CANADA

Proposed federal justice reforms could reduce number of Indigenous, Black people in system, say advocates

Olivia Stefanovich 
10/5/2021
© Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press A protester holds a Black Lives Matter sign behind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as people take part in an anti-racism protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 5, 2020.

Advocates for justice system reform are welcoming new proposals from the federal government to address the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous individuals and other racialized groups in the criminal justice system.

In the recent federal budget, the government pledged $216.4 million over five years, and $43.3 million each year after that, to divert Black and Indigenous youth and young people of colour from the courts.

The government also is proposing to give $21.5 million over five years to organizations that offer free public legal education and services to racialized communities, and to spend $26.8 million to help provinces maintain immigration and refugee legal aid support for asylum seekers.


Raphael Tachie, president of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, said he's encouraged by Ottawa's approach. The key, he said, will be how the measures are implemented.

"You worry that these are just election promises and after elections, they might not come through," Tachie said.

"But for the most part, the conversations that we've had have been promising."

Advocates say the funding will help chip away at the disproportionate number of Black and Indigenous individuals and other people of colour in Canada's corrections system.

Indigenous people make up more than 30 per cent of the prison population, according to the Correctional Investigator of Canada, but account for only 5 per cent of the wider Canadian population. Black Canadians comprise seven per cent of federal offenders but only represent three per cent of the general population, according to government statistics.

"The fundamental goal is to make the system fairer and more just for all Canadians," Justice Minister David Lametti told CBC News.

Aaron Bains, president of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto, also praised the budget measures but said Ottawa should not act alone. He said municipal, provincial and territorial governments also need to step up.

"It will take a multi-tiered and multi-party approach to completely eradicate racism, if that's even possible," Bains said.
Access to justice, pardons

For Indigenous people specifically, the budget sets aside $74.8 million over three years to improve access to justice and create a national Indigenous justice strategy, which would be modelled after a similar plan in British Columbia.

The $74.8 million includes:

$27.1 million to help Indigenous families navigate the family justice system and community family mediation services.

$24.2 million for Justice Canada to consult Indigenous communities and organizations about an Indigenous justice strategy and possibly other legislation.

$23.5 million for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to increase prosecutorial capacity in the territories.

Drew Lafond, president of the Indigenous Bar Association, said he hopes Ottawa's approach leads to an increase in the number of Indigenous courts and better representation for Indigenous people in all levels of the justice system.

"What the current budget is reflective of, I think, is a commitment on the part of the justice minister and shows there are people within his staff who are very alive to the issues," Lafond said.

The budget also sets aside $31.5 million over two years to co-develop an action plan with Indigenous partners for Bill C-15, proposed legislation to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The budget includes $88.2 million over five years and $13 million each year following that period to create an online application portal for pardons, to reduce pardon application fees and to support community organizations helping people with the pardons process.

Ottawa also plans to set aside $40.4 million over five years, and $10 million each year after that, for 25 new drug treatment courts, which help non-violent offenders access addiction services instead of facing charges for simple drug possession.

John Struthers, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, said he would have liked to see the government offer a complete pardon for simple possession.

"There are some things missing, but it is some excellent first steps," he said.

UNION YES
Food couriers take risks so others can stay home during the pandemic

AT THE BEGINING OF THE PANDEMIC UBER CUT THEIR WAGES BY 50%

VIDEO
Food couriers take risks so others can stay home during the pandemic | CBC.ca

Duration: 06:11

Food couriers say they're doing essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic - making deliveries and taking risks so other people can stay home. 

Many think a union would give them the protection and pay they deserve.

 cbc.ca

Worst-paying blue chip employers bolstered CEO pay in pandemic, report says

By Jessica DiNapoli 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than half of 100 companies with the lowest median employee wages in the S&P 500 Index boosted CEO pay by changing the rules for assessing executive performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by a left-leaning policy group published on Tuesday.

© Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte FILE PHOTO: A delivery staff member wearing a protective mask enters a KFC fast food outlet after a delivery in Colombo

The report from the Institute for Policy Studies found that 51 of these 100 companies, including beverage and snack maker Coca-Cola Co, cruise ship operator Carnival Corp and fast food corporation Yum Brands Inc, reduced median worker pay by 2% to $28,187 on average in 2020 compared to 2019, even as the median compensation for their CEOs rose 29% to $15.3 million.


The findings offer ammunition to investors opposing executive compensation hikes in non-binding votes held at the annual shareholder meetings of companies. More companies are facing shareholder backlash against their CEO pay this year than last, Reuters has reported.

The companies studied in the report bolstered executive compensation by lowering performance targets, giving retention bonuses and swapping out stock awards linked to financial results with time-based share grants, the report found.

A Carnival spokesman said in an email that CEO Arnold Donald received no cash bonus in 2020 and his total compensation in last year was down 29% versus 2019.

A Coke spokesperson referred comment to the company's proxy statement, which notes that roughly 1,000 employees received special share awards, in addition to executives.

Gallery: McDonald’s CEO Made 1,100 Times What His Workers Did (24/7 Wall St.)


"We can't rely on corporate boards to fix the problem of excessive CEO compensation," Sarah Anderson, a co-author of the report, said in an interview. Anderson suggested in the report that companies with the highest CEO-to-average worker pay ratios should be taxed more.

The CEO-to-average worker pay ratio for the 51 companies in the report was 830-to-1.

The Yum Brands board authorized discretionary adjustments to bonus programs resulting in a $1.4 million bonus for CEO David Gibbs he otherwise would not have received, according to a securities filing. He also received a one-time stock award of $882,127, for a total 2020 compensation of $14.6 million, according to the filing.

The company's board said the compensation boost was appropriate given that Gibbs and other executives helped stabilize the business and positioned it for success coming out of the pandemic.

In a prepared statement, Yum Brands said Gibbs gave up his base salary and used it to help fund one-time $1,000 bonuses for nearly 1,200 restaurant general managers. The company also awarded special bonuses to team members in company-owned restaurants globally.

Yum Brands identified a part-time worker at its fast food chicken chain KFC as its median employee, with a total compensation of $11,377, in the filing.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Opinion: Corporate responsibilities on climate are changing
Margot Hurlbert

© Provided by Leader Post Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, right, speaks during the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate in a video screenshot on Thursday, April 22, 2021.

While a ‘black swan’ is a term for an event that no one imagined or anticipated, COVID-19 and approaching climate change risk is a Gray Rhino, something that people foresaw, but may or may not have planned for.

As the availability of vaccines increases and the existential threat of COVID-19 reduces, the omnipresent crisis of climate change is top of mind for many as we think about a sustainable financial recovery. However, building back better not only applies to our infrastructure and businesses, but our practices and rules around climate change risk management.

What better time, after the eye-opening COVID-19 risk management experience?

The re-entry of the United States into the Paris Agreement not only strengthens global climate change response, but provides incentive for Saskatchewan and Canada to harmonize and standardize management of business climate risk with other jurisdictions in order to create a level playing field and certainty, a requirement for attracting and retaining capital investment in Canada.

Former Bank of England and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney refers to the climate crisis as the ‘tragedy of the horizon’ as the effects of climate change will be felt well beyond most government and businesses’ traditional horizons and impose a cost on future generations that we in the current generation have little incentive to fix.

However, this state of affairs is changing. Corporate, legal and reputational responsibility is increasing.

Directors and advisors of corporations have a duty to act honestly and in good faith in the best interest of their enterprises, exercising care, diligence and skill. Legal opinions in Canada and elsewhere have made it clear management of climate risk is a core part of their duties.

Climate risk includes failure of businesses to take action to adapt to climate change impacts (drought, flood, extreme events), financial losses surrounding infrastructure, failure to incorporate climate risks in corporate investments (such as infrastructure that is carbon intensive and assets that may be ‘stranded’ in the future), and failure to report climate risks and for issuing disclosure that is misleading, weak or lacking in rigour.

For example, three lawsuits have been brought by shareholders against ExxonMobil alleging executives and board members misled investors about how much risk climate change poses to the company’s assets, resulting in faulty asset valuation.

