Supreme Court Further Dismantles Harper Government's Tough-on-Crime Agenda
"The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down as unconstitutional two more planks of the defeated Harper government’s tough-on-crime platform.

It struck down the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions for drug offenders who have a prior criminal record for drug offences as well as ruling that a person denied bail because of prior convictions should get credit for time served before sentencing.

It is not as if mandatory minimums or the Truth in Sentencing Act are gone, but elements of them, laid out in two decisions released Friday, have been declared in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

View the Decisions:

R. v. Lloyd, 2016 SCC 13 

R. v. Safarzadeh-Markhali, 2016 SCC 14 
 

The Harper Record 2008-2015
"This book, which builds on the 2008 collection The Harper Record, continues a 25-year tradition at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives of periodically examining the records of Canadian federal governments during their tenure. As with earlier CCPA reports on the activities of the Mulroney, Chrétien and Martin governments while in office, this book gives a detailed account of the laws, policies, regulations, and initiatives of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper while in minority (from 2008 to 2011) and majority (from 2011 to 2015).

The 36 writers, researchers and analysts who have co-written this book probe into many aspects of the Harper government’s administration over the last two parliamentary sessions. From the economy to the environment, social programs to foreign policy, health care to tax cuts, the tar sands to free trade deals, and many other areas, these chapters dig through the facts and key moments for this government over the past seven years, highlighting in particular its policy response to the global financial crisis and Great Recession."

This book, which builds on the 2008 collection The Harper Record, continues a 25-year tradition at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives of periodically examining the records of Canadian federal governments during their tenure. As with earlier CCPA reports on the activities of the Mulroney, Chrétien and Martin governments while in office, this book gives a detailed account of the laws, policies, regulations, and initiatives of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper while in minority (from 2008 to 2011) and majority (from 2011 to 2015).
The 36 writers, researchers and analysts who have co-written this book probe into many aspects of the Harper government’s administration over the last two parliamentary sessions. From the economy to the environment, social programs to foreign policy, health care to tax cuts, the tar sands to free trade deals, and many other areas, these chapters dig through the facts and key moments for this government over the past seven years, highlighting in particular its policy response to the global financial crisis and Great Recession.
- See more at: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/harper-record-2008-2015#sthash.qBN0JWSd.dpuf

How the government’s census strategy keeps us in the dark http://t.co/oWg5mbDyct

— Crim Library UTL (@CrimLib) August 25, 2015

Audrey Macklin: European Politicians Envy Canada's Points System for Migrants. But how well has it Worked?
"When political parties across the world complain about their own country’s 'inefficient' way of coping with immigration, they frequently refer to us in Canada. The points system' of selecting permanent immigrants according to their human capital – as calculated according to age, education, occupation, language ability and optional job offer – holds out the promise that the immigration system can do what eugenics could not: control entry into the political community of only the best and the brightest. And the fact that a Conservative government manages to cater to its anti-immigrant base while cultivating a substantial immigrant vote arouses curiosity and envy among European politicians of all stripes....

...Yet much of this must now be framed in the past tense, because the present Conservative government is busily dismantling the pillars of Canada’s immigration and integration system, including the points system...."

Think Tank Names Supreme Court of Canada "Policy-Maker of the Year"

"The Supreme Court of Canada was remarkably united against the Conservative government in a year of unusually important rulings, a conservative think tank found in naming the court 'policy-maker of the year.'

The government had a clear win in just one of the 10 biggest cases, on aboriginal land rights, while in seven cases it was a clear loser, a report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute said.

The losses covered a wide range of areas – the government’s attempt to create an elected Senate, to keep thousands of convicted criminals in jail for longer terms, and even to appoint a judge of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s choosing to the Supreme Court. In the seven clear losses, the court was unanimous five times. Only three judges dissented in the seven cases combined."

View the MacDonald-Laurier Institute Report

Tories introduce Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act

The Harper government has introduced a major overhaul to Canada's gun laws.

