Billets en vedette

In March, You Pitch! Write for The Dominion this month!

arij — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 13:48:23 +0000

Dear Contributors,

It seems that every February comes with the feeling that the old guard is crumbling and new energy is lurching. Fires are lit and the grassroots transmits.

We need you to keep uncovering the stories! Pitch for the May/June 2014 issue ofThe Dominion.

Talk to us about environmental regulations, systemic racism, surveillance and harrassment, safer spaces or migrant justice actions! Whatever the issue, we want to hear about it from you.

We can pay for two news stories at $100 a piece this time around.

If you're interested in writing for us, you can submit your pitch online here. We accept several articles every month; two of which we'll pay $100 for. We also offer in-kind payments like subscriptions and online advertising. Accepted articles will be published at mediacoop.ca, and most will also be featured in The Dominion, our bi-monthly print magazine.

We accept stories of national interest, including those about Canada’s role in international affairs. If it's an international story, tell us what the Canadian angle will be. If the story focuses on a particular city or region of Canada, tell us why it's of interest to a national audience. Priority will be given to articles that are evergreen and will be of long-term interest and value to our readers. Bear in mind pieces go through several weeks of editing before publication.

Pitches are welcome from anyone, with priority for payment going to our contributor members (those who have previously contributed to The Dominion or the co-op. Contact us for more info about membership).

Please read over past content to get an idea of what we publish. It’s also a good idea to make sure you’re not covering a topic we’ve recently covered, unless there is a new angle or update. Consider what other media has covered the topic you are pitching and from what perspective. Be sure your pitch is news-focused, rather than opinion or academic. We like both of those forms, but they’re not what we publish. Think about your sources and interviewees—this is something we consider seriously when reviewing pitches.

We have a fairly extensive editorial process, with two editors assigned to each piece, plus fact-checking and copy editing. Please only pitch to us if you are open and available to work with us through this process.

We prioritize pitches that incorporate reader suggestions, which can be found here.

Deadline for pitches: March 3 at midnight
Response to pitches by: March 5
First drafts due: March 15
Final copy due: March 31

How to pitch:

▪ Set up a Media Co-op account (if you don’t already have one) here.
▪ New to journalism? No problem. Check out our writer’s guide for more information about writing for The Dominion.
▪ Peruse the Media Co-op discussion page for story ideas.
▪ And finally, pitch!
▪ Click here for info about making a video pitch. Questions about pitching a video news clip?Contact us.

The deal:

Pitches should be less than 200 words and include your planned sources and research. An entire story submitted as a pitch will not be considered for payment. The Media Co-op currently pays a flat rate of $100 for accepted stories. Articles are either 720 or 1500 words. See the video guidelines for length of videos.

Editors reserve the right to suggest changes and edit stories (with your participation, of course!) Pitches should capture the content, tone and style of the story you plan to submit; if the content submitted differs significantly from the pitch, editors reserve the right to withhold payment. We accept pitches at any time, so if these deadlines don’t work for you, please consider contributing at a later date.

We look forward to your story proposals!

The Media Co-op Editorial Collective

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Defining decolonization, an interview with Gord Hill

Média Recherche Action — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 14:16:11 +0000

by Media Research Action in collaboration with CKUT on so-called «Canada day»

by Média Recherche Action in collaboration with CKUT

Gord Hill, from the Kwakwaka’wakw nation, is the editor of Warrior Publications (warriorpublications.wordpress.com) and the author of a decolonization manual, Colonization and Decolonization : A Manual for Indigenous Liberation in the 21st Century

An interview on defining what is decolonization, actual indigenous struggles working toward decolonization, an history of the idea and the process of decolonization, basis for an understanding of the indigenous liberation movement here in so-called "Canada," about the role of non-indigenous people and much more with a selected bibliography on the topic of decolonization

Breakthrough Regarding Legal Liability of Canadian Mining Corporations for Abuses Overseas

Solidarite — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:55:47 +0000

Mayans' lawsuit against HudBay over shootings and rapes at mine in Guatemala to proceed in Canadian courts

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 25, 2013) - In an important precedent-setting development for the accountability of Canadian mining companies for alleged overseas human rights abuses, victims of rape and murder at a Guatemalan mine are now able to sue a Canadian mining company in Canadian courts.

Guatemalan Mayan villagers who are suing Canadian mining company HudBay Minerals for the alleged gang-rapes of eleven women, the killing of community leader Adolfo Ich and the shooting and paralyzing of German Chub at HudBay's former mining project in Guatemala recently learned that HudBay has abruptly abandoned its legal argument that the lawsuit should not be heard in Canada, just before an Ontario court was set to determine the issue. As a result, and for the first time, a lawsuit against a Canadian mining company over alleged human rights abuses abroad will be heard in Canadian courts.

"This is a stunning victory for human rights, and paves the way for future lawsuits against Canadian mining companies" said Murray Klippenstein, lawyer for the Mayan plaintiffs. "Corporations be warned - this case clearly shows that Canadian companies can be sued in Canadian courts for alleged human rights atrocities committed at their foreign operations."

