Contradictions of High Expectations

October 21st, 2010 Thomasso

This post has taken me a while longer to conjure up than it would have normally in similar situations, but the lack of sleep has taken its toll on me and whenever I get the chance, I dive into bed for some high impact snoozing. So hang in there with me as I try and sort out my thoughts on this one.

The news has attracted me to two outstanding court cases that took place this week. First, the sentencing of Col. Russell Williams, for what could be said as Canada’s most horrific criminal case in modern memory as he Pleaded guilty to a total of 86 counts, two of which were first degree murder of women that he sexually assaulted and tortured to death. Secondly was the case of B.C., Rail, or the Basi-Virk trial, where corruption charges were laid and the two men pleaded guilty in Vancouver on Monday.

What is fascinating for me, as a Criminologist, is that one case was almost given total and exclusive media coverage, with the blessing of the court, mainly the Crown, while the other was done so discreetly, that no one will ever know just how far the corruption went. In comparing these two trials, I was left with an ago old question that is given to most people who study criminal law, which is, why do we treat these crime do differently? Obliviously, the punishment should fit the crime, and I think many would agree that this as being commonsense, but what if both categories of crimes are so outrageous that they should deserve the same level of treatment by all parties, such as the public’s right to know?

The Col. Russell Williams case we were hurled from the media the horrors that this man did to so many women, and the court felt that all Canadians should hear these accounts, no matter how graphic they are. Yes, everything that this man did were so outrageous that many probably could not watch, listen or read as each bloody graphic detail was spewed out through the media. The reasoning was, according to the Crown prosecution, was that this information needed to come out so that when, in twenty-five years Mr. Williams is eligible for parole, these accounts can be replayed and the court at that time will have full understanding just how vile his crimes were.

The Basi-Virk case, these two men pleaded guilty, but in their situation the court was closed in the sense that what really happened was not given to the public through the media. We will never know just how much wrong doing took place at the government level. For the government of today, they would like this to be quickly forgotten, especially with all the negative publicity so far this year. I agree with most who argue that of all the cases before the courts, this one should have had the public in mind. Sure, we could have a public enquiry, but I doubt that this will happen.

Remember that in both of these cases, millions of tax payer dollars was spent, and both cases, guilty please were given. One was semitransparent, while the other was almost blanked out.

I wish I had more time write about this.

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Typing Time Away

October 18th, 2010 Thomasso

One good thing about writing in this blog is the amount of time that it takes to crank out an entry into it. Sure, some would say that this is a bad thing, while others would argue that it is all in the perspective and context that it is taken in, but I am using it to my advantage. Right now at this very moment I need to burn a couple of hours of time, mainly to take my mind off of the course material that I have been going over repeatedly for the last three days, and also to keep myself awake until 9:00pm so I can get my promised eight hours of sleep I have been planning.  I have a midterm tomorrow, and I need every minute of sleep that I can get for better performance during the exam.

This week will be relatively mild, with just this small midterm schedule for tomorrow, and just regular lectures, but the week following will be another week of exams, with a presentation on the 27th. Presentations are weird because no two profs grade the same, yet everyone that I have seen and been apart of, all seem the same in their basic components. You have the Power Point, from which most just read from it; and then you have the well prepared introduction, list of points, and a small but eloquent closing. Everything can either be squeezed into a five minute spiel, or the presentation could go on for hours. It is different from one group to another in term of preparation and the amount of data used, but they all follow the same pattern.

The Male and Female brain is one of the most fascinating topics I recently got involved with last week. Once in a while you do find yourself immersed into a full blown discussion on or in your field of expertise. How men and women learn was the topic of this one. It was fascinating at the many different points among undergraduates. Some argue that boys, when they are developing, fall into three distinct groups of learning behaviour, where as girls, in the same age group, seen to have four or five. This is all new to me as I never read any of these research case studies they cited, so I would really have to go out and do some serious reading to catch up and be able to participate in this discussion. But I found it intriguing to say the least. Psychology is a very wide field of study, and it could take one up to six years just to graduate from it, and have enough knowledge under your belt to become an expert.

In my field, Criminology, I took some time today to follow a live twitter feed of  Colonel Russell Williams’ court appearance during his deposition hearing, where he plead guilty to all 82 counts of break and entering where he was sealing women’s underwear and taking pictures of himself in the homes of the women he stole the garments form, while wearing those garments, and two murders, and some sexual assaults. He will get automatic life in prison.

