July 20, 2016
CBC News – Michael Tutton
Canada’s shortage of non-white judges creates ‘an obvious gap’
Though already previously remarked, the racial and ethnic make-up of Canada’s judiciary is almost totally white. Naiomi Metallic, a Mi’kmaq woman who is the chair of Aboriginal law and policy at Dalhousie University, notes that a recent article in Public Options magazine identifies only 1% as Aboriginal and less than 3% minority among Canada’s 2,160 judges, “a judiciary of whiteness.” Many critics see the current shortage of judges across Canada as an opportune moment to correct the disproportion. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/canada-shortage-of-non-white-judges-creates-an-obvious-gap-1.3685026 Related article: Policy Options – Andrew Griffiths Diversity among Federal and Provincial Judges http://policyoptions.irpp.org/2016/05/04/diversity-among-federal-provincial-judges/
CBC News – Kathleen Harris
Howard Sapers urges legal limits on prison segregation – In-cell suicides spark renewed calls to protect vulnerable inmates
Two more suicides in Canada’s federal prisons have prompted the Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers to urge the establishment of legal limits on the use of segregation or solitary confinement. The two new deaths – Christopher Roy in Matsqui Institution in BC and Terry Baker in Grand Valley Institution in Ontario – remind advocates that there were 104 recommendations by an inquest after the death of Ashley Smith but that most were never followed. Conceding some minor changes, Sapers says: “… but the improvements have not led to a decrease in the number of placements in segregation, nor have they increased the safety of placing vulnerable people into segregation.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/prison-solitary-confinement-sapers-1.3685894
CBC News – Connie Walker
MMIW national inquiry to focus on violence prevention not police investigations – Draft copy of terms of reference directs commissioners not to interfere with ongoing criminal probes
So far, the guidelines for the Murdered and missing Women’s inquiry are only in draft form, but according to the draft, says CBC News, the inquiry will focus on prevention and the people directly affected and not the investigative. Still no date for the start of the inquiry which will travel Canada trying to identify the causes for the disproportionate violence among Indigenous women. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mmiw-inquiry-violence-prevention-1.3686671
Toronto Star – Wendy Gillis
Public weighs in on sweeping changes planned for Toronto police force
A month ago, the Toronto Police Commission introduced a sweeping plan – called The Way Forward – for policing in Toronto. Now the board is attempting to get feedback from the public. The report calls for reducing the number of police officers and closing some the current 17 divisions. The report also calls for the end of TAVIS, a special unit responsible for most of the carding practices in Toronto. The public was represented by a few dozen attendees. https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/07/19/public-weighs-in-on-sweeping-changes-planned-for-toronto-police-force.html
Toronto Star – Editorial (July 19, 2016)
Don’t hold immigration detainees in provincial prisons
About 50 people are currently held in provincial jails for immigration purposes and they are on a week old hunger strike to protest the indefinite imprisonment. The 50 are between the Toronto East Detention Center and the Central East Detention Center near Lindsay. U of T Human Rights Program says the detention violates human rights law, even though approximately one third of the over 10,000 detained in 2013-14 were subject to this indefinite detention where three died this year. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/07/19/dont-hold-immigration-detainees-in-provincial-prisons-editorial.html
Globe and Mail – Patrick White
Inmate was justified in stabbing other prisoner, Ontario judge says
In a most unusual ruling, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan has cleared an inmate in the Toronto East Detention Center for defending himself in the maximum security jail when conditions proved insecure and almost resulted in a prison riot. The judge said that Michael Short was not to blame for using a weapon to defend himself: “The system put him in this situation, and the system cannot blame him for resorting to his own means of defence.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/inmate-was-justified-in-stabbing-other-prisoner-ontario-judge-says/article31003398/