Wednesday, June 03, 2020

Defunding The Police Will Save Black And Indigenous Lives In Canada

If we truly want to effect change that could stop police killings of Black people, we need to have this conversation.

GRAHAM HUGHES/CANADIAN PRESS
Police push back protesters during a demonstration on May 31, 2020 calling for justice in the death of George Floyd and victims of police brutality in Montreal.
As I write, demonstrations are raging across North America in protest of continued police violence against Black people. The police killings of Black people have sparked resistance uprisings, from Whitehorse to Miami and seemingly everywhere in between.
Demonstrators are calling for justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto, who fell to her death while police were in her apartment, D’Andre Campbell in Brampton, Ont., George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and countless others who have faced anti-Black police brutality.
If we truly want to effect change that could stop police killings of Black people, we must have a conversation about defunding the police.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/DARRYL DYCK
Thousands of people gather for a peaceful demonstration in support of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet and protest against racism, injustice and police brutality, in Vancouver on May 31, 2020.
Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “What about violent crime?”
I hear you. And I want you to consider this simple fact: police do not prevent violence. What we need in the event of violent crime is a service that will effectively respond to it, stop it from happening if it is ongoing, and investigate the circumstances surrounding it.
This is a conversation about safety, and the mechanism through which we as a society will provide safety for one another. 
Policing is ill-equipped to suit these needs.
When victims are not the right kinds of victims, police have utterly failed. When the queer community in Toronto told police there was a serial killer targeting racialized queer men in the Church Street village, the police openly denied there was a serial killer and did not take the threat seriously. This allowed serial killer Bruce MacArthur to get away with murdering at least eight men over at least seven years.
In British Columbia, police failed to apprehend serial killer Robert Pickton for over 20 years,  and this failure meant that Pickton was able to murder 49 women. The majority of these women were Indigenous, and police routinely refuse to take the disappearance of Indigenous women seriously. When Toronto police attended to the suspicious death of Black trans woman Sumaya Dalmar in 2015, they closed the investigation without ruling it a homicide or releasing a cause of death after social media outcry.
Defunding the police can free up funding that we can reinvest in services that provide real safety.
Black communities interact with police regularly because we live in neighbourhoods police target. We are experts in the ways that police can brutalize and inflict violence upon us. Their presence is no assurance of safety in Black communities. This is often true for Indigenous communities and communities living in poverty as well.
There are other communities who do not interact with police regularly. Wealthier, non-Black, non-Indigenous, privileged communities tend to feel safe because they have a rarely used option to call the police when they feel their safety is threatened. But, they are generally not interacting with police; their communities are not policed in the same way, and they are not targeted for criminalization.

