These are the first class actions involving group arrests to be certified in Ontario
The class actions involve people from five separate crowds that were surrounded by police, mass-arrested and then held in a detention centre during the G20 summit in Toronto nearly six years ago. (CBC)
By Nicole Brockbank, reposted from CBC News, Apr 6, 2016
Two class actions over alleged civil rights abuses and “kettling” during the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto were given the go-ahead by the Ontario Court of Appeal Wednesday.
The class actions involve over 1,000 people. The lawsuit alleges people were arrested in large groups and held in “inhumane conditions” at a detention centre located inside an unused film studio on Eastern Avenue.
These are the first class actions involving group arrests to be certified in the province.
The Court of Appeal wrote that police cannot arrest a group of civilians “as a way of ‘fishing’ for particular individuals.”
It also highlighted the role these class actions would play in changing police behaviour.
A lawyer for the group said the “groundbreaking” decision could help guard the basic freedoms of all Canadians.
About 20 to 30 students are expected to enroll when the program launches in the fall
Atlantic Police Academy at Slemon Park, P.E.I. will soon offer Canada’s first training program for Aboriginal safety officers. (Nancy Russell/CBC)
By Lisa Blackburn, reposted from CBCNews, Apr 6, 2016
The Atlantic Police Academy at Holland College is launching a six-month training program for young people considering a career in policing in aboriginal communities.
The Canadian Centre of Public Safety Excellence and Holland College are working with the Cree First Nation and Kiamauga Corporation in Summerside to develop the program.
In a written release, Egmont MP Bobby Morrissey said the Aboriginal Community Safety Officer training program is the first of its kind in Canada.
“I am proud to see this kind of ground-breaking approach being led right here in Prince Edward Island,” he said.
The curriculum is still under development, but is being done in close consultation with members and elders of Nelson House First Nation in Manitoba to ensure it is culturally sensitive and geared towards the realities of law enforcement of aboriginal communities.
The program, to be offered at the academy in Slemon Park, includes studies of cultural issues, community leadership and communication.
About 20 to 30 students are expected to enroll when the program launches in the fall.
The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is providing $206,205 in funding.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 10:27 AM - Seismic blasting will come to a halt in the Canadian Arctic this year, leaving the waters of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait free from the harmful impacts of offshore drilling.
On April 1, the conglomerate of seismic companies announced that they won’t go through with their 2016 plans to search for oil and gas by blasting the Arctic seabed.
“We are relieved to hear that seismic companies will not enter Inuit waters this year to threaten Arctic marine life and further exacerbate food insecurity in the North,” says Greenpeace Arctic campaigner Farrah Khan. “Inuit did not consent to this project and we will continue to support them in their fight until their voices are heard and their rights are respected.”
The announcement came weeks after the Nunavut settlement of Clyde River finally saw their case against seismic testing reach the Supreme Court of Canada. Clyde River’s case is a historic one, being the first case from Nunavut to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We’re encouraged by what Prime Minister Trudeau has said regarding prioritizing the Inuit to Crown relationship, but so far the new Liberal government has been silent on Clyde River’s fight, and they remain an opponent in the case,” Khan says.
More than 300,000 of Clyde River’s worldwide supporters wrote letters to the Prime Minister and National Energy Board’s Chair regarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Arctic environment.
Though not a definitive solution, the halt momentarily keeps marine wildlife safe from the various dangerous of seismic blasts.
Environmental impacts of seismic blasting
Seismic blasting occurs when seismic air guns or cannons create blasts deep under the ocean floor. A preliminary measure in offshore drilling, these blasts are used to help find potential oil and gas deposits.
Seismic air guns are transported behind ships and fire loud blasts of compressed air through the water, Oceana reports. These blasts travel kilometres into the seabed and reflect back information about buried oil and gas sources.
The process calls for several blasts repeated in ten second intervals, 24 hours a day, for several days and even weeks at a time, Oceana adds. These blasts are notorious for the impact they have on marine wildlife. Among the most troubling, seismic blasts can kill eggs and larvae, scare fish away from vital habitats, and induce hearing loss in marine mammals (leading to strandings or death.)
Seismic blasts have the potential to injure up to 138,000 whales and dolphins, while disrupting the lives of millions more.
