CBC spends millions of dollars every year to pay its employees overtime, but their money isn’t stretching as far as it used to.
CBC getting less for its money when paying for overtime
Category Archives: DigiAssignmentFour
Canadian mining companies contribute to the destabilization in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Canadian mining companies have been on occasion associated with growing environmental concerns in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 2014 access to information records from the department of Foreign affairs and Trade development Canada, list 25 Canadian mining enterprises established in D.R. Congo since 1996. In other records obtained dating to 2013, Canada is listed as having had 6 major planned mining projects in the country from 2005 to 2010. One of the key issues mentioned, is the inability to connect foreign investments economic growth, to sustainable development and poverty reduction in Africa. As a result of political instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including government corruption following two wars, the country continues to be an easy target for western countries to extract minerals, with less to no regulations.
Jamie Kneen from MiningWatch Canada says that Canadian mining still poses a threat to the Congolese population, but that Canada is one of many culprits.
A defunct employment program means no skills and no pay for First Nations youth
An evaluation by a third party consulting firm warns the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada that its employment program is holding Aboriginal youth back from getting work.
Goss Gilroy was commissioned by the department to write the March 2015 report, released under the Access to Information Act. In it they “raised concerns” that the department had no way of assessing whether its job-training On-Reserve Income Assistance Program was actually working, leaving First Nations youth from 88 reserves across the country at risk of remaining jobless.
Source: Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada – Income Assistance Program FAQs
Audit reveals flawed investigative practices at Canadian borders
Canada’s border service agency is working out the kinks in its investigative techniques while complaints against employees are left undetermined.
Out of 78 complaints about the Canada Border Services Agency made in the span of one month in 2014, 14 cases are classified as undetermined.
Undetermined complaints include accusations of an officer assaulting a person, allegedly leaving deep scratch marks on their arm.
“Endured hours of detainment, hand-cuffed, strip-searched, horrific harassment by CBSA armed and loaded officers,” reads another undetermined complaint.
A 2015 internal audit revealed the weaknesses in the agency’s investigative techniques.
Watch the video below to learn more about the flaws found in the border agency’s investigation practices
Dancing for pennies
Dance in Nova Scotia remains a small presence on the national stage, as arts funding for the Atlantic provinces remain among the lowest in the country. If the dance community is to gain a foothold, changes need to be made in the way the Canada Council for the Arts awards its funds, says Mocean Dance, a Halifax-based dance company.
As they prepare for their fifteenth anniversary performance, they look forward to 2017, as the Canada Council for the Arts has announced changes to their grant programs.
The “inconvenient fact” of atlantic grey seals unsealed.
70,000 grey seals are still being blamed by the Canadian Government for the fail of the cod fish’s recovery in the Atlantic Ocean. However, Dr. Tony Charles, a specialist of the local environment, says that the shift to more sustainable fishing and the improvement of the marine ecosystem can be as important for the recovery, as the decrease of cod fish 25 years ago. He also says that the impact of the culling of seals can be unpredictable, because the marine ecosystem is complicated.
In the report published in 2014, the Department of Fishery and Ocean Canada has written that the number of grey seals in the Atlantic Ocean “must be immediately reduced.” They plan to do this by authorizing more hunting licenses for seal hunters. However, the statistics released this March have revealed that only 1,145 grey seals were hunted last year in Canada.
It’s time to get serious about arctic sovereignty and the coast guard
For experts in maritime security the Canadian Coast Guard is described as the “silent service” — often asked to do more than anyone would think is reasonable, but always succeeding.
But it looks like they might soon have more on their plate.
Arctic sovereignty, the principle that the arctic regions of Canada are the country’s sovereign territory, is set to be the next big issue in the nation’s foreign policy.
So, how is the agency tasked with defending the nations waters preparing for arctic sovereignty? Lets find out.
Is Canada’s Refugee Application System Broken?
In 2012, Canada’s Harper government passed Bill C-31, drastically changing the way the refugee system is run by the Immigration and Refugees Board of Canada. Critics say the bill is making it harder for people from “safe countries” to have their refugee status approved. Does the data prove that theory?
Here’s a video to sum it all up.
Canadian Council for Refugees.
IRB explanatory note.
Bill C-31.
‘We need to look at how the police investigate these cases,’ – Denise Mitchell of Mi’kmaq Friendship Centre
Last week, government released the inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). It focuses on the number of MMIW, perpetrator characteristics, outstanding cases and victim circumstances. However, Denise One Breath Mitchell doesn’t believe the missing persons database is reliable in the first place.
Mitchell is the Victim Support Navigator at the Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Centre and has worked with several families of victims, including the family of Tanya Brooks, an aboriginal woman who was murdered in 2009. She believes there are more missing women than the 1,181 reported by the RCMP and says the attitude of police when missing aboriginal persons are reported is a factor.
“They [police] have an attitude or an opinion, especially if they’re working the sex
trade, or they say ‘they’ll come back’,” said Mitchell. “We need to look at how the police investigate these cases and if the police took them seriously.”
Dawn Lavell-Harvard, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), has also worked with families of victims. She says another problem is there are inconsistencies on whom to report a missing person to.
