Oct 19, 2019
Global TV News – Rachel Brown
Conservative platform gets a failing grade, Liberal’s barely passes on poverty and health: report
The link provides a comparison between all four national political parties and their stated positions on a variety of issues around poverty and low income status. Then the parties are offered a report card on their positions, broken down into issues that impact the poor. “Health Providers against Poverty (HPAP) released a report card on Tuesday comparing how the election promises of the four major federal parties would impact the physical and mental health of marginalized and low-income communities across the country.” https://globalnews.ca/news/6033350/conservatives-liberals-poverty-health-grades/ 2019 FEDERAL ELECTION POVERTY & HEALTH REPORT CARD: An analysis and comparison of election promises of the four major parties https://healthprovidersagainstpoverty.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/federalelectionreportcard-2019-hpap.pdf Globe and Mail – Wency Leung Federal election 2019: Where do the major parties stand on family and child care? https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-federal-election-2019-where-do-the-major-parties-stand-on-family-and/ Related article: Huffpost News – Immigration and Refugee Policies For Each Party In The 2019 Federal Election (two minutes video) https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/immigration-and-refugee-policies-for-each-party-in-the-2019-federal-election_ca_5da772a4e4b0b5c9be486e4e?ncid=newsletter-Canada%20Politics%20Oct%2016&utm_campaign=canada_newsletter_Canada%20Politics%20Oct%2016 Related article: CBC News – Idil Mussa Indigenous communities face ‘abhorrent’ housing conditions, UN report finds https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/indigenous-communities-struggle-to-find-adequate-housing-in-canada-and-abroad-1.5326161
CTV News –
Truth Tracker: The security threat against Trudeau was not made up
A Facebook posted story claims that the security threat against our Prime Minister leading to extra security measures – a change of plans for Trudeau’s wife and a bullet-proof vest for Trudeau -was made up by the Prime Minister’s campaign staff. Facebook is refusing to ban the source for the story which suggests that lies are an acceptable part of the Facebook policy, even if threats are not. Both the threat and the lie about its authenticity are measures of how negative the campaign has become. https://election.ctvnews.ca/truth-tracker-the-security-threat-against-trudeau-was-not-made-up-1.4641910 Related article: iPolitics – Charlie Pinkerton Facebook not budging on removing widely spread fabricated Trudeau hit pieces https://ipolitics.ca/2019/10/15/facebook-not-budging-on-removing-widely-spread-fabricated-trudeau-hit-pieces/ Related article: Toronto Star – Bruce Campion-Smith Election campaign marked by ‘unhealthy’ polarization, and it may be about to get worse https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/10/16/election-campaign-marked-by-unhealthy-polarization-and-it-may-be-about-to-get-worse.html
Toronto Star – Ed Tubb
Why even Toronto advocates calling for a handgun ban say the federal debate on gun violence has missed the point
After a scary history of events in “The Lane” around guns and children shot, Tubb analyses the most recent approach to gun control legislation and judges it to have missed the point entirely. He has five points of perspective on confronting and solving gun violence and then offers a statement of the platforms of the four political parties. https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/10/08/why-even-toronto-advocates-calling-for-a-handgun-ban-say-the-federal-debate-on-gun-violence-has-missed-the-point.html Related article: Toronto Star – Betsy Powell How the internet era has made Toronto street gangs more reckless and dangerous https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/10/16/how-the-internet-era-has-made-toronto-street-gangs-more-reckless-and-dangerous.html
CBC News – Eric Rankin
High-profile B.C. Mountie with PTSD says support system is ‘broken’ and ‘in crisis’
A staff sergeant once with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team of the Lower Mainland is suggested that stressful work resulting in PTSD does not get an adequate response from the RCMP. Jennifer Pound was the public face of the unit until “she says she was diagnosed with PTSD— not from dealing with the relentless body count, 300 homicides by her estimate since she joined IHIT in 2011— but from the emotional toll of trying to comfort families of victims behind the scenes.” There is a 12 month waiting list and often only silence from the RCMP on alternatives. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-rcmp-ptsd-staff-sgt-jennifer-pound-1.5323228 Related article: Canadian Mental Health Association Experts advise coroners to start tracking first-responder suicides http://ontario.cmha.ca/news/experts-advise-coroners-to-start-tracking-first-responder-suicides/ Related article: Huffpost – Emma Paling Ontario Cuts Compensation For Victims Of Crime https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/ontario-cuts-compensation-victims-crime_ca_5da77ccce4b0b24e75dc63ff?ncid=newsletter-Canada%20Politics%20Oct%2016&utm_campaign=canada_newsletter_Canada%20Politics%20Oct%2016
TED Talks – Marcus Bullock
An app that helps incarcerated people stay connected to their families
The link is to a former inmate who spent 8 years in jail starting at age 15 who offers testimony to the experience of positive and enabling support from his mother and then translated her approach for support into an app. The TED Talk is about 15 minutes and pleasant insight into how to impact an incarcerated person. https://www.ted.com/talks/marcus_bullock_an_app_that_helps_incarcerated_people_stay_connected_to_their_families (The link offers several other community based ideas for support of the incarcerated.) Related article: ABC News – A man in Alabama just had his sentence changed so that he’ll be getting out of prison in the next few days. His crime: Stealing $50.75 from a bakery 36 years ago. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/man-spent-36-years-prison-stealing-50-bakery/story?id=65264675&__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR3RdB_5TNYhGtWRggN-rdzD95FINg4CPMd2HJQdoGdAMcNRSJzvGPsCE-I
The Progressive Pulse (North Carolina)
ACLU of NC asks court to declare solitary confinement unconstitutional
The American Civil Law Union has stepped up its struggle with solitary confinement by asking a North Carolina court to declare the practice unconstitutional. The lawsuit says in part: “A growing chorus of medical professionals, courts, and public officials have acknowledged the potentially devastating effects of solitary confinement, the practice’s limited utility in promoting rehabilitation and public safety, and the need for change.” The ACLU alleges that prison authorities are arbitrary in the practices around both solitary and restrictive housing in prisons. http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/10/17/aclu-of-nc-asks-court-to-declare-solitary-confinement-unconstitutional/ (Full text of the lawsuit available at the link.) Related article: Global News – Colin Perkel, Canadian Press Human rights commission criticizes Ontario’s proposed changes to inmate segregation https://globalnews.ca/news/6045916/human-rights-commission-ontario-inmate-segregation/
Canadian Forum on Civil Liberties and Task Force on Justice
Investing in Justice: A Literature Review in Support of the case for Improved Access
The Ontario cuts to both legal aid and to victims of crime recently make this report a welcomed response. Effectively, the report is insisting that access to the courts brings financial gains in other aspects of government financing, once one escapes the silo thinking. From the summary statement: “In this report, we examine research on return on investment and social return on investment in justice, two particularly promising areas of study that offer insights on the monetary and non-monetary benefits to individuals, investors and the state of making justice more accessible.” https://cfcj-fcjc.org/wp-content/uploads/Investing-in-Justice-A-Literature-Review-in-Support-of-the-Case-for-Improved-Access-by-Lisa-Moore-and-Trevor-C-W-Farrow.pdf