Author: turnoverarocktoday

Omar Khadr….one last time?

turnoverarocktoday Constructive Sedition

Dear Canadians: Don’t sit on your brains; it’s not becoming.

Here we go again. It seems a lot of Canadians don’t like the settlement Omar Khadr received.

Let’s keep this simple.

First, this can’t be dumped on Justin Trudeau, or the government he leads, or Stephen Harper and his team. Okay, Trudeau’s taking some heat ‘cause he’s the point person now, but the responsibility lies with government bureaucrats and agencies like our CSIS.

The bottom line is that the government could settle with Khadr for the 10.5 million it did hand over, or it could have stalled like the Harper people tried to do. It could have let the process play out, and then cough up 20, 30, or even 40 million, once costs came into play.

Why? There isn’t a court in Canada that would not have sided with Omar Khadr.

Why? We did him wrong! And, we did him wrong in a big way! Period!

We should be thanking the prime minister for saving taxpayer dollars.

Second, Guantanamo exists solely to allow the United States not to follow any of the principles defined in its Constitution or Bill of Rights.

All men held in the facility are abused and tortured by American military personnel.

Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to a crime for which there is no conclusive proof of guilt in exchange for an opportunity to leave Guantanamo behind. No American or Canadian court would have convicted him of killing an American medic in Afghanistan.

His appeal of that conviction in the United States could drag on for years, and might easily fail. The United States can’t allow one of its courts to find the country culpable for the heinous acts it permitted and still condones, and the kangaroo courts it supported. “Coming clean” would open a pathway for Khadr and dozens of other men to severely tax the U.S. Treasury.

Lastly, let’s briefly review a few of the other settlements Canada has reached with victims of the questionable behaviour in which some of our public servants engaged:-

Stephen Harper apologized to Maher Arar on January 26 in 2007 and awarded him 10.5 million for his 2002 detention in Syria.

Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed Nureddin, and Abdullah Amalki were held in Syria….and Egypt as well in the case of El Maati….for periods during 2001/2002/2003. They sued Canada for 100 million. In March of 2017, public safety and correctional services minister Ralph Goodale apologized, and gave them a total of 31.25 million.

Benamar Benatta crossed the border into the States in September of 2001, and then spent 5 years in a federal prison in Brooklyn. On December 7 in 2015, it was quietly disclosed in the annual Public Accounts that Canada has paid him 1.7 million.

Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Sudanese-born Canadian, went home for a family visit in 2003, was imprisoned there for a year, and then spent six more years waiting for Canada to allow him to return home to Montreal. As of 2015, he was suing the government but we have no information of a resolution.

Djamel Ameziane left Canada 15 years ago to visit family in Algeria, was detained by American security forces, and spent 11 years in Guantanamo until his release in December of 2013 when he was returned to Algeria. He was never charged or prosecuted, and is suing Canada for 50 million.

There may be others.

In all cases, these men were abused and tortured by their keepers. Where money has been awarded, courts and investigations in this country have found Canada complicit in their mistreatment, and deserving of compensation.

Now, can we move on?

Canada killed Matthew Hines….

turnoverarocktoday Justice & the Penal Systems

….just as we said last June.

A persistent and distressed family, along with CBC News, and journalists like the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Patrick White would not accept Correctional Service of Canada’s explanation that Matthew Hines died from a drug-induced seizure, and died despite the efforts of CSC staff members to save him.

Correctional Service of Canada lied. Our prison industry killed this man, and then tried to cover it up.

33 year-old Matthew Hines died in Dorchester Penitentiary on May 26 in 2015. Since then, we’ve published “What say you, Minister?” September 25, 2016, “Matthew Hines died. Chapter the second.” October 2 of 2016, and “Matthew Hines’ death was a homicide…..” on June 4, 2017.

On Wednesday, January 3 of this year, New Brunswick RCMP charged two prison guards with manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. Alvida Ross, 48, and Mathieu Bourgin, 31, had been on administrative leave since the investigation began, but the two men will not appear in Moncton Provincial Court until the end of February.

The particulars around Matthew’s ordeal will not be reviewed again here, but after 2 ½ years, four investigations, and a determined Hines’ family, the death was ruled a criminal act. A spokeswoman for Correctional Service of Canada said the agency co-operated with the investigation and is committed to “learn from Mr. Hines’ death and continually work to improve our response to individuals in medical crisis.” This is CSC’s necessarily politically correct position, and it’s not the first time it has made this statement, and it’s not the last.

Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger released his own report on this death-in-custody last May, citing numerous “staff errors and omissions”, and criticized all levels of CSC, from correctional officers to senior staff for releasing misleading information and denying accountability. “Nearly everything that could have gone wrong in a use of force response went wrong,” the CI report said.

