Diversity of Marvel comics not reflected in movies

2016/05/09 Leave a comment

More on the lack of diversity in Hollywood:

Powered by a cast of comic-book characters generations have grown up with, Captain America: Civil War appears set for another record-breaking weekend.

But while the familiar faces are part of the allure, drop by your local comic shop (it is free comic book day after all) and you’ll see many of your old favourites undergoing radical makeovers.

….But the recent controversy over the new trailer for Doctor Strange suggested there’s still hesitation when it comes to displaying diverse characters. In the upcoming Marvel movie Tilda Swinton portrays the Ancient One, a character who was originally Tibetan.

Actor and activist George Takei was among those who blasted Marvel’s move.

“They cast Tilda because they believe white audiences want to see white faces,” he wrote on Facebook. “Audiences, too, should be aware of how dumb and out of touch the studios think we are.”

Considering a top-selling comic title reaches an audience of only about 200,000 readers in North America, it’s amazing the industry has any impact at all.

Yet the movies and the comics books are tied together in other ways. De Landro points out that many of the TV and film producers working for Marvel started in the publishing division. They understand the characters and the desire for change.

“There’s that hunger, that real need to see these characters out there and for people to see themselves represented. I think that’s going to translate,” he said.

And while publishers spin out new stories every month, multi-million dollar blockbusters have much longer gestational period. Considering the fact both Warner Brothers and Disney both have committed to film schedules stretching into 2020, the movies will be playing catch-up for many more years to come.

Source: Diversity of Marvel comics not reflected in movies – Arts & Entertainment – CBC News

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Mohamed Fahmy foundation created to help others imprisoned abroad

2016/05/09 Leave a comment

Understand the position of Fahmy and his supporters but not sure whether a new law is needed, if it would make a difference to governments in the future.

One of the other questions is with respect to its effectiveness for dual citizens who entered a country under that country’s passport (a situation when “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” does not apply according to the other government):

Mohamed Fahmy, the Egyptian-born Canadian journalist who was wrongly arrested and spent a year in a prison in Egypt, is working to make it law for the federal government step in and help others imprisoned abroad.

Fahmy, who is speaking in Halifax today at an Atlantic Journalism Awards event, said he is working on a “protection charter” through a non-profit foundation called Fahmy Foundation for a Free Press.

“I have been working with Amnesty [International] on this protective charter.  We are hoping to improve consular services for Canadians abroad,” he told CBC’s Mainstreet.

“At the moment the Canadian government deals on its own discretion when a Canadian is imprisoned abroad. We are pushing and hoping to obligate it to make it a law, enshrined in the Canadian system.”

Fahmy also gave a public talk in Halifax Saturday to raise funds for his foundation.

The foundation wants a mechanism that directs Canadian ambassadors to speak to families, NGOs and the media in a timely manner about Canadians being jailed abroad, he said.

“The urgency about moving in the first 48 hours someone is detained because that is the time someone can get tortured or killed in some of these Middle Eastern prisons, that I have seen myself.”

Source: Mohamed Fahmy foundation created to help others imprisoned abroad – Nova Scotia – CBC News

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PS must step up recruitment to offset exodus of retiring baby boomers

2016/05/09 Leave a comment

Good overview of the latest Clerk’s report on the public service. Parts I found more interesting below, with the culture change the hardest challenge, along with harassment, a perennial issue:

Wernick’s report clearly indicates there will be no single plan when the task force releases its final report.

Rather, each department will develop its own “action plan” rather than shoehorn a master set of rules on all departments. That’s because the nature of federal workplaces varies wildly from white-collar office jobs to employees working in call centres, on Coast Guard ships, in prisons or the military.

Those plans will focus on changing culture with leadership, training, support for employees and managers, and then measuring the impact of those changes.

Wernick’s report noted that the last public service survey showed that harassment, discrimination and lack of empowerment are key barriers to a “respectful” workplace.

“These types of behaviours must be addressed,” he said.  “There is no place for them in society or in the workplace. Every manager and every employee is accountable.”

On the policy front, Wernick has taken exception to critics who argue the public service lost its policy-making skills over the Conservative decade.

