July 14, 2023 – Safe in community…
Amnesty International (Canada)
END VIOLENCE AGAINST INDIGENOUS WOMEN & 2SLGBTQIA+ LAND AND WATER DEFENDERS IN Canada
Amnesty International is trying to co-op petitioners and advocates to call for the end of the violence against Indigenous people trying to defend their land while frequently branded terrorists or protestors. “Indigenous women, Two Spirit and gender diverse defenders not only experience criminalization and surveillance but also state-sanctioned sexual and gender-based violence in their attempts to preserve their lands and waters and heal their communities.” https://takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/131664/action/1?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=utm_violence_indigenous_women&utm_content=End+Canada%27s+violence+against+Indigenous+Land+Defenders&ea.url.id=6476430
The Conversation (Queen’s) – Jason Walker
Mounties in crisis: The systemic failure to address sexual abuse within the RCMP
In 2021 following an extensive exposé of failure to respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault within the ranks of the force, the RCMP established an independent body known as Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR) whose mandate was to provide resolution quickly on complaints from members. The link provides the history of the struggle for accountability and the failure to date to deal adequately with the problem. “Since its inception, the ICHR has received more than 900 complaints from RCMP officers. Only 325 cases have been resolved, indicating serious process issues within the ICHR.” First, to deal with the backlog over two years, the RCMP suggested adding RCMP officers to investigate complaints, a seriously compromise to the Independent status of the ICHR. Then the ICHR itself began to contract out investigators. https://theconversation.com/mounties-in-crisis-the-systemic-failure-to-address-sexual-abuse-within-the-rcmp-209090?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2014%202023&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2014%202023+CID_d11726b38eda788ac2e02cd797eb9177&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Mounties%20in%20crisis%20The%20systemic%20failure%20to%20address%20sexual%20abuse%20within%20the%20RCMP
TruthOut (US) – Rachel Herzing
Here’s How Organizing to Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex Works in Practice – As more activists embrace abolition of the prison industrial complex, here’s what this work demands of us in practice.
The link provides an enlarged perspective for prison abolitionists from the focus exclusively on the prison punishment system. Herzing suggests the focus needs to be the abolitionist needs to be the Prison Industrial Complex or PIC: “Prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition is the political praxis that seeks to eliminate the use of surveillance, policing, sentencing, imprisonment and execution and to build healthy, stable, self-determined societies that do not rely on coercion and vengeance to address harm. It’s important to note that detention and immigration policing are included in this understanding of the prison industrial complex, as is mental health imprisonment, youth imprisonment, and so on. This is not a new praxis but rather one developed through struggle over decades. This praxis, previously rejected outright as utopian or science fiction, has recently become more widely accepted. From Twitter to The New York Times, PIC abolitionist ideas have pierced the mainstream. Catalyzed in part by the 2020 uprisings and fueled by many years of persistent organizing, more people have begun to question the legitimacy of the punishment system and to consider how much better life could be without it.” https://truthout.org/articles/heres-how-organizing-to-abolish-the-prison-industrial-complex-works-in-practice/
Canada Can Halve Violent Crime in the Next Five Years – Irwin Waller and Jeffrey Bradley
The link provides a two minute video that outlines proven methods for violence and crime prevention vs simply increasing police budgets. “Violent crime harms too many people in Canada, but this can be changed. This short video shows how prevention focused on addressing the root causes of crime can reduce violence significantly, cost-effectively, and within 5 years. Social outreach, youth development, trauma therapy and mentoring, positive parenting, and improving norms are important examples of proven prevention. Harnessing prevention that works to reduce violent crime, by 50% within 5 years, requires change. Important routes to transformation include offices for violence prevention, community safety planning skills, and sustained funding.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z50LeWpiyeU Blogger Russell Webster (UK): Transform Justice argues for a more localised criminal justice system (Webster focuses on a report from Transform Justice Close to Home around the need to have a local articulation for justice. “The report, written by Fionnuala Ratcliffe, argues that there is a lack of local ownership for crime prevention and reducing reoffending: “Local agencies go cap in hand to central government for funding, rather than fostering and supporting innovative solutions locally.” https://www.russellwebster.com/do-we-need-a-local-justice-system/ Transform Justice Report: Close to Home https://www.transformjustice.org.uk/publication/close-to-home-the-case-for-localising-criminal-justice-services-in-england-and-wales/
“A Stone is Most Precious Where it Belongs: A Memoir of Uyghur Exile, Hope, and Survival” by Gulcherha Hoja. Hachette Book Group, 2023. A review by Shawn N. Smith
From time to time, the newsletter finds a book worth reading to inform, and perhaps inspire, our pursuit of justice. This is one of those moments. The Uyghurs have been at the heart of a specific human rights issue for some time. Smith offers courage: “Gulchehra Hoja is a Uyghur journalist living in the United States. She talks about her struggles associated with bringing the story of the Uyghur people to the rest of the world. She is truly a courageous person.” Hoja offers a response to constantly living with fear: “That is the fear we live with, every day and every hour. But there is one greater fear that urges us on: that if we stop doing our duty as journalists if we were silent, the world would simply forget.” https://snsmith.substack.com/p/my-review-of-gulcherha-hojas-memoir/comments
Human Rights Watch Daily Brief:
Quote of the Day: The treatment of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland has brought emergency legislation to provide housing. The question is why can we not use the same model for current homeless people and for asylum seekers each in our own jurisdictions? Why the impasse?
Asylum in Ireland: “Emergency powers have been used to provide modular homes for Ukrainian refugees, so why not for asylum seekers?”
Homeless Hub Canada
“We’re thrilled to announce that 3 incredible resource collections on the Homelessness Learning Hub are now available in French! Learn more below:
- Trauma-Informed Care is designed for programs supporting youth and adults in Housing First and Prevention programs.
- Housing First 101 includes practical guides for working with various populations in the Housing First framework.
- Harm Reduction provides basic guidelines and specific tools for implementing Harm Reduction principles in programs.”
Related resource: Extreme heat and people experiencing homelessness Information and resources for community organizations.