A guaranteed basic income could end poverty, so why isn’t it happening?

Lorne Whitehead, Professor of Physics, University of British Columbia a

Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, Psychology, University of British Columbia - 

The Conversation

On April 27, Senator Diane Bellemare published an op-ed in the Globe and Mail opposing a proposal for guaranteed basic income where all Canadian citizens and residents over the age of 17 would receive unconditional guaranteed sufficient income.

One recent poll suggests nearly 60 per cent of Canadians support a basic income of $30,000. In another poll, 57 per cent of Canadians agree that Canada should create a basic universal income for all Canadians, regardless of employment.

Despite the strong public support, Bellemare argued that, “A basic income would be an unfair, complicated, and costly way to eliminate poverty.” As a social scientist who has researched cash transfers, and an entrepreneur and organizational leader, we challenge the view that basic income is “unfair”, “complicated” and “costly.” Instead, we argue that it can be fair, simple and affordable.
Basic income can be fair

Basic income can be fair to all Canadians, accommodating people with different needs. A system that includes basic income does not necessarily entail clawing back existing benefits and services.

Importantly, a gradually phased-in, carefully designed basic income program can be monitored and adjusted over time, to ensure that diverse individual needs are always addressed.

Research from Stanford University suggests that a basic income program can inspire meaningful social integration — greater participation in social and civic activities in the community — while also providing individuals with stability, safety and security.

An analysis of Ontario’s basic income trial illustrated that people with diverse needs reported better personal relationships with friends and family with basic income. In turn, their sense of social inclusion and citizenship improved.

Basic income can be simple

With careful planning, a basic income system could be designed to be simple, adaptable, reliable and fair. In other words, it could be a type of synergistic solution that involves an optimal mix of different policy programs that yield greater efficacy. For example, a basic income program could be combined with a wage subsidy program.

Contrary to Senator Bellemare’s assertion that “basic income would likely hamper participation in the labour market,” research has found that basic income has no negative impacts on the labour market. That is, basic income has no negative impact on employment rates or wages.

With a basic income program, recipients would be motivated to participate in the labour market and feel empowered to discover the most fulfilling way to work without fearing for their financial security.

Related video: Minister says new social programs will provide cost-of-living relief to Canadians (cbc.ca)

Basic income can be affordable

Recent cost-benefit analyses have demonstrated that carefully designed cash-based interventions can be cost effective and generate net savings for society. Recipients rely less on social services over time, meaning governments pay less to fund these programs.

While Bellemare’s analysis suggests there could be a cost problem, other, more thorough analyses have taken into account the true costs and benefits of basic income programs and rebuked that claim.

We caution against overly simplistic cost estimates and call for a more careful, thorough calculation of the true costs and benefits associated with of basic income programs. In fact, Canada can adopt a basic income program without increasing its fiscal debt.

Last year, the Parliamentary Budget Office of Canada estimated that a guaranteed basic income of $17,000 per individual would cost the government $88 billion.

This amount could be offset by scaling back tax credits that disproportionately benefit Canadians who earn higher incomes. In addition, a well-designed basic income program can provide non-monetary benefits that are typically not captured in cost-benefit analyses, such as improvements in health, education, social cohesion and productivity.

Read more: Giving people money with no strings attached is good for their health, dozens of studies indicate

Research supports basic income

There is a considerable amount of research that supports basic income around the world. It is prudent to carry out significantly enhanced research to reduce hesitations on basic income on social and economic grounds. Basic income can be a reliable, powerful component of a nationwide program to reduce poverty and enable all citizens to thrive.

Basic income should form part of a practical comprehensive plan for eliminating poverty in Canada. Indeed, there is emerging political will to push for a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income.

Last summer, Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz sponsored Bill C-273, the National Strategy for a Guaranteed Basic Income Act. It was the first time a bill about basic income was debated by Parliament. And in February 2021, four senators — three from Prince Edward Island, one from Ontario — published an open letter that called for nationwide guaranteed basic income.

This is essential, because poverty is an unnecessary, cruel abomination. Think of it this way: most Canadians probably have a close friend or family member who is impacted by poverty, since one in 15 Canadians still live in poverty.

Poverty touches us all — it is everyone’s tragedy, which is absurd because poverty can be affordably reduced as we have argued above. Hopefully, one day future Canadians will look back to 2022 and ask how a just society could ever have tolerated such needless suffering.

Read more:

How to build a better Canada after COVID-19: Transform CERB into a basic annual income program

The cancellation of Ontario’s basic income project is a tragedy

CANADA

'We just don't have enough workers:' Restaurants rocked by labour shortage, inflation

When a fried chicken chain opened its first location in Atlantic Canada, it was so popular it had to cut back hours.

The Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen that opened a few weeks ago in a Halifax suburb has reduced its schedule because of high demand that left staff scrambling as customers queued up for hours.

"Due to industry-wide staffing challenges, the store is open for one less hour than before," Popeyes spokeswoman Emily Ciantra said in an email.

"The restaurant aims to be back to its regular hours by early June."

The bizarre case of a restaurant so popular it needs to close early underscores a pervasive issue facing restaurants in Canada: A labour crunch.

"The new Popeyes that opened actually had to ... cut back hours just to give their people a rest," said Gordon Stewart, executive director at the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia.

Restaurants across the country are reducing hours and condensing menus as persistent staff shortages and spiking costs threaten to derail the industry's comeback from crushing pandemic restrictions.

The decision by many restaurants to scale back operations comes despite an upswing in business as diners return to restaurants in full force.

"Customers are back. But when you don't have staff to work all the shifts, you start cutting back hours," said Stewart.

"There are very few restaurants now that are running seven days a week and full hours."

Canada's restaurant industry was slammed by two years of shutdowns, repeated layoffs and strict capacity limits. About 13,000 eateries across the country closed permanently.

The situation prompted an exodus of workers from the sector as people sought more steady incomes, switched fields or went back to school. Canada also welcomed fewer immigrants during the pandemic, newcomers that sometimes find work in the restaurant industry.

Compounding the issue now is Canada's rock-bottom unemployment rate, which Statistics Canada said hit 5.2 per cent in April.

As the lucrative patio season ramps up, the restaurant industry expects staff vacancies will rise to 210,000 across the country by this summer, said Olivier Bourbeau, vice-president of federal affairs with Restaurants Canada.

"It's extremely difficult for restaurants to find staff," he said. "We just don't have enough workers."

Job openings abound across the industry in both fast food and full-service restaurants.

But the problem is most acute in kitchens.

"Red seal chefs, sous-chefs, line cooks — that's where the shortage is really hurting restaurants," Stewart said.

During the pandemic some restaurant operators blamed government subsidies for the lack of staff, but the ongoing shortage suggests a more protracted and complex issue. Some workers in the industry have said the long hours, unstable schedules, low wages and gruelling conditions — especially in a hot, busy kitchen — are to blame.

Meanwhile, restaurants are also facing spiralling costs.

Statistics Canada reported the annual inflation rate hit 6.7 per cent in March, while food costs — a key input for restaurants — increased even more, with prices for dairy, pasta, meat and cooking oil all soaring.

"From gasoline to a steak, it’s all gone crazy," Stewart said. "Costs are up right across the board."

Some eateries are eliminating less profitable meals like breakfast or lunch, offering fewer menu items overall and closing during the slowest days of the week to cut down on waste. Others are offering smaller portion sizes, rethinking the so-called "centre of plate," typically beef, chicken or fish, or even just ordering less food at one time.

"If you don't sell something by its (expiry date) it's gone, you have to throw it out," Stewart said.

"So they're ordering less. They're watching the inventory, controlling it, watching the plate size and designing smaller tighter menus."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2022.

Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM & GENOCIDE

Journalist Connie Walker tells her family's residential school story in new podcast

TORONTO — For investigative journalist Connie Walker, going deep and getting personal is nothing new.

But with her latest project, for the first time in her 20-year career, Walker faced the difficult task of unearthing secrets and reopening long-buried wounds within her own family.

"It's nerve-racking; these are real people and their real experiences, and I always feel such a weight and a responsibility to not contribute to any harm and to be respectful of what they have gone through," says Walker, a former CBC reporter who previously helmed the podcasts “Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo” and “Stolen: The Search for Jermain."

"Those responsibilities feel even heavier when it's your father, your aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters," she adds.

For the second season of the Spotify-Gimlet podcast "Stolen," Walker, who is Cree from Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, traces the painful past at a Canadian residential school of her late father, Howard Cameron, and how it impacted his life and his relationship with her. Titled "Surviving St. Michael's," the project premieres on May 17.

The idea came to Walker after her brother told her a story she'd never heard before and says she is likely to never forget: one night in the 1970s, while working as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Cameron pulled over a drunk driver and found himself staring down a priest from his residential school days.

After beating the man to the point that he was left bloodied and crumpled on the ground, Cameron drove away.

Hearing the story "changed everything" for Walker, especially after last year's discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at a former Kamloops residential school, and propelled her to find out more.