His report, however, says the way policy is developed has to be modernized and a policy community project is underway to strengthen policy-making in a rapidly changing world.

“It will be important never to return to a time where policy was developed in splendid isolation from the operations and services that implement it, or the people affected by it. Nor should policy be developed in silos and stovepipes. All of the important issues facing Canada are broad and multi-faceted.”

Source: PS must step up recruitment to offset exodus of retiring baby boomers | Ottawa Citizen

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Procès pour terrorisme: «l’islamophobie» n’est pas une raison pour cacher la preuve au public

2016/05/09 Leave a comment

Good decision:

La Cour du Québec a réitéré le droit fondamental à un procès public jeudi et rejeté la demande de deux accusés de terrorisme, qui souhaitaient qu’une partie de la preuve amassée contre eux soit cachée au public sous prétexte qu’elle risque de compromettre leur droit à un procès équitable en alimentant « l’islamophobie » et « le climat de panique » au Québec.

La requête avait été présentée par Sabrine Djaermane et El-Madhi Jamali, deux anciens élèves du collège de Maisonneuve arrêtés il y a un an et accusés d’avoir tenté de rejoindre un groupe terroriste à l’étranger et d’avoir planifié un attentat à Montréal.

En attente de leur procès, tous deux souhaitaient empêcher la publication d’éléments de preuve résumés par les enquêteurs de la GRC dans une demande pour obtenir un mandat de perquisition.

Leur demande s’appuyait sur le témoignage d’une témoin experte, Valérie Amiraux, sociologue et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en étude du pluralisme religieux à l’Université de Montréal. Avec l’aide de deux collègues, cette dernière a produit un rapport de 22 pages sur l’effet que pourrait avoir la divulgation de la preuve au sein de la population québécoise.

Dans son rapport, la professeure souligne que l’image publique des musulmans s’est considérablement altérée depuis le 11 septembre 2001, « notamment par l’effet du traitement médiatique des informations ». Elle ajoute qu’il existe « une antipathie généralisée vis-à-vis des musulmans au Canada » et que « l’islamophobie s’est banalisée au Québec » dans la foulée des débats sur les accommodements raisonnables et la Charte des valeurs. Le contexte s’apparente à ce que certains sociologues appellent une « hystérie politique ».

Dans ce contexte, le dévoilement de certains éléments de preuve est « problématique », conclut-elle, car « ces éléments […] sont particulièrement susceptibles d’aider à tracer des liens entre l’islamophobie, le climat de panique et le sentiment d’insécurité ».

FRONT COMMUN DES MÉDIAS

Les avocats de La Presse, Québecor et de Radio-Canada ont fait front commun pour s’opposer à cette requête au nom de la liberté d’expression et des principes établis qui veulent que la justice soit publique au Canada.

La juge Lori Renée Weitzman leur a donné raison. La magistrate a résumé l’affaire à un conflit entre deux droits fondamentaux protégés par la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés : le droit des accusés à un procès juste et équitable, et le droit à la liberté d’expression.

La juge reconnaît que la témoin experte possède une grande expertise en sociologie et traite d’enjeux réels.

«Nul besoin d’un expert en sociologie pour affirmer qu’en 2016 au Québec, la population musulmane confronte des préjugés et stéréotypes à leur égard.»

Extrait du jugement

Mais pour la cour, l’existence de ces préjugés ne justifie pas de restreindre l’accès du public aux procédures judiciaires. « Sans minimiser l’étendue de l’expertise de Mme Amiraux, la faille dans son opinion est qu’elle extrapole des données qu’elle maîtrise parfaitement en sociologie pour arriver à une conclusion portant sur le système de droit criminel canadien, sans avoir les connaissances requises dans ce domaine », poursuit la juge.

Elle rappelle que selon la Cour suprême, « la bonne administration de la justice comprend le droit prévu par l’article 11 (d) de la Charte, qui garantit un procès public, et le droit à ce que les médias aient accès au procès et rapportent ce qui s’y déroule ».