Alternatives to policing

Instead of relying on police, we could rely on well-trained social workers, sociologists, forensic scientists, doctors, researchers and other well-trained individuals to fulfill our needs when violent crimes take place. In the event that intervention is required while a violent crime is ongoing, a service that provides expert specialized rapid response does not need to be connected to an institution of policing that fails in every other respect. Such a specific tactical service does not require the billions of dollars we waste in ineffective policing from year to year.
Defunding the police can free up funding that we can reinvest in services that provide real safety for both kinds of communities. The communities that are constantly exposed to police violence should not be deprived of effective safety and security services simply because more privileged communities feel safer when calling the police is an option.
We can rethink the way that we create safety in our communities by creating alternative services that truly create safety and security for everyone. Black Lives Matter - Toronto has been advocating for this since our inception, alongside our global counterparts and other Black justice organizations.
Right now, the only emergency option available for most people who are experiencing mental distress is to call 911. Both D’Andre Campbell and Regis Korchinski-Paquet died while the police were attending to calls about their mental distress.
Couldn’t we create a new emergency service that connects us with unarmed, mental health emergency service workers specifically trained to provide the health and social care required in crisis situations? It’s happening already, with front-line programs active and working in conjunction with police in parts of the U.K. and in states such as Oregon, where the CAHOOTS program has been active since 1989.  
STEVE RUSSELL VIA GETTY IMAGES
Activists and protesters rally in front of Toronto police headquarters on May 30, 2020 after the death of 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet.
We can also decriminalize activities that are currently against the law, and reinvest the money we save on unnecessary policing and put it into programs supporting the security of communities who need it. The decriminalization of cannabis and our response to the opioid crisis show how a public-health approach to drug use is more effective than policing to support people who need help.
As another example, some public transportation systems use police to ensure that each passenger pays their fare. If we defund the police, we could reinvest our savings to help make public transit free. Fare evasion could no longer be a crime, and the policing of passengers would be unnecessary.
The minor services police provide — adherence to bylaw infractions, traffic services, attending to noise complaints — can be enforced by civilian services. In Ontario in 2015, Marc Ekamba-Boekwa was shot at 19 times and killed by Peel police after a noise complaint was made in his Mississauga, Ont. public-housing complex. Do we really need police attending to noise complaints with lethal force?
The very purpose of the police has always been antithetical to the safety of Black and Indigenous people.
In several large cities across Canada, policing accounts for some of the largest municipal budget expenditures. Let’s defund the police and create budgets that truly reflect our priorities. Perhaps then we could fund guaranteed access to housing, increased adult support for children in schools, and other services that create true safety and security.
Each year, police budgets generally increase. But rather than increased safety, all we see is increased militarization and criminalization. Police have been caught infringing on our privacy rights by implementing surveillance techniques that can access our smartphones. They have used the funding they receive to purchase stealth emergency vehicles, and to purchase increasingly militarized devices to harm civilians, including assault-style weaponry and sound cannons in the case of the Toronto Police Service.
Why do we need these services? The police have utterly failed to deliver on their evergreen promise to create safety by being “tough on crime.”
But they have continued their original purpose of harming us. The institution of modern policing was created in France as a mechanism to protect the property of wealthy men — including enslaved people. The police acted as slave catchers to kidnap Black people who had liberated themselves from slaveowners.
In Canada, this mandate was expanded when the RCMP was created in 1873 to “free up land” of Indigenous people to make way for white settlement. 
Anger Over Edmonton Eskimos' Name Reignites After Black Lives Matter Posts

The team has long been criticized over its insensitive name.

AS A LONG TIME FAN, I AGREE, MAYBE CALL YOURSELVES GREEN N GOLD AFTER ALL YOU ORIGINATED OUT OF THE U OF A

AND BESIDES OTTAWA IS A FLANNEL TEAM CALLED THE RED BLACKS.

FINALLY THIS SHOULD NOT BE TOO HARD TO UNDERSTAND SINCE THE EE, ANOTHER POSSIBLE NAME, HIRED THE FIRST BLACK QUARTERBACK TO PLAY PRO FOOTBALL, WARREN MOON, WHOM THE RACIST NFL REJECTED.

By Al Donato 06/03/2020 HUFF POST

THE CANADIAN PRESS Quarterback Trevor Harris, seen here at a 2019 game with the Hamilton Tiger Cats, is part of the Edmonton-based Canadian Football League (CFL) team that's been long-criticized over its insensitive name.


Edmonton’s professional football team is getting ridiculed for claiming to support Black Lives Matter, while still going by a name offensive to Inuit people.

The CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos are among many sports teams who lit up their social media accounts with statements of solidarity with Black communities protesting police brutality. But they’re also among the same teams with names based on Indigenous stereotypes, bringing criticism of poor allyship.

“We seek to understand what it must feel like to live in fear going birding, jogging, or even relaxing in the comfort of your home,” the first statement from the Edmonton team starts, referencing recent examples of Black Americans being intimidated or murdered, while going about their daily lives. It concludes with an expression of solidarity: “We stand with those who are outraged, who are hurt and who hope for a better tomorrow.”

The post was followed by a black square and the hashtag ”#blackouttuesday,” a well-intentioned campaign to support Black musicians that’s been criticized for taking space away from useful resources.

Anger over the statement was swift and reignited years-long calls for a name change, with Canadian singer and actor Jann Arden joining the fray.

Change your name. That’s a start. I made a terrible mistake a few years ago- using this derogatory word in what I thought was a harmless, non offinsive way- I WAS WRONG. Be better. https://t.co/1Om2RqSXBQ— jann arden (@jannarden) June 1, 2020

Wow the audacity to put out a statement like this. Change your name!!!!! #edmontoneskimos https://t.co/62P8K4aLYh— Nadine Pinto (@nadine_pinto) June 1, 2020

The hypocrisy would be hilarious if it wasn’t so harmful and dangerous. Change your name. There is no excuse.— mood-eye maddy 👀 (@abermaddy) May 31, 2020

Change your name. The name undervalues people. People feel used. People feel persecuted. People relive it on social media like this post.