“The police forces will turn them [families] back and say ‘no, you go to your own police force and report it to them’ or our local police force would say ‘well she got missing in Toronto, you need to report it to Toronto’,” said Lavell-Harvard. “There is no standard of practice, there’s no protocol.”
The missing persons database is a national public website called Canadasmissing.ca. It contains information about missing aboriginal and non-aboriginal individuals as well as unidentified remains. According to the site, cases only appear on the website when the investigator or medical examiner of that case concludes that a profile of the missing person will assist the investigation.
The cases are broken up by province, age, sex and probable cause with categories marking the circumstances of a disappearance; like ‘abduction by stranger’, ‘wandered off’, ‘runaway’ or ‘presumed dead’, to name a few. However, over 300 were not included in the 2015 report as there was ‘no probable cause entered’.
When asked for clarification, the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR) responded via email:
“As for the ones with no, or an invalid, probable cause, they cannot be counted in the existing categories, therefore they were not included… Only the original investigating police service for each of the specific incidents may have that information, and even that is unlikely this long after the fact. It may be that they would fit into one of the categories; we simply don’t have the information.”
Lavell-Harvard is working with the RCMP to improve how reports are taken and investigations are conducted. She’s satisfied with the RCMP’s new policy of taking immediate action when a person is reported missing but says other police forces need to follow suit.
“There’s over 300 other police forces out there across the country so even though the RCMP has this protocol, that doesn’t necessarily translate into effective action, we need that protocol with all the police forces,” said Lavell-Harvard.
According to the Missing Persons Act, any information received by police is considered confidential and cannot be released, even to a spouse or family member, unless the information may assist in the investigation.
Mitchell says keeping families in the dark does more harm than good.
“The family is left carrying these unanswered questions about what happened to their loved one,” she said. “Keeping that rapport and communication open is letting families know that something is being done, that their loved ones matter to them, and that they’re taking this seriously.”
Lavell-Harvard calls for police forces to come together and do their part in the MMIW cases.
“We need to stop allowing indigenous women and children to slip through the crack because of jurisdictional boundaries,” she said. “People need to start putting the whole politics and jurisdiction aside, and recognise that these are human beings.”
Only 66 per cent of people managing First Nation drinking water systems are certified
More than one third of people managing First Nation drinking water systems aren’t certified by their province.
Circuit Rider Training Program President, Winslow Davis says those managing the water treatment plants on reserve are First Nation members.
He says they are responsible for operating and maintaining the plant, and “ensuring there is safe drinking water being produced.”
According to records released through a Access to Information request, First Nation communities across Canada have “difficulties” certifying and retaining operators.
The briefing note, prepared for the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, Carolyn Bennett, states, “in 2014-2015, 66 per cent of First Nation systems had operators certified to the level of their drinking water and 56 per cent for wastewater system.”
Qualifications
Davis says uncertified doesn’t mean “unqualified.”
“That’s where the Circuit Rider Training Program comes into effect,” he says.
The Circuit Rider Training Program is a federally funded government program. It gives uncertified people, managing water plants in First Nation communities one-on-one training to help them do their job.
“In most cases they [the trainers] are almost like a mentor,” Davis says.
Certification is needed to have a “standard of acceptance or responsibility” for the water treatment facilities.
“The process is necessary to the profession to help make sure the plant is running properly and the water is safe to drink,” he says.
The certification standards for drinking and wastewater plant managers are set by individual provinces, and require a high school education, or equivalent.
“High rate of turnover of employees”
Davis says every region is different, but there is a “high rate of turnover.”
“Funding is always an issue,” he says. “To pay an operator to stay in the community once they obtain their certification is a challenge because the band doesn’t have enough money to retain them and they can go find work elsewhere.”
The Access to Information records show Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada knows about the challenges of recruiting and retaining water plant managers.
According to the records, there are three barriers to “certifying and retaining operators on reserve:”
- Community-to-community model: funding full-time staff at a “competitive salary” can be a challenge
- Education: “Insufficient levels” of grade 12 education prevents certification
- Water and wastewater policy: past government policy has “favoured” complex systems which require higher certification levels
“It’s not a glamourous job”
Davis says “recruitment is one thing.” Davis says.
“It’s not deemed as a glamourous job,” he says. “It’s not something that somebody would want to grow up being a water plant operator.”
The challenges aren’t over once people are recruited and trained.
“They see the opportunity off reserve to go make more money,” says Davis. “Because they’re paying more, industry is able to attract with higher salaries, and bonuses.”
Numbers improving
The Access to Information records show that the number of certified people running water treatment plants are up from 2011. At that time, 51 per cent of drinking water systems and 42 per cent of wastewater systems were managed by people certified at the necessary level.
Changes in drinking water and wastewater certification from 2011-2015
Source: Certification of Water and Wastewater Systems Operators, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
Source: Certification of Water and Wastewater Systems Operators, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
Since 2011, an annual performance inspection has been done of water treatment plants on reserves across Canada.
The 2015 inspection says that 84 per cent of drinking water managers and 78 per cent of wastewater managers were in a training program to achieve, maintain, or upgrade skill levels.
Davis says the Circuit Rider Training Program is one of the best ways to ensure community has safe drinking water, and water treatment plant employees are being trained.
But says more can be done by local governments “to recognize their [water treatment managers] contribution to the safety of their community” by providing safe drinking water.