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.
Mayor promises truth will be uncovered about reports of sex in RCMP cell
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.
