June 4, 2023 – Changing Policing…

Policy Options (Canada) – Michael Kempa

Is anybody ready to act on policing problems in Canada? Reports from the Public Order Emergency Commission and the Mass Casualty Commission demand action and provide important recommendations to fix longstanding issues.

“The report of the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) provides the framework for bringing Canada’s long-ailing policing system back from its collapse under the weight of the 2022 occupation of Ottawa. It should be read and implemented conjointly with the compatible details furnished by the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission (MCC).”  https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2023/policing-problems-will-anyone-act/  Related article: The Marshall Project – Closing Argument (US) – Jamiles Lartey   Three Years After George Floyd’s Murder, Police Reforms Are Slow-Paced  https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/06/03/george-floyd-police-reform

Toronto Star Editorial Board (June 3, 2023)

We’re more worried about crime but stats reveal who is most at risk of being a victim in Toronto.  We need homes and health care not because those without them are the perpetrators of violence, but because they’re the victims of it.

Here is the context for the Star’s opinion:  “As is often the case, the statistics paint a more nuanced, and more complex, picture. Statistics Canada reports that the most highly publicized violent crime of late — gun crime — decreased by 22 per cent in Toronto between 2020 and 2021. Toronto Police Service data further reveal that gun violence dropped again in 2022, and has continued to decline precipitously this year.”  The crime victimizes children, the homeless and the mentally ill.  “In reality, we need homes and health care not because those without them are the perpetrators of violence, but because they’re the victims of it.”  https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2023/06/03/were-more-worried-about-crime-but-stats-reveal-who-is-most-at-risk-of-being-a-victim-in-toronto.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a09&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=top_185023

The Conversation (Queen’s) – Tara Smith

Why the International Criminal Court is right to focus on the environment

Ordinarily one hears of the International Criminal Court (ICC) around war crimes but this is a new focused priority for the court:  “The move was announced by chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in a recent policy document that contains a new and welcome focus on the prosecution of individuals for human atrocities that are committed by destroying the environment in which we live and on which we depend.”  https://theconversation.com/why-the-international-criminal-court-is-right-to-focus-on-the-environment-65920?utm_medium=amptwitter&utm_source=twitter&s=03   Full document: International Criminal Court (ICC) – Policy paper on case selection and prioritisation   https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/policy-paper-case-selection-and-prioritisation

VERA FastAction Group (US) –

Take Action: Close Rikers Island for good! 

Vera is a very well respected research and advocacy group with a side bar called FastAction for cases it considers urgent.  VERA has issued such an invitation around decisions by Rikers Island authorities to no longer issue public reports about injured incarcerated people or deaths within the jail.  “There is a clear solution: it’s time to appoint a federal receiver and ensure that New York City delivers on its commitment to close Rikers Island and end persistent human rights abuses in its horrific jails.”  https://secure.vera.org/a/take-action-rikers-060123-1?ms=eng_comm_all_email_BS23_ctr_060223RR&utm_source=email&utm_medium=eng&utm_campaign=all_060323RR&contactdata=+0CRcAQ14f%2fqbxhzROIbPnKD1mPLfZRqSXjvjYRqN4CJSZPIcIlkWNZRdjjZGoJHHHKkIG7YynG7PgJtWA5YJg%3d%3d&emci=64185d8a-5901-ee11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=9930f233-8301-ee11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=82378   Related article: The Marshall Project – Life Inside  – Vincent Schiraldi  I Spent Over 40 Years Working in Corrections. I Wasn’t Ready for Rikers.   Rikers Island jail complex “reflects our nation’s racist and destructive fixation on imprisonment,” writes former New York City jails commissioner Vincent Schiraldi. “It’s Exhibit A for why we need to end mass incarceration.” https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/10/28/i-spent-over-40-years-working-in-corrections-i-wasn-t-ready-for-rikers?utm_source=TMP-Newsletter&utm_campaign=d3b0fd04ff-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_06_02_10_46&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e02cdad9d-d3b0fd04ff-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D Related article: Globe and Mail – Patrick White  Advocacy group for Indigenous women says isolation units should be banned in prisons https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-advocacy-group-for-indigenous-women-says-isolation-units-should-be/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links

Tweet from Justin Piché on Covid in Prisons:  “Update: How did CDN federal penitentiaries fare in May 2023 where #COVID19 transmission is concerned? (Cf string) https://twitter.com/JustinPicheh/status/1664735642314592256?s=20  Related Tweet from  Michigan Rights Count Project on Incarceration:  Did you know?: incarceration DOES NOT improve public safety. Research finds it ineffective and has little to no impact in reducing crime. https://twitter.com/CountRights/status/1664805447755350016?s=20   Related article: Ottawa Citizen – Blair Crawford   Jail guard carried photo of Shannon Sargent as a reminder to ‘question everything’   Coroner’s inquest into death at Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre in July 2016 continues.  https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/jail-guard-carried-photo-of-shannon-sargent-as-a-reminder-to-question-everything  

The Guardian (UK) – Samira Shackle

The backlash: how slavery research came under fire – More and more institutions are commissioning investigations into their historical links to slavery – but the fallout at one Cambridge college suggests these projects are meeting growing resistance

While the question of reparations for slavery and the denial of human rights in its duration and aftermath are slowly giving rise to examinations and response, there is no doubt either, says Shackle, that such discussions can provoke backlash and resentment.  The focus is on Cambridge researcher / historian Nicolas Bell-Romero and Sabine Cadeau who in 2020 “had a wide-ranging brief: to examine how the university gained from slavery, through specific financial bequests and gifts, but also to investigate how its scholarship might have reinforced, validated or challenged race-based thinking.”  When the research began to illustrate how pervasive in the population the wealth derived from slavery was to British life, the reaction was not just an issue of changes and wealth but also national pride.  https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/jun/01/cotton-capital-legacies-of-slavery-research-backlash-cambridge-university?utm_term=647b0115b6d2f472894ceed1d45fbba1&utm_campaign=TheLongRead&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=longread_email

Tweet from #StopCopCity on Bail for protestors:  GOOD NEWS: Judge is granting bond for all three Atlanta Solidarity Fund defendants, and notes concerns about the flimsiness of the charges and lack of evidence thus far. Even the judge is expressing doubt about these charges––which tells you how spurious they are. #StopCopCity   https://twitter.com/micahinATL/status/1664689495239807000?s=20

Toronto Star – Brendan Kennedy

Ontario continues to house immigration detainees in jails even as other provinces put an end to ‘truly shocking’ practice – Nearly 460 detainees were jailed here last year, most because they were considered flight risks. Ontario says it’s reviewing its agreement with Ottawa.

Ontario still has an agreement with the Canadian Border Services Agency to house immigration detainees whom the Immigration people think will simply not show up for their hearing.  In some cases, like Neil Rashad Sturrup’s, immigrants are held in maximum security jail cells, without charge or conviction, and often for extended periods of time.  At one time all the provinces has agreements to hold immigrants but five have currently rejected the practice.  Ontario has not yet, though under review. Canada has been soundly criticized by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.    In the first three months of 2023, there were 1391 cases.   https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2023/06/04/ontario-continues-to-house-immigration-detainees-in-jails-even-as-other-provinces-put-an-end-to-truly-shocking-practice.html