What I found profound was that his criminal spree reportedly went back roughly two and a half years before his eventual capture by police. One side effect of criminology is that we automatically try to label and categories criminals, and put them in lists for further examination. We are always looking for that magic pattern.

The benefits of the live twitter feed is that you get to read, in detail, what both the Crown and Defence are saying in almost real time, a you get perspective that you otherwise would not get unless you were actually there. I guess in court you can bring in your Blackberry and type away. I know that you cannot record the audio, or take photographs. But hey, texting is the next best thing.

Tomorrow the hearing continues.

Well, I still have some time left, so I may do some cleaning then off to bed. Talk to you all later!

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Homework and deadlines, Law, Social Justice, University classes | Comments Off

Website Proxy

September 20th, 2010 Thomasso

I have gotten a lot of questions thrown at me when I tell people that I can freely serf the net without big brother following me, knowing where I have been, and what I have looked at, but best of all, not having geographical restrictions placed on my access to the Intranet. “The net is slowly becoming corporatize,” as one of my Criminology professors put it. The more we believe it to be free, in reality it is becoming more restrictive, as we fall trapped to the various forms of controls being developed on it.

Everything from your Operating System (OS), to your Intranet Service Provider (ISP), are slowly trapping you each day as new tools are being developed to trim, tailor and subject you to where you can go, and more importantly, were you can’t go on the Internet. The culprit that does this is your Intranet Protocol address, or (IP address). This is truly a huge topic, and I will leave it up to you if you want to do more research on this.

As I was surfing around the net looking for solutions to another problem, I came across this little YouTub video that seems explain enough about the topic of Proxy Servers so the common layperson can wrap their head around this and use it practically without too much background knowledge.  Of course, using proxies is a very in-depth topic, as I personally take a slightly more technical approach where I bought IP addresses from various places around the glob so that I can access information that otherwise would not be accessible to the average Canadian. The Author of the YouTube video I am presenting here has some “Poor Man’s” options that you can try.

I tried her methods, mainly the website that she uses, and the bandwidth for streaming video was expectable, but I can see that as being problematic during certain times of the day or week.

Why use a proxy? I think the most common reason is, if your access to information has been blocked becuase of the region that you live in, you then will want an IP address that will be recognized by the source that you are wanting to gain access to. Your IP address ties you to your geographical location, so software has being developed to screen those address to prohibit access, and vice versa. Proxy ties you to another IP address that resides in any geographical location you choose. For example, Web TV. I enjoy the TV show “Lost,” while it ran, but was unable to view it on the ABC website because I am not living in the USA. So, with a click of the mouse, I now, virtually, live in the USA, and could watch “Lost” on streaming video while sitting in my home in Vancouver, BC. The YouTube clip does a very good job of showing you this.

Post Script: In the YoutTube clip, she mentions the United Nations Charter, Article Twelve, from the Universal Deceleration of Human Rights. It is a bit of a stretch becuase depending on what kind of authoritarian, or totalitarian government you have running your country, the country’s sovereignty would trump any weight that the UN Charter would give in this argument. Here is Article Twelve of the UN Charter:

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks

Though most countries have signed the Universal Deceleration of Human Rights, including Canada, many countries have been accused of violating human rights at some level, or just ignored it altogether, as enforceability by UN is somewhat lacking.

Posted in Blog and Web Tech, Criminology, General, Law, Video | Comments Off

Frustration With the Media: Sexual Violence

September 19th, 2010 Thomasso

It is one thing to be a victim of the violent crime, but it is another to be continuously revictimized 24/7. Only the Internet now gives us the tools to do this to a victim of a violent crime, and this now puts a huge ethical question on public vrs private values on the chopping block.

EDITED, Sept 20, 2010:

I was part of a really good discussion yesterday with a couple of old buddies from the University. We talked about the sixteen year-old woman from Pitt Meadows, BC who was gang-rape, and asked why some of those images of the criminal act were posted on face-book by one of the perpetrators who participated in the rape. During the discussion, we came to the conclusion that the media must take some of the responsibility for the sudden viral distribution of the images as we concluded that “if it were not for the 64 news bites by CBC Radio on September 17, 2010, alone, the further victimization of the young girl would have been minimal.” One of the members of the group discussion, a forensic computer scientist, stated that “following up on Google’s Search Engine patterns,” he said, “there was a significant increase in Intranet traffic of people searching for those images.”

