The Dominion - 78

Another Niagara

Tim McSorley — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:08:24 +0000

A Town Without Poverty?

Martin Lukacs — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:08:24 +0000

Canada's only experiment in guaranteed income finally gets reckoning

WHITEHORSE, YK—Try to imagine a town where the government paid each of the residents a living income, regardless of who they were and what they did, and a Soviet hamlet in the early 1980s may come to mind.

But this experiment happened much closer to home. For a four-year period in the '70s, the poorest families in Dauphin, Manitoba, were granted a guaranteed minimum income by the federal and provincial governments. Thirty-five years later all that remains of the experiment are 2,000 boxes of documents that have gathered dust in the Canadian archives building in Winnipeg.

Until now little has been known about what unfolded over those four years in the small rural town, since the government locked away the data that had been collected and prevented it from being analyzed.

But after a five year struggle, Evelyn Forget, a professor of health sciences at the University of Manitoba, secured access to those boxes in 2009. Until the data is computerized, any systematic analysis is impossible. Undeterred, Forget has begun to piece together the story by using the census, health records, and the testimony of the program's participants. What is now emerging reveals that the program could have counted many successes.

Beginning in 1974, Pierre Trudeau's Liberals and Manitoba's first elected New Democratic Party government gave money to every person and family in Dauphin who fell below the poverty line. Under the program—called “Mincome”—about 1,000 families received monthly cheques.

Unlike welfare, which only certain individuals qualified for, the guaranteed minimum income project was open to everyone. It was the first—and to this day, only—time that Canada has ever experimented with such an open-door social assistance program.

In today’s conservative political climate, with constant government and media rhetoric about the inefficiency and wastefulness of the welfare state, the Mincome project sounds like nothing short of a fairy tale.

For four years Dauphin was a place where anyone living below the poverty line could receive monthly cheques to boost their income, no questions asked. Single mothers could afford to put their kids through school and low-income families weren't scrambling to pay the rent each month.

For Amy Richardson, it meant she could afford to buy her children books for school. Richardson joined the program in 1977, just after her husband had gone on disability leave from his job. At the time, she was struggling to raise her three youngest children on $1.50 haircuts she gave in her living room beauty parlour.

The $1,200 per year she received in monthly increments was a welcome supplement, in a time when the poverty line was $2,100 a year.

“The extra money meant that I was also able to give my kids something I wouldn't ordinarily be able to, like taking them to a show or some small luxury like that,” said Richardson, now 84, who spoke to The Dominion by phone from Dauphin.

As part of the experiment, an army of researchers were sent to Dauphin to interview the Mincome families. Residents in nearby rural towns who didn't receive Mincome were also surveyed so their statistics could be compared against those from Dauphin. But after the government cut the program in 1978, they simply warehoused the data and never bothered to analyze it.

“When the government introduced the program they really thought it would be a pilot project and that by the end of the decade they would roll this out and everybody would participate,” said Forget. “They thought it would become a universal program. But of course, the idea eventually just died off.”

During the Mincome program, the federal and provincial governments collectively spent $17 million, though it was initially supposed to have cost only a few million.

Meant to last several more years, the program came to a quick halt in 1978 when an economic recession hit Canada. The recession had caused prices to increase 10 per cent each year, so payouts to families under Mincome had increased accordingly.

Trudeau's Liberals, already on the defensive for an overhaul of Canada's employment insurance system, killed the program and withheld any additional money to analyze the data that had been amassed.

“It's hugely unfortunate and typical of the strange ways in which government works that the data was never analyzed,” says Ron Hikel who coordinated the Mincome program. Hikel now works in the United States to promote universal healthcare reform.

“Government officials opposed [to Mincome] didn't want to spend more money to analyze the data and show what they already thought: that it didn't work,” says Hikel, who remains a strong proponent of guaranteed income programs.

“And the people who were in favour of Mincome were worried because if the analysis was done and the data wasn't favourable then they would have just spent another million dollars on analysis and be even more embarrassed.”

But Forget has culled some useful info from Manitoba labour data. Her research confirms numerous positive consequences of the program.

Initially, the Mincome program was conceived as a labour market experiment. The government wanted to know what would happen if everybody in town received a guaranteed income, and specifically, they wanted to know whether people would still work.

It turns out they did.

Only two segments of Dauphin's labour force worked less as a result of Mincome—new mothers and teenagers. Mothers with newborns stopped working because they wanted to stay at home longer with their babies. And teenagers worked less because they weren't under as much pressure to support their families.

The end result was that they spent more time at school and more teenagers graduated. Those who continued to work were given more opportunities to choose what type of work they did.

“People didn't have to take the first job that came along,” says Hikel. “They could wait for something better that suited them.”

For some, it meant the opportunity to land a job to help them get by.

When Doreen and Hugh Henderson arrived in Dauphin in 1970 with their two young children they were broke. Doreen suggested moving from Vancouver to her hometown because she thought her husband would have an easier time finding work there. But when they arrived, things weren't any better.

“My husband didn't have a very good job and I couldn't find work,” she told The Dominion by phone from Dauphin.

It wasn't until 1978, after receiving Mincome payments for two years, that her husband finally landed janitorial work at the local school, a job he kept for 28 years.

“I don't know how we would have lived without [Mincome],” said Doreen.“I don't know if we would have stayed in Dauphin.”

Although the Mincome experiment was intended to provide a body of information to study labour market trends, Forget discovered that Mincome had a significant effect on people's well being. Two years ago, the professor started studying the health records of Dauphin residents to assess the impacts of the program.

In the period that Mincome was administered, hospital visits dropped 8.5 per cent. Fewer people went to the hospital with work-related injuries and there were fewer emergency room visits from car accidents and domestic abuse. There were also far fewer mental health visits.

It's not hard to see why, says Forget.

“When you walk around a hospital, it's pretty clear that a lot of the time what we're treating are the consequences of poverty,” she says.

Give people financial independence and control over their lives and these accidents and illnesses tend to dissipate, says Forget. In today's terms, an 8.5 per cent decrease in hospital visits across Canada would save the government $4 billion annually, by her calculations. And $4 billion is the amount that the federal government is currently trying to save by slashing social programming and arts funding.

Having analyzed the health data, Forget is now working on a cost-benefit analysis to see what a guaranteed income program might save the federal government if it were implemented today. She’s already worked with a Senate committee investigating a guaranteed income program for all low-income Canadians.

The Canadian government's sudden interest in guaranteed income programs doesn't surprise Forget.

Every 10 or 15 years there seems to be a renewed interest in getting Guaranteed Income (GI) programs off the ground, according to Saskatchewan social work professor James Mulvale. He's researched and written extensively about guaranteed income programs and is also part the Canadian chapter of the Basic Income Earth Network, a worldwide organization that advocates for guaranteed income.

GI programs exist in countries like Brazil, Mexico, France and even the state of Alaska.

Although people may not recognize it, subtle forms of guaranteed income already exist in Canada, says Mulvale, pointing to the child benefit tax, guaranteed income for seniors and the modest GST/HST rebate program for low-income earners.

However, a wider-reaching guaranteed income program would go a long way in decreasing poverty, he says.

Mulvale is in favour of a “demo-grant” model of GI that would give automatic cash transfers to everybody in Canada. This kind of plan would also provide the option of taxing higher-income earners at the end of the year so poorer people receive benefits.

A model such as this has a higher chance of broad support because it goes out to everybody, according to Mulvale. GI can also be administered as a negative income tax to the poor, meaning they'd receive an amount of money back directly in proportion to what they make each year.

“GI by itself wouldn't eliminate poverty but it would go a heck of a long way to decrease the extent of poverty in this country,” says Mulvale.

Conservative senator Hugh Segal has been the biggest supporter of this kind of GI, claiming it would eliminate the social assistance programs now administered by the provinces and territories. Rather than having a separate office to administer child tax benefits, welfare, unemployment insurance and income supplement for seniors, they could all be rolled into one GI scheme.

It would also mean that anybody could apply for support. Many people fall through the cracks under the current welfare system, says Forget. Not everybody can access welfare and those who can are penalized for going to school or for working a job since the money they receive from welfare is then clawed back.

If a guaranteed income program can target more people and is more efficient than other social assistance programs, then why doesn't Canada have such a program in place already? Perhaps the biggest barrier is the prevalence of negative stereotypes about poor people.