Must See: Hot tea thrown into Arctic air creates this stunning wintry spectacle
The video refers to the work of Mark Jacobson from Stanford University. The image below shows a possible projected mix of energy in Canada in 2050 and the number of 40 year jobs created building and operating the energy system.
Click on the image below to see the details. And visit The Solutions Project at Stanford to learn more.
For more detailed information from a different source, visit the Deep Decarbonization web site.
Director Avi Lewis, right, and author Naomi Klein of the film ‘This Changes Everything,’ stand for a photo on the red carpet during the Toronto International Film Festival press conference announcing the 2015 Canadian features and shorts lineup in Toronto on Wednesday, August 5, 2015. The Leap Manifesto is a document that calls for a radical restructuring of the economy as Canada swiftly moves toward ending the use of fossil fuels. It was crafted by best-selling author Klein and her husband, documentary filmmaker Lewis, and released last September in the midst of the federal election campaign. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
By the Canadian Press, reposted from the TimesColonist, Apr 4, 2015
OTTAWA - The Leap Manifesto is a document that calls for a radical restructuring of the economy as Canada swiftly moves toward ending the use of fossil fuels. It was crafted by best-selling author Naomi Klein and her husband, documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis, and released last September in the midst of the federal election campaign.
During that campaign, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair touted his party as a moderate, pragmatic alternative to the Conservatives, promising to balance the federal budget, to hike no taxes other than a “slight and graduated” increase in the corporate tax rate, to sustainably develop Alberta’s oil sands and to be open to free trade deals. That cautious agenda was soundly rejected on Oct. 19, with the NDP finishing a distant third.
As New Democrats prepare to gather this week to review Mulcair’s leadership and mull the future of the party, Lewis and some former MPs are pushing the party to adopt the manifesto “as a high-level statement of principles that is in line with the aspirations, history and values of the party.”
Here’s what the manifesto calls for:
— Shift swiftly away from fossil fuels so that Canada gets 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources within 20 years and is entirely weaned off fossil fuels by 2050.
— No new infrastructure projects aimed at increasing extraction of non-renewable resources, including pipelines.
— “Energy democracy,” in which energy sources are collectively controlled by communities instead of “profit-gouging” private companies.
— An end to all trade deals “that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations and stop damaging extractive projects.”
— Expand low-carbon sectors of the economy, such as caregiving, teaching, social work, the arts and public-interest media.
— Vigorous debate on the idea of introducing a universal guaranteed minimum income.
— Declare that “austerity — which has systematically attacked low-carbon sectors like education and health care while starving public transit and forcing reckless energy privatizations — is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth.”
— Pay for it all by ending fossil fuel subsidies, imposing financial transaction taxes, increasing resource royalties, hiking taxes on corporations and the wealthy, introducing a progressive carbon tax, and cutting military spending. SOURCE
“The Leap Manifesto is an unashamedly radical plan to convert the world to 100 per cent renewable energy, fast,” says world-famous activist and author, Naomi Klein. “And you can be a part of it.”
Klein drafted the Manifesto during a meeting with her team from This Changes Everything, a book-turned-documentary she wrote about reforming the economy to avoid environmental disaster. The team consisted of “60 leaders from Canada’s Indigenous rights, social and food justice, environmental, faith-based, and labour movements.” Their goal, according to the Manifesto’s website, was to “stop the worst attacks on our rights and environment” with sustainable solutions.
The document that came out of it—now known as the Leap Manifesto—lists fifteen demands for climate justice. It was released to the public in September 2015, and has since been endorsed by over 150 organizations and signed by more than 30,000 people. Some recognizable names amongst the list of signatories are Neil Young, Ellen Page, Ashley Callingbull, Black Lives Matter Toronto, and Greenpeace.
The name of the Manifesto was based on 2016 being a leap year, but it’s not just convenient timing that led to the title. It’s also a “powerful analogy” for recognizing that it’s easier to change the rules of human society than the rules of nature.
“We periodically add an extra day to our calendars because if we didn’t, the seasons would gradually fall out of alignment and eventually the seasons would go wacky,” Klein wrote in a blog post. “That’s why we chose “The Leap” as the name for our manifesto—the gap between where we are and where we need to be is so great, and the time so short, that small steps simply will not cut it.”