And just to reiterate: it is a criminal offence in Canada to download, possess and redistribute, any images of people under the ages of eighteen that is in a sexual manner. This is called child pornography.

Another member from the group, a Sociologist, concluded that the media should be held countable for their part in the further victimization of the young woman, and he cited CTV and the CBC, and their affiliated radio stations as some of the most damaging for content. “The spectrum of the quality of the news that ran on this story was varied.” He pointed out that this was purely based on sensationalism, as the RCMP gave out little information, and the inferences made by the media were “troublesome,” in his opinion.  He recommended that the parents of the victim may want to consider launching lawsuits for damages as the conduct of the various media outlets crossed ethical lines. Of course, that is up to the parents, as further legal fights just add to the further victimization of the you girl.

Freedom of the Internet also means “being controlled” at the same time. Consider the lack of power that law enforcement agencies have with regards to the Intranet. Once those images were posted, they are there for life, and then continue to spread like a virus. Once the network has taken those images after they have being uploaded, the RCMP cannot guarantee that they can expunged them from the public view. As we have seen in the past, even countries with totalitarian governments cannot control the Intranet. It is up to the public, those who add to the organic organism we call the “Net,” to exercise self control. Self policing is truly the only way we have of stopping the victimisation of this person.

ADDED Sept 20, 2010: Sadly this post has gotten some extremely negative feedback from one reader who obviously did not take the time to thoroughly read it. If you are wondering why I did not post your comments, it is becuase you need to present a better, more thoughtful constructed argument, rather than the seven words of profanities you gave me today. I encourage you to take the time and try again, and maybe people will listen to your ideas. I have underlined the area from which you failed to understand that answers your query from your first comment.

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Is It Time to Revamp the Vancouver Police Department?

July 25th, 2010 Thomasso

Lets start off with a woman named Sandy. When we talked about this after class on back Thursday, which was fittingly a class about human rights, I was applauded, shocked and embarrassed from both watching and hearing the news about the women in the Vancouver Downtown East Side who was pushed to the ground by a Vancouver Police Officer because she walked into him. The embarrassment escalated when it was discovered that the women has cerebral palsy, and because of this she has difficulty walking at the best of times.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties (BCCL) are an organization of lawyers who volunteer their time that fight for the rights of those who otherwise could not, or challenges our legal and moral values that have being corrupted and that treat people unfairly. They released the video from a street cam that takes video for the purposes of surveillance along Hastings Street where there is no doubt a high concentration of the poor and homeless, and where drug addicts and malcontents gather. Ironically, that same video is what brought justice, the public’s view as in this case, to the forefront.

The public outcry has been deafening in my circles of friends. I have not heard so much outrage about the police since the Robert Dziekanski Tasering murder at the Vancouver Airport back in October 14, 2007 by four RCMP Officers.

The impact that video has is immediate and stands on it own in the public’s mind. Unlike paper that can be censored by government, special organizations and the courts, or testimony that is based on memory that is tainted with objective spin and well rehearsed lines, video is the ultimate eye witness, even when there is no audio to accompany it. It is very difficult for the pubic to see the extenuating circumstances, and to allow legal ambiguous speak to interfere with the actors’ case who is trying to change public’s opinion as the legal system is constantly under attack by the public from all angles.

Does the moral compass of the VPD and other police forces need to be fixed? This was one of the questions that we debated back on Thursday. With the riggers of police training, one would assume that police would be more attuned to the area that they are serving. As one colleague put it, “all it takes is one bad apple…”

Here is the email I sent after class:

Things That Make Canada Questionable in its Stance on Human Rights and the treatment of the Weak and Disabled.

Last night in one of my classes we debated the aspects of what transpired from an incident that occurred along Hasting street in Vancouver, BC on about July 1st 2010. We focused on the communication by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), not what the media is saying. At present, the VPD is saying very little as it seems that the department is still reviewing the case; however, they are satisfied that the officer did apologies, but the three officers have not comment on their conduct before, during and after the incident occurred.