“There's very strong feelings out there that we shouldn't give people money for nothing,” Mulvale says.

Guaranteed income proponents aren't holding their breaths that they'll see such a program here anytime soon, but they are hopeful that one day Canada will consider the merits of guaranteed income.

The cost would be "not nearly as prohibitive to do as people imagine it is," says Forget. “A guaranteed minimum income program is a superior way of delivering social assistance. The only thing is that it's of course politically difficult to implement.”

Vivian Belik is a freelance journalist based in the frozen northlands of Whitehorse, Yukon. She was, however, raised in Manitoba where she has spotted many of the provinces small-town statues including the giant beaver in Dauphin.

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Issue #78

Tim McSorley — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:15:42 +0000

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Cameras, Cops and Crime

dawn — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:43:08 +0000

Police, business and the city of Peterborough collude for more closed-circuit television cameras

PETERBOROUGH—Even though surveillance cameras seem to be everywhere these days, their effectiveness in ensuring safety and lowering crime rates is still contested. That debate is heating up in Peterborough, Ontario, where city council recently considered joining the ranks of other medium-sized cities in Ontario that have installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

On Monday, June 20, the Peterborough-Lakefield Police Service made a presentation to the Peterborough city council, requesting support for a plan to install 12 closed-circuit television security cameras in the downtown core. The following week, council debated the request, which would see the initial cost of the cameras be provided by a Civil Remedies Grant Program from the Ontario Attorney General's office.

On top of the initial $150,000 grant, the proposal would require the city to shell out an additional $5,000 each year for continued operation of a system that opponents and even some of its backers admit may not prevent crime.

A number of other medium-sized municipalities, such as Cornwall, Belleville and Barrie have already installed CCTV cameras with funds from the same grant, and it is expected that other towns and cities will follow suit. The city of Barrie, which only has six cameras, spends double what Peterborough proposes to spend on the operation and maintenance of its cameras.

Despite the increasingly widespread use of this surveillance technology in Ontario, Peterborough residents are questioning the value of being watched around the clock. Some of these opponents are concerned about the general privacy implications of such cameras, making reference to the dystopian police-state vision of author George Orwell.

Other concerns are much more immediate, like those of one Peterborough homeowner who asked to remain anonymous. She noted that in her experience working at a women’s clinic in another city, cameras near the clinic became a barrier to women accessing important services. Similar services, such as the Kawartha Sexual Assault Center, are located in Peterborough's downtown core, and she is concerned that such services may be forced to move to more inaccessible locations if the cameras are installed.

Some backers of the plan appear to be banking on the cameras' ability to simply displace crime and other "antisocial behaviour" to other less-visible areas of town. Councillor Bill Juby stated that pushing crime out of the downtown core and over to the next street would be a good start.

This seemed to spark some outrage in the packed council hall, with one attendee shouting that he lived on that next street. The approval came despite 13 presentations opposed to the cameras, and only two in favour.

The two people who spoke in favour of more cameras downtown were both board members of the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA). In A Report on Camera Surveillance in Canada, prepared by the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queens University, it was found that local Business Improvement Associations are largely responsible for the proliferation of cameras, with the political impetus and funding often coming from them.

The same report found “camera surveillance has never been extensively debated as a national policy issue.” What doesn't happen nationally, however, is unfolding on the local level, as illustrated by events in Peterborough.

In an interview, Paul Raino of the Peterborough DBIA stated that "people shouldn’t be overly concerned” about being watched by cameras, noting the “international dangers out there.”

While acknowledging that the cameras will likely not act as a deterrent to crime, Raino thinks that they are a good idea, saying that the DBIA stands behind the idea in order to “support the police.”

According to Peterborough Police Chief Murray Rodd, the Peterborough-Lakefield Police Service made the request to city council on behalf of the DBIA, though he denied that the police were doing the bidding of business at the expense of other communities. Rodd maintained that regardless of the concerns brought up in regards to the system, “New tools will always help the police do their job.”

Redge Smith, who works in Peterborough's downtown core and attended the meeting at city hall, disagrees, arguing that these tools will be disproportionately used against marginalized communities. When interviewed a few weeks after the council debate, he also spoke of the lack of consultation with people who may be impacted, including downtown residents, people who work downtown, the homeless and others who shop and visit the downtown area.

The report given to city council is endorsed only by the police and the DBIA, and indicates no other consultation.

“There is a shockingly transparent partnership between political power in the city, businesses and the police,” said Smith. The money could be much better spent to address underlying causes of crime, says Smith, such as poverty and marginalization. “Instead, it is being used to watch us.”

Matthew Davidson is a community organizer based in Peterborough, Ontario.

Surveillance

Social Profiling Under Scrutiny

Natascia L — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:54:11 +0000

A new report indicates little progress has been made in eliminating social profiling

MONTREAL—“We need to do a clean-up,” says Bernard St-Jacques of the homelessness problem in Montreal, which affects to 25,000 to 30,000 people according to the Réseau d’Aide aux Personnes Seules et Itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM).

St-Jacques is the community organizer for public space and jurisdiction at RAPSIM and the author of a report on social profiling released last Wednesday. Profilage social et jurisdiction: portrait de la situation dans l’espace public montréalais contains the results of a questionnaire asking 40 Montreal organizations about their experiences—and those of the homeless people who use their services—with social profiling.

The report was inspired by a similar one done by the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission in 2009. Its most significant finding: homeless people receive a disproportionate number of fines from the police. The majority of fines were for minor infractions regarding “incivilities.” According to the report, Montreal’s homeless represent one per cent of the population but they were the subject of 31.6 per cent of the police reports in 2004, 20.3 per cent in 2005. The report concluded social profiling contributed significantly to these statistics, and made a series of recommendations to the Montreal Police Service (SPVM).

Two years later, RAPSIM’s report commends the police on a few improvements in this area. SPVM documented a 30 per cent decrease in the number of fines given to homeless people between 2008 and 2009. It also partnered with the Équipe Mobile de Référence et d’Interventions en Itinérance whose members go on patrol with police, providing advice on approaching the homeless and suggesting alternatives to fines or arrest. "They (SPVM) have changed their directives: on the level of interventions, police officers are less encouraged to target homeless people," says St-Jacques.

Still, 85 per cent of the respondents to RAPSIM’s questionnaire described the relations between homeless people and police as negative: 56 per cent reported being the victims of physical abuse and 46 percent reported verbal abuse or discrimination. Sixty-one per cent indicated they still frequently receive fines.

The report denounces police for rarely following procedure when it comes to situations involving homeless people. St-Jacques says nothing has been done since the release of the Commission’s recommendations to correct or reprimand this misconduct. Clinique Droits Devant, RAPSIM’s legal aid service, dealt with 16 cases last year concerning police misconduct, and sixty-three per cent of respondents described their legal situation as poor.

"The attitude of police toward homeless people hasn't really changed for the best; the mentality hasn't really changed," says Johanne Galipeau of Action Autonomie, a mental health advocacy and legal aid organization that participated in RAPSIM’s questionnaire. "Maybe there are less fines, but there is a lack of respect. Abuse, brutality; these situations have not changed—have little changed."

She criticizes police for being quick to use a heavy hand on a person acting outside "societal norms." As a result, the homeless have made a connection between the police and being escorted to the hospital or prison, she says. Losing confidence in the system means the homeless have ceased asking for help.

Galipeau says police tend to receive the brunt of social profiling accusations because they are the first responders.

RAPSIM’s report indicates 60 per cent of respondents felt the treatment of homeless people in public spaces in general has improved little or not at all in the past five years—whether that treatment be from residents, business owners, other citizens or the police.

“Police members are not apart from society,” says Marie-Eve Sylvestre. “They’re part of it and their construction or their perception of homelessness and of some people who may have characteristics of homeless people are also constructed by society.”

Sylvestre is a civil law professor at the University of Ottawa and was one of two researchers involved in developing RAPSIM’s report. She says social profiling by police stems largely from society’s narratives of homeless people. For instance, the misconception that all homeless are dangerous is often used as a justification for their arrest. “We believe the police have constructed a perception of the harm caused by homeless people based on the needs and complaints of very few individuals who have some power in the neighborhoods [where the arrests and fines are occurring,]” says Sylvestre.