Your very name does this every. single. day.— Andrea K (@andreabridgeway) June 1, 2020

Indigenous notables added nuance to the conversation, including Nunavut NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq and Inuk singer Tanya Tagaq.

The injustices for individuals that are racialized is horrible. I stand with our black friends across the boarder. If you really “seek to understand” start by changing your team name. Stop feeding into stereotypes and offensive names. We are NOT a mascot. - Nunavut’s Inuk MP— Mumilaaq (@MumilaaqQaqqaq) June 1, 2020

In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had weighed in on this longstanding issue at a press conference, when he said that talks about a name change were needed on a local level.

“This is a discussion and a reflection that the city of Edmonton certainly needs to undertake,” he said. “Reconciliation is not just about Indigenous people and the government. It’s about all of us as Canadians, non-Indigenous as well.”

The Edmonton team decided not to change their name earlier this year after consulting Inuit leaders, the Toronto Star reported. But, as a Nunatsiaq News op-ed by Inuk politician Natan Obed highlighted, the lack of consensus within communities doesn’t erase the hurt felt by Inuit people who see the name as derogatory.

THEY ARE A COMMUNITY OWNED TEAM BUT THE FANS AND COMMUNITY WERE NOT CONSULTED, THE FAMILY COMPACT THAT RUNS THE ESKIMOS ORG

Other sports teams that use Indigenous caricatures have faced similar backlash this week. U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lambasted the Washington NFL team for their attempt at racial sensitivity.



Want to really stand for racial justice? Change your name. https://t.co/XTlIJrfNx4— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 2, 2020


Posts by the baseball teams in Atlanta, Cleveland and Kansas City have resulted in similar feedback, during this time of turmoil over anti-Black injustice.



The Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Edmonton Eskimos, Chicago Blackhawks, and Kansas City Chiefs can all fuck right off with their performative blackouts unless they're going to change their names and racist imagery. #BlackOutTuesday— جيل تيلي (@jilly_tilley) June 3, 2020

Black Organizations And Anti-Racist Groups Canadians Can Support Now
How you can help fight anti-Black racism and police brutality here in Canada too.

By
Melanie Woods
06/01/2020   HUFFPOST

GRAHAM HUGHES/THE CANADIAN PRESS
People hold up signs during a demonstration where they called for justice for George Floyd and all victims of police brutality in Montreal on May 31, 2020.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, demonstrations have taken place around the world in response to police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism in the United States.

This weekend saw a wave of police brutality in response to protests and demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, suffocating him, according to an independent autopsy report. Floyd’s death follows a slew of cases of Black people killed by police, including Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and also of Ahmaud Arbery, where one of the white men charged is a former police officer.

For Canadians, it can often feel overwhelming to watch what’s happening in the U.S. from afar. But anti-Black police violence and discrimination happens here too.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs compiled police data in the province from 2008 to 2017 and found that, despite First Nations people making up two per cent of the population, they accounted for 15 per cent of police stops. And while Black people make up just one per cent of the population in the province, they accounted for five per cent of police stops.

Black people made up only 8.8 per cent of Toronto’s population in 2016, a 2018 report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission found they were involved in seven out of 10 cases of fatal shootings by police between 2013 and 2017.

Last week, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a Black woman, died under mysterious circumstances; police were in her Toronto home when she fell to her death from the balcony of her 24th floor apartment. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which examines death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault involving police, is investigating the case.



HUFFPOST CANADA

There are specific organizations or resources Canadians can engage with closer to home. Because Canada has a racism and police brutality problem too, whether we’re good at acknowledging it or not.

Black Lives Matter regional chapters

Black Lives Matter was originally created in the U.S. by Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza as a call to action for Black people after the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. It’s grown into an international movement, with chapters around the world working to oppose anti-Black racism and police brutality in their local communities.
Here are links to some regional chapters of Black Lives Matter across Canada. If you’re interested in contributing money, many chapters accept donations, while others are looking for volunteers or support in other ways.

Black Lives Matter Toronto: Canada’s largest BLM chapter. In their own words, they aim “to forge critical connections and to work in solidarity with black communities, black-centric networks, solidarity movements, and allies in order to to dismantle all forms of state-sanctioned oppression, violence, and brutality committed against African, Caribbean, and Black cis, queer, trans, and disabled populations in Toronto.”

