Mountie shortage…

Aug 16, 2017

CTV News – Laura Peyton
RCMP shortages leave Mounties in ‘crisis,’ officers say

With 20,204 funded positions, Canada’s national police force is experiencing 12.1% vacancy, bringing say both critics and advocates, severe stress and forcing frequent overtime.  The vacancy is made up of some 6.6% unfilled positions, 3.9% extended health leave, and 1.6% on parental leave.  The shortage of constables is particularly felt in the smaller detachments.  The link offers a regional picture of the impact.  http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/rcmp-shortages-leave-mounties-in-crisis-officers-say-1.3542190

Globe and Mail – Sean Fine
Ontario judge frees refugee claimant, calls detention Kafkaesque

As reported in yesterday’s communiqué an Ontario judge has ordered the release of a Barbados man held for over 18 months in indefinite detention under immigration and CBSA orders.  Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan’s ruling “raises questions of whether Canada regularly detains refugee claimants and other non-citizens arbitrarily, in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”  Canada Immigration and the CBSA held 6200 immigrants and refugees 2016-17; 439 were for 90 days or more, most without criminal conviction and sometimes involving children of the detainees.  https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-judge-frees-refugee-claimant-calls-detention-kafkaesque/article35988726/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

Huffington Post – Emma Paling
Justin Trudeau Says ‘Canada Isn’t Immune’ After White Supremacist Rally In U.S.

While Trudeau did not issue a statement in response to the violence in Charlottesville, he has twittered a warning about complacency in Canada around the alt-right, or as some in Canada say, the Alt-lite, especially around the Proud Boys of Halifax or the Heritage Front in Quebec.   http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/08/13/justin-trudeau-says-canada-isnt-immune-after-white-supremacis_a_23076255/  Related article:  CBC News – Jonathan Montpetit   Does Canada take the threat of far-right extremism seriously?   http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canada-far-right-extremism-csis-1.4248183   Related article: CBC News (Montreal) Inside the Far Right in Quebec (A compendium and commentary) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/topic/Tag/Inside%20the%20far%20right%20in%20Quebec  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/topic/Tag/Inside%20the%20far%20right%20in%20Quebec    Related article:  Walrus – Ira Wells   The Unwitting Role of Canadian Media in Marketing Hatred – What responsibility do mainstream journalists have when reporting on the antics and ideas of far-right provocateurs?   https://thewalrus.ca/the-unwitting-role-of-canadian-media-in-marketing-hatred/   Related article:  Press Progress – Exclusive: Conservative MP Michael Chong Disavows ‘Anti-Semitic’, ‘White Supremacist’ Rebel Media   https://www.pressprogress.ca/exclusive_conservative_mp_michael_chong_disavows_anti_semitic_white_supremacist_rebel_media   Related article:  CBC Radio – As it happens  Carol Off and Jeff Douglas   ‘Enough is enough’: Conservatives should cut ties with Rebel Media, says UCP leadership hopeful   http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.4246380/enough-is-enough-conservatives-should-cut-ties-with-rebel-media-says-ucp-leadership-hopeful-1.4246387   Related article: National Newswatch – Stephanie Levitz   Tension between The Rebel and conservatives erupts anew    http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2017/08/15/politicians-corporations-face-pressure-to-distance-themselves-from-the-rebel-3/#.WZNI21WGOUk  Related article: Globe and Mail – Darren Calabrese, Canadian Press   Military reviewing investigation of ‘Proud Boys’ who disrupted Halifax Indigenous ceremony   https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/armed-forces-end-investigation-into-proud-boys-who-disrupted-halifax-indigenous-ceremony/article35990893/

 Globe and Mail – Patrick White
Federal prison takes down kennel-like exercise pens for inmates in solitary confinement

Five small pens, looking like dog-runs, in the Edmonton Institution Federal prison have been used to allow inmates in solitary confinement to exercise.  A photo of the pens has aroused all sorts of indignation and led to their closure and dismantling, after a seven year existence. “Federal correctional ombudsman Ivan Zinger called the pens at Edmonton Institution “outrageous” and said they had no place in modern corrections.”   https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/federal-prison-takes-down-kennel-like-pens-for-inmates-in-solitary-confinement/article35988839/

BC Tyee / Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) –
Whistleblowers Save Lives. So Why Does Canada Punish Them?

Joanna Gualtieri worked in the realty division of the then Department of Foreign Affairs.  Her job was to uncover waste and that she did.  Rather than being congratulated she was ostracised, eventually leading to her whistle-blowing on some of the more egregious was uncovered.  She discovered that the legal protection offered by Harper’s  “Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act and bringing along with it the creation of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner” in fact provided less protection not more.  Says advocate David Hutton:  “Canada is known around the world as the Titanic of whistleblower legislation.  We have the system that has most publicly and badly failed.”   http://www.cjfe.org/whistleblowers_save_lives