Making these complaints is possible, she adds, because some municipal bylaws and provincial laws concerning the use of public space discriminate against homeless people. Prohibitions against public drinking, public noise, public gathering and public drunkenness target the homeless in particular. These laws apply to all citizens, but people living on the street are more likely to violate them because they have no private address. "The fact of not having private spaces, that your private space eventually becomes the public space, well, that impedes a protection of your rights," says St-Jacques.

Between 2000 and 2003, more and more public places were being redefined as 'parks' or 'squares' meaning the city had more control over them, explains the RAPSIM report. It became illegal to use public installations, like park benches or low walls, in a manner for which they were not intended (i.e. sleeping.) It also became illegal to remain in public areas after their “closing times.” Céline Bellot, a researcher in the Centre International de Criminologie Comparée at the Université de Montréal who worked on RAPSIM’s report, documented a four-fold increase in the fines given out to homeless between 1994 and 2003.

St-Jacques also points to the development during this period of downtown Montreal’s infrastructure, housing, commercial areas, tourist attractions and festival spaces as a contributor to the police’s targeting of the homeless population. Downtown organizations recorded worse relations with the police during the summer and festival seasons. "It's obvious," St-Jacques says. "The marginalized population found themselves in the way of these projects."

The inclusion of homeless people in these projects—and their reinsertion into society as a whole—could greatly deter social profiling, believes Richard Chrétien, director of Sac à Dos. His organization has strived to maintain positive relationships with the police officers, residents and business owners surrounding Sac à Dos’ Ste-Catherine/René-Lévesque location. Its members have worked in the community in urban development and cleanup projects, as well as with local stores and events like the Festival de Jazz and Francopholies. "It helps in talking about people living on the street a little bit differently; not just seeing homeless people as a problem, but to see homeless peoples' ability to integrate," Chrétien says. "Plus, it attacks the problem itself."

The problem of homelessness, he means. Central to both RAPSIM’s and the Commission’s reports was the idea that homelessness is a societal failure leading to the denial of basics right to a part of its population. Both groups recommended a steep increase in services for the homeless and improved preventions to homelessness on the municipal and provincial levels.

In 2010, Mayor Gérald Tremblay announced an interdepartmental action plan for homelessness. Despite the plan’s acknowledgement of a social profiling problem, St-Jacques finds it insufficient for its lack of proposed changes to discriminatory municipal laws and police training in regards to the treatment of homeless people. He is most critical of the minimal funding provided to programs and community groups working to improve the basic living conditions of the homeless. "We are far from having our demands met, especially on the jurisdiction and social profiling levels," he says.

RAPSIM plans to continue its research in the area of social profiling. It will be teaming up with other organizations and the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission to create a farther-reaching monitoring system that will include a demographic breakdown of social profiling trends, and statistics specific to Montreal’s various neighborhoods. St-Jacques wants to develop a better method of documenting cases of police abuse and misconduct. He hopes the Commission will align this work with its portfolio on racial profiling to form a stronger attack on this issue.

Natascia Lypny is a Montreal native and bilingual freelance journalist currently pursuing a journalism and
sociology degree at the University of King's College and Dalhousie University in Halifax.

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Deltaport Action Increases Pressure Against Israeli Shipping

Tim McSorley — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:02:00 +0000

Israeli-owned ship picketed at Deltaport in response to blocking of aid flotilla to Gaza

VANCOUVER—Activists from throughout the Lower Mainland gathered on the morning of July 19 at Deltaport in Vancouver for an information picket targeting a major Israeli shipping company, ZIM. The action was in solidarity with the aid flotilla to Gaza, which included a Canadian boat and was ultimately prevented from sailing to the occupied and blockaded Palestinian territory.

Returning delegates from the Canadian Boat to Gaza, the Tahrir, were among the participants in the picket. The Tahrir was stopped by the Greek coast guard.

"The Israeli government attacked our humanitarian flotilla with sabotage, threats of violence, and a great deal of political and economic pressure - that's ultimately why the Greek government shamefully agreed to enforce the Israeli blockade," said Irene MacInnes, a Vancouver member of the Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) who was among more than 30 Canadians on board the Tahrir.

"Our Canadian Boat and the Freedom Flotilla aimed to highlight the impact of the blockade of Gaza," added MacInnes. "While Gazans cannot travel or ship exports by sea, massive Israeli companies like ZIM are able to freely do business around the world despite their connection to the unjust policies that bring so much suffering to Palestinians."

ZIM is by far the biggest Israeli shipping company, and one of the 10 largest in the world, with 60 weekly services to 180 ports worldwide, including Deltaport. This year's Freedom Flotilla was a follow-up to a similar effort in May 2010, when Israeli armed forces raided a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, killing nine activists.

Following last year's massacre, a number of Palestinian labour organizations issued a call for international solidarity, which read in part: “During the South African anti-apartheid struggle, the world was inspired by the brave and principled actions of dockworkers unions who refused to handle South African cargo... Today, we call on you, dockworkers unions of the world, to do the same against Israel’s occupation and apartheid. This is the most effective form of solidarity to end injustice and uphold universal human rights.” Dockworkers in the USA, Sweden, Turkey, India and South Africa have responded with support actions.

"We are calling for a boycott of Zim because Palestinian civil society has asked people of conscience to target Israeli shipping in the wake of the Israel's illegal sea blockade of Gaza and it's vicious and violent attacks on the humanitarian ships trying to connect Palestinians to the outside world," said Gordon Murray, a member of the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (BIAC).

"By flotilla and boycott and many other means, the global movement to dismantle Israeli apartheid is growing," said Murray.

A lone French flagged boat, the Dignity, from the Freedom Flotilla managed to get out of Greek territorial waters and sail towards Gaza. It was boarded and seized by Israeli commandos in international waters on July 19, the same day as the ZIM protest. The passengers and crew, including one delegate from the Canadian Boat to Gaza, Stephan Corriveau, were held by the Israeli military before being deported to their respective countries.

Boycott Zim

SFU Student Government Moves to Displace Progressive Groups

Tim McSorley — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:06:22 +0000

PIRG faces eviction, lockout targets campus orgs, union workers

BURNABY—Midway through the summer, life got turned upside down for campus and community groups on SFU's Burnaby Campus.

On July 7, the members of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3338 were given notice that after two years of contract negotiations they would be locked out of their offices. The move by the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) impacts 15 permanent staff and five student employees who work for the society. The lockout took effect Sunday, July 10, and picket lines went up in front of the SFU Women's Centre and Out on Campus (OoC) spaces Monday morning where some of the locked-out employees work. At the time of print, the lock-out was ongoing.

The day after the Student Society walked away from contract talks, its Space Oversight Committee recommended terminating the lease of the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group's (SFPIRG) space in the Rotunda, an area popular with students. SFPIRG has been in the Rotunda for 30 years, but the recommendation, which still needs approval before it goes into force, came as a complete surprise to SFPIRG members.

Following the lock-out, there was a flurry of activity on campus as supporters of the Women's Centre, Out on Campus, and SFPIRG held a demonstration and march against the Student Society's actions. Later, they got to work making buttons, preparing leaflets and exchanging notes on resisting what many are calling a targeted political attack on campus organizations that don't fit the "old boys' club" mold.

SFSS student board members are currently staffing Out on Campus and the Women's Centre. Posters all over campus put up by the SFSS student board declare, "Funding! Food! Spaces! Come in, we're open!" and claim CUPE workers' wages are too high.

"I'm operating as if I'm at work," said Samonte Cruz, the coordinator of Out on Campus and a CUPE 3338 member. Out on Campus runs a library and a lounge where staff and volunteers work hard to create an inclusive, accessible environment for queer students, faculty, staff and their allies. But in a strange role reversal, since the start of the lock-out Cruz and other OoC volunteers have been asking students not to enter the student lounge. "As far as I'm concerned, the lounge is outside right now," said Cruz, as he bit into a sandwich and tried to make himself comfortable on a hard plastic chair surrounded by picket signs.

"The problem with the SFSS board saying the space is open is that it's not open in the same capacity it was established to be open as," said Darren Ho, a second-year linguistics student and Out on Campus volunteer. Ho was busy pressing buttons in support of SFSS staff. Referring to the SFSS student board members who have been operating the space, he said, "It is a trespass of safe space, in that we don't know if they even know what safe space means."

Ho expressed concern that community members who call or email for advice or referrals might not know that the qualified staff has been replaced by untrained SFSS board members.

