COPYRIGHT OWNED, EMAIL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE THE MATERIAL!
Holly's Fight for Justice:
This is part of my personally journey. It was featured in Reader's Digest written by Rick Mofina.
My life changed the day I was violated/raped. If I had not taken the steps to speak out SERIAL RAPIST ALI RASAI would still be at large today! I did speak out! This violent crime changed my life! How to talk to me about being raped? That is simply just ask......
Victim of a serial rapist, the young woman from Red Deer, Alta., determined to bring her attacker to trial
HOLLY JILL DESIMONE will never silence the sound of the rapist's zipper opening behind her. "Count backward from ten!" he ordered, forcing her onto her hands and knees against a chair in her apartment in Red Deer, Alta.
Holly's Fight for Justice BY RICK MOFINA
WE HAVE TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
WE MUST FIGHT TO PREVENT VIOLENCE!
We need to educate and work together as a society to prevent violence.
IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN ABUSED, ASSAULTED, AND IS IN NEED OF HELP, PLEASE HELP - YOU MAY BE SAVING SOMEONE'S LIFE!
Sincerely Holly Desimone
Holly's Fight for Justice...
Speaking Out about Sexual Violence,Video done by Quantumshift.tv
Holly's fight for Justice
A tragedy can turn out to be to our greatest good, if it is approached and dealt with in a way that we can learn and grow. The story of Holly Desimone illustrates just that as she reclaims her spirit and life as a survivor of sexual violence.
This personal message from Holly Desimone,
Holly's Fight to Stop Violence,
Thank you to everyone who watches this video, made posts/comments at the site, and those many individuals who have emailed me personally.
It truly has been appreciated.
All the best Holly Desimone Sphere: Related Content
Abused Mother Seeks Redress After Government Breaches Her Altered Identity by Will Braun
"Jane Doe" thought she could breathe easy, having finally escaped the fear that came from years of domestic abuse. She had severed all ties to her past and secured new identities for her and her daughter through a secretive federal program that had given them a chance to start a new life.
To her horror, however, the Alberta government inadvertently published her and her daughter's old and new names, putting that new life in jeopardy. The mistake has touched off a legal wrangle with the province and raised questions about the shadowy federal program.
She is now seeking compensation from the government after the Alberta Gazette, the government's "official newspaper," published the names together, allowing anyone with Internet access the ability to track the pair down.
The federal program, which appears nowhere on a government website, was then called New Identities for Victims of Abuse (NIVA), and required that "Jane Doe" cut off her past ties. She could leave no trail for her perpetrator to follow, and she had ample cause for fear: Restraining orders had not kept her safe, and the courts failed to put her abuser in prison. Plus, as Ms. Doe points out, incarceration would provide security only if permanent and only if the perpetrator had no dangerous associates at large. So she left without a trace.
"You have what's called a paper shredding party," Ms. Doe said.
She left with no identification, credit cards, credit rating, bank account or record of employment. She said no goodbyes. All she took, other than a few family photos she couldn't bear to shred, was her young daughter "Janet."
"We're going on a little trip," she told her daughter, masking the fear in her voice. "Think of it as an adventure."
No one in the Does' new life could know of the past one. "You have to make up a new past," Ms. Doe said. "It's basically living a lie." The Does have had no contact with anyone from their previous life since.
For eight years, Ms. Doe and her daughter lived in limbo, "left to flounder," she said, in a NIVA quagmire. "The process failed us drastically." Instructions she received were inconsistent, staff were sometimes unsympathetic, delays were routine, and federal-provincial co-operation was weak.
Then, after the Does were finally resettled with new identities, the Alberta government published their new and old names. Ms. Doe discovered the error some years after it occurred, coming across it by chance while searching the Internet. She stared at the screen. The fear returned.
Two attempted break-ins had taken place at the Doe home between the time of the error and Ms. Doe's discovery of it. A man also called their unlisted number at night, saying he was in the yard. The Does worried that the breach had allowed their perpetrator, or someone linked to him, to find them. They were forced underground again.
Ms. Doe said they now live at an "undisclosed location." She cannot divulge any details that might help someone track her.
In March, 2010, more than six months after Ms. Doe informed provincial authorities of the breach, Heather Klimchuk, minister responsible for Vital Statistics, which committed the error, wrote a letter to the Does expressing her "sincere apologies for the error." But the Does have yet to see any compensation, and their lives are still in limbo.
"It was a very regrettable error," said Mike Berezowsky, spokesperson for Service Alberta.
Ms. Doe said she met with government officials in March, 2010, to discuss compensation and rectification of her renewed identity issues. She also proposed a mediation process, something she said Alberta Conservative MP Rob Anders agreed to facilitate. But Service Alberta did not participate, Ms. Doe alleged. Mr. Berezowsky said he cannot discuss the proposed mediation with the media.
According to Ms. Doe, staff in Mr. Anders's office later learned that Service Alberta intended to make a compensation offer, but it never happened.
When asked whether the Alberta government is prepared to pay restitution to Ms. Doe, Mr. Berezowsky said Service Alberta sent correspondence to the Does "late last year" and has not heard back. "We've been informed that she has obtained legal representation and we're waiting for a response from her lawyer."
But Ms. Doe insisted that by refusing a mediated approach, Alberta officials forced a legal battle they knew she was ill-equipped to fight. She alleged the government is "trying to drag this out," waiting for the two-year statute of limitations to run out on her option to pursue compensation via the courts. Mr. Berezowsky said he does not know when the statute of limitations expires.
The arrangement with her lawyer fell through, so she filed court papers herself. Her hope is not only for compensation but that the program be changed.
Little information is available about NIVA, which was renamed Confidential Services for Victims of Abuse in 2008. The department responsible, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, would provide no information about program costs or the number of participants, saying in an unsigned e-mail that this was necessary "to protect the safety of clients."
As part of a consultation process on the program, undertaken by the government in 2007, the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime (CRCVC) submitted a report that echoed Jane Doe's story. " Some women believe they have been forgotten by the government entirely," it said of the cumbersome process.
The report called for a revamped, well-funded program that would provide participants with full legal, logistical, emotional and financial support. It recommended that participants be provided with all necessary documents within a 12-month period.
The HRSDC media office said only that recommendations from many sources, including CRCVC, "were considered and implemented."
In July, Heidi Illingworth, who heads CRCVC, sent a letter in support of the Does to Human Resources Minister Diane Finley.
Ms. Doe is also seeking the support of Sue O'Sullivan, the federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime. Although Ms. O'Sullivan reviews only systemic matters, not individual cases, she has met twice with Ms. Doe via teleconference since July.
Ms. Doe will likely need a new identity again and she wants her case, along with others like it, to be handled according to the 2007 CRCVC recommendations. She hopes she won't need to change careers this time and that her daughter will not need to give up the "life dreams and passions" she has begun to pursue.
"My frustration is through the roof," Ms. Doe said, her voice faltering. "We fell through the cracks in everything."
She is now fighting to ensure the same doesn't happen with her attempt to resolve the Alberta government's breach of her identity. Her goal is simple, she repeats it like a mantra: "We want our lives back."
Special to The Globe and Mail
This article first appeared in the August 15, 2011 Globe and Mail.
by WILL BRAUN
"Leave Them Laughing: A Musical Comedy About Dying,"
Dear Calgary (and area) friends and contacts,
Academy Award-winning filmmaker John Zaritsky along with a group of people are helping to bring John's new film, "Leave Them Laughing: A Musical Comedy About Dying," to Calgary for a special fundraiser screening.
"Leave Them Laughing" is a documentary film about Canadian singer, actor, comedian, and mother Carla Zilbersmith who, at the age of 45, was struck by the devastating disease of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
Here’s what our colorful Carla had to say about that:
Winner of the Special Jury Award!
Top 10 Audience Favourites at Toronto's Hot Docs, and one of "The Ten Films to See" at the Vancouver Film Festival according to the Globe & Mail, "Leave Them Laughing" has been glowingly endorsed by ALS Societies and even the most skeptical of reviewers has admitted to being thoroughly entertained and moved by the story.
