Sandra Finley

2018-02-22 For your selection, Feb 22 (Corrected Feb 23. Vaccination is not mandatory anywhere in Canada.)

 Anti-SLAPP & SLAPP, Corporate & Individual manipulation of Justice system, For your selection (summary list recent postings)  No Responses »
Feb 222018
 

re NAFTA:  It’s looking as though the Government is going to give up its insistence on keeping the ISDS clauses.   Hallelujah!  That will be a large win.   Maybe I will post something, AFTER knowing for certain.   (I am chagrined that (as I understand), the about-face is characterized as a concession to the demands of the Americans, no mention of the pressure exerted by Canadians!)   A petition has been launched to hold feet to the fire on ISDS.  Now, renewal of a continuous battle, keep water out of the trade deals, NAFTA included!

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I am pretty proud of us!  Prosecutions over the 2016 Census have begun.  StatsCan has made changes to its tactics (no more threats of 3 months in jail.  No mention of pressure exerted by Canadians. And a definite statement that Lockheed Martin is out. No mention of pressure exerted by Canadians.   Unchanged strategy – – not telling the truth:   2018-02-13 StatsCan says response rate to 2016 census is highest yet, CBC. The names of those being prosecuted . .

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This week Big Pharma’s Vaccines are under a new round of attacks.  Brian Hooker’s refusal to give up on Freedom of Information requests to the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) finally paid off.   He received 200,000 pages – – there’s very damning new documentation out from hiding.  The CDC should support gun control, before someone turns a gun on them!

2018-02-21  Vaccines: Dr. Brian Hooker, more revelations re the fraud at the CDC. Video recommended.

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Attention has been drawn to Merck’s HPV vaccine, Gardasil

(until I looked it up just now,  I was highly doubtful that HPV would be on vaccine schedules in Canada.  Wrong.  I only looked up the Alberta schedule.  It’s there: 3 doses in Grade 5.  I thought the furor over Gardasil, as far back as 2010, would have at least caused people to do “due diligence”.  Sadly, wrong.)

Vaccines: outrage of the father of a boy vaccinated for HPV (Merck’s Gardasil) without parental consent. Wetaskwin, AB. Edmonton Journal “Opinion” is propaganda for Merck.

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Question:  if you are in a jurisdiction that legislated a mandatory vaccination schedule without which a child cannot attend school (California, Ontario, others),

are parents still required to sign a parental consent form, or does the legislation cut the parent(s) out of the process?  There is no need for parental consent if the vaccination is demanded by Law?

Please see:    2018-02-23  CORRECTION: It is Legislated – – vaccines are NOT mandatory anywhere in Canada.

The situation in Alberta,

The fact sheet for HPV (Gardasil) from Alberta Health says:

 a.   Information about the disease and the vaccine will be sent to the parent/guardian. If you want your child to get the vaccine, you must fill out the consent form and return it to the school.

  b.   The information on the website would be what is sent to parents/guardians:

Immunization is safe.  It is much safer to get immunized than to get this disease
 and so on.
The evidence is that HPV vaccines, Merck’s Gardasil being the best known, are very high-risk.   See

Includes link to “the most comprehensive documentation I think you’ll find”.  Includes the story of Japan’s experience, and class action lawsuit by young Japanese women.   Also, older information from Judicial Watch,  , , ,  The documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) detail 26 new deaths reported to the government following HPV vaccination between September 1, 2010 and September 15, 2011. That’s 26 reported deaths of young, previously healthy, girls after Gardasil vaccination in just one year.  

The “most comprehensive documentation” adds this:

In March 2013, the advocacy group Judicial Watch said it had received documents from the Department of Health and Human Services stating that the VICP (Vaccine Injury Compensation Program)  had awarded $5,877,710 dollars to 49 people who made injury claims about HPV vaccination. Forty-seven of the claims were for alleged injury caused by HPV vaccination and, in two cases, the claimants alleged that the vaccine caused death.

I can’t remember whether I fit this additional one in anywhere.   There are numerous sources to choose from.  I can’t understand that people fall for, or are subject to the propaganda and money of Merck.   As I say, unconscionable when you know, and it’s not hard “to know” the damage being done.

from April 2017:   http://www.thevaccinereaction.org/2017/04/girls-ovaries-destroyed-by-gardasil-merck-did-not-research-effects-of-vaccine-on-female-reproduction/

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We are in a dicey situation.  The intention in Ontario is to build a much more effective computerized system which will make enforcement of “mandatory vaccination” (that isn’t actually mandatory under the law) “efficient”.   It might be good for being able to track the effects of the vaccines.  But it’s also an effective tool for reducing the ability of parents/guardians to exercise CHOICE over what vaccinations their children receive.

2018-02-14 Vaccinations: Over 5,000 elementary school kids suspended in Toronto for out-of-date immunization records. This, in a province that legislated mandatory (not really mandatory)  vaccinations.

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I encourage you to join in, in some way.   The promotion of Gardasil is unconscionable.  The damage it does is absolutely known.   As ever,  the work of some of us will accomplish nothing.  It is only when others join in, that any of our voices become heard.  Be the last straw, the one that broke the camel’s back!   It COULD be you!

All that is required is for many of us to talk about it, in our neighbourhoods and communities.   I am ensuring that my extended family and friends have the information.

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A quickie,  2018-02-21  House of Commons electronic petition (on nuke waste) — people with Canadian addresses only, please!

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2018-02-18 How to reform Canada’s jury system. CBC discussion. Response.   Wouldn’t ya know?!   I think I have a contribution to make to the discussion.  Maybe you will agree with my starting point, but disagree with my ending point?

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2018-02-15 Monsanto using the Court system to go after AVAAZ, a SLAPP suit I would say.

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P.S.

The two words Never Again are once again being invoked, they go back at least to the aftermath of World War Two and the holocaust.   The  resurgence in 2018 is as a hashtag under which American teenagers are demanding gun control, safe schools.  Impressive kids who have concluded that adults are not going to do it for them.

