Ah what is there to add to the airport rage incident involving our friend Helena Guergis, Minister of State for the Status of Women? That, had it been you or me throwing our footwear around we probably would have been tased?
And so, I'll leave it to my sister and brother bloggers.
I don't like to give politicians free reign rein but I have to say that I endorse every word of this Liberal party of Canada news release, posted here without any edits. I did add some links.
Today, Liberal MPs Carolyn Bennett, Maria Minna and Anita Neville released the following open letter to International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda:
Dear Minister Oda:
We are writing today to urge you to reconsider your ill-advised decision to not include Canada’s longstanding support for contraception and reproductive health services as part of your recently-announced maternal and infant health initiative for some of the world’s poorest countries.
By refusing to fund programs that respect women’s reproductive rights – including contraception and reproductive health services – you are allowing ideological differences to get in the way of good health care and gender equality.
While immunization, access to clean water, better nutrition and improved training for health-care workers are all important to the health and safety of women and girls, addressing the real issues underlying poor maternal and infant health requires that the full gamut of options be made available to promote educated family planning and gender equality. Anything less is a mere bandaid solution.
We are particularly concerned when we see members of your government spreading false information on this issue. In a recent editorial, Conservative MPs Maurice Vellacott and Brad Trost tell readers that there is “no evidence” to back up claims that proper education, resources and support would reduce maternal death and complications – when in fact there is substantial factual evidence.
Just an excerpt from that editorial, penned by two TheoCon MPs who are clearly experts on what is good for women:
As Ian Gentles, research director at the deVeber Institute for
Bioethics and Social Research, noted in a recent National Post article,
Poland virtually prohibited abortion 20 years ago. Since then, maternal
mortality has decreased by 75 per cent, infant mortality by almost 66
per cent, and the rate of premature births by more than 50 per cent.
According
to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2009, Ireland,
the only other European country where abortion is illegal, has the
lowest maternal mortality ratio of any country, with one death per
100,000 live births.
A 2006 International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) report ("Death and Denial: Unsafe Abortion and Poverty") demonstrates that women who can’t access reproductive health services are more likely to obtain an unsafe abortion, and more likely to die as a result of pregnancy, childbirth or unsafe abortion.
The report states that satisfying the unmet need for contraceptive services in developing countries would avert 52 million unintended pregnancies annually, which, in turn, would save more than 1.5 million lives and prevent 505,000 children from losing their mothers.
The key findings of the report are that maternal deaths in developing countries could be slashed by 70 per cent and newborn deaths cut nearly in half if the world doubled its investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care. It states that “investing in both family planning and maternal newborn services can achieve the same dramatic outcomes for $1.5 billion less than investing in maternal and newborn services alone.”
The risk of maternal mortality increases with each pregnancy. Yet research shows that 215 million women who would like to delay or avoid childbearing do not have access to modern contraception. Providing contraception to those who want it would avert about one-third of maternal deaths.
About 20 million women have unsafe abortions every year. About 8.5 million of those women need hospital care for complications, but that is not available to about three million of these women.
According to the UN Population Division, 61 percent of the world’s population live in countries where abortion is permitted. Providing safe abortion services where abortion is legal would prevent many of the estimated 68,000 deaths of women each year from complications arising from unsafe abortions.
But this issue goes beyond adequate health care. International human rights law states very clearly that maternal mortality constitutes a violation of the right to life and is linked to or results from violations of many other human rights, including the rights to health, education, equality and non-discrimination.
Canada is a signatory to several agreements that commit to providing a full range of safe and reliable family planning methods and reproductive health services. The Development Assistance Accountability Act, for example, requires that any assistance provided by Canada be consistent with international human rights standards. In June 2009, a UN Human Rights Council resolution also committed Canada to provide “the effective promotion and protection of the human rights of women and girls” which includes “sexual and reproductive health.”
Getting beyond addressing the symptoms of poverty means giving women the resources they need to make decisions about their lives, which is the key to lifting entire communities out of destitution.
