Latest news with #GullLake
CTV News
08-07-2025
- CTV News
Alberta company fined $350K in worker's death
Judges bench at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on Friday, June 28, 2019. A judge has granted Alberta's government its request to question the former head of the provincial health authority about confidential emails she's accused of keeping and sharing without permission. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson A land development company has been fined $350,000 in connection with a worker's death in November 2022. According to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), the worker was caught between a boom and a grounded bucket while doing maintenance work on an excavator at a site near Gull Lake. Delta Land Co. Inc. pleaded guilty to one count under OHS code. The Crown withdrew six other counts. The $350,000 fine includes a 20 per cent victim fine surcharge. Gull Lake is about 140 kilometres south of Edmonton.
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
‘Pretty lady': Sask. MLA testifies about text messages with alleged human trafficking victim
WATCH: A Saskatchewan Party MLA took the stand in a human trafficking trial Tuesday, alleging she contacted him about her employment conditions and work status. As the trial of two men accused of human trafficking continued Tuesday, Saskatchewan MLA Doug Steele took the stand. The Sask. Party official detailed how he met the alleged victim at the Empire Diner in Gull Lake. 'She was the waitress those mornings that we stopped for breakfast,' Steele said. This restaurant is one of the three which the complainant — whose name is protected under a publication ban — says she was hired to work at before allegedly having her personal documents and wages stolen by her employers. She also testified to experiencing abuse and blackmail by the accused, Mohammad Masum and Sohel Haider. Masum is facing additional charges of sexual assault. Steele told the court that he gave the woman his business card during one of his visits to the diner. Steele testified he then got a phone call from the woman asking for information about employment standards and immigration permits. 'She sounded a bit distraught, it was very hard to understand her given the language [barrier]...It was concerns on the terms of how to be compensated via salary...[work] Permit concerns and not feeling very comfortable at her workplace,' Steele said. Steel told the court that he spoke with colleagues within the legislature to learn more about the logistics of immigration work permits. He said they continued to have occasional correspondence about her employment situation and concerns. 'There seemed to be more concern of unhappiness at the place of employment,' said Steele. 'At the time, I was not aware of the extraordinary circumstances ... Some [of her] concerns were being afraid, wondering if there was going to be an opportunity to leave there, and also possibly having to leave Canada,' Steele said. The MLA testified that he communicated with then-MLA for Kelvington-Wadena Hugh Nerlien about the complainant's situation. Nerlien's constituency is adjacent to Tisdale, where the woman worked in one of the restaurants at the time. Steele testified that he and Nerlien sought out community resources which might meet the complainant's needs. Eventually, Steele arranged for his assistant to pick up the complainant from a house in Elrose, and drive her to a women's shelter in Swift Current. After the woman was transported to the shelter, the MLA testified to providing a statement to police. When asked why he didn't contact law enforcement prior to relocating the woman, if he felt the woman was in danger, the Cypress Hills MLA said he didn't know the extent of the situation. 'At the time, not knowing the details, that it was not my place to contact them between Hugh and we hoped [the contact at the women's shelter] could gather the details and give that signal or do that,' Steele said. While Steele testified to deleting his messages with the complainant, he did confirm that there was a message in which he complimented the woman's physical appearance. 'I told her not to worry and called her pretty lady ... just a compliment,' Steele said. The MLA added that the complainant responded by calling him a 'handsome gentleman.' Steele told court he spoke with plain-clothed Regina police officers with Nerlien, where they gave statements about the situation. The defence then began cross examination. Steele was asked about his correspondence with the complainant. The MLA testified that there was no formal record of his contact with the alleged victim. Steele testified that he did not ask the woman to sign the typical consent form required when beginning a formal case due to the language barrier, but he continued to correspond with the woman via phone calls and text messages and discuss the topic with other officials, including Nerlien. The defence additionally pressed Steele regarding alleged Facebook correspondence between the MLA and the woman. Steele told the court that he did not recall communicating with the complainant through Facebook. After being presented with evidence displaying a Facebook Messenger communication between the two, Steele agreed that he and the woman were Facebook friends. The trial resumes Thursday in Rosetown.
CTV News
22-05-2025
- CTV News
Sask. human trafficking trial hears conflicting testimony from key witnesses
A human trafficking trial connected to three small-town Saskatchewan restaurants heard contradictory testimony from two key witnesses on Wednesday. The trial of Mahammad Masum and Sohel Haider continued through its third week Wednesday with cross-examination of Hugh Nerlien, a former Saskatchewan Party MLA who court heard was enlisted by his colleague Doug Steele to pass a clandestine note with a safe contact number to a woman, whose name is protected under a publication ban, that police say was forced to work long hours for little pay and was sexually assaulted by Masum. The court heard Steele, Sask. Party MLA for Cypress Hills, met the woman at Empire Diner in Gull Lake and grew concerned she may be in an exploitative employment situation. Nerlien, who served as MLA for Kelvington-Wadena from 2016 to 2024, testified he and Steele were concerned for her welfare and regularly spoke about what whether to intervene and how. When the woman was suddenly moved from Gull Lake to Tisdale to work at Little Town Restaurant, Nerlien said he went for lunch and passed her a note with the number of a nearby settlement agent he believed could help. When the trial began in September, the woman testified Masum made unwelcome sexual advances shortly after she arrived in Tisdale. She told court he grabbed her from behind in the walk-in freezer and kissed her neck. Later, she says he drove her to a secluded area, removed her pants and raped her. After the woman had left her job at Bob's Diner in Elrose to what witnesses described as a 'safe place,' Nerlien said she contacted him for help updating her resume – and that they communicated regularly over text and email for that purpose. Court heard Nerlien told police the woman changed her number or phone provider, and as a result, he lost their messages and was unable to provide them with RCMP investigators. In cross-examination, Nerlien said he couldn't remember why he lost the message he exchanged with the complainant – whether it was because she got a new phone, or he did, or both. But in an unexpected revelation Wednesday as the woman returned for cross-examination, she denied Nerlien provided any help crafting her resume. As her testimony all went through a court-appointed Bengali translator, the judge asked her to clarify whether she contacted Nerlien for resume help at any point – before or after her employment at the three restaurants connected to the case. Again, she said no, moments before the trial adjourned for the day. The defence is expected to continue with its cross-examination of the complainant on Thursday. The move to Canada, struggle to find work When the Bangladeshi woman at the centre of this human trafficking trial returned to the stand for cross-examination Wednesday afternoon, she told court she always dreamed of living in Canada. 'As a child I used to collect maple leafs,' she said, testifying she was enchanted by the idea of seeing snow for the first time. Court heard the woman earned two masters degrees in Bangladesh and formerly worked at a government-run geological research laboratory. The woman described her lifestyle in Bangladesh as 'first class' – she, her husband and her close relatives had good jobs and lived well, she said. 'I wouldn't say we were wealthy, but we didn't have any needs.' She testified she travelled to Toronto on a visitor's visa and stayed to find work at the encouragement of her relatives. Court heard she applied for a number of restaurant jobs in Toronto, including Burger King, with no success, so she started looking farther afield, responding to ads from businesses in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Empire Diner in Gull Lake was the first to call back.