Black Lives Matter Vancouver: The Vancouver chapter of BLM, that works “to draw attention to our largely invisibilized communities, celebrate people of colour and work in solidarity with other Black Lives Matter chapters across North America.”

BLM Vancouver did not organize Vancouver’s protest Sunday night, which saw over 3,500 people come out. However, they gave their blessing alongside information to keep it safe for everyone.
Video Shows Man Struck To The Ground By RCMP Vehicle In Nunavut
WHITE COPS ARE RACISTS, EVERYWHERE
An officer involved is being removed from the community, police say.


The Canadian Press  06/03/2020 

VIDEO AT END

CAPE DORSET, Nunavut — Nunavut RCMP say a Mountie is under investigation after a video surfaced that appears to show an officer knocking over a man with the open door of a police pickup truck.

Police say Chief Supt. Amanda Jones, commanding officer of V Division, became aware of the video after it was posted on social media.

The video from Monday night shows a police vehicle slowly approaching a man staggering across a street. The man is hit by the driver’s open door before the driver and three other Mounties struggle with him on the ground.

Police say after watching the video that was shot by a member of the community, Jones ordered an independent external statutory investigation and an internal investigation into the actions of the officer. 

APTN NEWS/YOUTUBEA screenshot from a video posted on YouTube shows a Nunavut RCMP vehicle slowly approaching a man before he is struck by a door.


RCMP say it raises concerns about how the Mountie from the Kinngait detachment, formerly known as Cape Dorset, made the arrest.

Police say the officer is to be removed from the community located on the southern tip of Baffin Island during the investigation.

“The RCMP takes the conduct of our officers seriously and want to assure the public we have confidence in the process of the external investigation to determine the circumstances of the event and whether criminal charges should be sworn against the officer,” Cpl. Jamie Savikataaq, an RCMP spokesman, said in a release Tuesday.

“As the matter is now subject of an external criminal investigation and an internal conduct investigation, we cannot comment any further at this time.”
Trudeau, Scheer, Singh Condemn Anti-Black Racism As U.S. Protests Rage

THE ONLY ONE WITH ANY CREDIBILITY IS MR. SINGH

The police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has sparked outrage around the world.


By Ryan Maloney
POLITICS
06/01/2020

CPConservative Leader Andrew Scheer, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh are shown in a composite of images from The Canadian Press.

Canadian political leaders showed a united front Monday by speaking out against the scourge of anti-Black racism, while reminding Canadians that it is not just an issue for Americans to confront.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh all spoke to reporters about the protests that have erupted in the United States, Canada, and Europe after last week’s police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in Minneapolis.

Bystander video showed Floyd pinned to the ground with a white officer’s knee on his neck for eight minutes. Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Three other officers, who were present during the incident but did not intervene, have also been fired from the police department.

Demonstrations in many major U.S. cities turned violent over the weekend, with concerns raised about aggressive police tactics, including firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on protesters and journalists alike.

In Montreal, 11 people were arrested after a rally against anti-Black racism Sunday when some protesters lit fires, smashed windows, and clashed with police. A day earlier, thousands took to the streets for a peaceful protest in Toronto against anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. They also demanded answers in the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a Black woman who fell from an apartment balcony in the presence of Toronto police officers last week.

At his daily briefing outside his Ottawa residence, Trudeau said Monday that “as a country, we can’t pretend racism doesn’t exist here.” Anti-Black racism, systemic discrimination, and unconscious bias are all real aspects of Canadian life, he said.
PM asked about his blackface incidents

Trudeau said the thousands of Canadians who joined peaceful protests and denounced those who would try to “derail” the demonstrations sent a clear message they will not tolerate injustice.

“To young Black Canadians, I hear you when you say you are anxious and angry, when you say that this brings back painful experiences of racism that you’ve faced. I want you to know that I’m listening and that your government will always stand with you,” Trudeau said. “Together we will keep taking meaningful action to fight racism and discrimination, in every form.”

The “status quo” of people facing violence because of their skin colour is unacceptable, he said, and no parent should have to explain to their children that they could face racism. “It is time — it is past time — for this to change,” he said, echoing similar sentiments he expressed Friday.

The prime minister was also pressed on his own incidents of racism, most notably his past use of brownface and blackface that surfaced during the fall federal election campaign. Asked if he felt his past use of racist makeup diminished his moral leadership on the issue, Trudeau said everyone has a role to play.

