June 16, 2023 – A warning…
Toronto Star – Bruce Arthur
A 9-year-old girl with short hair was bullied by adults. It’s a warning about the anti-LGBTQ panic in Canada – The anti-trans and other hateful views and policies that we’re seeing in the U.S. are leaking into Canada.
This disturbing incident from Kelowna, BC, must take on the shadow of a warning for all: a grandfather attending an elementary track meet objected to a girl’s participation with the allegation that she was a boy. The heated exchanges got worse from there with even more nasty allegations until the girl broke in tears and the event was moved across the field to escape the grandparents. “What’s surprising to me is how adults can speak to or about a young person that they don’t know, in such an uncivil way…That’s just totally unacceptable, and we expect better of the adults that come to our events…He wouldn’t stop,” said Kevin Kardaal, the superintendent and CEO of the school district, and the president of the Canadian Association of School System Administrators. “He had an intimidating presence,” Kardaal said in an interview.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2023/06/13/a-9-year-old-girl-with-short-hair-was-bullied-by-adults-its-a-warning-about-the-anti-lgbtq-panic-in-canada.html Related tweet from Fae Johnstone on the incident: “Girl, 9, accused of being trans at Kelowna track meet”
This is where anti-trans hate leads. It is an attack on all forms of gender non-conformity, ending in the re-imposition of regressive gender norms and threatening progress on women’s rights.” https://t.co/cF3wpau0nJ https://t.co/RqoMJSuZvZ https://twitter.com/FaeJohnstone/status/1668463696232824832?s=20 Related article: Toronto Star – The Canadian Press B.C. school district bans man who queried gender of girl, 9, at track meet – A man has been banned from events at a British Columbia school district after a mother said he interrupted a track meet to wrongly suggest her nine-year-old daughter was transgender and demanded proof she was born biologically female. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/06/14/bc-school-district-bans-man-who-queried-gender-of-girl-9-at-track-meet.html Related article: CBC News – Hadeel Ibrahim N.B. minister makes 3 changes to LGBTQ-protection policy – Changes regarding self-identification, sports participation and gender-neutral washrooms take effect July 1 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-policy-713-review-hogan-1.6863231 Related article: AP / The Canadian Press Man gets 18 years in federal prison for shooting, plan to rid Montana town of LGBTQ residents https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-hate-crime-shooting-montana-94849a012c217e00cdbfa025b7f15e72 Related article: CBC News – Janani Whitfield Regina school trustee says protesters ramping up harassment, intimidation over division’s inclusion efforts June school board meeting sees clash between crowd of protesters and supporters of division https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-public-schools-clash-division-pride-inclusion-1.6876273 Related article: The Canadian Press Ottawa commits $25M to create Canada’s first-ever LGBTQ entrepreneurship program – Ottawa commits $25M to create Canada’s first-ever LGBTQ entrepreneurship program (msn.com)
Global News (Edmonton) – Phil Heidenreich
Report suggests most Edmonton families support police in public schools, even racialized ones
In 2020 the Edmonton Public School Board, in response to parental concerns about the presence of the police or school resource constable in the schools, requested an independent review of the practice by university researchers. The result in available in The Experiences of Racialized and Marginalized Populations with the School Resource Officer (SRO) Program at Edmonton Public Schools, a 183 page downloadable pdf. https://globalnews.ca/news/9768610/edmonton-school-resource-officers-public-report/?utm_source=%40GlobalEdmonton&utm_medium=Twitter Full report: https://www.epsb.ca/media/epsb/news/board/SchoolResourceOfficer(SRO)programstudy.pdf
CBC News
Nunavut judge says minimum sentence for a sex charge is too high – 90 days in jail is too harsh in some hypothetical cases, rules Lyons
A 29 year male pleaded guilty to a sexual touching, an offence that requires a sentence of 90 days. Justice Christian Lyons sentenced him to 120 days conditional sentence and a year of probation but agreed with the defence lawyer that the mandatory minimum approach was not helpful in this case; Lyons also excused the accused from inclusion on the sex registry. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-judge-says-minimum-sentence-for-a-sex-charge-is-too-high-1.6876554
Toronto Star – Steve McKinley
Black Canadians gave views on racism in the justice system and experiences with police. Results were ‘stunning’ – In the 12 months prior to the survey, more than one in five Black Canadians (22 per cent) reported being unfairly stopped by police, according to the first Black Canadian National Survey.
