Sept 11, 2023 – U.S. guns…
Toronto Star – David Olive
Canada, gun nation: We buy more firearms per capita from U.S. than any other country. The reasons are chilling – Purchase of semi-automatic weapons from American gun makers soared 75 per cent in 2020 alone, writes David Olive. Shootings per capita, not surprisingly, have also risen dramatically.
Olive attributes the dramatic increase to the failure of the US to renew its ban on military assault weapons in 2004 and in a later Trump decision to move supervision of international gun sales to the Commerce Department from the State Department. Tracking by the Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco (ATF) of US guns used in crime in the countries to which they were sold, “The ATF determined that Canada accounted for 33.5 per cent of total traced U.S.-made crime guns between 2017 and 2021.” https://www.thestar.com/business/canada-gun-nation-we-buy-more-firearms-per-capita-from-u-s-than-any-other/article_558930e8-11b1-5cc8-aa2d-0035259d69ff.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=business
Carleton University – Jena Lynde-Smith
SSHRC Partnership Grant Funds Carleton University Research on Prison Transparency
Dawn Moore has highlighted a striking reality about Canadian Prisons: it is as hard to get information out of prison as it is to get information into the prison. In short, there is a huge transparency problem. Says Moore: “It’s really dangerous for a prisoner to raise the alarm that something has gone wrong because either the complaint will get buried or there will be retaliation – usually both.” But there is another plus. The work Moore will do called the Prison Transparency Project (PJP) is to afford a comparative view of prison transparency by bringing Spain and Argentina, and in the long term, other international experience, into the same perspective where Moore thinks the Argentinian prisons have something to offer Canada. The study starts now but with formerly incarcerated persons until the barriers of access can be overcome and sustainable networks created. “As citizens, we need to ensure we aren’t funding public institutions that actually do violence and commit illegal acts – in our own name and in the name of the state that is supposed to represent us,” says Moore. The grant for the project is from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), a Canadian government research funding agency. https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/sshrc-partnership-research-prison-transparency/ Related article: Toronto Star – Sara Cline And Kevin Mcgill, The Associated Press Judge orders Louisiana to remove incarcerated youths from the state’s maximum-security adult prison – Judge orders Louisiana to remove incarcerated youths from the state’s maximum-security adult prison https://www.thestar.com/news/world/united-states/judge-orders-louisiana-to-remove-incarcerated-youths-from-the-states-maximum-security-adult-prison/article_2209ea00-f074-5610-afd6-40f96765a383.html
Toronto Star – Rosie DiManno
The complicated costs of slavery restitution – In every which way, America is a country perniciously divided. But so are we, across the realm and down to the municipal nub, writes Rosie DiManno.
The article may serve as an introduction to the variety of ways of approaching restitution for historic enslavement and ways to estimate the economic loss to those enslaved as well as to those who profited from the exploitation. The question of restitution, though initially examined in the US context, applies equally to Canada and DiManno notes what has happened specifically in Canada while looking at initiatives in Evanston, Illinois, where there has been much local tax payer response. “Righting history, redressing catastrophic wrongs, is a noble undertaking. In theory, it’s gained increasing traction. In hard-nosed reality, though, the issue is deeply polarizing. A survey by the Pew Research Center, released last November, found that three in 10 U.S. adults say descendants of slaves should be repaid in some way — given land or money — but seven in 10 said descendants should not get a cent.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/the-complicated-costs-of-slavery-restitution/article_4d625166-3fba-567a-8c26-4f14de2e18e3.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a06&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=top_198562 Related article: Pew Research Foundation (US) – Carrie Blazina and Kiana Cox Black and White Americans are far apart in their views of reparations for slavery https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/28/black-and-white-americans-are-far-apart-in-their-views-of-reparations-for-slavery/ Related article: Public Broadcast System (PBS / US) – Paul Solmon and Ryan Connolly Holmes The impact of the nation’s first cash reparations program for Black residents https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-impact-of-the-nations-first-cash-reparations-program-for-black-residents
Canadian Lawyer – Michael Spratt
The unofficial police presence on social media tells us a lot
The article offers us a glimpse of the X (formerly Twitter) accounts on social media originating with police agencies and officers across the country. The tweets highlighted and identified by home turf are often entertaining but equally when cast in Spratt’s light the very sort of thing that should bring a resounding no to budget increase requests. This is more a good money following bad story than defund the police, though some may find elements of both. “Graffiti and hurt feelings over a murder investigation, beer busts over bail compliance checks, imprisoning the hungry, and viewing shoplifting as an act of violence… When the police tell us about their priorities we should listen. And the next time police ask for budget increases or claim that they are overwhelmed with violent crime, we should boot up Twitter and remind them what they did last summer.” https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/the-unofficial-police-presence-on-social-media-tells-us-a-lot/379495 Related tweet from Dr. Jessica Hutchinson on police budgets: “I really wish more people understood how selfish the police are. They are hoarding millions of dollars while people in our region are suffering. WRPS & PSB consciously choose to take millions they don’t need. It is gross and unethical. https://twitter.com/Jessichutchison/status/1700512419003457925?s=20
CBC News – Gavin Axelrod
Headingley inmate said ‘I can’t breathe’ more than 20 times while restrained by guards, video shows – Court shown video of February 2021 altercation between officers and William Ahmo, who later died in hospital
Robert Jeffrey Morden, the captain of the Emergency Response Unit of the Headingly Correctional Institute in Manitoba is charged with negligence in the failure to provide the necessities of life to William Ahmo who repeatedly complained about not being able to breathe when being subdued two years ago. Ahmo, 45, died a week later in hospital. Provincial Court Judge Tony Cellitti ordered a 21 minute graphic video of the jail incident to be released to the public with the support of Ahmo’s family who are pursuing a civil suit over the death. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/william-ahmo-court-trial-video-1.6956574
Battlefords Now (SK) – Nigel Maxwell
Inflation hits Canada’s prisons, inmates receive support to pay for canteen items
This announcement from Corrections Canada increases the allowance every 14 days to go from $90 – $120 and allows a maximum transfer from savings to current account to go from $750 – $850. There are no longer deductibles for food, accommodation or telephone. Corrections Canada insists: “It is being adjusted given inflation, affecting the prices of canteen items. This is not a pay increase.” https://battlefordsnow.com/2023/09/08/inflation-hits-canadas-prisons-inmates-receive-support-to-pay-for-canteen-items/ Related tweet from John Howard on increases in limits only: “Increasing the amount prisoners are allowed to spend on canteen items without increasing prisoners’ pay will only benefit prisoners from more affluent families who can afford to transfer $850.” https://twitter.com/JohnHoward_Can/status/1700489088527224898?s=20 (Informaion for federal prisoners in BC: Pay for incarcerated persons: https://prisonjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Federal-Prisoner-pay-2018.pdf