Often described as "hilariously funny", it gives people a very empowering, feel good, positive life message at the same time as it raises awareness about the serious need for support for ALS sufferers, families, and research.
100% of the funding for this film to date has been through the personal contributions of the director, producer, and other individuals hoping to help make a difference. We will be hosting a Calgary fundraiser screening on Thursday October 21st to help get "Leave Them Laughing" that final stretch and pay for the remaining expenses so it can be publicly released world-wide and used as a powerful awareness tool to benefit ALS research and support.
“Please help this film become as stellar as it can be. This film deserves it. Those living with ALS, and all touched by its far-reaching fingers, need it.” (Kathryn Dunmore, ALS Society of Ontario)
Anyone can get ALS, young or old (there are two teenage boys in the film with it), male or female, and the disease is always deadly. There is neither cure nor effective treatment currently available. It tends to strike down people in their prime. Approximately 3,000 Canadians currently live with ALS and two or three Canadians die of the disease every day. This film will help to educate the public, and awareness leads to participation, and from that, hopefully the necessary research and cure.
Film will show at 7:30pm
Personal Meet & Greet for VIP ticket holders pre-show with Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky
Audience Q & A session to follow with the film's director
Sphere: Related Content
Number of crime victims unchanged since 2004, despite government alarms
OTTAWA - The federal government has made crime-fighting a top priority, but new statistics appear to support critics' claims that general lawlessness has declined or remained the same, not increased.
About 7.4 million Canadians — just over a quarter of the population aged 15 and up — said they were victims of a criminal incident last year.
Statistics Canada reports that proportion has not changed since 2004.
The agency says most criminal incidents reported in 2009 were non-violent.
Theft of personal property (34 per cent), theft of household property (13), vandalism (11), break-ins (7), and theft of motor vehicles and parts (5) accounted for 70 per cent of reported incidents.
Violence — physical assault (19 per cent), sexual assault (8), and robbery (4) — accounted for the remaining self-reported incidents.
Along with economic measures, the Conservative government has made a series of anti-crime initiatives a major part of its policy agenda, despite statistics indicating general crime rates have been in steady decline for more than a decade.
The latest Statistics Canada report found rates of violent and household victimization were similar to those reported in 2004, but the rate of theft of personal property increased 16 per cent, to 108 incidents per 1,000 people in 2009 from 93 in 2004.
The highest rates of both violent and household crime were in the Tory heartland — Western Canada, particularly Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The only exception to the trend was New Brunswick, where the rate of violent victimization more closely resembled that in the West.
Nearly 1.6 million Canadians, or six per cent of the population aged 15 and up, reported being the victim of a sexual assault, a robbery or a physical assault in the preceding 12 months — similar to the 2004 rates. Physical assault was the most common form of violence, followed by sexual assault and robbery, the agency said.
"It was not uncommon for victims of violence to report having experienced multiple violent incidents," said the report.
Of the victimized, 74 per cent reported one incident, 16 per cent reported they had been violently victimized twice within the previous 12 months, and 10 per cent said they'd been victimized three or more times.
Overall, younger Canadians were 15 times more likely than older Canadians to indicate that they had been a victim of violence within the previous 12-month period.
Schools, police hold school assemblies in wake of rape of girl at party in B.C.
September 17, 2010, By James Keller, The Canadian Press
PITT MEADOWS, B.C. - Photos of a teenaged girl being repeatedly raped at a party may float around the Internet indefinitely, the RCMP acknowledged Friday as the force announced the first arrest related to the assault itself.
But as police renewed their plea for anyone in possession of the photos to destroy them and come forward, local students sparred about whether the drugging and violent assault of the young girl counts as rape.
Police say the 16-year-old girl was drugged and then raped by a half-a-dozen teenage boys and young men at a party last Friday on a rural property in Pitt Meadows, east of Vancouver, while onlookers snapped photos that ended up on Facebook.
Insp. Derren Lench acknowledged it will be difficult — and potentially impossible — to wipe the photos off the Internet completely, but he warned anyone who comes across them that the pictures are child pornography.
"That's our desire, to make that (removing the photos) happen. Can we do it absolutely? No," Lench told a news conference in nearby Maple Ridge
"We'll look at any technology that's available, we're working with Facebook. There is some computer technology we will be able to use. We'll do everything we can."
He said the police have been in touch with Facebook and are working to have the photos removed. Many users have taken them down voluntarily since the RCMP first warned of criminal consequences.
They've already made one arrest in connection with taking and distributing photos, bringing a 16-year-old into custody who could face child pornography charges.
The RCMP have also arrested an 18-year-old man who has since been released, and investigators are recommending sexual assault charges.
Assemblies were held at local schools on Friday to explain the dangers of date-rape drugs and the need to stop distributing the photos.
But despite strong language from police and school officials, some students weren't getting the message.
"I heard she wanted to do the stuff," a Grade 11 student who didn't provide his name told several reporters gathered outside the school.
When asked why he believed that, he shrugged: "There's stories everywhere, I don't know what to believe."
Jasmine Hillier, a 14-year-old Grade 9 pupil at the school who wasn't at the party, said there's no question that what happened was wrong.
"I think it's a pretty terrible thing that they did, and especially to videotape it and put it on the Internet — what kind of people do you have to be to do something like that?" said Hillier.
"Why would anybody want rape?" added one of Hillier's friends, also a Grade 9 student, who didn't want her name published.
Brandon King, a Grade 11 student, said he was at the party and knew people were drinking and doing drugs, but he didn't know anything was wrong when he was there.
"It was fun, I never even saw or heard of this when I was there," said King. "There was the same party the week before, and nothing went wrong there. Everyone likes to say it's a rave. It wasn't a rave, it was just at a barn."
King said his peers who are trying to minimize the attack are wrong, and he thinks, overall, his classmates are taking the incident seriously.
"It's not right at all," he said.
For investigators, Lench said there's no debate the girl is a rape victim.
"It's very clear from the evidence, it's very clear from her physical injuries and her recollection of it and the evidence that we've collected that she was not a willing participant and it's also our belief that she was drugged by a date-rape drug," said Lench.
"She couldn't consent to anything."
The RCMP has said the girl was conscious at the time and someone given the so-called date-rape drug is in a disassociated state, which might give someone looking at the photographs the impression — wrongly — that she was aware of what was happening.
Meanwhile, the investigation continues as police look for more suspects. The photographs, said Lench, have been a source of misery for the victim and are now important evidence.
He said investigators have interviewed many people who attended the party but are asking anyone else who was there to call them.
Both of the teenagers who've been released so far have been released as prosecutors consider charges.
The 16-year-old could face charges of producing and distributing child pornography.
The RCMP have recommended sexual assault charges for the 18-year-old, and are investigating the possibility of administering a noxious substance for him, as well. He's been ordered not to contact the victim or any other witnesses.
Both accused are expected to make court appearances in the coming weeks.
On The Farm, Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver’s Missing Women Review done by Lee Lakeman
Review done by Lee Lakeman
In On The Farm, Robert Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver’s Missing and Murdered Women,Stevie Cameron relays many details of the conviction of Robert Pickton for murdering and butchering six women and the likelihood that he killed fifty: poor, mostly prostituted, women, one third of whom were Aboriginal. She catalogues a decade of data into one readable narrative that some will see as encyclopedic, though it relies almost totally on the official versions, constructed by the police, the courts, the commercial media, local governments and the harm reduction networks involved.
Cameron includes simple biographies from the hierarchy of characters who usually define these issues and authorize these versions: mostly johns, pimps, wife beaters, boyfriends, sugar daddies, rapists, prosecutors, defense lawyers, handlers, reporters, police and politicians and those charged by the state or community services as ‘victim assistance’ or ‘harm reduction” workers to destitute women. Of Pickton, we get the cliché: he had a horrible mother and childhood and he is motivated by revenge against a prostitute he described as thieving and dangerous. Cameron seems not to notice the sex bias. She contradicts no authority.
