CANADIAN FEDERAL PRISON VIOLENCE

I've long believed that a prison sentence is to be for a specific period of time not to expose convicted individuals to assaults or death. Apparently Canadian authorities similar to many others around the world have a problem with that concept. Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Prison violence leaves Ottawa with growing legal burden". Currently there are 1,200 legal actions filed against the Correctional Service of Canada. This violence includes deaths, inmate-on-inmate assaults and guards use of pepper spray. Apparently to date at least our authorities feel that burdening taxpayers with these legal actions ($10 million) is cheaper than addressing the root problems causing the violence.

CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM REFORM OVERDUE

Last Friday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Very lives of these kids are on the line". Chief Perry Bellegarde stated that "It is simply not acceptable so many children are removed from their homes because of poverty noting that a system that rewards the apprehension of children must be changed because that is when money flows to agencies." Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett stated that the government is applying "every ounce of political muscle" to reform the child welfare system. She states that the problem has been that the federal government pay and the provinces and territories deliver. She added "I want to be accountable for the results, and that means we have to change the system.". This problem extends to more than just Canadian natives living in poverty. Children living in poverty are much more likely to be apprehended in Ontario whether or not they are of native heritage. Again the system and agencies are financially rewarded based upon how many children they have in custody including those seized against their and their parents' will. Afterall people in poverty can hardly afford to pay for lawyers to protect their and their childrens' rights.

SCHOOL BOARD EMPLOYEES COMMIT FRAUD?

Hoo boy am I laughing now. This is so totally not a surprise. School Boards throughout Waterloo Region moaned and groaned about standardized testing for years before it became mandatory. Now we find out that one of the French Boards actually cheated (?), committed fraud (?) or otherwise tried to game the system. What a hoot. Today's Record carries this story on the front page of the local section titled "Did literacy test fraud last five years?".

The only surprise for me is that years after the fact either the School Board or the College of Teachers have owned up to it and taken some steps to dissuade other schools or Boards from following suit. Which is pretty funny because who are we kidding here? I know a Board whose last letters end in DSB and starts in WR that I'd frankly be astounded if they hadn't thought of this first and acted upon it. I mean seriously look at the so called discipline that the French Board handed out to the two educators involved. A slap on the wrist. This tells me that those two may have taken a hit for the team on this one. Let's see down the road where their careers are. Will they be promoted or paid off in some similar fashion?

Why do you think the WRDSB pays all its' staff and teachers so well? Why do you think they are so tight with their union? Why has the Board in the past always sided with the union when a teacher has been caught redhanded behaving improperly, inappropriately or simply unprofessionally? Right now the Board, the union and the College of Teachers are hell on wheels on a teacher AFTER they've been convicted in a court of law on a criminal charge. Otherwise all three of those twits deny, deny, deny and attack parents with legitimate complaints. The only surprise to me is that our students are doing as well as they are; unless of course they aren't and the cheating at other Boards just hasn't been caught yet.

WATERLOO REGION POLICE CHIEF BRYAN LARKIN

Well! Peter Shawn Taylor in last Thursday's (Feb. 16/17) Waterloo Region Record really wrote a stunningly complimentary tribute to our current police chief. The title was "Lucky or good? Police Chief Bryan Larkin is both". I'm not going to disagree a whole lot with Mr. Taylor's comments and opinion in the matter. He backs them up pretty well with various anecdotes and facts. Clearly Chief Larkin has a much easier population (smaller) to police then say Toronto or Montreal. Also as per Mr. Taylor a more homogenous population with fewer very large populations of either aboriginals or Caribbean immigrant populations may make things significantly easier. Hmm. Is there just a tad of racism in that opinion of Mr. Taylor's? Mr. Taylor suggests that those two groups tend to find themselves "at odds with police in other Canadian cities.". I wonder if skin colour and socio-economic status may be as much factors with how police interact with these groups as the other way around?

Regardless Mr. Taylor also points out Chief Larkin's pro-active stance regarding the somewhat amazing 27% "unfounded" rate for sexual assault complaints in the Region. That is indeed to Chief Larkin's credit if he does take real action on the matter. Overall this article is such that I am rethinking various criticisms I've had both past and present. Could it be possible that our local regional councillors actually hired a progressive, up to date individual to run our regional police force? Time as usual will tell.