The Women's Centre lounge is open 24 hours as a safe space for self-identified women, providing, for example, a place to rest for someone who misses the last bus home, or a shelf to refrigerate breast milk for a new mom rushing between classes. The centre also offers peer support, referrals, a work experience program, a library, and a comfortable environment for folks who might not otherwise find a space on campus where they feel at home.

"Their rhetoric is that it is just a space—that no staff hours are needed," said Nadine Chambers, who serves as the coordinator of the Women's Centre. "But every day we have teaching opportunities around the complexity of gender."

Chambers was walking me through the multitude of ways the Women's Centre supports students and community members when Jeff McCann, President of the SFSS, walked into the SFPIRG office. With the air of an impatient manager, he interrupted our interview, demanding to know when the Women's Centre collective was to meet.

McCann is a business student and former football player who previously served as SFSS treasurer. He was elected president in March, and began his term in May, promising to "increase efficiencies." He has since led the SFSS into what CUPE 3338 calls an "ideological move against the union" and put the Student Society on a collision course with SFPIRG.

At the afternoon rally, there was no shortage of people whose university experience has been enriched by the resource groups in the Rotunda. "I felt that these spaces, the people here, and the staff in particular, helped me get through my economics degree," said Amber Louie, the Student Convocation Speaker of the class of 2003. Louie made the trip up Burnaby Mountain specifically to show solidarity with the locked-out workers. "They really supported me in getting to where I am today," she explained.

This isn't the first time the SFSS has tried to undermine the work of progressive groups on campus.

"In 2006, the rhetorical justification was fiduciary responsibility to the society," wrote Joel Block, chief steward of SFU's Teaching Support Staff Union. "This summer, it’s financial responsibility to the student members."

The other poster posted by the SFSS student board this week claims that $748,911 paid out to SFSS staff is inflated compared to the $115,908 transferred to clubs and student union funding. The SFSS directors' Twitter account is replete with claims of how much the Student Union is saving by locking out its staff. Not mentioned is the $831,000 the SFSS spent last year renovating the pub. Then again, that is where the old boys are more likely to hang out.

Dawn Paley is a Vancouver-based journalist.

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Prospecting the Terrain of Struggle

dawn — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:17:32 +0000

Fight against Guatemalan Goldcorp enters halls of power, leaves disappointed

MONTREAL—New developments in Guatemala have continued to put pressure on Canada's Goldcorp, a mining company whose controversial Marlin mine has kept churning out the gold. As some of the mine's opponents continue in land-based struggles, others are channeling resources into courts and official proceedings—with mixed results.

 On May 3, Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) released its final statement on the case brought before them by the San Miguel Defense Front (FREDEMI) in November 2009. An interdepartmental committee, the NCP's mandate is to ensure that Canadian enterprises abroad are operating in compliance with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multi-National Enterprises. The NCP is also one of the few venues at which residents of less-developed countries where Canadian mining companies operate can pursue legal complaints. The FREDEMI case was a request for review, charging that Goldcorp’s activities were causing ongoing human rights abuses around the mine. The case was closed without any investigation or resolution by the NCP.

In a joint press release, MiningWatch Canada and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) called the NCP ruling “the end of a process that was both procedurally and substantively deficient, and provides yet another example of Canada’s failure to ensure that its mining industry respects human rights around the world.”

When the NCP closed its file on the Marlin mine in May, the problems on the ground were no closer to resolution. An article from Oxfam America on June 13, 2011, reiterated that surrounding communities face “problems with access to drinking water and pollution, displacement from farming land, and threats and intimidation directed at people who openly criticize the mine.”

The mine itself has been in production since 2005, and has been a source of conflict from the very beginning. However, with the company expecting to produce an estimated 400,000 ounces of gold in 2011 with a market value of over $640 million at today's gold prices, there are strong incentives for Goldcorp to keep the mine in operation.

The May 2010 ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calling on the government of Guatemala to suspend operations at the mine has also gone unheeded. The IACHR is a body of the Organization of American States responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights among its member states. Local communities succeeded in getting a petition heard before the Commission that granted them precautionary measures. These measures ordered the temporary suspension of activities at the Marlin mine while the IACHR completed an investigation into the alleged abuses.

However, after more than a year of inaction, the government of Guatemala announced in June that it had completed its own investigation and found no cause to suspend operations.

“After all the studies, analyses and participation of various [governmental] actors involved, we conclude that there are no grounds for the suspension of the mine,” said Ricardo Pennington, vice-minister of Energy and Mines, summarizing the Guatemalan government’s response to the IACHR. Its statement was followed by a formal resolution on July 8 from the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM).

In what Magali Rey Rosa of Savia Guatemala called "a sign of the government’s cynicism," the government's announcement obscured the fact that it was never the state’s role to investigate the ruling, but instead to suspend operations while the IACHR itself investigates.

“The IACHR ruling is clear in ordering the temporary closure of operations while the complaint is investigated,” said Yuri Melini of the Guatemala City based Center for Legal Environmental and Social Action (CALAS). 

Just days after the government's announcement that mine operations would not be suspended, the company discharged from its tailings pond into a local river. While the release was supervised by MEM as well as the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), local residents from the Agel and Caserio Siete Platos communities who were present when the tailings were released expressed concern.

“As the population is not informed of the results of monitoring done by the attending institutions such as MARN or AMAC, there is no guarantee that the discharge is actually made so that the concentration of pollutants in the water are below permitted levels,” according to the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology (COPAE) in San Marcos.

Such discharges at the mine are relatively common and have been cause for concern in the past. Last September, a similar discharge prompted Minister of the Environment Luis Ferrate to file legal action against the company for failure to advise the Ministry. Goldcorp has denied any wrongdoing.

"On June 6, 2011, the Environmental Attorney issued a final dismissal of the claim stating that the discharge was in compliance with the permit issued to the Marlin mine, was not a violation of the law, and that there was no environmental contamination as a result of the discharge,” the company wrote in an email to interested stakeholders.

It is not explained, however, why legal action was initially filed by MARN if the the discharge was in compliance with the law. Nor is it explained how anyone could know whether or not there was environmental contamination since MARN was not present at the time and no other data has been made public. And it seems that local residents’ concern over these discharges is justified. A study released in August 2010 by E-Tech International, a New Mexico-based non-profit, found that levels of copper, cyanide and mercury in the tailings pond were respectively three, 10 and 20 times greater than international guideline levels.

While the company claims that tailings water is further processed before being discharged, the lack of publicly-available data or water studies from the company or the government on this (or any other) discharge leaves many observers skeptical.

Concerns linked to water at Goldcorp mine sites have arisen elsewhere as well. In 2007, Goldcorp and the Honduran government measured levels of heavy metals found in the blood and urine of villagers living close to the company’s (now-closed) San Martin gold mine. The results were withheld until April of this year but revealed “dangerously high levels of heavy metals poisoning in their blood that would have required immediate and sustained medical treatment back in 2007, let alone today,” according to Grahame Russell and Karen Spring of Rights Action.

The San Martin mine was in operation between 2000 and 2008, though only acquired by Goldcorp in 2006. While not as rich as the Marlin mine, the San Martin gold mine produced over 185,000 ounces of gold between 2005 and 2007.

Those making money from the illness and controversy surrounding Goldcorp's operations in Guatemala and Honduras include such institutions as the Canadian Pension Plan, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and the BC Investment Management Corporation (responsible for public sector investments in BC). As of March 31, 2011, the CPP was holding 3.665 million shares worth $198 million at Goldcorp's current stock price. But even under pressure, the CPP has shown the same level of indifference as others when it comes to asking hard questions about Goldcorp’s operations and the situation on the ground at the Marlin mine.

In response to a letter calling on it to support a resolution at Goldcorp’s Annual General Meeting in May—a letter that asked the company to voluntarily close the Marlin mine—the CPP stated that its “engagement objectives [do] include improved standards and disclosure related to operations in high-risk countries, including human rights practices.” But its commitment to responsible investment ended there, and it fell in line with the majority of Goldcorp shareholders in voting against the resolution.

Recently, some communities have even turned to the Canadian judicial system to seek redress. Two cases were filed in a Toronto court by communities in El Estor, Guatemala, charging Canadian HudBay Minerals with accountability in a murder and a series of gang rapes during evictions around their planned nickel mine. While the plaintiffs hope their case will be precedent-setting, the Canadian courts system remains a largely untried venue when seeking justice for crimes committed in other countries.

