A man accused of importing a deadly opioid onto the streets of Yellowknife was denied bail in NWT Supreme Court Friday.
Darcy Oake, of Yellowknife, is charged with importing and trafficking furanylfentanyl, a less potent form of fentanyl – the powerful painkiller that’s fuelled a growing nationwide opioid crisis.
Oake, 23, also faces a charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
A court-ordered ban prevents any evidence presented at the bail hearing – including Charbonneau’s reasoning in striking down Oake’s bid to be released – from being published.
The charges stem from Oake’s arrest in November 2016, when Yellowknife RCMP officers, investigating a rash of overdoses in the city, conducted a search at a Borden Drive home.
Police seized a substance later identified as furanylfentanyl.
On Nov. 28, 2016, the Canadian Border Services Agency in Vancouver intercepted a Yellowknife-bound package sent from China. The contents of the package also tested as furanylfentanyl, according to an RCMP news release from the same year.
Police allege the package is linked to Oake, leading to him being charged for importing the dangerous drug.
Oake has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which have not yet been tested in court. He's set to face the charges during a judge-alone trial in January 2019.
In November 2016, the NWT Department of Health alerted the public of the possible presence of fentanyl after a number of non-fatal overdoses just days apart.
Furanylfentanyl is said to possess one fifth of the potency of fentanyl – which is up to 100 times more powerful than heroin – but it's still nearly 20 times stronger than morphine.
Ambulance hits man outside Stanton Territorial Hospital
A man was treated for non-life threatening injuries after a City of Yellowknife ambulance struck him on Friday afternoon.
Responding to a call around 1:15 p.m, Yellowknife RCMP rushed to Stanton Territorial Hospital, near the back ambulance bay. There, it was determined an ambulance hit a man as the vehicle exited a bay door, stated an RCMP news release.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident, but say there is no indication of any wrongdoing at this time.
Student who talked about school shootings not guilty of threats
A 13-year-old male youth did not utter threats when he told a school counsellor he had considered carrying out a school shooting, an NWT territorial court judge ruled Monday.
Judge Christine Gagnon found the youth, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, not guilty on three counts of uttering threats. The youth was arrested and charged on March 19 after staff at a Yellowknife school alerted police of a “potential threat” four days earlier.
The case went to trial in June after the student pleaded not guilty. A counsellor at the school, with whom the youth had regular appointments, testified she was “shocked and taken aback,” when a discussion about guns led to the topic of school shootings.
She said she asked the 13-year old if he’d ever considered carrying out a school shooting, to which he replied “yes,” repeating his answer a second time after the question was raised again. When questioned further, both the counsellor and the school’s principal testified the youth identified a number of students he’d thought of targetting.
Peter Harte, the youth's lawyer, maintained during the trial that his client’s comments were never intended as threats, and that he didn’t have the means to carry out a school shooting. He contended the youth answered leading questions coming from adults in a candid and trusting environment.
Following the trial, it was up to Gagnon to decide whether the youth’s comments constituted a threat. On Monday, she ruled they didn't.
In handing down her decision, Gagnon said context was the crux of the case.
The counselling session, she said, began with talks about the youth’s “unhealthy” fascination with guns, but took a turn due to the line of questioning.
Gagnon said the boy didn't express outright that he wanted to commit a school shooting, but rather answered “yes” to whether he thought about it.
The counsellor, Gagnon said, “took the conversation to another level by asking about partaking in a school shooting.”
Due to the context of the comments, Gagnon concluded the youth’s words weren’t intended as threats.
Nevertheless, Gagnon called the counselling session “disturbing,” and said school staff did the right thing in intervening. However, she said any cause for concern should be addressed by mental health professionals, not by way of criminal prosecution.
The judge denied a peace bond sought by the Crown to ensure the youth doesn’t communicate with a number of fellow students named during the trial.
Following the decision, which prompted sighs of relief from the youth’s mother outside the courthouse, Harte said the implications of the ruling “protect us all.”
“If the law doesn’t prohibit you from simply expressing your thoughts, that’s a good thing for everybody,” he said.
Harte agreed police intervention was appropriate, but said police should never had charged his client.
“He’s just a kid who was answering questions in a counselling session about how he felt about some people.”