Nov 23 - Major Crime Unit to investigate Victoria teen's death at party

Good morning !

We’ve received lots of emails over the last few days about recent weather terminology. Jamie finds the terms “helpful and more precise”, while Lorin says words like bomb cyclone “just create anxiety and stress.”
As of noon, yesterday, here were the poll results to Friday’s poll question: Do you have concerns about dramatic-sounding meteorological terms such as 'bomb cyclone'?

— Mark

Today’s approx. read time: 5 minutes

🌡️ Weather Forecast

Today: 🌦️ 9 / 6  

Tomorrow: 🌦️ 7 / 6

Monday: 🌦️ 9 / 5

NEWS

Major Crimes Unit to investigate Victoria teen’s 2021 death

Samantha Sims-Somerville’s mother says she knew all along her daughter’s death wasn’t an accident. Sims-Somerville was 18 when she died of a lethal combination of alcohol and GHB—known as the date-rape drug—after attending a party on Yates. She and her friend were both rushed to the hospital after ingesting the substance, with her friend barely surviving.

BC Coroners Service (BCCS) ruled Sims-Somerville’s death an accidental overdose. When VicPD closed the investigation in 2022 without laying charges, Tracy Sims fought to have the case reopened. She said she believed the two young women were recruited by a mutual friend to attend the party with older men they didn’t know, where they were drugged with lethal doses of GHB. ­Several of the men who were there that night are known to police. Sims gathered evidence over the years, including screenshots of text messages suggesting her daughter was drugged at the party.

Because substantial evidence has been discovered, the BCCS can renew an investigation and it reopened Sims-Somerville’s case in March. 

Two weeks ago, the BCCS determined the teen’s death was a homicide. In light of this, VicPD is now calling for the case to be reopened with an independent investigation from the Vancouver Island Integrate Major Crimes unit. The unit confirmed on Thu. it would take on the investigation.

“Out of an abundance of caution, doing the right thing, we think that having someone else look at it independently is the right step,” Victoria Police Chief Del Manak told CHEK News.

Sims previously filed a complaint with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) against VicPD, claiming the initial investigation was inadequate. OPCC is still investigating that complaint.

⚠️ Capital Bulletin

PKOLS closure: The entrance, Churchill Dr., and the surrounding trails will be closed while a site assessment for the new telecom tower takes place. Nov. 25-28. [Details]

Free parking today at downtown parkades.

Traffic disruptions & CCTV deployment downtown, 1-4pm, during Gaza rally outside legislature.

Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google.

NEWS

Destination Greater Victoria ahead of pace in booking citywide conferences for next year

There’s still a month to go in 2024 and Greater Victoria’s tourism sector already appears to be well-positioned for the new year with 28 citywide conferences already booked for 2025.

“We're getting close to having a large citywide conference pretty much every week that we could,” Paul Nursey, president & CEO of Destination Greater Victoria (DGV), tells Capital Daily.

“So, there's a couple more spots available, but we're getting close to capacity.”

Citywide conferences are those requiring more than one hotel for out-of-towners who statistically spend four times more than leisure travellers, dropping on average $400 a day, according to DGV statistics. 

Securing conferences for the CRD has become a challenge, due mainly to the region’s limited hotel and conference space. A 2020 report concluded that 75% of available conferences aren’t feasible for this area because of facility size limitations—something Nursey expressed earlier this month with the release of the DGV’s 10-year master plan.

Nursery says it’s no secret the downtown economy has struggled, with many public-sector employees working from home and cruise ships arriving later in the day.

“We need to be honest that there are certain elements of our economy and our downtown economy that are struggling,” he says. 

Read Mark Brennae’s full story here. 

NEWS

Latest outages & road issues highlight long-term infrastructure issues for Westshore

The aftermath of Tuesday night’s bomb cyclone—a fast-moving storm with winds clocked at 90km/h—delivered downed hydro lines and reduced a stretch of Hwy 14 to alternating traffic.

Tuesday saw outages for some 55K locals in the Westshore, including the entirety of the T'Sou-ke First Nation. Travel between Sooke and Victoria was limited and took as long as two hours along slow-moving arteries.  

These problems have, like the flooding last month, spotlighted the fast-growing region’s vulnerability to extreme weather events and other emergencies.

