What’s new:

According to emails released through British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, conservation officers with the Ministry of Environment want and need body cameras when they are in the field.

The hope is that cameras would keep officers safe and protect their reputations among the public.

Why it’s important:

An incident occurred last year near Dawson Creek, BC, where Conservation Officer Micah Kneller was called to deal with a sickly black bear cub. A young couple had rescued the cub and were taking care of it. According to the official statement, when Kneller arrived he determined that the cub had to be euthanized as per wildlife regulations. The couple protested, but Kneller took the bear away to be put down.

In response, the couple took pictures and recordings of the officer and posted them to social media, where they claimed the officer killed the bear in front of them. This resulted in severe public backlash for Kneller and for the Ministry of Environment.

After the incident, Kneller and a superior officer said in an email conversation that they would like to have shoulder cameras to wear on-duty. Kneller’s superior stressed that he already uses his phone in his breast pocket as a camera in sensitive situations.

What the government says:

David Karn from the BC Ministry of Environment’s Media Relations department denied all requests for comment from Kneller and his superior officer regarding their email conversation.

What others say:

Conservation officers regularly work with rehabilitation facilities—and some of them support officers having body cameras.

“I think it’s a very good idea to protect the officer because the way (the incident) was described by the couple was very cruel, and I’ve never seen an officer act like this when I’ve worked with them,” Angelika Langen said.

Langen, one of the founders of the Northern Lights Wildlife Society, had been willing to take the cub in question. She said it’s almost impossible to know the details of what really happened without having been there. She also noted that BC government policies put the officer in that situation to begin with, and changing those policies would help as much as cameras.

Officially regulated use of body cameras for conservation officers may not be a reality in British Columbia or any other Canadian province, but it is in some places south of the border.

The state of Pennsylvania passed legislation in 2014 to allow their conservation officers to wear attachable body cameras while on the job. It provides an exception for conservation officers that allows them to have body cameras as long as they have gone through the same training required by police officers.

Dan Moul, the Pennsylvania State Representative that sponsored the legislation, said that having body cameras is a matter of safety for officers—but they can also help keep them out of the courts

“When they have somebody on film, doing something that they shouldn’t be doing, it pretty much seals the case,” Moul said. “They kind of pay for themselves and bring about more professionalism in the industry.”

What’s next:

Although the emails from Kneller to his superior officer seem to imply that the officers have already discussed using body cameras, there has not been legislation passed that allows them to do so.

But as shown by Moul’s legislation in Pennsylvania, the concept seems to be effective in protecting officers and the public—and deserves consideration in Canada.

“Beyond any shadow of any doubt, they should do this,” Moul said. “You can’t give me a list of anything bad about having body cams, but I can give you a dozen reasons why you should do it.”

To see information requests, please click here.

Ottawa’s Capital Ward recorded the highest number of complaints about overlarge trees in 2016, according to an analysis of a database the city uses to track service requests.

The City of Ottawa received 170 complaints from the ward last year for trees being “Too Big/Unsightly”. It’s a category distinct from more common issues involving trees, like fallen branches or requests for stumps to be removed.

It’s also an odd way for the city to catalogue a complaint.

“It’s a broad category that really doesn’t do justice to what people are really saying,” City Councillor David Chernushenko said. He acknowledged that he went to the City of Ottawa to determine the nature of the complaints when it was first brought to his attention.

According to Chernushenko, the complaints cover two specific issues: trees that are in desperate need of pruning, and trees that have become large enough to damage sidewalks and foundations.

The councillor confessed that he finds the city’s label confusing—and amusing.

“The ‘Too Big’ is sort of a funny one, because it leads you to think people are complaining that ‘hey, the tree is too big!’” Chernushenko said with a laugh.

But Chernushenko also said that it’s important for the community to contact the city if they notice something wrong—including the trees in their neighborhood. As the chair of the Environment and Climate Protection Committee for the city, he has a particular interest in the health and safety of Ottawa’s trees.

That desire to protect trees in the Capital Ward is shared by Jennifer Humphries from the Glebe Community Association. She said it was “surprising” that these kind of complaints were making it to the city since she sees the neighborhood as being very passionate and involved with its trees.