ONTARI ARI O OR LIVING IN ONTARIO

Well at least here in Ontario we don't have the public expense of debtors prisons. Oh no, here we simply let our poor people freeze in the dark. Can you imagine shutting off electricity in the dead of winter in Ontario? Apparently that's exactly what various electricity distributors have been doing. Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following article titled "Liberals eye bill to stop winter hydro shut-offs. Sure there are probably a few bad apples who intentionally pay their bills late. Or even make the conscious decision to buy booze and cigarettes rather than pay their hydro bills. Maybe. However with rising hydro costs, declining real wages and unemployment especially for our young people at high levels; I ask you really how many people are intentionally not paying their hydro bills in winter if they have any other options. No I don't consider not buying food to be a viable option.

FURTHER SHAME OF OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The Waterloo Region Record published the following story on February 17/17 titled "Judge apologizes to parents of girl left in "limbo" for years after flawed Motherisk drug test". Make no mistake the apology made by the Judge while grossly overdue and simply inadequate in that an apology alone can never undue the damage done; nevertheless was a good thing. Perhaps one of the very few good things the legal system has done in regards to the young girl and her parents. Basically the intervention of the child welfare system and the courts was an abomination. As with other parents, Children's Aid or whatever name they choose to use, stepped in and seized children or quoting the judge "wrongly apprehended" them. Furthermore the Judge "Justice Grant A. Campbell reveals how reliance on discredited hair testing from the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk laboratory contributed to a "perfect storm" of errors, incompetence ...and mistakes.". I have been recently advised that this is not the first scandal regarding Sick Kid's lab testing. I personally recall probably a couple of decades ago there was also a big scandal regarding Toronto's Centre for Forensic Sciences. Finally we must never forget the horrible years of asinine testimony from a so called world expert on pathology that resulted, again years after the fact, in reversals of convictions for child abuse and negligence.

NURSING HOMES-PERHAPS NOT WHAT THEY"RE CRACKED UP TO BE

A week ago the Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Nursing home cited for drug incidents". Remarkably (or not) the nursing home involved is Caressant Care in Woodstock. Yes that is the home at the centre of the murder charges against Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a nurse alleged to have killed patients in her care at that home as well as in London. The allegations suggest that she used drugs to kill several residents.

The current problems involve 41 drug-related incidents at the home between early August and late December of last year. The following problems were identified: "22 such incidents involved medication not given to patients, six involved patients given the wrong dosage, five involved drugs given to the wrong person, three were doses given at the wrong time and one was medication administered without a prescription.".

Anybody believe that it's just coincidence that the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care just happened to find these serious and totally unnecessary failures after Elizabeth Wettlaufer was charged with murder? Or is it more likely that somebody said Holy Cr.. what's been going on there? Let's check things out. In other words only after there's been a crisis are the Ministry stepping up and doing their duty.

THE RECORD COMMENTS WISELY ON TRUSTEE ANDREA MITCHELL

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried as an Editorial the following opinion namely "Trustee should rethink her job". The Editorial is in reference to Trustee Andrea Mitchell's decision to "attend" a Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) meeting by telephone. This takes place after a year's absence allegedly due to a "heart condition". The Record Editorial does not advise as to whether or not any evidence of that heart condition had been made available to the Board. Also disconcertingly there is the suggestion that her non-attendance for the past year is also due to "risk" to her health due to an alleged private verbal confrontation with another trustee. While the Board made some sort of investigation of this verbal confrontation it was difficult to ascertain either party's exact words in the absence of witnesses. Long story short the Record are suggesting very respectfully that if the Trustee for whatever reason is unable to perform her duties it's time to say goodbye. I would tend to agree. Yes there has been acrimony at the Board. Yes it must be stressful. But after a year it's time to either attend in person and perform your duties or resign.

KITCHENER COUNCIL MESSES UP AGAIN

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Neighbours needed a tough advocate". Luisa D'Amato is suggesting that Kitchener Council's "folding like a cheap suit" would not have happened if Willie Ferguson was still on Council. She mentions a couple of incidents where he stepped up and did whatever it took to embarrass Council members into doing the right thing. This latest incident with Kitchener Council revolves around another developer huffing and puffing and threatening to go to the Ontario Municipal Board if Council didn't give him a zone change to help his financial situation at the expense of the quiet enjoyment of the local residents' homes. The public once again got the pointed end of the stick while the well off developer/promoter has his way with Council. This is democracy when you don't have enough people on Council's who are there for the public's benefit.

RANKED BALLOT VOTING SYSTEM

Kitchener Council has joined the list of local municipalities who are more interested in getting themselves re-elected rather than the voters' preferences. The current system is called "first past the post" and gives a significant edge to name recognition. Ranked ballots on the other hand almost force voters to at least get to know a little about several candidates. Kitchener Councillors used the tried and true excuses such as it's too complicate, too involved and add costs to municipal elections. Councillor Sarah Marsh disagreed saying "I really think that we shouldn't be undersetimating the intelligence of the electorate." A system that better reflected voter preference "might even inspire more people to come out and vote.'. Waterloo and Cambridge turned down ranked ballot voting last fall. The Record's article is titled "Kitchener decides ranked voting system too involved".

