Sept 8, 2017
HuffPost – Althia Raj
Helen Jennens Lost Both Her Sons To Overdoses. Here’s What She Wanted To Ask Trudeau. “We live it, we sleep it, we breathe it, we walk it.”
This is a disturbing look at one case of two deaths in the same family both around the opioid crisis. Helen Jennens lost both sons Rian and Tyler, Tyler from complications around opioids for pain relief after an auto accident, and Tyler from treatment for an athletic injury. She wants recognition that the opioid crisis is a medical crisis and not just a moral or character issue. Says Jennens: “”If they had taken on this issue like they did for SARS or HIV, it would be different, but people with addiction are marginalized. They are viewed as not contributing to society, and that’s part of the shame and the stigma.” http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/09/07/helen-jennens-lost-both-her-sons-to-overdoses-heres-what-she-wanted-to-ask-trudeau_a_23200719/?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage
Community Justice Initiatives: Stride Symposium (Kitchener-Waterloo)
Women In Prison: Building Community With Women Living Inside and Out of Prison Walls
Program: Nov. 14: Women in Prison: Providing a Context; Nov 15: Women in Prison: What can we do? Nov 16: Women in Prison: What can we learn?
Nov 14th, 15th, & 16th at the Walper Hotel, 20 Queen Street South, Kitchener
Registration: https://cjiwr.com/event/stridesymposium2017/ (Early Bird rates before Oct. 1, 2017) Stride Web page(CF Sarah’s Story towards the end of the page): https://cjiwr.com/stride-reintegration-program/
Saint Paul University (Ottawa) – Social Reconciliation, Just Peace and Development Research Group (Vern Redekop)
A series of lunch hour lectures…
September 14 – A STUDY OF STATE-LED PEACEBUILDING IN KENYA with Nyambura Githaiga, PhD (uOttawa)
September 19 – LETTERS PROJECT: POST-GENOCIDE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN RWANDA with Delphine Furaha (Fine), Prison Chaplain, Rwanda and with Dr. Pierre Allard, former Assistant Commissioner, Canadian Penitentiary Service and President, Just Equipping
October 12 – Peacebuilding: Policy Challenges, Global Engagement, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda with Larisa Galadza, Director General, Peace and Stability Operations, Global Affairs Canada
November 9 – The Past, Present, and Future of Peacebuilding with Roland Paris, uOttawa University Research Chair in International Security and Governance and Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
For more information: vredekop@ustpaul.ca
CBC News –
Ontario unveils pot plan including online ordering, 150 stand-alone stores – Proposed minimum age to use recreational cannabis in Ontario will be 19
Ontario has announced its plan to distribute recreational marijuana as of July 2018 when it becomes legal: Ontario will use stand-alone stores along the model of the current LGBO. A main goal of the plan will be “stopping the sale of illegal, unregulated and unsafe cannabis,” Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said at Friday’s news conference. The use of marijuana in public places, or in the workplace will be illegal and police will have authority to confiscate small amounts from violators. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/province-cannabis-plan-1.4280484 Related article: CBC News – Hannah Thibedeau and Mike Crawley Ontario to create cannabis control board, open up storefronts – Illegal pot shops in Ontario to be shut down over next 12 months http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ontario-to-create-cannabis-control-board-1.4280073
The David Lammy Independent Review:
The report has been long anticipated in that it is an assessment of how Blacks, Asians and other minorities are treated by the criminal justice system in the UK, and what the consequences are for these groups. British media has been writing for some time now about the seeming blatant prejudice and discrimination towards these minorities. The scope of the study encompasses adults and children, men and women. The study, while independent of the government, nonetheless had access to the data generated with the criminal justice system. Additionally, the inmate population is disproportionate to the general population. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/643001/lammy-review-final-report.pdf (A 108 page downloadable pdf)