Aug 14, 2016
National Newswatch – Joanna Smith, Canadian Press
Chronic delays undermine public faith in justice system, Senate report warns
The SCC of Canada’s Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin is on record for the need to diversify the federal bench by first diversify the pool of eligible lower court judges. Now the Senate has begun to suggest that the delay in the appointment of the 44 vacancies on the federal level may well jeopardize the prosecution of the cases now delayed by the inadequate number of appointees. The SCC last month issued a set of guidelines around the consequences of complacency resulting in delays and Senator George Baker, chair of the committee producing this report, says, speaking of those changed and facing delays: “They will not go to jail for what they’re convicted of, simply because we have not made the proper changes in procedures relating to court operations.” http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2016/08/12/chronic-delays-undermine-public-faith-in-justice-system-senate-report-warns-2/#.V63dZfnyuUk Related article: CBC News – Teghan Beaudette Senate committee takes aim at Canadian court delays on Friday – Manitoba sexual assault conviction tossed after court process takes 3 years http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/court-delay-supreme-court-senate-committee-vandermeulen-1.3717310 Related article: Toronto Star: Ben Spurr Charges stayed after lengthy delays in alleged TTC fraud case https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/13/charges-stayed-after-lengthy-delays-in-alleged-ttc-fraud-case.html Related article: Ottawa Citizen – Ian MacLeod – Chief justice hammers government over 45 judicial vacancies — including one at Supreme Court http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/national/chief+justice+hammers+government+over+judicial+vacancies/12119242/story.html Related article: Senate of Canada Delaying Justice is Denying Justice (26 page report from the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee) http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/sen/committee/421/LCJC/Reports/CourtDelaysStudyInterimReport_e.pdf (Cf Appendix A, p. 16 for the four recommendations) Senate News Release: The time to act on court delays is now: Senate committee http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/421/lcjc/press/12aug16-e.htm
Globe and Mail – Stephanie Carvin
Why we don’t have all the answers to fighting terrorism in Canada
Carvin, a former national security analyst and now professor at Carleton, walks through a number of answers to questions prompted again by the lone wolf terrorist in Strathroy. The five questions posed by Carvin and her answers are both empty of panic while forcefully revealing the current status of anti-terrorism in Canada. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-we-dont-have-all-the-answers-to-fighting-terrorism-in-canada/article31395625/ Related article: Globe and Mail Editorial (Aug. 12, 2016) Defusing Canada’s ticking terrorist time bombs http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/defusing-canadas-ticking-terrorist-time-bombs/article31387653/ Related article: CTV News – Josh Dehaas Aaron Driver’s death reignites debate over peace bonds http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/aaron-driver-s-death-reignites-debate-over-peace-bonds-1.3027355 Related article: CBC News – Evan Dyer Closure of RCMP bomb data centre lamented by police – Calgary police want centre that closed quietly in April to reopen http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-bomb-centre-closure-1.3718556
Mother Jones (US) – Sara Rathod
2 Months, No Food: The Story of a Transgender Inmate’s Hunger Strike
The problems around trans-gendered people in prison is not going away and the extent of the problems can be seen in this report on a former soldier, Athena Cadence, who experienced the worst while, not in the Army, but while in prison, finally deciding that a hunger strike was a better response than paperwork and courts. The article also underlines the problem any prison has in respecting human rights. Says Cadence of her decision to fast: “I didn’t feel like I had anything to lose.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/dramatic-showdown-over-trans-rights-san-francisco
Globe and Mail – Sheema Khan
When an official story is a monstrous lie: The textbook history of Canada’s indigenous people
Khan draws on a foreign film from Argentina to ask a very pointed question of all Canadians, prompted by the various recent reconciliation issues: What answer when the narrative about an entire group of Indigenous people have been frustrated so much in confronting the lie denigrating their presence in Canada? How about re-writing that narrative in our own more enlightened words? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/when-an-official-story-is-a-monstrous-lie-the-textbook-history-of-canadas-indigenous-people/article31379104/