The 2017 Report of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has buttressed the call for disclosures in existing financial filing requirements. Organizations are required to disclose governance around climate-related risks, a strategy identifying climate-related risk, the resilience of the organization’s strategy taking into consideration different climate related scenarios including a 2 C or lower scenario, and processes for managing these risks.

Included is the impact of climate change on their businesses and strategy in areas of products, services, supply or value chain, adaptation and mitigation activities, investment in research and development, and operations.

Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance recommended adopting the TCFD’s recommendations, beginning with large companies and Crown corporations, and eventually being phased in for smaller enterprises. Canada’s 2021 budget includes requirements for climate disclosures from Crown corporations in line with TCFD, while in the United States the SEC announced the creation of an Enforcement Task Force focused on climate and ESG issues.

Arguably, based on legal standards of reasonableness, these requirements apply to Saskatchewan businesses, pension funds, Crown corporations and credit unions. However, Saskatchewan should be taking proactive action clarifying this through legislation. Not to do so risks first uncertainty in respect to director and management responsibility giving rise to costly and time-consuming litigation, but secondly, and most importantly, business and financial losses for Saskatchewan investors, citizens, and taxpayers.

The transition to a net-zero economy requires that businesses realign their strategy to prepare for risks or take advantage of opportunities associated with climate change. Taking meaningful action also requires that a business set measurable goals and targets related to carbon emissions and other environmental indicators.

These types of changes to a business’s strategy and direction require the board of directors (or trustees) to provide oversight, engagement and leadership and to understand their evolving fiduciary obligations as they relate to climate change.

Margot Hurlbert is a Johnson Shoyama Graduate School professor and Canada Research Chair in climate change, energy and sustainability policy.

Thousands around world still plagued by impact of Trump Muslim ban, says N.Y. Rep. Ritchie Torres

Chris Sommerfeldt, Shant Shahrigian


Former President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban is finished, but thousands of people around the world are still suffering the consequences and unable to come to America, according to Bronx Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres.

The first-term lawmaker planned to introduce the “Keeping Our Promise Act” in Congress on Monday to smooth the way for nearly 21,000 would-be immigrants by giving them a year to claim their green cards or resume applications that were put on ice under the Trump policy.

President Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office that ended Trump’s ban, which prohibited residents of nearly a dozen Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S

.

© Andrew Harnik A protester held up a sign reading

A protester held up a sign reading "No Muslim Ban" during a rally against former President Donald Trump's immigration policy in Washington in April of 2018. (Andrew Harnik/)

But data from the State Department show that 20,900 green card lottery winners are still struggling to claim their immigration papers, Torres said.

They live in Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the State Department.

“Even though the Trump Muslim ban has been repealed, the victims of the travel ban were never made whole,” Torres said.

© Adam Hunger Ritchie Torres spoke to the media on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Bronx borough of New York.

Ritchie Torres spoke to the media on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Bronx borough of New York. (Adam Hunger/)

His legislation will “fully reverse the discriminatory and destructive legacy” of Trump’s ban, he said.

Just hours after Biden took office on Jan. 20, when he ended the ban, he called it “a stain on our national conscience ... inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.”

Trump issued his self-described Muslim ban seven days after he took office in 2017, claiming it would protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks.

The ban went through several iterations after courts struck down some of its provisions as unconstitutional.

China rocket crash: US blamed for hyping fears of uncontrolled rocket reentry as space race heats up
Analysis by Nectar Gan and James Griffiths, CNN

For a week, China's Long March 5B grabbed global attention, as space agencies and experts closely tracked its trajectory, speculating where debris would fall upon the rocket's uncontrolled reentry

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© STR/AFP/Getty Images TOPSHOT - People watch a Long March 5B rocket, carrying China's Tianhe space station core module, as it lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province on April 29, 2021. - China OUT (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

In China, however, the country's space administration stayed silent for days amid criticism that allowing such a large rocket stage to free fall towards Earth was irresponsible and posed a safety risk -- albeit a small one -- to many countries.