The Hines family is grateful for the work done to get at the truth, but rightly suggests that responsibility for Matthew’s death goes well beyond the two men accused. That includes, for example, an inexperienced duty nurse who did not even check the inmate’s vital signs, in spite of the man’s obvious medical distress. The family nonetheless accepts the decision to charge only two employees, but “we trust that all who saw Matthew before and during his death look in the mirror every day with the knowledge of what they did and did not do.”

And, as we’ve noted twice before, the family has a lawyer. This is going to cost every Canadian taxpayer.

Remember that Matthew had to die for this to get so much attention. What would we know if he had survived this assault? What do we know about the experience of other inmates who’ve been subject to the same treatment?

A Hitler-esque rising?

turnoverarocktoday Constructive Sedition

“With this, we hope not to feel the need to bring up the topic again. There is a plenitude who recognize the danger and can rally for right.”

That’s how last year’s January 29th posting “On Trump……a word……or two” ended. Apparently, and unfortunately, Americans seem to be deer frozen in the glare of the oncoming headlights of a ‘trumptruck’ barreling toward them.

What was one of the questions asked in “Where have all the flowers gone?”
”When will they ever learn?”

Barack Obama’s warning to Americans to “pay attention” when he spoke to an audience of 2,800 on Tuesday, December 6th at the Economic Club of Chicago is a welcome relief. “The danger is [to] grow complacent. We have to tend to this garden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly. That’s what happened in Germany in the 1930s.” he said in part.

‘Complacency’ is an American watchword. When all the hoopla over the 2016 U.S. presidential election last November was over, only about 55.5% of the voting age population bothered to cast a ballot. Why didn’t we hear more about that? Well, the last time voter turnout hit 60% in the States was in 1968 when Richard Nixon was first elected. This has been the country’s pro forma for the last century, and makes the United States vulnerable to the fringe crazies.

In the meantime, Canadian media recently noted that Donald Trump hasn’t visited Canada, unusual for an American leader over the last many decades. When asked, the federal government simply referred to an outstanding invitation. Is that what we want?

Let’s not be silent…….

January 2, 2018

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau,
Prime Minister of Canada,
Office of the Prime Minister,
80 Wellington Street,
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Re: Donald Trump

Dear Prime Minister:

So, while Mr. Trump has not visited Canada…..yet, your government tells us there is an outstanding invitation.

I can grudgingly accept the politically expedient relationship you have with this man. I can join the chorus of admiration for your skill in coping with the difficulties this must present. I can even condone with reservations the manner in which you approach Mr. Trump, as you would any other world leader. I can hope too that circumstances will not one day call for a comparison between you and Neville Chamberlain.

But please sir, do not expect all Canadians to be as forbearing. A Trump visit to Canada would provoke a considerable and negative reaction to Mr. Trump, and the sycophants, idiots and opportunists who surround him. I for one would welcome an opportunity to participate in such a demonstration of outrage.

Better Mr. Trump stays in Washington.

Yours truly,

Charles H. Klassen

Now, will someone please give those deer good swift kicks in the rump, shake them out of their apathetic and indifferent stupor, and let us get back to pursuits worth our while!

Stop already!

turnoverarocktoday Constructive Sedition

American Kelly Craft is a Republican Party donor, and a contributor to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. She’s the new U.S. Ambassador to Canada, and in a true contemporary White House smear, suggested that Canadians need to improve and be more like Americans. Her suggestion wasn’t well-received.
We don’t usually reprint newspaper items verbatim, but Robert Macdonald’s Ottawa Citizen counterpoint has appeared widely. We’ll copy it too:-

“Canada’s doing just fine, thanks.

U. S. Ambassador Kelly Craft, in her first Canadian print interview, stated, “The golden rule is we want Canadians to be as successful as Americans.”

I doubt Canadians want to be ‘as successful as Americans.’ In February, Scott Gilmore, writing in MacLean’s magazine, provided some statistics that show Canadians are already more successful than Americans. We live 2.5 years longer than Americans. Americans are six times more likely to be incarcerated. The World Economic Forum ranks Canadians as the sixth happiest people in the world. Americans are 13th.

Fifty-nine per cent of Canadians have college degrees versus 46 per cent in the U.S. Home ownership rates are five per cent higher in Canada than in the U.S. Canadians are twice as likely as Americans to move from the poorest quintile of the population to the wealthiest. And perhaps most telling for the citizens of the “Land of the Free,” the Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index considers Canadians to be the sixth freest people in the world. Americans are way behind, in the 23rd place.

