Bradner Residents Concerned

By Heather Lemieux, Editor

Bradner BC - Summary of the August 18th, 2015 Meeting with representatives of the Abbotsford Police Force, and Corrections BC

About 25 neighbours who live near the home where Conway resides attended this meeting. 

Dave Schmirler, a Deputy Chief of Operations at the APD, Norm Ellis from the Corrections Branch of the BC Ministry of Justice and Irene Kutzner, Norm's Manager at Corrections BC also attended. 

Schmirler started the discussion and informed everyone of the APD role in this process. Their role is to protect ie. ensure the safety of everyone, including the resident at [redacted address], James Conway. If there is the slightest concern that Conway is out of the home, residents should call 911. 

He said it was a judge's decision to release Conway into this style of housing and Corrections had a role in approving this location for Conway. Both the corrections person and the APD representative felt they had made a mistake by not informing residents sooner, and apologized for that. The site was approved because it is suitable for electronic monitoring. (More about monitoring below) 

The organization now responsible for housing and rehab'ing Conway is WJS Canada. The on-site staff are WJS's employees. 

There are two detainees in the residence, and the second person is considered a low risk to the public. The APD representative and Corrections people could say little else about this person, except to say that they saw no reason to issue a public warning for him as they did for Conway. 

Neither man can leave the home if not in the presence of a WJS caregiver and Conway can only leave the home for scheduled visits to Corrections or counselling. The second person can be outside if accompanied by a caregiver. 

Norm Ellis then described the electronic monitoring in detail: 

• Conway wears an electronic bracelet that signals a box within the home connected to a land line and not a cell phone network. Cell phone service is very poor in this area. 
• The bracelet signals the "box" every minute, and if Conway moves out of range, the signal will be lost and local authorities are automatically called by the system. 
• Out of range is only 4 - 6 feet outside the home. 
• If the bracelet is cut or somehow disconnected that would trigger an alarm to be sent. 

Many other points were raised by community members: 

• Police response time was questioned, and the APD rep. said 20 minutes (approx.) from the main City police office, and less if a car is in the area or nearer to this location. This was quite troubling as a lot can happen in 20 minutes. 
• Zoning. Is a facility like this allowed in the Agriculture Land Reserve? This has to be pursued with the City of Abbotsford and the Agriculture Land Commission.
• The location is right beside the Kinder Morgan pipeline and Conway is also an arsonist. Seems like an inappropriate location. Kinder Morgan should be informed and get involved. 
• It was suggested that pressure should be applied to local politicians to help remove this fellow, ie. our Mayor & Council, and MLA. A second protest, next at City Hall will be organized, probably at a council meeting. Residents should be aggressively contacting our local politicians about this.
• The APD rep. made several suggestions of what we could do, such as peaceful protests, more signs, pressuring politicians to act, etc. He also pointed out that some forms of slander and of course vandalism or vigilante'ism are acts that the police cannot condone. 

As a general observation, the crowd was controlled, but expressed anger that Conway was moved to this location. Anger was especially directed towards the Corrections people who had a role in approving this site. The message was strongly sent that no one was happy about this and this will not be a "one and done protest". Bradner people will not let this go. They will fight this issue until Conway is out of here...... 

A Summary of Residents Concerns: 

• James Conway is a pedophile, a serial sex offender 
• There are several families with small children in the neighbourhood, 2 pre-schoolers across the street. 
• It is inappropriate for him to live in this neighbourhood 
• In this neighbourhood children still walk to the corner, past his home, to catch the school bus. This can no longer happen now. 
• There are two stables nearby and young girls ride thru our neighbourhood on horse back 
• Both hydro and phone service are somewhat unreliable here. Cell phone service is poor. 
• This is a rural area. Police response time is 20 minutes. A lot can happen in 20 minutes. 
• Residents were not consulted and had no input into the placement of Conway into our neighbourhood 
• Conway is also an arsonist, and he is living along the Kinder Morgan pipeline route, 50 ft. away. 

For updates visit the Protect Our Children Facebook page.