The COVID-19 infection rate for prisoners in federal penitentiaries is nine times higher than the general infection rate in Canada. Meanwhile, social movements across North America are calling for substantive law enforcement reform and the dismantling of systemic racism. Together, these developments call the prison system into question.
Law and legal issues
In her 2012 book, Consent of the Networked, Rebecca MacKinnon noted that the companies and governments “that build, operate, and govern cyberspace are not being held sufficiently accountable for their exercise of power over the lives and identities of people who use digital networks.” MacKinnon’s observation, that both public and private sector actors are “sovereigns operating without the consent of the networked,” is even more apparent today, not least in the context of policing and law enforcement in the criminal justice system.
It has been six months since we shut down the economy to all but essential activities in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. Federal and many provincial emergency measures introduced since then, though imperfect and unevenly available across Canada, have stabilized incomes and bought governments time to figure out what comes next.
Photo by duncan c, Flickr Creative Commons
During the pandemic, women in abusive relationships face long periods of isolation with their abusers alongside decreased job security and limited access to support systems. This isolation exacerbates all forms of domestic abuse, from verbal to physical to sexual. But there is another type of abuse that is less visible and can also worsen under these conditions.
The summer issue of the Monitor features two previously published reports on the crisis in Canada's nursing homes, one from the CCPA's national office, Re-imagining Long-term Residential Care in the COVID-19 Crisis, and one from the CCPA-BC,
Photo by GoToVan (Flickr Creative Commons)
In our first issue following the outbreak of COVD-19 in Canada, Monitor contributors assess the federal and provincial government responses to date and propose how we might use this moment of government activism to fix the gross inequalities in our society—by improving social programs such as employment insurance, income assistance and our health care system, for example.
On March 4, 1975, I attended a public forum in connection with a study on the unmet needs of blind Canadians. That night, I jumped feet first into community organizing.
Workers at a Chilliwack-based farm were caught abusing animals in a 2017 undercover video filmed by California group Mercy for Animals.