Bits and Bites > 2nd Child in BC's Lower Mainland attacked by a coyote this week

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Coyote bites 6-year-old child in Burnaby park

The child was taken to the hospital with minor injuries

CBC News · 

Posted: May 14, 2023 5:55 PM PDT | Last Updated: May 14

A 6-year-old child was taken to the hospital with minor injuries after being bitten by a coyote in Burnaby. (Shutterstock)

For the second time in five days, a coyote has attacked a young child in the Lower Mainland.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says a 6-year-old girl was bitten by a coyote in Deer Lake Park in Burnaby around 10:15 a.m. Sunday during the Burnaby Blooms festival.

The service says the coyote stayed in the area following the attack until it was chased off by the child's parents.

The girl was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Both the B.C. Conservation Service and the Burnaby RCMP responded to the incident but were unable to locate the coyote.

The service and the City of Burnaby are now working together on educational signs, public outreach and patrols in the area.

"We cannot stress enough the importance of not feeding dangerous wildlife and will take enforcement action as warranted," said the service.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service and the Burnaby RCMP responded to the attack and patrolled the area,

but the coyote was not found. (B.C. Conservation Officer Service)

The attack follows a separate violent encounter with a coyote at Lions Park in Port Coquitlam on Wednesday when a 2-year-old child was bitten.

The child was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The coyote was killed near the attack site, according to conservation officers.

The service said an examination of the coyote revealed it had consumed "non-natural food sources," adding that people should not feed wildlife.

Coyote expert Sarah Benson-Amram, an assistant professor of forest and conservation sciences at the University of British Columbia, told CBC earlier this week that coyotes become bolder after being fed because they associate humans with a source of food.

As well, she says it's denning season for coyotes, meaning they are more protective of their territory.

Trinity Western University ‘Optimistic’ After Supreme Court Hearing

War on Christianity - Canadian Front

Supreme Court considers accreditation of proposed law school

DAN FERGUSON 

Trinity Western University (TWU), in Langley, British Columbia, said it was “optimistic Canada’s highest court will arrive at a decision that supports the freedom of all faith groups and other minorities in Canada” following two days of legal arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa concerning a proposed faith-based law school at the Langley campus.

The case involved two appeals concerning accreditation of the TWU law school, one involving a decision of the Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) and the other a decision of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO).

At issue is the university community covenant that requires students and staff to abstain from non-heterosexual relationships, something critics say violates the Canadian charter of rights.

It actually requires students to abstain from any sexual relationships outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

Both the B.C. and Ontario bodies refused to recognize the proposed law school.

In BC, the decision was overturned by the lower courts, while in Ontario, the LSO’s refusal to accredit was upheld.

The last time the university went to court over the covenant, it won a 2001 case over its teacher training program when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled there was no evidence to suggest that the religious views of TWU graduates would lessen their competence to practice their profession in Canada’s pluralistic society.

During the two days of arguments that ended on Friday, the high court heard multiple submissions from people on both sides of the law school issue.

Among the detractors were the BC Humanist Association, an atheist group which argued that TWU cannot claim its religious freedom has been infringed as organizations do not have religious rights in Canada, and West Coast LEAF, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, which defended the decision to deny accreditation to TWU’s proposed law school on the basis that it would engage in discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, and sexual orientation.

“As the gatekeeper to the legal profession and the judiciary, and as a public entity whose decisions must comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, law societies cannot condone a law school that will through its admissions practices widen the gap between historically disadvantaged groups and the rest of society,” said a LEAF statement issued before the hearing began.

I would hope that the Supreme Court Justices would have enough wisdom to see that this is vexatious, an act of hostility against all religion and Christianity in particular.

In his opening statement, Trinity Western University (TWU) Counsel Kevin Boonstra framed the matter as a freedom of religion issue.

“The Charter protects the right to establish communities of faith like TWU,” Boonstra said.

“In order for any religious community to exist and thrive, it has to be able to define itself. In the evangelical context, this includes defining religiously appropriate conduct while individuals are part of the community.”

Outside court, TWU president Bob Kuhn said the case was about more than just a law school.

“It is about freedom for all faith communities and other minorities in Canada,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn led the legal team that won the 2001 Supreme Court case concerning the TWU covenant and the BC College of Teachers refusal to recognize their teacher training program.

“As the BC Court of Appeal stated when it decided in favour of the law school, ‘a society that does not admit of and accommodate differences cannot be a free and democratic society’,” Kuhn said.

A statement issued by TWU following the hearing said the university “welcomes any student who is prepared to live and learn according to the values and principles of its community – regardless of race, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or place of origin” and said the covenant was “not so different from a code of ethics or a code of conduct, which most universities have.”

The covenant, TWU said, calls on all who attend and work at TWU to live by “virtues such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, humility, forgiveness, peacemaking, mercy and justice;” it also defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The court’s decision is expected within the next several months.