Some compassion for individuals at risk or under pressure warms the bare facts but chafes against her over abundant regard for the professional (class) credentials of the hundreds activated after women are harmed or dead. We get many of their cv’s. But their credentials would not have saved us. Throughout, she seems to accept the current social relations that lead us to this colossal legal and social failure. No substantial investigative reporting here only those admissions that authorities have already packaged into their next demand (as in the 2005 Vancouver Police Review that insists it would all be over if we had a regional police force and a nicer attitude to “sex workers”). It is as though the material racism, class biases and sex discrimination are solved.
She reminds us that the murdered women were trapped but she understands that trap as the personal mistake they made of choosing boyfriends and husbands that introduced them to vicious drugs and the mistake they made of getting into the killer’s car. The violence, poverty and racism they suffered previously, the refusal of authorities to interfere with the men who preceded him or with Pickton’s pre murderous activity goes unconnected. She concludes only that “we do not know if women are safer”.
Women suffer hideous abuse including prostitution, disappear and die at the hands of men every year in every major city in Canada. Aboriginal women remain especially vulnerable. Women live without adequate incomes, social services or advocacy. The criminal law is applied in a discriminatory fashion that sustains male violence. The statistics are not even disputed anymore. But that hierarchical status quo maintains hundreds if not thousands of women in prostituted squalor and binds together three groups of women: Pickton’s dead, those still prostituted, and millions of other women in Canada. They are bound into a disadvantaged class that lacks adequate social and legal intervention, documentation or protection from violence against women. Cameron’s narrative, absent as it is of any other stated intention, upholds an unacceptable status quo in which fifty women or more went to their deaths.
No experts on the equality obligations of states to women, no police civilian oversight experts or media monitors or Aboriginal women or anti-violence feminists are consulted interviewed or quoted for expertise. Is there no need to change that hierarchy?
Nor did Stevie Cameron give voice to a single escaped victim although she does relay two second hand stories of the anonymous women she calls Jane Doe and Sandra Gail Ringwald. The first is a name given to half a skull found in a local slough in 1995 that leaves us to worry how long ago Pickton began killing. The second is the story of a woman who survived in 1997, reported Pickton to authorities, but was left to protect herself from further violence. Case dismissed. The attempt to murder her never did result in a case, even of solicitation. Eliminating her evidence from the Pickton murder case accounting for the missing women prevented his conviction of first degree murder by blinding the court to the extent of his evil planning.
The book confirms the mind-numbing bigotry and ignorance of individuals with the criminal justice system but more importantly, the common ideology underpinning our institutions and their functionaries: women are not trusted as victims or witnesses, are deemed unreliable, exaggerating their plight and in themselves dangerous, unworthy of the protection of law. Poverty is constructed as individual responsibility separate from race and sex. In praising tiny accommodations and kindnesses (like the lunch passes for those at court or the tent supplied by the police so the families could see the killing fields) and in refusing to rage against the status quo, the book seems to accept the steady application of social and legal policy that replicates these deadly horrors over and over again.
Prostitution remains unchallenged as an activity of men as though women don’t mind and are not at risk or harmed. Like most women’s legal and social complaints of men’s sexual violence, prostitution is not treated like a serious crime. Only weeks after an apologetic review of police failures in the Pickton case, the new police chief, challenged to explain a 20% increase in sexual assault cases excused his force by saying the cases were not “aggravated by violence” as though he didn’t know that all sexual assault was against the law and a serious transgression of the collective rights of women.
Almost all the women victimized by Pickton first suffered criminal beatings, assaults and sexual exploitation at the hands of other men, assaults either from fathers or step- fathers, husbands, boyfriends, or pimps, assaults that should have been prevented and went unpunished, that rendered the women broken and vulnerable to this deadly predator. To three women he was a “sugar daddy” who paid for wife-like duties then threatened with violence if not obeyed. Those women entered Wish Drop In and “low barrier shelters” where prostitution is talked about as a job and successfully they solicited more vulnerable women to “service” Pickton. Of these, many were disabled physically and mentally. Some were not in a state to give consent to anything.
Uncontested too is that he was known as an “ordinary john”. In spite of the law, unimpeded by police, social workers or hotel staff, Pickton solicited women on the street, in the bars where he was known and through pimps in the downtown eastside ghetto. It is likely he solicited too for the men around him at his brother’s Piggy’s Palace, in the butchery, for the truckers he employed, for the Hells Angels across the street. Such facts should give chills to those promoting a laissez fair attitude to the sex industry.
Virtually all workers against violence against women know the ongoing systemic failure to protect women from the men who abuse them including those women who offer themselves as complainants and witnesses. The failure to properly investigate, prosecute and convict, insulated Pickton in the 1997 events that Cameron tells of Ringwald. That woman, whose consent was impaired by drugs, was solicited in Vancouver, confined in Pickton’s house in Coquitlam, sexually assaulted if not raped, beaten and threatened with death. She was stabbed when she defended herself with a knife from his kitchen and although badly bleeding managed to run across the street nearly nude and still in a handcuff. She was rescued by a passing couple and hospitalized. She told. Police retrieved the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. Those in the criminal justice system judged her inadequate and themselves as helpless. They abandoned her and the case. Pickton disintegrated over the decade into his life as serial killer convicted of murdering six women, confessing to killing 49 and dreaming of killing 75.
Human trafficking: It’s happening here
Re: More Migrant Ships Could Be Coming: Toews, Sept. 8.
Congratulations to the Harper government for its new education campaign regarding human trafficking. This is an insidious crime that Canadians need to be more aware of.
While it’s a positive step forward, it is, as Canada’s leading expert Ben Perrin said, a small step. He rightly pointed out that we really need is a national strategy.
I hope the campaign will not just focus on victims trafficked into Canada from other countries, who are victimized repeatedly and face unimaginable challenges, but that it also educates Canadian on our bigger problem of domestic trafficking. Human trafficking has been taking place in this country for decades as pimps and gangs move exploited women and girls on circuits from city to city. The most vulnerable are young aboriginal girls.
The campaign will only be successful if it enlightens Canadians about the realities of this horrific crime both domestically and internationally.
Steve Sullivan, former federal ombudsman for victims of crime, Ottawa.
Respectful Relationship
ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE WHAT IS A Respectful Relationship?
Some things to think about as you negotiate having a relationship is
HOW do you want to be treated Physically, Emotionally and Sexually in your dating relationships?
What are your bottom-lines or your non-negotiables, meaning what are ways that you should not be treated and ways you should not treat others?
Below are some things youth have told us is important to them in having and maintaining a Respectful Relationship.
Physically:
Respect
No Abuse
Space and No Possessiveness - You and your partner can do things without each other and hang out with other people without you or your partner getting upset, excusing the other of cheating, etc.
Comfortable
Trust-No spying on, checking pagers, having other people give "reports"
Communication
Affection
Attraction
Emotionally:
Respect
No put-downs, especially when fighting or angry with one another
Comfortable
No manipulation or blaming
Communication (if necessary talk about how you communicate when you fight and when you're not fighting)
Trust and honesty
Love
Friendship
Security
Understanding
Caring
Sexually:
Respect
Trust and honesty
Communication (talk about expectations of what you're willing or not willing to do, safe sex, history, and consequences)
No pressure
Comfortable to say "Yes" and "No" at all times to any activity
You have the right to…
Be alone.
Express your ideas.
Express your feelings, even if they're negative.
Choose your work and your religion.
Live without fear.
Have time to yourself.
Spend your own money however you want to.
Get emotional support from your family and friends.
Listened to by your friends and family.
Choose your friends - men and women.
Express your strengths, abilities, and talents.
Decide if you want to participate in sexual acts or not.
RCMP wants Craigslist to stop erotic ads after U.S. adult services shut down
September 07, 2010, By The Canadian Press
The RCMP says it's working with Craigslist to try to stop erotic ads that many fear are a cover for prostitution from being posted on the company's website in Canada.
Craigslist shut down its adult services section in the United States on Saturday and replaced it with a black bar that simply says "censored." The move came after a group of state attorneys general said there weren't enough protections against blocking potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution.
But as of Tuesday, the Canadian site still had an "erotic" link listed under services. Mounties want that to change.