Based on what we’ve seen from your government thus far, we have every reason to be concerned. Your government has launched a systematic assault against women’s equality here in Canada. You have banned the words “gender equality” from the lexicon of the department of Foreign Affairs and Status of Women Canada. You have cut funding to Status of Women and scrapped the Court Challenges Program. And you have downgraded pay equity from a non-negotiable right to a bargaining chip.
In conclusion, we once again urge you to reverse your position around your maternal and infant health initiative. We ask you to fight for what is right and reasonable, and in the best interests of all women. It is only when women and their families are given access to all family planning and reproductive health options that we will truly be successful at helping to lift them out of poverty.
Sincerely,
The Hon. Dr. Carolyn Bennett, Liberal Health Critic and former Public Health Minister
The Hon. Maria Minna, Chair of Liberal Women’s Caucus and former Minister for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
The Hon. Anita Neville, Liberal Status of Women Critic and former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Responsible for Status of Women
Meanwhile, the National Post thinks I am ''hyperventilating'' over the Harper government's attacks on women's rights.
IMAGE: Lifted from this spoof site mocking Vellacott and Trost for their stance on same sex rights.
Let's begin in the Sunshine state of Florida where Southern Baptist theologian, father of eight and Republican rep Charles E. Van Zant proposes all citizens, especially of the wombanly persuasion, share his upright way of thinking.
Here's his way of thinking though: Rather than punish the maternal units, go after the doctors who perform the evil abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.
An expansive measure to make most abortions illegal in Florida has been filed for the 2010 Legislative session, challenging federal protections in place for more than 40 years.
Both anti-abortion advocates and abortion rights supporters agree the 53-page proposal is an attempt to directly challenge the 40-year-old Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions in the United States in 1973.
“The Legislature finds that there have been 50 million abortions in the United States since the Roe decision,” the bill reads. “ The Legislature further finds that every life lost to abortion was sacred and of the highest value.”
Sponsored by Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, HB 1097 would criminalize most abortions now allowed under state and federal law, increase penalties for physicians who perform such services and require pregnant women to receive more information on adoption. The bill was filed Wednesday, the same day that right to life groups made the trek to Tallahassee to meet lawmakers and rally support.
Except in cases where a woman’s life is considered in danger, doctors who perform abortions would face first degree felonies punishable by up to life in prison and civil fines.
Now, it's doubtful this bill will get very far. But you can bet Van Zant will have back-up in the House. And, if they don't succeed this time, they'll try another way to crack this.
By the way: You'll find the comments over at Feministing rather amusing.
On Friday an Oklahoma judge declared a controversial law
unconstitutional that would have enacted a host of new abortion
regulations, including one mandating that detailed demographic and
personal information about women seeking abortions be posted online.
Though pro-choice activists are applauding the decision, it was not
indicative of a dismissal of the regulations themselves. Instead, the
judge knocked down the law due to the fact that it violated Oklahoma’s
"single-subject" rule, which states that each law can only cover one
subject.
The law, which was initially scheduled to go
into effect on Nov. 1, 2009, would have required a woman seeking an
abortion to fill out a 10-page questionnaire asking everything from her
age and marital status to the date of the abortion to the county in
which it took place. That information would then be posted on the
state’s Department of Health website. Proponents of the law say that
names would not have accompanied the statistics. But opponents say the
law was a scare tactic that infringed on women’s privacy, and that
people in small towns in Oklahoma could easily draw conclusions about
identities from even seemingly anonymous information.
Undaunted, the forced birthers are back at the drawing board, drafting, count 'em, four new laws that will get around the technicality.
In other action, the panel passed
four separate abortion measures that previously had been declared
unconstitutional because they had been combined in one bill.
Bills must deal with only one subject.
The panel passed HB 3290 by Rep. Skye McNiel, R-Bristow. It would
require a doctor to be in the room when the abortion pill RU486 is
administered.
The panel also passed HB 2780 by Rep.
Lisa Billy, R-Lindsay, which would require women who seek an abortion
to have an ultrasound and have its contents explained to them.
Rep. Ryan Kiesel, D-Seminole, said the
Legislature should focus on preventing unintended pregnancies rather
than bringing further disgrace and shame to women facing the most
difficult decision of their lives.
