May 19, 2022
BC Tyee – Jiaying Zhao and Lorne Whitehead
Guaranteed Basic Income Is Still a Great Idea – This solution for poverty continues to have support and research to back it up.
The authors are reacting to a Globe and Mail article by Sen. Diane Bellemare who opposes the notion of a guaranteed basic income. Reputable polling suggests that as many as 60% of Canadians already support the GBI, some supporting a minimum income of $30,000 per person. “Despite the strong public support, Bellemare argued that “basic income would be an unfair, complicated and costly way to eliminate poverty.” As a social scientist who has researched cash transfers, and an entrepreneur and organizational leader, we challenge the view that basic income is “unfair,” “complicated” and “costly.” Instead, we argue that it can be fair, simple and affordable.” https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/05/18/Guaranteed-Basic-Income-Still-Great-Idea/
Global News – Amanda Connolly
As Canada eyes response to Supreme Court extreme intoxication ruling, here’s what to know
The Supreme Court of Canada appears, in its recent ruling around extreme intoxication as a defence for violence, to allow the defence of “a defence known as extreme intoxication to the point of automatism…But there remain questions about what the availability of the defence will mean for victims of violent crimes, and how the law defines extreme intoxication to the point of automatism.” https://globalnews.ca/news/8842628/supreme-court-of-canada-extreme-intoxication-explained/
CTV News – Canadian Press
Liberals set to revive plan for Canada Border Services Agency watchdog
The expectation is that the federal government, long criticized for having no independent agency supervising the complaints process around Canada’s Border Services Agency, is about to introduce a pal to do so. Border officers can stop, search and detain people without warrants. “The government is expected to introduce legislation today to give the RCMP watchdog the additional responsibility of handling public complaints about the Canada Border Services Agency… The bill to create the Public Complaints and Review Commission comes after previous versions died on the order paper.” https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/liberals-set-to-revive-plan-for-canada-border-services-agency-watchdog-1.5910182
Yellowhead Institute – Edited by Christina Grey
A SPECIAL REPORT: Treaty Interpretation in the Age of Restoule
This link explores the foundation treaties, the 1850 Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties, and the failure of the Crown to annuities given in the treaties, “more specifically, the Crown’s failure to increase the annuity payments.” This report consists of an introduction, three parts, a conclusion. Part one: Accountability and Ceremony in a Canadian Court: An Interview with Ogimaa Peltier on the Restoule Case; Part two: Interpreting Historic Treaties: Restoule at the Ontario Court of Appeal; Part three: Trial by Ishkode: Treaty Remedies in Restoule. “What legal remedies does Canadian law recognize for the break(ing) of a treaty….in the case of treaties made between the Anishinaabeg and the Crown, how might Anishanaabe legal concepts, such as ishkode, inform the way in which the treaty relationship is approached in the Canadian courts?” https://yellowheadinstitute.org/treaty-interpretation-in-the-age-of-restoule/
Lethbridge News – Canadian Press
Federal corrections must improve workplace for parole officers’ mental health: Report
Public safety expert Rosemary Ricciardelli, currently a research chair in safety, security and wellness at the school of maritime studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland says that the health of parole officers moves in tandem with the health of their clients, and that overload and stress is taking its toll on the effectiveness of the parole system. “Prior to 2014, one parole officer was assigned to 25 imprisoned people in medium- and maximum-security prisons… After the cuts, officers had to manage 28 to 30 cases in those same types of prisons. In minimum security prisons, officers are assigned to 25 cases, said Neufeld.” https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2022/05/18/federal-corrections-must-improve-workplace-for-parole-officers-mental-health-report/
CBC News – Catherine Tunney
The terrorist threat posed by lone actors is ‘difficult to detect,’ says federal report
The rationale for the threat assessment from lone terrorists dates back to Canada Day 2021 but the rationale has just seen the light. The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC) which works with CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Services) were responsible for the assessment. There were no known related events during the past Canada Day. “”An attack on a Canada Day 2021 celebration or legitimate public protest is most likely to be conducted by an inspired lone actor or small group using unsophisticated methods such as firearms, bladed weapons, vehicles or homemade explosives,” ITAC concluded in its report, obtained by CBC News through an access to information request.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/terrorism-detection-csis-1.6456139 Related article: National Observer – Max Fawcett Kick the ‘treasonous’ Great Replacement Theory out of Canada before it takes us off the rails https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/05/18/opinion/treasonous-replacement-theory-canada-pierre-poilievre Related article: CBC Radio – As it happens – Robyn Bresnahan White supremacy is a ‘harsh reality’ in Canada, says public safety minister – Marco Mendicino links Buffalo shooting rhetoric to mosque shooting, London car attack and Ottawa occupation https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-wednesday-edition-1.6458296/white-supremacy-is-a-harsh-reality-in-canada-says-public-safety-minister-1.6458298
Connecticut Mirror (US) – Sarah Wall
Occupational licensure reform opens opportunities for former offenders —and everyone else
The state just passed a bill (HB 5248) which ends the summary dismissal of applications for license under certain occupations for felony convictions. The licensing bureau now has to weigh the impact of the conviction for work within the occupation, time since conviction, evidence of rehab, and other factors. While the change is an improvement over automatic denial of opportunity, and while the studies associate the denials with higher recidivism, many advocates would want a revision of the regulations under license requirements to end the restrictions where there is no connect between the work and the previous record. https://ctmirror.org/2022/05/18/occupational-licensure-reform-opens-opportunities-for-former-offenders-and-for-everyone-else-sarah/
Pew Foundation (US) – Russell Contreras
As inflation keeps rising, more small-time thefts count as felonies
Here’s inflation at its worst! Many states have not changed the definitional threshold for what constitutes a felony theft in quite a while. That effectively means that simple theft becomes felony theft, filling the prisons and jails even more than the current mass incarceration has achieved. The Pew Foundation offers an interactive graphic showing the present thresholds in a state by state map. https://www.axios.com/2022/04/21/inflation-prices-shoplifting-felony-misdemeanor?utm_campaign=2022-05-19+PSPP&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew&subscriberkey=00Q0P00000oErugUAC
Death Penalty Information Center (US)
Fallout from Aborted Tennessee Execution: Prosecutors Misrepresented Facts in Federal Lawsuit, 2 Members of Execution Team Knew Drugs Had Not Been Tested
Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee called off Oscar Smith’s execution one half hour before the scheduled execution because of false evidence presented by prosecutors in a lawsuit over the suitability of the drugs to be used to kill Smith. All executions in the state are now on hold for 2022 as the investigation continues. David Rayburn, an attorney who helped draft the protocol: “They haven’t figured out what the problems are, and they haven’t figured out how to correct them. I suggest there’s something profoundly wrong here, but we don’t know what it is.” He added, “This should not be hidden and kept under wraps, this does not give me confidence in the system. This is not a security issue, I think this is an embarrassment issue.” https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/fallout-from-aborted-tennessee-execution-prosecutors-misrepresented-facts-in-federal-lawsuit-2-members-of-execution-team-knew-drugs-had-not-been-tested