SCHOOL BUS CRASHES IN WATERLOO REGION

Last Saturday the Waterloo Region Record carried this story titled "School bus crashes down last year". The sub-title was "No students injured for first time in seven years". I love the quote from Student Transportation Services of Waterloo namely "Transportation continues to be very safe for students". Are you kidding me? Just because some self-serving twit says so, doesn't make it so. The sub-title is downright horrifying in that they are bragging that no student was injured for the first time in seven years. Good God what do they consider a bad record; deaths every year?

This story then seamlessly rolls right into irrelevancies. Bus collisions are not about cars blowing past stopped school buses with their lights flashing. They are not about traffic cameras being installed on buses to catch ignorant car drivers. If there has been a collision between a bus and a car you've got the evidence right there on one of the buses bumpers.

What I would like to see are the statistics for single vehicle (bus) accidents. I'd like to see the statistics when cars and buses collide, who is at fault the majority of the time. Keep in mind that buses are very big and heavy and they are painted bright yellow. Are the majority of last year's 48 collisions a result of hitting moving vehicles or hitting trees, posts, parked cars and or simply sliding off of snowy roads. This is very relevant as when my kids were riding school buses my wife and I pulled them off the bus after a number of single vehicle accidents by one driver. Shortly afterwards she managed to bounce off several trees, all on her own, and end up with the front end of the bus hanging out over the Grand River during a high water event.

BAD TERMINOLOGY, BAD POLICING OR WHAT?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following front page headline "Unfounded" rate sparks police review". Oh my but this needs to be either clarified or fixed as in yesterday. Apparently 27 percent of local sex assault reports were not acted on. A Globe and Mail investigation showed that police investigators dismiss one out of every five sex assault claims as unfounded. The rates vary dramatically from city to city with Hamilton and London at 30 percent and Toronto at 7 percent. My first question is the use of the word "unfounded". Is that unfounded as in just plain outright false or is it intended to be closer to unsubstantiated by evidence? Also on the face of it if it means allegedly false then are we to believe that 7% of primarily female allegations in Toronto are lies whereas here in Waterloo Region as well as in Hamilton and London, female complainants lie more often ie. 27 and 30 % of the time? That really doesn't seem to make much sense on the face of it. The other glaring possibility is that some of our police forces are particularily bad at handling these cases. It would seem unlikely for example that Waterloo, Hamilton and London perpetrators are so much smarter than Toronto bad guys that they can hide or minimize evidence much better, making charges that much less likely. Last but not least does the word unfounded essentially mean no charges will be laid? If that is the case then no matter the reason for not laying charges, the terminology needs to drastically change.

R.C.M.P. OFFICER INDIRECTLY KILLS A POLICE OFFICER DURING CHASE

The timing of this story in the Waterloo Region Record is interesting. It was published February 3/17, two days after the major story in the Record concerning the toddler who was ejected from an SUV on the 401 after being intentionally rammed from behind by an O.P.P. officer. Miraculously the child survived the high speed ejection. The police officer near Victoria B.C. was not so lucky as she was killed by the vehicle the Mountie was chasing. Charges are being considered by Crown counsel in the B.C. case. But for sheer luck the O.P.P. officer would have directly killed a child with his actions. Are charges being considered in this closer to home case? This local case was also written up here in the Advocate on February 2/17.

O.P.P. OFFICER FACING CHARGES

The Waterloo Region Record carried a small story on February 4/17 titled "SIU charges OPP officer with 6 counts arising from collision". The Special Investigations Unit says that a 24 year old man was operating an ATV on the evening of June 22, 2016. He was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle. Const. Sean Coughlan was arrested last Friday and "charged with one count each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and obstructing a peace officer, and two counts each of perjury and obstructing justice."The first court appearance in Sarnia is February 28/17.

Wow these are serious charges. The ATV rider suffered serious injuries in the collision. There is no mention of whether there was a chase involved or of any improper behaviour by the ATV rider.

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT REVISITS POLICE SERVICES ACT

For the first time since 1990 the Ontario government are reexamining the Police Act with an eye to making changes. These proposed changes include strengthening police board governance, delegating some police duties to civilians, mandating co-operation with other agencies and improving third party oversight of police. Also there is a suggestion that processes and penalties for police officer misconduct should be simplified and brought more in line with general labour practices in the province. Frankly I find that disingenuous as there is no such thing as general labour practices within the province. There are unionized environments with written contractual obligations and penalties and then there are all the rest non unionized positions where employers do as they bloody well please. The provincial Ministry of Labour is a toothless tiger in those instances.

