Sept 25, 2014
Saanich News (BC) – Daniel Palmer
Youth mental health app ‘first of its kind in Canada’
Faced with the reality that many youth with mental health issues will use on-line mediums to treat themselves, Island Health’s Drew Barnes has helped develop and launch an app that uses video game technology to allow a patient to re-connect with good treatment practices and help. The app also provides symptom tracking over time and has been welcomed enthusiastically as a ‘companion’ by young people. http://www.saanichnews.com/news/276622691.html
Thompson Reuters Foundation
Refugees and displacement
World wide there are an estimated 16.7 million convention refugees but that number does not include a further 33.3 million internally displaced in their own country by war or violence or a further 22 million displaced by natural disaster. The article offers details on the shifting scene as hotspots change and the UN and its agencies try to cope. http://www.trust.org/spotlight/Refugees-and-displacement/?tab=briefing
Globe and Mail – Jim Bronskill, Canadian Press
Red Cross probe finds cramped conditions for immigration detainees
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Canadian Red Cross is charged with monitoring the conditions of detention for those held by the CBSA. Sincere there are no facilities specifically for detainees, they are often held in municipal or provincial jails or even police barracks. This confidential report has 28 recommendations after Red Cross visits to 67 locations across Canada. Using triple bunked cells in some cases, the immigrants are often mixed with hardened criminals. There were almost 4,000 detainees in 2013, including 291 children. Press got the report through access to information from the CBSA. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/red-cross-probe-finds-cramped-conditions-for-immigration-detainees/article20783417
Star Phoenix (SK) – Hannah Spray
Sask. judges don’t follow Supreme Court’s direction on aboriginals, says retired B.C. judge
There are two SCC decisions which were directed as norms for sentencing for Aboriginal offenders – Gladue and Ipeelee. Speaking at a legal aid seminar in Saskatchewan, retired Judge Cunliff Barnett from BC thinks the two decisions may be ignored frequently and he cites sentences currently under review to illustrate. http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Sask+judges+follow+Supreme+Court+direction+aboriginals+says+retired+judge/10227119/story.html Related article: Law Times – Yamri Taddese Ontario group to examine aboriginal justice issues http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/2290/ontario-group-to-examine-aboriginal-justice-issues.html?utm_source=responsys&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CLNewswire_20140922
Canadian Lawyer – Jennifer Nees
Is ‘express entry’ the solution to Canada’s immigration issues?
In January 2015, Canada will roll out what is called an “express entry” immigration package for those immigrants who meet economic criteria. However, the legal community has very little info about how the express entry will work practically. The program seems predicated on matching skill sets to specific employment and may be response to the current temporary foreign worker flap. http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/5288/Is-express-entry-the-solution-to-Canadas-immigration-issues.html?utm_source=responsys&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CLNewswire_20140922
The Northern Echo (OH) – Lucy Richardson
Apologetic offenders grilled by victims to tackle crime
A RJ approach initiated by Cleveland police in April 2013 has an impressive numbers and results to its credit already: over 700 youth cases and 140 adult cases. Vi and Ray Donovan whose son was murdered by three teenage boys in 2001 were part of the program. Said the father about one of the offenders: “Restorative justice restores the family and it restores the community. I want him to live the life that Chris never had.” http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/teesvalley/middlesbrough/11482996.Apologetic_offenders_grilled_by_victims_to_tackle_crime
Globe and Mail – Sean Fine
Senate to revisit parole bill, but only some errors removed
The senate is about to reject the wrong the version of the Fairness to Victims Bill, to replace the bill with the correct version and to debate the new version as if it were a first encounter. Bill C-479 is a private member’s bill that raised the constitutional issue of retroactive punishment but has other mistakes as well since private members’ bills are not subject to close scrutiny. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/senate-to-revisit-parole-bill-but-only-some-errors-removed/article20781235
Ottawa Citizen – Robert Bostelaar
Judge frees deaf man after ‘outrageous’ delays in finding interpreter
A deaf and mentally disabled man arrested for threatening with a knife was given a conditional discharge with six months probation by a judge who was outraged over delays to provide a Quebec sign language translator for the man. Given the man’s health problems, defence lawyer Michel Bisson argued that the defendant “was kept in the dark. He was deprived of his right to be present and be informed and be part of this process.” http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/judge-frees-deaf-man-after-outrageous-delays-in-finding-interpreter
CTV News
American describes life in North Korean prison: ‘it’s isolation’
Twenty-four year old American Matthew Miller, given six years of hard labour in a North Korean prison, says prison life is agricultural work eight hours a day, digging in the dirt, and after that it’s isolation. Miller was briefly met by a reporter at a hotel where he had been brought to allow him a phone call home to his family. Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Kerry have both attempted to intervene on behalf of the young man who tore up his visa after crossing into North Korea hoping to get an experience of the human rights in prison life. http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/american-describes-life-in-north-korean-prison-it-s-isolation-1.2023643