"The RCMP Human Trafficking National Co-ordination Centre has partnered with Craigslist and has met (with Craigslist officials) on several occasions trying to implement some measures in Canada," Sgt. Marie-Claude Arsenault said at a news conference in Winnipeg.
"There's already some measures in place ... not all the ones that are in the U.S. at the time, but we are speaking with them and trying to bring these measures in Canada."
When asked directly if the RCMP wanted Craigslist to shut down adult sections on its Canadian website, Arsenault said: "These are the kinds of measures we are looking at in Canada."
A Craigslist spokeswoman did not immediately respond to emails from The Canadian Press requesting comment.
However, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said in a May blog posting that the company's ads were no worse than those published by the alternative newspaper chain Village Voice Media. He cited one explicit ad which included the phrase: "anything goes $90," the Associated Press reported.
The "erotic" link on the Canadian site has a warning and disclaimer attached to it. It says users agree "to flag as 'prohibited' anything illegal or in violation of the Craigslist terms of use. This includes, but is not limited to, offers for or the solicitation of prostitution."
Media and legal experts suggest Craigslist may have to follow suit by shutting down such services in Canada.
"There was a huge wave of pressure coming from all kinds of points of interest, pressuring Craigslist to shut down this service, from the community and also from government," said Sidneyeve Matrix, a media professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.
"The pushback is the same in the U.S. and Canada."
Matrix's colleague at Queen's University, law professor Art Cockfield, said there are perhaps thousand of sites that offer similar adult services.
But Cockfield said a lot of hostility was directed towards Craigslist in the U.S. was because of the so-called Craigslist killer. The adult services listings came under new scrutiny after the jailhouse suicide last month of a former medical student who was awaiting trial in the killing of a masseuse he met through Craigslist.
"Because of the U.S. action, because it's decided to shut this down south of the border, may be there will be public pressure on Craigslist and there also may be a bit of a Canadian public outcry against law enforcement saying 'Why aren't you putting pressure on them like the American authorities did?' " said Cockfield.
He's unsure if the company could be legally forced to shut down in Canada.
"If the law enforcement officials believe that they were engaged in illegal activities, actually acting as an online pimp, then that is a violation of our federal criminal laws and they could be prosecuted," said Cockfield.
Removing the service from Craigslist won't stop human trafficking or prostitution, but Matrix believes it's a good step forward.
"It's very easy to find interviews with people who are working in the ... sex trade who have said that (Craigslist) is the best way for them to advertise," she said.
"Not having that service will definitely be an obvious disincentive and it will just make buying sex and finding those kind of activities just a little bit harder."
— By Jennifer Graham in Regina
Feds, Mounties launch PR campaign against human trafficking
September 07, 2010, By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - The federal government is teaming up with the Mounties and Crime Stoppers to raise awareness about human trafficking.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says Crime Stoppers will join his department and the RCMP to tell people about human trafficking and how to report suspicious activity.
Toews, speaking at a news conference in Winnipeg, said the "Blue Blindfold" campaign will help Canadians fight a ''disturbing" crime.
He said victims of human trafficking are often coerced into working for the criminals who bring them into the country.
''Victims are forced, often through violence and threats, to provide their services or labour because of their fear of their safety or that of someone else,'' he said.
''The majority are forced to work in the sex industry and are led to a life of exploitation, deprived of basic human rights. Most are women and children and their cases often go unnoticed and unreported due to threats from offenders, language barriers or mistrust of authorities.''
''By exposing the reality of this terrible crime to the light of day, Canadians can better recognize and report evidence of criminal activity."
The RCMP Human Trafficking National Co-ordination Centre will also run its own "I'm Not for Sale" awareness campaign.
The Mounties have put together a human trafficking information kit for police, governments, non-governmental organizations and the public.
Sgt. Marie-Claude Arsenault of the RCMP co-ordination centre said it's important to enlist the help of the public.
''Our partnership with Crime Stoppers allows people to anonymously report the abuse and be assured that the information will be communicated to the police."
The campaigns come in the wake of the arrival of a Tamil refugee ship off the West Coast and warnings that more ships could be on the way.
Child abuse unit investigates possible sex assault in Calgary school field
September 07, 2010, By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
CALGARY - Calgary police say alcohol was a factor in a first date between a 12-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy who met on a social networking site and then followed up Monday with a sexual encounter witnessed by their friends.
"This was not a mob attack on a child walking through the park," said Staff Sgt. Leah Barber from the Calgary Police Service Child Abuse Unit.
"This was a group of youths who knew each other, who had been consuming alcohol, and a sexual act took place.
"Obviously whenever you mix alcohol and youth, that's usually a disaster waiting to happen. And so in this case I don't think the alcohol helped any."
Police received a 911 call late Monday afternoon to Clarence Sansom School after a report that a sexual assault was in progress in a nearby school field. Initial reports from neighbours had suggested a sinister scene involving a young girl being brutally attacked by an older boy in front of a group of young people who were filming the encounter.
When officers arrived, 10 youths were in the bleachers in the field. The group included the 12- and 16-year-old and eight of their friends.
Sexual assault charges are pending against the male youth because the girl was not legally able to give informed consent and because the boy is four years older than she is.
The friends are considered to be witnesses, not offenders, Barber said Tuesday. There was no indication they "encouraged" a sexual attack.
The 911 call came from adults who were watching from the nearby school.
"I never condemn anybody for not intervening in a case like this, where you're witnessing something occur where there are numerous people possibly involved when you're watching from afar," said Barber.
"They might have felt threatened or fearful that they would be attacked."
A spokesman from the Calgary Board of Education defended the actions of those in the school.
"All I can says is I don't believe the Calgary police would ever counsel someone to intervene in a crime if it could place their lives in danger," said Ted Flitton.
Barber said police have not had a chance to interview the girl, who has been turned over to her parents.
If charges are laid against the 16-year-old, they would likely be sexual interference and sexual assault. Barber said charges are "pending" until police have a chance to consult with Crown prosecutors.
A cellphone belonging to one of the youths was checked, but no photos or video have been recovered.
Barber said there doesn't appear to be any evidence the girl was calling for help. She said there is a lesson to be learned from the entire encounter.
"Because chat sites are so normal for (youths), they don't really think about the fact this could be a dangerous event.
Mayor promises truth will be uncovered about reports of sex in RCMP cell
August 30, 2010, By The Canadian Press
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - A report that two female prisoners had sex in an RCMP cell while jail staff watched via a video camera has people talking in this Interior B.C. city, including the mayor, who says the public will eventually be told what really happened.
Mayor Peter Milobar is asking people to be patient and not pass judgment on those involved until all the details are known.
Milobar said he's unable to confirm reports that two women, one of whom might be HIV positive, were placed in the same cell Aug. 18 and began having sex.
It's been reported that RCMP and civilian jail staff watched the encounter on a video monitor for several minutes and did nothing to stop it.
Milobar said it would be wrong to speculate on bits and pieces of information before everyone involved knows what happened. “I would prefer to make sure we have that complete package (of information) for the fairness of everybody involved and make sure the full investigation has run its course,” he said.
The RCMP have said four Mounties are being investigated in relation to the incident, but no official details have been released about exactly what happened.
Three Kamloops city employees are also said to have been involved.
City staff take care of administrative and clerical duties at the Kamloops detachment.
Iran state media call French first lady 'prostitute' for supporting woman who faced stoning
August 30, 2010, By Ali Akbar Dareini, The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian state media called France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a "prostitute" on Monday in an unusual attack on the wife of a world leader that shows deep anger over her support for an Iranian woman who faced death by stoning on an adultery conviction.
The wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned the stoning sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, which Iran temporarily suspended but did not throw out after an international outcry.
Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, could still face execution by stoning or hanging after a final review of her case, her lawyer, Javid Houtan Kian, told The Associated Press Monday.
The Kayhan newspaper, whose editor is a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described Bruni-Sarkozy as a "prostitute" on Saturday in an article headlined "French prostitutes enter the human rights uproar."
The state-owned news website inn.ir carried similar remarks on Monday.
