Meet the dogs that "had" to die

"We failed you," writes Fred, on his blog, onebarkatatime, of the animals killed at the River Street shelter last Friday by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA). In his blog, Fred writes with compassion of five pit pulls, another dog and 19 cats that were euthanized. He was a volunteer, walked the dogs and knew them. But he is most poignant about the shelter's longest resident:

  "Smokey paid his dues to the shelter, at the very least he could have had a run in the park before they killed him."

Below, in photos by Mel Laking, are Smokey (aka, Smokie), Peti, Socks, Tiger and Captain, the five pit bulls killed:

 

Fred says it took volunteers at the River Street shelter until Saturday to figure out which animals had been put down. The shelter was run by the Toronto Humane Society THS) until last November when it was taken over (temporarily) by the OSPCA. He writes that staffers wanted to protest but were threatened by management, adding these employees don't accept the OSPCA/THS argument the animals were unhealthy or unsafe. Moreover, he says the five pit bulls could have been adopted out-of-province, given the Ontario ban on their breed. In fact, he was involved in the paperwork for one such transfer.

 (It's worth noting officials use  the term "pit bull" extremely loosely in describing the animals pictured above. Just look at those faces. Of course, the Bryant ban - controversial by its very existence - has a bizarre definition of "pit bull." Even animal geneticists quibble over the breeds found in any one dog. But I guess OSPCA experts know best.)

The OSPCA (temporarily operating the Toronto Humane Society) says the animals had to be put down, that they represented a threat to staff. The THS used to be a "no-kill" shelter, but the policy has changed since the OSPCA took over last fall. In a letter to staffers, volunteers and members, Toronto Humane Society executive director Garth Jerome says "change is difficult to accept" and lauds them for being "brave and courageous."

On the weekend, demonstrators marched outside the River Street shelter. Said protestor Rosana Martins: "They say they are protecting animals - but they are murderers. There is no mercy. This used to be a no-kill shelter, now it is a high-kill shelter."

In his letter, Jerome argues the decision to euthanize the 6 dogs (he doesn't mention the cats) came after an "exhaustive" study and the decisions were "fair and objective."

It's puzzling, however, that a panel of experts - veterinarians, OSPCA and THS representatives - was to meet this Thursday, April 1, to decide the fate of these animals. Instead, in a rush-rush fashion, the meeting was moved up to Friday, March 26, and the animals put down that day. Animals described as healthy and affectionate in knowledgeable blogs - with the input of volunteers and (clearly) off-the-record shelter employees - simply had to be put down in a hurry last Friday.

Doesn't make sense.

It's hard to understand how "fair" the process could have been when one learns about these dogs - how they played, which toys they prefered, who had a favorite blanket - in a blog by Selkie. Read their stories.

What gets me is that Smokey,Captain, Socks or any of these animals had nobody to trust but the officials of the OSPCA/THS. 

They were probably excited at being led out of their cages Friday.

Adam Giambrone: Spelling purist alert!

Spelling, please, Councillor Giambrone.

In an email last year, former girlfriend Kristen Lucas complained to Giambrone about unheated subway cars, saying she could "find other ways to keep warm."

Replied the chair of the Toronto Transit Commission: "Be careful, the cameras cover every vehicule (sic) . . . you may be giving one of the mail (sic) employees a show!!"

Cuban Human Rights Abuse

Ay Fidel, not so good in Cuba these days for political dissenters - not that the record has been spotless. This week Amnesty International put out a report on harrassment of Cuba's "women in white" - relatives of jailed prisoners of conscience. In advance of a March 18 protest by these women, Amnesty asked Cuban President Raúl Castro to ensure a peaceful protest. Instead, it was broken up by force.

Cuba is a favorite vacation spot for Canadians who continue to savour the island before it opens up to U.S. tourism, as Cuba will surely do in the post-Castro era. There are a lot of benefits for the Cuban people. It's true, as Michael Moore points out in SICKO, Cubans have good national health care (although pressured by the embargo).