“We’ve all seen things in our lives or done things in our lives that we need to learn from and do significantly better from. I have spoken many times about how deeply I regret my actions that hurt many, many people,” he said.

“But at the same time, we need to focus on doing better every single day, regardless of what we did or haven’t done in our past.”

The prime minister also said he would continue to work with the provinces on a strategy for the collection of race-based data on how the COVID-19 pandemic is specifically affecting racialized communities.

Stockwell Day Steps Down From Jobs After Asinine Comments On Racism
He equated racism to his experience of being called “four-eyes” at school

By Zi-Ann Lum

LEIGH VOGEL VIA GETTY IMAGESStockwell Day speaks on stage during a high-level Summit on the Americas on May 12, 2016 in Miami. 


THERE IS NO TRUTH TO THE RUMOUR THAT HE IS KENNEY'S OLDER SMARTER BROTHER BY A DIFFERENT MOTHER 


OTTAWA — Former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day has been fired from two jobs a day after making baseless comments about racism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockwell_Day

Day, who was also a cabinet minister in former-prime minister Stephen Harper’s government, denied the existence of systemic racism in Canada during a panel discussion on CBC News’ Power & Politics Tuesday. In the wake of anti-police brutality and anti-Black racism protests, the former politician took issue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement that systemic racism and discrimination exists in Canada.

“Yes there’s a few idiot racists hanging around, but Canada is not a racist country... our system, which always needs to be improved, is not systemically racist,” he said to host Vassy Kapelos, before equating the experience of racism to being teased for wearing glasses at school.

“Should I have gone through school and be mocked because I had glasses and was called four-eyes?” Day asked before trumpeting Canadian diversity being celebrated around the world.

Protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism have been organized around the world after George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed in Minneapolis when a white officer kneeled on his neck during an arrest last week. Days later, Toronto’s Regis Korchinski-Paquet fell to her death from an apartment balcony after six police officers were called to her home and Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating. The incident has also played a role in Canadian anti-racism protests in the last week.
Day apologized Wednesday for making “insensitive and hurtful” comments.

By feedback from many in the Black and other communities I realize my comments in debate on Power and Politics were insensitive and hurtful.I ask forgiveness for wrongly equating my experiences to theirs.I commit to them my unending efforts to fight racism in all its forms.

— (((Stockwell Day))) (@Stockwell_Day) June 3, 2020


Law firm McMillan LLP announced a short time later that Day will no longer serve as a strategic advisor. It cited Day’s comments made “during a televised interview” to be counter to its values.

“We believe that systemic racism is real and that it can only be addressed when each of us – as individuals and organizations – commits to meaningful change,” read a Wednesday statement by McMillan LLP partner and CEO Teresa Dufort.

Telus also issued a statement Wednesday that the company’s board of directors accepted Day’s resignation, saying the views the former politician expressed on television “are not reflective of the values and beliefs of our organization.”
Despite evidence, political leaders deny existence of systemic racism

Decades of work has gone into studying systemic racism in Canada, how practices and policies entrenched in our legal, economic, and social systems work to exclude or promote members of a particular group.

It’s well-documented in the Canadian criminal justice system, which has resulted in, among other issues, an overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system, among other issues.

Toronto journalist and activist Desmond Cole has been advocating for years to end racial-profiling by police. Muslim community activists have long criticized Canada’s national security apparatus for to promote the racially profiling of Muslims and Arabs.

Day hasn’t been the only influential voice to deny that systemic racism exists in Canada.

Earlier this week, Quebec Premier François Legault denied that systemic racism exists in the province before committing his government to drafting a plan to fight racism and discrimination. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet made similar comments in Ottawa.  WELL OF COURSE THEY ARE NATIONALISTS AND ALL NATIONALISTS ARE CHAUVINISTS, HE CHAUVIN WAS FRENCH OF COURSE

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also passed on an opportunity to recognize systemic racism in his province, although he has since walked that back.

Telus director Stockwell Day steps down after likening racism to childhood bullying


(Reuters) - Canadian telecom firm Telus Corp said director Stockwell Day had stepped down from its board a day after the former cabinet minister compared enduring racism to his experience of being teased in school for wearing glasses.


Day, who is white, made the comments during a TV panel discussion about protests in the United States over the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody.