The report was released by York University Institute for Social Research and suggests that racism is a multi-layered phenomenon in Canada and the research reaches into the participants through a national web survey and a second national Black community web survey. Racial identity, employment, child care and social services, the justice system, interactions with police, and changes all get attention in this startling divide. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/06/16/black-canadians-gave-views-on-racism-in-the-justice-system-and-experiences-with-police-results-were-stunning.html Full report: The Blackness in Canada Project – York University https://blacknessincanada.ca/result/ (A 40 page report with excellent graphics)
The Sentencing Project (US) – Kristen M. Budd, Ph.D. and Niki Monazzam
Private Prisons in the United States – Twenty-seven states and the federal government incarcerated 96,370 people in private prisons in 2021, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population.
The trend seems to be going lower for the numbers of incarcerated persons held in private prisons but the numbers still represent a 10% increase over the last 20 years. “Private for-profit prisons incarcerated 96,370 American residents in 2021, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 10%.” The private for profit prisons are run by GEO Group, Core Civic, LaSalle Corrections, and Management and Training Corporation, all of which have been criticized for the performance. “Montana is not alone in its heavy reliance on private prisons. Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee rely considerably on private prisons for housing imprisoned people. In these states, between 21% and 45% of the prison population resides in a for-profit prison.” https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/private-prisons-in-the-united-states/ Related articles: The Sentencing Project (US) – Key Issues
https://www.sentencingproject.org/issues/
The Marshall Project (US) and WBUR – Reporter & Host: Beth Schwartzapfel Violation (A seven part podcast “examining an unthinkable crime, second chances and who pulls the levers of power in the justice system.” https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/03/22/crime-podcast-jacob-wideman-john-eric-kane
Tweet from Emily Galvin-Almanza (Stanford Law) on Police Killings (US): “Wild new stat unlocked: people are as likely to be killed by police as by a stranger. Murders are almost always carried out by someone known to the victim. But if you’re scared of stranger murder you should probs look differently at police in the USA.” https://twitter.com/GalvinAlmanza/status/1668668017327190049?s=20
CBC News – John Paul Tasker
Pierre Poilievre calls for public safety minister to resign over Bernardo prison revelations – Convicted killer Paul Bernardo was transferred to a medium-security institution
The issue here is consideration for the victims’ families but it has degenerated into a hissy-fit between Poilievre and the Minister of Public Safety over when and if the transfer of Bernardo from maximum to medium security status followed all the protocol. Corrections Canada has outlined the conditions for approval within the system and Bernardo met these conditions after 28 years in maximum. The families are outraged and claim short notice from Corrections Canada. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pierre-poilievre-mendicino-resign-bernardo-1.6875971?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar Tweet from John Howard Society on Bernardo transfer: “2 issues: 1. compliance with laws + policies re transfer decision; 2. communication: why Minister “shocked” and found decision “inexplicable”. Both should be subject of external reviews.” https://twitter.com/JohnHoward_Can/status/1669315634604154880?s=20
BC Tyee – Emily Fagan
Hundreds of Women Have Nowhere to Go after Transitional Housing – BC Housing data shows they’re becoming homeless, or returning to abuse, instead of finding safe, affordable rentals.
“Lori is one of 89 individuals who entered homelessness following their time in women’s transitional housing and support programs between April 2022 and March 2023 in B.C. During this time, 293 other women reported returning to abusive situations after living in transition houses. These figures are not an anomaly: according to BC Housing data, they’ve remained consistent over the past five years.” https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/06/15/Women-Nowhere-Transitional-Housing/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=061523-3&utm_campaign=editorial