July 5, 2014
Canadian Press – Steve Rennie
Refugee health-care cuts struck down
A federal court judge has ruled that cuts to health care of refugee claimants are “cruel and unusual.” Justice Anne Mactavish said that the cuts put the health care of refugee claimants at risk. In her judgment she wrote: “The 2012 modifications to the Interim Federal Health Program potentially jeopardize the health, the safety and indeed the very lives, of these innocent and vulnerable children in a manner that shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency.” The feds have promised to appeal the ruling. http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2014/07/04/federal-court-rules-against-ottawas-health-care-cuts-for-refugees/#.U7dHtrGAOWN Related article: Toronto Star – Debra Black Court strikes down Conservatives’ cuts to refugee health-care coverage http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/07/04/court_rules_against_conservative_governments_refugee_health_cuts.html Related article: Globe and Mail: Sean Fine Ottawa’s refugee health-care cuts ‘cruel and unusual,’ court rules http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawas-refugee-health-cuts-cruel-and-unusual-court-rules/article19459837 Related article: Ottawa Citizen – Kate Heartfield Refugee rules are bad policy, legal or not http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/refugee-rules-are-bad-policy-legal-or-not Related article: Toronto Star Editorial Federal Court rightly strikes down Harper’s refugee health-care cuts http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/07/04/federal_court_rightly_strikes_down_harpers_refugee_healthcare_cuts_editorial.html
Globe and Mail – Bob Rae
The Supreme Court’s B.C. land-title decision? It’s more important than you think
Rae retired from politics to take up the Aboriginal cause and thinks that the recent ruling giving Aboriginals title to their land will have far reaching implications. Rae offers the 40 year old Calder decision as part of the context for the present Tsilhqot’in First Nations case. Rae reminds us all of the nation building task now before us and that “the Court said, in paragraph 97 of the decision, that government and businesses worried about an assertion of aboriginal title would be well advised to seek the consent of the First Nations and aboriginal governments before proceeding with development plans.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-supreme-courts-bc-pipeline-decision-its-more-important-than-you-think/article19459783
CTV News – Andrea Janus
Transgender woman files human rights complaints after detention in Canada
Avery Edison, a transgendered woman landed at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and was denied entry on the grounds of over staying her last visit. She was carrying a British passport identifying her as a woman but was sent to the all male Maplehurst Detention Centre and later transferred to the women’s Vanier Centre when a group of friends mounted a protest. She was deported four days into the detention and has filed a complaint with both the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the national Human Rights Commission. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/transgender-woman-files-human-rights-complaints-after-detention-in-canada-1.1899359#ixzz36YJKae2V
Correctional Services of Canada
Aboriginal Offenders Research Results
The report for 2012-2013 offers an offender profile and assessment inside the prisons as well as reports on health care in jail and rehabilitation programs. There is also a summary available in the pdf format. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/005007-3027-eng.shtml Related article: Quick Facts from CSC: (A 2 page downloadable pdf) http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/092/005007-3027-eng.pdf
United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR – Geneva, Switzerland) Released through Thomson Reuters Foundation (US)
UNHCR calls for end to detention of asylum-seekers and refugees
The UNHCR says that asylum seekers are exercising a fundamental human right in which they are displaced by a jurisdiction that refuses or can not protect them and they flee seeking protection elsewhere. A growing number of countries are adopting the practice of detention and denying basic human rights to asylum seekers. A recent report put the number of refugees in the world now at excess of 50 million. http://www.trust.org/item/20140703135817-up7zy Related article: Independent Catholic News (UK) Parliamentarians to hold inquiry into immigration detention http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=25086
Mirfield Reporter (UK)
Princess Anne is audience to justice chiefs
Princess Anne is a patron of Restorative Justice Council in the UK and showed up in Kirklees to hear from the judges and town officials about the purpose and practice of restorative justice. http://www.mirfieldreporter.co.uk/news/local/princess-anne-is-audience-to-justice-chiefs-1-6712206
Law, Crime and Community Safety Council (AUS) –
Guidelines for Restorative Justice Processes in Criminal Cases (2013)
This document – a downloadable five page pdf – is called ‘aspiration guidelines’ by the ministers who approved the document after conceding that there is no readily available definition of RJ. The guidelines are meant for all jurisdictions. http://www.sclj.gov.au/sclj/archive/former_sclj/projects/criminal_law/restorative_justice.html Full Guidelines: http://www.sclj.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/sclj/restorative%20justice%20national%20guidelines.pdf