Entry #8, May 11 2016

‘I burned him because I felt the devil lived in him,’ ex-Mountie tells child-torture trial about his son

Gary Dimmock, Postmedia News | April 27, 2016 | Last Updated: Apr 27 10:31 AM ET

Overview:

This article talks about a father from Kanata Canada, who is a former RCMP that starved and tortured his 11 year old sun because the father thought that his son had the devil inside of him and he thought that his son would be a future sex offender. The father is claimed to have chained his son inside his basement and cut down the boy's food rations every day and he also was questioned for assaulting the son and burning him with a barbecue lighter. The boy often spoke about how he just wanted to be back with his family but the father was resentful. The father, as the defendant spoke about how he was extremely scared for every one in his family from the threat of the 11 year old boy and he claims that he had an old friend who had the same look in his eyes as the boy, this old friend of the father's became a sex offender. The dad further explained that he suspected the boy would beat his siblings and rape members of the family. He then stated that he was 100 percent sure this was the case. There were even claims that the father starved the child so terribly that the child was  forced to drink his own urine. Eventually the boy escaped as he was in desperate need of water. After the matter, the boy weighed 50 pounds at the age of 11 which is not normal. The father was later charged for many different offences such as assault, forced confinement, and fail to provide basic necessities. Also in the father's defense he spoke about how he did not even know that this was something bad that he was doing and that the boy would often reject him when told to do something. When the boy would refuse to do homework the father finally pulled his son out of school in 2012 and has home schooled him since. Finally, one of the points in the article mentions that the father had a rough past, growing up in Lebonan and being raped as a child. The article speaks about how this could be one of the problems for the father that causes the issues.

The young boy states.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/i-burned-him-because-i-felt-the-devil-lived-in-him-ex-mountie-tells-child-torture-trial-about-his-son

Opinion:

In the article, there was not enough lead up evidence for reasons that the father suspected this horror from his own son, for me to even slightly regard the matter, there would have to be many circumstances of abnormal activities from the boy. This is clearly a horrible matter and I feel that a large portion of it has to do with the mental health of this father who was a former RCMP. Most people would think that there is no way a strong, proud Mountie would ever think or do something like this but it seems that anything could happen, or maybe this man should have never been a Mountie, there is also the possibility that there is lots of information we are missing. It is completely unacceptable that someone acts so disgustingly just because they merely think that their child will become a bad person or a sex offender, they have no proof of how this could happen in the future. It is unfair for the child. From a civic point of view, I believe that the father is fully at fault for this and it is absurd that an ex police officer does not know these laws. The man may have thought that his son was possessed but this does not mean he has to torture his son and ruin his entire life. I also feel that there is a piece of the puzzle we are missing, there must be more to why an RCMP would ever starve his own child. I think that a large portion of the blame could go to the mental health condition of this RCMP, and he should be checked for this after his suspension.

If I were to put myself in the father's shoes (even though I could not imagine this happening) I would simply enforce the rules of goodness toward the boy as much as possible and make sure that he is the best he could be. I feel that a civic solution for this could have been for the father to primarily tell someone else outside of his family how he feel about his son, for example, the father could have told a friend or cousin and they could have assessed it together and even in the unlikeliness of them agreeing on the boy being possessed(unlikely), they could seek medical treatment and assessment for the boy etc. Something like this could have easily stopped this issue from occurring from its roots. Another solution that I strongly feel should be implemented for the father, is that he goes to rehabilitation for his experiences and for how he feels about the situation. This could help the father with his mental health which seems to be an issue and maybe he could love each member of his family once and for all. Finally I believe that the young boy should have some time away from his father in a safe area where he can rebuild himself and be rehabilitated from his horrible experience.

