police

CCLA JOINS COALITION OF COMMUNITY AND ADVOCACY GROUPS CALLING FOR ACTION ON POLICE OVERSIGHT

lefteyex Press Release, Reblogged , ,

The police force can occupy two states at one time, one they can be beneficial in fostering stability in a society, yet at the same time be detrimental to democracy, freedoms and rights.  There has to always check and balances to ensure that they do serve and protect.

As the Canadian Civil Liberties points out there has to be over sites over the conduct of our police forces.

TORONTO – Today, a coalition of community and advocacy groups, as well as the Ontario Human Rights Commission, issued a joint statement calling on the Government of Ontario and police oversight bodies to immediately implement recommendations of the Honourable Justice Michael Tulloch from his Report of the Independent Police Oversight Review. This statement was prompted by recent events that highlight several police accountability issues that require immediate action.

The coalition calls on the Government to introduce legislative changes to:

  • Clarify the process for Special Investigations Unit (SIU) notification, and the duty of police to cooperate with the SIU
  • Permit the SIU to refer conduct matters to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD)
  • Allow the OIPRD to initiate investigations in the public interest even if no complaint
    is filed.

The coalition also calls on the SIU, OIPRD and Ontario Civilian Police Commission to immediately and transparently implement recommendations that do not need legislative change or significant extra resources, including:

  • Mandatory social and cultural competency training, in partnership with Indigenous and other community organizations
  • Collecting race-based and other demographic data
  • Forming meaningful and equitable partnerships with Indigenous organizations

Coalition members include:

  • Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, Acting Executive Director, Canadian Civil Liberties Association
  • Jennifer Chambers, Executive Director, Empowerment Council
  • Julian Falconer, Principal, Falconers LLP
  • Sharmaine Hall, Executive Director, Human Rights Legal Support Centre
  • Emily Hill, Interim Legal Advocacy Director, Aboriginal Legal Services
  • Renu Mandhane, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission
  • Howard F. Morton, Q.C., Law Union of Ontario
  • Alok Mukherjee, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Department of Criminology, Ryerson University
  • Aseefa Sarang, Executive Director, Across Boundaries: An Ethnoracial Mental
    Health Centre
  • Knia Singh, Osgoode Society Against Institutional Injustice
  • Anita Szigeti, President, Law and Mental Disorder Association

Quotes:

“The calculated, callous and unconscionable actions of both Toronto and Durham police in their deliberate avoidance of an SIU investigation of Dafonte Miller’s catastrophic injuries at the hands of Constable Mike Theriault and his brother, Christian Theriault represent the most compelling example of what is wrong with independent investigations of police in Ontario.

The failure to interview credible and independent eye witnesses who presented themselves at the scene to Durham Police, the blind acceptance of absurd accounts by the attackers of Dafonte Miller, the wrongful and illegal arrest of the victim Dafonte Miller and the deliberate exclusion of the Special Investigations Unit are all undeniable realities of the Dafonte Miller case.

Dafonte Miller and his family have, as of late yesterday, filed conduct and systemic review complaints with the Ontario Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) against both the Durham and Toronto Police Service seeking a full investigation of what the complainants
say was an orchestrated cover-up motivated by corrupt purposes and enabled by weak
police oversight legislation.”

– Julian Falconer, Principal, Falconers LLP

“The historical relationship between Indigenous people and law enforcement within Canada is one of mistrust and racial bias that stems from discriminatory legislation created to eliminate our culture and our society. The time for reconciliation is now.”

– Caitlyn Kasper, Staff Lawyer, Aboriginal Legal Services

“The failure of two police services to notify the SIU about Dafonte Miller raises concerns of systemic discrimination and ineffective mechanisms to hold police accountable for it. All of Justice Tulloch’s recommendations must be implemented.”

– Renu Mandhane, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission

“A simple trip to the store can capture police interest based simply on skin colour. We assist and represent people every day who have experienced discrimination at the hands of police officers.”

– Sharmaine Hall, Executive Director, Human Rights Legal Support Centre

Self-Deterministic Theory, Logic, Emotions And The Police

lefteyex Articles, Editorial, Opinions , , , ,

By André Faust (May 02, 2017)

I am always in a constant battle with myself between logic and emotion. From life experience, most of my mistakes in life were the results of decisions arising from emotional responses, rather than those based on logic.

I ‘ve come to realise that logic is only a structured systematic thought process for example if condition A exists then the result has to be this. or if you remove every possible explanation and you are left with one, that has to be the correct one.

Logic by itself, without emotion, cannot keep our species alive because is only an abstract thought process and this thought process is not a drive for survival, while the process is useful in developing strategies to get what we want it is not directly responsible for our survival.

Emotions, on the other hand, seems to be the main driving force to keep our species alive and at the individual level, it is emotions that dictate why we behave as we do. Related to emotions and why we behave there are three other properties, motivation and drive which can work for us or can work against us depending on what we are responding to.