They’ve started another huge mobilization;   the ranks of protesters – – engaged citizens – – keeps on growing.   From my perspective, things are moving in a good direction.  We just need to keep it going that way!   This latest wave,  a flashpoint ignited by the Parkland, FL, school shootings comes at a time when significant “wins” are being reported daily.  Maybe #Never Again is the making of another win.

The last “Selection” showed a cause-and-effect relationship between the Corporatocracy and Protests.  Bilcon, Monsanto examples.  Today’s posting adds Merck, member of the Corporatocracy, representing Big Pharma.

 

Vaccines: Maryland HPV letter, Josh Mazer

 Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  No Responses »
Feb 222018
 

I  received the MARYLAND HPV LETTER  after sending a letter to a School Division in Alberta about the same issue.  The Maryland letter is better than mine!

The introduction to the letter:

It highlights, among other things, an obvious increase in death due to all causes in the studies on Gardisil™ safety, and an increase in the relative risk of suicide among patients in those studies.  Josh (author of the Letter) has given permission for anyone who can use the information contained in his letter in any format they choose, to inform their own school boards, Boards of Health, legislators etc. that the people will not tolerate the use of public schools as a place to advertise Gardasil™, a faulty and defective product.  These are the facts. Feel free to cut and paste them into your own letters and emails. The evidence of unacceptable levels of risk of injury is overwhelming. It is the considered opinion of this scientist that support for Gardasil™ use on any population must be dropped in the United States of America and its territories.   -James Lyons-Weiler, PhD,

The Maryland letter is cordial,  presents the refuting information well, and with citations.

It ends with

However, I wish to make my position absolutely clear : if this stealth marketing campaign is not immediately denounced at the highest levels of our state government, and if action is not taken to investigate the potentially fraudulent claims in the Tai/Chan letter, I will examine legal options to force this issue.

Respectfully, 

Josh Mazer

MARYLAND HPV LETTER    http://ipaknowledge.org/Maryland-HPV-Letter.php

With thanks to Janet M.

Gardasil

Check this out: http://ipaknowledge.org/Maryland-HPV-Letter.php

How school vaccine clinics are intimidating kids into being vaccinated

 

As you can see, there’s really a lot going on, on the vaccine front!

VCC (Vaccine Choice Canada) still needs members! Please join if you haven’t already.

https://vaccinechoicecanada.com/

& please consider joining in w. the VCC group in Toronto. We need helpers, always —- & especially some willing to do occasional noise-making with placards & such.

Folks from out of town very welcome. One person came last night from Uxbridge, Brenda came in from Whitby.

Join us!

Janet

p.s. I add constantly to my 2 main vaccine postings Vaccines: Miscellany, A – Z  https://www.janetsplanet.ca/blog/vaccines-miscellany-a-z

& Vaccines: It’s Flu (Shot) Season! https://www.janetsplanet.ca/blog/vaccines-flu-season

Cannot keep up to all the news & revelations!?

But I find it handy, even for myself, to have these collections to go to where I know I can find a variety of relevant info, right handy.

Vaccines: outrage of the father of a boy vaccinated for HPV (Merck’s Gardasil) without parental consent. Wetaskwin, AB. Edmonton Journal “Opinion” is propaganda for Merck.

 Uncategorized, Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  No Responses »
Feb 222018
 

A father (and mother) from Wetaskwin, AB were very angry when their son was vaccinated for HPV without parental consent.

Question re legislated mandatory vaccination schedules or the child cannot attend school (California, some other US states, Ontario, Alberta, add New Brunswick (?)):

are parents still required to sign a parental consent form, or does the legislation cut the parent(s) out of the process?  There is no need for parental consent if the vaccination is demanded  by law?

I had a quick look at a couple of the news reports.   The Edmonton Journal Opinion piece, in my mind, amounted to a promotion for Gardasil (the Merck HPV vaccine – – there are others, under different names).  http://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/paula-simons-son-of-former-catholic-school-trustee-who-fought-against-hpv-vaccines-was-accidentally-immunized

The school division doing the vaccinations is St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Separate Regional Division #38.  I sent them a letter with some of what is known about Gardasil.   Not only should they not be vaccinating without parental permission,  based on the evidence available,  I would not be administering HPV vaccine to ANY child, male OR female.   Maybe? the school divisions cannot be faulted if no one TELLS them?   That’s you and me!

2018-02-21 Vaccines, more on Gardasil (HPV): Letter to Alberta School Division. Using schools to cut parents out of Vaccination Decisions?

 Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  2 Responses »
Feb 222018
 

Brought to awareness by the outraged father from Wetaskwin AB,

I was incredulous that this School Division in Alberta is vaccinating for HPV, given what is known.

(The School Division is also uncomfortably close to two of my nephews and their families.)

I wrote the Board of the School Division:

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LETTER TO SCHOOL DIVISION RE GARDASIL (HPV) VACCINE

TO:  St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic
Separate Regional Division #38
4906 – 50 Avenue
Leduc, Albera, T9E 6W9

 

Dear Members of the Board,

 

A friend sent me the information about the boy (Wekaskwin) who was accidentally vaccinated for HPV.

I think you would want to know the “more” (one page) that is appended.

I just assumed that most people know how bad Gardasil is (HPV vaccine manufactured by Merck).  On reflection, why would they?  It is difficult to stay on top of the many issues in today’s world.   And to sort out truth from fiction.  Additionally, Canadian media has been negligent in its duty to inform us about the dark side of HPV vaccines.

Most of the documentation of the effects that the HPV vaccine can have, and has had, relates to young women.  It is a risky vaccine.  The virus is transmitted through sexual activity.  The claimed benefits are increasingly questioned.

To that end, I wish to submit to you the information appended.

 

Sincerely, and in the interests of our children,

Sandra Finley

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APPENDED          INFORMATION,  HPV VACCINATIONS                    Feb 17, 2018       Sandra Finley

I found this from Australia which I think is the most comprehensive documentation you’re likely to find: https://changingtimes.media/2017/10/12/australia-rolls-out-gardasil-9-amid-reports-that-hpv-vaccination-is-causing-death-injury-and-infertility/

You don’t have to read it all, scroll down to the video   Sacrificial virgins which tells a whole lot.  (Update:  It’s 2023 – – the video has been taken down.   Big Pharma doesn’t like it.)

