April 4, 2022
CBC News – Catharine Tunney
As Mounties celebrate pay raise, municipalities look to upcoming budget for federal help – As of April 1, constables can make more than $106K — a jump of $20K
The news may be a good news / bad news story coming as it does in a heated atmosphere about both tasking and funding police services in the context of the recent struggles in BC and in Kitchener Waterloo. The deal appears to involve retro payments for the time during negotiations and provincial examination from both Alberta and NB about creating a provincial police force while the RCMP themselves question their role and capacity to be a municipal, provincial and federal police agency. In particular, municipalities are not at the table and are now facing considerable policing contract price increases without any input; municipalities cannot have deficits and the sharing formula is part municipal or regional and part federal, but effectively means loss of other municipal services to meet the new policing budgets. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-salary-budget-hopes-1.6403520?cmp=newsletter_CBC%20News%20Morning%20Brief_6225_485223 Related article: Armine Yalnizyan Future of Workers (Atkinson Foundation) Was it worth the wait? https://twitter.com/ArmineYalnizyan/status/1509884005948268546?s=20&t=JPiVLsRAHcoIc0MnHWB0NQ Tweet from Alex Karakatsanis (US) – THREAD. “What’s going on in West Hollywood should alarm you. A growing movement of residents is seeking to spend small portion of City’s safety funds (17%) on social services instead of armed bureaucrats. Mayor is working behind scenes with Sheriff to stop it. A fascinating story:” https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1507759262612787208?s=20&t=De9SCKY5yD80QgejFxhOaw
Stats Canada –
The rate of police strength in Canada remains stable from 2019
At a point when municipal budgets are in danger of being crushed with demands for enlarged numbers of police, it does well to know where we in Canada are at the moment. “There were 70,131 police officers in Canada on May 15, 2021, 1,386 more than on the same date in 2019. In 2021, the rate of police strength was 183 officers per 100,000 population, similar to 2019.” Because of the pandemic, the stats were not available for 2020 and a serious expense was the personal protective equipment used by police at a cost of $33 million. There were also fewer calls and more female officers – now at 24% but less than one in ten is from a minority group. The rate of Indigenous police offers holds just about equal to the general population – about 4%. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220331/dq220331f-eng.htm
CBC News – John Paul Tasker
Senators overwhelmed by emails, calls pushing conspiracy theories about basic income legislation
By now the notion of a guaranteed basic income is already known and beginning to gain some credibility and acceptance. But wait! The Senate electronic media is being overwhelm by an insistence that the idea and possibility are spawn from conspiracy theories and sources. “Tens of thousands of calls, emails and handwritten letters urging senators to oppose Bill S-233 have flooded into the Red Chamber. The emails — many of them based on outlandish conspiracy theories — have at times overloaded the Senate’s servers, bringing the normal workflow to a grinding halt… Bill S-233 calls for the creation of a national “framework” to allow the federal government to begin studying a “guaranteed livable basic income” program in Canada.” The Bill, introduced by Senator Kim Pate, is one page and without establishing a basic income, simply requires the federal government Department of Finance to study and report on basic income. “Bill S-233 calls for the creation of a national “framework” to allow the federal government to begin studying a “guaranteed livable basic income” program in Canada.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-basic-income-conspiracy-theories-1.6403777
Aljazeera (US) – Allison Griner
The woman confronting the US prison-to-deportation pipeline – Domestic abuse survivor Ny Nourn lived this pipeline. How her fight against this system became a fight for others.
Most everyone has heard of the “school-to-prison” pipeline but this is a new twist. At the same time, the link presents a feel good story of someone enduring difficult circumstances and rising above the circumstances to become an effective advocate for the prison-to-deportation pipeline. “Born in 1980 in Khao-I-Dang, a Cambodian refugee camp near the border in Thailand, Nourn remembers sorrow among her earliest memories. At age 18, her mother had fled Cambodia on foot: the genocide there in the late 1970s killed more than 1.7 million people.” Nourn’s story in America begins at age 5. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/3/31/the-woman-confronting-the-us-prison-to-deportation-pipeline Related article: The Marshall Project – Rebecca Figueroa as told to Carla Canning I Had a High-Risk Pregnancy in Jail — Then I Gave Birth in Chains – When Rebecca Figueroa was arrested two months into her pregnancy, she didn’t worry because she wasn’t guilty. But seven months later, she was still in jail and totally unprepared for a high-risk pregnancy, childbirth in restraints and the constant fear of losing her daughter. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/04/01/high-risk-pregnancy-jail-birth-chains Related article: The Real News (US) – Michael Sainato Corporations are making millions of dollars from US prison labor – A Freedom of Information Act request shines a light on how much private corporations and government agencies have been exploiting prison labor during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://therealnews.com/corporations-are-making-millions-of-dollars-from-us-prison-labor Related article: Washington Post – Phoebe Zerwick Opinion: Five teenagers. Recanted confessions. Convicted. Sound familiar? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/31/north-carolina-and-the-risks-of-false-confessions/
The Crime Report (US) – Waveny Ann Moore
For a Child Who Killed Their Child, Parents Chose Restorative Justice
“Christopher “Ramsey” Bevan, 17, killed Bradley Hulett II while toying with a faulty gun believed to have fired without being triggered.” The question was what to do about it. The Bradley’s parents wanted a restorative justice solution and “…that decision, said Lindsey Pointer, associate director for the National Center on Restorative Justice “offers a promising shift in the way we think about crime and the meaning of justice.” https://thecrimereport.org/2022/03/29/for-a-child-who-killed-their-child-parents-chose-restorative-justice/ Related article: Washington Post (US) – Emefa Addo Agawu Opinion: She was paid to stay off drugs. Here’s why this approach could help others. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/31/cm-drug-meth-addictions-solutions/?carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3675cda%2F6246017079d9d21aa11156bd%2F597720279bbc0f6826c0ca16%2F9%2F66%2F6246017079d9d21aa11156bd Related article: Toronto Star – Betsy Powell Teen avoids jail in 100 km/h crash that killed kids playing in Vaughan driveway – The maximum posted speed on Athabasca Drive where Anaya Chaudhari, 10, and Jax Chaudhari, 4, were killed last year is 40 km/h. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/04/04/teen-avoids-jail-in-100-kmh-crash-that-killed-kids-in-playing-in-vaughan-driveway.html?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=bn_116229
The Conversation (Queen’s University)
Canada: An invader, warrior, peacekeeper and arms supplier in conflicts near and far
Perhaps this moment is one for some sober reflection on where we have been as a nation of the world and a participant in the wartime and peaceful struggles we have seen in our nation’s history. The refresher comes from David Webster, Professor, History & Global Studies, Bishop’s University. https://theconversation.com/canada-an-invader-warrior-peacekeeper-and-arms-supplier-in-conflicts-near-and-far-179645?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20Canada%20for%20April%204%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20Canada%20for%20April%204%202022+CID_6d01d2d8aaf6e27224364b2d91010150&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Canada%20An%20invader%20warrior%20peacekeeper%20and%20arms%20supplier%20in%20conflicts%20near%20and%20far
Smart Policing Initiative (US) National Meeting –
Commander Dane Sorensen, Tempe Police Department; Dr. Carlena Orosco, Crime Analyst, Tempe Police Department; and Dr. Mike White, Arizona State University
Day 1 Plenary Session: Testing the Impact of Customized Police De-escalation Training – A 40 minute video presentation on the research in Arizona… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGltqYPxFTQ Related articles: Smart Policing Initiative March 2022 SPI National Meeting March 02, 2022 – March 03, 2022 https://www.smart-policing.com/events/march-2022-spi-national-meeting