Entry #7, April 30 2016

John Ridsdel execution: Why refusing to pay ransoms may not protect Canadians

Trudeau says Canada won't pay ransoms 'directly or indirectly'

By Mark Gollom, CBC News Posted: Apr 26, 2016 7:27 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 27, 2016 9:37 AM ET

Overview:

In this article, it talks about two Canadians who were captured by an Al-Queda organization and one of them, John Ridsdel was executed by one of the terrorist member, Abu Sayyaf. This execution was ordered after Ridsdel was ordered to pay money to the terrorists that who could not come up with. The question for Canada paying ransoms to terrorists is on the line as Canada has a strict law of not paying direct or indirect ransoms to terrorists. Trudeau stated that ransoms are what pay terrorists and that this could be a threat to any Canadian travelling abroad. A vice president for intelligence at Stratfor said in response that even if we say we do not pay ransoms, it will not reduce the amount of kidnappings by terrorists. It is known that Canada does not pay ransoms to terrorists, however there was a record found of a ransom of 1.1 million $ payed in ransom in 2009 to free Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay. This same problem has occurred with other European countries that have been known to pay ransoms yet they have a denial policy. The article then talks about the 3rd party situation. Governments that have a no ransom policy often hire third party groups to secretly pay off the ransoms, however, these third party groups attempt at neutralizing the enemy in the process of the rescue and there are professional parties who do this.Then the topic of reasons of kidnappings arises in this article, researchers and experts on terrorism weighed in on the situations and the statement that terrorists do not go for British or American hostages because they know that these countries do not pay ransoms. An expert then said that there is no evidence to prove this claim. An expert researcher-Adam Dolnik says that a solution to this could be that the governments have no ransom policies but have secret ransom paying systems with non-disclosure approval, these transactions would happen in the background and could be flexible in what goes on during the paying of the ransoms. Dolnik then talks about how they should not just immediately be going off and paying every future ransom, but the governments should study each case separately and deal with it accordingly but with precision.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada 'does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists.' (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)http://www.cbc.ca/news/john-ridsdel-kidnapping-ransom-1.3553712?cmp=rss

Opinion:

This obvious discussion in this topic is the paying or non paying of ransom laws in different countries. Some points to consider could be how I would handle this if it were one of my family members in Ridsdel's position, and also the fact that these negotiations may not work, even if they do, this means we would still be funding terrorists. What is the solution could be the question. In my opinion, if I were Justin Trudeau I would also present a no-ransom policy because this gives reassurance to the majority of the population. However, I do take into consideration, the action plan of Mr, Dolnik and I believe that the government should have a secret third party group for handling these situations, if they get out of hand. The other problem is that if the government does have another background group do the ransom transactions, if we do not eliminate the kidnappers in a fashionable amount of time, the issue of funding the terrorist organisations could get out of hand and this could ultimately cause the fact that we would be helping them expand. To put this issue into perspective and from a civic point of view, if one of my family members, say my father, was kidnapped I would obviously want the ransom to be payed. This issue has many different perspectives to be viewed from and I feel one of the main controversial factors is that it depends on how important the person is to the Canadian government to evaluate how much that person is worth saving.However, every person in our society will be important to someone. Overall, I feel that Canada should pay more attention to this issue and that the government must devise a much more strategic approach with third party organisation involved, to solve the kidnapping problems in our country.

Entry #6, April 21 2016

Police: 4-year-old girl fatally shot by 5-year-old sibling

CBS/AP April 17, 2016, 12:08 AM

Overview:

In this article, a four year old girl was fatally shot in her home by her five year old sibling. This tragedy occurred on the 17th of April at about 2:30pm in Philadelphia. The young girl was fatally shot in the face and was pronounce dead at the scene. The gun is owned by the boyfriend of the children's mother and police are trying to investigate who was in the house during this time, and the mothers' boyfriend supposedly fled the house the day of the shooting and is now being questioned by police at headquarters. The little girl was very well liked in her neighborhood by other, she loved to help others and was apparently extremely intelligent. She could recite the entire alphabet and new all her colours by the age of 4. Later on, the boyfriend started to confess that it was his fault for the shooting and that he was the one who pulled the trigger. This would result in a sentence for third degree murder against the boyfriend and could force him to spend life in prison if the sentence was set.

