more than 160 messages of remembrance since Friday, when news of their deaths spread on social media. Mourners posting to the website recalled the generosity of the couple, who for decades supported charitable causes — particularly in the field of health care and within the Jewish community. Apotex Inc. pharmaceutical company Chair and CEO Barry Sherman, 75, and Honey, 70, made numerous multimillion-dollar donations to hospitals, schools and charities over the years. Toronto police say the Shermans’ deaths are being treated as suspicious and homicide detectives have taken over the investigation. Autopsy results showed the couple died from “ligature neck compression.”

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EX-SKI COACH DENIED BAIL PENDING APPEAL: Ex-national ski coach Bertrand Charest has been denied bail pending an appeal of his sex-crimes conviction involving his teenage students. The Quebec Court of Appeal heard arguments last Thursday and Justice Martin Vauclair handed down his ruling Monday. Charest was found guilty last June of 37 of the 57 sex-related charges he was facing and a judge recently sentenced him to a 12-year prison term. His lawyers said they had serious grounds for appealing the guilty verdicts and that Charest’s chances of being acquitted or getting a new trial were very good. Last week, a lawyer for Charest proposed $50,000 bail and a $50,000 undertaking on his property and said his client would agree to report to provincial police on a regular basis, abide by a curfew, abstain from working as a coach and stay away from parks and schools. The convictions involved nine of the 12 women who’d accused Charest of crimes dating back more than 20 years. All but one of the 12 were under the age of 18 at the time, with the youngest being 12 years old. With time served in detention since his arrest in 2015, Charest has seven years and 10 months left in the sentence.

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INUK WOMAN WITH LIVER FAILURE IMPROVING, FAMILY SAYS: The family of an Inuk woman struggling with acute liver failure is expressing optimism about her improving condition, while urging the rapid end of policies that deny transplants to alcoholics who haven’t abstained from drinking for half a year. Garrett Saunders said in an interview from the transplant centre at the University Health Network in Toronto that his older sister, Delilah Saunders, showed further signs of improvement over the weekend and on Monday. The 22-year-old said the family from Labrador is pleased with the 26-year-old woman’s progress and is increasingly hopeful she won’t require a liver transplant, though that is not yet definitely the case. Meanwhile, Saunders also read a statement from the family that says the Trillium Gift of Life Network needs to change the six-month abstinence rule. He said in the statement that the policy tends to be particularly harmful to marginal and poor groups and may be “preventing them from accessing life-saving care.” The family has said that Saunders, who is a prominent activist for Aboriginal women, was initially told that she didn’t meet criteria for a transplant because she drank within the last six months before she fell ill.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA ENDS GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT: Hunting grizzly bears has been banned in British Columbia. The B.C. government says public consultations have made it clear that killing grizzlies is no longer socially acceptable. The spring hunt in the province was scheduled to open in April, but the ban for both resident and non-resident hunters takes effect immediately. Environment Minister George Heyman says First Nations will still be allowed to hunt grizzlies for food, social or ceremonial reasons, or for treaty rights. Heyman says some studies suggest bear sightseeing could have a much greater economic impact than hunting. Green party spokesman Adam Olsen says he couldn’t be more thrilled with the decision. The government estimates there are about 15,000 grizzly bears in the province.

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2017 OPIOID DEATHS ON PACE TO HIT 4,000, HEALTH AGENCY SAYS: The Public Health Agency of Canada says at least 1,460 people died from opioid-related overdoses in the first half of this year. And that number is expected to rise as additional data becomes available from the provinces and territories. The federal agency expects the number of lives lost due to opioid-related overdoses in 2017 will surpass last year’s figure of 2,861. PHAC says that if current trends continue, opioid-related deaths could surpass 4,000 by the end of the year. All regions of Canada have been affected, but some have been harder hit than others. The western provinces and territories continue to report higher rates of opioid-related deaths. The data also indicate that illicit fentanyl has played a major role in the crisis, with 74 per cent of deaths involving the opioid, compared to 53 per cent last year.

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B.C. WOMAN MISTAKENLY GIVES AWAY DIAMOND RING: A British Columbia woman hopes her charitable impulse won’t cost her a cherished diamond ring. Trinda Gajek was visiting Nanaimo last week when she stopped to ask a young man if he needed some help. The resident of Salt Spring Island says she dumped the contents of her change purse into her hand and gave the man all she had. Gajek says it was only later that she remembered her diamond ring was in her change purse for safe keeping, and she had inadvertently given it away, along with the coins. She says the young man received it honestly, but she’s hoping the ring her children helped her buy will be returned. The ring has a thin band with baguette, or rectangular, diamonds across the top. She says it can be dropped off at the Salvation Army Community Services Centre in Nanaimo.

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The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

The Friday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

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