It's the same with a national education policy and, in Cuban cities, one does not see hordes of impoverished children begging at every intersection. But it can't be ignored that Cuba is a closed state in which dissenters face imprisonment and torture and neighborhood watch committees keep a close on people and report back, a la 1984. Canadians, with so much dollar clout, can make their feelings known about what should be a right to democratic protest to Cuban authorities, as easily as to officials in any country where Canadians travel en masse.

Honduran killing fields for journalists

Over the past year, the international focus on Honduras has been on the illegal ousting of the elected president in a military coup and the failure of the Organization of American States to act. International observers failed to find irregularities with the recent presidential election, despite widespread military repression of grassroots protest.

 Meanwhile, in this Central American country, journalists are dying this year at a rate second only to Mexico. After the murder of a third journalist in Honduras in two weeks - eight since the beginning of 2009 - the International Press Institute has called on President Porfirio Lobo to take immediate action. All three journalists received death threats before their executions in recent attacks, as described in an IPI report:

On Monday, 1 March, Joseph Hernández Ochoa, 24, a journalism student at the University of Honduras, and a former entertainment presenter on the TV station Canal 51, was shot and killed whilst travelling in a car with radio presenter Carol Cabrera. Ms. Cabrera was broadcasting live on air for her show “El ángel de la controversia” on Radio Cadena Voce, via her telephone, when the attack happened in Tegucigalpa. She was injured in the attack, suffering a broken arm and ribs, and underwent emergency surgery. Their car had been fired on at least 36 times. It is believed that Ms. Cabrera was the intended target.

On Thursday, 11 March, David Meza Montesinos, a reporter at radio station El Patio for more than 30 years, was killed while driving home in La Ceiba. His car was shot at from another vehicle, causing him to lose control and crash into a house near his own home.

On Sunday, 14 March, Nahúm Palacios Arteaga, 36, the news director for television channel Canal 5 in Aguán and host of a news programme on Radio Tocoa, was shot dead in Tocoa, Colón. Another person travelling in the car with him was severely wounded, and a cameraman riding in the back was grazed by a bullet. The car was riddled with 42 bullet holes.

In Ottawa on March 17, Peter Kent, minister of state for Latin America, put out a statement:

“Canada condemns the recent series of murders of journalists in Honduras. Violence against journalists constitutes an attack on the basic principles of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. It is particularly troubling in a country that recently emerged from a long political impasse and is now trying to achieve national reconciliation. We extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

“Canada calls on the Honduran authorities to promptly and thoroughly investigate these crimes and prosecute those responsible. Canada also urges the Honduran government to take all necessary measures to guarantee freedom of the press and freedom of expression."

Privacy Law Nightmare

I wrote Sunday about the bureaucratic maze faced by a family who ran into a wall when trying to access information about a family member missing in Syria for three years. Federal privacy officials told Kathryn Murray she couldn't get the requested documents relating to her missing daughter, Nicole Vienneau, without Nicole's permission. It's a cliché to say it's Kafkaesque, but it is.

Since Sunday, I've heard from many readers in similar circumstances, frustrated by officials who cite the law when withholding important information, including one woman who couldn't get what she needed relating to her husband who died on federal property.

The sad thing is it doesn't have to be this way, according to former privacy commissioner George Radwanski. He points out the letter of the law actually permits disclosure in a case such as the Vienneau case. Radwanski notes:

Section 8 of the Privacy Act provides:

"((2) Subject to any other Act of Parliament, personal information under the control of a government institution may be disclosed … (m) for any purpose where, in the opinion of the head of the institution, (i) the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure, or (ii) disclosure would clearly benefit the individual to whom the information relates."

 

What are known as "8(2)(m) disclosures" are permitted under the Act precisely to deal with exceptional situations like this one, where either the public interest or the interest of the person to wjom the information pertains clearly appears to outweigh the normal importance of protecting personal information. "Public interest disclosures" under this section are sometimes made, for instance, when a person regarded as a dangerous sexual offender is being released into a community.