"I think for Indigenous people, especially people like me who have been trying to shine a spotlight on the truth about residential schools, it was a relief that people were finally paying attention and that there seemed to be an acknowledgment of what Indigenous people and survivors have been saying for so long about what they endured," says Walker in an interview from her home in Toronto.

"But on the other hand, the weight felt even heavier," she adds.

Walker recalls feeling "lost" in the weeks after the Kamloops discovery, but feeling inspired when she saw family and friends then sharing their own stories of life in the residential school system on social media.

So when she heard about her father's encounter that night, Walker says, "I had this pit in my stomach, thinking, what happened to him there? What did this priest do to him?

"It was the first time I really had to confront that in a way that I never had before.

"And once it was in front of me, I couldn't just get past it, I had to go through it. I was compelled to go further and stare it in the face."

In her investigation, Walker leaves no stone unturned, hunting down St. Michael's residential school priests, and speaking with survivors, including her aunts and uncles, about what happened all those years ago — all while grappling with the generational trauma still rippling through her family.

"Learning about my dad has had to happen through the people who knew him better than I do, which were his siblings, and they all have their own experiences in residential school," she says, adding those were things "we just didn't talk about" prior to her investigation.

But her family was incredibly "open, generous and supportive," says Walker, though having them be a part of this project has involved great "anxiety, fear, sadness, heartbreak, but also so much gratitude and so much empathy and so much love."

"It has definitely helped me reconnect with that side of my family and that's something that I really cherish," she adds, noting there's a tremendous pressure in getting their story right and sharing it with the world.

All in all, however, it's made for a "healing, therapeutic" journey for the award-winning journalist, who now feels closer to her father than ever before.

Cameron had been a rare presence in Walker's young life, and when he was around, she says, he was often violent, leaving her afraid of him for years, keen to keep her distance.

But after learning of the physical and sexual abuse he experienced, she says "it finally clicked and gave me some insight into why he was the way he was when I was a kid."

After completing the investigation, Walker adds, "Now, it's a huge regret of mine that I didn't take the time to connect with him.

"I really feel like I've gotten to know him in a new way ... and what I've been able to learn about him leaves me in awe that he was able to keep going, learning, healing and prioritizing his family."

The experience has Walker eager to continue exploring her community's stories in podcast form, which she believes make space for a "deeper dive" and "greater immersion" than traditional media.

"It's the perfect way to be sharing our stories, which have been misrepresented and underrepresented for so long," says Walker.

"We are one family of thousands who share this history."

But ultimately, says Walker, "I just want to do my dad proud."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022.

Sadaf Ahsan, The Canadian Press

RACIST MURDEROUS COPS IN KANADA
Mother of Chantel Moore tells inquest about night N.B. police shot her daughter

FREDERICTON — The mother of an Indigenous woman shot by New Brunswick police in 2020 told a coroner's inquest Monday that less than two hours after she was awakened by an officer seeking her daughter's address to check on her safety, police returned with news that her daughter had been killed.


© Provided by The Canadian Press

Mother of Chantel Moore tells inquest about night N.B. police shot her daughter

Martha Martin was one of the first witnesses called Monday at the inquest into the June 4, 2020, death of her daughter, 26-year-old Chantel Moore, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in British Columbia.

Martin said Const. Jeremy Son of the Edmundston, N.B., police knocked on her door at 2:30 a.m. to say there was concern for Moore's safety. He said police had received calls from Moore's ex-boyfriend, suggesting someone might be stalking Moore and they needed to check on her.

Martin said she gave Son directions to her daughter's new apartment and he left, but at 4:19 a.m. there was another knock on her door.

"It was two police officers to give me the news my daughter had been shot," she said sobbing. "They gave me the news she had been shot and killed."

Martin said her daughter was an outgoing and loving person who had recently moved to New Brunswick from British Columbia to make a better life for herself.

"She made friends everywhere she went. She was very loving and would go the extra mile for friends and family," Martin said.

Earlier, Jonathan Brunet, a former boyfriend of Moore, told the inquiry their relationship ended in May 2020 and he was living in Quebec while Moore was in New Brunswick. "She was energetic. She always had a smile. She had a positive energy around her," he told the inquest jury via video link.

He said he got a series of text messages from Moore in the hours before her death, and at one point it appeared the messages were coming from a third person. He said it was as if the person was in Moore's apartment and was going to harm her.

Brunet said he tried to reach Moore's friends and family, but it was late at night and he got no replies, so he called police. "I didn't know if police believed me. It was a worrisome situation," he said.

Chelsea Ouellette, a friend of Moore, testified that she had drinks with Moore in the hours before her death. She said Moore was drinking beer and rum that evening and was happy and chatty but didn't seem overly intoxicated.