Billy responded: “This bill is about
choice for women. It is an opportunity for her to understand what is
growing inside of her and the consequences.”
The panel passed HB 3110 by Rep. Pam
Peterson, R-Tulsa, which would allow health-care providers who object
to abortion not to participate in the procedure.
Peterson’s other abortion bill, HB 3284, also passed.
It would require women who seek abortions to provide a host of information about themselves to be posted on a public Web site.
As if there aren't bigger things to worry about in Oklahoma -- like how one in five actual children live in poverty.
A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this
week
and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a
woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some
instances.
According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National
Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is
that it
is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not
those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended
miscarriage.
The bill passed by legislators amends Utah's criminal
statute to allow the state to charge a woman with criminal homicide for
inducing a miscarriage or obtaining an illegal abortion. The
basis for the law was a recent case in which a 17-year-old girl, who
was seven
months pregnant, paid a man
$150 to beat her in an attempt to cause a miscarriage. Although the girl
gave birth to a baby later given up for adoption, she was
initially charged with attempted murder. However the charges were dropped because,
at the time, under Utah state law a woman could not be prosecuted for
attempting to arrange an abortion, lawful or unlawful.
The bill passed by the Utah legislature would change that. While
the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions
taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care,
with penalties including up to life in prison.
In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to
induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could
make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.
Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district
attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to
cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too
much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.
"This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a
miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder," says Missy Bird,
executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are
no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are
substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, "there nothing in the
bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car
accident."
Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a
prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who
fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate
her pregnancy.
Because, Lady, when you're preggers your body is nationalized by the state.
Take Kenya. For 20 years, Kenyans have been working fitfully to
revise their constitution and are now mere weeks away from possibly finalizing
the document. But this milestone in the nation's slow move towards real
democracy may be marred by another human rights calamity. If the constitution
is approved in its current form by the Kenyan Parliament sometime this year,
Kenya will join the inglorious ranks of three nations -- Northern Mariana
Islands, Uganda, and Zambia -- that have prohibited abortion within their
constitution.
The most recent draft of the constitution had solid human rights
protections for women. However, a review by a parliamentary commission resulted
in the evisceration of many of the core democratic constitutional provisions.
This included amending Article 25, which in its original language guaranteed
that "Every individual has the
right to life" (emphasis added).
The wording choice for Article 25 is hardly revolutionary. In
fact, it reflects the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
is consistent with the majority of national constitutions in the world. But
conservative religious groups are not partial to international legal precedence
and many lobbied Kenyan parliamentarians to amend Article 25. Which they did,
and then some.
Article 25 still protects life, but life is now defined as
beginning at conception. Moreover, Article 25 also outlaws abortion. Phrases in
the draft guaranteeing the right to healthcare, including reproductive health
care, and that no one may be refused emergency medical treatment (say, for an
unsafe abortion) were also eliminated from the draft text.
A pregnant 27-year old Nicaraguan woman, "Amelia," with metastatic
cancer has been denied medical treatment on the grounds that it might
harm her baby.
Nicaragua passed a draconian anti-abortion law in 2008 which
criminalizes abortion even in the case of rape or incest or when the
mother's life is in danger. Nicaraguan doctors are prohibited from
treating pregnant women with cancer, HIV/AIDS, malaria and cardiac
diseases, and threatened with prison sentences for providing health
services or information related to abortion.
Amelia has effectively been handed a death sentence by her
government. Each day she is denied treatment, she edges closer to
death; in a tragic irony, she will most likely die before the baby is
even born. Her 10-year old daughter will be left without a mother,
since the Nicaraguan government values the life of an unborn fetus over
that of a mother.
And doesn't that just put the ''life'' in ''pro-life?'' (And if you want to do something to help, please go here.)
... it's not just the preventable deaths of these women,
but the bloody suffering they go through. And their families. And their
soon-to-be-orphaned children.
Yet this is the kind of no-family-planning, no-contraception, no-abortion, misogynist healthcare Steve is promoting.
It's unconscionable.
Indeed.
And, finally, something completely different. Angie the Anti-Theist is having an abortion -- and is documenting it. (Follow the Twitter debate here.)