So Ambassador Craft, I suggest to you revisit your Golden Rule. Instead, during your appointment as Ambassador to Canada, you should try to help your citizens be as successful as Canadians. As helpful Canadians, we would be happy to show you how.”

We added a comment of our own:-

January 2, 2018

The Honourable Kelly Craft, Ambassador,
U.S. Embassy, Ottawa,
490 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, ON K1N 1G8

Re: “Canada’s doing just fine, thanks”

Madam:

A Canadian expat living in Los Angeles for the last 35 years sent me Robert Macdonald’s Ottawa Citizen piece responding to your comment about wanting Canadians to be as successful as Americans. I’m sure your staff has put this in front of you.

Mr. Macdonald is succinct. I would only add that at this particular point in your country’s history, the very best thing about being a Canadian is that I’m not an American.

I wish you and your fellow U.S. citizens the best of good fortune. You’ll need it.

Yours truly,

Charles H. Klassen

What in hell is going into the drinking water in the United States?

“Charges withdrawn……

turnoverarocktoday Policing

…….against 4 Toronto cops”

So read the Toronto Star headline over Wendy Gillis’ November 10, 2017 column.

“A high-profile case involving four Toronto police officers accused of planting heroin on a car dashboard then falsifying court testimony has collapsed before going to trial, after the Crown withdrew the more than two dozen perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges.”

Last week we posted Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan’s September 2015 ruling that found four Toronto police officers had planted drugs in Nguyen Son Tran’s car back in January of 2014. Morgan threw out the seized drugs as evidence and stayed the charges against Tran.

After that decision and the publicity around it, the police’s professional standards unit investigated. That resulted in a total of 25 charges against the four officers, including 10 directed at 10-year veteran Benjamin Elliot. A downcast Toronto Chief Mark Saunders told a January, 2016 news conference that all four officers were suspended…with pay…and faced professional misconduct charges under the Police Services Act.

So, what happened?

In March of this year, that same Toronto Police professional standards unit advised the Crown Attorney prosecuting the case that privileged information had been inadvertently disclosed to the officers’ attorneys. A back-and-forth between the police and the Crown over how this might impact the viability of the court action meant the Crown had a duty to review and re-examine its “voluminous” case, and conduct a “painstaking and detailed reappraisal.” How this privileged information was characterized wasn’t mentioned.

In any case, the delay would postpone the trial until at least the fall of next year, exceeding the timeline limits established by the Supreme Court’s decision in R v. Jordan. The Crown felt it had no choice but to withdraw the charges, and that despite remedies available to sidestep the Supreme Court limits. As one Toronto criminal lawyer put it, “that the Crown attorney on such an important case would simply give up in the face of these issues is shocking and disheartening.”

At the same time, lawyers for the accused considered this a victory, and more, that the four officers were vindicated

What really happened though is that the Toronto Police Service sabotaged a criminal case against four of its own, based on an investigation it had conducted. One would think the forces professional standards unit would be professional standards experts, wouldn’t one? As Nguyen Son Tran’s lawyer said, the police “screwed up their own disclosure obligations? It just stinks.”

One other question appears never to have surfaced at any point, or with any observer. What did Tran do to warrant so much interest from Toronto police back in January of 2014?

PONDER THIS FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS. WE’RE TAKING A CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR’S BREAK……..BACK AGAIN ON JANUARY 7, 2018!

Now, here’s a twist….

turnoverarocktoday Policing

…..first the ‘set-up’

The Toronto Star, Friday, September 11, 2015
Marco Chown Oved, staff reporter
“Judge rules police planted heroin in order to frame driver”

It’s the afternoon of January 13, 2014 in Toronto. Nguyen Son Tran is in his car, stopped at a red light. He has a criminal record, pleading guilty a year earlier to heroin possession, although he claimed at the time it belonged to someone else. As he sat waiting for the light to change, Tran noticed Toronto Police Detective Constable Benjamin Elliot in plain clothes pull up beside him in an unmarked car. It was Elliot who had arrested him the year before.

The light changes, and after driving through the intersection, Tran is pulled over by Constable Jeffrey Tout in a police cruiser, later testifying Tran ran a red light. Tout is on his cell phone as he approaches Tran’s car, and is overheard to say, “exactly him” as he comes within earshot. Tran steps out of his car. Elliot arrives on the scene in less than two minutes. Sergeant Michael Taylor and Detective Constable Fraser Douglas also show up. Elliot searches Tran’s car and shortly produces a bag of heroin, saying, “I found it.”