"Although Bruni, the morally corrupt singer and actress of Italian (origin), was able to break the Sarkozy family and marry the French president, lately new reports have emerged about her affair with a singer," said the weekend report in Kayhan.
That appeared to be a reference to rumours of infidelity in her marriage that Bruni-Sarkozy dismissed in April as "insignificant." The rumours have since died down.
The French president's office declined Monday to comment on the remarks in Iranian media.
The media attack was in response to an open letter Bruni-Sarkozy wrote to Ashtiani that was printed in several French news outlets last week.
"How to remain silent after learning of the sentence against you?" Bruni-Sarkozy wrote, adding that the stoning would "deeply wound all women, all children, all those who have feelings of humanity."
"Deep within your jail cell, know that my husband will plead your cause tirelessly and that France will not abandon you," she wrote.
Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband and was sentenced to 99 lashes. Later that year, she was convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, even though she retracted a confession she claims was made under duress.
Iran last month stayed her stoning, but authorities now say she has also been convicted of being an accomplice in her husband's murder. In a purported confession aired on state TV early this month, Ashtiani admits to unwittingly playing a role in the 2005 killing. She could also face a separate death sentence in that case.
Her lawyer denies Ashtiani was ever charged with murder or brought to trial in her husband's killing.
Protesters in cities across the globe have denounced the stoning sentence. About 300 people from rights organizations demonstrated in Paris Saturday to urge Iran to lift her death sentence.
"The stoning verdict has only been delayed, not halted," Kian, Ashtiani's lawyer, said in a telephone interview Monday.
The woman's previous lawyer, who brought the case to the world's attention in his blog, fled the country and received asylum in Norway after Iranian authorities began to pressure him and his family.
Kian said he, too, was coming under pressure. He said authorities broke into his home Sunday.
"Intelligence agents beat the guard of the residential complex where I live and broke into my home in my absence," he said. "They took my computer, which contained the files of my clients, including Ashtiani."
Kian said authorities have stopped him and Ashtiani's two children from meeting her ever since her purported confession.
"Authorities say I'm banned from meeting my client. And they have told Ashtiani's two children that their mother didn't want to see them," he said.
Associated Press Writer Angela Doland contributed to this report from Paris.
Polygamous way of life harmful, former Bountiful, B.C., residents allege
August 24, 2010, By Sunny Dhillon, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER - Lorna Blackmore was 18 when she was forced to marry a man more than twice her age, despite the fact he already had a wife.
Truman Oler was just a boy when he was taught that girls were like "poison snakes," unfit to play with or even talk to.
Both Blackmore and Oler grew up in the polygamous southeastern British Columbia community of Bountiful and their experiences are chronicled in recently filed court documents.
The pair contend Bountiful condones a harmful way of life that gives men control over women and forces teenagers into marriage. Their affidavits are part of a B.C. Supreme Court case that will test Canada's law against polygamy.
Blackmore said in her affidavit she did not want to marry the 41-year-old man to whom she was promised.
She tried to argue with the church's prophet, but eventually gave in and wed. She had her first of five surviving children at 22.
Blackmore, now 67, said in the affidavit she was unhappy throughout the marriage, during which her husband married two more women.
Blackmore's marriage ended in 1980 and she now resides in the nearby town of Creston. Two of her children remain in Bountiful, along with 21 of her grandchildren.
"I do believe that polygamy has been a harmful way of life for me and many others in Bountiful, both men and women," she said in the affidavit.
Residents of Bountiful are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway group from the mainstream Mormon church. The Mormon church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Blackmore said she saw girls as young as 15 get married. She said that age seems to go up only when there is media or law enforcement attention on the community.
Oler, whose brother is one of Bountiful's leaders, left the community when he was about 21.
Now 28, Oler said in his affidavit he grew up with some unique rules.
"The boys were taught not to interact with the girls and that the girls were to be treated like 'poison snakes,'" he said in the affidavit. "We were not allowed to talk or play with them."
Oler went through a party phase after he left Bountiful, partly because he believed his decision to leave had reserved him a place in hell.
"The party phase seems pretty common for kids coming out of Bountiful, perhaps because of their newfound freedom," he said. "Sometimes it doesn't work out."
Oler is now married to someone who is not a member of the FLDS.
He said the move away from Bountiful has come with hardship that goes beyond the consequences of partying.
His mother rarely contacts him and if he goes to visit her, he's not allowed inside the home.
"I am tired of thinking about my childhood and teenage years," he said. "I consider it to have been a damaging way to have been raised."
The case was announced last year when the B.C. government asked the B.C. Supreme Court to decide whether Canada's polygamy laws violate religious protections guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
That followed the provincial Crown's attempt to charge two Bountiful leaders with practising polygamy. A judge later quashed the charges because the province had appointed a second special prosecutor after the first recommended against laying charges.
Lawyers were in court Tuesday to sort out scheduling details for the case. They'll again appear before the judge early next month.
Several other affidavits have been filed in the case by those who lived in polygamous communities in the U.S., special interest groups, scholars and doctors, among others.
Brent Jeffs, nephew of FLDS head Warren Jeffs, has also sworn a video affidavit. Jeffs wrote a book titled "Lost Boy" that details the difficult experience of leaving the church.
Affidavits have also been filed in support of Bountiful and other communities that practice polygamy, by groups such as the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association.
The association advocates for Canadians who desire to have more than one partner.
Karen Ann Detillieux, a resident of Lorette, Man., swore her own affidavit in support of the association.
She's married with two children, and has a second relationship with another man who lives in her home with his two teenage children.
"We wish to testify that multiple conjugal relationships are a viable option in a free society, specifically when the power of decision- making and freedom of sexual expression are evenly distributed among the individuals involved," she said in the affidavit.
"Our conscious intent in building our family relationships has resulted in a stable, loving and supportive home environment."
U.S. top court asked to review case of Canadian on death row
August 24, 2010, By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
The only Canadian on death row in the U.S. may be getting some moral support from the Harper government if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to a review of the case of Ronald Smith. The Canadian Press/Bill Graveland.
CALGARY - The only Canadian on death row in the U.S. may be getting more than moral support from the Harper government if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to a review of the case of Ronald Smith.
Smith's lawyer said Tuesday that the Canadian government may ask the court for standing to argue against the death penalty.
"They have made rumblings about joining by filing essentially an amicus appearance in the U.S. Supreme Court," said Greg Jackson. "We have not heard any final decision on whether they're going to do that."
Smith, 52, has been living on borrowed time since he was convicted in Montana in 1983 for shooting to death two cousins, Harvey Madman Jr. and Thomas Running Rabbit, while he was high on drugs and alcohol.
The former Albertan, who had been taking 30 to 40 hits of LSD and consuming between 12 and 18 beer a day at the time of the murders, refused a plea deal that would have seen him avoid death row but spend his life in prison. Three weeks later, he pleaded guilty. He asked for and was given a death sentence.
He later had a change of heart and has been on a legal roller coaster for the last 25 years. He has been sentenced to death four times and had the order overturned on three occasions.
Jackson had argued unsuccessfully before a regional Appeal Court earlier this year that Smith didn't have effective counsel when he pleaded guilty and the death penalty wasn't warranted.
The judges in a split decision acknowledged that Smith received "woefully inadequate representation" and that his state-appointed lawyer had advised him there were no defences to the charges. But they rejected the appeal on the grounds that Smith would still have been found guilty based on the evidence.
Jackson has applied to the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of the case and is optimistic that the top court will at least hear arguments on it.
"We think there may be a reasonable chance of them granting review. If they grant review then we will go to Washington, D.C., and argue the case," said Jackson from his office in Helena, Mont.
"If they don't grant review then it will be remanded to the state to set an execution date."
Dale Eisler, Canada's consul general, told Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer in June that Smith should be spared the death penalty if the case comes to him.
Jackson said the Canadian government support may carry over to the U.S. Supreme Court as well.
"The last word that we had is the Canadian government is strongly considering filing an appearance in the U.S. Supreme Court to bolster the case. I think it certainly would be an attention grabber that they know that the Canadian government as a whole is interested in Ron. I think it would certainly help," he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Department of Foreign Affairs on whether a final decision has been made.