Finally, on Sunday morning Beijing time the China Manned Space Engineering Office broke its silence, confirming the remnants of the rocket had plunged into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, after most of it had burned up in the atmosphere.

For many who have followed the rocket's return, the news came as a big relief. In China, it was not only seen as a vindication of the rocket's design, but also used by state media to argue that the intense global attention was merely a Western effort to discredit China's space program and thwart its progress.

"Their hype and smears were in vain," the Global Times, a state-run newspaper, said in an editorial Sunday, accusing US scientists and NASA of "acting against their conscience" and being "anti-intellectual."

"These people are jealous of China's rapid progress in space technology," the paper said. "Some of (them) even try to use the noises they made to obstruct and interfere with China's future intensive launches for the construction of its space station."

While Beijing has long accused Western countries and media of holding China to a different standard, Chinese officials also routinely have a nationalist response to any criticism, branding it an ill-intended attempt to "smear China."

Such fierce defensiveness is particularly evident when it comes to China's space program, an important point of national pride for the Chinese public and a source of prestige for the ruling Communist Party.

China was a latecomer to space exploration, launching its first satellite only in 1970, 13 years after the Soviet Union and 12 years after the United States. But in recent decades, it has swiftly become a frontrunner in the space race -- it was the first country to land on the far side of the moon in 2019, and successfully brought back lunar rocks last year.

The defensiveness to criticism from the West, especially the United States, is partially born out of what Beijing perceives as Washington's hostility to block its progress beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Since 1999, the US has imposed export controls on satellite technology to China. And in 2011, Congress passed a law that imposed restrictions on NASA engagement with China.

Consequently, Chinese astronauts are barred from the International Space Station (ISS) -- the only space station in orbit and a collaboration between the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

© Sipa Asia/Shutterstock Alibaba was hit with a record fine earlier this year for behaving like a monopoly.

As a result, China is building its own space station, the Tiangong (meaning heavenly palace in Chinese). Last month, it successfully launched its first module with the Long March 5B -- the rocket that drew the world's scrutiny.

In blaming the West for their "smear campaign," however, Chinese state media and space experts omitted to explain why the Long March 5B had caused anxiety among global scientists.

Rocket stages are often dropped before they reach orbit along trajectories that can be predicted before the launch. And when they are designed to reach orbit, they usually come with devices that allow more controlled reentries and aim for the ocean. Or they are left in so-called "graveyard" orbits that keep them in space for decades or centuries. The Chinese rocket, estimated to weigh over 20 tons, is the largest space object to return uncontrolled to Earth in nearly three decades -- and a major deviation from the practice of other space agencies.

© Fuyang District Government This partially sedated juvenile leopard was captured on May 8, having escaped a week earlier from a safari park in Hangzhou, China.

There are also worrying precedents for what happens in such incidents: the US Skylab space station broke up over the Indian Ocean and scattered debris across Western Australia when it returned to Earth in 1979. More recently, a piece of debris from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landed on a farm in Washington state, after the second stage of the rocket broke up on reentry.

But amid deepening political mistrust of the US, and a lack of technological exchanges, meaningful scientific international exchanges with Beijing are being sidestepped in favor of fanning the flames of nationalist anger.

China fires back after NASA criticism of rocket debris reentry

Dominick Mastrangelo

THE HILL 10/5/2021

The Chinese government is firing back at NASA officials who criticized the country's space program following reports of debris from an uncontrolled rocket falling into Earth's atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean over the weekend.

© Getty Images China fires back after NASA criticism of rocket debris reentry

"China has been closely tracking its trajectory and issued statements on the re-entry situation in advance," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, according to The Associated Press. "There has been no report of harm on the ground. China also shares the results of re-entry predictions through international cooperation mechanisms."

On Saturday, U.S. Space Command confirmed the event and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson blamed China for a failure to "act responsibly and transparently in space."

"Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations. It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris," Nelson said in a statement.

Hua on Monday shot back at Nelson and U.S. officials for what she described as a double standard China is being held to when it comes to space.