This is a part of the written findings of Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan when he tossed the seized drugs as evidence and stayed the drug charges against Tran in September of 2015. According to the police, they noticed a pile of loose heroin powder on Tran’s dashboard, which led to the search of the car. Eleven more grams of the drug was found wrapped in plastic and stowed behind the steering column.

But, police couldn’t explain how loose heroin got onto the dashboard; there was nothing to indicate how it got there. And why wouldn’t Tran have simply brushed it away when he was stopped. The judge’s conclusion? The heroin was planted.

According to Justice Morgan, the four officers all presented differing versions of what happened on that 2014 afternoon ….except they all did agree to the loose heroin on the dashboard. He ruled they “obviously colluded” in their testimony, describing their actions and false testimony in court “egregiously wrongful conduct.” He cited a number of points where he found police testimony to be patently untrue.

What consequences the officers would face, if any, did not come up at the time, although Toronto Police Service’s able spokesperson, Mark Pugash, did say judge’s comments are taken very seriously.

What’s going on here? Next week, we’ll skip forward two years and pick up the ‘play.’

A comeback – No-Fault Murder?

turnoverarocktoday Justice & the Penal Systems

…..unexpected, but one more reason to persist.

The November 12 post, No-Fault Murder?, included the November 6 letter to Ontario’s correctional service minister Marie-France Lalonde, challenging the decision not to lay charges in the death of Soleiman Faqiri. Eight parties were copied.

Within days, Will Herbert, Inspector of Support Services for the Kawartha Lakes Police Service, and one of the copied, responded by email:

“The City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service acknowledges receipt of correspondence from you dated November 6th, 2017. Please be advised that the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) manages public complaints against police. Should you wish to formally pursue your complaint, the OIPRD can be reached at……

….the website followed….the message concluded….

Feel free to contact me if I can of any further assistance.
Best regards”

Innocent enough, but this is a circumstance that involves the unnecessary loss of life. And, the loss of a citizen’s life at the hands of public servants no less. Every opportunity to comment should be exercised.

We waited a few days:-

“Thank you for your November 9 email in response to my November 6 letter to Ontario’s Minister of Community Safety & Correctional Services, and which was copied to KLPS. This was not so much a complaint against the Kawartha Lakes Police Service or any of its members but more a part of an ongoing social media conversation around the fraternal cooperation among civil servants to avoid accountability. I hesitate to use the stronger language I hear from parties whose frustration leads to rash judgments, although I can understand the irritation.

No doubt, Mr. Faqiri’s family has legal representation, and whether or not an inquiry into his death is held, we can be certain a settlement with a non-disclosure clause is in the works.

In the meantime, there is no point in approaching the OIPRD with a complaint addressing the investigation at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay.

What is the point, and what is more important here, is using what faculties we have to move public opinion.

I appreciate you taking the time to write.

Yours truly…..”

The ‘stronger language’ referenced in the message includes the word COLLUSION, which can be justified with certainty, but needs the weight of that public opinion to have any hope of impact.

We know the drill……stand up, speak up, etc., etc.,

U.S. Sovereignty……..

turnoverarocktoday Constructive Sedition

……in Canada

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has sounded the alarm over the provisions in Bill C-23, which is now in the Senate. The BCCLA has a point.

The 1974 Preclearance Act makes travel easier when U.S. Customs is cleared at Canadian airports before departure. There’s no question that passengers going through the process are still on Canadian soil, in Canadian territory, and retain all the associated rights and benefits.

Bill 23 will expand preclearance areas and broaden the powers of U.S. border agents within those areas.

Right now, a person can exit a preclearance area at any time, but Bill 23 would authorize U.S. border guards to detain and question people who make that choice. Further, U.S. agents would be able to strip search a traveler if Canadian guards are not available, or if Canadian guards refuse to conduct a strip search.

What’s more, there appears to be no measure in the new legislation to hold U.S. guards accountable for their decisions.

The BCCLA made a submission to Parliament on this bill back in June and some changes were made, but the three concerns around detention, strip searches, and a lack of accountability are still in place. The association wants Canadians to contact Ottawa to express displeasure. But, most Canadians have no idea these changes are in the works, and there’s not likely to be any outpouring of outrage.

The federal government may have acquiesced to American demands for greater border security, and it isn’t hiding the thrust of this bill. It’s just not running it up the flagpole for a broad scrutiny.

Too bad for us.

ONTARIO – Get with it II!

turnoverarocktoday Justice & the Penal Systems

……continued from November 5.

“There is a need to reinforce the commitment to Charter rights throughout the correctional practice.” This was Howard Sapers’ studied response when asked if Ontario’s jail system complied with the Charter.