Ouellette said she left Moore's apartment around midnight but realized she had left her wallet behind and returned to retrieve it at around 1 a.m. She said Moore was having a video call with someone and was still on the call when she left with her wallet about five minutes later.

A jury of three women and two men was chosen Monday morning to hear testimony at the inquest, which is expected to last all week. Coroner Emily Caissy said the proceedings are not a trial and are not intended to assign blame. Instead, the jury will have the opportunity to make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future.

Police have said an intoxicated Moore was shot on the balcony outside her apartment after reportedly approaching the officer with a knife.

T.J. Burke, the lawyer for Moore's family, stated outside the inquest Monday that the Edmundston police force lacked the tools to de-escalate the situation without using deadly force, and he plans to file a lawsuit on Tuesday against the city and the officer who shot Moore.

"It sets out the negligence we believe occurred on June 4, 2020, whereby the defendants — the City of Edmundston and the police officer Jeremy Son — fell below a professional standard of care for police officers in preserving the life of Chantel Moore," he said. Burke said he hopes the lawsuit will provide financial compensation for the family and answers that will help the family heal.

The six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick issued a statement at the start of the inquest Monday.

“It is unacceptable that the family was forced to wait this long for answers to the tragic murder of a young Indigenous mother,” said Chief Ross Perley of Tobique First Nation.

The chiefs have been calling for an independent inquiry on systemic racism in the provincial justice system.

“We want to be clear that this inquest in no way replaces the need for an inquiry on systemic racism, but it is a start and will hopefully bring some closure to Chantel Moore’s family and allow them some peace of mind,” said Chief Allan Polchies Jr. of St. Mary’s First Nation. “Indigenous Peoples in New Brunswick cannot continue to be on the receiving end of injustice within the provincial justice system.”

The province called coroner's inquests into the deaths of Moore and Rodney Levi — who was fatally shot by the RCMP near Miramichi on June 12, 2020 — rather than an independent inquiry on systemic racism.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

KANADA IS THE HURON SPELLING

A MASS KILLER WEEKEND IN THE USA

California church shooting: Parishioners praised for hog-tying suspected gunman

UNARMED PARISHONERS

Churchgoers are being praised for their quick thinking after they were able to detain a shooter inside their Southern California church over the weekend, hog-tying his legs with an extension cord in what a sheriff's official called "exceptional heroism and bravery."

A man opened fire at the Grace Presbyterian Church in the city of Laguna Woods on Sunday, killing one person and wounding five others.

Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said in a press conference Sunday that officers responded to a call about a shooting at 1:26 p.m. that afternoon. The incident happened at a lunch banquet that was honouring a former pastor of the primarily Taiwanese congregation.

“We believe a group of churchgoers detained him, and hog-tied his legs with an extension cord, and confiscated at least two weapons from him,” said Hallock, as reported by NBC News. “That group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism and bravery in intervening to stop the suspect. They undoubtedly prevented additional injuries and fatalities.”

Hallock said there were between 30 and 40 people at the luncheon but did not say how many of the parishioners stepped in to halt the shooter.

In a Facebook post from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, a church administrative group, presbytery leader Tom Cramer called for prayers.

“Please keep the leadership of the Taiwanese congregation and Geneva in your prayers as they care for those traumatized by this shooting,” he wrote.

On Monday, police confirmed the suspect as David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, N.V. Chou was detained on one felony count of murder and five felony counts of attempted murder.

The five victims wounded in the gunfire include four males and one female, all senior citizens ranging in age from 66 to 92 years old.

The naming of the person killed in the attack is pending official identification and notification of next of kin.


Michelle Butterfield - 
-- With files from Global News' Irelyne Lavery

THERE WERE THREE MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE USA THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY BUCKS GAME, 

SATURDAY BUFFALO, 

SUNDAY CALIFORNIA

ITS NOT GUNS THAT KILL PEOPLE 

ITS PEOPLE WITH GUNS

PROPERTY IS THEFT; 

PRIVATE PROPERTY FETISH BASIS OF RURAL CRIME

Murder trial begins for father, son accused of fatally shooting two Métis hunters

Both men pleaded not guilty to each charge during the first day of the trial, expected to last 10 days

Author of the article:Anna Junker

EDMONTON JOURNAL
Publishing date: May 16, 2022 • 

Jacob Sansom, 39, and his uncle Maurice (Morris) Cardinal, 57, smile in a photo taken the day before they were found with gunshot wounds on Saturday, March 28, 2020, around 4 a.m. on a rural road near Glendon, northeast of Edmonton.