Source: Procès pour terrorisme: «l’islamophobie» n’est pas une raison pour cacher la preuve au public | Vincent Larouche | Procès

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Liberals issue openness directive, scrap most Access to Information fees

2016/05/07 Leave a comment

Very good first start (for those responsible for my pending ATIP requests, please note and process accordingly):

The Liberal government is immediately waiving all fees associated with access to information requests — apart from the $5 application charge.

It is also telling federal agencies to make information available in the format of the requester’s choice, such as handy data spreadsheets, wherever possible. [one of my and other’s biggest peeves]

The measures are included in an interim directive on openness from Treasury Board President Scott Brison.

Brison told a Commons committee studying changes to the access law Thursday the steps represent early progress on Liberal commitments for reform.

He said the openness directive is guided by the principle that government information belongs to the people it serves and should be open by default.

It also emphasizes that providing access is paramount to serving the public interest.

The Access to Information Act allows people who pay $5 to ask for everything from expense reports and audits to correspondence and briefing notes. Departments are supposed to answer within 30 days or provide valid reasons why they need more time.

However, the system has been widely criticized as slow, out of date and riddled with loopholes that allow agencies to withhold information rather than release it. The law has not been substantially updated since it took effect almost 33 years ago.

The Liberals plan to introduce legislation late this year or in early 2017 to implement several other short-term changes to the law based on election campaign commitments. They promise a full review of the Access to Information Act once the initial bill passes and every five years thereafter.

“This act is out of date,” Brison told MPs on the committee. “We never want to be in this place again.”

Brison said the next wave of measures would:

  • Give the information commissioner, an ombudsman for requesters, the power to order release of government information — something she cannot do now;

  • Ensure the act applies appropriately to the offices of the prime minister and his cabinet members, as well as administrative institutions that support Parliament and the courts;

  • Address the issue of frivolous and vexatious requests so that the purpose of the act is respected;

  • Improve government performance reporting on Access to Information.

Source: Liberals issue openness directive, scrap most Access to Information fees – The Globe and Mail

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Census needs to reflect modern reality about gender | Toronto Star

2016/05/07 Leave a comment

I am sure StatsCan is already thinking about this in the context of the 2021 Census and the best means to do so (may just be an “other” category:

After 10 years, the long-form Canadian census is back. Young Canadians, primed by a decade of digital media saturation, flocked online in droves so large we took down the website.

It makes sense — and it’s not just false enthusiasm as we collectively do our duty because “it’s the law.” A generation used to sharing its descriptive statistics online (finding friends, networking, dating) would intuitively understand the benefit of the census. Understanding the sociodemographic landscape helps us know and better service ourselves. And after all, that’s what millennials want: a fairer and more representative social democracy.

Yet, as Canadians fill out the census, some gawk at the glaring anachronism of the gender binary, the idea that there are two mutually exclusive genders: males and females, who occupy distinct cultural, social, and sexual roles.

But we know this isn’t true. The recent media awakening to transgender people (Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, Jazz Jennings) is evidence that gender variance has gone mainstream.

If we recognize men and women who identify with the genders they were assigned at birth (cisgender) and we recognize men and women who do not identify with their assigned gender (transgender), then surely we agree this difference is worth recording.

As my friend quipped, “Well, they’re not asking about gender. They’re asking about sex!” His point reflects the growing awareness about gender as the patterns of behaviour and expression associated with its respective sex categories. This is good. It shows a recognition of people whose self-concepts do not match the gender assigned them at birth.

…Despite a variety of new ways to capture gender variation in the population, this simple two-step approach takes us miles further than the two-option approach of the 2016 Census:

  1. Do you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth? Yes / No / Not sure / Prefer not to say
  2. Please indicate your current gender: Male, Female, Non-Binary, Intersex, Other (please describe):

As the 2016 census has done with its categories for race, we must open up how we assess gender. I know it seems hard, but let’s no longer pretend we cannot do better.

Source: Census needs to reflect modern reality about gender | Toronto Star

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Immigration [citizenship] fraud makes us vulnerable: Hassan

2016/05/07 Leave a comment

Farzana Hassan on the OAG report on citizenship fraud (Gaps in Ottawa’s detection of citizenship fraud, auditor finds):

According to a Sun story Tuesday: “Michael Ferguson’s report uncovered instances of people with serious criminal records and others using potentially phony addresses, among those who managed to secure Canadian citizenship, thanks to holes throughout not just the Immigration Department but the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency as well.”