As struggles against these mining projects drag on without justice or closure, Canadian and other solidarity activists have the responsibility to ask ourselves how best we can support grassroots activists: in courts, AGMs, or in the fields and the streets.

Andrew MacPherson has been involved in international accompaniment work in Guatemala and currently lives in Montreal.

Marlin Mine

July in Review, Part II

Tim McSorley — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:46:45 +0000

Cops Watched, Extractives Ejected, Pride Re-Claimed

In her speech to open the Winnipeg International Copwatching Conference, Indigenous leader Leslie Spillett critiqued the idea that police misconduct in cases dealing with First Nations is the result of 'a few bad apples,' and noted that a "culture of oppression" plaguing police since colonial times has caused a disproportionate use of lethal force against indigenous peoples.

The Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of BC withdrew from the province's Missing Women inquiry, due to an inability to cover the associated legal fees. The commission is set to investigate police failings in apprehending serial killer William Pickton. Commission head Wally Oppal has called on the provincial government to provide additional funding to cover the legal costs of several Native and women's groups in order to allow them to participate. The province has steadfastly refused to allocate the funding, which Oppal estimates at less than $2 million.

Video footage of Ottawa police treatment of Roxanne Carr was released at the behest of a number of media outlets. The video is evidence in a suit by Carr against Ottawa police for $975,000 and shows police pushing her to the floor, tying her up and leaving her in her cell after stripping her naked. Carr claims to have been left naked and suffered injuries, including a broken arm.

Two Montreal activist groups filed complaints with the Quebec Human Rights Commission against a police unit they say discriminates against their political beliefs. The GAMMA squad, which roughly translates to "surveilling the activities of marginal and anarchist groups," took credit for arresting four members of these groups in July, on charges related to altercations with police at an anti-capitalist May Day march.

Newly released documents revealed the RCMP spied on reknowned Canadian literary scholar Northrop Frye in the 1970s, particularly due to his criticism of Canada's complicity in the Vietnam War and participation in a teach-in about China at the University of Toronto.

A new study found that the cost of the federal prison system has increased 86 per cent under the Conservative government, rising from $1.6 billion in 2005-06 to a projected $2.98 billion in 2012. The rise is attributed to the Conservatives new "Truth in Sentencing" policy and other tough on crime measures, which put more people in jail for longer terms, increasing costs for everything from inmate living conditions to more prison guards.

New federal crime legislation is poised to increase the number of incarcerated youth across the country. Canada already locks up more convicted youth than almost any similarly industrialized country.

Health care workers, legal workers and police denounced the lack of mental health facilities in Ontario. The calls came after a woman who was arrested on minor charges and found unfit to stand trial due to mental health problems was locked up for two weeks, rather than receiving the psychiatric care ordered by the courts.

The new logo of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team was criticised for conflating sport and and militarism. Defense Minister Peter McKay loves the new logo and the teams new owners have announced they will be donating $1 million to military linked charities.

US environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison for his disruption of a 2008 auction-off of lands in Utah to oil and gas companies.

Mining company Cartier Resources suspended all mining exploration on the territory of the Algoquin of Barriere Lake, in Quebec. Community member have campaigned against the company's activities, including a visit to the company's annual general meeting and an occupation of the company's proposed drilling site. The company had not sought 'free, prior and informed consent' before operating on their land. Cartier's mineral claims in the area are suspended until summer 2013, as per the company's request.

Fears of water contamination in Yellowknife increased, as a sink hole near a former gold mine continued to grow in size. Environmental officials were worried that water from Baker Creek, which flows into Great Slave Lake, could end up in nearby underground chambers. The chambers contain arsenic, a by-product of gold-mining left behind after the closing of the mine.

Barrick Gold, the Toronto-based mining company, was accused by Greenpeace of causing three small glaciers to lose nearly half their ice cover, due to the firm's operation of gold and silver mines on the border between Argentina and Chile. The region is populated by towns which rely on the glaciers as their only source of potable water.

The National Assessment of First Nations Water and Wastewater Systems revealed 1,800 reserve homes are without water or sewage service and nearly 40 per cent of all water systems on native reserves pose high levels of risk. The study looked at water systems in 97 per cent of First Nation communities in Canada.

Queer women, trans people, and their allies, gathered in Halifax for the first annual Dyke and Trans March, which took place a day before the city's Pride Parade. "There's no political analysis in Pride," said Shay, one of the march's organizers. "Pride primarily gives space and represents very white, middle class, cis, gay male representations of queer sexuality, and I think a lot of people get left out of that."

A loose band of internet hackers ramped up attacks this month. LulzSec claims to have gotten its hands on a cache of emails from embattled news organization News Corp. Anonymous says it has obtained a gigabyte in secret info from NATO. They also got confidential documents from Italy. Police moved in, however, and arrested the alleged founder of LulzSec. It was also revealed that PayPal is helping the FBI catch the hackers, resulting in a call to boycott the online payment service.

A new poll found Toronto residents overwhelmingly opposed to Mayor Rob Ford's plans to either close or privatize Toronto's libraries. Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood entered the fray via Twitter, lambasting the mayor's decision. The mayor's brother, Doug Ford, stated he hadn't heard of the celebrated author.

Hundreds of people turned out at Toronto City Hall for the city's longest council session ever, which lasted more than 22 hours. Over 300 people signed up as to speak; all but three criticized Rob Ford's plans to cut social services in the city.

The federal government cut funding to the Montreal-based Wapikoni Mobile film school, which brought film production training and equipment to remote Indigenous communities across Quebec.

A town hall meeting that took place where Africville—a Black Nova Scotian community which was destroyed in the 1960s—once stood drew attention to the international economic crisis and its effects on peoples of African descent in Nova Scotia and internationally. "We (the Diaspora) have received an invitation to be a part of the African Union, a central body that represents all except one of the 54 nations of Africa," said Dr. David L. Horne, international facilitator of the Sixth Regional Dispora Conference and a keynote speaker at the Town Hall.

Quebec saw the largest influx of migrant farm workers to the province ever: around 7,000, mostly from Mexico, Guatemala and the West Indies. Their work is often hazardous, involving exposure to extreme heat, pesticides, risk of repetitive strain from picking crops. Minimum wage for migrant workers in Quebec is $9.65 per hour.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that 1,800 new Canadians will have their citizenship revoked. Only 63 Canadians have had their citizenship revoked since 1977. Thirty of those who lost their citizenship are being sought in connections with "war crimes," yet none of the three dozen on the "most wanted" list have been charged in connection with any crimes.

Bureaucrats in Ottawa prevented fisheries scientist Kristi Miller from talking about her new discovery which could help explain why salmon stocks have been crashing off Canada's West Coast. Her finding has been called one of the most significant discoveries to come out of a federal fisheries lab in years.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Indigenous people in Alberta cannot be simultaneously registered under the provincial Metis Settlements Act and the federal Indian Act, following a family's complaint that the restriction violated the Charter rights of freedom of association and freedom of liberty. Individuals who fall into both categories must now choose between the benefits of their ancestry.

A new analysis of Afghan detainee documents confirmed that a lack of communication, ineptitude and diplomatic secrecy at the highest levels of Canadian government played a role in prisoners being tortured after transfer to Afghan custody.

Jack Layton revealed he has a new form of cancer and stepped down as leader of the New Democratic Party. In response to Layton's recommendation, the NDP caucus has appointed former labour leader Nycole Turmel as interim party leader.

US President Barack Obama formally ended the ban on gays in the military. As of September 20, service members will be allowed to be open about their sexual orientation. Those previously discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy will have the opportunity to enlist again.

Alykhan Velshi, former communications director for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, launched an Ethical Oil ad campaign contrasting the "cruel crude" from conflict areas (mostly the Middle East) and "dictatorships" that fuel "terrorism" and even result in "women [being] stoned to death," with the Canadian oil that generates taxable revenues that are used to help fund "democracy."

Dyke and Trans March Halifax 2011

Winnipeg Jets Logo

Development on a LARP

hillarybain — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:41:26 +0000

Coalition speaks out on Northern Alberta land use plan

VANCOUVER—First Nations groups, scientists, lawyers and scholars are speaking out against the government of Alberta’s draft Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP). Critics say LARP fails to address First Nations rights and the worsening environmental and health concerns for communities impacted by the tar sands.