“Should we all be more sensitive about hurting or insulting people whether it’s racist or not?” Day said on CBC News’ Power & Play on Tuesday. “Should I have gone through school and been mocked because I had glasses and been called four eyes because of the occupation of my parents? No, of course not.”


NOTE ITS IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION, A COMMON RIGHT WING TRICK, RATHER THAN A DEFINITIVE SHOULD'NT WE OR SHOULD WE NOT ALL

I WORE GLASSES, I WAS BULLIED VERBALLY AND PHYSICALLY UNTIL HIGH SCHOOL SORRY NOT THE SAME EXPERIENCE AT ALL JACKASS WHICH PROVES YOU DID NOT WEAR GLASSES
Telus said the views expressed by Day were not reflective of its values, adding his resignation was effective immediately. Day also resigned as a strategic adviser to a large Canadian law firm which, in a statement, disputed his remarks that systemic racism did not exist in Canada.

On Twitter, Day, a former Conservative public safety minister, apologized to the black community for his comments. About 3.5% of Canada’s population identify as black, according to the 2016 census.


HE WAS ALSO A MINISTER IN THE KLEIN ALBERTA GOVERNMENT WEARING MANY HATS 

“I ask forgiveness for wrongly equating my experiences to theirs. I commit to them my unending efforts to fight racism in all its forms.”


NOT JUST THE BLACK COMMUNITY BUT ALSO THE FIRST NATIONS, ASIAN, 
AND OTHER MINORITIES OF COLOUR AND NO YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF FORGIVENESS SINCE YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE SAYING 

Day could not immediately be reached for comment.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that Canadians were observing the events unfolding in the United States “with horror” and also spoke about the need to fight racism in Canada.


Stockwell Day resigns from Telus board, law firm after racism ...
4 hours ago - Stockwell Day steps down from Telus board and law firm after remarks on racism in Canada. Author of the article: Nick Eagland. Publishing date:.


4 hours ago - Former Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day has stepped down from his role as a commentator on CBC News Network's Power ...



Post-political career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockwell_Day

After retiring from politics Day started a government relations firm, called Stockwell Day Connex.[41] On June 14, 2011, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada appointed Day as a Distinguished Fellow and he remained in this role until 2016.[42] Day also currently holds a position on the board of directors the Canada China Business Council.[43] He also previously sat on the boards of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs[44] and the Canada-India Business Council.[45]

Day was a member of the board of directors of Telus and a senior strategic advisor to Canadian law firm McMillan LLP from 2011 to June 2020, when he resigned from both positions after comments he made on CBC News Network's Power & Politics amidst the George Floyd protests[46][47][48] Day had said that systemic racism did not exist in Canada and compared his experience of being bullied as a child for wearing glasses to enduring anti-Black racism. Day apologized for his comments the next day.[49]

MORE FACEBOOK PROTESTERS
Early Facebook staffers denounce Zuckerberg stance on Trump posts


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nearly three dozen former employees from Facebook’s early days on Wednesday blasted Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s decision not to act against incendiary posts by U.S. President Donald Trump as “cowardly” and a “betrayal” of company ideals.



The open letter, initially reported by the New York Times, deepened a crisis facing Facebook’s leadership team, who had to defend their decision at a tense all-hands meeting the day prior following an employee walkout over the issue.

Criticism of Zuckerberg’s hands-off approach to speech by political leaders crescendoed last week, after rival social network Twitter began putting warning labels on several Trump tweets that the platform said contained misleading information and glorified violence.

Snapchat likewise took a hard line, booting Trump’s account on Wednesday from a curated “discover” section of its app which promotes fresh content. It said it would not amplify voices inciting “racist violence.”


Facebook, which left the same posts untouched, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

The former employees, including a staffer who opened Facebook’s office in Washington, implored Zuckerberg to implement checks on speech by political leaders as it does for other users, including fact-checks and labels on harmful posts.

“The company we joined valued giving individuals a voice as loud as their government’s — protecting the powerless rather than the powerful,” they wrote.

Facebook’s current approach, they said, “is not a noble stand for freedom. It is incoherent, and worse, it is cowardly.”


The group warned that Trump’s post on Friday, which used the racially charged phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in reference to protests over the police killing of a black man in Minnesota, could incite violence.

“In an age of live-streamed shootings, Facebook should know the danger of this better than most,” they said.

Read the letter to Facebook's leadership team here: here