A member of the association’s Environment Committee, Humphries has written articles for the community newsletter discussing the benefits of trees. But she admitted that she could understand why a resident might complain about a tree being “Too Big/Unsightly.”

“There can be an issue with the positioning of a tree, or just how it’s growing, or something is happening to the foundation,” Humphries said. “What I suspect is happening is that people have an issue with a particular tree—and that can be quite legitimate.”

Humphries stressed that it comes down to citizens being educated the trees in their neighbourhood. And that is a problem the city recognizes.

The Glebe Community Association and Chernushenko both contributed to the Urban Forest Management Plan completed in September. The plan is a 20-year strategy to sustain the greenery within Ottawa’s city limits. A major recommendation listed in the report is to improve the education of residents to better protect trees in their communities.

But for John Haysom, a resident of the area for over 30 years, the City of Ottawa can do better as well.

Haysom noticed a tree by Patterson Creek marked for removal by the city with an ugly red ‘X’. Last summer, over a year after he had seen the tree marked, it collapsed into the creek—never having been removed.

“It’s not likely that someone would get hurt, but there’s infrastructure underneath it,” Haysom said. “I do see these trees with big red X’s around for a long time and I wonder why it takes them so long to get at them.”

None of those interviewed see the large number of complaints for a tree being unsightly as a long-term problem for the ward. But as Humphries insisted and Haysom demonstrated, Capital Ward residents are committed to taking care of their communities despite the complaints—even their trees.

Postmedia Network Canada posted a loss in operating income in its most recent financial report, prompting multiple experts to question the future of the company.

The company suffered an operating loss of $46.3 million in the first quarter of this fiscal year. That amounts to a 338 per cent decrease when compared to the $19.4 million gain that the company posted in the same quarter last year.

Business strategy professor Ian Lee of Carleton University said that Postmedia has simply “run out of options” in managing its losses.

“Postmedia is dying before our eyes,” Lee said. “It’s the beginning of the end.”

The loss of income continues Postmedia’s recent trend as the company continues  to lose money. Struggles to offset its steadily lowering print ad revenue in the digital world have seen total revenue drop by over $36 million, or 14.4 per cent, since this period last year.

Michael McIntyre, a professor and financial expert at Carleton University, criticized Postmedia’s lack of a winning corporate strategy as a reason for its lower income. He blamed the company’s inability to beat their digital competitors, adding that there was “potential” for the company to fold if they cannot find a solution to their income loss.

Postmedia Stock by MatthewOlson on TradingView.com

President and CEO Paul Godfrey has remained optimistic for Postmedia’s future. In the news release for its most recent financial reports, Godfrey said that the company was making progress in its restructuring plans through “significant cost reduction initiatives,” and had “increases in digital revenues this quarter.”

But for Postmedia, the recent numbers and news from the company tell a less positive story.

Part of the company’s response to its loss of income has been to cut back on its workforce.  Postmedia announced last October its goal to trim salaries in the company by 20 per cent through voluntary buyouts to reduce expenses. Postmedia also said they would lay off employees if its target was not met. Those layoffs began in January, with 90 jobs cut across the country. Postmedia did not respond to an inquiry about the status of their workforce.

Lee was adamant that the company’s business model is no longer viable.

“There’s nothing left to do but just lay off people,” Lee said. “You can only restructure so many times and then there’s literally nothing left to restructure.”

Restructuring and layoffs have not prevented Godfrey and the rest of the company’s top executives from receiving significant bonuses. The company will pay out a total of $2.275 million in retention bonuses to Godfrey and four other executives in three parts, with the final instalment  due to be paid out in July of 2017.

That number does not include the $925,000 in bonuses paid out to Godfrey and five other top executives in 2015 for their work in acquiring Sun Media’s English-language holdings. That deal cost $316 million and significantly boosted Postmedia’s revenues. But it also raised the company’s operating costs, which it has so far been unable to balance.

Postmedia’s troubles have not gone unnoticed. The Public Policy Forum, headed by former news editor and journalist Edward Greenspon, recently released a report entitled “The Shattered Mirror” which discusses the current state of the news media in Canada. The report offers possible solutions to save news outlets like Postmedia from their increasing deficits, including government bailouts and funding.

But Lee said the government won’t bail out Postmedia because it already has a preferred option for news.

“It’s called the CBC,” Lee said. “And it’s doing very well.”