Nov. 23, 2015
CBC News
Manitoba proclaims first-of-its-kind Restorative Justice Act – Cases handled in community, outside traditional court process
RJ has long been somewhat settled in a niche that requires that the approval and domination of the traditional confrontational legal system. Manitoba now has a Restorative Justice Act that initiates an advisory council to oversee the implementation of the Act over the next five years. The act creates a nine person prosecution unit with funding and a host of other measures to promote RJ. Says Manitoba AG Gord Mackintosh: “This new strategy will set the province on an innovative path to increase the use of restorative justice … by expanding programs and services for victims, offenders and the community.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/restorative-justice-act-manitoba-proclaimed-1.3324095
CBC News – Sheena Goodyear
Paris attacks spark anti-Muslim backlash, but Canadians are fighting back – ‘The terrorists want us to hate one another,’ says National Council of Canadian Muslims spokeswoman
Social media is proving an influence once again as three Canadians of diverse ethnic background set up a commentary in one of Montreal’s busiest underground subway stops to respond to the international effort to terrorize us as well. The effort is focused on the sporadic anti-Muslim backlash popping up in Canada. The report includes a fundraising for rebuilding a damaged mosque in Peterborough, a bold stand by three young men in the subway station and other support to Muslims. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadians-combat-muslim-hate-1.3324282 Related article: CTV News – Up to 900 Syrian refugees a day to land in Toronto, Montreal: document http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/up-to-900-syrian-refugees-a-day-to-land-in-toronto-montreal-document-1.2666663 Related article: CBC News – Provincial support exceeds Canada’s Syrian refugee target: immigration minister http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/john-mccallum-syrian-refugee-conference-1.3328851 Related article: Toronto Star – Tara Deschamps Terrorist’s son uses childhood experiences as an anti-violence advocate http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/22/terrorists-son-uses-childhood-experiences-as-an-anti-violence-advocate.html
Refugees Welcome Here – Amnesty International (AI)
As more details and more stories of terrorism surface throughout the world, many are becoming anxious about the notion of welcoming the Syrian refugees to Canada. The anxiety settles around the security issue and the speed of the proposed welcome for the 25,000. What is often missing from much of these considerations is the immediacy and severity of the suffering for families as they wait for decision and opportunity to escape a frightful existence. Here is a link to a video about one family’s struggle. http://www.amnesty.ca/blog/refugees-welcome-here?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=November_EActivist&utm_content=E-Activist+Nov+19+2015 Related article: Toronto Star – Editorial (Nov. 22, 2015) Decency should trump fear in resettling Syrian refugees http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/11/22/decency-should-trump-fear-in-resettling-syrian-refugees-editorial.html Related article: Globe and Mail – Jane Taber Muslim MPs express faith in Canadian tolerance amid anti-Islamic sentiment http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/muslim-mps-express-faith-in-canadian-tolerance-amid-anti-islamic-sentiment/article27424423/ Related article: CBC News – From Kosovo to St. John’s: a refugee shares her story http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/kosovo-refugee-shares-her-story-1.3326142 Facebook link for complete article by Elbonita Kozhani: https://www.facebook.com/elbonita.kozhani/posts/10153861871758738
Toronto Star – Jennifer Yang
How Japan is training an entire country to help with dementia – Japan can’t change dementia. So Japan is changing Japan.
The Star continues its series of articles on coping with the growing numbers falling victim to dementia and the means available to confront the myriads of problems with it. Aeon is Japan’s largest grocery chain and is training its employees on how to deal with customers displaying signs of dementia, one of many such responses. Says Mayumi Hayashi, a research fellow with the Institute of Gerontology at King’s College London: “The government doesn’t focus on evaluation or evidence, so they encourage experimentation and let communities do whatever they think is good.” http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/22/how-japan-is-training-an-entire-country-to-help-with-dementia.html Related article: Toronto Star – Jennifer Yang, Kate Allen and Amy Dempsey The growing impact of dementia — are we ready? http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/21/the-growing-impact-of-dementia-are-we-ready.html
CBC Radio – Ideas with Paul Kennedy
The Struggle Over Jihad
This is a 54 minute audio which is well researched by author and commentator Naheed Mustafa, first presented on CBC Ideas. The discussions include exchanges with a number of people both activists and scholars in the Muslim faith. Mustafa, with his participants, tries to explain the origins, and sometimes the perversions of the notion of jihad. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-struggle-over-jihad-1.3228757
Globe and Mail – Colin Perkel
The ‘intimacy discount:’ Sentences lighter for men who kill female partners
A new study suggests that men who kill their partners get a lighter sentence than strangers who kill. The rationale appears to be that the intimate partner may be seen as “property” or that victim provocation plays a part in the process. Study author Myrna Dawson of the Sociology Department at the University of Guelph says that men who kill partners are convicted at approximately three times the rate of those who kill women generally. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-intimacy-discount-sentences-lighter-for-men-who-kill-female-partners/article27432919/