When I look at

  • coverage in Edmonton media over the HPV vaccination in Wetaskwin, as an example
  • lack of organization in Canada around the HPV vaccination specifically
  • the people who are making money, or taking money

I think, yes, it’s understandable that a poorly-informed citizenry might exist in Canada.   The video shows that women in other countries have not been so docile, which may explain the difference in awareness.

The Mercola coverage on the HPV vaccine from 2012, is old but still good, and has only been reinforced time and again, by the experience of the intervening years – – 2023 Update:  it’s also been taken down.: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/24/hpv-vaccine-victim-sues-merck.aspx.

EXCERPT:     Judicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, recently issued an update on adverse reaction reports relating to Gardasil.

The documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) detail 26 new deaths reported to the government following HPV vaccination between September 1, 2010 and September 15, 2011. That’s 26 reported deaths of young, previously healthy, girls after Gardasil vaccination in just one year.

Other serious side effects reported during that time frame included:

Seizures Paralysis Blindness Pancreatitis
Speech problems Short term memory loss Guillain-Barre syndrome Ovarian cysts

Between May 2009 and September 2010, 16 deaths after Gardasil vaccination were reported. For that timeframe, there were also 789 reports of “serious” Gardasil adverse reactions, including 213 cases of permanent disability and 25 diagnosed cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome, Judicial Watch reported.

Serious Vaccine Reactions, Deaths, Often Labeled “Coincidence”

While it is not clear exactly what is causing so many adverse reactions, it is known that Gardasil contains genetically engineered virus-like protein particles as well as aluminum, which can affect immune function.    Further,  . . .   (go to the article if you’d like to read further)

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UPDATE:    2018-02-23   CORRECTION: It is Legislated – – vaccines are NOT mandatory anywhere in Canada.

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UPDATE:    It would have been nice if I had I received the

Maryland HPV letter, by Josh Mazer

before I sent my letter!

2018-02-21 House of Commons electronic petition (on nuke waste) — people with Canadian addresses only, please!

 Radioactive waste  No Responses »
Feb 212018
 

Thanks to Janet M:

Easy petition to sign electronically!

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas:

  • The federal government “owns” over 2 million cubic meters of radioactive waste, none of which is securely contained in long-term management facilities;
  • A consortium of five multinational corporations has been contracted to operate all federal nuclear sites where this waste is found;
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency says the preferred option for managing radioactive waste is to isolate it from the biosphere; and
  • The consortium appears to be attempting to maximize its profits by proposing “quick and cheap” disposal options that would not keep radioactive waste isolated from the biosphere.

We, the undersigned, Citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:

1) Enact strict regulations to keep radioactive waste out of the biosphere;

2) Build state of the art facilities for its own radioactive waste;

3) Reform the nuclear governance system to ensure that radioactive waste is managed according to best international practices and standards; and

4) Take profit out of radioactive waste management.

 

GO here to sign the petition:

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-1450

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Janet, cont.

you will receive a “confirmation requested” message — if you do not reply to that, to confirm, your signature will not be counted.

 

(please be generous; share widely!)
——– Forwarded Message ——–

Subject: House of Commons Electronic Petitions / Pétitions électroniques de la Chambre des communes
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2018 08:20:05 -0500
From:
To:

 

This is to inform you that petition e-1450 initiated by Ole Hendrickson, which you have supported, has been published and will be open for signature for 120 days. You will find the e-petition webpage by clicking here. Please note that you have already been counted as a signatory to the petition and no further action is required.

2018-02-13 StatsCan says response rate to 2016 census is highest yet, CBC. The names of those being prosecuted . . .

 Privacy of Personal Information; Charter Right; Surveillance; StatsCan Censuses & Surveys  No Responses »
Feb 192018
 

RELATED:   (2011 census)

2013-10   Lockheed Martin Census: StatsCan math is wrong on non-compliance. It’s 11%, not 2%. Under oath at the trial of Audrey Tobias.

GOOD NEWS:    3 months in jail is no longer used to coerce citizens into relinquishing their Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information.   (But the threat of prosecution is still alive and well, with no mention of constitutional right to privacy.)

GIVE CREDIT:   the CBC article below provides better reporting of the reasons for non-compliance than has typically been the case over the years since 2003 when all this started.

  • privacy of personal information
  • Lockheed Martin Corp

 

AUDREY TOBIAS, INTREPID WARRIOR, PASSED AWAY:

  • StatsCan and the Justice Dept charged Audrey Tobias for non-compliance when she was 89 years old.  She refused to be complicit because of Lockheed Martin’s involvement.  Her trial was in 2013.   Audrey passed away at the end of 2016.   At this moment I don’t have the words to express the pangs in my heart.  You fought the good fight to the end, Audrey!   I think you are still here, even if just to dance in celebration of achievement in the Lockheed Martin – StatsCan data-base-on-Canadians, debacle.

 

I DO NOT BELIEVE:

This is the first time I have seen StatsCan quoted in the media to say  Lockheed Martin is no longer involved with the census.  (Thank-you, Audrey!)  The only statement of that was in the transcript of the Audrey Tobias trial which very few people saw.   Ref:  2014-07-17   Transcript, Tobias trial establishes Lockheed Martin is OUT (but not really when you see Lockheed Martin’s role of “steerage”)

(CBC article below (Feb 13/18):  Statistics Canada confirmed to CBC News that Lockheed Martin is no longer involved with the census.  “For the 2016 Census … all systems were developed in-house,” it said in an email.)   

The “why” of my disbelief is spelt out in  

2016-03-18   Does Lockheed Martin Corp have a role in the 2016 Census?

HOWEVER,  with StatsCan having publicly stated that Lockheed Martin is out, whether or not they actually are, if that is an individual’s reason for non-compliance,  the Crown/StatsCan may have an advantage in Court.  They’ve removed your raison d’etre.   Courts do not want to hear about things like FVEY countries’ collaboration on census data bases and international surveillance.  They want to know:  did you, or did you not  comply?  However, at the last trial we did develop an effective strategy for placing what would otherwise have been blocked, before the judge.

The Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information I will defend to the end.  If it dies, democracy dies.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT . . . ?

I am from the school that says it’s better if you don’t lie.  But better to lie outright than try your hand at manipulation through word-smithing.

To claim that non-compliance went from 1.6 million down to a few hundred households from one census to the next (2011 to 2016), is streeeeeetching things a little too far!

StatsCan says below

For the 2016 census, 98.4 per cent of Canadians filled out either the long- or short-form census. Most of the remaining 1.6 per cent couldn’t be tracked down or didn’t provide enough information to be counted properly.

Statistics Canada identified 347 people unwilling to fill out the forms.

“identified” 347 people unwilling to fill out their form does not mean that only 347 people did not comply.   The singular message is   zippity-doo-dah!  EVERYBODY is filling in their StatsCan forms!   There are no problems here!  (Use words that minimize.)

Sorry,  I’d like to, but I can’t bring myself to believe

(NOT)   A record number of Canadians filled out the 2016 census, but there were still a few hundred people who refused.

From the 2013 posting at top,  StatsCan under oath:

14.6 million requests were made . . .

A.   Yes.

Q. . . . for completion of the form?

A.   Yes.

Q.   Okay.

A.   We received a little bit over 13 million completed questionnaires for 98 per cent response rate.

(14.6 million less 13 million) means that 1.6 million forms were not returned.   Which means that StatsCan makes serious errors in basic math.  1.6 million non-compliance out of 14.6 million (the 2011 census) is 11% non-compliance.

CELEBRATE!

In memory of Audrey Tobias,  how about a party in cyberspace?   Who we are will mingle up there in the ether.

When we started, very few people knew who Lockheed Martin was, and what they do in the world.  We helped change that.  Our right to Privacy of Personal Information vis-a-vis the Government,  still stands although on wobbly legs.  That’s a major success.   Bless us all, join in the song and dance!   The worst about the tyrants was not they themselves, but us, all our cowardice and servility  … we are the dragons, had forgotten, and always knew.

2011-01-03 “All our Cowardice and Servility” from the Museum of Non-violent Resistance at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin

 

THE NAMES OF THOSE BEING PROSECUTED THIS TIME AROUND:

On a local news report I heard (I think I have this right) a man named David Stettler from the Vancouver area is in Court for non-compliance with the 2016 Census.  I understood him to object to the collection of the volume of personal information demanded by StatsCan.  Search as I may,  I have been unable to turn up an online news report of ANY of the prosecutions that are underway.  I have the fragment of what I heard this AM.

It was stated that prosecutions are underway, the number was (35?), slightly more than half the number prosecuted after previous censuses.  However, in the past,  as far as I know, ALL the prosecutions roughly started around the same time, near the end of the 2-year Statute of Limitations period, in about April.   The strategy this time around seems to be:   start the prosecutions early.  It might provide incentive to those who are still holding out, to fill in a census form.

I try to contact people who are being prosecuted.  If their reason for non-compliance is about Privacy of Personal Information in a democracy, or related to Lockheed Martin Corp,  I want them to know that a large body of support stands behind them.  I offer whatever help we might be able to provide, such as

2010-12-23 Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 8 Privacy – Case Law: The Queen Vs Plant protects a “biographical core of personal information” from the state. Oakes Test to override.

Please use the Comments at the bottom of the posting if you know more re names of people being prosecuted.   I have to “approve” your Comment for it to become visible to the public.  Some Comments remain a private conversation between the Commenter and me.   Thank-you for your assistance.  /Sandra

 

NOW, to

StatsCan says response rate to 2016 census is highest yet, CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/statistics-canada-census-lockheed-martin-1.3975666

Charges are possible for the 347 people who were unwilling to fill out the form

By Blair Sanderson

A record number of Canadians filled out the 2016 census, but there were still a few hundred people who refused.

A record number of Canadians filled out the 2016 census, but there were still a few hundred people who refused. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Statistics Canada says the response rate for the 2016 census was its highest yet, but there will always be Canadians who refuse to participate.

For the 2016 census, 98.4 per cent of Canadians filled out either the long- or short-form census. Most of the remaining 1.6 per cent couldn’t be tracked down or didn’t provide enough information to be counted properly.

Statistics Canada identified 347 people unwilling to fill out the forms.

“At some point over the next couple of months we will decide if any cases will be referred to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada,” said Statistics Canada spokesman Marc Hamel.

Census requirements became a hot-button issue in 2010 when the Harper government changed the rules for the long-form census, making it voluntary instead of mandatory.

As a result, the response rate for the long-form census dropped to 68 per cent in 2011, down from 93 per cent in 2006. The drop was widely viewed as diminishing the value of the statistical information.

Penalties for not completing census

Shortly after forming government the Liberals reinstated the long-form census as mandatory, meaning those who refuse could be criminally charged with penalties up to $500 in fines or three months in jail.

[INSERT, Sandra:   correction.  the penalties were “up to $500 in fines AND / OR three months in jail.]

The short-form census, which is the one most people get, has always been mandatory and there have always been people who refuse to fill it out.

People’s motivations for not completing the census forms vary.

“They can never make it 100 per cent secure,” said Philip Marsh of McBride, B.C.

Marsh refused to to fill out the short-form census in 2011 and was charged with breaching the Statistics Canada Act. He argued the prosecution was arbitrary and that he shouldn’t be compelled to reveal details about his personal life to the federal government.

“They don’t need to be storing my personal information about what my religion is or who my friends are. They need to know that I’m an upstanding citizen and I pay my taxes,” he said.

Toronto Audrey Tobias court

Activist Audrey Tobias objected to Lockheed Martin’s involvement with processing the census in 2011. She died in December 2016. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

 

The judge ruled against Marsh.

Others have refused to fill out the census because Lockheed Martin helped Statistics Canada process the data. They considered themselves to be conscientious objectors to the weapons contractor’s involvement.

