If feds are serious about Indigenous justice and ending colonial violence, bring Charman Smith home
The Indian Act and reserve system. The criminalization of ceremony. Residential schools. The ‘60’s Scoop, and mass adoption. Failing to put in place the necessary resources to stop the disappearances and murders of Indigenous women and girls. These are but a few of the many examples of violent and genocidal laws, policies, practices, and institutions […]
The consequences of Islamophobic Conservative policies are coming home to roost
OTTAWA—There is a direct line from the political and policy responses following 9/11 to the murder of the Afzaal-Salman family; there is a cause and effect when politicians spread state-sanctioned hate through policies and the rhetoric required to sell them to the public. It is at this point of reckoning that Canada once again learns […]
‘Do the right thing’: prison segregation oversight ‘inadequate’ report finds as author, watchdog call for new law
The Liberal government’s only oversight mechanism for monitoring a new system meant to end solitary confinement is “inadequate” and lacks transparency, according to a new report based on data from the Correctional Service of Canada. Under Bill C-83, which became law in 2019, appointees known as Independent External Decision Makers (IEDM) review decisions to place […]
Sharpening of cabinet-making tools a portent of an election to come
OTTAWA—If, as the Ottawa gossip mill suggests (notably it never gets dampened by even a pandemic), that the prime minister is planning an election in late summer or early fall, is a federal cabinet shuffle on the horizon? The government seems to be risk managing all other elements of its agenda and operations. So, after […]
Privacy and security go hand in hand—we need to treat them that way
There is a false dichotomy that is set up in security debates; it is either privacy or security. It is a zero-sum game. With Bill C-11 proposing sweeping changes to Canada’s private sector privacy laws, it is time for a mature, strategic, and informed discussion. We have to move beyond simple conceptions because the cost of failing to get […]
Constitutional challenge to sex work laws ‘succeeded before’ and will succeed again, says advocacy group
A sex worker advocacy group is pushing for reform to laws that endanger sex workers, using a decriminalization approach that some MPs say has their support. The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform launched a constitutional challenge against the current sex work laws earlier this spring, seeking to strike down prohibitions against public communication […]
CSC should abandon its industrial goat farm fiasco
Scandal continues to brew over the Correctional Service Canada’s plan to convert its two Kingston-area prison farms into an industrial dairy goat operation for the commercial market (see “Scandal brewing over feds’ prison farm plans,” The Hill Times, March 8.) In fact, the brew is heating up. CSC itself is stirring the pot with its […]
An ‘assault-plus’: MP, Senator urge action amid rise in hate crimes predating pandemic
A British Columbia MP and a Senator are calling on Ottawa to send a “strong message” to ensure hate crimes are properly tracked, investigated, and prosecuted in the wake of a seven per cent rise in these crimes reported to police, and early data suggesting this is just a ripple compared to a pandemic-related surge […]
Gun control advocates trash feds’ bill, but it’s probably a winner anyway, say pollsters
Gun control advocates have slammed the government’s new gun control bill as ineffective, redundant, and a “capitulation to the gun lobby”—which is also thoroughly displeased with the bill. It might be good politics for the Liberals anyway, say pollsters. “Some might be disappointed, but most will see it as a step in the right direction,” […]
Torture ‘by another name’: Canada still keeps some prisoners in solitary confinement, ‘disturbing’ new data shows
Nearly 10 per cent of Canadian prisoners housed in “structured intervention units” are still being kept in conditions recognized internationally as torture, according to a new report based on data tracked by the federal prison authorities. Almost one-third of prisoners staying in these units were under conditions that qualify as solitary confinement, despite a Liberal […]
