SOLITARY IS TORTURE, ABOLISH IT

British prisoner ‘breaks world record’ for longest time in solitary confinement

Andy Gregory
Sat, 21 January 2023

Robert Maudsley,  British serial killer

A British prisoner has broken a “world record” for the longest time spent in solitary confinement.

Robert Maudsley is thought to be the longest-serving inmate in Britain, having spent 49 years behind bars.

Known within the prison system as “Hannibal the Cannibal”, Maudsley has spent nearly 45 of those years – some 16,000 consecutive days – in solitary confinement, according to the Daily Mirror.

Maudsley is now reported to have surpassed the world record for time spent in solitary, spending 23 of every 24 hours in his cell.

That unenviable benchmark had previously been set by US prisoner Albert Woodfox, who died last August, six years after his release, having spent 43 years in isolation. Woodfox’s case has been described as one of America’s worst miscarriages of justice.

Maudsley, aged 69, was jailed for the murder of John Farrell in 1974. Maudsley is said to have flown into a rage after Farrell – who had hired him as a sex worker – revealed that he had previously abused children.

It was while imprisoned in Broadmoor psychiatric hospital that Maudsley committed the crime that cemented his infamy, allegedly torturing a fellow patient who was a paedophile for nine hours before holding his dead body aloft to guards who had been bargaining for the hostage’s life.

One guard is reported to have described the victim’s head as being “cracked open like a boiled egg” with a spoon hanging out of it and part of his brain missing – earning Maudsley the “cannibal” moniker, despite Maudsley denying such claims.

Maudsley is held in a special cell in HMP Wakefield (PA)

On 28 July 1978, weeks after being sent to HMP Wakefield, Maudsley killed two fellow inmates and is claimed to have calmly handed guards the murder weapon, remarking that they would be two inmates short on the next roll-call.

He is reported to have been in solitary ever since, much of it spent confined in a glass cage in the cellar of Wakefield prison, which has been likened by some to the cell occupied by Hannibal Lecter in the film The Silence of the Lambs.

He has also spent stints in specially constructed cells in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight and at Woodhill in Buckinghamshire, at the latter alongside notorious inmates Charles Bronson and Reginald Wilson.

In one letter more than a decade ago, Maudsley wrote: “I am left to stagnate, vegetate and to regress; left to confront my solitary head-on with people who have eyes but don’t see and who have ears but don’t hear, who have mouths but don’t speak. My life in solitary is one long period of unbroken depression.”

Maudsley has described intense physical abuse during his childhood, and has previously been quoted as saying: “All I remember of my childhood is the beatings. Once I was locked in a room for six months and my father only opened the door to come in to beat me, four or six times a day.”

In 2017, the Daily Mirror reported that Maudsley had marked his 64th birthday by setting a UK record for solitary confinement.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “There is no such thing as solitary confinement in our prison system. Some prisoners will be segregated if they pose a risk to others but this is reviewed regularly.

“Like other prisoners, they are allowed time in the open air every day, visits from relatives, phone calls, access to legal advice and medical care.”

Peru closes Machu Picchu amid violent protests against President Dina Boluarte's government

Sat, 21 January 2023 


Peruvian authorities have closed the iconic tourist attraction Machu Picchu amid ongoing protests that have left dozens of people dead since they began a month ago.

Demonstrations have spread through the Andean nation since early December, with new clashes reported in Cusco, the gateway to the nearby Inca trail and ancient ruins of Machu Picchu.

Cultural authorities in Cusco said in a statement that "in view of the current social situation in which our region and the country are immersed, the closure of the Inca trail network and Machu Picchu has been ordered, as of 21 January and until further notice".

Protesters attempted to take over the city's airport, used by many foreign tourists to access the area, leaving 37 civilians and six police officers injured, according to health workers.

Airports in Arequipa and the southern city of Juliaca were also attacked by demonstrators, damaging Peru's tourism industry.

Protests and road blockades against Peruvian President Dina Boluarte's government and in support of ousted president Pedro Castillo also broke out in 41 provinces, mainly in Peru's south.

Some of the worst violence came on Monday when 17 people were killed in clashes with police in the city of Juliaca, near Lake Titicaca. Protesters later attacked and burned a police officer to death.

On Friday security forces in the capital Lima unleashed tear gas to repel demonstrators throwing glass bottles and stones, as fires burned in the streets.