But that’s changed.

Court action

Statistics Canada confirmed to CBC News that Lockheed Martin is no longer involved with the census.

“For the 2016 Census … all systems were developed in-house,” it said in an email.

Of the 347 people who have been identified as unwilling to fill out the latest census, Statistics Canada says it’s still deciding who they’ll pursue through the courts.

In 2011, Statistics Canada referred 54 cases to Canada’s Public Prosecution Service.

In 2006, that number was around 60.

2018-02-18 How to reform Canada’s jury system. CBC discussion. Response.

 Rule of Law  No Responses »
Feb 192018
 

In response to a panel on The Sunday Edition, CBC Radio, Feb 18,  http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-february-18-2018-1.4538717/how-to-reform-canada-s-jury-system-1.4538728

I sent the following to the participants, and to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, with minor edits:

 

RE:  Juries

Maybe my words can be helpful in some way.

Thank-you for the discussion of jury selection, arising from the all-white jury that acquitted Gerald Stanley of second-degree murder of Colten Bouchie.

My brother-in-law was in the pool for potential jury duty.  He mentioned that the two people adjacent to him going through the process were First Nations.  Both declined to go on the jury.  I think, “Of course”.  But I did not hear the reason I said “of course”,  articulated in your discussion.  Allow me to elaborate.

In the Battleford – Biggar area, there are white people, First Nations and Metis who live “in the country”, away from a town.  If you are White, First Nation OR Metis, faced with the arrival of a car of people who have been drinking, unless you know them, your antennae would go up.

An event similar to Stanley – Bouchie happened in 1999, in Alberta.  A pickup truck of young people (white) drove onto the farm of Wiebo Ludwig, in a manner that caused fear.  Ludwig called 9-1-1.  The situation escalated.  Help didn’t arrive (understandably, the farm is a distance from town).  Someone shot at the truck.  Young Karman Willis was killed by a ricocheting bullet.

And so, it is possible that a First Nations person might have thought that no one, regardless of skin colour, should have intruded on the Stanley farm, especially when they had been drinking.  But of course, when under the influence, people, regardless of skin colour, are more likely to make bad decisions, like going on the farm.

In that context, consider the dilemma of a First Nations person if they agree to go on jury in an adversarial system.  They might not endorse the rules of the game (adversarial).  But more importantly, remembering my own long-ago experience of being attacked by feminists (I was on their side, for heavens’ sake!), when my sin was to voice consideration for an older man who was a member of “the other side”:

If I am a member of a minority group that is fighting for civil rights, AND, in a particular situation I have some empathy for the actions of an individual, a member of the ones-who-dominate, I will be careful with what I say.

The truth is:  we ALL know how that works, we’ve learned it just by living and interacting with others.  It’s why we end up with academics, doctors, lawyers and others who conform.   It’s why whistle-blowers have tended to be marginalized. . . .   Human beings are subject to the pressure of their community, to stay within set boundaries.  If you step outside, on issues important to the community, you can expect to be “not liked”, or ostracized.

I’m not too sure, if I was First Nations, that I would have agreed to go on the jury.  I would have been nervous about the consequences I might face, in my community, after the trial, if it was seen that I had any empathy for Stanley.  In the discussion among jurors, what could I say?  The goal is to arrive at  “Yes”  or “No”.  And little more. White jurors had far less at stake, they are from the dominant group.

Although the use of juries is 800 years old, it is not an obsolete practice.  Part of the answer might be to re-think juries as members of community coming together to hear both sides, with dialogue to find answers.  But that would require us to move away from what might be at root of the problem:  an adversarial system, not designed to find answers in the usual sense of problem solving.

The Stanley-Bouchie case is a tragedy for all of us.  It is so clearly another example:  “the system”, whatever it is,  needs to have, as a goal, the healing of community.  Adversarial systems don’t, and can’t, do that; they tend to exacerbate the wounds.   However, I am encouraged by

The Federal Government announcement, as relayed by the Globe & Mail editorial, Feb 15, 2018:

. . .  The goal would seem to be uncontested self-governance for Indigenous peoples that want it. That notion is reinforced by the fact that Mr. Trudeau’s speech was informed by the 1992 report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

The report bluntly stated that, in spite of the Constitution, Ottawa had prevented “aboriginal nations from assuming the broad powers of governance that would permit them to fashion their own institutions and work out their own solutions to social, economic and political problems.”

Traditional First Nations, as I understand, have a different understanding of themselves in community.  Injuries brought by one upon another, are rends in the fabric of the community.   They, seems to me, are more likely to design a Justice system that serves the needs of the community.   I hope their endeavors will be fruitful, and influential.  They might help us revise our idea of “jury” and how it functions.

Thank-you for your endeavors to help effect change, it ain’t easy in a complex world!

 

 

Sandra Finley

2018-02-14 Vaccinations: Over 5,000 elementary school kids suspended in Toronto for out-of-date immunization records. This, in a province that legislated mandatory (not really mandatory) vaccinations.

 Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  2 Responses »
Feb 172018
 

Appended,  a URL list of similar reports (suspensions, or threats to suspend), with thanks to Janet M.  The reports are over “IMMUNIZATION RECORDS“.

The term “MANDATORY VACCINATIONS” is uniformly not used in these reports.   (It may be that the wording has been carefully chosen to avoid the controversy. . . .  WRONG, Sandra!  see the IMPORTANT CORRECTION.  It is more likely that they don’t use the phrase because the vaccinations are not actually mandatory.)  We circulated news of the passing of the Ontario legislation, and participated in submissions to the Government regarding mandatory vaccinations versus the need for CHOICE.    Which is the subject of  . . .

A father (and mother) in Edmonton were very angry when their son was vaccinated for HPV without parental consent.

(Question:  if you are in a jurisdiction that legislated a mandatory vaccination schedule or the child cannot attend school (California, Ontario and others),  are parents still required to sign a parental consent form, or does the legislation cut the parent(s) out of the process?  There is no need for parental consent if the vaccination is demanded by law?)