The phrase amicus curiae literally means "friend of the court" and Jackson said it would allow the Canadian government to weigh in on the issue.
If arguments are allowed it would likely occur in early October said Jackson. He will argue that execution after such a lengthy time on death row would violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which precludes the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishments."
After representing Smith for the past 25 years, the idea of his client having another execution date is hard for Jackson to accept. He understands that the case may well end up in the hands of Gov. Schweitzer, who has the power to grant clemency.
"Frankly, at this stage we have to be prepared for the possibility that it will be (in Schweitzer's hands)," said Jackson.
"We will be waiting with bated breath here in the next couple of months. It's a longshot in the U.S. Supreme Court anyway you cut it and frankly with changes in the court who knows what to expect now."
Pressure for Pickton inquiry grows, but what questions would it need to answer?
August 24, 2010, By James Keller and Terri Theodore, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER - Demands for a public inquiry into how serial killer Robert Pickton got away with his carnage for so long have been increasing in volume as revelations that police mishandled the investigation have been made public.
But whether a public inquiry is the right way to get a closer look at the case and, if it is, how it would be structured are questions the government will need to look at closely before cabinet makes a decision, expected sometime next month.
Those familiar with public inquiries say they can easily get out of hand if too many issues are on the table and too many lawyers get involved.
However, others who work with the impoverished women on the Downtown Eastside, Pickton's hunting ground, say a public inquiry in this case is the best way to get beyond police conduct in the case.
Former B.C. attorney general Geoff Plant said public inquiries should be used sparingly.
"If you're starting to look at an inquiry that's going to take years and costs dozens of millions of dollars, then I think it's at least legitimate to ask the question whether there could be something else done with those public dollars that might help deal with the issues in just as an effective way," he said.
Even though there is tremendous pressure to call an inquiry, Plant said the government still has the duty to question what can be learned from one.
The inquiry shouldn't be a substitute for the criminal process, and should instead attempt to provide helpful information for police, government and social policy-makers to ensure it doesn't happen again, he said.
"That's why you have to be really careful to avoid turning the public inquiry process into a witch hunt. That's a harsh term, but there are in our history some public inquiries that have not been effective."
Kate Gibson, executive director of a drop-in centre for sex workers known as WISH, said the Pickton case raises complex and far-reaching questions.
"We have to look at how these women ended up in the situation they were in: How did they get there in the first place? Why were they on the street working? What is it in our world that lets us have people in that situation?" she said.
"I think that might get really complicated, but it has to be part of the discussion."
Gibson acknowledged it will be tricky to keep a public inquiry focused on the Pickton case while also ensuring it's broad enough to examine what she describes as the "societal" issues that plague women in the Downtown Eastside.
Thomas Braidwood, the former judge who conducted the inquiry into the RCMP-involved death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport, said blame should be left out of any kind of inquiry.
"You just get people's back up (when you) start fooling around with blame," said Braidwood. "If you figure out what happened, define what went wrong and then attempt to remedy in the future the problem, that's the better way to go."
He said the mandate of any such inquiry would need to be very carefully defined in order to keep it under control.
Gibson said her group wouldn't ask for standing at a public inquiry, a status that would allow them to hire a lawyer and question witnesses.
But she'd want an opportunity to speak.
Pickton's criminal case ended last month with a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada that upheld his six convictions of second-degree murder. Twenty additional charges have since been dropped and prosecutors say they won't pursue charges in the deaths of six more women whose DNA was found on his farm.
The end of the criminal proceedings has finally allowed police to talk about what many had long believed was a failed investigation into reports of missing women in the Downtown Eastside in the years before Pickton's arrest.
Last week, the Vancouver Police Department released a report that blamed poor management within its own force and the RCMP, a lack of communication between the two agencies, inadequate resources, instances of bias against sex workers and a series of blunders that slowed the investigation's progress.
The RCMP is expected to release its own review soon, and the force has already foreshadowed a report that will contradict some of the conclusions of Vancouver police.
Lee Lakeman of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter said the role of police must be further examined, especially with the two forces apparently disagreeing on where to lay blame.
But she said a public inquiry is the only way to get answers to all the problems that allowed Pickton to operate for years.
"There's quite a lot that we need to understand," said Lakeman. "It would be better if we could have systemic change without going through this public inquiry process, but so far we have no leadership offering us that."
Lakeman wants an inquiry to address police oversight, the level of social services such as addiction treatment available, the challenges facing aboriginal women and welfare rates for women in the Downtown Eastside.
Dave Dickson, a former officer with the Vancouver Police Department who was one of the first to raise concerns that sex workers were disappearing, said he would welcome the opportunity to testify at a public inquiry.
Dickson said the problems Pickton's victims faced continue, as women in the Downtown Eastside are still forced into prostitution to support themselves and their drug habits with few options to turn their lives around.
"If I get a chance to speak, I'd be talking about — every one of those women . . . never got the help they could have and then they're on the street," says Dickson
"The inquiry has to look at the bigger picture and find out why these kids end up being victims in the first place. Nobody chooses to be a sex-trade worker."
Women sex offenders often go unrecognized and unreported, new book says
August 20, 2010, By Nelson Wyatt, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Women sex offenders often go unrecognized and unreported, although society is starting to pay closer attention to them, says a university criminologist.
"What we've estimated is that females constitute approximately four to five per cent of all sex offenders," says Franca Cortoni, whose new book pulls together the latest research on the phenomenon.
Female offenders are behind about one to two per cent of all sexual crimes reported to police in Canada in the last 10 years, added Cortoni, who works at Universite de Montreal.
The research is contained in the new book "Female Sexual Offenders: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment."
The book, which was co-edited by Cortoni and University of Kent forensic lecuturer Theresa Gannon, looks at female sex crimes as well as treatment options.
They drew on international research in western democracies.
Cortoni told The Canadian Press that society has had a hard time believing women could be capable of sex crimes and often attributed it to mental illness. Many were institutionalized.
"Traditionally, women are viewed as nurturing, the caretakers, the ones who take care of the children," she said.
"Whenever a woman does something that is outside those norms, it's kind of like, 'How can she be rational?'"
But the psychologist said things have started to change as society becomes more open to discussing sexual abuse, child victims are given more credibility, and the abuse is seen as "not an act committed by a mentally ill person but a criminal act."
A Correctional Service Canada spokeswoman was unable to immediately provide specific data on female sex criminals in the country's prisons.
Canada's most notorious female sex criminal was likely Karla Homolka, who was involved in the sex slayings of two Ontario schoolgirls in the 1990s with her then-husband Paul Bernardo.
Citing previous employment with Correctional Service Canada, Cortoni didn't want to comment on the Homolka case but said, "what people don't realize is that the Bernardo-Homolka duet is not unique in the world."
Cortoni said there are no typical female sex offenders, in the same way there are no typical male sex offenders.
"What we've learned over the years with the males is that they come from all walks of life, from all kinds of education and professional backgrounds," she said.
"Right now we tend to see women who come from lower social economic status, less educated."
However, a common trait among many female sex criminals is severe abuse in their childhood.
In some cases, female sex criminals have been found to be passive and dependent, while in others they see men as threats, thus fuelling the need to seek emotional comfort in children.
A New York study found the average age of their female sex offenders to be 28 although Cortoni noted juveniles also commit sex crimes and all of them had been sexually abused themselves.
Studies indicate that while 13 per cent of men who committed a sex crime are likely to reoffend, only about one per cent of women will reoffend, Cortoni said.
Working for Victims: Canada's New Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, Sue O'Sullivan, Begins Term
Aug 16, 2010
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 16, 2010) - Sue O'Sullivan today began her appointed term as Canada's new Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime. The Office, established in 2007, helps victims of crime and their families.
"I am both humbled and honoured to have been chosen to lead an office with the important responsibility of giving victims a voice," explained O'Sullivan. "This is such a unique opportunity to use my hands-on experience in law enforcement and all that I've learned from the victims we assisted to make a difference for all Canadians. For me, it's a chance for my work to come full circle and help those who are most affected by crime – the victims."
