IAN HANOMANSING

IAN Hanomansing will be one of four new hosts from November of CBC’s flagship news program The National after Peter Mansbridge finally decided to step down on July 1 after almost 30 years. The other three hosts will be Adrienne Arsenault, Rosemary Barton and Andrew Chang. The National will go live from studios in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto. Arsenault and Hanomansing will host from Toronto, Barton from Ottawa and Chang from Vancouver. Ian told me back in 2000 that he was born in Port of Spain in Trinidad. His parents actually met when they went to university in Canada from Trinidad. They went back to Trinidad for a couple of years. That was when Ian was born and he was only 11 months old when his parents moved back to Canada. He grew up in New Brunswick and lived there until he was 21. He started in broadcasting at a commercial radio station in Nova Scotia in 1979. All through university he worked at various radio stations, including CBC, in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He joined CBC TV in Halifax in 1986. He moved to Vancouver in 1988.

MUMTAZ LADHA

THE RCMP have apologized unreservedly to Mumtaz Ladha of West Vancouver for making improper public statements over the course of their investigation into allegations of human smuggling against her, Canadian Press reported this week. In February 2015, The VOICE had reported: “On November 22, 2013, following a 22-day trial that created news around the globe, Ladha was acquitted of all charges by a BC Supreme Court judge who said the complainant’s evidence ‘was incredible and improbable’. The judge further stated: “The complainant [a young Tanzanian woman] took advantage of Mrs. Ladha’s generosity and then took advantage of an opportunity she saw to remain in this country, showing a callous disregard for her benefactor.” Ladha then sued the RCMP and the Director of Civil Forfeiture. Canadian Press reported that Ladha also settled a lawsuit against B.C.’s civil forfeiture office last year. The civil forfeiture office had filed a “negligent and malicious claim” on the family’s home.