July 2, 2023 – Risk to community…
CBC News
Google to remove news links in Canada in response to online news law – Search giant responds to Liberal government’s Online News Act, which became law last week
What may prove the death knell for services like this one, the knell may well soon be heard across Canada, making us less well informed about news worthy events. Google is expected by a new law to pay for links to news sources, a service presently bringing all the revenue from advertising to Google with nothing for the media linked through Google search engines. “Google said Thursday it will remove Canadian news content from its search, news and discover products after a new law meant to compensate media outlets comes into force… The move to pull news from the world’s most popular search engine could have a devastating impact on Canadian media outlets, which often depend on third parties like Google to get content into the hands of readers.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/google-canada-online-news-1.6892879
Toronto Star – Wendy Gillis
A city ‘synonymous with violence’ turned it around. Can Toronto learn from the Glasgow model? Glasgow was once the “murder capital of Europe.” Today, its public health approach to crime has produced a sharp drop in homicides and is being adopted across the United Kingdom. Could it work here?
“Credit for the turnaround often lands at Rennie’s unassuming second-floor office off a main street, home to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU). Funded by the Scottish government and run at arm’s length by Police Scotland, the team has been heralded not just for reducing murders and gang violence but ushering in a new approach to public safety altogether. Well before it became go-to political speak, the unit adopted a “public health” approach, treating violence not like an inevitability but like a disease that can be tracked and prevented from spreading.” https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/06/24/a-city-synonymous-with-violence-turned-it-around-can-toronto-learn-from-the-glasgow-model.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a01&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=lng_189433
Maytree Foundation – Alex Bezzina
Advancing justice: How racism and poverty degrade human rights and undermine the criminal justice system
This is ‘a must read’ for anyone trying to sort out the built in deficiencies of our current legal system and its real life impact on people. Racism, poverty, loss of trust in the system and its apparatus, interventions with police, mental health, Indigenous issues, are all considered and the initial text of this document is filled with blue type alerts to supplementary information. The advocacy community may find of particular interest the focus on redefining risk in legal justice to include the risk to the community. One advocate had this summary of the conclusion to the series: “Overall, though, one is led to conclude the cjs (criminal justice system) is only working badly for racialized marginalized populations. It is tacitly assumed that for everyone else it is working great! There is no questioning or analysis of how destructive it is for EVERYONE it touches.” https://maytree.com/publications/racism-and-poverty-degrade/ Related article: Vancouver Sun – Glenda Luymes Funding for Mission farm run by former prison inmates in jeopardy – Emma’s Acres helps crime victims — one squash at a time https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/funding-for-mission-farm-run-by-former-prison-inmates-in-jeopardy
The Atlantic – Uma Mazyck Jayakumar and Ibram X. Kendi
‘Race Neutral’ Is the New ‘Separate but Equal’ – Race, by definition, has never been neutral.
Two significant social and race relations commentators offer an interpretation of what the US Supreme Court has done not only to college and university admissions for Black, Indigenous and people of color but to the on-going prevalence of discrimination in any other competitive arena for minorities, especially the Asian people. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/supreme-court-affirmative-action-race-neutral-admissions/674565/?s=03 Related article: BBC (UK – Washington, DC Desk) – Bernd Debusmann Jr Affirmative action: US Supreme Court overturns race-based college admissions https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65886212
N.Y. Times – Randy Balko
Half the Police Force Quit. Crime Dropped.
A staggering justice department report indicted the Minneapolis Police Department for “pervasive abuse, illegal use of force, racial bias and systemic dysfunction in the Minneapolis Police Department.” Subsequently, about half the department resigned. Instead of rising crime, the crime levels went down, putting the lie to the constant refrain of police: “Lying just below the surface of that characterization is a starkly cynical message to marginalized communities: You can have accountable and constitutional policing, or you can have safety. But you can’t have both.” The results are similar to many other cities where department of justice audits were conducted. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/opinion/half-the-police-force-quit-crime-dropped.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&s=03
Toronto Star – Susan Delacourt
America’s far right is operating in Canada. Why don’t we consider that foreign interference? – By focusing solely on China or Russia and other state actors, Canada is missing the potentially far more troubling forces that proved so disruptive during last year’s convoy protest
Here’s a Canada Day reflection on political influences, where the influences come from and our responsiveness to the influences. Offered in the context of the growing confidence that Canada will likely have some sort of inquiry into foreign influence, the time may be ripe to assess the quiet and pervasive political and social influences coming from the far right in the US. Michael Kempa, a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa and student of the recent Ottawa convoy, “… thinks it’s a good thing the Canadian political conversation has become seized with foreign interference over the past few months, but he also believes it’s been far too narrowly focused only on questions surrounding China. https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2023/07/02/americas-far-right-is-operating-in-canada-why-dont-we-consider-that-foreign-interference.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=thestar_politics Related article: Toronto Star – Mandy Pipfer Democracy: A precious thing that we are at risk of losing – What does it say about our cultural values that we have no ritual around voting, no rite-of-passage tradition of that first-vote moment? https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2023/07/01/democracy-a-precious-thing-that-we-are-at-risk-of-losing.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a08&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=top_189501
Prison Journalism Project (US) – Wyatt Stayner
This is a non-profit website with a regular newsletter (free subscription) that is written by incarcerated persons on a variety of topics of current interest. The articles are mostly first person describing the experience and process of imprisonment encountered across the US. One helpful side of the articles encountered here is that they also group the articles according to the topic: Eight stories about freedom and patriotism, Seven stories on mental illness in prison, etc. The site would surely be helpful to anyone for researching contemporary issues and opinions from those already incarcerated. https://prisonjournalismproject.org/