They call it the Sunshine Coast — a 140 kilometre stretch of land alongside Highway 101 that was policed by a total of 10 officers in 2015, seven of which were women.

An analysis of data collected by Statistics Canada shows that in 2015, the Sunshine Coast RCMP detachment, located in the District of Sechelt, British Columbia, had the highest percentage of female police officers in the country.

Tucked between the Sechelt Inlet and Strait of Georgia, its policing area spans the size of 400,000 football fields, including 12 townships, a Shíshálh First Nation Community and a section of Squamish Nation.

The Sunshine Coast offers a Restorative Justice Program based on Indigenous teachings, which is not uncommon among B.C. based RCMP detachments as listed on the RCMP website.

Given the eclectic terrain of rock, forest, and sea, the Sunshine Coast officers often patrol the surrounding area on mountain bikes and ATV’s. In the past, the officers on such patrols have saved both a bald eagle and an owl, according to the unit’s Twitter feed.

Officers like Constable Karen Whitby who, in addition to rescuing an injured, unconscious owl in November 2016, was honoured with a Commanding Officer’s Letter of Appreciation last fall. Cst Whitby had been dispatched to look into the supposed disappearance of a 56-year-old man. It was trusting her intuition and following a “terrible feeling” in the pit of her stomach that led Cst Whitby directly to the missing man just in time to save his life.
Cst Whitby was one of seven women at the Sunshine Coast in 2015, which is the detachment’s highest number of female officers on record.

Despite being a historically male profession, as noted by the data, a nationwide increase in female officers has manifested in the police resources data presented by Statistics Canada in the last fifteen years. In 2015, women police officers accounted for 20 per cent of all the officers in Canada.

About an hour southeast of Sechelt, the North Vancouver City RCMP detachment reported a significantly smaller percentage, with only one in three officers being female. A lower percentage than the Sunshine Coast yet much larger when compared with the number of female officers in the five largest police forces in the country.

Times have changed considerably according to Superintendent Chris Kennedy of the North Vancouver City detachment, who says he can recall when a given force had its “two token females.” Superintendent Kennedy has been serving as an officer for almost four decades.

“I don’t care what sex you are, as long as you can lead,” he says, which is something a lot of female officers are starting to do.

In conjunction with the growth seen in the number females in policing nationwide, there has been an increase in the number of women holding senior positions in the force. However, the definition of “senior officer” can differ from province to province and whether it is a RCMP detachment or a municipal department. For example, the highest ranking officer in Ottawa is the chief of police, while the highest ranking officer in the RCMP is the commissioner.

Even though the number of female officers in the police force has increased, Statistics Canada reported that there was a minute decrease in the total number of officers across the country. Every province and territory, with the exception of Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, saw a drop in the volume of police from 2014 to 2015.
Statistics Canada has not yet released any information regarding police resources in Canada for 2016.

The topic: The rising costs of the criminal justice system (CJS).

What’s new: According to documents obtained through the Access to Information Act, overall CJS costs increased by 36 percent from 2002-2012. The 2016 document, prepared for the Deputy Minister of Justice on trends in the CJS, revealed that policing, court systems, and corrections costs were among the highest noted. Statistics since 2012 were not presented in the package.

Why it’s important: The nation’s criminal justice system is an expensive machine comprised of several moving parts. Over a ten year span, policing costs have grown by 43 percent, court system costs by 21 percent, and correction costs by 32 percent.

In terms of policing expenses, Jeffrey Monaghan, a professor of criminology at Carleton University, explains that if one police union requests a pay increase, a neighbouring union will demand the same. This “horse race” is one of the largest contributors to the upsurge in policing costs, says Monaghan, adding that the mandate for officers has changed as well. Police are now expected to make community outreach a priority, thus doing the work of a volunteer on an officer’s salary.

Despite there being many expenses weighing on the court system, Ian Carter, the vice president of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), says that nothing has had a greater impact on the system than court delays. A decision that came out of the Supreme Court last year assigning time frames in which cases at the provincial and superior levels need to be heard, tried, and closed; 18 and 30 months, respectively. If cases are not closed before the prescribed time, the Crown pays a fee. Carter says that arbitrarily selecting time limits was an ill-thought-out decision Canadians are now paying for.

Another expense taxpayers’ dollars are covering is a corrections system impeding rehabilitation, says Monaghan. With approximately 5000 people entering prisons every year, a bottleneck is being created, breeding violence and accelerating the wear-and-tear on aging structures. Monaghan says funds are allocated towards accommodating growth, rather than improving parole programs and as a result, resources are spent adapting to the problem rather than solving it.