"American media used romantic rhetoric like 'shooting stars lighting up the night sky,' " Hua said. "But when it comes to the Chinese side, it's a completely different approach."

Hua said China is "willing to work with other countries including the United States to strengthen cooperation in the use of outer space," but added "we also oppose double standards on this issue."

Liberal MP questions Justice Department's legal advice on fired scientists

OTTAWA — A Liberal MP is advising the Public Health Agency of Canada not to rely on legal advice from the federal Justice Department because it is not always right.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Toronto MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs minister, gave the advice late Monday at a House of Commons committee that is trying to find out why two scientists at Canada's highest security laboratory were fired.

PHAC president Iain Stewart told the special committee on Canada-China relations that revealing details would breach the Privacy Act and jeopardize national security and an ongoing RCMP investigation.

He says that advice was given by the Justice Department.

Committee members, backed up by parliamentary law clerk Phiippe Dufresne, insist they have the constitutional authority to order the production of any documents they please and that their authority takes precedence over any other laws.

But Christian Roy, director and senior general counsel of health legal services at the Justice Department, says the department has never recognized the power of committees to compel documents in violation of the Privacy Act or other laws.

Oliphant questioned Roy's legal opinion.

"Lawyers are not always right and Justice lawyers are particularly, in my mind, not always right," he told the committee.

He noted that Justice lawyers were wrong in claiming a law banning genetic discrimination was unconstitutional, after fighting it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Moreover, Oliphant said he was "horrified" to discover that Justice lawyers had advised the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to illegally keep potentially revealing electronic data about people over a 10-year period.

"I have learned to now question of Department of Justice lawyers," Oliphant said, suggesting that Stewart get "a second opinion because the Justice Department is not giving you the best advice."


The committee voted unanimously later Monday to give PHAC 10 days to turn over unredacted documents about the fired scientists, which the parliamentary law clerk is to review and advise committee members as to what needs to be blacked out to protect privacy, national security and the police investigation.

If the agency continues to refuse to disclose the unredacted documents, the committee will seek an order to do so from the House of Commons.

PHAC formally terminated the employment of Canadian scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, in January.

The pair was escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in July 2019 over what Stewart has described as "relating to possible breaches in security protocols."

The Winnipeg lab is Canada’s only Level Four laboratory, designed to deal safely with deadly contagious germs such as Ebola.

PHAC has previously said the pair's escorted exit had nothing to do with the fact that four months earlier, Qiu had been responsible for a shipment of Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Stewart has released some redacted documents to the committee about that virus transfer, which he said show that all laws and protocols were followed.

He also assured the committee Monday that there is no link between those viruses and the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which first surfaced in China's Wuhan province.

That didn't stop Conservative MP Michael Chong, who referred to the two fired scientists as being Chinese when they are in fact Canadians.

"There is no doubt that (Qui) trained technicians at that very institute of virology to establish a Level Four lab, the only Level Four lab in the People's Republic of China, and there is no doubt that the coronavirus emerged ostensibly in Wuhan a number of months later," Chong said.

He dismissed suggestions that he was peddling a conspiracy theory, citing various experts who've posited that the coronavirus may have been inadvertently released from the Wuhan lab.

Oliphant accused Chong of "drawing two threads that are completely unrelated together," calling it "absolutely irresponsible" and "cheap politics."

Bloc Quebecois MP Stephane Bergeron agreed that Chong's language was inflammatory.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2021.

The Canadian Press

The fight for racial equity, legalization from within the marijuana industry

Nearly a decade ago, Linda Greene was having dinner with some of her friends when she heard that marijuana had been legalized for medicinal use in Washington, D.C. Having lived through the 1960s counterculture, she saw an opportunity.

Greene opened Anacostia Organics in 2019. The push to open the medicinal marijuana dispensary began after Greene saw that of the 15 original cultivator and dispensary licenses issued by the district’s Department of Health, none had been awarded to residents of the U.S. capital, and only two had been awarded to people of color.

Anacostia Organics became the first medical marijuana dispensary east of the Anacostia River, located in a poverty-stricken area that was also home to the majority of the city’s patients registered to buy marijuana for medicinal purposes. Greene, who aims to uplift the community in which her dispensary is located, said the drug has been misunderstood.