During a press conference at a shooting range in northern Ontario, on Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney announced his government's intention to introduce the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act.

The Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act would:

• Merge the Possession Only License (POL) and the Possession and Acquisition License (PAL);
• Restrict the ability of provincial Chief Firearms Officers to make arbitrary decisions;
• End paperwork around Authorizations to Transport by making them a condition of a license;
• Require mandatory firearms safety courses for first-time gun owners; and
• Strengthen firearms prohibitions for those who are convicted of domestic violence offences.

Fascism and Contemporary Canada.

A series of articles by Robin Mathews, professor, poet, and political activist.

Part One:  Locating The Present Conservative Government Led By Stephen Harper

Part Two: The Strangulation Of Democracy in Canada. The New Global Partnerships

Part Three.  Canada's First Nations and TEPCO 

Part Four. Police, Government, Corporations

Part Five. Capitalist Fascism or Democratic Socialism

Part Six. The Courts. Jessica Ernst And The Honourable Neil Wittmann, Chief Justice, Court Of Queen's Bench, Alberta 

Part Seven.  The Prime Minister's Office - A Criminal Organization?

 

Harm-reduction programs threatened

HEALTH / Activists say federal omnibus bill will put drug users, prisoners at greater risk

Local advocates for successful harm-reduction programs are arguing that the federal omnibus crime bill places drug users at a higher risk of contracting diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

They say that Bill C-10, reintroduced last September by the Conservative Party, has more consequences than simply being “tough on crime.”

It’s a “regressive piece of legislation,” says Sandra Chu, senior policy analyst at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, noting that infection rates are 10 times higher for HIV and 30 times higher for hepatitis C in prisons.

“The tough-on-crime bill is going to be tough on people who use drugs,” says Rob Boyd, director of the Oasis program at Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. “We need to use a health approach to the issue of addictions, rather than a criminal approach.

Read on...

Quebec balks at Ottawa’s law-and-order agenda

Quebec has opened up a second front in the fight against Ottawa’s law-and-order agenda, refusing to pay for higher prison costs flowing from a federal omnibus anti-crime bill and blasting the legislation as counter-productive.

The Quebec government is also in a dispute with Ottawa over its decision to kill the long-gun registry, suggesting it will go to court to get the information it contains on gun ownership in the province and set up its own database.

Quebec and the rest of the country have long differed on the balance between punitive justice and rehabilitation, but the latest developments could threaten the recent warming of relations between Premier Jean Charest and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Bill C-10 would impose mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offences and toughen the youth justice system, among other things.

Read on...

First Nations Under Surveillance

Harper Government Prepares for First Nations “Unrest"

Quebec riot police advance on Barriere Lake community members after a peaceful blockade in October, 2008 in north-western Quebec.

Russell Diabo and Shiri Pasternak

Internal documents from Indian Affairs and the RCMP show that shortly after forming government in January of 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the federal government tighten up on gathering and sharing intelligence on First Nations to anticipate and manage potential First Nation unrest across Canada.

Information obtained by Access to Information requests reveals that almost immediately upon taking power in 2006, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) was given the lead role to spy on First Nations. The goal was to identify the First Nation leaders, participants and outside supporters of First Nation occupations and protests, and to closely monitor their actions.

To accomplish this task, INAC established a “Hot Spot Reporting System.” These weekly reports highlight all those communities across the country that engage in direct action to protect their lands and communities. They include Tobique First Nation, Tsartlip First Nation, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) First Nation, Six Nations, Grassy Narrows, Stz’uminous First Nation, the Likhts’amsiyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, Gitxaala First Nation, Wagmatcook First Nation, Innu of Labrador, Pikangikum First Nation, and many more. They include bands from the coast of Vancouver Island to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Read on...

First you prepare for unrest......then you ***** the unrest. Shiri Pasternak works with Mariana Valverde. Tom