Philadelphia police gather at the scene of a shooting that left a four-year-old girl dead on Saturday, April 16, 2016

http://6abc.com/news/police-5-year-old-sibling-shot-killed-sister-4-inside-kensington-home-/1294831/

Opinion: 

The issue that this article clearly brings up is the problem of gun control. Many people nowadays in the United Sates are getting their gun license so that they can poses a firearm with them or in their house. Researchers say that the primary reason that people keep them in their houses is for defense against robberies in places that robberies have occurred or could occur. So this pretty much counts as almost everywhere. Keeping a firearm simply for self defense in homes could have advantages if you live in a rough area but to what extent? If there is a chance that your child could get hurt with a mean that is supposed to defend the people in the household, maybe the weapon should be second guessed. If your children's lives could be at stake weather it's a sibling or even the man in the house who is threatening then something needs to change. From a civic point of view, and a Canadian point of view where possessing a gun is against the law, if a gun is in the house with children near, the weapon should be locked away safely. Most people in Canada who have a hunting license are required to keep their guns in locked lockers at all times. This idea could similarly be used for tragic situations like this one to be prevented from happening. To keep in consideration, the desire for american citizens to have guns a law that could be set in place or even simply an idea to increase safety around children, could be to keep your firearms in a safe and secluded spot.

Entry #5, April 11, 2016

Court hears case of teen who sent friend texts urging suicide

CBS/AP April 7, 2016, 3:45 PM

Overview: 

This article talks about a girl who sent text messages to her boyfriend urging him to kill himself, and as a matter of fact the boyfriend ended up actually committing suicide. The young lady-Michelle Carter and her boyfriend-Conrad Roy III were a couple for months and their relationship was not turning out quite well as Carter had lately, been pressuring Roy into killing himself while she already knew that he suffered from depression and other mental illnesses. Roy had already attempted suicide in other situations as reporters stated. In the court prosecutors were stating that Carter (the girl) is guilty of "involuntary manslaughter". Defendants for Carter were arguing that they were just words and she committed no crimes. In one situation Conrad Roy was in his car inhaling dangerous Carbon monoxide fumes while on the phone with Carter. Carter ended up telling him to get back in the car after he went to get out. However, this was not the occasion that Roy took his life and in other situations Carter tried desperately to talk him out of it but quit 2 weeks prior to his suicide. Later on after repeatedly tying her hardest to stop her boyfriend from killing himself, Roy committed the deed by an act of using gasoline fumes to overtake himself. The law states that Carter could be sentenced to time of up to 20 years in prison but she was let off on bail. After the matter Carter held baseball tournaments to raise money for people with mental illnesses and she posted several heart felt posts on social media that expressed how much she missed Roy.

Michelle and Conrad above.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/27/26273ADD00000578-0-image-a-22_1425053357818.jpg

Opinion: 

In my opinion, and from a civic point of view, there should be some charge or punishment for Carter. This would be appropriate because she did urge Roy to kill himself as she stated herself. Carter also knew that he struggled with mental illness issues and that he has attempted suicide before so she should not have meddled with this. Carter did not commit a law from the books but it can surely be linked to some other crimes such as manslaughter which could result in a 20 year sentence. To consider another perspective-in the eyes of the defendant’s (Carter) family, they feel that she did not genuinely mean the words she spoke and that the young girl did not realize the damage her words could cause. Another topic is that Conrad Roy was already committing an illegal act-suicide. People are only now taking this into consideration and I do not understand why family did not help Roy if they knew this could have happened. Another debatable topic is the "blame card", whose fault was all of this, or who is to blame. In my opinion each person is to blame because firstly, Carter should not have sent text messages of this extent to someone they know suffers from mental illnesses like depression. Secondly, there is also blame to be placed on Roy, and although it is devastating that he has passed away, people are responsible for their own actions and maybe he should have had more help from his family to avoid this situation. Overall, a civic solution for a problem like this could be to primarily get adults involved because clearly Roy was not very close with his family as they most likely would have helped the situation before it grew to a larger scale. Also, to avoid an issue like this, a lesson to know for the future could be that you should think about who you’re talking to and what could harm them before you say something extremely harsh. No matter what they have said to you, Carter could have maybe had better luck helping Roy stop his urge for suicide if she had not told him to go on with it half-heartedly. 