Have an opened mind when viewing this video. Reflect upon it, and then ask yourself these questions, what would you do if you were the police officer, and the person with the disability? How would you react? If you were a bystander, what would you do? There were Good Samaritan’s along the sidewalk, but would you look the other way, or would intervene regardless that it was police offers who started the action?

Courtesy of CBC NEWS

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/22/bc-civil-liberties-police-push-ms-woman-video.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/22/bc-woman-shoved-sandy-police-downtown-eastside.html

Just blowing off of some steam when I see imbalances in power and misuses of authority.

Please go to these links:

CBC New Website -

“Police Shoving Woman On Video Raises Questions.”

“Woman Shoved By Police Says, ‘He Has No Right.‘”

You can watch the video for yourself, and you be the judge, “was it provoked, or a bad move on the officer’s part?”

Sincerly

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Human Rights Maybe Low on the Priority of Some

May 29th, 2010 Thomasso

OK, a little back grounder on for my thoughts on human rights, and why we wave the banner around but no one does anything about it. I am taking this course, as part of my degree in Criminology, and it deals specificity with all subject matter under the umbrella of human rights. We will cover, once the course is completed, everything from domestic and local issues, all the way up to international and global issues that concerns us today, and from the past. The mesh of political views, to cultural dynamics, are the themes that are a constant so far in this course. But this course is more than covering current events, and history texts, it is all about the ideas and solutions that could change the world in the near future.

War is a nasty business, right? When we talk about human rights, it is usually in the shadow of war. Ware is when man kind is at its worse. War teaches that all rules can be thrown out, or ignored, and these times of conflict bring the opportunity of creating exceptions to the rules of human rights, circumventing them in order to wreck complete havoc towards the enemy. However, when the conflict is over, and the wounds begin to heal, the world cries out for accountability, so the Untied National was born, and later on, the World Criminal Court. Venues that try to convict those people who started these terrible things that they did during those conflicts, and hold them to accountability. But the system is weak and, yes, it is very politely motivated.

Sovereignty (hey, I got the “g” in the right spot) is the key issue when thinking globally.  Would we ever consider the UN police marching down the streets of Washington D.C., poised to arrest President George W. Bush for possible war crimes? No way because the U.S. Would not tolerate it, and they have the means of making sure they are in total control of their sovereignty, not the U.N.. It is not the U.N.’s place to do this anyway. But for a class debate, this makes for some very interesting lectures. What right does a nation have for sending in it’s “special” forces to capture and detain a suspect of war crimes inside another country? I can write about this for hours…

In my class, there is a great mix of students from just about every walk of life from around the glob. We have students from just about all of the major organized religions, and about five students who are from the Middle Eastern areas, including Israel. Last week’s class lecture was the best yet. Although the principles of human rights seems obvious, the world that we live in is far to complicated to have every nation adopt in its laws these basic tenants. However, having such a diverse class means that the discussions are as diverse too, so when discussions start tackling issues such as international human rights laws, the brain power really start to crank up among the students.

I am look forward to next class. I think as we dive deeper into the murky world of human rights, my level of enlightenment will also increase.

Sadly, this will be my official last class of Criminology. I only have two courses after this, and they are electives. I will miss these classes after I graduate.

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So, Do You Think Canada is Learning Anything from the Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico?

May 15th, 2010 Thomasso

So, do you think Canada is learning anything from the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico? With the oil spewing into the water from British Petroleum’s doomed Deep Sea oil platform where, several workers died, is it any wonder that people in Canada should be very concerned as oil exploration is top on the list for all three coasts here. The precedence has being set–we now know first hand just how bad off shore oil operation is now, not that we didn’t know from before, but we can see it now right in front of a faces today.

There is a very good chance that the United States could be powerless getting the “full” cost settled from British Petroleum for the clean up. Like any corporation/business, the risk that they go bankrupted, challenge it court, or just refuse to pay is always there. My fear is, the U.S. government could at best meet them halfway and let the taxpayers flip the second half of the bill.

And what about Mexico? Oil must be landing on their shores too? I have heard very little from the other countries who share those waters, and this bothers me as I listen to the media, in particular the CBC, but only little snippets of news that amount to nothing.

In Canada, if such a disaster were to occur, the likelihood of the corporation responsible getting away with cleaning up is very good, and current laws work in its favour. Canada’s track record shows this quite well: look up the Great Lakes, the Love Canal 1976.