HudBay had filed extensive legal briefs arguing that the lawsuit should be heard in Guatemala, not Canada, despite overwhelming evidence indicating that Guatemala's justice system is dysfunctional, making it impossible for the victims to get justice there. According to the United Nations, Guatemala is one of "the world's most violent countries officially at peace". According to Human Rights Watch, 99.75% of violent crime in Guatemala goes unpunished due to corruption, and intimidation and attacks against judges and witnesses.

"HudBay fought Angelica, Rosa, and their co-plaintiffs tooth and nail on this issue for over a year, forcing survivors of rape to travel to Toronto to endure extensive cross-examination and forcing us to spend countless hours compiling stacks of evidence, expert reports, and witness testimony." said Murray Klippenstein. "Now the defendant's legal resistance on this key point has collapsed. Rosa, Margarita and their co-plaintiffs should be praised for the courage and determination they have shown through this difficult process."

While this development effectively removes the legal argument that the case cannot be heard in Canada, other hurdles facing the Mayan villagers in their quest for justice remain. HudBay continues to rely on antiquated corporate law concepts to argue in the Canadian court that its corporate head-office is not legally responsible for the harms caused by its wholly-owned and controlled subsidiary corporation. The lawsuits continue in Ontario courts.

For more information, see www.chocversushudbay.com.

Crime and punishment : Harper’s punitive approach

arij — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:23:58 +0000

Though the conservatives never hid their intention to get tough on crime, the punitive approach they advocate is relentlessly denounced by criminologists and jurists. It seems also likely to exacerbate the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in Canadian prisons.

Since the conservative party acquired the majority in the House of Commons, five different bills related to the criminal justice system were passed. By itself, the omnibus bill C-10 on « safe streets and communities » targets over 200 criminal provisions. Though the conservatives never hid their intention to get tough on crime, the punitive approach they advocate is relentlessly denounced by criminologists and jurists. It seems also likely to exacerbate the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in Canadian prisons.

In June 2011, during his speech from the Throne opening the new parliamentary session, Prime Minister Stephen Harper assured Canadians that his government will « move quickly to reintroduce comprehensive law-and-order legislation.» Indeed, the crime bills previously introduced by the conservatives almost all died, with each one stumbling on the majority’s opposition.

In their political platform, the conservatives deplore that their « reforms » have been obstructed « for the sake of an out-of-touch ideology that makes apologies for criminals.» Once in the majority, they reoffend : C-10 is reintroduced, and it reiterates word for word, the provisions of nine defeated bills. The law was enacted last March, only a hundred days after its initial presentation.

Minimal sentencing

For the most part, Bill C-10 lenghtens some mandatory minimum sentences already prescribed in the Criminal Code. It also creates new ones for drug-related offenses. For example, a person found guilty of cultivating more than six plants of marijuana can be sentenced to a minimum of six months in prison. One for each plant, so to speak.

By imposing the mandatory minimum sentences, the governement curtails the function of the judges at trial. According to the principles set out in the Criminal Code, the judge has to impose a sentence that is « proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of the responsibility of the offender.» After that balancing exercice, the judge can decide that incarceration is not an appropriate sentence for the offender and instead choose an alternative, like for example, a sentence to be served in the community.

Now that the law imposes mandatory minimum sentence in a correctional facility, the judge has both hands tied : there is not enough room to maneuver and adapt the proper sentence to the offense committed. The judge is forced to impose that minimum sentence, regardless of the offender’s specific situation or crime.

In its brief on Bill C-10, the Québec Bar was categorical. Written in French, the document describes the changes as « an important step-back », denounces the « unintended consequences» it may have, and deplores this « form of intrusion of the legislative power in what usually belongs to the judicial power.»

The Canadian Criminal Justice Association highlights that the severity of a sentence does not have a deterrent effect : « offenders simply do not consider the length of sentence when deciding whether or not to commit an offense. Rather, their concern lies with whether or not they will be caught and punished for the offense,» they wrote in a position paper published on their website.

A broader punitive shift

Aside from the mandatory minimum sentences, C-10 harshens the rules for conditional sentences, which allow a convicted person to serve time in the community by restricting its availability for certain offenses. The rules governing conditional releases were also hardened.

Other changes affect the actual Youth Criminal Justice Act to facilitate the detention of young offenders. This approach stands against the overall intent of a law concerned with the rehabilitation and the social reinsertion of teenagers from fourteen to seventeen years old, away from the adult criminal system. With the changes brought by C-10, teenagers charged with a crime on property, like theft, could face five years in prison.

The punitive shift can be observed all the way to the application for pardon. This procedure allows a convicted person who completed their sentence to ask for the removal of all information to their conviction in their criminal record. Before C-10, an eligible person had to wait from three to five years, depending on the nature of the crime, before applying for a pardon. Now, the waiting time is from five to ten years. Application fees were also recently increased from $150 to $631.