Prior to her appointment, O'Sullivan held the position of first-ever female Deputy Chief of Police in Ottawa, where she was recognized for her leadership both within the service and in the community. O'Sullivan's honours include the Governor General's Officer of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces Award, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Governor General's Exemplary Service Medal and the House of Commons Leadership Award. During her time with the service O'Sullivan was also instrumental in developing new programs that would enhance support and services for victims.
Under her direction, O'Sullivan says the Office will continue to ensure the federal government meets its commitments to victims and that victims' voices are heard. "The Government of Canada has made victims of crime a priority, and we will continue to contribute to that important work by helping victims directly and by actively promoting positive, system-wide change."
The Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime helps victims to address their needs, promotes their interests and makes recommendations to the federal government on issues that negatively impact victims.
Justice minister downplays Criminal Code change to include 'honour crimes'
August 08, 2010, By Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Canada's justice minister has moved to quash weeks of confusion by playing down the idea that Ottawa might amend the Criminal Code to include so-called "honour killings."
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says Ottawa is making honour crimes a priority but there isn't any real need to change the Criminal Code to achieve such an objective.
That puts an end to weeks of head-scratching prompted by a remark from one of his cabinet colleagues, Rona Ambrose, that the government was considering Criminal Code amendments.
Nicholson told The Canadian Press that some sort of plan would be devised but downplayed the possibility that code amendments were the preferred option.
"It's not necessarily any changes to the Criminal Code," Nicholson told The Canadian Press in an interview this week.
"Specifically with respect to murder, there are (already) very strong provisions."
The confusion began last month when Ambrose, the minister for the status of women, said Ottawa was looking at amending the code.
Her statement was initially dismissed outright by the Justice Department; but the department later changed its tune and said Ambrose's comments did indeed reflect government policy.
Nicholson said the Tories only plan one change to the murder provisions in the Criminal Code: doing away with the faint-hope clause, a controversial provision that allows those sentenced to life in prison to apply for early release after serving 15 years.
Ambrose's comments raised eyebrows because murder is already the most serious infraction in the Criminal Code and it's unclear how it might be judged any differently in "honour killing" cases.
Some women's groups, particularly those representing minority women, call the idea offensive. They say it would create a separate category for women from certain cultures, apart from the rest of Canadian society.
"We totally dislike the term 'honour killing,' it doesn't make sense, it's a stupid way of describing a murder," said Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women
"In Canada, we should not use that language because it separates women from . . . Asia and it might be used (in court) as a mitigating circumstance."
The justice minister echoed that sentiment.
"If you're talking specifically in respect to murder, murder carries a life sentence and no eligibility for parole," Nicholson said.
So-called crimes of honour involve an attack by one relative — usually a male — on another — usually female — for an act believed to have brought shame upon the family.
The purported logic is that such a violent gesture might help re-establish the family's honour.
Nicholson said he looks forward to seeing the types of project proposals put forward by community members and is willing to listen.
A recent report by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy indicates an alarming problem of violence against women in immigrant households.
According to the report, there have been about a dozen documented "honour-slayings" in Canada since 2002.
Hogben says the best way to deal with domestic violence is not through Criminal Code amendments — but public workshops and awareness campaigns.
"Lots of education," she said.
50-per-cent spike in older inmates carries cost implications for prison policy
August 08, 2010, By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - The number of federal inmates older than 50 surged by almost half in less than a decade as prisons undergo a demographic trend with wide-ranging implications for Canada's correctional system.
Figures provided by Correctional Service Canada peg their number at 2,379 of the 13,286 total inmates in 2009 — a 45-per-cent hike from the 1,646 out of 12,663 people locked up in 2002.
The numbers will rise even further if the Conservative government passes its tough-on-crime agenda that aims to lock up convicts for longer periods, says Canada's federal prison ombudsman.
"We will see more people spending more time in prison," Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, told The Canadian Press.
The trend carries cost implications.
The federal government estimates that inmates age about a decade faster than other Canadians, due to hard-living lifestyles and health problems acquired in prison.
As a result, Correctional Service Canada defines prisoners aged 50 and over as "aging offenders."
Sapers notes that some penitentiaries have responded to the aging demographic by retrofitting cells, improving wheelchair accessibility and installing handrails.
"From age 50 on, we begin to see some fairly serious health impacts on the offender population," said Sapers, whose office reviews thousands of inmate complaints each year.
He indicates that not only are prisoners at risk of problems like dementia and limited mobility at a younger age, they also live in jailhouses where HIV rates are 10 times higher than in the general population. He said one-third of inmates have hepatitis C.
Sapers also says the federal government has been slow to react when it comes to separating older, more vulnerable inmates from their younger, rowdier cellblock mates.
"You cannot create a correctional environment at the federal level based on the philosophy of one-size-fits-all — it doesn't work," he said.
Correctional Service Canada says it doesn't calculate the cost of incarceration by age, but experts insist the price tag of housing older prisoners is steep.
"Certainly," Pierre Mallet, head of Canada's correctional officers union, answered when asked if cellblock greybeards cost more to house than their younger counterparts.
"It's a legitimate problem."
The average annual cost of keeping one person locked up jumped 22 per cent — from $83,276 to $101,666 — between 2003-04 and 2007-08, Public Safety Canada says. In other words, the average daily cost rose to $278 per prisoner.
Due to shortages in medical staff at some institutions, guards are sometimes called upon to juggle their security duties with basic caregiving, Mallet said.
"We deplore the lack of medical resources that they have in establishments," Mallet said.
"But at the same time, is the population ready toassume the costs that this could all bring? You know, to have more nurses, to have more doctors, to have more people to help them, there's a cost attached to this."
Sapers said an internal review conducted 10 years ago by Correctional Service Canada identified elderly prisoners as a priority.
The department set up a task force to examine needs such as palliative care, reintegration and accommodation, but the group was eventually disbanded.
Still, the federal government is aware of the problem.
"Delivering adequate health care is an ongoing challenge with major implications for public safety," said briefing notes prepared last spring for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, obtained by The Canadian Press through an Access to Information request.
A spokeswoman for Correctional Service Canada said the department evaluates the care given to prisoners based on their individual needs, not by age.
"It's really hard to have a specific old-age offender (program) in place," said Christelle Chartrand.
"We adapt with the population that we have."
She said the department takes physical limitations into consideration for housing and penitentiary placement.
Stockwell Day confounds critics, says new prisons needed for unreported crimes
August 03, 2010, By Julian Beltrame, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Opposition critics are scratching their heads over Stockwell Day's claim that Canada needs more prisons in part because many crimes go unreported.
Day, president of the Treasury Board, was asked Tuesday why the Conservative government intends to spend billions of dollars on expanding prisons at a time of falling crime.
"People simply aren't reporting the same way they used to," he responded. "I'm saying one statistic of many that concerns us is the amount of crimes that go unreported. Those numbers are alarming and it shows that we can't take a liberal view to crime."
Day added that the government's tough on crime agenda, including longer jail sentences, may result in "an up-tick in incarceration."
The minister didn't provide evidence of an increase in unreported crimes, or a description of what types of crime go unreported, but said his office would follow up.
A spokesperson for the justice minister said Day was referring to the General Social Survey conducted by Statistics Canada that asks individuals if they have been victims of crimes and if they reported the incidents to police.
Results of the 2009 survey conducted every five years will not be published until September, but the 2004 report does show a slight decrease, from 37 per cent to 34 per cent, of reported crimes.
Statistics Canada's latest compilation of crime reported to police, issued last month, shows overall crime dropped by seven per cent in 2007, continuing a downward trend since the rate peaked in 1991. The report found a decline in homicides, attempted murders, sexual assaults and robberies.
Still, Day said the government will push ahead with its tough-on-crime agenda, including building new prisons. He added the government supports more mandatory sentences to take discretion away from judges, increased jail times and eliminating "discount sentencing."