The Manifesto outlines fifteen big steps which must be taken. It demands a 100 per cent clean economy by 2050, which would be achieved through ceasing involvement with all environmentally harmful industries and creating community-controlled clean energy systems, housing, transit, agriculture and infrastructure. In the process of making those changes, workers in carbon-intensive jobs and new refugees and migrants to Canada would be trained to work in clean energy sectors.
The removal of fossil fuel subsidies, military spending, and corporate money from political campaigns as well as the introduction of universal basic annual income, financial transaction and carbon taxes on companies, and income taxes on the wealthy are also outlined in the Manifesto. Finally, it calls for “an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations, and stop damaging extractive projects.”
This process is called a “justice-based energy transition to a clean energy economy,” and it means that everyone must work together to shape a healthy future economy, society, and environment. At the same time, we must ensure “those hardest hit by the worst effects of climate change should be first in line benefit from the renewable economy.”
Over 600 people attended the Leap Manifesto workshop at the Paris Climate Talks last December, and although CNN called the Manifesto “a blueprint that could be used across the world,” no concrete progress was made. Several goals—such as keeping Earth from warming more than two degrees Celsius and donating money to countries struggling as a result of climate change—were outlined, but not mandated, by world leaders.
The public reaction to the failure of the Climate Talks was the realization that perhaps people needed to take matters into their own hands. With the publishing of the Manifesto, they are doing just that by organizing discussions, film screenings, workshops, and mobilizations known as “Leap Events.”
One example was a 24-hour sit-in held by high school students in Nelson, B.C. this past February. They call themselves “Project Beginning,” and they organized the event to raise awareness for The Leap Manifesto in their community.
“For us as youth, we are the ones who will be around to see the damage that climate change has on our earth,” says Sage Cowan, a Project Beginning member. “In many ways, it is our responsibility to make certain we have a future—but it’s a shared responsibility with past and future generations.”
They called the experience “inspiring and incredible,” and were grateful for the opportunity to talk to a local MP, Wayne Stetski, and give feedback on a carbon neutral plan being written in their school district.
Countless other Leap Events around the world have been held, from Vancouver to Croatia, but support for the Manifesto is hardly universal. The primary concern from detractors is that the Manifesto’s terms might not be affordable enough to be practical. If taxes are raised on the rich, the possibility of capital flight also rises. If military spending is cut in Canada, the nation’s relationships to other counties as well as its self-defence may suffer. Most importantly, those who relied heavily on fossil fuel extraction will have to dramatically adjust to a clean energy economy, and it will take immense amounts of time and money to help them get there.
The bottom line is that those in power may not be willing or able to spend the resources that it will take to dismantle capitalism in so little time. As said by Active History writer Jonathan McQuarrie, “too many people do well by the revenues produced from global capitalism to seriously consider locally orientated alternatives.” Especially if those alternatives must be in use within the next forty years.
The means of paying for the Manifesto’s terms are outlined in the Manifesto itself, says Bianca Mugyenyi, Outreach Lead for the Leap Manifesto. “But there was a media backlash when the Leap Manifesto initially launched.”
Writing for The National Post, Conrad Black released an article titled “Few will support Naomi Klein’s revolution, thankfully sparing us from national suicide” in which he criticizes the document as a “Marxist roadmap.” He calls the Manifesto’s demands “a comprehensive assault on the whole concept of economic growth” for its anti-capitalist values, and commenters on the article seem to agree with him. Troy Media writer Karen Selick reminds readers that those who are already using wind and solar-powered energy, “don’t want [it] in their backyards” as turbines cause “adverse health effects to nearby residents.” Several members of the NDP have also signed the document, which has led to suspicion about how non-partisan the Manifesto truly is.
In agreement with the Manifesto, Canada Post workers have put forward a motion to reform their post offices. The proposal, called “Delivering Community Power,” would enforce “postal banking that finances green energy, services for seniors, farm-to-table food delivery, coast-to-coast charging stations for electric cars, and much more.” The company’s senior executives, however, have refused to “meet with them on these ideas.”