Sadly, in my opinion, Canada is ripe for such a disaster to happen on our waters, and with a federal government that is pro corporation, the law will likely get softer on businesses as they can seek exemptions and ask for environmental guild lines to be lifted in lieu of profits. In my group of friends, having cheep gasoline to put in their cars is far more important than the risk of loosing an entire ecosystem, a vital food source. Where the rubber meets the road is fore most top of any voter now-a-days, and no one wants higher taxes either, so they vote accordingly.

I have heard one “self expert” tell me face to face that oil is a perfectly nature substance and nature has a way of taking care of it. The Gulf of Mexico will be back to normal in a matter of a few years he told me. I highly doubt that, but he sure believes it. But he is also one of these people that believes the Earth is only 4300 years old too? Where did that come from? Perhaps I could sell him a bridge over the Fraser River. But this proves that some people will never understand the damage that is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. Heck, with British Petroleum using huge amounts of chemicals to disperse the oil, a blatant form of the cover-up becuase if the oil stays below the surface then it is out of sight-out of mind, and the media will have search harder to get images of huge oil slicks floating on the water along the beaches. So for my friend, seeing is believing, and if you can’t see it, then it is a conspiracy perpetrated by the government. The oil is still there.

Oh Canada.

Posted in Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

If You Drink and Drive, You Should Forget About Driving Ever Again!

February 20th, 2010 Thomasso

Last night while I was heading home from work, I was passed on the road by a rather rude driver who was just in too much of a rush that everyone on the road was in his way, so he tail-gated, honked his horn and swerved contently to get around you. Finally he passed me going towards Fort Langley on Glover Road, just pasted the 232nd Street turn-off to highway #1. I kept to my lane, gave him some extra room so he could at least have some space to make his manoeuvre before he had a head on collision with the on coming traffic, and then he was gone.

After I got home, I decided to do a little shopping. I hopped back in the truck and headed off to Walnut-Grove, where “low and behold” there was that same rude driver again, stopped by the police getting a breathalyser test. The officer has his stash of beer cans on top of his car, and I could see the look on the driver’s face as he was lead to the police car when I drove by.

I am somewhat perplexed that after all the TV commercials and anti-driving ads, that people still think it is wise to drive while having a few drinks? I mean honestly, you are endangering all the people around you when you are driving intoxicated. You are not in full control of your faculties–even though “you” think so. And with the beefed up laws that we have now, with costly fines and a possible criminal record, not to mention the loss of your driver’s license, you would wonder that people would think twice about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle and driving off after having a few belts.

I hope that the system has done its job and has taken one more inconsiderate driver off the road. If anyone wants to argue with me on this one, then I will start with by saying this is a safety issue from all aspects. Unsafe drivers need-not-drive.

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The Sue-ability Scale

February 5th, 2010 Thomasso

Lawyers, you may not want to read this, this might be a tough pill to swallow? These are my personal thoughts based on my personal experiences with Civil Court.

Justice is a weird thing. I have studied it to death and it still leaves me scratching my head wondering, asking why-and the answers become as vague as following a white car in the middle of a snowstorm. I have found that justice in Canada is only for those who are rich, or are very clever. That in most cases if you are being sued in civil court, it is better not to participate than it is to waste your time with the process of jurisprudences; and flip side to this, if you are rich, you are an easy target than compared to someone who is poor and homeless. Seriously, of the five people in my life that I have brought to the halls of justice, only one took the pledge and participated. The other four knew the system well enough not to bother, and I found it (almost) impossible to seek my claim, costs, damages and compensation. In fact, the one time that I was the respondent, it was easer to go on with my life than it was to play the game. To this day, the company that I had an agreement with is still out the initial $72.00, but they are also out on their costs too, so it pays not to bother with Canadian Justice if you have nothing to loose. Was it worth my time to show up—I’m still evaluating that?

