Women Ski Jumpers Grounded…
The BC Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal filed on behalf of a number of a group of women ski jumpers attempting to get inclusion into next years olympics being held in Vancouver. Â Written…
Civil Rights
Goblins crave to eat the Charter
The Abdelrazik affair exposed some of Canada’s poorly known but in-your-face draconian laws. James Yap of Osgoode Hall Law School wrote a fantastic post about the federal United Nations Act and the United Nations Al-Qaida and…
Hate crime in London, Ontario
Assault a hate crime A woman had her head covering torn off and was pelted with anti-Arab slurs in an attempted stabbing London police are treating as a hate crime.
Former OPP Commish to Review UWO Arrest…
The University of Western Ontario has hired former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner and lawyer Gwen Boniface to review the violent arrest of Irnes Zeljkovic according to a London Free Press article and from UWO Communications. The…
Media, free speech, and human rights
Media aren’t the best friends of human rights Max Yalden was an Official Languages Commissioner in 1977-84 and the head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 1987-96. Recalling the Maclean’s case and other contentious…
Toronto Police Accuses SIU of Playing Politics
The push and pull of Ontario’s Police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, continues after  Toronto Police Service Association Union President Mike McCormack suggests. It was only last year that the Ontario Ombudsman’s Office headed by…
Canada’s cost of keeping Khadr in Guantanamo
Omar Khadr case cost Ottawa $1.3 million Allan Woods and Michelle Shephard write: Ottawa has spent more than $1.3-million fighting against Toronto-born captive Omar Khadr, who has been held at the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay detention centre…
B.C. introduces law blasted by critics as means to hide homeless for Games
The Canadian Press reports: B.C. introduces law blasted by critics as means to hide homeless for Games The B.C. government introduced a controversial law Thursday that will allow police to take homeless people to shelters…
Unique photos of Omar Khadr may be evidence of his innocence
Omar Khadr Omar Khadr ‘innocent’ in death of U.S. soldier Michelle Shephard writes for the Toronto Star: Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr was buried face down under rubble, blinded by shrapnel and crippled, at the time…
Muslim Group Seeks to Ban Woollen Socks
special contribution by Faraz Siddiqui Toronto, Oct 28th: In what seems to be a rising fad, a Canadian Muslim organization has asked the federal government to ban woollen socks from public spaces. According to a…
CBC: UBC students tutored on Olympic security rights
I’ve already posted about PIVOT’s and the BC Civil Liberties Association’s mobilisation around Vancouver’s stringent (and possibly unconstitutional) anti-dissent Olympic laws. It now appears that UBC students (undergrads, I think) are now also taking it…
Secret evidence
Lifting the cover on Canada’s spy files Michelle Shephard writes for the Toronto Star: But beyond answering questions that have lingered for years about Khadr’s case, John’s testimony was a remarkable example of how the…