Vic Toews and the League of Imaginary Crime Fighters

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/joan-ruzsa/vic-toews-crime-rate_b_1734062.html So this is rich: the Conservatives are taking credit for the falling crime rate. On July 24, after Statistics Canada reported that police-reported crime was at its lowest level in 40 years, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews tweeted “Crime rate down 6% – shows CPC tough on crime is working. Rate is still … Continue reading →

“Club Fed” – Part 1

by Giselle Dias ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Last night I was at a dinner party when the topic of prisons came up. It usually does when I am around because that is what I want to talk about. As I was talking about the poor conditions of prisons someone asked me “but what about club fed?” Immediately the … Continue reading →

43% Increase in Federal Penitentiary Construction Budget: NDP

by Justin Piché While Finance Minister Jim Flaherty preached fiscal constraint during his unveiling of the Federal Budget yesterday, announcing decreases and freezes on various areas of government expenditure, he managed to set aside funds to feed the Reform Party’s addiction to imprisonment.  According to a statement released today by NDP Public Safety Critic Don … Continue reading →

Building a National Prisoners’ Justice Movement

Are you concerned about all the new prisons being built in Canada? The government has proposed new legislation about prisons and the Conservative government is committed to building new prisons. Without a doubt, Canada is moving towards the U.S style of justice. More prisons, less justice. We are a small group of people with big concerns. … Continue reading →

Ottawa Public Forum on Prorogation

PUBLIC FORUM Prorogation as Opportunity: Proposing New Directions for Criminal Justice Policy in Canada Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:00pm – 5:30pm Ottawa Public Library – Main Branch 120 Metcalfe Street Ottawa, ON Since their election in 2006, the minority Conservative Government of Canada has made ‘tackling crime’ one of its priorities.  In the years since, … Continue reading →

Proroguing less trouble than sitting

In today’s Toronto Star, Linda McQuaig talks about how the Harper government’s decision to prorogue parliament was a transparent attempt to stop a parliamentary investigation into Canada’s role in the torture of Afghan detainees. This is an affront to democracy. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/749392–mcquaig-proroguing-less-trouble-than-sitting ________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Harper has created a hornet’s nest for himself with his decision to … Continue reading →

Why We Should All Be Concerned About Bill C-43: An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Criminal Code

Significant Amendments to the CCRA proposed in Bill C-43 (excerpted from Graham Stewart and Michael Jackson’s commentary) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ In December 2007, the Correctional Services Canada (CSC) Independent Review Panel released its final report outlining recommendations for the Government of Canada. The Panel was assigned the task of completing a review of CSC’s operational priorities, strategies … Continue reading →

The Wrongs of the Immigration System

– a statement by No One Is Illegal – Toronto – Some believe that the Canadian immigration system is fair and generous. It isn’t. And Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney are swiftly making it even worse. They are underhandedly taking apart the so-called ‘objective’ points-based system. They are moving quickly to get rid of its … Continue reading →