What the government says: Ian McLeod, a media relations representative for the Department of Justice, wrote in an email that “the federal government is committed to ensuring our criminal justice system works efficiently and effectively,” but failed to provide concrete examples of how the government is tackling the rising costs of the CJS.

What others say: It’s a complex problem with a complex solution, says Monaghan, calling the CJS “a whole system of broken stages.”

Carter agrees, adding that current strategies being employed are “expensive way(s) to deal with the problem,” and equates them to expanding a highway to accommodate volume rather than working to lessen traffic; it is neither cost-effective nor does it directly address the issue.

What’s next: A government task force has been established to privatize police, meaning that tasks including court duty, investigations, and crime scene analysis, would be carried out by civilians with the same schooling as police officers, with the exception of weapons training. These pseudo-police will work for 40 percent less than a salaried officer, says Monaghan.

The CBA compiled a list of ten solutions to solve the court delay issue, which includes eliminating preliminary inquiries, thus limiting the number of cases being tried, says Carter. Fewer offenders going to trial means fewer hours logged by judges, resulting in a lower risk of court delays and therefore fewer fees incurred by the Crown.

As there is no current plan to address the lack of resources for prisoners hoping to reintegrate into society, Monaghan says it’s likely the rate of repeat offenders will rise, reinforcing the system that overpays its over-worked police force and strains court resources.

Supplemental material:

This is a document prepared for the Deputy Minister of Justice on current trends in the criminal justice system and it was prepared by the Research and Statistics Division of the Department of Justice. It was very helpful and well-organized. The ample amount of charts  and thorough bullet points made it easy to understand the information and isolate key facts that would make a good story.

Original requests:

Previously released records:

Copies of correspondence:

The soda game has been dominated by Coca-Cola for over a century, but Pepsi may take the lead thanks to its secret weapon: food.

In both companies most recent financial reports, PepsiCo. had the edge over Coca-Cola Co. by $5 billion.

But the question is, how?

While Coca-Cola brands range from Powerade to Dasani, the only thing they produce are beverages, and even though it’s something they do very well, Pepsi has the upper-hand. Acquiring companies like Frito-Lays has allowed PepsiCo. to break into the former side of the food and beverage industry, and become the $152 billion company it is today. While similar in origin, the dueling soda giants have begun to diverge over the last decade with Pepsi soaring higher than Coke every day.

Separated at birth

PepsiCo. and Coca-Cola Co. have been constant competitors since the late 19th century when both companies got their start. Coke was invented by John Pemberton as a substitute for his morphine addiction, while Pepsi was created by Caleb Bradham with the intention of boosting energy.

Nearly identical in formula, the sugary colas have been each company’s flagship product for over a century, their almost identical taste spurring an eternal debate between consumers over whether there is a difference in taste. Either way, both have remained constant companions in both the stock market and supermarket since their establishment.

A Comparison of Pepsi Co. and Coca Cola Co. by laurensproule on TradingView.com

With an increase in obesity and diabetes across North America, a significant amount of pressure has been placed on the soda industry to develop alternative options in order to stay afloat. Both Pepsi and Coke have introduced juice, water, and diet beverages into their product lines in an effort to appeal to the increasingly health-conscious consumer. Coca-Cola recently announced the re-launch of Coca-Cola Plus, a sugar and calorie free beverage with added fibre. Marketed as the “first Coke to actively improve your health,” Coca-Cola Plus is the latest in a stream of Coke products to be deemed “the healthier option.”

Pepsi has made similar strides as its competitor, answering Coke’s Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life with “diet-friendly” alternatives of its own, like Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, and Pepsi True.

All that and a bag of chips

The waning interest of the consumer has forced both companies to diversify their portfolio, a challenge that Pepsi has taken up while Coke has not. Diversification, Steve Balaban says, is a wise business strategy and a sure-fire way to decrease the risk of failure. The Toronto-based financial analyst likens PepsiCo. to Rogers Media, another company that adapted and grew their product offering with great success.

Since 1965, Pepsi has been absorbing other food and beverage corporations across the globe. PepsiCo. declined to comment on its ever-expanding dossier, although a 2012 press release announced its entrée into the dairy industry, suggesting Pepsi has no interest in limiting itself to the snack aisle.

The extent of diversification Coke has engaged in is investing in the bottling companies that package its products. Coke’s Bottling Investments Group division made the largest contribution to the company’s revenue from July to September last year, as seen in its most recent financial statement. The following compares Pepsi and Coke’s most recently released profits broken-down by division.

Even though Coca-Cola as a whole is worth more than Pepsi by about $27 billion, the gap is shrinking. Coke’s long-term partnerships with companies like McDonald’s and Ford have proven to be very lucrative over time, giving Coca-Cola Co. a cushion between itself and PepsiCo. But before Coke gets too comfortable in the lead, it should talk to the hare.