Prior to conceiving my son five years ago, I was told I would never carry a child to term because of sexual abuse that happened when I was 7- and 8-years-old — and I barely did. I didn’t find out I was pregnant with him until the 21st week, roughly halfway through my pregnancy. When I did find out, I was underweight for the duration of the pregnancy, and I had several other high risk indicators. I did my best to gain weight (it helped that my ex-husband worked at a pizza store).
Even still, I made several trips to the emergency room throughout my last two trimesters. During my eighth month of pregnancy, I actually lost ten pounds due to a pretty horrible stomach virus. It was as if I had no immune system at all while pregnant. I went from having never received IV fluids in my life, to being intimately familiar with the feeling of cold fluids dumping into my veins. And let’s not even get into the other causes of dehydration.
When my son was born, I decided I didn’t want any more kids, in part because I’d learned during my pregnancy that I was a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis, a fatal and painful disease (of which my son was fortunately spared). I don’t regret that decision. My son is happiest when he’s getting one-on-one attention from an adult — he has even manipulated the system at school so that he gets to hang out with his teacher while she eats lunch and the other kids nap! I honestly don’t believe siblings are always a blessing, always friends, or always best for a family.
I know that I can be a damn good mom to the one special needs child I have — he had many health problems when he was younger and he is speech delayed and has a short attention span now — but I don’t know if I could be a good mom to two kids, one or both of whom would have special needs. I know my mom had more children than she could afford or care for, and I don’t want to make the same mistake.
Now, considering all that, I think Angie is entitled to make her own decisions about her own health and well-being, as well as those of her son. But you can be sure that there are millions of people who believe that they have the right to colonize her body.
The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that out of nearly 1,000 sexual abuse and over 1,500 domestic violence cases reported in Sierra Leone last year, there wasn't a single conviction.
"By the end of her lifespan, nearly all Sierra Leonean women will suffer some form of sexual or gender-based violence," says UNDP's deputy country director Samuel Harbor.
At the same time, nearly 250,000 child soldiers have been recruited in various conflicts worldwide, with girls at particular risk of becoming sex slaves, says the U.N. children's agency UNICEF.
"Violence against women and girls is found in all countries," he says, pointing an accusing finger at all 192 U.N. member states.
Let's just focus on Congo, shall we?
KAIROS has fought long and hard to help rape victims in Congo, pushing for counselling and medical treatment while advocating for the distribution and use of emergency post-exposure contraception as well as anti-retroviral treatment for HIV.
But the Harpocrats fail to see the connection between contraception -- never mind abortion -- and maternal health.
So, as far as they are concerned, those women and girls in the Congo are just going to have to stand and deliver, even if it kills them.
But yeah. Canada's government really cares about maternal health.
He was a former Toronto councillor turned immigration judge and she was a Korean refugee claimant.
They
met at a coffee shop to discuss her case and, in a conversation she
secretly recorded, he said he wanted to be her "good friend," court was
told Monday.
"You've got a boyfriend. I've got a wife,"
Steve Ellis told the 25-year-old woman, a federal prosecutor alleged
Monday at the first day of his trial.
"You know if we do
things on the side, that's okay. Don't worry, I'm not going to be
demanding. I'm not going to ask you to move in with me or anything like
that..."
<SNIP>
He told her that although he had denied her refugee claim, he could
still turn it around and, after he did, they could meet for a "big
celebration," the prosecutor alleged. Ellis kissed her as they parted,
Trefler added.
Kim, now 29, took the stand Monday and said
that she first met Ellis at her refugee hearing on July 17, 2006, where
he was the adjudicator.
She was seeking asylum in Canada
because of a physically abusive father and threats from money lenders
in her home country of South Korea, court heard.
During the
hearing, Ellis asked her where she worked, lived and her marital
status, Kim testified through a Korean interpreter. As it ended, he
said he would make a decision in 30 days, she said.
On
Sept. 13, Ellis visited her at the Ninth Gate restaurant, on Jarvis St.
at Front St., where she worked as a waitress, she said. She testified
that she asked him about her refugee claim and he said it hadn't yet
been decided.