 PHOTO BY SUPPLIED

Video surveillance shows Anthony Bilodeau fatally shot Jacob Sansom within 26 seconds of arriving at a northern Alberta intersection, a Crown prosecutor told a jury during opening statements Monday.

Anthony and his father Roger Bilodeau have each been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Métis hunters Jacob Sansom and Maurice (Morris) Cardinal.

They are accused of fatally shooting Sansom and his uncle, Cardinal, on a rural road near Glendon, Alta. in March 2020.

Both men pleaded not guilty to each charge during the first day of the trial, expected to last 10 days.

Crown prosecutor Jordan Kerr said Sansom and Cardinal were driving on Range Road 484 after they had spent a day hunting for moose and the evening with friends, drinking and skinning the animal. They were heading home when they slowed down or possibly stopped outside the rural property of Roger Bilodeau, who observed the truck with his 16-year-old son Joseph Bilodeau.

Kerr said the Bilodeaus were “deeply suspicious” of the truck, after seeing a number of “suspicious vehicles” near their property earlier in the day.

The jury will hear a statement Roger gave to police about the pursuit, when he had called Anthony who lived a short distance away. During this call, Kerr said Roger told Anthony “these sons of bitches are coming to steal or do something” and asked Anthony to bring his gun.

Anthony then got into his own truck to join the pursuit.

Sansom and Roger eventually reached a T-intersection at Township Road 622 and Range Road 484 and stopped. A Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. gas pumping station was also located at the intersection, equipped with surveillance cameras.

What occurs next between the men is disputed by the Crown and defence. The Crown asserts Sansom was unarmed and three minutes after Sansom and Roger arrived at the intersection, Anthony arrives. Both Sansom and Cardinal had left their truck at this point.

“Then 26 seconds after Anthony Bilodeau’s arrival on the scene, you’ll see Jacob Sansom fall to the ground in front of him in the middle of the road,” Kerr said.

Kerr said Sansom was shot in the chest. He said Cardinal is seen moving towards Sansom, appearing to hold a firearm. An altercation occurs between Anthony and Cardinal, he moves back to Sansom’s truck and then is shot three times.

Kerr said there is “no self-defence here” and Roger is also criminally liable for the deaths. Roger initiated a “dangerous and persistent high-speed chase” and had “clearly anticipated having a confrontation” when asking Anthony to join the pursuit and bring a gun.

Shawn Gerstel, a defence lawyer representing Roger, said this case is not about how the deceased died or who pulled the trigger, but there is “much more to this story” including what happened in the minutes and hours prior to the deaths of Sansom and Cardinal.

Gerstel said Joseph had witnessed two blue trucks pull up to the property earlier in the day while he and his mother were home alone, and Sansom’s truck looked similar so he and Roger decided to follow them and see what they were up to.

Gerstel said at the intersection, Sansom assaults Roger inside his truck, with Joseph pleading “please don’t kill my dad.”

“There will be other evidence that shows the level of violence that was inflicted on Roger and Joseph that evening,” Gerstel said.

He said the jury will hear testimony from Joseph that he believed Anthony was acting in self-defence towards himself and his family.

Following opening statements, the Crown played the surveillance video for the jury and the first two witnesses were called to testify.

ARMED FARMERS ARE A PROBLEM ON THE PRAIRIES, WHEN THE KILL OTHERS ITS THIS PRIVATE PROPERTY DEFENSE THAT GETS THEM OFF ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY KILL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

MAKE CANADA A REPUBLIC

Métis leader calls for Queen to apologize 

for residential schools

IF THE POPE CAN DO IT SHE CAN TOO

The Canadian Press

The president of the Métis National Council says the Queen should apologize for residential schools to help survivors and their families heal.

Cassidy Caron says residential school survivors told her that an apology from the Queen would be important since she is the leader of the Anglican Church and Canada’s head of state.

Caron says she will make the request to Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, during a reception with them at Rideau Hall on Wednesday.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are to visit Canada this week for a three-day tour that is to partially focus on Indigenous reconciliation.

Last month, Pope Francis apologized at the Vatican to survivors and Indigenous delegates for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools.

Some 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools; the Anglican Church ran about three dozen of them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

The Canadian Press

REST IN POWER
Gerald Hannon, Toronto journalist and LGBTQ activist, dies at 77

Gerald Hannon, a talented and controversial Canadian journalist, educator, and queer activist has died at the age of 77.

© Provided by National Post

Jessica Mundie - Friday

NATTIONAL POST/POSTMEDIA

He chose to end his life by medical assistance in dying (MAID) after living with the quickly progressing atypical Parkinson’s disease for four years. He was joined by friends Peter Kingstone, Gerry Oxford, and Ed Jackson as he took his last breath, reported Xtra, the LGBTQ publication to which Hannon contributed.