“This is not a stoner industry,” she told ABC News. “It’s been misconceived. ... It’s the industry of healing.”

© The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE Linda Greene, founder of Anacostia Organics, listens to speakers at the ribbon cutting ceremony of Anacostia Organics, the first medical marijuana dispensary east of the Anacostia River, on Jan. 24, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

Greene is one of over 320,000 Americans who work in the cannabis industry. The drug, which has been legalized for recreational use in 17 states and Washington, D.C., accounted for $17.5 billion in sales in 2020.

Yet, even as revenues from cannabis continue to grow across the country, the drug remains a federally prohibited Schedule 1 controlled substance -- in the same category as heroin, ecstasy and LSD.

That may change, though. Ninety-one percent of Americans surveyed believed marijuana should be legalized, according to a Pew Research Center survey from last month. Of those participants, 60% said it should be legalized both recreationally and medicinally. Only 8% said it should not be legal for any adult use.

The survey was conducted amid a heightened push by lawmakers to decriminalize the drug at the federal level and provide restorative justice to those who’ve been incarcerated for certain marijuana offenses. The House recently passed the SAFE Banking Act of 2019, which would make it easier for cannabis companies to operate in states where sales of the drug are legal.

During a press briefing on April 20, widely considered to be an unofficial holiday for marijuana users, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Joe Biden supports “decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging any prior criminal records. He also supports legalizing medicinal marijuana.”

© The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE Mayor Muriel E. Bowser makes remarks at the ribbon cutting ceremony of Anacostia Organics, the first medical marijuana dispensary east of the Anacostia River, on Jan. 24, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

But while Biden’s position may fall short of full recreational legalization, Andrew Freedman, the former director of cannabis coordination for the state of Colorado, said now may be one of the best chances to legalize the drug.

Freedman was widely known as Colorado’s cannabis czar. He spearheaded the state’s framework for recreational marijuana use legalization -- the first in the country. Since 2014, the industry has amassed $10 billion in sales and over $400 million in tax revenue that has been used in part to fund the state’s school-related projects.

He said the state has had legal marijuana for long enough now that it’s not even taboo anymore.

“If you go to Colorado right now, and you have conversations about cannabis, it’s the most normal thing in the world,” he said. “It stands right alongside alcohol. It stands right alongside the Denver Broncos as just a thing to have a conversation about.”

© Leigh Vogel/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE Andrew Freedman, Director of Marijuana Coordination, Office of the Governor, State of Colorado, speaks during the Aspen Ideas Festival 2015 in Aspen, Colo., July 3, 2015.

Freedman, who went on to advise other state governments about how to establish cannabis regulations, is now the executive director of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation. The think tank represents stakeholders including big tobacco, big beer and security companies, among others.

With more states legalizing it, Freedman said the think tank’s goal is to focus on the “hows” of marijuana legalization rather than the “ifs.”

“Our strategy is really to stop focusing on if legalization should go forward, recognizing that legalization has gone forward,” he said. “It’s a reality for almost half of America.”

Virginia became one of the latest states to legalize marijuana for recreational use last month. But while it’s the first state in the South to do so, it’ll take three years for people to be able to sell the drug legally. Gov. Ralph Northam recently pushed the state legislature to speed up the timeframe to legalize simple possession in an effort to limit marijuana-related arrests.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Black Americans are nearly four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite similar rates of use.MORE: New York legalizes recreational marijuana, expunges former pot convictions

Shanita Penny was charged with possession nearly a decade ago. She said she believes her encounter with the law is an example of the racial bias often seen in policing minorities who are caught with marijuana.

“It’s personal. I was on [Interstate 95] in Virginia when I was pulled over and arrested for cannabis possession,” she told ABC News. “Born and raised in Virginia, I didn’t think that would happen.”

Penny paid nearly $3,500 to expunge her record after being charged with possession. She said she believes it was only because she was able to get the help of an attorney. It was a difficult process, she said, even “for someone who’s reasonably resourced.”

