Things went from bad to worse after Canada's Liberal government helped plan and carry out the 2004 regime change in Haiti that illegally ousted President Aristide's democratically-elected government. Canada then helped empower and entrench an illegal coup-installed puppet regime that launched a reign of terror in which thousands of pro-democracy supporters were executed, jailed without charge, driven into hiding, or exiled.
Law and legal issues
The Harper government is reintroducing its proposed “tough-on-crime” laws that were killed when Harper prorogued Parliament in January. These crime bills, if passed, will result in the lengthy incarceration of hundreds of additional offenders under harsh conditions.
Many Canadians approve. Fine, they say -- whatever it takes to get the crime wave under control.
The Harper government is reintroducing its proposed “tough-on-crime” laws that were killed when Harper prorogued Parliament in January. These crime bills, if passed, will result in the lengthy incarceration of hundreds of additional offenders under harsh conditions.
Many Canadians approve. Fine, they say—whatever it takes to get the crime wave under control.
But there is no crime wave. Crime is down in virtually all categories, including violent crime. It has been falling steadily for 30 years. Yet the Harper government, not to be deterred by mere statistics, forges ahead.
On February 17, 2010, the Mayor’s Executive Policy Committee (EPC) passed a motion to provide a grant in the amount of $225,000 per year for 15 years in support of the Youth for Christ Centre of Excellence. On February 24th, Winnipeg City Council will vote on the motion.
As service providers working with inner-city youth, our organizations strongly agree that we need to increase recreational opportunities for inner-city youth in Winnipeg. However, we strongly oppose public funding for the Youth for Christ Centre.
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government shut down Parliament until March, mainly to avoid answering politically embarrassing questions about the torture of Canadian military detainees in Afghanistan. Especially disturbing are the allegations – and mounting evidence -- that our military was complicit in this torture of captives by Afghan government “interrogators.”
Affordable access to food, pharmaceuticals, and scientific advancement is essential for the well-being of Canadians and society in general. Intellectual property (IP) protection is one area or policy that has the ability to jeopardize this access. Unfortunately, the policies that govern IP—the regulations that set out how this property will be protected and for how long—are being set with corporate interests as the priority.
At 1 a.m. on June 28, Manuel Zelaya, the elected progressive President of Honduras, was roused from his bed at gunpoint by masked Honduran army soldiers, who kidnapped him in his pajamas and put him on a plane to Costa Rica. The army replaced Zelaya with Roberto Micheletti, the head of the Honduran Congress.
As the military coup unfolded, the army assassinated union leaders and political activists, suspended civil rights, instituted a 24-hour curfew, and shut down the national phone system, the national electricity grid, and nine radio and TV stations.
Indigenous women today work with many issues ranging from domestic violence, youth gangs, child welfare issues, land rights, right through to helping frame the 1995 Bejing Declaration at the Fourth World Conference for Women.
The Beijing Declaration was described as the most significant instrument for achieving gender justice and women’s rights, and governments around the world were called upon to implement it fully.