In a memoriam published by Xtra, friends recalled Hannon as “guileless” and “kind,” a man who was a generous teacher of journalism students and a passionate defender of gay rights.

“When we finally met, I was surprised, disappointed even, that this gentle, soft-spoken man was the notorious Gerald Hannon. He didn’t have horns, as painted by the right-wing media, nor did he breathe fire,” Justine Pimlott, a filmmaker, told Xtra. “And this is exactly what I came to love about him — his ability to be quietly, yet fully, present, and his faculty for observation and non-judgment.”

Hannon grew up in Marathon, Ont., a small town on Lake Superior whose economy was built on pulp.

“It was very beautiful, but isolated and remote,” wrote Hannon on his website. “I trapped rabbits, with a friend. He and I wrestled frequently in the bush. We sometimes fought with knives. I discovered opera.”

He moved to Toronto at 18 and came out as gay six years later.

Hannon’s long career in journalism began in 1972 at the gay liberation magazine, The Body Politic, where he was involved from the second issue to the last. He served as a writer and photographer.

“We weren’t journalists or particularly activists, but we suddenly became so,” Hannon told the Toronto Sun in 2008.


© Postmedia/FileGerald Hannon in 1996.

The magazine tackled issues gay rights activists were passionate about in the 1970s and ’80s, such as discriminatory criminal law, workplace issues and sexuality. But it’s perhaps most famous for an article Hannon wrote in 1977 entitled Men Loving Boys Loving Men. The article discussed sexual relationships between adults and minors, and was widely seen as a defence of pedophilia.

After backlash about the article from other media outlets, namely the Toronto Sun, the magazine’s office was raided by Toronto police and in January 1978, the magazine and its publishers were charged with distributing “immoral, indecent or scurrilous material.” A year later, the case was tried. After six days of testimony, the only piece of documentary evidence presented was a copy of The Body Politic containing Hannon’s article. The magazine was acquitted, and won again on appeal in 1982.

“I must judge with objectivity and concern for the right of free discussion and dissemination of ideas unless there be a clear incitement to illegal action,” the judge wrote.

The Body Politic ceased publication in 1986 after 15 years and Hannon became a freelancer and part-time instructor of journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (then Ryerson University). He contributed to many newspapers and magazines, including Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and Xtra.

In 1995, Hannon caught the media’s eye again when the Toronto Sun ran a story under the headline “Ryerson Prof: I’m a Hooker” after he had responded truthfully to a reporter who asked if he engaged in sex work.

“Much was written about me, particularly after it was revealed that I supplemented my income from teaching and writing with the wages of sin as a sex worker,” wrote Hannon.

The university suspended him the day after the story came out. Even then, he had his defenders. Christie Blatchford, then a Toronto Sun writer, who would later write for the National Post until she died in February 2020, said Hannon was “a genuine eccentric, a tweedy, rumpled and engaging man with outlandish opinions and a steadfast insistence on expressing them.”

“Gerald Hannon’s mistake, in his own words, was to have ‘a controversial idea in an institution that doesn’t welcome them’. And isn’t it always the way? Now that I’m two decades out of Ryerson, I’ve finally found a cause I’d protest and a sit-in I’d join?”

Hannon continued working as a freelancer after the scandal, winning 13 National Magazine Awards for his work. He was known for his detailed profiles and ability to capture diverse people in writing such as opera singer Cornelis Opthof, journalist Wendy Mesley, and then-mayoral candidate Rob Ford.

“Hannon’s honesty, like many of his other traits, was part of what made him an utterly brilliant journalist. He never worried about hurting feelings or offending,” Montreal-based journalist Matthew Hays told Xtra.

In 2006, Hannon co-hosted a walking tour of Toronto focusing on the city’s early queer history alongside writer Jane Farrow. “I figured I could piece together the basic narrative and guide people through it, but how much cooler would it be to feature one of the guys who pretty much put the queer in queer Canadian history?” Farrow told Xtra.

Farrow remembers Hannon as “unstinting in his generosity. He gave of his heart, his talents, his take on the world freely and beautifully.”

Later in life, Hannon got the most joy from singing opera. Jackson, a former publisher of the Body Politic and in the room when Hannon died, wrote that Hannon became involved with the Toronto City Opera.

“A shameless ham, he was at his best mugging his way through the comic roles,” wrote Jackson in Xtra.

Chris Lea, who was on the board of the Toronto City Opera, praised Hannon for his writing and activism in Toronto. Lea told Xtra that Hannon was his first boyfriend.