Yes improvements are needed but why do I think the governing Liberals haven't got a clue much less any real zeal for reform? The Waterloo region record article is titled "Police chiefs need power to suspend with no pay:survey".

ONTARIO NURSING HOMES

I wonder if anyone has the real statistics of seniors injured or killed directly or indirectly in seniors homes in Ontario. Who keeps track of attacks and assaults and does the data go to the provincial government or not. Finally how does the provincial government if they do receive data know how accurate it is? I wonder if my father's problems in a Kitchener nursing home nearly thirty years ago ever ended up on the government's radar much less in their files.

Last Saturday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following article titled "Nursing home resident badly beaten in Hamilton". An 85 year old male resident in a Hamilton nursing home was badly beaten while sleeping. He ended up in hospital and the picture of his face tells the tale. It's a mess. I expect that unless the family raises a stink as this one did and I did thirty years ago that neither the police or government ever hear about it from the nursing home. This is yet one more shame and embarassment among many in this province and people are dying because of it.

ANY PROBLEM CAN BE EXACERBATED THROUGH FOOLISHNESS

Last month I posted here about a Waterloo Regional Police officer who was charged with several counts of assault while off-duty. The officer is remaining unnamed as it is a family matter. Furthermore the officer has seventeen years experience with the Waterloo force. A while back a family member wisely advised me that no matter how serious a crisis or emergency; that thoughtless, negligent or a just plain stupid response can always make it worse. The idea that things are so bad that you couldn't possibly make them worse is a horrible idea. With a bad decision to act, you can indeed make things worse.

I wonder if that may be the case with the article in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "Waterloo Regional Police officer facing assault charges is arrested again". Apparently the officer who was arrested and charged last month has been rearrested for allegedly breaching court orders from his first arrest. The breach of the court orders is not specified. Possibly he was ordered to stay away from certain individuals and did not do so. Possibly he was ordered to actually stay out of the geographical area or town and failed to do so.

In other words with court orders or bail conditions it could be a serious breach or a breach of a ridiculous condition that should never have been laid in the first place. Hard to say. Another item of interest is that Chief Larkin of the local force requested London police to arrest the officer "to ensure transparency". Hunh? What the hell is that all about? Is another member of the local force involved personally in this matter? I think Chief Larkin either shouldn't have said that or else he should have clarified exactly what he was saying.

POLICE OLD BOYS CULTURE

On-line the CBC carried a story on January 31, 2017 titled "Calgary police officer resigns at emotionally-charged commission meeting". My God but police forces whether municipal, provincial or even federal (RCMP) still don't get it. Their male members high on testosterone, stupidity and low education in general still think that today's policing is solely about muscles and cowboy behaviour. How else does one explain the ongoing bullying and harassment of female officers? With equal training a female officer with a gun can do just as much damage to seriously bad people as a male officers. Possibly with equal training they can defuse many situations better without resorting to lethal weaponry. Possibly they can do the same with less training than their male counterparts. What makes virtually no sense to me is male police officers sniping, verbal harassment and then the clear lack of management intolerance for these internal attacks upon members. This fourteen year female veteran resigned at the public Calgary Police Commission meeting. Changes, not lip service, are required from the top down.

TODDLER EJECTED FROM VEHICLE AFTER O.P.P. INTENTIONALLY RAMMED IT AT HIGH SPEED

So at the start of the incident when the father took off at a high rate of speed the Waterloo Regional police officer did not pursue based upon "concerns for the well being of the child". Then approximately an hour and a half later an O.P.P. officer intentionally rammed the back of the speeding vehicle because "the threat of immediate bodily harm or death to the abducted child in the vehicle outweighed the risk to public safety.". The same Crown Prosecutor gave these two conflicting arguments in Court yesterday.

After reading the whole story I can understand the level of fear and concern for the child. That said the father while clearly behaving aggressively and erratically did not have convictions for murder, kidnap etc.. I'm somewhat aghast that ramming a vehicle at high speed from behind was the best way to stop the vehicle, protect the child and minimize harm to the public using the highway. That vehicle did not have a thousand miles of clear highway before it. It had a border with the U.S. coming up in the sights with several opportunities to deal with it at lower speeds. The SUV also at high speeds (160 km/h) was going to run out of gas sooner not later. Please tell me that cowboys on the scene did not make the decision on their own to ram this fleeing vehicle. The title of the story in today's Waterloo Region Record is "Toddler ejected from SUV during chase".