The Daily GRRR! - December 26th, 2014 - Waves Through Walls: Prison Radio
dailyGrrr-2014-12-26.mp3Welcome, I am your host Dan Kellar and you are listening to The Daily GRRR! Waves Through Walls: Prison Radio, on 100.3fm, CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario. Soundfm.ca on the web, today is Friday December 26th, 2014.
We are broadcasting from the centre of the Haldimand Tract, the occupied Grand River Territory of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations).
The Daily GRRR! is a project of the Grand River Media Collective; and is supported by the Community Radio Fund of Canada and CKMS.
The clip that kicked off the show is from Mumia Abu-Jamal with his piece entitled Why We Can’t Breath. Check prisonradio.org for more of Mumia’s podcasts.
Today’s feature is an is a reading from the Rolling Stone article by José Martín called Policing is A Dirty Job, But Nobody’s Gotta Do It: 6 Ideas For A Cop Free World.
Now we will start with today’s headlines:
The Daily GRRR!
HEADLINES for December 26th, 2014
1. Backlash Mounting Over Sick-in-Solitary Scandal
2. CSIS Watchdog To Hear Political Intimidation Complaint
3. Canadian Cops Can Search Your Cell
4. Montreal Cop’s Union Boss Explains Forces Racism
5. BC Cops Sell Wristbands To Support Murderous Colleague
6. Child Porn Charges For Saskatchewan RCMP Officer
7. Christmas Eve Vigil to Demand #JusticeForJermaine Carby
1. Backlash Mounting Over Sick-in-Solitary Scandal
Responding to last week’s reports of the Toronto South Detention Centre’s use of Solitary confinement for sick prisoners and for prisoners in mental distress, Ontario ombudsman, Andre Marin says he will soon launch an investigation into the new prison if the practice is not stopped.
The officials at the year old jail has failed to staff the medical and mental health wings of the prison, instead putting sick prisoners and those in distress and crisis into solitary confinement cells, with the same restrictions as prisoners in solitary confinement. Many of those at the jail are awaiting bail or trial, meaning they are presumed innocent of the crimes they are accused of, yet they are being punished with full consent of the government and the injustice system that locked them up.
The globe and mail editorial blasts the use of solitary in this case saying “looks like another case of Canadian prison officials displaying a casual indifference to the health and safety of inmates.” The piece concludes ‘Other countries, including the United States, are phasing out solitary or severely limiting its use because it is demonstrably counter-productive and inhuman. In Canada, meanwhile, we’re sending people to solitary for the crime of needing medical attention.”
2. CSIS Watchdog To Hear Political Intimidation Complaint
After writing a critical op-ed in the Hamilton Spectator on Canada’s fear-mongering towards Iran, social justice activist, Ken Stone, was visited by agents of canada’s spy agency, CSIS, and asked about his relationship with the Iranian government.
This was in 2012, and following a June 2013 lodging of a formal complaint, Stone will be participating in a pre-hearing January 22 in 2015, with the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the watchdog for CSIS.
In 2011 Stone had been to Iran to attend a conference on Palestine and he is the treasurer of Hamilton’s Coalition to Stop the War. His op-ed criticized PM Harper’s accusation that Iran was a threat to global security.
Bijon Roy, Stone’s lawyer told insidehalton.com "It should be disturbing to Canadians that expressing your views in an op-ed in a newspaper could attract security attention for little or no reason," continuing “That's kind of a fundamental right in our society and if that's under threat, I think it's really cause for alarm."
3. Canadian Cops Can Search Your Cell
In a 4-3 ruling in the supreme court of canada, one that journalist Heather Mallick describes as “one of the most sinister in its history”, judges told cops that they do not need a warrant to search the cellphones of the people they arrest.
The ruling, which ricochet media’s David Christopher called “a surprise, given that the same court unanimously ruled in favour of strong digital privacy rights in June.” He added “It’s also all the more disappointing given that earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that police cannot search cell phones without a warrant.”
The ruling means that section 8 of the charter of rights and freedoms, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, will not be protected by the supreme court when it comes to cell phone privacy. Cops can search through your phone, with intentionally vague restrictions on what they can access and on what timeline they may search.