Overpopulated jails…

For many observers, these changes might increase prison population. Yet, they are introduced at a time where Canadian correctional facilities are overcrowded.

Correctional officers are increasingly worried by the consequences of the overpopulation on their working conditions. In a recent press release, Pierre Mallette, the National President of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers denounced the situation. « The government is locking up more inmates in fewer prisons while giving us less resources to rehabilitate them. This is a recipe for disaster,» he stressed.

In 2010, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives was already reporting the worries of correctional officers working in facilities where they aggregate all types of offenders, be they murderers or shoplifters.

… with a marginalized population

The conservatives « tough-on-crime » approach affects mostly the traditionally marginalized groups. Indeed, in Canada, indigenous women are the fastest-growing demographic in prisons.

According to the Elizabeth Fry Association, a community organisation helping women who have problems with the criminal justice system, the number of women in federal facilities increased by fifty percent in the past decade. As for indigenous women, their number increased by ninety percent during the same period according to Public Safety Canada.

Data from Native Women’s Association of Canada indicates that in 2011, Indigenous women represented less than four percent of the Canadian population, but accounted for thirty four percent of the female population in prisons—numbers gathered from the annual report of the Correctional Investigator and Statistics Canada.

The report « Marginalized : The Aboriginal Women’s experience in Federal Corrections,» made public on September 27 is just as compelling. Prepared by The Wesley Group and published by Public Safety Canada, it highlights that the « Federal Government’s "Tough on Crime Agenda" does nothing to ameliorate the disproportionate rates at which Aboriginal peoples are incarcerated—quite the opposite… the federal government’s current plan will only serve to further increase the numbers.»

In this context, it seems unlikely that the punitive strategies put in place by the conservatives in the name of law and order will result in something more positive than an exacerabation of the systemic problems of overpopulation or continued marginalization and overrepresentation of Indigenous women in Canadian prisons.

Arij Riahi is a legally-trained writer based in Montreal.

This article was originally published in French for the Journal des Alternatives and it has been translated by the author.

Activists warned that speaking to media could lead to jail

Michael Lessard — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 17:50:00 +0000

G8/G20 Toronto Community Mobilization

OPP seeks to silence alleged G20 protest ringleaders

July 29, Toronto – The OPP have warned two alleged G20 protest ringleaders, Leah Henderson and Alex Hundert, that their recent media interviews are a violation of bail conditions not to organize, participate or advise protests. On the morning of July 28, OPP officers called their sureties and threatened to re-jail them if they persist in speaking to the media. Leah and Alex were released on bail on Monday July 19, three weeks after they were arrested at gunpoint in a pre-emptive nighttime raid on their Toronto home.

“There could hardly be a clearer indication that the police are trying to silence the voices of these organizers at all costs. Alex and Leah refuse to be intimidated from speaking out about their experiences and the daily injustices perpetrated against our society’s most marginalized communities,” says Faraz Shahidi, their supporter and member of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG – Toronto).

Leah and Alex recently appeared on CBC radio, Toronto Sun, Vancouver Media Co-op, and Rabble decrying the politically-motivated nature of the charges against them and calling on all people to support Indigenous communities, poor people, precarious migrants, and communities under occupation in the face of attacks by the leaders and policies of the G20 on their lands, livelihood, and health.

“Freely expressing opinions is not illegal. These violations of the right to free speech and the freedom of the press to speak to G20 defendants have a grave impact on all of us,” said Ryan White, a lawyer with the Movement Defence Committee.

According to well-known constitutional lawyer Clayton Ruby, “The targeting of activists should be of concern to all of us. The erosion of Charter rights, the trampling of civil liberties, and the
criminalization of dissent is an attempt to destroy the foundation of our society. Everyone has an equal stake in this.”

Leah Henderson and Alex Hundert will appear in court again on Friday to defend against a Crown appeal of their bail. Dave Vasey, an anti-G20 environmental justice organizer who was arrested for breaking the illusory 5-metre rule under the Public Works Act on June 24, 2010, appeared in court on Wednesday only to find that his charges had mysteriously disappeared from all court and police records, circumstances the presiding justice of the peace called “highly unusual.”

“The mass arrests and targeting of activists raises serious issues about the criminalization of dissent as we confront deepening austerity on a global basis. These instances make visible the power of the police and governments to continue acting with impunity,” says Cynthia Wright, a York University professor.

“Our movements will not be silenced. We dare to dream of a world with freedom, justice, and equality; without tanks and prisons and borders and other oppressive institutions that steal sustenance from the world's majority,” says Rachel Avery, member of AW@L and a music student at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. “We will continue to organize against the G8 and G20 leaders and their corporate villains that pillage the earth with industrial projects and profit from war.”

- G8/G20 Toronto Community Mobilization

Original at: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/434

( nb: I simply posted this TCMC press release. I am not the author.)