One of the best theoretical frameworks that I have found as a base to understand the relationship between behaviour and emotion is the self-determination theory.

The beauty of the self-determination theory is that it simplifies our emotional drives into three basic needs. 1. Autonomy. Is the universal urge to be causal agents of one’s own life and act in harmony with one’s integrated self. 2. Competence, Seek to control the outcome and experience mastery and 3. Relatedness, Is the universal want to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others. (Ryan, & Deci, 2000).

The implication of the theory is that if any, any combination or all are not met, the chances of experiencing negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, depression and others is greatly increased. In other words, a state of unhappiness and if these are not met between people conflict can arise.

In an upcoming video, I will be discussing police aggression, investigation and interrogation of innocent people using the logic of the theory of self-determination. The discussion will look at two frames of reference one from the police and the other from the person(s) frame of reference and how the interaction between the two can have serious negative impact on the lives of the innocent person.

Reference:

Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being (1st ed.). American Psychologist. Retrieved from https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2000_RyanDeci_SDT.pdf

When Child Protection Agencies Becomes the Instrument of Abuse

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By André Faust

When we think of child protection, Children’s aid, child social services we tend to think that they are there to protect children, and probably most of the time they do. Unless it is something major where these agencies messed up the public will never hear of it. These agencies hide their “F#@k ups” behind the firewall called privacy and privilege information that protects them from any public scrutiny.

How many foster kids eventually end up as commodities on the human traffic market? According to a 2015 report by Child Welfare Information Gateway;

Children and youth in out-of-home care, who have been removed from their homes because of child abuse or neglect, are at particularly high risk of being trafficked.
Their background of abuse and trauma—coupled with the impermanence of foster care or congregate care. (Child Welfare and Human Trafficking, 2015)

While some would argue that is an American problem we don’t have the problem here in Canada. If it was a problem Child protection would have reported it. The problem is Child protection and other agencies do not keep records and they don’t voluntarily self-disclose where there are issues that could publicly compromise the integrity of the system.

It is very difficult to get information from Canada, Social research has identified indigenous women as a group that is at the greater risk than the rest of the population especially underage indigenous girls. Because of Canada’s secrecy in these matters, we will never know the magnitude of this problem leaving us only to speculate on the numbers.

In a report titled  Sex Trafficking of Indigenous Women in Ontario.  The US state department in their 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report for Canada has criticized Canada for its lack of comprehensive data collection and has repeatedly recommended Canada address this issue (Sex Trafficking of Indigenous Women in Ontario, 2016).

Without knowing with any certainty the number of underage indigenous women who are involved in human sex trade trafficking and how many were either directly or indirectly connected with child services we are, as a society at a disadvantage to correct the problem.

The findings of an earlier report by Native Women’s Association of Canada seem to suggest that many of the young indigenous girls were recruited from foster care “One of the services that made repeated appearances in the literature as linked to increased vulnerability to being sexually exploited and trafficked were child welfare services and foster care.” (Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking of Aboriginal Women and Girls:, 2014).

Results as such suggest that child protection, either isn’t equipped to deal with human sexual trade trafficking of indigenous women or indigenous women when it comes to protection and prevention is at the bottom of the priorities list.

What is interesting with these child protection agencies is where they ignore issues with aboriginal people the are quick to perform a snatch and grab of kids based on poverty or from anonymous tips  In these situations, they tend to take the child out of the frying pan and into the fire.

When these kinds of snatch and grab happen Child protection will attempt to prevent both the child and the parent from seeing each other what conclusions can we draw from that?  To make matters worse for the innocent parent(s) is child protection will exclude any evidence that may prove that does not justify.  Maybe it is justifiable to destroy the lives of hundreds of families and thousand of lives to save one child.

In New Brunswick, there have been reports that up untile the 90’s child protection would provide children as cheap labour to some New Brunswick families, where the child would be physically abused if they didn’t carry out their assigned duties. Is this still a practice in 2017?

Mr John Gamble has stepped up to the plate and has given a vivid description of his experience as a foster child place in what is nothing short of a labour camp. In the video about half way through the video, he describes in detail his ordeal with some of the foster families that he stayed with.

There are times when the circumstance require that child protection have to instantly remove children.  It is understandable why they may have to grab first then ask questions later.  The problem comes later when the evidence does not support the removal of the children.  Why does it take so long for the parents to get their children back?

References

Child Welfare and Human Trafficking. (2015) (1st ed., p. 3). Washington. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/trafficking.pdf

Gamblin, J My experience as a foster child (video submission 2017)

Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking of Aboriginal Women and Girls:. (2014) (1st ed., p. 32). Retrieved from https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2014_NWAC_Human_Trafficking_and_Sexual_Exploitation_Report.pdf

Sex Trafficking of Indigenous Women in Ontario. (2016) (1st ed., p. 11). Toronto. Retrieved from http://www.onwa.ca/upload/documents/report-sex-trafficking-of-indigenous-wom.pdf