“But for someone who’s not, this becomes a game-changer in the worst way,” she said.

© Paul Frangipane/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE Workers trim the flowers of hemp plants at Hempire State Growers farm in Milton, N.Y., March 31, 2021.

Penny worked for several Fortune 500 companies as a consultant before founding cannabis consulting firm Budding Solutions. She said she thinks wielding her skills in compliance and business development will not only help cannabis businesses thrive but will also balance the scales of justice for minorities.

“It lit a fire under me to make legalization happen in a way that people who were not interested in consuming this plant or being part of this industry would fully understand why legalization is so important and how equitable legalization can impact your life, whether you’re touching this plant or not,” she said.MORE: Legal marijuana movement builds as more states change laws

Decriminalizing marijuana possession first and foremost is important, she said, because if legalization is “truly going to prioritize racial equity and the harm that’s been done, then we needed to stop the harm as soon as possible.”

Like in Colorado, other states are increasingly seeing the revenue from their cannabis sales as a source of funding to pursue racial equity and economic opportunity, Freedman said.

“A lot of the conversation now is, how do you make sure that the economic opportunities available from a new economy are there for the communities most harmed by the war on drugs?” he said.

A resolution passed in Evanston, Illinois, in March would provide reparations to the communities hit the hardest: A portion of tax revenues from cannabis sales would go toward a $10 million fund over 10 years to help pay for home repairs or down payments for Black residents who’ve faced historically unfair housing practices.

In Virginia, the law to legalize cannabis includes the so-called Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, which would direct 30% of tax revenue to communities that have been overpoliced for marijuana-related crimes.

“We have a lot of hopes on the commercial market here, particularly in Virginia,” said activist Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of the group Marijuana Justice. “But it is going to be a hard push to truly make that equitable, and we would like to really say that this is a first step forward. This is a progressive step forward.”

In Washington, D.C., Greene says she also feels compelled to reinvest the fruits of her labor into her community. Along with opening Anacostia Organics in her own neighborhood, she also employs people who live there and teaches them the inner workings of the industry so that they, too, can one day build up.

Review of federal prison isolation units 'not adequate,' new study says

OTTAWA — A study has found shortcomings with the process intended to serve as a check on new units for isolating federal prisoners from the general jail population.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In response to criticism of solitary confinement, the government ushered in "structured intervention units" for inmates requiring isolation to allow better access to programming and mental-health care.

Prisoners transferred to the units are supposed to be allowed out of their cells for four hours each day, with two of those hours engaged in "meaningful human contact."

According to the Correctional Service, personnel known as independent external decision makers review inmate cases on an ongoing basis, and provide binding recommendations related to their conditions and length of confinement.

However, a new study by academic experts says the reviews are "not adequate," and it points to a lack of information about the nature of the information used by the decision makers, the logic behind their findings and the timing of the implementation of their decisions.

The study, made public Monday, was prepared by criminologists Anthony Doob and Jane Sprott and law professor Adelina Iftene using data provided by the Correctional Service.

The prison service said it was reviewing the report.

"We continue to work hard to help inmates take advantage of the opportunities for time out of cell and meaningfully engage in diverse activities and programs, especially during the pandemic," said spokeswoman Isabelle Robitaille.

As of this week there were 188 inmates in a structured intervention unit at federal prison facilities across Canada, representing about 1.5 per cent of the inmate population, she said.

An earlier report by Doob and Sprott, released in February, said 28 per cent of the stays in the units could be described, given international standards, as solitary confinement and 10 per cent could be considered to be torture.

The latest study examined data dealing with decision makers' reviews of the length of a unit stay.

It found cases were often referred to decision makers within 67 days. However, there were 105 cases in which the person stayed in a unit for at least 76 days with no record of the case ever being sent to a decision maker.

The study also found:

— Although the decision maker may have "independent" authority to decide that someone should be released from a unit, the prison service can arrange the timing of that release to meet its own needs;

— Black prisoners' stays in units were longer than the stays of other groups;

— The review process did not help remove those with mental-health issues more quickly.