Unrest was sparked in early December by the destitution and arrest of Castillo, Peru's first president of humble, rural roots, following his widely condemned attempt to dissolve Congress to avoid an impeachment trial.

Left-wing lawyer Dina Boluarte was sworn in on the same day, after serving as vice-president to Pedro Castillo.

The protesters, mainly from neglected, rural areas of the country still loyal to Castillo, demand immediate elections, Boluarte's resignation, Castillo's release.

They also want justice for the protesters killed in clashes with police.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in clashes with police and at least seven have died in traffic accidents related to the barricades.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERU PROTESTS 

Jacinda Ardern: political figures believe abuse and threats contributed to PM’s resignation

Ardern says she slept soundly ‘for the first time in a long time,’ as colleagues in New Zealand deplore her treatment as PM and race begins to replace her

Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media a day after announcing her resignation as prime minister of New Zealand. Photograph: Ben Mckay/EPA

Tess McClure in Auckland
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA

Fri 20 Jan 2023

Jacinda Ardern has said she slept soundly after her shock resignation “for the first time in a long time”, as speculation grows that abuse and threats against the prime minister contributed to her stepping down.

Speaking briefly with reporters outside Hawke’s Bay airport on Friday, Ardern said she was feeling “a range of emotions” and had no regrets about leaving the job.

“I of course feel sad – but also I do have a sense of relief.”


‘So many rabbit holes’: Even in trusting New Zealand, protests show fringe beliefs can flourish

On Thursday, the prime minister said abuse or threats to her and her family had not been a decisive factor in her decision to resign, and that she simply “no longer [had] enough in the tank to do it justice”.


Prominent New Zealand political leaders and public figures, however, say that “constant vilification,” abuse and personal attacks have contributed to that burnout – with some MPs saying the prime minister was “driven from office”, and calling for New Zealand to reexamine its political culture.

“It is a sad day for politics where an outstanding leader has been driven from office for constant personalisation and vilification,” Māori party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said in the wake of Ardern’s surprise resignation on Thursday.

“Her whānau [family] have withstood the ugliest attacks over the last two years with what we believe to be the most demeaning form of politics we have ever seen”.

Former prime minister Helen Clark, New Zealand’s first female elected leader, said that Ardern had faced “unprecedented” attacks during her tenure.

“The pressures on prime ministers are always great, but in this era of social media, clickbait and 24/7 media cycles, Jacinda has faced a level of hatred and vitriol which in my experience is unprecedented in our country,” she said. “Our society could now usefully reflect on whether it wants to continue to tolerate the excessive polarisation which is making politics an increasingly unattractive calling.”

How the world fell in love with Jacinda Ardern – video

In 2022, New Zealand police reported that threats against the prime minister had nearly tripled over three years. While police could not determine motives for every individual threat, documents they released showed anti-vaccination sentiment was a driving force of a number of threats, and opposition to legislation to regulate firearms after the 15 March mass shooting in Christchurch was another factor.

From stardust to an empty tank: one-of-a-kind leader Jacinda Ardern knew her time was up

A weeks-long anti-vaccine-mandate occupation of parliament’s lawns descended into a violent riot in early 2022, with protesters calling for the prime minister’s execution. The protests, coupled with increased threats and abuse against the prime minister and other MPs, prompted New Zealand’s typically open and accessible parliament to up security measures.

Over the past year, a number of men have been arrested, formally warned or faced criminal charges for threatening to assassinate Ardern, with one found guilty of sabotage in an attempt to destroy the country’s power grid connections. Public appearances by the prime minister increasingly attracted small, at times abusive groups of protesters.

In one ugly incident, protesters in a car chased the prime minister’s van, shouting obscenities and screaming that she was “a Nazi”, at one point forcing it on to the footpath, and in February 2022, shouting protesters again chased the prime minister’s van down a driveway as she visited a primary school.

Kate Hannah, director of the Disinformation Project which monitors online extremism at research centre Te Pūnaha Matatini, said the program had seen a significant increase in abusive, threatening material directed at Ardern, and believed it had likely contributed to her leaving the role.

“The scope of what we’ve observed over the last three years is such that there’s no way it could not have been a contributing factor – for any person,” she said.

“What we see now is absolutely normative, extremely vulgar and violent slurs … incredibly violent use of imagery around death threats.”