 

The head of the government department or agency that holds the personal information in question has sole discretion to make such a disclosure. He or she is required to give the Privacy Commissioner advance notice of the intention to make such a disclosure, and the Commissioner could recommend that the disclosure is not warranted, but the Commissioner's permission isn't needed and the Commissioner cannot find such a disclosure to be a breach of the Privacy Act since the "in the opinion of" clause provides absolute discretion to the departmemnt head. Conversely, of course, the Privacy Commissioner cannot order an 8(2)(m) disclosure.

 

Radwanski suggests Nicole Vienneau's family - or others in the same boat - can contact the privacy commissioner and ask for an opinion that an 8(2) m) disclosure would be reasonable and appropriate. Adds Radwanski: "I hate to see it when the government, or anyone else, tries to make statuatory privacy rights look like an obstacle to common sense or basic fairness and decency, which they seldom are."

Honduras's Zelaya: Not with a bang but a whimper

Any last faint hope of reclaiming his presidency, even briefly, ended Jan. 27 this year, when former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya abandoned his siege in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa (although not before having his hair done) and went into exile in the Dominican Republic. It was seven months after he was ousted in a military coup in the middle of the night. New Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, sworn in that same January day, saw Zelaya off.  His departure came after the Honduran Supreme Court found seven military generals innocent of abuse of power in the coup and an amnesty was declared for both the military and Zelaya. For good measure, $1.5 million in embezzlement charges against Zelaya - a handy tool to have against ousted leaders - are still being investigated.

Last summer, it appeared international negotiations with anti-Zelaya forces (that included Peter Kent, Canada's minister of state for the Americas) were focused on allowing the ousted president to serve out his term until January. That was when the notion was still in vogue that coups are a thing of the past in Latin America. Not so much.

In its latest March/April issue, the NACLA Report examines events since June in an article entitled,  "Honduras: Whitewashing the Coup." The bi-monthly report contains some of the best reporting on the Americas and is worth a read. Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to pick it up on the newstand or subscribe on line to get a copy. Not very helpful, I know, but for those interested in Latin America, it's a good investment.

Note to CTV newswriters

Hardly earth-shattering, but there was a funny moment Monday night (March 9) when CTV TV anchor Lloyd Robertson commented on the night's quirky story, a little piece on feel-good nationalism in the wake of the Vancouver Olympics. The piece raised the possibility such nationalism would have a lasting effect - or not. Thing was, the story by CTV's national correspondent Geneviève Beauchemin based in Montreal, originated in Quebec and showed images of Montrealers partying with the Maple Leaf after the gold medal men's hockey game, as well as interviews with people in the streets there. It examined the extent of pro-Canada feelings in Quebec, showing in contrast an establishment or two flying the Fleur-de-lys. In his wrapup, Robertson noted: "Well, it looks like the nationalists are getting a break in Quebec. Let's see how they use it."

That's weird, I thought, it doesn't make sense to say the advantage  goes to the nationalists when the report suggests the opposite. In Quebec, nationalist means Quebec nationalist. It took a second to understand his meaning. Right, he means federalists.

I wouldn't have been confused by a similar report originating in Toronto or Vancouver, but for anybody who's lived in Quebec, "nationalist" is a freighted word.

Dolphin protest at the Oscars

Human reflexes were fast in shutting down Ric O'Barry at last night's Oscars, but not fast enough for a gazillion viewers to see his Academy Awards protest sign, "Text Dolphin to 44144." O'Barry held the protest sign while sharing the Academy Award for Best Documentary film for "The Cove" about the dolphin slaughter in Japan. See video of protest.

His actions should have been no surprise. O'Barry has never pretended to be anything but an activist on behalf of dolphins, a lifelong dedication that began when he watched Flipper "commit suicide," as he put it. He said the animal drowned itself. O'Barry trained the original Flipper for the '60s TV show of the same name and continued to work with the mammal until Flipper's death made him understand living in living in captivity for dolphins is like being confined to a bathtub. Dolphins have complicated social structures, intricate ways of communicating and a territory that covers thousands of kilometres.

On the red carpet before the awards, "The Cove's" director Louie Psihoyos and O'Barry commented on "The Cove," a documentary about the annual killing of 2,000 dolphins near the Japanese fishing village of Taiji. O'Barry called it the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world.

