Police Boards…

    Nov 24, 2015

Toronto Star – Wendy Gillis
Police boards seek explicit power to enforce Ontario’s new carding rules 

Push back, it’s called.  Ontario is trying to ban the practice of carding by police and the police boards of Ontario are resisting.  Ontario Association of Police Services Boards (OAPSB) want roles clarified so that board specific policies are the right of the boards to enforce.  Fred Kaustinen, executive director of OAPSB, says some Ontario police services, including Peel and Toronto, are “basically telling their employers, i.e. their police boards, that operations are none of their business.”  http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/22/police-boards-seek-explicit-power-to-enforce-ontarios-new-carding-rules.html   Related article: Toronto Star – Editorial (Nov. 24, 2015)    Make police chiefs obey board policies  – The Ontario Association of Police Services Boards is right to ask Ontario for explicit authority requiring police chiefs to obey board policies such as carding reform   http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials.html

Globe and Mail – Kathryn Blaze Baum and Matthew McClearn
Prime target: How serial killers prey on indigenous women

Part of a series called the Taken, Baum and McClearn Indigenous women are seven times more likely to die at the hands of serial killers. The victimization happens in or near the city and the killer is a non-Aboriginal man.  In the study, 8 serials killers accounted for 25 such homicides since 1980.  According to the RCMP, in the seventy per cent of the victims in solved homicides, almost all the killers were Aboriginal and the crimes were closely related to domestic violence,  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prime-targets-serial-killers-and-indigenous-women/article27435090/    Globe and Mail – Kathryn Blaze Baum   Serial-killer link shows need for research, aboriginal leaders say  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/serial-killer-link-shows-need-for-research-aboriginal-leaders-say/article27447878/

Globe and Mail – Jim Bronskill, Canadian Press
Ottawa won’t help Air Canada pick up $100-million sky marshal security tab

For those of you who did not know, the practice of armed air marshals on Air Canada flights is alive and well, only rather expensive.  Air Canada wants Ottawa to pay $100 million for the service for the last five years.  Ottawa says no!  Details around the air marshals’ service are a closely guarded secret.  But AC wants to sell the presently free seats or get a tax write to pay the security expenses and losses when already seated passengers must be compensated for specific seat selection by the marshals.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-wont-help-air-canada-pick-up-100-million-sky-marshal-security-tab/article27433108/

Toronto Star – Laurie Monsebraaten
High hopes for federal action to end child poverty – Canada finally has a government ready to tackle child poverty. Activists want to make sure Ottawa gets it right  

The federal government appears ready to tackle the problem of child poverty in Canada.  Prompted most recently by Family Services of Toronto and Campaign 2000 report card on national poverty among children, the advocates and the federal government are hoping that what new measures they add to the pot will not be clawed back by the provinces.  The Liberal election promises included action on other files which could help considerably such as affordable housing and EI rules and payouts.  http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/11/24/high-hopes-for-federal-action-to-end-child-poverty.html   Campaign 2000 web site:  http://www.campaign2000.ca/    Report: Let’s do this!  (20 page downloadable pdf) http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/NationalReportCardEn2015.pdf

Toronto Star – Jacques Gallant
Baffling decision on criminal compensation leads to new hearing 

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB) decides whether a criminal incident in the work place deserves additional compensation.  Here’s a case in which TTC bus driver Aston Reid claimed that a knife wielding rider made his psychological conditions worse and ultimately caused a long term disability.  The board ruled that the threatening incident did contribute to the psychological problems but refused compensation.  The case is before a three judge appeal panel who are trying to sort out the issues.  http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/11/23/baffling-decision-on-criminal-compensation-leads-to-new-hearing.html

 Toronto Star – Marina Jimenez
Syrian refugees in the U.K.: A tale of two families – Britain has accepted very few refugees from Syria. Meet one family that won the lottery — but paid an intolerable price. 

The article highlights the problem with extended periods of waiting while refugees stew in their temporary camps, especially on foreign territory.    Hassan Ayo and his family were among the 250 refugees accepted by the UK but a week after they were declared eligible UNHCR refugees Ayo’s 14 year old daughter died from a refusal by a hospital in Ankara, Turkey to provide medical treatment.   http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/24/syrian-refugees-in-the-uk-a-tale-of-two-families.html

Crime Prevention Ottawa
Preventing the Transition from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime

David P. Farrington of Cambridge University offers a UK version of the school-to-prison pipeline that we hear so much about from the US in these days of sentencing reform.  The article is in Power Point format (46 pages) and looks at aged related likely activities and then at possible explanations or risk factors in later offending by youth with current and possible interventions methods.  The report concludes with a survey of treatment and recommendations.  http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Events/Speaker%20Series/PS-SP-%231672733-v2-Learning_Event_CPO-PS_-_Dr__Farrington_s_Presentation%281%29.pdf