And the Rest of It

A lot going on ...

 

When will the police open fire on crowds?:

Stubbs said police have already done "significant" work to address a potential protest in February. He said that includes intelligence gathering, speaking with other police forces including the OPP and RCMP, and procuring equipment.

"We've made significant plans already in terms of retaining infrastructure and equipment," he said. In a note to council and the mayor on Monday, Stubbs said police are planning "vehicle mitigation strategies" with tow trucks.

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RCMP prepared for a costly month-long Freedom Convoy siege in Ottawa even after cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act, records show. Internal memos indicate police booked more than a million dollars’ worth of hotel rooms and cross-Canada charter flights: “We may have urgent, last-minute requirements.”

 

 

We don't have to trade with China:

The biggest Chinese language outlet in Canada, the Sing Tao Daily, part of the Sing Tao empire (and co-owned by the Torstar Corporation), has shifted from more independent coverage of China to consistent pro-Beijing coverage, as has the main Sing Tao in Hong Kong. Journalists for Sing Tao in Canada who dare critique China are ostracized or eventually wind up being pushed out or retiring, like former Sing Tao Vancouver edition editor Victor Ho . As he and other independent-minded Canadian journalists working in Chinese have told parliamentary committees, Sing Tao is not unique — most of the other Chinese language television, online and print outlets in Canada now hew to a pro-Beijing line.

Yet despite CSIS monitoring foreign interference in Canada, the federal government still lacks the kind of tougher legislative tools available to some other democracies to examine Chinese control of parts of the Canadian media and to scrutinize and stop other Chinese influence efforts in Canada. Legislation that allowed Canada to treat media and information as a sensitive sector in which any new foreign investment should be scrutinized might change this situation. 

 

Not the tools; the will. 

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For the past five and a half years, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been using communications equipment and technology from the controversial Chinese firm Hytera Communications — a company the United States government has banned as a national security threat.

 

 

Your government at work:

Foreign fugitives have high chances of dodging deportation from Canada each year, as records show that of thousands of foreigners ordered to leave the country over the past six years, just 48 percent were actually deported.

An Inquiry of Ministry, presented to the House of Commons by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), said of the 13,287 foreigners ordered out of the country since 2016, a total of 6,322 were deported, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

The records were requested by Conservative MP Tom Kmiec, who asked in Parliament on Dec. 13, with regard to deportation orders issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or the CBSA, since Jan. 1, 2016, broken down by year: a) how many deportation orders were issued; b) how many (i) resulted in the individual being deported, (ii) have since been rescinded, (iii) are still awaiting enforcement. He also asked about the average time needed for an individual to be deported after a deportation order has been issued.

The figures for deportation in recent years, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, are as follows:

• in 2020 of 1,194 foreigners ordered deported, a total 536 left Canada (about 45 percent)
• in 2021 of 1,464 foreigners ordered deported, 453 left the country (31 percent)
• in 2022 of 1,688 foreigners ordered deported, 409 left the country (24 percent)

Auditor General Karen Hogan, in a report titled “Immigration Removals,” which referenced the House Standing Committee of Public Accounts on July 8, 2021, concluded that the CBSA did not remove the majority of individuals ordered to be deported.

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A Toronto man accused by Canada’s intelligence service of helping Iran dodge international sanctions has filed a court case against the government for not granting him citizenship.

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When Toronto police arrived at an apartment in October 2018, officers were horrified by what they discovered.

The overwhelming stench of cigarette smoke and cat feces filled the air. The floors and walls were filthy. Soiled pull-up diapers lay scattered around the residence.

Cockroaches — both live and dead — covered the floor.

And wrapped in a dirty blanket on a bare, urine-streaked futon was a 10-year-old boy in a “catatonic” state, according to a newly released report from Ontario’s Ombudsman.

After being rushed to hospital, the young boy was found to be malnourished, almost anaemic, and 15 pounds underweight for his age and height. One of his kidneys was enlarged and appeared to be infected.

A doctor credited the police intervention with saving the child’s life, the report found.

It also noted that the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto refused to take him into protective care, despite his condition and the state of the home.

When police learned CAS Toronto had no intention of apprehending the child, they did so themselves and took him to a foster home. He remains in foster care today.

The heartbreaking story of Brandon — a pseudonym used to protect the boy’s privacy — was laid out in a scathing report from Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé that revealed stunning and repeated failures by CAS Toronto.

“The standards that are in place to keep children safe when they’re receiving services … were departed from consistently,” Dubé told Global News in an interview.

 

 

You don't raise children in any sort of framework.

Now, here we are:

Eight teen girls have been charged with second-degree murder after a 59-year-old man was stabbed to death in downtown Toronto last weekend, police say.

Also - some people find grooming abhorrent:

Parents in southern Manitoba are advocating for the funding to public libraries in seven municipalities to be cut if they will not remove books written for children and youth that contain explicit sexual content from the shelves in South Central regional libraries.

Parent David Wall gave a presentation at the City of Winkler Council Meeting on Dec. 13, reading excerpts “taken from juvenile books available at local libraries.”

He said that books being labelled by libraries and media as “sex education” books are catalogued by their publishers as “sex instruction.”

Wall said, “The difference: sex education focuses on basic anatomy and the biology of sex. These books, however, are instructing our children on how to commit various sexual acts.”

Wall asked the city council to look at “cartoon style drawings” from two books, “It’s Perfectly Normal” and “Sex Is A Funny Word.”

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Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday he would for a second time refuse to sign into law proposed reforms to education which critics say would limit students' access to lessons on issues such as LGBT rights.