He came again for a meal on Sept. 22 and she
asked again if he had made a decision. "He said that the decision
wasn't made because there were a few areas in which he's confused," Kim
testified.
He suggested they meet for coffee four days
later if she wanted to ask more questions about her case, she said. She
agreed to meet him at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26. "He said he would come to my
place to pick me up."
Shortly after, she and her boyfriend devised their plan to record and videotape the conversation.
Read the rest.
I am not going to comment because the case is before the courts but I will ask this: How many women who have been in vulnerable situations in Canada didn't have the wherewithal to record what was happening?
4000 Years for Choice visualizes the ancestral traditions passed down
for millennia by lineages of mothers, grandmothers, and
great-grandmothers. The rediscovery of these practices is deeply
transformative when one considers “the right to choose”, especially for
those who have been exposed to the “abstinence until marriage” and
“anti-abortion” rhetoric.
A sample from the timeline, which proves that women have long battled for control of their bodies.
300s BCE – Soranus, a Greek physician and medical
writer, wrote about the silphium plant. He suggested that women drink
the juice once a month because “it not only prevents conception but
also destroys anything existing.”
300s BCE – The birthwort plant was craved into the
background of an Egyptian vase found in Thebes and was known for its
abortive and contraceptive properties. Ancient Greeks also knew of
birthwort. Dioscorides, the Greek physician suggested birthwort be put
in a suppository with pepper and myrrh to provoke menstruation or to
expel a fetus.
300s BCE – The Greek philosopher Plato commented on
population in the Roman Empire. He wrote, “There are many devices
available. If too many children are being born, there are measures to
check propagation.”
300s BCE – Aristotle wrote that people should
produce more abundantly if the city was too small, or use birth control
measures if it was too large.
400s BCE – The Hippocratic Oath remained the
standard medical oath until the 1970s. It stated, “I will not give a
lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and
similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”
1850s BCE – The Petri Papyrus, a medical text from
Ancient Egypt, listed three different contraceptive methods; gummy
substances for the cervix and vagina, honey, and sodium carbonate, and
a crocodile dung vaginal suppository.
2700s BCE – Emperor Shen Nung of China, who laid
the foundation for traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, wrote
some of the earliest recipes for contraception and abortion, many of
which were quoted well into the 16th century.
3000s BCE – The Royal Archives of China hold the earliest written record of an abortion technique.
We've come a long way from crocodile dung and pepper suppositories.
But, the way the HarperCons think, we may one day have to revert back to them.
Image: The poster for 4000 Years for Choice is by Heather Ault.
... is perfectly alright because girls (and women) play just as hard as men do.
We see that when they get a chance to shine: encouragement and not discouragement from getting sweaty, places to train, funding and scholarships equal to what boys get, etc.
Which brings us to the Olympics and the latest effort from the Vancouver-based Antigone Foundation. Every year they put out a "Dreams for Women'' calendar. But this year, it's a special sporting edition.
Female athletes from the US, Canada and the First Nations include (note the boldface):
US Figure Skater Ashley Wagner who declares “I dream of a world where the only bruises women receive occur during friendly competition.”
US Luge Team athlete Julia Clukey, “I dream of a world where girls don’t calculate what the mirror can show but rather create and build a body of strength, power and work.”
Canadian Ski Jumper Katie Willis with her Canadian Ski Jump team-mates (who are not allowed to compete in the 2010 Games), “We dream all women will soar.”
Vice President of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Olympic medalist speed skater Cathy Priestner-Allinger, “I dream of a world where women are front page, not centerfolds.”
Angela Ruggiero, US Olympic medalist & hockey player, “I dream of a day when all women will know that there are no boundaries, only dreams to be reached.”
OTTAWA–The release of an annual firearms report last fall was
delayed by testy officials in the public safety minister's office who
demanded to know, among other things, details about an employee
"celebration" of the program's 10th anniversary.
That was
just one of a series of questions posed to RCMP officials after the
2008 Commissioner of Firearms Report was delivered to the minister's
office for tabling – a full seven weeks before it was released publicly.