Jacinda Ardern resigns as prime minister of New Zealand in shock announcement – video

In her resignation announcement on Thursday, Ardern was asked how threats to her safety had played into her decision. “It does have an impact. We are humans after all, but that was not the basis of my decision,” she said.

“I am human, politicians are human. We give all that we can for as long as we can. And then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,” she said.

Now, the race is on for Labour to find a replacement for Ardern. Their caucus will meet on Sunday to vote on candidates for a new leader. A nominee must gain two-thirds of the caucus vote to clinch the leadership – if not, the vote will be taken to the party’s wider membership. The eventual winner will be tasked with leading the party into a tough 14 October election.

Chris Hipkins, 44, is the early frontrunner after Ardern’s deputy Grant Robertson swiftly ruled himself out of the race.

Other names in the mix are Justice Minister Kiri Allan, one of Labour’s senior Maori MPs, and Immigration Minister Michael Wood. None of the three has so far confirmed they will contest the ballot.

Allan, a former commercial lawyer who entered parliament in 2017, has been touted as possibly New Zealand’s first Maori prime minister.

Stoking a culture war? No, Nicola Sturgeon, this is about balancing conflicting rights

Sonia Sodha

The Guardian
Sat, 21 January 2023

Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The term “culture war” once had meaning: the weaponisation of socio-cultural issues to foment division. But, like the words bigoted and phobic, it is being rendered impotent by how often it is now used to mean “opinion I disagree with”.

Not just in social media spats: Nicola Sturgeon last week accused the Conservative government of “stoking a culture war” by using section 35 of the Scotland Act to block reforms allowing anyone over the age of 16 to change their sex for legal purposes through self-declaration. She claims UK ministers are thwarting a purely administrative reform that benefits a marginalised minority – trans people – to pick an illegitimate constitutional fight.

That argument collapses under scrutiny. Even as Scottish ministers claimed in Holyrood that this is an administrative matter, they were arguing in court that it has profound consequences for how someone is treated in the eyes of the law. They won; the courts have now clarified that if someone male gets a gender recognition certificate, they must be treated as though they were female for almost all legal purposes.

This has a number of knock-on effects on legal protections for women and girls. If someone male who identifies as female has changed their legal sex, it becomes more difficult to lawfully exclude them from female-only services and spaces, such as changing rooms, sexual assault services, prisons and hospital wards. It becomes impossible to exclude them from single-sex schools and clubs. It can affect whether or not a woman has a pay discrimination claim at work. It makes it more difficult to provide single-sex intimate care for disabled women.

All trans people have the same robust legal protections against discrimination under the Equality Act as other groups at risk of discrimination. But at the moment, someone needs a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria to acquire the rights that come with changing your legal sex. The Scottish bill removes that safeguard, opening it up to any man who might want them and is happy to exploit this reform.

Related: Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland secretary is acting like a governor general

On the basis of Scottish government predictions of the increase in annual applications, MBM Policy estimates this would mean about 6,000 of Scotland’s 25,000 trans population will eventually change their sex; on the basis of UK government predictions, 11,000. No one really knows, but it will be significantly more than the 600 or so Scottish certificates issued at present. This will probably make service providers more reluctant to provide genuinely single-sex services; it is a criminal offence to inadvertently reveal someone has changed their legal sex, so the more common this is, the more they will lean towards treating all males who identify as female as though they have.

It further opens the door to dangerous men qualifying for enhanced rights of access: there are already violent male sex offenders locked up with vulnerable women in prisons in Scotland. It harms the privacy and dignity of women and girls who want to be able to undress, or receive medical care, without male strangers present. It shifts social norms in a way that makes it more difficult for women to challenge men who may want to commit voyeurism and exposure: in California, where these reforms have already happened, a woman who complained about someone who it later emerged was a convicted sex offender for exposing himself in a female-only spa had her concerns dismissed as transphobic across the media.

The culture wars frame suits Sturgeon as it positions her as defender of minorities against a dastardly Tory government

These issues were not properly explored by Holyrood. Sturgeon dismissed women’s concerns as invalid and artificial. Despite poll after poll highlighting the unpopularity of the reforms, the evidence sessions were skewed against their opponents. The SNP voted down amendments to protect women in prison, to allow single-sex hospital wards and female-only intimate care and to ban sex offenders from changing their legal sex. Concerns of the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls and the Equality and Human Rights Commission went ignored, including that the bill would have unaddressed cross-border impacts.

