Contrary to Section 1 and 9 of the Human Rights Code

In a case resolution conference decision, adjudicator Kaye Joachim ruled that the preponderance of probabilities had led her to find in favour of Ronald Phipps in his human rights complaint filed against the Toronto Police Services Board.
On March 9, 2005, Phipps found himself being questioned for a variation on the theme of "driving while black". In Phipps' case, he was walking while black in an affluent Toronto neighbourhood, fulfilling his duties at the time as a relief letter carrier. Phipps charged that Constable Michael Shaw discriminated against him on the basis of race and colour when he stopped and questioned him on the March day. Joachim upheld Phipps' claim when she found that "it was not unusual behaviour on the applicant’s part that caused Constable Shaw to decide to place the applicant under surveillance but rather the fact that he was an African Canadian male in an affluent neighbourhood.", in contravention of Sections 1 and 9 of the Human Rights Code.
Shaw and a rookie constable had been given a "Directed Patrol Assignment, recommending that they patrol the area where the applicant was delivering mail between 12 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. The assignment details were that phone lines had been cut in the area by suspects described as Male, White and East European, who were using a vehicle." Given that Phipps was carrying two letter carrier's bags filled with the Queen's mail, and wearing Canada Post uniform attire, it is easy to see how Shaw could have decided he was a suspect that needed investigating, don't you think? Especially considering the fact that he was wearing the uniform and carrying the Canada Post mail satchel in the affluent Bridle Path neighbourhood, while blatantly being the wrong colour, it is more than easy to understand why Shaw immediately demanded ID from Phipps. The driver's license and Canada Post ID he produced were apparently not enough for the good officer, so the rookie officer returned to the police vehicle and performed a check which showed Phipps was clean. It showed him to be as clean as new-fallen snow, in fact, if you'll pardon the colour inference. Still not sure that it could be possible for a black man to actually be innocently doing just what he claimed to be doing, Shaw approached a white male letter carrier he saw at a nearby drop box, and asked him for input about Phipps. When this white man answered that he knew there was a black acting as a relief carrier on the route that day, Shaw finally gave up his aggressively discriminatory actions and drove away, leaving behind a very shaken Phipps.
Phipps told CBC Radio today that he has suffered ongoing nightmares as one of the consequences of this incident. In his complaint, he alleged that the officers drove the cruiser in a reckless manner, using it to cut him off in a driveway. In his nightmare, he says, the cruiser does not stop on time. It hits him.
Phipps said as well that although he would not have done anything differently than he did and that he still believes in standing up for his rights, his family really wants it all to be over and that they fear reprisals being brought against their father/husband. There is still another hearing to come on September 14 of this year when the tribunal will hear the same accusations against the Toronto Police Services Board and Chief Bill Blair. Phipps says he is ready to go through with this one as well, in spite of his family's reluctance, but he makes one statement which is hard for me to listen to, even though I understand the reality inherent in it; hard for me to reconcile with my love of my country. Phipps said he was born in Jamaica and came here as a child with his parents and seven brothers and sisters, but that "(He) had no idea what racism was until (he) came to Canada."
Yes, our police forces do indulge in racial profiling and discriminatory actions. Yes, we should hang our heads in shame over the long way we still have to go. We all owe a thank you to Ronald Phipps. Thank you for having the courage and conviction, the perseverance to go through with this case. You have done your part to help Canada be a better place for all of us.