O'Barry came to Mexico when I was based there and working on a story about dophins captured in the Pacific, trucked across Baja in abominable conditions and held in La Paz. Activist organizations were unable to obtain their release to the ocean - despite efforts of the federal enviroment secretary because the international dolphin theme park industry is too lucrative - and the animals endured living in those shallow pens during at least one, and maybe two, hurricanes, before they were shipped who knows where. Several died while at La Paz.

O'Barry opposes any form of dolphin captivity, including "swim-with-the dolphins"  programs and the use of dolphins as therapy for children with handicaps. He points out the dophins aren't really smiling; it's just a figment of our self-centred imaginations.

Reality TV isn't real, folks

The death this week of GTA resident Richard Code in the Muskoka wilderness is tragic because the poor man gleaned what outdoor skills he had from reality TV - Survivorman, to be precise. Officials said he died from hypothermia.

Is it really possible large numbers of people watch the glut of reality TV shows - The Bachelor and Bachlorette, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, Survivor and Survivorman - and believe what they are seeing? I thought everybody knew they weren't real, these highly produced and manipulated shows - the furthest thing from reality. How can a show be called Survivorman when he's got, at the very least, a video crew with him? In the case of Code, it's so regrettable (and sympathy is extended to his family), but as for others out there who think there's value (other than camp) in reality TV: get a grip.

Do swooning viewers really believe those fantasy dates on mate-for-life shows spring from the imaginative brains of the latest Mr. or Miss Right? "I want to spend the rest of my life with him/her," say bubble-brained contestants in endless promos. Oh please, it is to gag.

Even the thought people are busy shaping their life values or "learning" social and survivor skills from reality TV is a terrifying thought.

Now, where's my soulmate?

Shame on female ski jumpers for embarrassing Dick Pound

Governor-General Michaëlle Jean gave Canada's female ski jumpers a boost recently by apparently having a discreet word with International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge about their inclusion in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Team member Atsuko Tanaka ,18, said Jean told her about the conversation with Rogge during a reception with atheletes at Canada House in Whistler. The GG reportedly said the Olympic head appeared positive about prospects for women's ski  jumping at the next winter games.

Canada's female jumpers fought in B.C. courts to have their event included at the Vancouver Olympics. However, they ultimately failed when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear their appeal of the B.C. decision to keep them out of the games.

After encouraging signals from Jean, leave it to Canadian senior IOC member Dick Pound to add his opinion.

In commenting on their recent legal battles, he noted: "I don't think the IOC had very much pleasure being convicted in absentia of discrimination against women athletes. It was a lot of bad publicity for the IOC. I know they don't appreciate it and I don't appreciate it.”

How unfortunate Mr. Pound doesn't appreciate the publicity.

Seems like the Canadian women didn't appreciate being kept out of the Vancouver Olympic Games based on their sex - in a country that guarantees gender equality in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Tish-tosh. Rights, schmights.

* * *

Australia, here I come (or another Olympic perspective): I'm thinking of expanding my horizons beyond journalism with a bid to produce Australia's next big national celebration.

I've got it all worked out: big floating kangaroos, digeridoos and choruses of Waltzing Matilda. Crocodile Dundee hosts, natch.

Don't know much about Australia, but my father's closest mate was from Sydney. Surely those are good enough bona fides to put on an Olympic-scale show.

* * *

Speaking of being embarrassed: It's worth watching the March 2 episode of The Agenda when it's posted on TVO's website. (Should be soon.) A big giggle. Steve Paikin's topic was the closing ceremonies in Vancouver, with lots of tasty comment on the hilarious banality of it all.  Seems like everybody thought the only thing missing was Monty Python's Lumberjack Song.

* * *

Mea culpa for a dearth of postings: Decoder readers may have noticed there have been no posts for, ah, a rather long time. (I certainly hope it's been noted.)

Investigative assignments kept me away from blogging. I keep promising to advise readers when that happens and, next time, will try to actually do so.