No fly…

Sept 24, 2016  

 Tyee (BC) – Michael Vonn
Secret Bans, Secret Trials: The Canadian ‘No-Fly’ Lists

The article is Vonn’s first in a series to invite participation in the federal conversation on national security.  Vonn works his way through the issues, many of which are hidden from view of the person implicated until discovery through need; the no-fly list is a case in point.  Once on the list, the process of getting off is a nightmare and ins and outs and secrets.  http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/09/22/Canadian-No-Fly-Lists/  Federal Government’s Consultation Web page:  https://www.canada.ca/en/services/defence/nationalsecurity/consultation-national-security.html   Also cf Federal Government’s Green Paper for the consultation:  Our Security, Our Rights: National Security Green Paper, 2016  https://www.canada.ca/en/services/defence/nationalsecurity/consultation-national-security.html

Globe and Mail – Editorial (Sept 23, 2016)
Are the police in Ontario laying too many charges?

The editorial is reacting to the MacDonald Laurier study presented in yesterday’s communiqué.  The editorial suggests that the crime rate in Ontario is the lowest in Canada and yet the legal system and the courts are in constant state of clog and delay; in fact, says the editorial, 43% of charges laid are eventually dismissed, suggesting that there is something inappropriate about laying the charges in the first place.   The Globe and Mail is suggesting a “justice deficit.”  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/are-the-police-in-ontario-laying-too-many-charges/article32012979/

Globe and Mail – Radna Omidvar
It’s time for action, and new answers, on the global refugee crisis

Omidvar is distinguished visiting professor at the Global Diversity Exchange, Ryerson University and thinks that the global response to the refugee crisis comes nowhere near adequate.  She points to the numbers displaced outside their country and to the additional 40 million displaced within their country.  Part of the problem, she says, is the fact that we are still using the structures and politics of a post-World War II for confronting a very new reality.  Refugee camps become permanent homes, airlines policies toward refugees encourage more dangerous routes to safety, the highest number of refugees are in countries closest to the countries in crisis.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/its-time-for-action-and-new-answers-to-the-global-refugee-crisis/article31937572/

Toronto Star – Azeezah Kanji
‘Canadian values’ conceal Canadian violence

‘Canadian Values’ are vague and allegedly common values that we Canadians profess and share, and want to see reflected in the values of refugees from other cultures fleeing human rights violations.  Kanji is suggesting that there are different standards for group values when the alleged offender is of a different culture and perhaps a different skin colour.  Offenses perpetrated by whites are individual aberrations while similar offenses by people of colour are group cultural failures.   https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/09/22/canadian-values-conceal-canadian-violence.html

Globe and Mail – Sean Fine
INSIDE OUT: The decline of parole and the fundamentals of Canada’s penal system

Jason David had been in and out of prison repeatedly over 20 years and was serving 8 years for distribution of cocaine when he decided that he wanted a university education.  Fine traces the success story he became and then compares the odds for others to do likewise within the programs in federal penitentiaries and the parole system.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/inside-out/article32027038/

Ph.D. Thesis – Priscilla Ferrazzi
“Symptoms of something all around us”: Mental health, Inuit culture, and criminal justice in Arctic communities in Nunavut, Canada
Highlights:

Potential criminal court mental health initiatives are explored in the Arctic. Inuit culture affects identifying mental illness, treatment and collaboration. Pitfalls linked to these initiatives may be exacerbated in an Arctic context. Vigilance is needed when bringing therapeutic jurisprudence to mainly Inuit Nunavut.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361630394X  (There is an Oct. 16 time limit on the free access to the thesis.)