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: 

2018-02-23   CORRECTION: It is Legislated – – vaccines are NOT mandatory anywhere in Canada.

 

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Over 5,000 elementary school kids suspended in Toronto for out-of-date immunization records

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/02/14/over-5000-elementary-school-kids-suspended-in-toronto-for-out-of-date-immunization-records.html

The numbers have doubled since the previous school year as doctors call for a more streamlined reporting process.

Immunization requirements changed this year for children born in 2010 (currently Grade 2 students), said Dubey, who now require two doses of varicella (for chicken pox) to attend school under the Immunization of School Pupils Act.
Immunization requirements changed this year for children born in 2010 (currently Grade 2 students), said Dubey, who now require two doses of varicella (for chicken pox) to attend school under the Immunization of School Pupils Act.  (Toby Talbot / Toronto Star)
By Fatima Syed  Staff Reporter

A total of 5,063 public elementary students were suspended in Toronto this school year after getting caught in what one doctor called, a “1970s-style, cumbersome process” over immunization records.

The number of students suspended amounted to 7 per cent of the 73,262 elementary students in 586 Toronto public elementary schools assessed by Toronto Public Health from July to mid-December 2017. That’s a jump from 5.6 per cent last year.

“All of the students who were suspended either didn’t meet the immunization requirements as they were not up-to-date, their records were not filed on time, or they did not have a valid exemption,” said Dr. Vinita Dubey, associate medical officer at Toronto Public Health.

Share your thoughts

Should parents be responsible for updating their children’s immunization records with the school board?

 

 

 

 

 

All the students are back in school and up-to-date on their immunizations, said Dubey.

Immunization requirements changed this year for children born in 2010 (currently Grade 2 students), said Dubey, who now require two doses of varicella vaccine (for chicken pox) to attend school under the Immunization of School Pupils Act.

It is estimated that the varicella vaccine in children will offer 85 per cent protection after the first dose and 98 per cent after the second dose, said Ontario Ministry of Health spokesperson Laura Gallant in an email.

“As a result of this change, the number of Grade 2 students who were outstanding was higher than previous years,” said Dubey.

Last year, 46,726 elementary students were assessed in 584 schools; 2,622 (5.6 per cent) students were suspended.

Upon initial assessment, 25,653 of the assessed students were found to have out of date immunization records, and a first notice was sent to parents. A second notice was sent to 18,622 students three weeks later. A suspension order was then sent to 11,974 students, letting their parents know the date that their child would be suspended if Toronto Public Health did not receive updated information.

“The number of suspensions depends on the number of students who are assessed,” said Dubey, adding that not all students are assessed each year.

“We increase the numbers to match our staff capacity to handle the volume of work generated,” said Dubey.

Dr. Fatima Kamalia, a Thornhill-based pediatrician, has noticed an increase to the number of kids coming in for “emergency vaccination.”

“Those that get the (suspension)…they’re the ones that just missed the (deadline),” said Kamalia. “It’s more negligence on the parent’s part, not a deliberate decision to not vaccinate.”

Kamalia said that part of the problem is that there’s no system for doctors to remind parents about their kid’s immunization, and no system for parents to keep updated about it.

“No one has a record of (vaccination shots) except the hospital,” she said. “There’s no system that allows access of data by hospitals, public health, schools, and physicians.”

In Ontario, all parents and guardians of children attending elementary and secondary school must provide their local public health unit with proof of their child’s immunization against a number of vaccine-preventable diseases or a valid exemption.

Currently, Toronto Public Health is using a system called Panorama to input immunization information provided to them by parents and guardians.

Parents are sent at least two to three letters to inform them about the need to obtain updated immunization information prior to the deadline, and given a couple of weeks to respond to each letter.

If, after this time, students remain not in compliance, they are suspended until proof of vaccination is provided.

“The majority of suspensions last less than 5 days and most are resolved on day 1 to 3 of the suspension period,” said Dubey.

In 2014, the provincial auditor general’s report program found that the current reporting practice with Panorama “continues to result in problems with data accuracy and completeness” because it doesn’t allow for direct input from health care providers.

In December 2015, the province released a long-term vaccination plan called Immunization 2020, and said it would look at ways to streamline the reporting process to possibly allow physicians and parents to input information directly.

“The (Immunization of School Pupils Act) is over 20 years old and parents and guardians are considered the primary reporters of immunization records to public health,” said Dubey.

One of the main challenges continues to be that “no one knows the requirements or has access to (immunization) records,” said Kumanan Wilson, an immunization specialist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

Wilson is helping create a national immunization app called CANImmunize, and aiding the Ontario government in developing a web tool called Immunization Connect Ontario (ICON) (or Digital Yellow Card) for the public to securely look up their immunization records and report it to the Digital Health Immunization Repository.

“I think the use of the paper record is very problematic,” said Wilson. “The advantage of having it through the app is people will know exactly what the requirements are ahead of schedule.”

Ontario, he said, is one of two provinces that require immunization records for school entry; the other is New Brunswick. “The entire responsibility is on the parent to report,” said Wilson. “That has to change.”

Despite the attempt at modernization, Dr. Hirotaka Yamashiro, president of the Pediatrician Alliance Ontario, says the system continues to be “a real mess.”

“We still right now are relying on people having a yellow card that is kept up to date,” he said, adding that only works if the yellow card is never lost and kept on the person at all times. But that’s not always the case.

“It’s so cumbersome,” he said. “It’s laughable in 2018 that we can’t keep track of people’s vaccines. It’s crazy.”

Yamashiro, too, has noticed many parents receiving suspension letters for their kids and finds that it is often the only way they are motivated to update immunization records.

While he sees the government trying to centralize the vaccination system, the responsibility is still on the parents to deal with a system that “is frustrating for everybody.”

“(The system) is pretty complicated,” said Yamashiro. “Parents, without any medical knowledge, have to update (their kids’ records online) based on what’s on their yellow card…people will make mistakes, and Public Health will get mistaken information.”

Yamashiro would instead like to see the government have more conversations with family doctors and pediatricians, who do the vaccinations, and first fix the central database.