Liberal MP Mark Holland accused the government of trying to justify a bad policy with non-existent statistics. If anything, he said, reporting of sexual crime — which is historically under-reported — has increased over the years as the stigma has lessened.
But even if the minister is correct, Holland wondered how that would result in the need for more prison spaces.
"You need prisons to lock up people who are not being charged? Unless you are suggesting throwing away habeas corpus and rounding up everybody who looks suspicious, it makes no sense."
New Democrat MP Don Davies said the government is again choosing ideology over the facts.
"Crime rates have been dropping steadily and consistently across categories for decades," he said. "So faced with those statistics, they turn to unreported crimes. Why in 2010 would you be less likely to report a crime than in 1980 or 1990?"
In March, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews also referred to victimization surveys to make the case that crime has not declined in Canada. Toews told a parliamentary committee that surveys compiled by Statistics Canada in 1999 and 2004 showed "a huge increase in crime in this country ... I believe it's somewhere between 15 per cent and 19 per cent."
An agency analyst said the No. 1 reason given by individuals for not calling the police about a crime is that they believe it was not serious enough. Only two per cent said they feared retribution, and one per cent said they felt the police may be biased.
Feds tell immigration officers to treat U.S. deserters as criminals
August 03, 2010, By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - The Conservative government has given immigration officers tough new marching orders for dealing with military deserters seeking refuge in Canada, painting them as criminals who may be inadmissible.
The Immigration Department is leaning on officers to give a more critical assessment in new cases and telling them to report more often about existing files.
The department recently issued a bulletin to field officers saying flight from military service in another country may make certain refugee claimants inadmissible.
The new directive points to existing provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act — sections that bar refugees from Canada on the "grounds of serious criminality" — in order to make the case.
"Desertion is an offence in Canada under the National Defence Act," says the notice, issued July 22.
"The maximum punishment for desertion under section 88 of the (National Defence Act) is life imprisonment, if the person committed the offence on active service or under orders for active service. Consequently, persons who have deserted the military in their country of origin may be inadmissible to Canada."
The bulletin stops short of imposing a flat ban on deserters entering the country and instructs immigration officers to seek guidance from regional advisers when dealing with deserters applying for permanent residence. It also tells them to notify the department’s case management branch when any new refugee claims are filed or high-profile ones are updated.
Critics charged the Conservatives were singling out deserters and discriminating against them.
Officials in Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's office were not available to comment, but a department spokesman denied deserters are being treated any differently and other cases also merit close scrutiny.
"We would track war criminals up in our cases management branch; we would track cases involving high-profile individuals," said Doug Kellam.
"There's lots of categories that are like that in which we are interested in making sure we've got them on our radar and we track them as they go."
Still, Michelle Robidoux of the War Resisters Support Campaign said the directive smacked of politics.
"Why create this new, high-profile contentious case pool for military resisters?" she asked. "To me it's an ideological thing. It not based on need because there is already a process in place for screen out people who are criminally inadmissible."
Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that immigration officers must consider a soldier’s beliefs and motivations when deciding on humanitarian applications for permanent residence. The court was dealing with the case of Jeremy Hinzman, a former paratrooper who bailed on the Iraq war as a conscientious objector.
The three-judge appeals panel ruled that an immigration officer's decision to reject Hinzman's application for permanent residence was "significantly flawed" and unreasonable and ordered that another officer at the refugee board look at the application.
There are up to 40 self-styled war resisters in Canada, according to figures from a support network. How many of them are actual deserters is not clear.
Conservatives have shown no sympathy and even less patience with what Kenney described last year as ``bogus refugee claimants."
Previously released Access to Information documents make a clear distinction between the current crop of conscientious objectors and those who fled to Canada by the thousands in the 1960s.
The Conservatives have stated that unlike Vietnam, individuals coming to Canada throughout the Iraq war voluntarily joined the United States military and deserted.
Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy described the bulletin as "reckless" and accused the Conservatives of political interference and manipulation.
"These people are entitled to a fair hearing and have their case considered on its merits," he said.
"The courts have started to increasingly rule that conscientious objection is a legitimate grounds for humanitarian and compassionate consideration in Canada. They shouldn't be using what is essentially a propaganda process to try and contain this. They should let an objective process take place."
The House of Commons has twice passed non-binding motions to halt deportation proceedings against American conscientious objectors trying to stay in Canada. A private members bill, to give the motions legislative weight, is due to be debated this fall in Parliament.
Proposal to put 'rape' back into Criminal Code dies a quick death
August 01, 2010, By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - A senior cabinet minister's suggestion to restore 'rape' as a distinct and separate crime in Canada's Criminal Code appears to have been abandoned.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said earlier this year that the 1983 replacement of 'rape' in the code with the broader term 'sexual assault' created a "general basket description that causes all kinds of problems."
Toews told a Senate committee that the change was "perhaps the biggest mistake in criminal law that the Parliament of Canada has ever made."
But documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act indicate the minister's suggestion died a quick death in the corridors of government.
The idea went no further at Public Safety, but was punted to Justice Canada, the lead department for proposed changes to the Criminal Code.
And Catherine Kane, who's in charge of the criminal law policy section at Justice, jumped to the defence of the current law, internal documents show.
"We have several offences that cover the conduct previously captured by the very narrow and impossible to convict on charge of rape," she wrote in a late-night email on May 11, the same day Toews made controversial public comments on the issue.
"And we have several offences to cover the equally harmful sexual offences that fell short of the offence of rape."
Kane, senior general counsel, co-authored briefing material for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson two days later that referred derisively to the "old, antiquated and narrow offence of rape."
"The replacement of the antiquated rape offence by the current sexual assault offences reflects the reality that the sexual integrity of any and every victim can be violated by any form of non-consensual sexual activity."
Kane noted that among other problems with the old law, a man could never be convicted of rape against his wife.
"Prior to January 1983, the old offence of 'rape' could only be committed by a man upon a woman who was not his wife and required sexual intercourse and penetration."
The revised sexual assault law applies equally to men and women, and recognizes gradations of severity.
"The repeal of the rape offence was also accompanied by significant criminal law reforms to do away with outdated rules, myths and stereotypes," Kane wrote in her advice to the justice minister.
A spokeswoman for Nicholson confirmed in an email that Toews' proposal has gone no further.
"The minister (of justice) is always open to hearing suggestions on ways to improve the justice system," Pamela Stephens said.
"The government currently has an ambitious justice agenda and we are committed to pursuing it. However, in regards to your question (about rape), there is nothing currently in the works."
Toews' comments were sparked by concerns about the Sexual Offender Information Registration Act, a registry of convicted pedophiles and others, and restrictions on the availability of pardons. The minister said he was concerned that minor sexual offences were being improperly lumped in with serious sexual assaults.
For example, the Tory government decided its proposed legislation to ban sex offenders from applying for pardons was too broad because some convictions for lesser offences, such as sexual touching, might be deserving of a pardon.
Accordingly, the proposed amendments were narrowed to apply only to those who commit sex crimes against children.
Toews' recent musings raised alarms among women's groups, who had fought hard in the early 1980s to substitute the legally unworkable 'rape' offence, which attached stigma to victims, with the more flexible 'sexual assault' offences.
The revised law sorts sexual assault into three tiers, with tougher penalties for the more serious offences.
The changes were intended to encourage more victims of sexual violence to come forward, but women's advocates say the legal system is still stacked against them, with only about six per cent of sexual assaults even reported to police.
"Distinguishing rape from other forms of sexual assault erroneously suggests that some forms of sexual assault are violent while some forms of sexual assault are 'minor' and non-violent," Nicole Pietsch, head of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres, wrote to Toews on May 18, denouncing the proposal.
In an interview, Pietsch welcomed word that Toews' suggestion is getting no support inside the Justice Department.
"There would be a lot of backlash if this, in fact, started to move forward," she said.
The 'rape' trial balloon is not the first time Toews has proposed a controversial legal measure that was quickly abandoned by government.
When serving as justice minister in 2006, Toews suggested reducing Canada's age of criminal responsibility from age 12, so that children as young as 10 might serve jail sentences. The Justice Department later said there were no such plans for a Criminal Code amendment.