“Without Gerald, not just our city, but all Canada, would have been less free… If they knew Gerald as I do, they would know his gentle kindness, his passion, his humour and love.”

On his website, Hannon lists some of his “distinguishing marks.”

“Never had a driver’s license.

Never had a television.

Never learned how to properly tie my shoes.

Can’t properly use a knife and fork.”

Hannon’s long-awaited memoir titled Immoral, Indecent & Scurrilous: The Making of an Unrepentant Sex Radical is scheduled to be published this summer. According to Jackson, Hannon got to see a special advance copy of the book before his death.

DUTY TO ACCOMODATE IS THE LAW

City of Ottawa loses human rights case for way it fired OC Transpo driver

Andrew Duffy -
Ottawa Citizen

UNIONS WORK
The City of Ottawa has lost a human rights case due to the way in which it fired an OC Transpo driver who missed 1,241 days of work.

 An OC Transpo bus near Tunney's Pasture.

In a recent decision, the Federal Court upheld a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling that said the city discriminated against Jamison Todd by failing to distinguish his disability-related absences from his garden-variety absences in his termination letter.

Those absences should have been “disaggregated,” the court said, and the city should have considered other ways to accommodate his disability.

By law, businesses must accommodate disabled employees up to the point of “undue hardship.”

Todd suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and musculoskeletal pain during the course of his troubled OC Transpo career, which began in 2001 and ended with his firing in March 2014.

In the 10-year period leading to his dismissal, Todd missed 1,241 days of work. Nearly 30 per cent of those absences did not relate to his medical problems, court was told.

Todd’s manager at OC Transpo ultimately decided to fire him because he repeatedly failed to inform him when he would miss a shift.

Such notice was required under the continuing employment agreement — the plans are sometimes called last chance agreements — Todd signed with the city in 2012.

In court, city lawyers argued Todd’s regular absenteeism, combined with his inability to achieve a reasonable level of attendance due to his health problems, meant he was unable to fulfill his contractual obligation “to provide work.” They said that amounted to undue hardship for the employer, OC Transpo.

The city asked the Federal Court to set aside the tribunal’s finding that it had discriminated against Todd and dismiss the case.

But in her recent decision, Federal Court Justice Susan Elliott endorsed the reasoning of the CHRT, which said the city failed to present evidence to show it had reached the point of undue hardship in accommodating Todd.

What’s more, Elliott said, the city wrongfully lumped all of Todd’s absences together in his termination letter.

“As the CHRT found,” the judge said, “it is the reason relied upon at the time the decision to terminate the employment that counts, and the CHRT reasonably found that by identifying Mr. Todd’s overall absenteeism as one of the reasons for his termination, OC Transpo engaged the protections of the Canadian Human Rights Act against actions motivated in whole or in part by discrimination.”

The human rights tribunal has yet to decide how it will remedy the discrimination suffered.

Todd’s lawyer declined a request for comment while Ottawa city solicitor David White said he’s “not prepared to comment” on an ongoing legal matter.

The CHRT hearing took place over 19 days in 2017 and 2018.

In her susequent decision, tribunal member Kirsten Mercer concluded the city did not discriminate against Todd during the course of his employment, and did not discriminate against him by instituting a continuing employment agreement to manage his absenteeism.

It was not discriminatory for the city to fire Todd for breaching that agreement, Mercer said, but it was discriminatory to cite his disability-related absenteeism in his termination letter.

“If Mr. Todd’s breaches of the continuing employment agreement were the only reason provided for his termination,” Mercer noted, “then I do not believe that terminating him would have been discriminatory.”

The tribunal heard Todd was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome in 2004. A chronic condition, it affects the large intestine, and can cause abdominal pain, cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation.

The medical restrictions put in place by Todd’s doctors made it hard for him to drive a bus, the tribunal was told, and OC Transpo agreed he could call in sick when his disability made it too difficult for him to work.

In 2012, Todd was absent without medical justification for several months, the tribunal heard, after which his supervisor placed him on the continuing employment agreement. It stipulated that Todd had to inform his manager when he would miss a shift so he could be offered alternative duties.

Todd was fired for failing to contact his manager after missing a shift with the flu in January 2014. The termination followed both verbal and written warnings about the need to inform his supervisor of an absence in advance.

NATIONALIST ASSAULT ON BILINGUALISM AND MULTICULTURALISM

BILL 96
'Anxiety and frustration': Demonstrators protest Quebec language law

Saturday
The Canadian Press


MONTREAL — On a scorching Saturday, demonstrators streamed through downtown Montreal to protest Quebec's contentious language bill, demanding it be scrapped to preserve the rights of anglophones, allophones and Indigenous communities.