“Pediatricians are always ready to meet them if they want to,” he said. “If that central database is poor, it doesn’t solve the basic problem.”

Wilson too notes that even if the Digital Yellow Card becomes fully operational, “(the Ministry of Health) have to develop a system whereby the system can easily flow and move that data” from parent to doctor to public health to school.

At present, Toronto Public Health is assessing the vaccine records for students from 143 public high school students. Suspension for high school students will begin in the spring.

“There’s negligence and a lack of understanding of vaccines,” said Kamalia. “And gaps in the system.”

Yamashiro agrees. ““It’s too bad because it’s the kids and parents that are caught in a 1970s-style cumbersome process.”

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APPENDED

From: Janet M
Subject: Schools & suspensions over vaccines…. Whoa!!!!!!!!! Recent articles

Hi all:

Here are 4 recent media items re: kids getting suspended from school.

Links below.

(Oh, & 1 from Alberta about a boy who got the HPV jab, tho’ his parents did not want him to. My take? Only safe thing to do is to keep kids home when the vaccine clinic comes to town………..)

 

The fact that vaccination is NOT mandatory in Canada

& that families can get exemptions

does not feature largely in these stories.

 

Sheer bullying & fear-mongering.

 

I see a lot of Facebook posts & conversation about all this.

(too much, but Hey! Just trying to stay informed.)

 

If ever there was a time to step forward on this issue, this might be that time!

 

SCHOOL SUSPENSIONS

Schools threaten students with suspensions over outdated immunization records (Global, Jan. 7/18)
https://globalnews.ca/news/2440642/schools-threaten-students-with-suspensions-over-outdated-immunization-records/

2500 local students to get school suspension notices for missing vaccines (Kawartha 411, Jan. 18/18)
http://www.kawartha411.ca/2018/01/18/2500-local-students-to-get-school-suspension-notices-for-missing-vaccines/

Over 5,000 elementary school kids suspended in Toronto for out-of-date immunization records (T. Star, Feb 14/18)
The numbers have doubled since the previous school year as doctors call for a more streamlined reporting process.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/02/14/over-5000-elementary-school-kids-suspended-in-toronto-for-out-of-date-immunization-records.html

778 York Region students suspended for not having up-to-date immunizations (York Region.com Feb. 17/18)
https://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/8110466-778-york-region-students-suspended-for-not-having-up-to-date-immunizations/

HPV Jab that was not wanted…..

Edmonton father says son received HPV vaccine against his consent  (4-minute news clip – Feb. 15/18)
https://globalnews.ca/video/4029146/edmonton-father-says-son-received-hpv-vaccine-against-his-consent-2#autoplay

 

2018-02-16 For your selection, Feb 16

 For your selection (summary list recent postings)  No Responses »
Feb 162018
 

iPolitics author, Michael Harris,  makes abundantly clear that Canadian sovereignty is on the line.

Tearing up NAFTA? Please start with Chapter 11   (re Bilcon’s $500 million claim against Canadians)

 

Michael reinforces, with a specific case, what millions of protesters are saying.   Coincidentally, that is the point of the summary in:

2018-02-13  About Summits. Cost, # Police, # Protesters, # Arrests & WHY?      (G7 Summit, Charlevoix, Quebec, June 8-9, 2018).

 

2018-02-13  “Seeing Allred”,  a film   (Gloria Allred is an American lawyer, in her seventies, with a long history of fighting for rights.)

 

2018-02-05 The constitutional complexity of pipelines: It’s as clear as bitumen, Jason MacLean, Globe and Mail   I was curious about the assertions that jurisdiction over the Kindermorgan pipeline resides solely with the Federal Govt; that BC has zero jurisdiction?

 

2018-02-11 Sweden tried to drop Assange extradition in 2013, CPS emails show   UK prosecutors wouldn’t let Sweden drop the demand for extradition.  (Which explains a lot!   I thought that Sweden was disgracing itself, in its conduct of the Assange case.   There was more than the eye saw!)

2018-02-05 Lauri Love ruling ‘sets precedent’ for trying hacking suspects in UK

A UK ruling blocks extradition of Lauri Love to the US for prosecution.  A UK citizen has to be tried in the UK.

2018-02-06 U.K. arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange upheld, Toronto Star

 

2018-02-17 Did Big Pharma and WHO corruption trick the world into Tamiflu? Video.

2018-01-20 About flu shots and vaccines. Del Bigtree’s latest “Highwire” episode on YouTube.

2018-02-06 Indian Study Reveals Birth Dose of Hepatitis B Vaccine Unnecessary.  Important information for those fighting for choice in the vaccination schedule.  Well-written article.   Related to . . .

How long does it take for a newborn’s liver to mature?  What are the consequences of a damaged liver?  Why do the Americans administer the Hepatitis B vaccine on day 1 of birth?

 

2018-02-04 Lou writes: Sri Eawaran’s February 4, copied from my very old “Words To Live By”

 

2018-01-29 Important development re NAFTA Chapter 11 (ISDS clause), the Bilcon Digby Neck case

2018-01-20 It appears that the NAFTA ISDS clause does not exist. A note to the CBC.

2018-01-22 Help sue for government ethics  (Democracy Watch)

 

2018-01-18 the international agreement on tax havens with “enough loopholes to drive a fleet of Ferraris through”, Joyce Nelson.

(Joyce´s latest book is Beyond Banksters: Resisting the New Feudalism. The sequel, Bypassing Dystopia, will be published by Watershed Sentinel Books in March 2018.)

 

Cheers!

Sandra

 

2018-02-15 Tearing up NAFTA? Please start with Chapter 11, re Bilcon’s $500 million claim against Canadians. iPolitics

 Corruption, Trade Deals, PPPs, Integration Canada-U.S.  1 Response »
Feb 162018
 

The article below is about our sovereignty.    There is so much more on the table than money

CLOSELY RELATED:  About Summits. Cost, # Police, # Protesters, # Arrests  &  WHY?