Sooke is becoming one of the South Island areas most affected by storms, due to being further out into the Westshore's rural end while growing rapidly like the more urban areas such as Langford and Colwood. Even in good weather, the region has recently been struggling with traffic bottlenecks (although recent construction completion has helped).

Sooke has scaled up to 14K people and is expected to add thousands more over the next decade. The District’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP) suggests a future bypass via Pascoe could avoid sending Hwy. 14-bound traffic through Sooke's town centre; recently, Sooke has been pursuing an extension of Throup to take that pressure off of 14, but wants more provincial support. 

A 2019 transportation survey also identified that better connectivity between secondary roads would reduce reliance on Hwy 14.

Read more on these infrastructure challenges, and what Sooke plans to do about them, in The Westshore. 

SPONSORED BY VICTORIA FOUNDATION

Podcast: Enrich your life, become a volunteer

Lisa Mort-Putland from Volunteer Victoria has a few things to say about how to enrich your life.

From learning essential skills to building relationships, volunteering has a pivotal role to play in our region. It strengthens our vital services while boosting the well-being of volunteers, themselves.  

This month, the Vital Victoria Podcast delves into Lisa's personal story and how to make an impact through volunteering!

⭐️ Capital Picks

👖 Winter clothing needed: QomQem Indigenous health & harm reduction services needs jackets, pants, and hoodies. 

🧑‍🎄 Santa Claus Parade is a week from today.

🎄 Tree Light Up & Holiday Show tonight at Uptown. [6pm-9pm]

🌷 Is that a flower? Not quite: An amethyst deceiver mushroom seen near Victoria. [Facebook photo]

🗞️ In Other News

7-year-old seriously injured by alleged SUV hit-and-run at Tillicum Mall
Over the lunch hour an SUV leaving the Burnside W side of the mall parking lot struck the child and seriously injured their leg, Saanich Police said. The female driver then took off and was seen eastbound on Burnside, per police. She was arrested shortly afterward and the SUV was impounded. [Saanich Police]

‘Vicious’ Langford dog attack leaves poodle & owner with bite wounds
Witnesses said the black dog (breed undetermined) got away from its handler and ran across the street to attack. The two handlers tried for minutes to separate the dogs, eventually getting help from passersby. The CRD is currently investigating the incident. [Goldstream Gazette]
Three weeks ago, a Sidney senior was attacked by two dogs, and back in the spring, there was a dog-on-dog donnybrook in Topaz Park.

LoJo merchant launches social media campaign to encourage shopping locally
The Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) says the idea came from Lili Butterfield, owner of Dancing Lily and LADS Clothing on Johnson; other downtown merchants have now joined in. It encourages people to hometown shop, dovetailing with free parking offered today at downtown city-owned and Robbins’ parkades as well as the Bay Centre. [DVBA]

🗓️ Things to do

😜Raffi: North America’s preeminent family entertainer, returns to the stage in 2023 with a series of #belugagrads concerts. Royal Theatre. Today & tomorrow. 2pm. [Info]

🎄The Storybook Nutcracker: Ballet Étoile. After receiving an unusual Christmas gift, Clara is swept away on a magical adventure to the Kingdom of the Sweets. Charlie White Theatre. Today & tomorrow. 2pm & 6pm. [Info] 

🎭 A Spoon Full of Sugar: See the durational performance that resists normative spoon-fed ideas and perceptions of gender. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Today. 10am-5pm. [Info]

🎻 Victoria Symphony presents: Kluxen-Liszt & Lieder. Poetry, mystical texts, and an angelic altarpiece tie together this program of divine inspiration. The Farquhar at UVic. Tomorrow. 2:30pm. [Info]

🎄NOL: Night of Lights at Hillside Shopping Centre. When you purchase a $5 ticket you’ll experience an evening of shopping, entertainment, appetizers, and the chance to win fabulous door prizes including a $1K shopping spree. Hillside. Tomorrow. 6-9:30 pm. [Info]

👀 In Case You Missed It

Friday’s headlines: VicPD warns of layoffs if 10% budget hike not approved; Hey, it’s Christmas: fight breaks out at Saanich shopping centre; That storm was the bomb; And more. [Nov. 22]

Saanich’s Tod Creek Watershed has some water problems, says pollution expert. [Capital Daily]

Where to hold that office Christmas party. [Tasting Victoria] 

HarbourCats annual Christmas open house. [Nov. 29 & 30]

Gingerbread Showcase just started at Hotel Grand Pacific.

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