Entry #4, February 29

Serial killer Robert Pickton pens book in prison

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Sunday, February 21, 2016 10:10PM EST 

Overview: 

This article talks about the notorious Canadian serial killer- Robert Pickton, who happened to have published a book about himself while locked down in a high security prison. Pickton was prosecuted for second degree murder against six girls who were found on his farm in Port Conquitlam. Subsequently, he confessed to an undercover security guard placed in his cell, that he killed 49 and got "sloppy" on his fiftieth. Pickton apparently got his written copy of his book out of the prison by giving it to his old inmate Michael Childress who got credited for author of the book. The book is now being sold on Amazon.ca for 20$. Many people are wondering how this man, who committed a gruesome crime could be able to write and publish a book about himself when hes supposed to be doing time in a high security prison. Pickton's book titled; "Pickton in his own words" talks about his life and argues about his innocence and how he should be claimed innocent. This news was seen as outrageous for people all over Canada and who could even imagine how the family members of Pickton's victims feel about this. The book supposedly has many typos and grammatical errors. Releasing a book from prison was not just introduced by Pickton, it previously happened in Canada as well in the 90s with a man named Paul Bernardo, he also released a novel straight from his prison cell. People in Canada are wondering whether publishing novels should be a right that the prisoners have, or should it be not allowed? A threat poses of prisoners like Pickton and Bernardo gaining money from their books and hiring an attorney to get them out of jail.

Serial killer Robert Pickton listens to the guilty verdict handed to him by the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007. (Felicity Don / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Opinion:

In my opinion, the prisoners should not be allowed to publish books from prison. They could be able to write for pleasure and share it with inmates but publishing is a different story. When in prison, the prisoners are supposed to be serving time as a consequence for something bad they have done, they should not be making money. In addition, having books written by prisoners who are in prison read by the public could cause problems such as riots or plans to help an inmate escape. This could be compared to a different situations that has happened in a prison in Texas where a prisoner created a key to unlock his cell in wood shop (a daily activity they could participate in). In my opinion, some activities such as wood shop or writing and getting a book published should not be allowed in prisons due to dangers that could cause future problems. Seeing both sides of this situation, I could see Pickton making this book for a couple of reasons; he wants to make money, he wasn't to prove his innocents or, he just had nothing to do. I feel that he did this because he wants to make money and try and prove his innocents, he would not have tried to get it published if he wanted to do it for fun. I feel that this could have been a good idea from Pickton until I heard a passage from the book where Pickton explains that one of the blood stains on the bed was simply some fallen wallpaper glue. I see this as a preposterous excuse because the police would have been sure it was blood before convicting him, plus they found the dead victims in his barn as well. Overall, I believe that prisoners in high security prisons, such as Pickton, should not be able to publish books and make money or be recognized by others, when they are supposed to be doing time for something horrible that thy have done.

Entry #3, February 16

Victoria proposes rules for regulating illegal marijuana dispensaries

ANDREA WOO

VICTORIA — The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 7:09PM EST

Last updated Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 9:45PM EST

Overview:

In this article, Andrea Woo from the Globe and Mail talks about how Victoria, Canada is trying to regulate marijuana dispensaries around their city. There are about 30 current businesses in Victoria selling marijuana and 26 of them are store-front retailers, according to the city. In response to these numbers the city has proposed 14 regulations, such as an annual licensing fee of 4-5 thousand dollars.  A spokesman for a dispensing chain- Alex Robb who is located on Vancouver Island, stated that he wholeheartedly welcomes the new licensing regimes that were set up. Other proposed regulations include being prohibited from participating in the business if under the age of 19, health signs must be posted as well and no-one is permitted to consume marijuana in dispensaries. The Mayor of Victoria-Lisa Helps notes that she is still working to establish ground rules and is keeping in mind the fact that it may to years for the federal government to legalize marijuana. Helps also brought up the subject of how dispensaries are popping up much too quickly and that it is creating an unbalanced playing ground for other businesses. This could relate to the economical status of these suddenly occurring dispensaries for marijuana.  Helps finally stated how the city will have an open house meeting on the 22 of February  and she hopes to see the regulation set in as soon as possible. Last year Vancouver became the first city in Canada to regulate dispensaries however thirty thousand dollar fees will be given if it is used where it is not permitted. Helps said that she wanted the fees to be higher but the Victoria regulations fall under the same as B.C  and Vancouver on the other hand has its own regulations set apart. 