Sapers, Ontario’s independent corrections adviser, had just released his 240-page report for the province’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and was answering media questions about its contents. It was October 3rd, and the ministry was working on prison legislation it intends to table by the end of the year……’labouring’ is how the Globe’s Patrick White saw the agency’s reaction to calls for reform.

Sapers’ report makes 62 recommendations he claims the province must implement to keep its commitment for a rights-based jail system. This is his second report since the province retained him last year after his long stint as Canada’s federal correctional investigator. The review issued in May revealed the misuse and overuse of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates, and the negative impact of long-term isolation on that vulnerable population.

This latest report is wide-ranging and detailed, covering all facets of jail operation. “I’m pushing them very hard,” Sapers said during his Queen’s Park news conference, referring to the work he expects of MCSCS. “The recommendations are very achievable.”

“My goal is to bring forward most of Mr. Sapers’ recommendations either through legislation or as we move forward,” was the response from Corrections Minister Marie-France Lalonde.

That is not only easier said than done, but the minister’s endorsement is not what we should have expected, given Sapers’ mandate. His team found numerous differences between existing MCSCS policy, and practice. As an example, the inmates-complaints policy says all inmates have access to “formal and informal complaint procedures.” This just isn’t so, and only one provincial institution had a dedicated process for grievances.

Health care, which often drives most inmate complaints, indigenous over-representation, and the availability of rehabilitation programs came under scrutiny. However, it was family visits, inmate-death investigations, and the parole process that were targets for particularly strong comment in the report.

All Ontario institutions are maximum security, except for one that is classified as medium; there are no minimum security provincial jails in Ontario. This compromises attempts to initiate progressive policies for family visits and parole provisions. As for deaths in custody, the Sapers team learned the ministry doesn’t follow up deaths in jail with a “thorough, fully arm’s-length and independent review” process. There weren’t even any definitive figures on the number of deaths in Ontario’s jails for the last decade.

What should stand out in this report, and what should concern us all, and what is worth repeating, is that difference between policy and practice in public institutions. We have civil servants who are apparently unable or unwilling to act according to instructions from their superiors, and are at times flouting the law.

Compliance and enforcement and oversight are in short supply, and substantial consequences for failures are non-existent.

And, we shouldn’t expect Ontario to be significantly different than other Canadian jurisdictions.

No-Fault Murder?

turnoverarocktoday Justice & the Penal Systems

“No charges in mentally ill man’s death at Lindsay jail” headlined Fatima Syed’s piece in the October 31st Toronto Star, referring to the in-custody beating death of Soleiman Faqiri at the Central East Correctional Centre on December 15, 2016.

To quote: “The Kawartha Lakes Police Service told the family in a brief email sent on Friday that the conclusion of an investigation into the death of Faqiri, 30, had been reached after a thorough analysis of all the evidence and witness statements, and after consulting with the Office of the Crown Attorney and medical experts.”
No charges would be forthcoming.

Oh, really?

Further, that “the family has responded to the email with shock, anger and most of all, confusion.”

You think?

November 6, 2017

The Honourable Marie-France Lalonde,
Minister of Community Safety & Correctional Service,
18th Floor, 25 Grosvenor Street,
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y6

Re: Soleiman Faqiri

Dear Minister Lalonde:

“You’re kidding”, is a polite reaction to the news that no charges will be laid in the beating death of Soleiman Faqiri at Central East in Lindsay in December of 2016.

Quite simply, this man was alive on the morning of December 15 last year, and in custody at a provincial jail. There was a three-hour-long ‘interaction’ with a dozen or so uniformed public servants. By day’s end, this man was dead.

Enclosed is “No detective needed!”, an October 8th illumination of December 15, posted on turnoverarocktoday.com,, and composed in the greater part by a guest writer. Look at the site too for “Soleiman Faqiri…..one for the ages” posted October 15.

I wonder. Is it the uniforms the investigators couldn’t see passed?

Frankly offended,

Charles H. Klassen

cc Kathleen Wynne – Premier, Province of Ontario
Nasir Naqvi – Attorney General, Province of Ontario
John Hagarty – Chief of Police, Kawartha Lades Police Service
Renu Mandhane – Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Right Commission
Douglas Houghton – Superintendent, Central East Correctional Centre
Nader R. Hasan – Ruby, Shiller, Chan, Hasan
Matt Galloway – CBC, Metro Morning
Fatima Syed – The Toronto Star
turnoverarocktoday.com

Tens of thousands of Ontarians know where culpability lies here. The greater tragedy is the reticence of so many to challenge the judgement of their civil servants.

How many times does this need to be said… We must stand up. We must speak up. We must act up. Or, we must pack up!