Idiot Alert Files Welcome Jenny Brown

Jenny Brown is a 72-year-old who is trying to become the world's oldest mother. Having already spent $62,000 on fertility treatments in an effort to give birth, Brown is hoping to start a seventh go-round of in-vitro fertilization.
Brown, who currently lives in a three-bedroom flat in London, England, has said she has always wanted a baby but decided to spend her younger years devoted to herself and the pursuit of degrees in medical sciences and zoology. She finally decided in her early 50s that the time was right for her to try her hand at maternity and so she started looking for a sperm donor. When she failed to get pregnant naturally, she started the IVF treatment. Twenty years later, the idiot still hasn't clued into the fact that she is not Benjamin Buttons. She is getting older, not younger, and should consider the fact that were she to succeed against all odds, she may be putting the baby at risk in so many ways. In other words, Ms Moron should try thinking about someone else for a change.
At her age, for instance, should she make it close to the day when she goes into labour, she and baby might find themselves in the midst of eclampsia, defined as "a convulsive state: an attack of convulsions or coma late in pregnancy in an individual affected with pre-eclampsia". That would be a great way for Baby Brown to start with life, wouldn't it, with Mommy dying as s/he makes an entry. While I know there will be those who will say every mother faces possible risks with pregnancy, even those who are young and in the best of health, I think we would all have to agree that any risk factor would be increased exponentially by Brown's seventy-plus years.
Ms. Brown is sure she will live through it all and stay around long enough to raise Baby, saying she hopes to live to be 100. Don't we all? The norm is simply not to plan on dying, but Brown simply is not being realistic. The self-centred mental midget poses more than an increased risk for pre-eclampsia to any baby she might carry. For an educated woman, she certainly does a tremendous job of acting like someone whose deck is several cards shy of a full one.
Now, Little Miss Jenny Jerk is even appealing for women aged 20 to 35 to come forward and donate eggs because she is determined not to use a surrogate. Her reason? Well, “It's important that I carry the baby myself because I believe that even if I get pregnant with a donated egg, I will pass genetic material on to the baby while I carry it in the womb,” Brown says. “I believe the baby will look more like me that way.” Give your head one hell of a good shake, Ms. Peabrain. With your supposed degrees in medical sciences and zoology, you know bloody well that Baby will look like the two who supplied the egg and the sperm. You won't figure in anywhere, other than as a risk factor, a great, big risk factor.
It's damn near impossible to see Brown's current quest for motherhood as little more than a quest for entry into the Guinness Book of Records. For her dedication to being a first-class idiot, however, full membership in the Idiot Alert Files is hereby awarded to Jenny Brown.

Le Quatorze Juillet

Today is the anniversary of the storming of the French fortress-prison, the Bastille, on July 14th, 1789. The Bastille was symbolic of the absolute power of the French monarchy, used as it often was to imprison people on the basis of royal indictments, (read royal whim) which could not be appealed. Once the doors clanged shut behind someone, they were there for the rest of their lives.
The taking of this symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th's Ancient Regime marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Although the Bastille only held seven prisoners on that July day in 1789, its capture was symbolic of the ordinary peoples' fight against oppression, and the rise of the new French Republic's three ideals: liberty, equality, and fraternity for all French citizens.
France has been celebrating today with a huge military parade down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. Many other celebrations will be held, of course, and not all of them in France. As well as many other places, like New Orleans, La Belle Province here in Canada will mark the day with celebration. I think I will, too, but my celebration will be much quieter. I remember my mother's story of her time in Alsace-Lorraine on July 14th, between the two world wars. Being an immigrant there herself, she was not familiar with the day or its history. She remembers the day itself for only one reason. The children were gathered together, she said, by the schoolmistress who led them in a rousing rendition of France's national anthem, and then gave each one a chocolate afterward. Coming as she did from a very poor family, my mother was sure after that chocolate that France was the most wonderful country ever!
Remembering my mother's story, and wishing every citizen in every country around the world could indeed share in liberté, égalité, et fraternité, I shall unwrap a chocolate and savour it. Who knows? Perhaps a chord or two of La Marseillaise will go well with the sweet.

Are you familiar with The BareNaked Ladies' "If I Had a Million Dollars"? If you are, you know the list of dream purchases include a car and John Merrick's bones. They give a nod to (or cock a snook at) ecology and political correctness by including a green dress, "but not a real green dress, that's cruel". Take a minute or two to view the video below for a rewrite of the song that had its buyers scaling down their monetary dreams to just $25. and using it to escape the cycle of poverty. Then, if the rewrite resonates with you, stop by Kiva's website. You might just decide to provide the $25. lyrics for some one's song, your self.

Happy Canada Day, Everyone!