Ketchum: Proactive community-wide training essential to stamping out hate
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Even though the Ottawa Police Service identified a slight decrease in reported incidents of hate last year, we know that, according to Statistics Canada, 78 per cent of hate incidents across the country go unreported and that many communities are uncomfortable using formal reporting processes.
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That equates to a lot of people in our neighbourhoods feeling unsafe. And public acts of hate, like vandalism at the National Holocaust Monument, can quickly stoke the fire—bringing feelings of fear, isolation, and horror, underlined by intergenerational traumas, back to the surface for many.
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At United Way East Ontario, our partners tackling hate, discrimination and violence on the front lines have been calling for more resources to not only keep up with the surging need for support, but to create meaningful, long-lasting change.
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This year, United for All is deploying a series of events, workshops and learning opportunities, focused on empowering community leaders to address anti-Black racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-2SLGBTQIA+ ideology, and misogyny.
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One of those events took place recently, as the United Way team collaborated with SAFE (Strategies for Advocacy, Freedom, and Empowerment) on training sessions for community leaders.
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The aim is to empower these folks to transition from passive bystanders to proactive 'upstanders,' by using practical strategies to safely and effectively intervene when witnessing hate or discrimination.
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Participants learn:
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In addition, these workshops are designed so that the leaders we partnered with can go back to their workplaces and communities, and teach the same tools to their colleagues, peers, and neighbours. We want to ensure communities are better equipped not only to respond to hate, but to actively foster environments of inclusion and mutual respect.
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Toronto Sun
35 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Tennessee set to execute inmate without turning off his implanted defibrillator
Published Aug 04, 2025 • 4 minute read This undated booking photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Corrections shows Byron Black. Photo by Tennessee Department of Corrections / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee is set to execute an inmate Tuesday without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, as uncertainty lingers about whether the device will shock his heart when a lethal drug takes effect. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Barring a late reprieve requested from the governor or the courts, Byron Black's execution will go forward after a legal back-and-forth over whether the state would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it's unaware of any other cases in which an inmate was making similar claims to Black about ICDs or pacemakers. Black's attorneys said they haven't found a comparable case, either. The execution would be Tennessee's second since May, after a pause for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by the Tennessee Department of Correction. Twenty-seven men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and nine other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Black, 69, is in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said. In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black's attorneys that officials must have the instrument deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But the state Supreme Court intervened July 31 to overturn that decision, saying the other judge lacked the authority to order the change. The state has disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black's defibrillator to shock him. Even if shocks were triggered, Black wouldn't feel them, the state has added. Black's attorneys have countered that even if the lethal drug being used, pentobarbital, renders someone unresponsive, they aren't necessarily unaware or unable to feel pain. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6. Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting Clay's estranged husband. Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, recently told WKRN-TV: 'He didn't have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?' 'It feels like it is never-ending,' Bell told the news outlet. 'They aren't even resting in their own grave.' Medical considerations An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically implanted in the chest, typically near the left collarbone. It serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Black's attorneys say the only way to be sure it's off is for a doctor to place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command, with no surgery required. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of health care ethics. While the judge's order to deactivate the device was in place, state officials said Nashville General Hospital practitioners would do the procedure the day before at the hospital, but wouldn't travel to the prison on execution day as the court required. The judge offered some leeway, allowing the procedure at the hospital on the morning of the execution. But Nashville General then released a statement saying the state's contractor didn't reach out to proper hospital leadership and that there had been no agreement to do the work. Intellectual disability claim In recent years, Black's legal team has also tried and failed to get a new hearing over whether he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. His attorneys have said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk contended in 2022 that Black is intellectually disabled and deserves a hearing under that 2021 law, but the judge denied it. That is because an inmate can't get an intellectual disability hearing under the 2021 law if they have already filed a similar request and a court has ruled on it 'on the merits.' In Funk's attempt, he focused on input from an expert for the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didn't meet the criteria for what was then called 'mental retardation.' But she concluded that Black met the new law's criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability. Black has also been seeking a determination by the courts that he is incompetent to be executed. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Columnists Opinion Wrestling Toronto & GTA NHL
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Tennessee set to execute inmate without turning off his implanted defibrillator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is set to execute an inmate Tuesday without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, as uncertainty lingers about whether the device will shock his heart when a lethal drug takes effect. Barring a late reprieve requested from the governor or the courts, Byron Black's execution will go forward after a legal back-and-forth over whether the state would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it's unaware of any other cases in which an inmate was making similar claims to Black about ICDs or pacemakers.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Tennessee set to execute inmate without turning off his implanted defibrillator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is set to execute an inmate Tuesday without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, as uncertainty lingers about whether the device will shock his heart when a lethal drug takes effect. Barring a late reprieve requested from the governor or the courts, Byron Black's execution will go forward after a legal back-and-forth over whether the state would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it's unaware of any other cases in which an inmate was making similar claims to Black about ICDs or pacemakers. The execution would be Tennessee's second since May, after a pause for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by the Tennessee Department of Correction. Twenty-seven men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and nine other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death. Black's condition Black, 69, is in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said. In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black's attorneys that officials must have the instrument deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But the state Supreme Court intervened July 31 to overturn that decision, saying the other judge lacked the authority to order the change. The state has disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black's defibrillator to shock him. Even if shocks were triggered, Black wouldn't feel them, the state has added. Black's attorneys have countered that even if the lethal drug being used, pentobarbital, renders someone unresponsive, they aren't necessarily unaware or unable to feel pain. Black's case Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6. Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting Clay's estranged husband. Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, recently told WKRN-TV: 'He didn't have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?' 'It feels like it is never-ending,' Bell told the news outlet. 'They aren't even resting in their own grave.' Medical considerations An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically implanted in the chest, typically near the left collarbone. It serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Black's attorneys say the only way to be sure it's off is for a doctor to place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command, with no surgery required. The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of health care ethics. While the judge's order to deactivate the device was in place, state officials said Nashville General Hospital practitioners would do the procedure the day before at the hospital, but wouldn't travel to the prison on execution day as the court required. The judge offered some leeway, allowing the procedure at the hospital on the morning of the execution. But Nashville General then released a statement saying the state's contractor didn't reach out to proper hospital leadership and that there had been no agreement to do the work. Intellectual disability claim In recent years, Black's legal team has also tried and failed to get a new hearing over whether he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. His attorneys have said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk contended in 2022 that Black is intellectually disabled and deserves a hearing under that 2021 law, but the judge denied it. That is because an inmate can't get an intellectual disability hearing under the 2021 law if they have already filed a similar request and a court has ruled on it 'on the merits.' In Funk's attempt, he focused on input from an expert for the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didn't meet the criteria for what was then called 'mental retardation.' But she concluded that Black met the new law's criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability. Black has also been seeking a determination by the courts that he is incompetent to be executed.