 

Tearing up NAFTA? Please start with Chapter 11 

https://ipolitics.ca/2018/02/15/tear-nafta-lets-start-chapter-11/

By Michael Harris.

Canada has been sued 41 times under the investment provisions in NAFTA, more than any partner. While the United States has yet to lose in decided or settled cases, Ottawa’s record is middling — nine wins, eight losses. If the federal government were a hockey team, it wouldn’t make the playoffs.

—

 

The brigandage of Bilcon, all of it legal, is upon us.

 

Commencing on February 19 and running through to February 27, this U.S. Corporation will try to convince a three-person Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that Canada owes it almost half a billion dollars in damages. The same court ruled last year that Canada had in fact “misbehaved” in its treatment of the Delaware company by rejecting its project back in 2008.

 

In a nutshell, here is what happened. Bilcon wanted to crush basalt from a site in Nova Scotia and then ship it by sea to New Jersey. The 50-year project was rejected by a joint federal/provincial environmental panel in Canada. The U.S. company contends that the panel’s decision created $500-million worth of damages to the American cement company. It is now trying to recover those alleged losses through NAFTA’s chapter 11 process.

 

Let’s move from nutshell to just plain nuttiness. Under NAFTA’s so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement process, all domestic laws and regulations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico must rise to certain levels of what is quaintly called “fairness.”

 

In plain language, here’s what that means: any of a member country’s laws or regulations can be trumped by foreign corporate interests should a court, where two judges comprise a majority, find in the plaintiff’s favour.

 

There is no appeal of its decisions, which are 100 per cent driven by a mere trade agreement.

 

And, oh yes, the court meets behind closed doors.

 

Green Party leader Elizabeth May used one word to describe that shameful but strategic secrecy: “outrageous.”

 

How crazy is the Bilcon situation? Depending on what the PCA decides, every Canadian might have to pony up $15 to pay off the U.S. company. And all because a representative panel of duly-elected governments in Canada opted to protect marine life, rather than stand up for New Jersey’s right to Nova Scotia basalt, no matter what the cost to this country’s living species or environment.

 

Under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Joint Review Panel (JRP) generally determined that Bilcon’s project was a danger to the area’s richly diverse marine ecosystem, and several endangered species. The NAFTA tribunal rejected the JRP’s finding, accusing it of improperly assessing the environmental impact of the proposed quarry. That’s odd. The same thing could be said of Bilcon when it was applying for project approval.

 

Bilcon wanted to build the terminal for its basalt quarry near Digby Neck, facing the Bay of Fundy. That spot was just over the “horizon” from the Critical Habitat Area for the right whales, as Mark Dittrick, put it. Dittrick is the founding chair of the Atlantic Canada chapter of Sierra Club Canada.

 

The company insisted that environmental concerns were uppermost in the planning for its proposed quarry. If so, it had a strange way of showing it.

 

Although the company put together an ostensible Right Whale Mitigation Plan, they managed to do so without ever retaining a marine mammal expert. One of the experts that the company did identify as “doing a lot of marine work for us,” Mike Brylinski of Acadia University, is not a marine mammal expert. He’s a limnologist.

 

A limnologist is an expert in fresh water, especially rivers and lakes. Although Brylinksi did author five studies for the Environmental Impact Study for Bilcon’s quarry, something big was missing. Here is how Mark Dittrick described that shortcoming:

 

“Brylinksi wrote nothing on right whales or any marine mammals. There were studies on everything from butterflies to Harlequin ducks. None of the 36 Reference Documents in the EIS were about right whales or any species of marine mammals – because Bilcon didn’t have anyone on staff or under contract who could do it.”

 

When whale expert Paul Brodie wrote that “a high level of caution is necessary in planning any long-term industrial venture within or proximate to [North Atlantic right whale] habitats,” and “that no reasonable assessment panel would approve the project,” Bilcon ignored his advice as “unscientific.”

 

They also ignored another expert, Chris Taggart of Dalhousie University, who concluded that Bilcon’s proposed shipping route for their 40,000 ton capacity bulk carriers was far from safe for right whales. The company’s ostensible reason was that Taggart’s 23-page submission had not been “peer reviewed.”

 

The problem with that quibble? None of the 36 studies commissioned by Bilcon to support the project were peer-reviewed either.

 

The person who wrote Bilcon’s EIS, and whom the Sierra Club chair describes as the company’s “de facto” marine mammal expert, was David Kern. Dittrick describes Kern as a “landscape architect and artisanal beef cattle raiser….”. For the record, Bilcon claimed that Kern was just liaison between whale experts and Bilcon, not a whale expert himself.

 

So why is this high stakes game of legal poker between Bilcon and the government of Canada so important — besides the fact that the public is putting up Ottawa’s huge pile of chips? Two words really. Democracy and sovereignty. Both are there to be won or lost.

 

If Bilcon gets some or all of the damages it is asking for, Canada will be seriously diminished. That is what Ottawa has essentially argued in this long, drawn out case. An award to Bilcon would in effect usurp the exclusive right of Canadian courts to determine whether or not the Joint Review Panel departed from Canadian law in the decision it reached on Bilcon’s quarry.

 

Untangle the fishing line and it comes down to this: If Bilcon wins a big award, a NAFTA tribunal will have successfully told the federal government to go to hell. As experts like University of Ottawa law professor Donald McRae and Scott Sinclair of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have pointed out, the villain of this piece is NAFTA’s arbitration panels.

 

These panels are undergoing mission creep — moving from economic adjudications under NAFTA to replacing domestic court decisions and shoving aside Canadian public policy.

 

Sadly, Bilcon is not a one-off. Canada has been sued 41 times under the investment provisions in NAFTA, more than any partner. So far that has meant $219 million in payouts, and another $95 million in what Scott Sinclair calls “unrecoverable legal costs.”

 

While the United States has yet to lose in decided or settled cases, Ottawa’s record is middling — nine wins, eight losses. If the government were a hockey team, it wouldn’t make the playoffs.

 

It’s time for Canada to dump Chapter 11 as it currently stands in any renegotiated NAFTA deal. There is so much more on the table than money

 

 

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