“There’s very little accommodation to the rights of First Nations [in LARP],” says Monique Passelac-Ross of the Canadian Institute of Resource Law, at the University of Calgary, a vocal critic of LARP's consultation process. “The government basically counts the number of times they communicate, but at the end of the day there’s no real negotiation, no real discussion.”

According to the Alberta government, LARP will identify and set resources and environmental management outcomes for air, land, water and biodiversity and guide future resource decisions while considering social and economic impacts. Some are concerned the LARP consultation is superficial, however, and serves as a formula for the government to increase expansion and development in northern Alberta without dealing with the environmental and social impacts of the tar sands.

“The government takes the information and often doesn’t give any feedback to First Nations on what they’ve submitted, so it’s a very frustrating process,” says Passelac-Ross. “Information just goes into a ‘black box’ and that has led the First Nations to the situation where they may go to court to force the government to listen.”

Local First Nations have had concerns with environmental impacts, land use planning and the future of the largest energy extraction project on earth since the 1990’s.

“I don’t think they even understand the impacts of what’s happening there and what the impacts are going to be in the near future. They haven’t really come up with a good plan on how to address them,” says Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Roxanne Marcel.

She notes that she is not against development in the area, but wants to see a plan in place for the project to move forward without a negative impact.

“Were not opposing the oilsands, we’re opposing the way the government is implementing policies and proceeding without considering the impacts and what will occur in the future. They’re just doing all these ad hoc policies and the belief is that they will deal with whatever comes at the time.”

But Dave Ealey, who is a spokesperson for the Alberta government's Sustainable Resource Development program, believes the concerns of First Nations are addressed in the plan.

“There have been a number of media stories talking about some of the issues that the public has had about land ownership rights and Aboriginal concerns about access to traditional use areas,” he said. “We think we’ve addressed their concerns and that the final version of the LARP will have addressed a number of their (other) concerns. I think they’re already addressed in the cumulative effects monitoring that’s built into the plan.”

More recently world-renowned scientists have begun speaking out on the impacts of tar sands operations are having on communities and the environment.

In 2007 water ecologist Kevin Timoney published a study with the Treeline Ecological Research institute noting serious water contamination issues adversely effecting populations downstream from tar sands operations. Primary contaminants included arsenic, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with serious risks to those eating from the land and drinking untreated water.

Other chemical contaminants found in water included aluminum, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, phosphorus, selenium, titanium, total phenols, herbicides and pesticides as well as traces of ammonia, antimony, manganese, nickel and molybdenum.

Elevated arsenic concentrations have been associated with type two diabetes, cancers of the bile duct, liver, urinary tract, skin and vascular diseases.

With tar sands production expected to double over the next 10 years, provincial changes that take into account the concerns of local communities now could play a huge role in the future outlook of these communities.

Recommendations on environmental issues have been coming from respected scientists and numerous submissions have been made from the Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations on land use planning and environmental degradation that for the most part have gone unheard.

As LARP proceeds, over 30 proposed tar sands surface mines, in-situ extraction and refinery upgrades are currently on the table to be approved by Alberta’s National Energy Board.

Although Ealey is confident that the LARP process will handle all concerns on the table Marcel is not so sure.

“We will be looking at challenging the LARP in courts if they don’t change it to reflect some of the recommendations that we have made,” said Marcel. “They have committed to meeting with our consultants and our team to review the recommendations but there’s no commitment that they will incorporate any of them.”

The final plan is expected to be finished, presented to the Alberta legislature, and provided to cabinet for approval sometime in August.

Trevor Kehoe is a journalist and photographer originally from Calgary, Alberta who is now based in Vancouver, B.C. He freelances for a number of online and print publications and blogs at Common Interest.

tarsands_2

tarsands_1

The "Trade" Agreement Ottawa and Nova Scotia Want Kept Secret

Martin Lukacs — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:06:28 +0000

Packed room hears Canada-Europe trade negotiations denounced

HALIFAX—A standing-room-only crowd packed a Halifax meeting room on a summer night to hear about a secret.

Two national speakers, Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) President Paul Moist, provided a harrowing account of the Harper government's "trade" negotiations with Europe that they said will transfer decision-making power from local governments to multinational corporations.

The vehicle for this wholesale corporate power grab is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), said the speakers.

Unlike the earlier Free Trade Agreement and North American Free Trade Agreement, CETA would reach into provincial and municipal policy-making and purchasing, Moist said. It would seriously threaten local job creation and "Buy-Local" policies; it would encourage privatization of Canada's drinking water and waste-water services (no matter what local citizens wanted); and it would cause prescription drug costs to skyrocket by at least $2.8 billion per year.

CETA is essentially a corporate bill of rights which puts companies and their profits first and the wishes of local citizens last, said Barlow. For example, European corporations could seek compensation for business lost as a result of any government regulation or policy. This includes banning a carcinogenic additive to gasoline (this has already happened under existing "trade" deals) or paying millions to a pulp and paper company that abandoned Newfoundland and Labrador.

"We have nothing against trading with Europe and much of our trade is now free or becoming free of tariffs," said Moist. "But this deal goes well beyond trade issues into interfering with how local people can make decisions about how to run their communities."

A Nova Scotia speaker, Mark Austin, Executive Director of the Rural and Coast Communities Network, added a number of concerns. "This deal has huge implications for Nova Scotia, particularly rural areas, yet we have heard nothing about it," Austin said. It would likely result in overfishing, and would threaten food sovereignty through attacks on agricultural policies such as farm marketing boards, he added.

And buy-local initiatives, like one Austin is involved with in Truro, could become impossible.

"While there might be small short-term gains in trade with Europe, you have to give up control of your long-term local economic prospects. It's like the Canucks playing in Boston—you can score one goal, but you have to give up five."

CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh, who chaired Tuesday's event, said CETA negotiations would resume in Brussels on July 10. Prime Minister Harper hopes to sign a completed deal by the end of the year. Premier Darrell Dexter and other provincial premiers, who also need to sign off on the deal, are part of Canada's little-publicized discussions.

Barlow said that while it may be unrealistic to expect a provincial government not to sign the agreement, she hopes that public pressure motivates premiers to drive a harder bargain and seek exemptions from the most damaging aspects of the currently proposed deal.

Despite the devastating potential impact, the speakers noted that the Nova Scotia government has done nothing to alert citizens of what is at stake. Moist said that the Nova Scotia and Manitoba governments have agreed to talk in private with CUPE and the Council of Canadians research staff about the negotiations, but no consultations with the general public are planned.

The European Parliament receives regular status reports in public on the CETA negotiations, Moist said. "Why can't Canadians get such reports?"

Dartmouth MP Robert Chisholm, the federal NDP trade critic, was at the meeting, as was Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie. No provincial politicians attended.

"It's not too late to stop the deal," Barlow said.

The speaking event was part of a national campaign entitled, "Canadian communities are not for sale.” More information is available as part of a “CETA toolkit” at http://cupe.ca/ceta, or at www.canadians.org.

This article was originally published with the Halifax Media Co-op.

Jim Guild, of Halifax, recently retired from a staff rep. position with the NS Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) and has been active of late with the Halifax Media Co-op.

Barlow CETA2

Torontonians Smash Ford's Anti-Tax Agenda

Martin Lukacs — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:27:27 +0000

Consultation shows public wants services before tax cuts

TORONTO—The results of a public consultation with Torontonians released in mid-July has dealt a blow to Mayor Rob Ford's agenda.

The Core Service Review - Public Consultation released by the City shows that public opinion of the City's budget deficit is in direct opposition to the Mayor's agenda. Over 13,000 Torontonians completed the consultation.

Ford, who campaigned heavily on reducing City "waste" and freezing tax increases, has faced a dilemma partly of his own creation. While Ford inherited a large surplus from his predecessor, his decision to freeze taxes in 2011 and eliminate a number of revenue streams has the city facing a deficit of over $700 million for 2012.

The Mayor has commissioned audit firm KPMG to find savings in various departments. Meanwhile, the size of the deficit has forced Ford to recently backtrack on one of his 2010 campaign promises. He initially claimed that a property tax increase would not go over 1.8 per cent. But he recently said, “At the very most, I’ve said you can raise property taxes, at the most, 2.5, maybe 3 per cent.”

Ford had urged his supporters (dubbed "Ford Nation") to overwhelm the public consultations to promote an anti-tax, cutting-spending agenda. However the results of the consultation have turned out quite differently.