Emails obtained by the Star
show then-public safety minister Peter Van Loan's office sat on the
report for weeks until after a contentious parliamentary vote that saw
12 NDP and eight Liberal MPs succumb to political pressure and support
ending the long-gun registry.
Afterwards, Van Loan told
reporters he had the report in hand for "several days." He went on to
accuse firearms staff of inflating numbers in the report to justify the
existence of the gun registry.
In fact, the document trail
shows the RCMP – as required by law – submitted the report to the
minister's office on Sept. 18. The RCMP anticipated it would be
released within the usual 15 sitting days.
But it was held
until Nov. 6 while Van Loan's staff pored over the statistics within
and tried to parse data that showed the firearms registry's use and
popularity is on the rise.
<SNIP>
Unhappy with the contents of the report, ministerial staff asked for
further explanations of statistics that showed a rise in police queries
to the firearms registry, and greater satisfaction with service
provided over the Internet or telephone.
The minister's
office demands an explanation for "why the minister has been presented
with an inked, bound and printed final draft not long before the
document needs to be tabled," and appears to challenge why a report was
produced at all, since the minister hadn't issued a direction or
instruction on it.
The RCMP says it views the language of the
firearms act, which requires a report, to be "permissive, in other
words, the minister may or may not decide to give direction."
It
says "six (firearms) commissioner's reports have been produced
(2003-2008), and have always been initiated by the commissioner without
specific direction from the minister with respect to form or content."
It says previous reports were always provided to the minister "in final form."
"It has not been the practice in the past to share a draft copy of the report with the minister's office."
The
email trail shows the 2008 firearms report was received on Sept. 18,
but "apparently reviewed by the office of the liaison to the minister
for some time. The minister's office is now saying that because they
did not receive the report until Oct. 9, they have until Nov. 6 to
table it."
The 2008 report was a largely positive review of
the gun control program, and confirmed growing police use of the gun
registry database. The 2009 numbers are even more pronounced.
The Stephen Harper Conservatives. Soft on crime. Loose with truth. Tough on womenfolk.
Incidentally, for those who may think that Van Lying Loan will be called to account for this when Parliament resumes, think again. Parliamentary protocol is that a minister never has to account for anything that is not under his or her current aegis.
Vic Toews, the former Treasury Minister who announced the redirection of funding for UNRWA last month while in Israel, now has the Public Safety post -- which means he need not explain the UNRWA thing.
COQUITLAM -- A provincial court judge called it a tragedy but said she had no choice but to end serious sex charges against a man because the Crown failed to have police statements translated from Russian and another language.
The Crown sought to have the case adjourned repeatedly over a two-year period until the police statements of two complainants could be translated from Russian and Dari.
The defence applied for a judicial stay of proceedings, arguing the accused constitutional rights to make full answer and defence had been violated.
The defence also argued that the right of the accused to a speedy trial was also violated by the delay.
The judge reluctantly agreed.
<SNIP>
The man, only identified in a written judgment as H.S.O., was charged with 13 offences, including five counts of assault, three counts of threatening, one count of assault with a weapon, one count of touching a young person for a sexual purpose and one count of public mischief, for reporting an offence that had not occurred.
"Regardless of what happens today in this courtroom, there is a tragedy," the judge said during her ruling.
"I have to add that it is very disturbing that the value of the complainants' sexual, physical and emotional integrity is less than the cost of translation and transcription."
The witness material had been in the hands of a senior police
officer for several months with no further efforts made to get the
translation work done, Buller Bennett said.
The judge also noted that it also took a full year after the man's
arrest for police to disclose that they had statements from him in need
of translation as well, also in Russian and Dari.
Antonia Zerbisias has been a Star columnist since 1989 but has been telling people what she thinks ever since she could open her mouth. Her career ambition as an opinionator dates back to Grade 9 when a cartoon commentary on a teacher resulted in her suspension from high school. The principal sent her home with a note calling her "rude, obstreperous and bold." Her parents were neither amused, nor surprised. Once she was punished for being that way. Now she makes it pay. And, because she can take it as well as dish it out, she wants to hear what you have to say. Fire away!
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