It’s obvious that what the Manifesto suggests is a rapid, radical overhaul of the economic and political system that is currently at the foundation of modern, North American life. However, its followers believe that it is now the only option. Time is of the essence, and the earth is ever-warming.
Protesters demonstrate outside the HudBay Minerals Inc. annual general meeting in Toronto on Thursday, June 14, 2012. Liberal MP John McKay is calling for stricter oversight of Canadian mining companies abroad as plaintiffs increasingly look to Canadian courts to seek justice. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
by IAN BICKIS, THE CANADIAN PRESS, reposted from 680News, Apr 5, 2016
CALGARY – Liberal MP John McKay is calling for stricter oversight of Canadian mining companies abroad as plaintiffs increasingly look to Canadian courts to seek justice.
He says the government needs to do more because Canadian companies operating internationally continue to face accusations of violating local laws and human rights, despite overall improvements in the industry.
“These unwelcome instances keep on coming up,” McKay said in an interview after a New York Times front-page story over the weekend shone a harsh spotlight on a Canadian mining company accused of serious crimes in Guatemala.
“And not only does the mining company suffer brand problems, so also does the industry suffer brand problems, and so also does our nation suffer brand problems …. It has been and continues to be a bit of a black eye on our country.”
McKay has long been pushing for the creation of an ombudsman position that could investigate claims against Canadian companies abroad and impose sanctions.
“There still has to be a day of reckoning for a company that commits egregious actions,” said McKay.
The former Conservative government did create a mediator position as part of a 2009 corporate social responsibility strategy, but the role came under fire because it was entirely voluntary for companies to participate. The program was later revamped in 2014 as part of the goverment’s updated strategy.
Pierre Gratton, head of the Mining Association of Canada, says the second iteration of the strategy is much improved — Ottawa can now take away trade commissioner services and funding from Export Development Canada if companies refuse to participate.
The mining industry has also made numerous reforms since McKay first called for greater oversight, he added.
“A lot has changed in terms of industry practices,” said Gratton.
Even so, frustrated plaintiffs are increasingly trying to have their cases heard on the companies’ doorsteps here in Canada.
The Times piece told of the efforts of a group of indigenous Guatemalans, represented by the law firm Klippensteins, to sue Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals over alleged shootings and gang rapes at a mining project once owned by the company in the central American country.
In late 2013, the plaintiffs announced that a civil trial would go before a jury in Ontario, though the complex case is still in pre-trial motions.
Hudbay, which didn’t own the mining operations when most of the alleged incidents occurred, has said the claims don’t have merit and it will vigorously defend itself against them.
But while the company initially fought against having the case heard in Ontario, it backed down in 2014. Company spokesman Scott Brubacher said in an email Monday that the company “is happy for justice to be served through the Ontario courts.”
Hudbay is hardly the only company facing shocking allegations abroad.
In 2014, a group of former workers at Nevsun Mining’s Eritrean operations filed a civil suit in British Columbia claiming forced labour and other crimes against humanity. The company has said the claims are unfounded and it, too, will vigorously defend itself.
And just last September, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a decision that opened the way for Ecuadorian villagers to use an Ontario court to enforce a US$9.5-billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron Corp. for environmental contamination.
The plaintiffs successfully argued that because Chevron owns about $15 billion worth of assets in Canada, they could pursue their case in Ontario courts.
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, in a telephone interview from New York, said expectations for business behaviour are spelled out in the existing corporate social strategy.
“The government expects companies to obey the rule of law, wherever it does business,” he said.
“Canada’s approach is to help companies find solutions that work, so we’re always open-minded for other ideas. But the government is very clear on the kind of behaviour it expects from Canadian companies doing business overseas. And the mining would be no exception to that.”
Asked if Canada needs an ombudsman with investigative power and real teeth, Carr said the government is always open to new ideas “but the main point is that we expect our companies to obey the rule of law, wherever they’re doing business.”
McKay said Ottawa’s current corporate social responsibility counsellor, Jeffrey Davidson, has no active mediations or dialogues going.
He said he hopes to see his government move forward on the file, adding that if the industry has indeed improved so much, they have nothing to fear from stricter oversight.
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With files from Kristy Kirkup and Bruce Cheadle in Ottawa