The results of the consultation conclude that:

Torontonians' number one priority is "Transparent and accountable government." The third highest priority is "Meeting the needs of vulnerable people" while "Fair and affordable taxes" was ranked dead-last out of nine available options.

Public Transit, Fire Services and Water Treatment were deemed to be the most necessary services for the City. The management of Exhibition Place and the Toronto Zoo by the City were considered to be least important.

Survey participants overwhelmingly supported increasing "property taxes to keep the same level of City services." Not increasing "user fees or taxes even if this means reducing the level of service" had the least support.

According to the report the mean recommended "property tax increase for all participants was 5.15 per cent." Over 20 per cent of participants recommended a 5 per cent tax increase. A 10 per cent increase was recommended by 19 per cent of participants.

With the publication of the results, some of Ford's allies on City council have stated that they will not follow the recommendations of the consultation. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong stated, “It’s not statistically valid, those people self-selected, they decided to fill that form out as opposed to if you were to take a representative sample and have a pollster do it.”

Statistically, participation in the consultations was over-represented—compared to other consultations in the Downtown core—by computer users (higher income, higher education, youth), parents and low-income Torontonians.

Enid Godtree is a journalist with the Toronto Media Co-op. This article was first published with the Toronto Media Co-op.

Ford's survey

Canadian Delegation Talks Pipeline Impacts in Washington

Tim McSorley — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:43:54 +0000

Fears over spills, environmental impact spurr concerns on both sides of border

VANCOUVER—First Nations and environmental representatives from Canada are ratcheting up the pressure against the oil sands by taking their campaigning to the United States. In late May, a delegation headed to Washington, DC, to lobby against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion and future impacts on the environment and their communities.

The controversial project would funnel over a million barrels of oil sands bitumen each day from Northern Alberta down to the Gulf of Mexico and has caused concern over pipeline safety and environmental and land rights issues that have yet to be addressed.

“Many were intrigued that we were there. They don’t get a chance to hear from First Nations on this side of the border too often. There are a number of concerns we have with this project. Firstly there is no cohesive long-term plan on how to proceed with the Alberta oil sands. It’s really the ‘old west’ in Alberta when it comes to natural resources and downstream communities are negatively affected by this development,” said Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief for the North West Territories Bill Erasmus.

“We want to see sustainable development of this resource as well as having the downstream impacts addressed. Canada needs a strong climate change policy and right now there is no plan," he said. "We are not saying no to development, we need to take a step back, see what is truly transpiring and develop a better approach.”

Upon invitation from the US Congress and the Obama administration, Erasmus, Chief Roxanne Marcel from the Mikisew Cree First Nation and representatives from the Pembina Institute, Climate Action Network Canada and Environmental Defense Canada stated where they stood on the project.

The delegation met Assistant Secretary of Ocean and Environment Dr. Karri-Ann Jones, members from the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, members of the media and several congressmen.

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline by Calgary-based TransCanada Corporation would build upon existing pipeline infrastructure that transports Alberta oil sands bitumen to refineries in the US.

Keystone pipeline infrastructure currently sends 590,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Hardisty, Alberta to refineries in Illinois, Nebraska and Oklahoma over the 3,467-kilometre trek.

The XL would add another 2,673 kilometres of added pipeline infrastructure that will cross Indigenous lands in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the United States.

Keystone has said the XL pipeline will move 700,000 bpd from Canada and US receipt points through Steele City, NB, to Cushing, OK, and down to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

About 200,000 bpd of the payload will be delivered into Cushing and the remaining 500,000 bpd will be transported to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

Keystone has said their presidential permit application is requesting authority to transport up to 900,000 bpd, up from their initial capacity of 700,000 bpd.

The 6,140 km XL project would be over four times longer than the Trans Alaskan pipeline, and TransCanada has compared the undertaking to the construction of the Pyramids of Giza.

For Obama and other Americans the debate is on safety, energy security and vying for access to Canadian reserves while considering Asian and other international market competition.

Republicans are pressuring the Obama administration to approve the project before the end of 2011.

Only in operation for about a year, the Keystone pipeline has already had numerous reported spills.

Discussions of the XL expansion impacts come as TransCanada continues to clean up two recent spills in Kansas and North Dakota.

Keystone was shut down on May 9, 2011, after a spill in Bismarck, North Dakota where 21,000 gallons of oil leaked from a valve failure at a pumping station, and again May 29 after a small spill in Kansas.

A formal investigation has been set up by the North Dakota Public Service Commission into how the spill occurred and if TransCanada acted appropriately.

First Nations downstream from Albertan oil sands projects have felt the worst of the development, suffering serious health impacts, water, fish and soil contamination as well as massive amounts of water consumption, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Studies from respected scientists have shown increases in harmful contaminants in the area including arsenic, mercury, aluminum, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, phosphorus, selenium, titanium, total phenols, herbicides and pesticides as well as traces of ammonia, antimony, manganese, nickel and molybdenum.

These chemicals have been associated with type 2 diabetes, cancers of the bile duct, liver and urinary tract and skin and vascular diseases.

Industry and government sources suggest tailings pond leakage into soil, groundwater and surface water are insignificant despite reports in 2003 that found leakage rates were at 11 million litres per day.

The Alberta government, industry-funded Regional Aquatics Monitoring System has been widely criticized for using “questionable statistical methods and assumptions,” and for the “lack of details of methods, failure to describe rationales for program changes, examples of inappropriate statistical analysis and unsupported conclusions and inadequate monitoring sites.”

With no clear long term sustainable vision or plan for the oil sands, the Keystone pipeline expansion would allow for unabated increased production in Northern Alberta without considering present issues associated with the development.

Erasmus said he and other First Nations have taken their concerns to provincial and federal governments north of the border, including requesting independent environmental monitoring, but they have been all but ignored.

“To date the federal and provincial governments have not taken the concerns seriously of impacted First Nations,” said Erasmus. “They claim there is no proof the oil sands are adversely effecting communities. The project is seen as being in Canada’s national interest and that it must go ahead.”

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that Indigenous communities must have free, prior and informed consent before any projects like the Keystone XL get the go-ahead.

The US State Department has opted to hold a new round of public consultation hearings into the XL expansion in six different locations throughout impacted areas, after they release a final environmental impact statement on the project.

A decision is expected near the end of 2011.

Keystone refused to be interviewed for this article.

Trevor Kehoe is a journalist originally from Calgary, now based in Vancouver. You can read more at www.commoninterestcanada.blogspot.com, where this article was originally published.

Canadian Media Failed to Deliver

Martin Lukacs — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Media coverage of Canada Post labour dispute uncritical, Inaccurate

By June 14, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) had been staging rotating strikes for 11 days. Workers had decided they would slow down the delivery of mail by striking in different communities for two to three days at a time. Workers in Winnipeg, Hamilton, Fredericton, Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Cape Breton, and more, had all taken their turns on the picket line.

So while CUPW members in Toronto and Montreal were walking the picket line on June 14, workers in every other community in Canada showed up to work as usual. Letter carriers — Canada Post workers who deliver mail in our communities every Monday through Friday — were told there was no work for them. No mail was being delivered that Tuesday. So mail sat in Canada Post processing plants; undelivered.

Indoor workers in Halifax, who process and sort the mail, were working — but no mail would leave the plant. Even priority packages, which should be delivered by noon the day after they are shipped, were not delivered.

In Fredericton, management sent indoor workers home after only three hours of work, even with mail still to process, according to a twitter update from activist Ella Henry. Fredericton workers had just come off a strike rotation, so the claim from Canada Post that there was no work for both indoor workers and letter carriers seemed quite perplexing.

Despite these circumstances, the local hourly CBC radio broadcast in Halifax told listeners all day that Canada Post workers “consider themselves to be locked out.” A CBC News headline online reads, “Union calls postal service reduction 'partial lockout.'”

The Canadian Labour Code, which governs postal workers, states that a “lockout” “includes the closing of a place of employment, a suspension of work by an employer or a refusal by an employer to continue to employ a number of their employees, done to compel their employees, or to aid another employer to compel that other employer’s employees, to agree to terms or conditions of employment.”

Letter carriers showed up to work on Tuesday, June 14, and were told to go home because Canada Post decided no mail was to be delivered. This is very clearly a “suspension of work by the employer” and in the context of the previous rotating strike, very much “done to compel their employees … to agree to terms or conditions of employment.”