The study concluded that the decision makers' reviews "as they currently exist are not adequate."

"Without access to considerably more information about the manner in which these reviews are carried out, it is difficult for us to know whether this system of oversight can be made adequate," the authors wrote.

"Most disturbing to us, however, is not the fact that we were not able to examine in detail how the (decision makers') process actually works, but that nobody seems to be doing this."

Based on the new findings and previous analysis of data about the units, "it is clear that change is desperately needed," the study said.

"Our findings also point to the importance of there being an oversight body that can look systematically not only at the kind of data that we, as volunteers, have been looking at, but also at other more detailed data related to the operation of the (units) and the practice of solitary confinement."

Robitaille said the prison service is working with stakeholders and values their feedback on ongoing enhancements to the new model.

"While there is more work to do, we remain strongly committed to the successful implementation of SIUs as we work to safely and successfully rehabilitate offenders."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

UCP FAILS BLAMES OTHERS

Opposition, Ottawa, media looking for COVID-19 disaster: Alberta justice minister

EDMONTON — Alberta’s justice minister says a COVID-19 disaster is what the provincial Opposition, the federal government and the media "were looking for and want" in the province

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Kaycee Madu, in Facebook comments posted Friday, said the province can't risk giving the disease a chance to "overwhelm our health-care system, then create public panic, and see Albertans in field and makeshift hospitals gasping for breath because we have run out of ventilators, manpower etc.

“I don’t think it will be responsible to simply wait until we have a disaster on our hands,” he added.

“That’s what the NDP, the media and the federal Liberals were looking for and want.”

Madu was not made available for an interview Monday.

His spokesman, Blaise Boehmer, said in a statement: “The minister was referring to the increasing tendency of different groups, including the NDP, to exploit the pandemic for their own political purposes.

“We see this every day with the NDP’s overcooked and incendiary rhetoric both in the legislative assembly and on social media.

“The minister won’t apologize for stating the obvious.”

NDP health critic David Shepherd said "what we want, and what we've wanted for the last 14 months, is to see responsible action from (the United Conservative) government … so that we would not be in the position now of Alberta being the worst jurisdiction in North America for COVID-19 new cases."

Political scientist Jared Wesley said Madu's comments raise concerns about the line in politics between respecting opponents while trying to defeat them politically versus trying to delegitimize them altogether.

"When you start accusing your opponents of literally wishing death on Albertans, that's a bridge too far,” said Wesley, who's with the University of Alberta.

"When it comes to being a minister of the Crown, when you are governing on behalf of the entire population, there's an extra onus on you to rise above that type of tribalistic rhetoric and behaviour."

Kenney’s government, in recent weeks, resisted calls for new health restrictions as Alberta COVID-19 cases climbed to record levels and doctors were given guidelines on how to triage patients should the health system become overwhelmed.

Kenney acted last Tuesday, sending all schoolchildren home to learn online while imposing sharper restrictions on capacity in businesses and in worship services.

The province also promised a renewed effort at enforcement. On the weekend, police made arrests and handed out violation tickets in Calgary and in central Alberta for public gatherings that violated health rules.

Madu's comments came days after Kenney, facing criticism that his government waited too long to react to the third wave, said no one should point fingers and politicize the fight against COVID-19.

Kenney and his minsters have repeatedly accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government of hamstringing the relief effort and, as late as April 29, Kenney blamed Alberta's entire third wave on Ottawa for a slow vaccine rollout.

Trudeau reached out last week, offering extra help if needed. Kenney declined the offer.

On Monday, Alberta recorded 1,597 new COVID-19 cases for a total active case count of 25,438. There are 690 people in hospital. Of those, 158 patients are in intensive care — the highest since the pandemic began.

Also Monday, Alberta opened up vaccine bookings for those as young as 12, with thousands getting processed soon after the online bookings went live at 8 a.m.

Alberta Health Services said it had booked almost 130,000 appointments by 4 p.m.

The expanded eligibility means that 3.8 million Albertans, out of a population of 4.4 million, are eligible to get vaccinated.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2021.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press