Sept 14, 2017
National Post – Dr. Mike Sosteric
Teen suicide is on the rise and this is why
The commentary comes from the context of World Suicide Prevention Sunday just past (Sept 10). Sosteric draws attention to the highest rates of suicide among teens between the ages of 15 and 19. According to Sosteric, those who grow up in “toxic socialization” are 12 times more likely to experience depression, addiction and suicide. http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/teen-suicide-is-on-the-rise-and-this-is-why Related article: CTV News – Treating insomnia first can help with mental health problems http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/treating-insomnia-first-can-help-with-mental-health-problems-1.3580663 Related article: Global TV News – Thomas Piller FSIN developing Indigenous suicide prevention strategy http://globalnews.ca/news/3733112/fsin-first-nations-saskatchewan-indigenous-suicide-prevention-strategy/ Related article: CBC News Northerners urged to embrace life as World Suicide Prevention Day marked around globe – Organizers of suicide awareness events in Nunavut urge people facing hardships to reach out for help http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/world-suicide-prevention-day-north-1.4281200
MacLean’s – Nancy Macdonald & Meagan Campbell
Lost and broken
The article presents an analysis of players and cast of the MMIWG, an inquiry mired in controversy almost from the beginning. Communications, process, philosophy guiding the inquiry are all at issue; possible solutions offered. http://www.macleans.ca/lost-and-broken/
National Newswatch – Geraint Osborne
Legal weed: What your kids really need to know
Osborne is a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta and is anticipating how the kids are going to react to the July 2018 legalization of marijuana. She thinks that families too need to anticipate, especially given that pot use among Canadian kids is highest in international comparison studies. She offers six points to such a parental effort. http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2017/09/14/legal-weed-what-your-kids-really-need-to-know/#.Wbp8FLJ95hG
Thompson-Reuters Foundation News – Yiannis Kourtoglou
WIDER IMAGE – Apart for a year, Syrian family shares kisses through fence
While Canadians are debating the generosity or lack thereof of countries, including Canada itself, to welcome the uprooted refugees around the world, this link is particularly disheartening. A man long separated from family has a brief reunion with his wife and four kids but through a wire mesh fence topped with barb wire. The UN protocols around Refugees insists that above all else keeping families together is the key underpinning of all response. http://news.trust.org/item/20170913143525-jz1u3
The Sentencing Project (US) –
FACT SHEET: Black Disparities in Youth Incarceration
This as the poet once remarked is what “oft was thought, but n’er so well expressed.” Long have the advocates for Black and minority youth in the US thought that the heavy hand of justice fell more heavily on Blacks and Latinos than on whites. The Sentencing project offers state by state conclusive statistical evidence that our fears are right. Overall, there is a five times greater likelihood of Black youth detained or committed to custody. http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Black-Disparities-in-Youth-Incarceration.pdf?utm_source=In+Justice+Today+Newsletter&utm_campaign=dd39f50cd1-IJT_Daily_Newsletter_9_059_5_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0331e33901-dd39f50cd1-53434667
N.Y. Times – David Feige
A ‘Frightening’ Myth about Sex Offenders
The US Supreme Court is about to hear a case that brings into the light the number of myths that circulate about the frequency and severity of recidivism among sex offenders who are permanently listed on registries that prevent all sorts of normal life activity and rights. The link is to an 8min32sec video interviewing victims and their convictions around the issues. https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005415081/a-frightening-myth-about-sex-offenders.html?playlistId=100000004867895 Related article: N.Y. Times – David Feige When Junk Science About Sex Offenders Infects the Supreme Court https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/opinion/when-junk-science-about-sex-offenders-infects-the-supreme-court.html
The Guardian (UK) – Jacky Hewitt
There is no harm caused by same-sex parenting. Studies suggesting otherwise are skewed
The Guardian article follows a public and parliamentary debate in Australia about the right of same sex parents to children and what type of bias is found in source documents for such governmental bias in these decisions. The article bounces the debate off the UN Convention on the Rights of the child by listing “four general principles: the right to non-discrimination, the right to the best interest of the child, the right to survival and development, and the right to be heard.” Advocate Penny Wong says that the data shows that same-sex parents can provide for these rights at least as well as heterosexual parents. Much of the dispute and heated exchanges are around same sex marriage. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/13/there-is-no-harm-caused-by-same-sex-parenting-studies-suggesting-otherwise-are-skewed
CTV News – Cassandra Szklarski,
Working women bearing more of the breadwinning burden, 2016 census shows
The 2016 census has some interesting break out stats that reflect on our current social and economic perspectives. (The full census is available at http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm ) The income gap between men and women is still evident – nearly three quarters of the men made more than women among opposite sex couples; for same sex couples the male median income of $100,707 in 2015, compared with $92,857 for female couples. Because of the lower female income, most women looking to retirement will likely work longer than their male counterparts. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/working-women-bearing-more-of-the-breadwinning-burden-2016-census-shows-1.3587478 Related article: CBC News – Canadian Press Census 2016: highlights from latest report on Canadian income levels http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/statistics-canada-census-2016-income-hightlights-1.4287179