Amanda’s Amazing Articles…

In 2005, two Mississauga girls were convicted of drowning their mother in a bathtub.  Now, the older of the two has been released from prison so that she can take online courses with the University of Waterloo.  The other sister has not been allowed release.  The Crown prosecutor has said that the older sister has been ‘ a model prisoner and a straight A student.’

Yes, it is good that someone has been able to ‘break out of their criminal ways’ and is wanting to go get an education, but I hope they keep an eye on her for a while.  Even though she does sound like the more reformed of the two sisters.  I would like to know why they killed their mother, the article says that she was alcoholic but that could mean nothing (of course it also mentions that the girls are not allowed to touch any drugs or alcohol).

A man who is accused of manslaughter for killing his father is acting as his own lawyer at his trial.  On June 18 Trevor Dimen (the accused/lawyer) cross-examined his own mother regarding the death of his father and sometimes his questions did not involve the crime at all.  He has also questionned other witnesses.

I can see if you want to act as your lawyer in a civil case, but this guy is charged with manslaughter.  Is he actually a lawyer??  He must not care to much about whether or not he goes to jail. 

Toronto city workers walked off the job shortly after midnight on Monday, June 22.  They have been frustrated with the negotiations that have lasted 6 months and they claim to have gotten nowhere.  Numerous different services will be affected such as garbage pickup, swimming pools, museums, community centers, camps, libraries and the water and sewer.

The city claims that in light of the recession they are not in a financial position to give the workers everything that they want.  

With summer just around the corner this could cause some problems for Toronto.  As stated in the article, with the temperature rising and garbage not getting picked up, things could get gross after a while.  Also, with many of their ‘attractions’ closed (pools, museums etc.), they are just going to end up losing even more money. 

I think that if this isn’t resolved by the end of the week the city should implement the ‘Back to Work’ legislation.  Some of the services affected are pretty major and need the people to keep the city running and good for the citizens and visitors.

19-year-old Blake David Norman is facing 3 charges of manslaughter and one charge of arson in a fire that occured May 26 in La Ronge.  The fire broke out in a four-storey apartment complex, killing Justin Charles, Marsha Mckenzie and their 4-month-old child, Jeremy Charles.

This really is too bad.  What I would like to know is why this guy saw the need to kill this family. 

Someone also made a really interesting comment on the article:

“Considering that arson is the WILLFUL setting of a fire, this action was well-thought out and therefore planned.  The ONLY charged that should be leveled is first-degree murder, along with no hope of parole.”

 Which I think is a good point.  If the whole setting the fire was planned, then does that make the murder’s planned?  Because if it does, then he would be charged with first degree murder.

A recent U.S. State Departments report has labelled Canada as a “a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.”

While Canada made human trafficking illegal in 2005, there have only been 5 convictions in the past year.  One man only spent a week in jail for trafficking a 17-year-old girl.  The RCMP estimate that between 800-1200 people have been victims of trafficking.  Benjamin Perrin, a University of BC law professor, has said that there is not enough being done to investigate and prosecute offenders.

I completely agree with Perrin that more should be done to prosecute offenders.  Human trafficking is a terrible crime and one week is not enough of a punishment.  Bill C-268 which is proposing a minimum 5-year sentence for anyone convicted of trafficking someone under the age of 18 is a good idea but I think that it should include trafficking anyone.  There needs to be more of an effort to protect Canadian citizens as well as visitors to the country.

Video: CTV interview with Benjamin Perrin

In 2006, 17 year old Jarvis Cote and 4 others burst into a house and shot one of the residents there.  While he did not do the actual shooting he still pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role.  The youths had believed that the man who was shot was part of another gang.

The man who pulled the trigger got life with no chance of parole for 14 years, and 2 of the others got eight years.

First off, I think the sentences are pretty decent.  But then I am thinking that there needs to be some sort of reform for these gangs.  One of the people who commented on the story had a good comment “We have to find out why we have these gangs and put an end to it.”

I agree and I don’t know if they offer programs or something in the jails but that would be good if they do.  I also agree with someone who said that the jails are too nice for prisoners.  You have to make it so they don’t want to go back there, not like it’s a temporary home.

This is an old article from April 2008.

In this article, two Sikh men are protesting a new hard-hat policy at the sawmill where they work.  There are many Sikhs emplyed at this sawmill and the vice-president of the sawmill has stated that the new policy has reduced the number of injuries there.   

This is not the first argument by the Sikhs to be permitted to wear their turbans in a setting where there is mandatory hat-wear (ex. in the RCMP and with a motorcycle).  I can respect the fact that they want to maintain their religion and not have to forfeit it.  But in this situation this is their personal safety we are talking about and they are working in a dangerous area.  As stated in the article, other Sikh’s have been wearing the hard hats over their turbans which should be perfectly fine.

New legislation has been introduced that would allow Canadian victims to sue (through Canadian courts) those responsible for acts of terrorism against them.  This would include individuals, organizations and foreign states that sponsor terrorism.  

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said: “ We believe it’s critical and important that we keep our citizens safe, that we fight the threat of terrorism here and abroad.  We’re providing an opportunity for victims of terrorism to seek justice that might otherwise be denied to them.”

This makes me go ‘Huh?’  In response to Peter Van Loan’s quote I say ‘How is suing terrorists going to keep citizens safe?’  I don’t understand how Canadians would be able to sue the terrorists, let alone a foreign state.  Also, where would this money come from?  If they are terrorists they probably won’t care about giving you money, they can just go and inflict some more terror.

Here is another article discussing terrorism.

Around 300 RCMP officers, Quebec provincial police and First Nations police were in aboriginal territory located about 60 km NW of Montreal.  13 homes were raided in an attempt to shut down a criminal organization that was distributing marijuana.  16 people were arrested, and marijuana and drug equipment was seized.  They have also blocked off the entrance to the territory.

This is not the first incident in this area.  The Mohawks had barricaded the Kanesatake territory in the summer of 2008 after police were reportedly chased out (for whatever reason).

I think it is good that the police have been able to shut down this organization (for now) but I also think that it is unfortunate that they have so many problems with this area.  There is alot of tobacco and drug dealing going on here and they need to start doing something to get rid of it and then preventing it from coming back.

“We understand the concerns of our allies and the international community. Those concerns may be due to an inappropriate, not-so-good translation of the law, or misinterpretation,” says President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

Yeah right.  Everyone in the entire world would not be able to make the same misinterpretation. 

But moving on, why would they even attempt to pass this law? Somebody must have known that it would be met with a lot of criticism. 

 I think the way that they view and treat their people (particularly those that the higher-ups think very little of) is horrific and I do think they need to change.  And unfortunately it is like this everywhere (not the exact same thing, but similar idea).  However, I also think that we shouldn’t be pushing our values on them, no matter how righteous we think they may be.  It is basically telling a Muslim to be Christian (not my idea of fairness or equality).

Human rights is such a tricky issue.  Both sides may believe that they are right, but who gets to have the final say: he who has the most firepower.  How horribly ironic.