If Scotland were independent, that would be the end of it. But section 35 of the Scotland Act gives the Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, the power to block any Holyrood bill that modifies “the law as it applies to reserved matters” that he has “reasonable grounds” to believe would adversely affect laws that apply to the whole of the UK. This power has never been used, so the nature of this test has never been clarified by the courts. But some constitutional experts, including the former supreme court judge Lord Hope, believe that the Scottish government has a weak challenge in this instance because its reforms modify a law that affects the operation of the UK-wide Equality Act and Jack has set out good reasons for why it is reasonable to believe there are adverse impacts.

The culture wars frame suits Sturgeon because it positions her as defender of minorities against a dastardly Tory government. But it doesn’t fit the facts. To lazily adopt it – as many of the government’s opponents have done – is to subsume a delicate rights conflict into a blunt political attack. If anyone is guilty of waging culture wars, it’s the politicians misleading the public about the effects of their reforms who, a few years ago, were rightly quick to call rightwingers out for spreading misinformation about how much leaving the EU would free up funds to spend on the NHS.

The rights at stake – protections for women and girls that remain a Westminster matter – mean the government was correct to trigger section 35. It remains to be seen if the courts find it meets the legal test. Either way, it has bought a pause that the government could use to resolve many of the issues by amending the Equality Act to make clear its definition of sex is biological sex. That is a compromise that would be the antithesis of a culture war.

• Sonia Sodha is an Observer columnist

UK

Rolling school strikes feared as hard-Left activist leads teachers’ union race

THAT'S HOW THEY STRIKE IN SCOTLAND

Louisa Clarence-Smith

THE TORY LOVING TELEGRAPH
Sat, 21 January 2023

Daniel Kebede - Guy Smallman/Getty Images

A hard-Left activist is leading the race to take over the leadership of the country’s biggest teachers’ union, raising the prospect of rolling school strikes later this year.

Daniel Kebede, who works as a teacher in the north-east of England, is campaigning to become the next general secretary of the National Education Union.

Mr Kebede, a militant trade unionist in his mid-30s, has led and joined protests on issues including racism, the Government’s response to refugees, and the pro-Palestine movement.

The Momentum-supporting Corbynite’s campaign pledges to create a “united, campaigning union” that must be mobilised “in its entirety” to “take on this shambolic Government”.

He has urged teachers across the country to take strike action, saying: “We need an inflation plus pay rise that is fully funded. We don’t need more tax cuts for the rich. It’s time for the Government to listen.”

Activists for 101 NEU districts have declared their support for Mr Kebede ahead of the general secretary election, which begins on Feb 6 and runs until March 31. He is running against Niamh Sweeney, a sixth form college teacher and Labour councillor in Cambridge who is seen as a moderate.

The winning candidate will take over in September for a five-year term, replacing Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, who have served as joint general secretaries of the NEU since it was formed in 2017.

Under Ms Bousted and Mr Courtney, there have been no national NEU strikes – but this week the NEU revealed that it has met legal thresholds for members to strike over pay in England and Wales on seven dates, starting on Feb 1.

Mr Kebede said: “My aim is to make the National Education Union strong and influential enough that it doesn’t need to take strike action by building on the success of our current general secretaries and by reaching out to other unions such as NASUWT.

“However, if our members are fed up with pay cuts, funding erosion, excessive workload and not being valued by the Government and want to take action, I will back them.”

A Newcastle Labour party source who knows Mr Kebede said: “In terms of the encouragement that someone like Daniel would give to their membership, I’m certain that he would have a very harsh stance towards a Conservative government and I’m certain he would push for industrial action during disputes.”

A source close to several school leaders in England said: “If Daniel gets elected, it’s not hard to see how you could envisage the prospect of rolling strikes.”

Mr Kebede is the former partner of Laura Pidcock, the ex-Labour MP for North West Durham, who quit the party’s ruling body last year and said it had become “hostile territory for socialists” under Sir Keir Starmer.

He quit the Labour Party in 2020 and has voiced his support for members of the Northern Independence Party, a democratic socialist party that seeks to make Northern England an independent nation and has urged voters to “reject the Westminster establishment”.

Union leaders met officials in the Department for Education on Friday in an attempt to resolve the dispute over pay and working conditions.

But Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said after the talks that he was not hopeful about an improvement to this year’s pay award and warned that “the prospects appear gloomy for next year’s pay award too”.

A Department for Education spokesman said that officials “held constructive discussions” with union leaders.

Atlanta protest against shooting death of activist briefly turns violent

Sat, January 21, 2023 

By Cheney Orr

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A protest in Atlanta briefly turned violent on Saturday as demonstrators set a police car on fire and smashed windows of buildings.

Marchers had gathered to protest the killing of an activist by law enforcement on Wednesday during a raid to clear the construction site of a public safety training facility that activists have derided with the nickname "Cop City".

The demonstration started peacefully, then abruptly escalated with some protesters throwing fireworks and rocks and smashing buildings' windows with hammers, according to a Reuters witness.

As police moved on the marchers, the violence quickly fizzled without anyone injured. A Reuters photographer saw a protester who was carrying a banner being handcuffed by law enforcement.

The demonstrators were protesting an incident that occurred on Wednesday, when Manuel Teran, 26, was inside a tent and did not comply with officers' "verbal commands" as law enforcement cleared Weelaunee People's Park. Some activists had been camping there since last year to protest the facility.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Teran shot a state trooper and was shot and killed by officers returning fire.

On Friday, GBI released a photo of a handgun police say was in Teran's possession at the time of the shooting.

Opponents of the $90 million project south of Atlanta, which would be built by the Atlanta Police Foundation, say building it would lead to destruction of hundreds of acres of forest and greatly damage the environment.

(Reporting by Cheney Orr in Atlanta, writing by Maria Caspani, Editing by David Gregorio)

'Homicide in slow motion': Police urged to tackle stalking amid rise of tracking tech


Sat, January 21, 2023



VANCOUVER — Stephanie Forster did everything right.

She obtained a restraining order, changed her phone number and moved three times in six months. She once found an Apple AirTag in her car so she asked police to search the vehicle for other trackers.

But none of it helped, her sister and a women's advocate say.

Forster, 39, was shot and killed outside her Coquitlam, B.C., home on Dec. 8, and while the police investigation is ongoing, her estranged husband, who died days later, was the main suspect.

"Stalking is homicide in slow motion," Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women Support Services, said in an interview.

She said stalking is "a very serious and largely misunderstood part of an abusive relationship."

Tracking technology, like AirTags, gives stalkers even more access to already vulnerable women, and her group is urging police to take all forms of harassment seriously, MacDougall said.

"In our work, we've seen that police are very resistant to wanting to take action on stalking. AirTags specifically are quite alarming (because) there's very little, frankly, that survivors can do."

Forster's friends and family gathered Saturday for her celebration of life in her hometown of Selkirk, Man.

MacDougall said Forster's experience of violence leading to her death is a case study in all of the ways that abusive partners can be lethal, but it also highlights the limitations of law enforcement.

Two days after her death, Forster's estranged husband, Gianluigi Derossi, shot himself while his vehicle was pulled over by police. He died later in hospital.

"Derossi was identified as a suspect in the homicide, prior to his death," the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, or IHIT, said in an email. "Though Derossi is now deceased, the file remains open, and IHIT continues to investigate."

Stephanie's sister, Rhiann Forster, is calling for more police accountability.

"This was foreseeable and preventable, you know, he escalated in a textbook fashion."

She said Coquitlam police, the Metro Vancouver force where her sister complained about the harassment, "dropped the ball hard, really hard."

"This is somebody who knew what she was supposed to do, and she did every single thing and they still failed her. To me, that really paints a picture of how profoundly the system is broken."

Forster said the family has been working to piece together the events that led to Stephanie's death.

"She didn't give any one person the full story because she was so embarrassed," Forster explained.

The couple met in the fall of 2021, and they were married by December. It wasn't until February that her sister discovered his true identity, Forster said.

Derossi had been convicted as a serial romance fraudster under the name Reza Moeinian.

Stephanie Forster called the police and Derossi was arrested. He was eventually released under conditions, including that he can't contact his wife, her sister said.

Still, Stephanie faced months of harassment.

She sought an annulment on the grounds that Derossi had falsely represented himself, then later asked for a divorce, which he was contesting, Forster said.

Battered Women Support Services helped her obtain a protection order, but Derossi breached that at least six times, MacDougall said.