The dissenting judges to the ruling rightly wrote “In short, the cell phone acts like a key or portal which can allow the user to access the full treasure trove of records and files that the owner has generated or used on any number of devices.”
For more info on digital privacy and security, check out http://OpenMedia.ca
4.Montreal Cop’s Union Boss Explains Forces Racism
Speaking to CBC radio earlier this week, Yves Francoeur, the boss of Montreal’s police union said the “multi-ethnic” character of the city puts cops at risk of attack. The racist remarks come in the wake of an arrest of a man who allegedly made threats against police. While investigators have not released any details around motivations for the threats, Francoeur warned “there was a relation with religion, Islamist.”
The grassroots Collectif Québécois Contre l’Islamophobie denounced the remarks in a press release calling the comments “not only irresponsible, but also dangerous”. The release asks people not to fall into the islamophobic hysteria that the cops and the media are trying to create.
5. BC Cops Sell Wristbands To Support Murderous Colleague
Wristbands being sold to support Jordan MacWilliams, a BC cop who is now on trial for the 2nd degree murder of Mehrdad Bayrami, have been taken off the main website and social media accounts of the Delta police force. Bayrami, who was shot dead in the parking lot of the Starlight Casino, was in mental distress when killed by MacWilliams, who had soon beforehand shown up on the scene.
CBC reported that The sale of the wristbands “raised concerns that the police were undermining the work of the Crown prosecutors, who made the decision to charge MacWilliams.”
It seems these wristbands were created in an effort to mimic the actions of the St. Louis Police department, whose members made blue wristbands with the name of the officer who shot dead unarmed black youth Michael Brown. Recently video emerged of a “Sickening Racist Song At Charity Held By #LAPD Cop” which “Celebrates the Death of Mike Brown”.
6. Child Porn Charges For Saskatchewan RCMP Officer
On December 22nd, a 31 year old RCMP constable, based in Porcupine Plain Saskatchewan, was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography, after a months long investigation.
Aiden Arthur Pratchett, was removed from the community on October 16th following a search of his home and has been suspended with pay ever since. He is out on bail on simple conditions and will be back in court at the end of january.
More charges could be laid against the cop as the investigation is ongoing.
7. Christmas Eve Vigil to Demand #JusticeForJermaine Carby
With a vigil starting at 5pm on December 24th, the movement to see #JusticeForJermaine Carby, took to the streets to bring attention to the police murder of the young black man on September 24th. 2014. Carby was shot dead after being led from a car which was pulled over in a traffic stop. Jermaine’s family desperately seeks to speak with the driver of that vehicle, who has not been seen since being cuffed at the scene.
Blocking the intersection of Queen and Kennedy in Brampton Ontario, near where Jermain was killed by an unnamed Peel Regional police officer, the demo of 50 plus people was militant and dignified in their actions which started with speeches from family members and friends of Carby.
for more info on #JusticeForJermain, check out the facebook page - Justice For Jermaine Carby - https://www.facebook.com/justiceforjc
Thats all for the headlines, now for some
Midway Music: Rob Hustle feat. Bump with Call the Cops - @robhustle
http://youtu.be/IlY9C6pzxKc
And we are back, you just heard Rob Hustle feat. Bump with Call the Cops
You are listening to Waves Through Walls edition of The Daily GRRR! Today is December 26th, 2014, my name is Dan Kellar and we are now moving into the feature portion of our broadcast.
Reflecting on spat of recent police killings in the US, and hoping to learn lessons and build a better world, today’s feature is a reading from the Rolling Stone article by José Martín called Policing is A Dirty Job, But Nobody’s Gotta Do It: 6 Ideas For A Cop Free World.
That was a reading from the Rolling Stone article by José Martín called Policing is A Dirty Job, But Nobody’s Gotta Do It: 6 Ideas For A Cop Free World.
This has been the The Daily GRRR! for December 26th, 2014. We are on weekdays from 9-10am on 100.3fm CKMS in Waterloo region, and http://soundfm.ca on the web. Check out all our past shows and other Grand River Media Collective work on our webpage http://grandrivermc.ca
The Daily GRRR! is supported by the Community Radio Fund of Canada and CKMS.
Stay tuned in for more Grand River Radical Radio after we close the podcast.
Thanks for Listening.
END OF SHOW