The workers were locked out by their employer, plain and simple. The addition of the caveat “consider themselves” casts doubt on a clear situation, and works in favour of the employer’s spin on the situation.

There are several complexities that reporters and editors may not be familiar with when it comes to labour reporting. For example, during the June 14 partial lockout, CUPW declared the locked out workers to be on strike. This is not because the workers chose to strike that day. By declaring those members on strike, the union was able to protect workers who were not locked out from being pressured or disciplined for refusing to do the work of their locked-out co-workers. It is the responsibility of reporters and editors who intend to cover labour issues to understand these issues in order to cover labour issues fairly and accurately.

This example, though, is just one small example of the corporate and public media’s lack of fair, critical, and accurate coverage of the labour dispute.

Prior to both the rotating strikes and the lockout, which became a nation-wide full lockout on June 15, news sources reporting on the labour negotiations, repeatedly listed wages and benefits that Canada Post workers receive. At $26 per hour, a full-time worker makes about $54,000 per year. While this is higher than the median individual income of Canadian workers, it is well below the median household income of $68,860. The sticking point of the dispute was not wages for current workers. Instead, the issue has always been the implementation of two-tiered wages – lower wages for new workers. These lower wages would see new workers paid about $10,000 less than the median Canadian income, and more than $30,000 below the median household income. We are talking about middle-income, stable, secure jobs. The kind of jobs that governments argue are necessary for economic recovery. CUPW has been fighting to keep these kinds of jobs for new workers.

Many sources, including the CBC, continuously cited Canada Post’s statistic that mail volumes have fallen 17 per cent since 2006. In the Vernon Morning Star in BC, an editorial told readers, “E-mail obviously took over sending a friendly letter in the mail long ago for many of us and internet billing has become the norm … Therefore the amount of mail going into the system has obviously decreased.” Overall, however, mail volumes have increased by 10 per cent since 1997. Considering the worldwide economic recession that has been going on since at least 2008, it is understandable that mail volumes would be down the past couple of years, but it’s hardly an obvious trend. Where was the slew of reporters who should have been asking Canada Post President and CEO Deepak Chopra about the impact of the recession on mail service, whether there were signs of recovery, and what Canada Post was doing to improve and expand services for the future?

Also, there was little to no investigation of why or how mail volumes are dropping. Are people using the mail less? Are people using other mail services? Has Canada Post lost contracts to private companies, or has it given contracts to Purolator, which it owns? Are all volumes down? It is very possible that letter mail volume is down, but parcel shipping is up (think about all the online shopping people do.) Also, the whole argument that mail volumes are down because more things are being done electronically needs to be examined since the internet has been around for a while now. Why wasn’t the corporate and mainstream media looking into all of these issues? Why wasn’t the media exploring what Canada Post could be doing instead – improving door-to-door delivery, providing expanded public services (think of how processing EI claims at a post office could reduce backlogs), or the slew of services taken up by European postal services in the face of more electronic business.

How many stories, instead, were written on the opinions of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business on the strike? How many opinion editorials were published by right wing think tanks? Where were the journalists who are supposed to uncover facts?

Perhaps most frustrating was the incompatible arguments that on one hand mail is becoming irrelevant, and on the other, the disruption of the mail service has significant detrimental impacts on the economy – so detrimental that the government needed to legislate the resumption of mail service. Canada Post and the Harper government can’t have it both ways, and where were journalists to interrogate this contradiction?

Repeatedly, articles published that Canada Post lost over $100 million during the labour dispute. This is a number that was put forward by Canada Post and reporters have given no context for how the corporation arrived at that number. Reporters did little to question where that number came from or even when those losses were from.

While the rotating strikes presented delays in mail delivery, mail was still being delivered to the customer, something that postal workers were keeping in mind. While in a legal strike position, they could very well have held a nation-wide strike and stopped mail delivery all together. Instead, rotating strikes were implemented to balance the need to pressure Canada Post to bargain in good faith, and to continue to serve Canadians. Still, though, the corporate and mainstream media consistently repeated Canada Post’s rhetoric that service reductions, and the lockout were the fault of the union.

News sources completely failed to point out that locked out workers received no pay from Canada Post. Postal workers, like all Canadians, have families and bills and responsibilities and were being prevented from working by their employers. What was the economic impact of 48,000 workers being locked out? How much did workers see in lost wages? What were workers doing to make up the lost wages? Did they borrowing more? Did they dipping into savings? Did bills being left unpaid?

Where is the corporate and mainstream media on all of these questions?

Deafeningly silent.

Kaley Kennedy is a member of the Halifax Media Co-op and is involved in Support Postal Workers, a campaign organised by people in Halifax to generate community support for postal workers.

postal workers.ottawa

Descartes Without Debt

hillarybain — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:12:52 +0000

Course teaches great books free of charge

HALIFAX—The Halifax Humanities 101 program graduated its sixth class at King’s College Chapel on June 4, reigniting the debate regarding the value of a humanities course for low-income people.

Over eight months, students of Halifax Humanities attended classes twice a week and read Plato, Homer, Dante, St. Augustine, Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, Alice Munro, and Virginia Woolf—to name a few—in between lectures. The program is free, and books and reading materials are provided for students to keep. University professors, who volunteer their time, teach all the classes.

Raising funds for a course that does not bill itself as "employment training" for people on low incomes is not always easy, says Mary Lu Redden, the Director of Halifax Humanities. But according to the program’s participants, the opportunity to study classic works of literature, philosophy and art has a value that’s impossible to quantify.

“It opens up your mind and your heart,” says Bonnie Shepherd, one of the program’s first students six years ago. “You have more compassion and empathy when you realize what humans throughout the ages have gone through.”

“When the curriculum was first devised, I wondered if it might be better to be more practical and better suited to the students’ experience,” says Dr. Henry Roper, a volunteer professor from King’s University who has been with the program since its creation. That didn’t seem to be what the participants were looking for, explains Roper. He says the curriculum gets shaped by the needs and wants of the participants each year.

“The opportunity to learn from so many excellent and learned minds has been a remarkable, precious experience,” says Jan G., one of this year’s graduates. “Learning about the journey of humanity through the ages brings a better sense of understanding the world we live in. This experience has given me more confidence in my approach to life.”

“The great works of the West should be available to anyone who wants to tolle lege [take up and read], to bum a phrase from Augustine,” says Dr. Laura Penny, another volunteer professor with Halifax Humanities. “It's a real joy to be part of a program that makes it clear that reading, thinking, and writing are not elitist or superfluous hobbies, but a way to understand the world and the self.”

“There’s something about the core of Marxism that poor people get right away,” says Dr. Sarah Clift who teaches Nietzsche, Marx and others as part of the course. “There’s nothing theoretical about it. [The students] understand the alienation of labour immediately.”

It wasn’t Marx who first touched Kathleen Higney, but Socrates.

Higney remembers her first class in September 2007 on the Socratic method. "I remember wondering, ‘What the heck is [the professor] talking about?’ But I was hooked and carried on...listening, questioning, thinking, and writing.”

Higney has continued studying through the Seminar for Graduates, offered to people who complete the first course. “I highly recommend Halifax Humanities 101 to adults who love to learn but cannot afford the cost of university tuition and books,” she says.

The course is also an invitation to participate in the broader community—an invitation that is desperately needed and rarely extended, says Clift. “The barrier is real and it has social, spiritual and financial implications.”

Lauri Noye, one of this year’s graduates, brightened up her class by bringing her seizure-alert dog to every session. She has felt that isolation in her own life.

“I had become housebound a while ago and this [course] helped me to get out,” says Noye. “I learned a lot about myself and the community and I made new friends. My relationship to the community at large has changed. I found out about things going on that I can participate in and I’m more involved.”

Heather D., who was co-valedictorian of this year's class, had a similar experience. She noticed the change when she found herself attending several New Year’s Levees for the very first time in her life. “I would never have done that before. I have a wider sense of community. Not in a million years would I have come into contact with this group. It’s so outside your known world,” she says. Heather feels the benefits are not limited to those attending the course. “All the people around me have also been affected. It was a ripple effect. It’s not always a dollars-and-cents payoff.”

Halifax Humanities 101 will begin classes again in the fall.

Lamont Dobbin is a recent graduate of the Halifax Humanities course. He lives below the poverty line on a disability pension.

Halifax Humanities 101