"We have seen increasingly over the years, and particularly the last three years, an erosion of the enforcement side of the protection orders," she said.

Forster said Derossi breached the protection order "way more than six times."

"It was six times that the police went to arrest him and didn’t," she said.

"He was aggressively, actively stalking her on a full-time basis. He was texting, calling, emailing, following her, showing up at her work (and) when she went on vacation. This was an ongoing daily occurrence that was affecting every single decision she made every single day."

While many respect protection orders, those who are the most abusive tend to violate them, MacDougall said.

"A portion will engage in what is called criminal harassment and stalking behaviours, and those, in terms of research, evidence, and in Stephanie Forster's case, are the ones that hit all the notes with respect to the potential for lethal violence."

The homicide team said it was aware that a warrant had been issued for Derossi's arrest, before his death, related to the breached protection order.

"Enforcement of protection orders is handled by the detachment of jurisdiction and IHIT is not in a position to comment on their protocols," it said.

Coquitlam RCMP said it could not comment on the case because IHIT was leading the investigation.

A Statistics Canada report from last October shows police-reported family violence increased for the fifth consecutive year in 2021, with a total of 127,082 victims. On average, every six days a woman is killed by an intimate partner, the agency said.

It found criminal harassment was 10 per cent higher in 2021 than in the two years before, while indecent and harassing communications increased by 29 per cent since 2019.

Rhiannon Wong, technology safety project manager at Women's Shelters Canada, said digital forms of intimate partner violence also began increasing in 2020, as technology became more integrated because of the pandemic.

"Perpetrators are using technology as another tool for their old behaviours of power and control, abuse and violence," she said.

In August 2021, the BC Society of Transition Houses surveyed anti-violence programs across the province. Out of 137 respondents, 89 per cent said women they worked with had disclosed some form of technology-facilitated abuse.

"Harassment has been ranked the most popular form of tech-related violence that increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic," the report said.

Stephanie Forster suspected there might be another AirTag in her car, like the one she had previously found.

Rhiann Forster said her sister had an appointment with RCMP to search for tracking devices on Dec. 9, the day after she was killed.

She said her family was initially divided on their feelings about Derossi's death and the fact that he would never stand trial.

"But I think generally speaking, we were all just relieved that he wasn't a danger to anyone else and that he wouldn't get away with it," she said.

Forster said she will remember Stephanie for her adventurousness, her "silliness" and her ability to "find joy in everyday situations."

Forster said she hopes there is some way to ensure her sister's death has meaning for other victims.

She said she believes there should be mandatory criminal record checks of a potential spouse before a marriage licence is granted and reform of the way police handle breaches of protection orders.

"They need to change how they're enforcing those policies, because they're not doing anything to protect women."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2023.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press

Prominent Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet denies second allegation of sexual misconduct

Sat, January 21, 2023 



MONTREAL — Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet is denying allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by a woman in 2020.

On Friday, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Quebec City confirmed that it had received a second complaint against Ouellet, the former archbishop in the provincial capital

A Vatican investigation was conducted in the wake of the second complaint against Ouellet, but Pope Francis decided “not to retain the accusation against the cardinal” who now serves as head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office

In a written statement sent to media today, Ouellet confirmed his participation in the investigation and says he has “nothing to hide,” adding he acted with “complete transparency” during the entire process.

Ouellet denies having committed any “reprehensible behaviour” towards the woman and says no complaint has been filed against him in civil or criminal court.

Allegations concerning the cardinal first surfaced last summer in a class-action lawsuit against the archdiocese of Quebec, and last week one of the complainants revealed her identity and accused the Catholic Church of trying to silence her through “threats and intimidation.”

Paméla Groleau, one of 140 complainants behind the suit, said she initially kept her identity secret to protect her family, her job and her mental health.

In the lawsuit, Groleau accused Ouellet of several incidents of sexual assault between 2008 — when she was 23 — and 2010, including sliding his hand down her back and touching her buttocks at an event in Quebec City.

The allegations have not been tested in court, and Ouellet last month countersued Groleau in Quebec Superior Court for defamation, denying the allegations and seeking $100,000 in damages

The second allegation was reported this week by the French Catholic weekly Golias Hebdo, which also published a letter with the woman’s name redacted - dated June 23, 2021. In the letter, current Quebec City archbishop Gérald Cyprien Lacroix informed her that her complaint would not be pursued.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2023.

