June 6, 2016
Saskatchewan Star Phoenix – Jason Warick
Romanow to lead charge on eradicating homelessness
Roy Romanow, former Premier of Saskatchewan, and now senior policy fellow at the University of Saskatchewan, has accepted to be co-chair of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. The group has a policy of housing first and wants to issue a comprehensive homelessness report in the fall, calling on all sectors of social service providing “upstream care” to work together on a new public policy. http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/romanow-to-lead-charge-on-eradicating-homelessness
National Newswatch – Joan Bryden, Canadian Press
Leading constitutional expert says assisted dying law unconstitutional
The man who wrote the book on Canadian constitutional law, Peter Hogg, thinks that C-14 as it is currently presented, will be challenged and found unconstitutional. As of today, medically assisted dying is legal in Canada following the guidelines laid down by the SCC decision and the guidelines from the medical regulations of each of the individual provinces. Hogg says: “In my opinion, the bill is not consistent with the constitutional parameters set out in the Carter reasons.” http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2016/06/06/leading-constitutional-expert-says-assisted-dying-law-unconstitutional/#.V1U5CPnyuUk Related article: Toronto Star – Joanna Smith, Canadian Press and Joan Bryden, Canadian Press Assisted-dying law needed now to protect doctors, health minister warns https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/06/06/assisted-dying-law-needed-now-to-protect-doctors-health-minister-warns.html Related article: CBC News – Neil Macdonald Let the politicians keep talking, Supreme Court already settled death debate http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/doctor-assisted-death-parliament-1.3611153
Toronto Star – Diana Mehta
B.C. Christian university takes fight over law school to Ontario top court
Trinity Western University is back in the news as the law school attempts to get law society status for its graduates, a fight also happening in BC and Nova Scotia. Trinity Western’s “community covenant” or code of conduct requires consent from all students: “to abstain from gossip, obscene language, prejudice, harassment, lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, drunkenness and sexual intimacy “that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”” https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/06/05/bc-christian-university-takes-fight-over-law-school-to-ontario-top-court.html
Toronto Star – Wendy Gillis
How Ontario’s community safety minister plans to bring policing into the 21st century
Ontario’s Minister of Social Services and Corrections, Yasir Naqvi, is willing to wade into the revision of the Police Services Act that governs how police do their job and interact with the public. The thorniest spot, contextualized in the decisions around the practice of carding, is likely the question of where the police board’s authority stops and the police chief’s power begins, an issue somewhat unclear and clouded in the current version. Naqvi says he is willing to rip out pages of the current provisions if he has to. https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/06/06/proactive-policing-will-build-trust-cut-costs-minister-says.html Related article: Toronto Star – Linda Barnard Toronto mayor, police union head recoil at weekend of violence https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/06/05/mayor-john-tory-toronto-police-recoil-at-weekend-of-violence.html Related article: Toronto Star Sandy Hudson, and Yusra Khogali City must eliminate carding data: Black Lives Matter https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/06/02/city-must-eliminate-carding-data-black-lives-matter.html
Globe and Mail – Joe Friesen
Saskatchewan reviewing use of solitary confinement in jail system
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice says that the province is committed to the recommendations of the inquest on the custodial death of Ashley Smith but has not yet begun the review on the use of solitary confinement. The commentary from Saskatchewan as well as federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale came in the light of an on-going series highlighting inmate deaths and solitary by Friesen. His most recent article was on the death of Richard Wolfe who spent 640 days in solitary. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/saskatchewan-reviewing-use-of-solitary-confinement-in-jail-system/article30282739/ Related article: Globe and Mail Editorial (June 6, 2016) Until Canada acts, abuses like those inflicted on Richard Wolfe will continue http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/just-one-more-story-about-the-torture-that-is-solitary-confinement/article30274525/ Related article: Globe and Mail – Debra Parkes Cruel and unusual punishment: It’s time to end solitary confinement http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/cruel-and-unusual-punishment-its-time-to-end-solitary-confinement/article30283378/
(Ed note: Apologies to Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and our readers for misspelling her name in the last communiqué.)