Why bringing school resource officers back to our classrooms will do more harm than good
Education Minister Paul Calandra claims Bill 33, The Supporting Children and Students Act, will make Ontario schools safer. How can that be true when it mandates the return of police to schools?
Proposing to bring back the School Resource Officer program, Calandra has turned his back on years of research that tells us that Black, Indigenous and racialized students do not feel safe attending schools with a police presence, that police in schools does not reduce the incidence of violence, but they do prop up the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Carney's 'nation-building' projects bill faces uncertain future in unpredictable Senate
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The legislation essentially gives cabinet the ability to pick projects to speed through the regulatory process, with an eye to projects that can deliver an economic boost to Canada and help strengthen the country's autonomy and resilience as it grapples with a U.S. trade war. WATCH | What is Bill C-5?: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? What is Bill C-5 and what might it mean for trade and pipelines? The federal bill takes aim at trade barriers between provinces and should make it easier to build big infrastructure projects. Some hope the bill will translate into pipeline development, but there is notable opposition to the legislation as well. The Senate has agreed to study, debate and pass the bill by Friday — but an amendment could throw a wrench in the works. Paul Prosper, a Mi'kmaw senator from Nova Scotia, is promising to slow down the process with an amendment to give Indigenous people more time to weigh in and make their pitches to change the bill. The legislation itself states the government will recognize, affirm and respect Indigenous Peoples' constitutional rights when considering a project to fast-track. But there's a fear among some leaders that the consultation process with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities will be inadequate given Carney campaigned on making final decisions within a two-year timeline. These leaders want protections for what's called free, prior and informed consent in the Indigenous legal sphere. If you don't do it right, we're looking at some potential litigation in the future. It's best to be proactive now, Prosper told reporters last week. 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Carney: 'Some learnings' in how government communicated One Canadian Economy bill Asked by CBC's Rosemary Barton about Indigenous concerns over Bill C-5, Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested parts of the bill could have been communicated more clearly. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty added 'there is a lot to learn,' but thinks Carney has been clear Indigenous Peoples will be at the table. There's a process that the Senate has committed to, to get to a final vote on it by [Friday], Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said. It's a very important legislation that has massive support among Canadians. After Trudeau kicked Liberal senators out of the national caucus and instituted a series of reforms (new window) , most members of the upper house sit in loosely constituted groups where votes aren't whipped and senators can make amendments as they please. The Senate has acted quickly on some government bills while taking its time with others, including the last Liberal government's streaming bill and firearms law changes, which were debated for months. Still, Gold said he hopes a majority of senators realize just how important it is to get the bill passed this week. He said that would allow the government to start liaising with project proponents, premiers and Indigenous communities on what to approve. While acknowledging the timeline is quite fast, Gold said senators sat for hours of pre-study last week before getting the legislation from the Commons and, by Friday, it will be time to make a final decision. We have done our job, he said. The government will speak against amendments if it comes to that and try to persuade the majority of senators to agree with us. 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3 hours ago
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National Observer
3 hours ago
- National Observer
National chief wants senators to slow down major projects bill, as senator collapses
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is calling on senators to slow down Ottawa's sprint to pass Prime Minister Mark Carney 's controversial major projects bill this week. Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said Wednesday she hopes the Senate "does the right thing this week" and allows more time to study the legislation and bring forward amendments — a call that went largely unanswered when she issued it to MPs. The legislation was introduced in the upper chamber on Wednesday and the Senate completed second reading, after the bill was fast-tracked through the House of Commons and went through a rare pre-study by the Senate. A programming motion adopted by the chamber fixes the bill to a tight schedule, with a final vote that must take place by the end of Friday. The politically charged legislation has angered Indigenous and environmental groups who criticize the government for rushing to grant itself sweeping new powers to fast-track project permits. But Carney has said Canada is facing an economic crisis due to the trade war with the United States and the country urgently needs to approve new "nation-building" projects. Senate debate on the bill was suspended for roughly 30 minutes by Speaker Raymonde Gagné after Sen. Patrick Brazeau collapsed sideways onto the floor after rising to speak. A Senate spokesman said the Quebec senator appears to be recovering. Before collapsing, Brazeau questioned the value of the government holding consultations after the legislation passes with national Indigenous organizations, given they all receive funding from Ottawa. He said they are largely seen not to speak on behalf of rights-holding individuals and communities. "They are political lobby organizations," Brazeau said. "Is that really helping the process for real First Nations in this country?" The projects bill found broad support in the Commons, where the Conservatives voted with the Liberals to pass it at third reading. It succeeded by a margin of 306 votes to 31 on June 20, with one Liberal MP voting against it. Sen. Paul Prosper said in an interview Tuesday night that the bill is moving too quickly through Parliament, and it needs to better reflect concerns raised by Indigenous groups who fear that accelerated project approvals will push aside their rights. He has vowed to try to amend the bill but was not ready to say how. 'The overall objective of the bill, I'm sure a lot of people resonate with that and see the need for it," Prosper said. "But does it have to be within this prescribed and shortened timeline when you're not following the typical democratic process to consider something like this? "There are some overarching provisions that allow the government to suspend existing laws and legislation, which is an extraordinary power in that regard. So there might be a need for some parameters to help ensure certain considerations with respect to the environment, and which are integral to ensure Indigenous issues are taken into account." Conservative Senate Leader Leo Housakos said the bill is crucial for Canada's economic potential, but said the government has failed to provide enough details to measure the legislation's economic impact. Meanwhile, Gagné rejected a request from Sen. Marilou McPhedran to split the bill into separate votes, which theoretically would have allowed senators to pass some parts of the legislation while rejecting others. Gagné said this did not fit Senate protocol for final votes on a bill. Woodhouse Nepinak pointed out that the concept of "free, prior and informed consent" — a condition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that Canada approved — is not mentioned in the bill itself, despite Carney and his ministers saying they'll consult with Indigenous Peoples. She said she's also worried about the Indigenous Advisory Council the government wants to insert into the projects' approval process. She said the government can't use that body to claim it consulted with First Nations because that consultation wouldn't take into account the varied positions of leaders across the country. "An advisory council appointed by the government will not be accountable to First Nations and will have no real power to ensure First Nations involvement in the project," she said. Conservative Sen. Mary Jane McCallum of northern Manitoba argued there is no need for the bill. "Resource extraction industries have already been granted the power to continue to do catastrophic harm to pollute and to destroy," she said. "As First Nations, we have been sacrificed for the greater good all our lives."
