The Daily GRRR! - February 6th, 2015 - Waves Through Walls
Welcome, 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 February 6th, 2015.
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 a piece from his new mini-series A Profile in Excellence entitled Black Women of the Pen. Check prisonradio.org for more of Mumia’s podcasts.
Today’s feature is writer Tasha Fierce reading an abridged version of her essay Sister Soldiers: Black Women in Protest Movementswhich will be published in the Spring 2015 Law & Order issue of Bitch magazine.
Let us now start with today’s headlines:
The Daily GRRR!
HEADLINES for February 6th, 2015
1. Ontario Jail Guards Amp Up For Strike
2. Bus Program For Families of Prisoners Gaining Momentum
3. Police Sued Over Strip Search Practices
4. Police Called on Guelph Schoolboy for Tantrum
5. Quebec Cops Mistreat Rape Victim
6. Manslaughter Charges Dropped Against Teen After Cops Found To Have Violated His Rights
7. Waterloo Regional Police Budget Increase Approved By Police Board
1. Ontario Jail Guards Amp Up For Strike
Saying their workplace was “a very violent place to work” and greeting NOW Magazine reporter Zach Ruiter with oil drums filled with burning wooden skids and a warm "Welcome to the East, the belly of the beast," guards at Ontario’s jails are pushing forward their organising efforts ahead of potential strike action with workplace pickets and rallies at the sites where bargaining is taking place.
The guards, part of OPSEU are in negotiations with the province over wage and benefit stipulations in their contracts, they also point to safety issues created from increased tension and violence within the jails as a point of contention.
Overcrowding in Ontario’s jails has led to an increase in gang activity and violence in- between inmates and between inmates and guards. Infrastructure issues have also been an issue in Ontario’s jails recently with reports of mould and other environmental safety issues.
Mina Ramos of the End Immigration Detention Network told NOW Magazine that mould at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario, where federal immigration detainees are held is getting worse, adding "While guards are wearing masks and also complaining, none of the detainees are getting masks, and they are being forced to clean the mould."
Ruiter reports that on January 20th, prison guards protesting outside of the bargaining site rushed the doors and scrambled over 3 floors looking for the government negotiating team, which had fled the building.
A strike by guards would see management take over day-to-day operations at all of Ontario’s jails, which would result in longer lock-down periods, increased use of segregation, and a general decrease in the standard of living within the jails. All this will of course lead to increased tension within the prisoners and a higher likelihood of violence.
2. Bus Program For Families of Prisoners Gaining Momentum
A program started in 2011 to “support the needs of the over 15000 children in the Greater Toronto Area that have a parent in the criminal justice system” has had a recent surge of momentum with a feature on CBC’s the National, and a grant from a bank’s community program.
The Toronto based not-for profit, Called F.E.A.T. for Children of Incarcerated Parents runs a series of programs for youth who are impacted by incarceration including weekly after school programs, a mentorship program in collaboration with Ryerson university, and a family visitation program - which “transports children and their caregivers from Toronto to the correctional institutions in... Kingston, Gravenhurst, Warkworth, and Kitchener.”
F.E.A.T. also assists family members and prisoners through the ever changing and often confusing steps to ensure the jail will allow visits to take place. F.E.A.T. is working to address the known negative impacts of parental incarceration with the known benefits of familiar human contact. Check out the organisations webpage at featforchildren.org or on twitter @FEATforChildren
3. Police Sued Over Strip Search Practices
A new legal challenge launched in Toronto is arguing that police employ a “stereotypical approach and systematically strip search rather than engaging in a case-by-case basis.” Lawyers Najma Jamaldin and Paul Genua are representing Toronto resident Megan Anoquot in the lawsuit.
The editorial from the February 2nd edition of the Toronto Star reminds us that a 2001 Supreme Court decision which ruled that strip searches are “inherently humiliating and degrading” and should be rare, not routine.
In 2010 60% of arrestees were strip searched with the number dropping to just over 33% by 2013 due to several official reports and reactions to the high incidents of the invasive practice.
The Toronto Star wrote:
As far back as 1999, a report on strip searches by the police services board stressed that “everyone has the right to protection against an unreasonable search.” As the Star argued back then: “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees it. Common decency and respect demand it.”
Our view has not changed. After more than a dozen years of debate, the police board needs to stop putting off decisions on this important human rights issue and adhere to the spirit of the 2001 Supreme Court decision. Strip searches should be rare, not routine.