The Canadian Press

François Legault accuses Justin Trudeau of attacking Quebec's democracy and people

Sat, January 21, 2023 

MONTREAL — Quebec Premier François Legault is criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for "attacking Quebec's democracy and people" by proposing to limit the use of the notwithstanding clause.

In a Tweet posted this morning, Legault said that this expressed desire by Trudeau is a "frontal attack" on the Quebec nation's ability to protect its collective rights.

Legault was reacting to an interview the prime minister gave to La Presse in which he noted his intention to better regulate the use of the notwithstanding clause, which permits provincial and territorial governments to override certain provisions of the Constitution. He told La Presse he's also considering referring the matter to the Supreme Court.

Legault says no Quebec government has ever adhered to the 1982 Constitution Act, which he says "does not recognize the Quebec nation."

He says governments led by the Parti Québécois, the Liberal Party and the Coalition Avenir Québec have all used the notwithstanding clause, notably to protect the French language.

He says it is up to Quebec's national assembly to decide on the laws that will govern the province and Quebec would never accept such a weakening of its rights.

Since first coming to power in 2018, Legault's government has invoked the notwithstanding clause twice to protect a recently introduced secularism law and language law reforms from potential legal challenges.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2023.

—

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press

WAIT, WHAT?   Qu'est-ce

99-year-old Quebec woman threatened with criminal charges for failing to appear for jury duty

Sat, January 21, 2023

Marion Lenko, 99, is bedridden and under 24-hour care in Montreal's West Island. (Submitted by Edward Ritchuk - image credit)

Edward Ritchuk's 99-year-old mother-in-law is in a long-term care home, bedridden, hard of hearing and unable to hold a conversation.

So he found it pretty odd when Marion Lenko was summoned to court for jury selection.

"When I first received the letter, I thought it was a joke," he said.

The summons was delivered first to her seniors' residence. Then in December, it was sent to Ritchuk's home in Beaconsfield, Que., an on-island Montreal suburb. She was expected to appear for selection earlier this month.

Richuk said he emailed her son, who lives in Florida and is legally responsible for Lenko. But he said her son never responded to the summons, failing to ask for an exemption.

"Then this week, I received a letter from the justice ministry saying that she has to appear on the 31st of January in court or procedures will be taken against her," he said.

Lenko was born in July 1923 and is now living under 24-hour medical care in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., in the West Island.

Ritchuk said he can't believe that there was no verification done before his mother-in-law was sent a letter saying she may be criminally liable for not fulfilling her jury duty.

Unable to get through on phone

Ritchuk says he tried calling the number provided in the letter, but was sent to an automated system and says he was unable to get through to anyone.

As far as he could tell, someone needs to appear in person. But Ritchuk can't represent his mother-in-law. It's her son who has power of attorney, and he's more than 2,400 kilometres away.

Ritchuk's wife died a couple of years ago and he has stayed in touch with Lenko, having known her since 1972. Now, he says he's stuck in the middle and is unsure what to do next.

Valeria Cori-Manocchio/CBC

Isabelle Boily, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, said a person may be disqualified from serving as a juror or there may be circumstances preventing them from fulfilling their obligations.

"If so, it is possible to request an exemption or postponement of participation by completing the form received with the notice," Boily said in an email.

"This form must be sent to the sheriff with the supporting documents within 20 days of receiving the notice."

In addition, as indicated in the notice of summons of the prospective juror, it is possible for prospective jurors over the age of 65 to request the exemption by calling the sheriff's office within the required 20-day period.

Boily said it is possible for a family member to call in their place.

Lawyer calls situation 'shameful'

Eric Sutton, a criminal defence attorney in Montreal, said any Canadian citizen over the age of 18 can be summoned for jury duty. Information on exemptions comes with the summons, and the summons is sent by the sheriff's office based on the polling list, not birthdays.

It's up to the person who receives the summons to invoke or apply for the exemption with the forms provided, he said. He said the documents need to be filled out and proof provided.

He's skeptical that a simple phone call to the ministry or sheriff's office would be enough.

"From what I understand, this family tried to phone and to no avail," Sutton said, noting the exception would have very likely been accepted in this case were the documents filled out.

"Now she's facing this fear of possibly being fined or imprisoned. I saw it in the paperwork. That's pretty tough medicine for a 99-year-old woman who is hard of hearing. Shameful."