March 9, 2016
Toronto Star – Canadian Press
End use of solitary for mentally ill inmates, prison watchdog urges
In an annual report to the government, the Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers note some improvement but is calling for three changes in the way the segregation or solitary happens in Canadian prisons: a ceiling of 30 days maximum in solitary, no solitary for the mentally ill or those who would harm themselves, and judicial overview for anyone in solitary more than the 30 days. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/03/10/end-use-of-solitary-for-mentally-ill-prison-watchdog-urges.html Press Release: Office of the Correctional Investigator: Correctional Investigator Reflects on Key Challenges in his latest Annual Report to Parliament http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/comm/press/press20160310-eng.aspx Full Report for 2014-2015 (A 79 page downloadable PDF with a summary from Sapers pp 6-9, and series of 18 recommendations on pp 61-62) http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/rpt/pdf/annrpt/annrpt20142015-eng.pdf Web site of the Office of the Correctional Investigator: http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/index-eng.aspx Related article: Office of the Correctional Investigator: Administrative Segregation in Federal Corrections 10 Year Trends (May 2015) http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/rpt/oth-aut/oth-aut20150528-eng.aspx
Globe and Mail – Zosia Bielski
‘The most viscerally hated group on earth’: Documentary explores how intervention can stop pedophiles
I, Pedophile, is a new documentary seeking to underline the desperateness of the pedophile and the scientific approach to trying to risk manage the one in a hundred genuine pedophiles. The preventative therapies now following in the UK are showing considerable hope that those who so afflicted can be helped to control their problem. The article examines both German and British approaches to intervention. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/the-most-viscerally-hated-group-on-earth-documentary-explores-how-intervention-can-stop-pedophiles/article29072878/
Globe and Mail – Michelle Zilio
Canada on track to welcome more than 300,000 immigrants in 2016
Having met the challenges in the first 25,000 refuges, the government is preparing to welcome 300,000 more in 2016. The target total for new Canadians in 2015 was 279,200. The increase is the new target is reached will be the highest number of new Canadians in a one year period since 1913. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-seeks-to-bring-more-than-300000-newcomers-this-year/article29069851/
CBC News – Solomon Israel
Basic income: New life for an old idea – A combination of economic uncertainty and political possibility is giving new life to an old policy idea
The federal liberals are pushing for a new look at how to deliver social programs around basic income. Ontario already has a pilot study on the issue and the mayors of both Calgary and Edmonton as well as the Liberal Party of Manitoba are looking seriously at a guaranteed basic income as an alternative to current setups in the efforts at eliminating poverty. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/basic-income-interest-1.3479079
Toronto Star – Desmond Cole
Stop the indefinite detention of migrants in Canada – Another migrant has died in the custody of the Canadian Border Services Agency. Something needs to change
Even at the death of a migrant in indefinite detention, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has refused to name the inmate or to offer any further information about the death. The inmate was in the Toronto East Detention, a maximum security facility, and the death becomes the pre-occupation of provincial authorities. The most common reason for indefinite detention is the lack of verifiable identity and a death while in custody translate into a death in secrecy. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/03/10/stop-the-indefinite-detention-of-migrants-in-canada-cole.html
Toronto Star – Azeezah Kenji
The disturbing movement against Syrian refugees in Canada – We miss seeing some disquieting trends, blinded by the glare of our own sunny
Kenji remarks on vandalism and anti-Muslim petitions in numerous events across Canada but focus mainly on a group called Pegida UK who have invited Paul Weston to Toronto. Pegida is a violent right wing European group in origin but one with several branches here in Canada. The focus of the group is to stop what it calls the Islamization of the west. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/03/10/the-disturbing-movement-against-syrian-refugees-in-canada.html
Globe and Mail – Colin Perkel
Canadian names reportedly found in trove of Islamic State ID files
The report, given to the UK press, derives from Daesh documents recently seized on a memory stick and listing the names of foreign volunteers for IS. Among the some 22,000 files, the Guardian says that there were six Canadians and that the list spread over some 51 countries, including Germany, the UK, France and others. The documents were first revealed by German media and newspapers. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-names-reportedly-found-in-trove-of-islamic-state-id-files/article29134829/ Related article: The Guardian (UK) – Ewen MacAskill, Shiv Malik and Philip Oltermann in Berlin Intelligence agents study cache of leaked Isis documents http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/10/intelligence-agents-scour-cache-isis-documents