4.Police Called on Guelph Schoolboy for Tantrum
A public school in Guelph, Ontario is under public scrutiny after the police were called by officials to deal with a young male student who was aggressively acting-up.
Few details have emerged over the incident, with privacy concerns due to the young age of the boy targeted by police intervention. School officials said the police were called to ensure everyone’s safety.
Eventually the boy left the school with his mother, hopefully without charge.
5. Quebec Cops Mistreat Rape Victim
CJAD radio is reporting that a woman from Longueuil was mistreated after reporting to police of being attacked and raped in the same park area, two days before the October 22nd murder of 23-year-old Jenique Dalcourt.
When 47-year-old Carole Thomas reported the attack to Longueuil police, she reports that " made me very uncomfortable asking me questions that I didn't understand the relevance, like the size of the penis of my aggressor, I mean comon, I didn't have a tape measurer in my purse, and it wasn't my preoccupation, my preoccupation was staying alive."
Thomas is alarmed that the cops did not warn the public about the attack and says it took the local cops 2 months to send in the rape kit to the SQ for investigation. A sketch was also never made of the attacker despite Thomas’s willingness to cooperate.
The Longueuil cops maintain no misconduct took place on their part.
6. Manslaughter Charges Dropped Against Teen After Cops Found To Have Violated His Rights
After spending 22 months in pre-trial detention, a Manitoba teen has been acquitted of manslaughter after a judge ruled there was no evidence against him, adding that the police showed “a complete disregard of the accused's rights" during the investigation.
The youth’s name is being kept private by publication ban, but we can say the 17 year old, 15-at the time of his arrest, had been charged in connection with the death of 20-year-old Braden Bjornson. Another man has been sentenced for that killing.
The judge, Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg, wrote in his 25 page decision that the police were guilty of serious charter breaches adding, "The conduct of the police is such that the court should be concerned about distancing itself from it."
Prof. Arthur Schafer, director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, told the Winnipeg Free Press` "Our chief of police should be held accountable to answer a number of questions."
Schafer added "It's not every day or every week, but a number of times cases are thrown out because police are violating the constitutional rights of suspects... it looks as if it's not isolated, but systemic. Do we train police properly? Do they understand the implications to the justice system if they violate rights? To deprive someone of their liberty for almost two years when there is no evidence -- that's scandalous. What an abuse of process."
7. Waterloo Regional Police Budget Increase Approved By Police Board
And locally for Waterloo region, the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board has approved the 3.65% increase proposed in the 2015 police budget. That amounts to about 11$ more per household per year for the police, who already appropriate more than 50% of the regional budget.
Economics whiz, and police chief Larkin are benefitting from the low oil prices expected throughout the next several years as Saudi imports increase, and he managed to bring in his budget request so it will impact the regional tax increase .04% lower than earlier presented. Larkin will also be scrapping 14 of the 18 newly proposed civilian positions and asking for less new equipment.
The police budget climbs every year with little to no opposition from appointed or elected bodies, and for several years now, despite falling crime rates. The Grand River Media Collective will be launching fresh coverage on this swindle in the coming weeks.
Thats all for the headlines, now for some
Midway Music: KRS- One with Zack De La Rocha & Last Emperor with the 2011 tune C I A (Criminals In Action)
And we are back, you just heard KRS- One with Zack De La Rocha & Last Emperor with the 2011 tune C I A (Criminals In Action)
http://youtu.be/pxTtbSjfKro
You are listening to Waves Through Walls edition of The Daily GRRR! Today is February 6th, 2015, my name is Dan Kellar and we are now moving into the feature portion of our broadcast.
Today’s feature is writer Tasha Fierce reading an abridged version of her essay Sister Soldiers: Black Women in Protest Movementswhich will be published in the Spring 2015 Law & Order issue of Bitch magazine. The piece explores the history of black women leading civil rights movements—from the 1960s all the way to Black Lives Matter.
That was writer Tasha Fierce reading an abridged version of her essay Sister Soldiers: Black Women in Protest Movementswhich will be published in the Spring 2015 Law & Order issue of Bitch magazine.
https://soundcloud.com/bitch-media/sister-soldiers-black-women-in-protes...
This has been the The Daily GRRR! for February 6th, 2015. 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 with another one from Mumia’s African Heritage Month’s A Profile is Excellence series, here is Thousands of Black Woman
Thanks for Listening.
END OF SHOW