The protesters, who rallied at Dawson College before marching more than two kilometres to Premier François Legault's office, made an 11th-hour plea against the legislation, which aims to strengthen the province's French-language charter.

Bill 96 is expected to pass this month, and would impose tougher language requirements on workplaces and municipalities.

It also seeks to limit the use of English in the courts and public services, grant powers of search and seizure without a warrant to Quebec's language regulator and cap enrolment at English junior colleges, called CÉGEPs, where students would have to take more courses in French.

Several thousand marchers drove home the bilingual element of Quebec society Saturday morning, shouting chants of "Mon CÉGEP, mon choix," and toting signs stating, "I'm not a second class citizen."


Marlene Jennings, a former Liberal MP in Montreal, said Bill 96 "breaks the social contract" with Quebecers, while Robert Leckey, dean of McGill University's Faculty of Law, worried it will "ride roughshod" over constitutional constraints.

"Anyone may use English and French in the courts of this province. It's hardwired into the constitution. And using English in a Quebec court involves having a judge who understands the language," he said, addressing demonstrators in English and French, as did most of the speakers.

Leckey was referencing provisions in the bill that state judges no longer need to be bilingual and that a company's pleadings in court must be in French, or translated into it.

Bill 96 also pre-emptively invokes the notwithstanding clause, setting aside fundamental equality rights enshrined in both the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights and freedoms.

“You know you’re in trouble when you hear, ‘Notwithstanding clause,’” sang Bowser and Blue, a musical comedy duo whose first gig took place at Dawson College in 1975.

Russell Copeman, executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association, said he supports efforts to protect the French language but described Bill 96 as "discriminatory."

"I think what you're seeing is a depth of anxiety and frustration that is quite remarkable in the English community," he said in a phone interview.

Indigenous communities also have concerns about the would-be law.

"We’re being recolonized again under Bill 96," said Kenneth Deer, an Indigenous rights activist from the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake. "We don’t force you to learn our language; don’t force us to learn yours.”

Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake said demanding that young people master a third language — French — carries colonial overtones and would make it harder for them to succeed.

"Trying to encourage young people to learn our Indigenous language is challenging in itself," she said by phone.

"We always want to encourage our young people to reach for the stars. But if they want to be doctors, lawyers, nurses — any of those professional orders now are going to require very strict French proficiency."

Demonstrators flowed mostly along Sainte-Catherine Street, where many retail outlets concerned about the impact of stricter workplace language rules are located.

The changes would subject companies with 25 employees or more to "francization" — government certification that use of French is generalized in the workplace. The current threshold is 50 employees.

Estimates from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business say a company with roughly 50 employees would end up paying between $9.5 million and $23.5 million under the bill. Expenses range from fees for translation and legal services to administrative burdens, such as creating a workplace assessment to ensure French permeates all corners of the company.

More than a dozen provincial and federal Liberal legislators were on hand Saturday, including Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade.

A cluster of pro-Bill 96 student demonstrators awaited the protesters outside the premier's office. They had guitars and tambourines, and greeted the marchers with a blast of classic Quebecois songs by Jean Leloup and Gilles Vigneault.

They shouted "Vive le Québec" and "Vive le français" between lyrics. Demonstrators on both sides were draped in Quebec flags, and several quarrels broke out amid the 30 C heat, but the overall atmosphere remained upbeat.

Steban Carrillo, 21, a student at the Saint-Laurent CÉGEP and one of the approximately 15 counter-protesters, said French is threatened.

“As we know, in Quebec the language of work is French, so higher studies should be done in French as well, at least until university," he said.

The bill's requirement that CÉGEP students take either three core courses in French or three additional French-languages courses has others worried, along with concerns about a two-tiered education system whereby allophones and francophones in English junior colleges would have to take French proficiency exams while anglophones take an English one.

"The bill attacks our fundamental rights to justice, to healthcare, to education," said Celeste Trianon, an incoming undergraduate law student at the Université de Montréal.

Eric Maldoff, a Montreal lawyer and chair of the Coalition for Quality Health and Social Services, stressed without clear communication, proper health care is threatened.

“People are going to get hurt. Literally," he said, noting that Bill 96 would only allow health services in English to "historic anglophones" and, for six months after arrival, immigrants. "There are going to be errors in diagnosis, there's going to be a problem of informed consent."

The legislation also raises questions of patient confidentiality, given the enhanced powers granted to the Office québécois de la langue française to search and seize files without a warrant based on anonymous tips, Maldoff said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2022.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press