Mr. Big…

Mar 16, 2018

The Tyee (BC) – Kate Puddister
Canadian Police Need to Rethink the Mr. Big Method – Used in the Tina Fontaine case, undercover approach to obtaining criminal confessions risks integrity of police investigations.

The accused in the Tina Fontaine case, Robert Cormier, was found not guilty after the RCMP spun out the Mr. Big story that involved convincing Cormier he was on the edge of significant participation in a major crime organization if he could show ‘his metal’ by confessing to Fontaine’s murder.  Expensive, the method has a varied success ration and results may be nothing more than pure bragging.  https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/03/15/Canadian-Police-Rethink-Mr-Big-Method/

CBC News – Dean Beeby
Correctional Service to hire its own IT after being ‘drastically’ hit by Shared Services’s data centre outage – Botched fire alarm test caused 2017 outage, damaging email and systems including one monitoring offenders

In October, 2017, Shared Services botched a fire alarm test and turned off the power for three hours, damaging all systems served.  Commissioner Don Head, prior to retirement from CSC, wrote a blistering letter to the government computer services that bore the accumulated frustration of some years of the struggle to get the unified computer services to work properly.  Now, the threat from CSC is to set up their own computer services, an alternative that must seem attractive to the civil servants embroiled in the pay mess.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/shared-services-shutdown-prison-1.4575761

The Guardian (UK), US desk – Allison Griner – #MeToo Movement
The better way to support rape victims: put their needs first

Griner explores the potential for Restorative Justice approaches in the healing process for victims of sexual violence, this time through the eyes of Gretchen Casey.  Surprisingly for some the RJ approach has the potential to put the needs of the victim first.  “We need to be able to demonstrate that repair is possible,” says Gretchen.  https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/mar/13/restorative-justice-putting-the-needs-of-victims-first?utm_source=In+Justice+Today+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8027681861-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0331e33901-8027681861-53434667

Statistics Canada (2016) – Released March 13, 2018
Canadian Income Survey, 2016

The latest stats on income in Canada shows a low income rate of 14% but the number 4.6 million is down from 5 million in 2015.  Youth (under 18 years) was also down at 14%, from 16.1%.  Seniors with low income remained steady at 14.2%.  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180313/dq180313a-eng.htm

CBC News
Ottawa’s Indigenous peoples court shows some early success

Now operating for six months, the link offers an explanation of how the two day a week court dedicated to Indigenous people operates.  “This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” said presiding judge Célynne Dorval. “Being forced to deal with your issues, to be able to move forward, is not an easy task. I am sure that most offenders would say it would be easier to do some time in jail.”  http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4573417?__twitter_impression=true  Related article: CBC News – Jillian Taylor   Restorative justice at centre of Manitoba’s new plan to keep people out of jail – CBC News has obtained a copy of the province’s new Criminal Justice System Modernization Strategy    http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4568641?__twitter_impression=true   Related article: USA Today –  Teresa Hodge   Change hiring practices to ensure ex-felons aren’t automatically eliminated from the running   https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1049186001?__twitter_impression=true

The Record (Kitchen, ON) – Liz Monteiro
No downside to a supervised injection site, says former addict – The region is looking at opening two supervised injections sites, one in central Kitchener and one in Galt.

The link provides a user / survivor’s view of the impact of establishing a supervisory injection site for opiate users.  The rationale is filled with the sad memories of overdose incidents and how a site may have prevented many such deaths.  “John Lavergne said supervised injection sites will serve two groups of people — those most at risk such as the homeless and those who relapse after being off drugs for a while.”  Lavergne has lost eight friends this year alone to overdose or relapses.  https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8315071-no-downside-to-a-supervised-injection-site-says-former-addict/#.Wqa0k4vEWG4.twitter