I now know that there is a scale that the professionals follow when they go out on suing expeditions. They automatically drop anyone who has no money; who is renting; earning a low wage; has no bank account; has little or no identification, i.e., drivers license or birth certificate; uses aliases and moves around a lot. However, for the poor there is this thing called Small Claims Court, or the Pauper’s Court as it is called in my circles, but you still need to pay to use it though. When I studied Medieval legal systems of European cultures, Small Claims Court to me has a reminiscent quality of early continental European courts where the jurist is free to adjust, amend, vary and control all aspects of the hearing and decisions—although you can appeal in today’s court. One day I was helping a friend fight for his money from a debtor, and once it was our turn, the sitting judge read the Statement of Claim, then threw up his arm up with the documents in hand and said, “You expect to me rule on this? I think you should go back and talk to this person and make the effort on collecting your money before you go into my court.” Perhaps it was because we were not wearing $900.00 suites at the time? I’m still in awe to this day about that?

If you do have something to loose like a house, wages, assets, or your respondent has too, then going to court is the way to go. I have also seen the dual effects of court at play many times as the monetary and psychological costs play their toll and all parties. The trouble is, court is not a guaranteed bet. Just when you thought you had the full force of the law on your side, you are hit with a sucker-punch and your case falls like a house of cards. In one case of mine, I filed for a garnishment of wages and the respondent’s employer decided not to cooperate. The business told me that he does not work in their department any more. I found myself having to take extraordinary measures to track down who this person really worked for before I could I proceed with the action. This involved two days of driving by this guy’s work every ten minutes searching for what door he came out of. Then once I saw him walking out to go home, I went into the building and had to do some quick lurking. I asked one of the managers that I was looking for my “friend.” When I confirmed that that was the respondent’s employer, I then went to the manager’s office to serve the garnishment order. I received two out of the five payment to fulfil the debt, but then they stopped as the guy quit his job and moved elsewhere. I just recovered only my court costs in that case. Was it worth it? At least I got to play the psych-game with him.

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I Applaud the BC Court of Appeal’s decision on Insite

January 16th, 2010 Thomasso

One of the greatest contradictions of Canada’s “sheepish” war on drugs as been the connection between the cost of health to our healthcare system and the battle to regulate what the State thinks is good or bad for its citizens. The criminalization of drugs is a recent phenomenon that is just over a hundred years old, and was born out of attacking specific marginal and ethnic groups. Canada has a very deep cultural love affair with illegal narcotics, and none could be more so than with marijuana. But for whatever stance you choose in your ideology, albeit the left or right, the drug culture in Canada isn’t going to go away any time soon, and we have to deal with that.

Insite was born out of long term thinking and the concept of rehabilitation; in other words, having a safe place to be that offers hope is a better approach than by pushing it underground and letting the long term effects eat away at our society. The logic behind Insite is simple: safety and hope. The people who use the facility are addicted to drugs, and are at the bottom of the social ladder. Further criminalization is not going to “fix” them, but rather push them deeper into marginalization.

The nay-sayers seems to start off with the line, “If you prohibit drugs and the use of it, then that will fix the problem… .”

I argue that the nay-sayer, has not found the root cause of the problem, but has only made it even worse than the act of using the drugs in the first place. The nay-sayer needs to ask why that person has chosen to take the drugs in the first place. However, it is easer to criminalize something than to fix it—well, that seems to be Canada’s current model. But to become homeless and drug dependant means that that person has issues that go beyond the act of taking drugs. Then you reach a point where you have no where to go, you become vulnerable, and as a result you become more visible. From Hitler to Harper, the right-wing thinking is to invoke prohibition against specific marginal groups that do not appeal to middle and upper class standards, and to simply criminalize something that does not adhere to those standards seems to be the answer.

What insite does is to give these people the chance to use clean needles to inject themselves with in hopes of stopping the practice of sharing needles. The AIDS epidemic, and many other diseases too, has a direct correlation with this group of people with the sharing of needles, so it would make sense to offer clean needles than to deal with growing numbers of AIDS victims. Safety too is an issue with Insite because if that user needs further treatment, or decides to move towards kicking their habit, then there are people right there on site to offer that help. When the user is in the facility there are staff on hand that can promptly offer help if that person is in distress. I think it is far better than having someone injecting drugs in some back alley in the middle of Vancouver.

I totally agree with the British Columbia Court of Appeal on their decision to keep the jurisdiction of Instie with British Columbia’s authority, and thus allowing the facility to stay open without Federal interference. The Federal government should stop wasting our tax money on fighting this. Remember that the majority of Canadians did not vote for Harper!

Posted in Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Social Justice | 2 Comments »