Far right Kenora Coun. & former OPP Bob Bernie says city has “been abandoned” by Ontario’s PC government, calls out ministers for criminal case backlog and general social disorder.
www.kenoraminerandnews.com/news/local-n...
I’m watching the Raptors lose on RDS.
When they sink three-pointers, the announcers do that thing where they name drop, as though the basket hit from the next town over.
But it’s in French, so the cities are in Quebec.
It’s strangely comforting.
Ontario intends to build 2,000-3,000 jail beds between 2040-2050.
They're planning to expand incarceration to lock up those who have not yet been born.
This increase in criminalization is, of course, not something we can stop or even swerve around with this much lead time.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Ontario trustees say they’re “deeply concerned by measures that would remove core responsibilities from elected trustees, including authority over budgets & leadership in collective bargaining… means removing decisions from people who are directly accountable to the community.”
New Ontario education legislation
“Mandate[s] the use of ministry-approved learning resources in classrooms across the province to support greater consistency in delivering the new curriculum while making it easier for teachers to access high-quality materials…”
Former Thunder Bay police lawyer Holly Walbourne pleads Not Guilty to obstruction and breach of trust.
Charges relate to a criminal investigation snr leadership launched into police board chair, Georjann Morriseau, including a surveillance order on her phone.
Walbourne allegedly misled board & OCPC.
You need more of me because I wear the Easy Mark blazer.
LIVE: Environmental and human rights organizations are launching a new constitutional legal challenge against Ontario's Bill 5 this hour.
www.ola.org/en/legislati...
They include Ecojustice, Democracy Watch, Environmental Defence, Friends of the Earth Canada, and Wildlands League.
Seriously underrated joke.
The children of Cat Lake First Nation help Rex “The Boot” Atkins of the Canadian Wrestling Federation back to the ring with words of encouragement.
‘How many more have to die?’: Northern Ontario fires expose delays in human rights complaints for First Nations.
After a child’s death and another home lost, First Nations leaders say delays are putting lives at risk.
New from @jonthompson.bsky.social:
ricochet.media/indigenous/h...
#onpoli
"The regional governors now have direct control over their territories." - Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin
news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...
Another fire in KI First Nation since the one that killed Chief Morris's 3yr-old grandson.
Auditor General won't investigate Human Rights Commission for "slow-walking" complaints
ricochet.media/indigenous/h...
"God help them if they suggest they did triage this & it was on the low end of ‘serious.’"
You heard about the fire that claimed the life of KI Chief Donny Morris's 3yr-old grandson.
There has been another fire since.
Auditor General says it will NOT investigate the Human Rights Commission, where a racism complaint has languished for 7 months w/o attention.
ricochet.media/indigenous/h...
I was kind of mouthy about it in the moment, so a few people asked me to write about the exchange between PM Mark Carney &Chrissy Isaacs from Grassy Narrows.
I'm on something else up to my elbows right now but my colleague Brandi Morin has you covered.
indigenousinsider.substack.com/p/a-poisoned...
Yes and...
...Canada might best be summed up as, "not the United States," mostly for reasons of lesser evil.
I'm afraid you're knocking on a load-bearing wall of the country's political culture, here.
Before he left, Dubé issued the ombudsman's first Indigenous Services Plan.
It promises to transform how First Nations people and communities confront systemic racism.
ricochet.media/indigenous/o...
Will the next ombudsman run with it? Will they come north to see it for themselves?
Dubé did. 👏
The hard question, of course, was why is the provincial ombudsman doing this?
Where is the federal ombudsman to handle on-reserve First Nations complaints?
And the answer is, despite a determined effort of provincial/territorial ombudsmans, there is no such office.
ricochet.media/indigenous/m...
Dubé's office issued that press release before I could even get my story out on @ricochetmedia.bsky.social, so I hammered out the one above and put a little more care into this one.
ricochet.media/indigenous/b...
Dubé came in the fall. I watched him be quiet for days, almost playing dumb, listening.
The last night at the community centre, he stepped up to show everyone how formidable he was.
Then he immediately called conditions there, "unsafe and unacceptable."
ricochet.media/indigenous/u...
I was in Neskantaga First Nation when the health centre sunk into the diesel-soaked sand last spring. Newly-elected Chief Gary Quisess called for anyone willing to help to come visit.
The Ontario ombudsman wasn't on anyone's list of expectations.
ricochet.media/indigenous/c...
Paul Dubé is out as Ontario's ombudsman.
It's a little strange that a beat reporter in Thunder Bay should have anything to say about that, but I want to give him a hand.
I've watched lots of powerful people pretend to care about reconciliation. He seemed willing to make himself vulnerable to try.
🧵
The punditry about the NDP convention is pretensed on how the people whose identities inform The Party's processes don't deserve the special attention and respect they want.
These are complaint letters from writers who have zero interest in this exercise, conceptually.
The NDP needs to remember, The Party can’t be the movement.
It’s not like the rest of the spectrum because diversity is the top value and The Party can’t officiate that.
It can build consensus. The movements must be freely plug into The Party where their interests converge.
Canada has discontinued funding the Search for Unmarked Graves and Missing Children at the former McIntosh Indian Residential School near Kenora.
Financial reporting standards appear to have been contentious.
Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee is calling for First Nations organizational support.
ICYMI: Queen's Park gallery decorum forbids “materials with political or offensive slogans, including clothing.”
On Thursday, a security supervisor interpreted an "Every Child Matters" t-shirt to violate that rule.
ricochet.media/indigenous/o...
If you're wearing an "Every Child Matters" shirt, you might be considered a protester at the Ontario Legislature.
Not only does Queen's Park have installations commemorating residential schools, MPPs wear these shirts on the floor every Sept. 30 themselves.
ricochet.media/indigenous/o...