http://www.langaravoice.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-18-at-12.32.30-PM.png

Vancouver Dispensary

Opinion:

My opinion on the whole topic of the legalization of marijuana is that I still believe that it is not a good thing as it is a drug, not usually being used for medicine, but the fact that there are much worse drugs out there that make marijuana look like nothing. For example drinking is not illegal but it could make you do some very bad things when you get drunk, similarly to being high on marijuana. These effects are often compared and in my opinion pot is no worse than alcohol. My thoughts on the economic impact of the current situation is that, yes people will be more attracted to the marijuana dispensary in the outlet than the dry cleaning store right beside it. I can understand how the businesses feel in Victoria and I see how this could be unfair since the other businesses could be receiving less publicity. In my opinion the solution that the government could come up with for this economic issue is that the dispensaries can only be opened in certain remote areas. They must be separated evenly from each other dispensary in the area thus causing less eyes to turn in every outlet. The controversy between how Victoria is regulating marijuana apart from the rest of Vancouver, who has not yet done so interests me. I have noticed that many areas or regions are starting to act more independent now a days from there nation such as Quebec to Canada. This is a similar idea with what Victoria is doing from the rest of its nation which is Vancouver, the Victoria municipal government is taking an illegal drug (marijuana) and is creating regulations for it which is a complete foreign subject to the rest of Vancouver. In my opinion this is a good thing because when cities such as Victoria begin major actions such as these, it gives a chance for the rest of the province or even county to see how it works out. If the situation works out well, then maybe other cities or even provinces in Canada could begin to create regulations, and it could row from there at a slow, measurable pace that is safe. Overall, from a civics point of view, I believe that pot could have some regulation and be sold at dispensaries non-illegally, but to an extent. If the guidelines given by the government of Victoria are followed, in my personal opinion, I feel mediated dispensaries could work and spread all over Canada.

Entry #2, February 8th

No timeouts, reward charts or taking their toys away. So how do we get our kids to behave?

JOELENE HUBER

Contributed to The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 1:09PM EST

Last updated Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 1:14PM EST

Overview: 

This article by Joelene Huber talks about different people's methods of punishment and discipline towards their children. Many people are giving their kids timeouts these days but this method is apparently a very poor solution. Huber interviews Vanessa Lapointe who wrote a book on ow to handle your misbehaved child and she explains how spanking is a thing of the past. Lapointe describes how you must use methods that will help you connect with you child and give them a sense of knowing how they feel. Lapointe states that punishments have evolved over time and that physical punishments are not the solution to "teach them a lesson" , letting them reflect and speaking to them calmly will help the issue. Lapointe also stated that when kids are growing up, it is the frontal cortex of their brain that allows them to learn and choose whats right from wrong. To let the children learn soothingly but also have consequences will mature their brain and being firm but kind and the am time will make the child know that the relationship is the core foundation, and that is what you care about in the approach. S we can see that one side of parenting values to teach their kids a lesson by making them lose privileges or by spanking them (harsher version) , but the other side,that  the Scientists have helped Ms. Lapointe learn is that thoughtfuly you can teach them a lesson.

Image shows mother trying to disciplin child with "timeout" method.

http://5keysparenting.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mother-child-discipline-small.jpg

Opinion:

This article has spoken about a subject that I am able to relate to. Since I was once a young child, I remember my parents punishing me in different manors, some more old fashioned than others. I have noticed that the way to talk to our kids that Lapointe talks about is very interesting to me due to scientific research over numerous years it must work. However, this does not mean I completely agree with these approaches towards punishing your child by reflecting alongside one another. In my opinion, for some cases children will not want to cooperate with the action of telling them you know how they feel because kids are quite ignorant. I believe that you must teach your children in a more abrupt way that they will remember, (this does not mean spanking by any means). Certain ways such as making the child lose a privilege such as watching TV or using their gaming device for two weeks appeals much more to me because this is something that they are quite attached to. I do take into consideration the points of Lapointe but I just cannot see such a mature action to a young child being consistently effective. From my own point of view which is quite bias, I feel that the losing privilege punishment worked on me and this could be why I feel this is more effective when handling children, besides, I couldn't last a day without TV when I was a kid so I would always be scared to do something wrong. I know the object is not necessarily to scare the child into not doing something because this could hold them back from opportunities in the future, but sometime I feel that this is the most effective and consistent approach to handling a child when they are misbehaved. From a civic point of view, many people around the world treat their children differently when they are misbehaved, unfortunately some are more brutal ways than others and as time goes on and we advance into the future and as one's civility evolves, punishing children will become less and less harsh as now a days kids are committing crimes everyday. My final judgement and response to this article would be that kids must always been treated sternly and learn their lessons when needed to prepare them for the future. I see some ways people use to be more unnecessary than others (spanking/violence) but in the end their must always be a barrier for each child set up firmly by their parents.

Entry #1, February 1st 2016

The new threat

WENCY LEUNG AND IVAN SEMENIUK
The Globe and Mail Last updated: Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 9:31PM EST


Overview:
This article speaks briefly of th recent outbreak of a new virus being spread called the "Zika virus". It is said that the mosquitoes- (Aeges Aegypti) can survive in many different environement as long as their is a somewhat warm climate support. This vi
rus can be spread sexually and through other blood transmissions. The mosquito will infect your blood with the virus and symptoms are unable to be seen unless you have a confirmed infection. Symptoms of an infection include, rashes, inflammation of the eyes, red eyes and headaches. A problem occurring is that some babies are being born with abnormally small heads and the people are being asked to avoid pregnancy until at least 2018 as a researcher from the University of Notre Dame has said there could be a 4-5 year wait until a vaccine is created. Scientists have discovered that the virus inside your body will not last very long as your immune system will eventually fight off the disease in approximately 1 week.

It is stated in the article that the virus has been confirmed to have spread in most of the warm climate south american countries such as Brazil. Many African countries are also affected by this as well as southern Asian countries. As for confirmed population sightings of the aeges aegypti  many countries including the U.S contain the mosquito. Countries such as Canada and Chile have supposedly not been hit with mosquitoes due to harsher climates but are speculated to be in the presence of the insect in the future. In Washington there have been reported populations of the ages aegypti even in the cold climates. Scientists are saying that the mosquitoes could be hiding somewhere deep such as a subway until the see a warm, wet spring weather in Washington so this could occur in countries such as Canada as well.

Map of affected areas of the virus and areas known to have the aegis aegypti

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-zika-virus-and-itscarrier/article28403924/

There are many events occurring in affected countries such as the Brazil Rio carnival which is very popular and well known worldwide. Government officials are saying they should cancel this event this year due to the wide spreading outbreak of the Zika Virus. In my opinion they should cancel this festival or even postpone it until vaccines or a stop of the spreading of the virus occurs. The carnival hosts near 2 million people on the streets per day, and with this virus on the loose it could spread into millions of people in the country having a huge economical effect on lifestyles. Many people could pick up this virus during the festival forcing the virus to spread to regions and amounts of poeple it would not have been able to before. Many people in Brazil could be home sick or needing a doctor meanwhile there would be an insufficient supply of doctors to care for this many patients. Also, people will not be able to go to work forcing businesses to have no employees and the stores will be unable to sell important resources. Overall there is a possibility that the Zika virus could cause an economical and social crisis in Brazil of this festival were to occur soon, this is why my opinion would be to postpone the festival. On the other hand doctors and researchers in other countries are saying not to have babies until 2018 due to the abnormal birth defects occurring in new borns due to the virus. I believe that it is the citizens choice whether or not they want to take this risk by having a baby during this time even though not every baby is born with a defect. I feel that a final solution for the government to handle this issue could be to start creating a vaccine immediately and spread awareness of the danger of the virus throughout there country because this could cause less people to be inclined to have babies and this would contribute to a much slower spread of the virus.