May 17, 2015
Globe and Mail – François Crépeau and Idil Atak
Mobility will stop the migrant tragedies, not the military
The authors are experts in questions around international migration, both professors at McGill and working with the UN and migrant groups. They identify the availability of low paying subsistence jobs as an attraction to the Global North and the prompt for the risk taking and suggest that the expensive military and/or border security will never be able to stop the movement. Their solution is to embrace the mobility and organize around the likelihood that the mobility control by widespread international co-operation and participation, in line with the Vietnamese boat people response, will go further in solving the current tragedies. They conclude: “There is an urgent need for such migration opportunities to be set in a shared human rights framework that would legitimize mobility policies and practices, acknowledge the importance of the protection of individual rights for all, and facilitate access to justice for migrants.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/mobility-will-stop-the-migrant-tragedies-not-the-military/article24415311/ Related article: MclatchyDC Franco Ordoñez How can feds end family detention, when more migrants are on their way? http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/14/266698/how-can-feds-end-family-detention.html#storylink=cpy
Interacksyon (Philippines) – Tricia Aquino
UN body offers recommendations for inclusive growth as rich-poor gap widens
On Thursday, May 14, the UN launched a report called Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2015 across 30 areas in the region, including Manila. The report says that the rates of income growth for the top 20% is higher than for the bottom 20% for the last decade and that, significantly, the labour market is offering jobs that do not meet adequate standards or income. Further, agricultural production, the largest source of employment, has been shrinking and delivering poor yield. The National Economic and Development Authority’s Philippine Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals says that to reverse the economic disparity countries need to go beyond just focusing on ‘inequality of income’ and instead promote ‘equality of opportunities’. http://www.interaksyon.com/article/110574/un-body-offers-recommendations-for-inclusive-growth-as-rich-poor-gap-widens Related article: Buzzflash at TRUTHOUT.com – Mark Karlin CEO-to-Worker Pay Rises to a Ratio of 373-1, AFL-CIO Finds http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/ceo-to-worker-pay-rises-to-a-ratio-of-373-to-one-afl-cio-finds
Edmonton Sun – Clarire Theobald
Prison watchdog Howard Sapers touts rehab
Howard Sapers, the current Correctional Investigator, is under sentence himself: as soon as the feds can find a replacement Sapers will be dismissed. This plea for good sense of rehabilitation over more severe punishment coming out of the Harper government’s tough-on-crime agenda paints a dire picture of budget and program cuts. “The sheer number of marginalized individuals, impoverished people, homeless people, aboriginal Canadians, visible minorities, people with addictions, disabilities and mental illness in our penitentiaries today is overwhelming,” said Sapers. One day, most of them will be our neighbours again. http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/05/14/prison-watchdog-howard-sapers-touts-rehab
CBC News
Volunteer autism registry meant to improve relations with police – Goal of program is to improve safety, communication between police and those with autism
A confrontation between a constable of the Royal Newfound Constabulary and a young man with autism has borne some better results in the intervening year. The Autism Society now conducts training to the police force and has worked the RNC to establish a registry of persons with autism to improve the safety and protection of the individuals with the disease. People with ASD are often unpredictable in behaviour and awareness of the condition improves the chances for the encounter to end better. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/volunteer-autism-registry-meant-to-improve-relations-with-police-1.3064790
MacLean’s – Aaron Wherry
Another omnibus budget bill and a test of Parliament’s will
A seemingly small inclusion in the last omnibus budget bill has opposition parties, critics and the information commission, Susanne Legault, in quite a tizzy. The Conservatives have added a clause exempting the Long Gun Registry from the access to information retroactively to exempt RCMP from wrong doing committed when the files were destroyed before the legislation to end the registry was passed. Says Information Commissioner Legault “The proposed changes in Bill C-59 will deny the right of access of the complainant,” the commissioner ventured in a letter to the Speaker of the House this week, “it will deny the complainant’s recourse in court and it will render null and void any potential liability against the Crown…Bill C-59 sets a perilous precedent against Canadians’ quasi-constitutional right to know.” Legault has already filed the complaint ignored by the government with the federal court. http://www.macleans.ca/politics/another-omnibus-budget-bill-and-a-test-of-parliaments-will/ Legault’s Report to Parliament (A series of documents including the letters to Parliament) : http://www.oic-ci.gc.ca/eng/registre-armes-depaules_long-gun-registry.aspx