Of course, we should expect some mistakes in any government department, but it is reasonable to ask how widespread is the failure to weed out undesirable people from entering Canada and what will be done to solve the problem?

Immigration Minister John McCallum reacted to the report by saying the Liberal government is already looking into the issue and trying to address the problem. But the public needs something more tangible from the government than a formulaic response.

Andrew Griffith, author of the book, Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote, writes in his blog entitled Multicultural Meanderings, “One of the lasting legacies of the Conservative government was increased attention to the integrity of the program, beyond the issues identified in the OAG report (e.g., rotating citizenship test questions, more rigorous and consistent language assessment, and the integrity measures of C-24).”

The Trudeau government has retained many of these controls, but the technology solutions enabling effective oversight need to be refined.

Griffith is convinced the problem is not too widespread, but the current high reliance on manual data entry and human triggered searches is so critically prone to error that a simple spelling mistake can cause a failure in the system.

Automated alerts need to be in place. Electronic scanning for data accuracy and compatibility between security organizations needs to be a priority.

The stakes are high, and the current system has too many holes to provide the kind of assurance to which Canadians are entitled.

Despite the optimism of observers like Griffith, it is clear the system needs a thorough overhaul, especially when immigration in many cases is being aggressively and fraudulently pursued in terror-exporting countries like Pakistan and others in the Middle East.

Human error will continue to play a role in any system. But in an electronic age, automatic identification technology and smart systems that use leading-edge applications can significantly reduce mistakes.

Canadians deserve to know they are safe from people with criminal records and jihadi mindsets

Source: Immigration fraud makes us vulnerable | HASSAN | Columnists | Opinion | Toronto

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Should Canada close its doors to controversial French comic? – Erna Paris

2016/05/07 Leave a comment

Will be interesting to see if he is denied entry – Paris bets that entry will be denied:

Elements of these beliefs link both extremes of France’s political spectrum; however, there’s nothing new about them. Behind Dieudonné’s vile humour lies a subtext that is familiar to the French; when he targets perceived injustice, taunts scapegoats and reminds his fans of French colonial abuses, he awakens historical grievances – and in this he has famous predecessors.

Starting in the 1960s, Frantz Fanon’s wildly successful book The Wretched of the Earth exposed the psychological effects of colonialism and radicalized a generation. In the 1980s, Jacques Vergès, the Maoist lawyer for Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, turned his client’s trial into a focused attack on France itself – over its wartime collaboration and crimes committed during the Algerian conflict. (Mr. Vergès also subscribed to the ideology of “the new anti-Semitism,” although it didn’t yet have a name.)

Dieudonné is not in this league. Even the charges against him have mutated into petty criminality, the latest being brandishing a weapon against a bailiff who came to collect court-ordered fines. But is he dangerous? French authorities think so. As extremism grows, they worry that his racist goading will engender more violence.

Should he be barred from Canada? In today’s climate, I doubt that the French-specific new anti-Semitism would find much resonance in Quebec. On the other hand, he seems to be trying to salvage his career. According to his lawyer, the Montreal show (for which tickets are sold out) is titled In Peace. “It’s about plants and ecology,” he said.

Will Dieudonné be barred from Canada? Probably. Our anti-hate laws resemble those of France, and he has many justified criminal convictions. When he presents himself at customs next week, the border agents will make a decision about his eligibility. If I were Dieudonné, I’d get a refund on my plane ticket now.

Source: Should Canada close its doors to controversial French comic? – The Globe and Mail

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Language requirement for citizenship unnecessary, Reis Pagtakhan writes

2016/05/07 Leave a comment

Pagtakhan develops further the arguments he made during the C-6 hearings which, while interesting, would be more convincing if he were able to back his assertions with harder evidence and more granular data (one area I will be looking into more in my 2016 Census update Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote will be languages spoken):

The three main arguments for requiring new immigrants to pass a language test before becoming citizens are to ensure that they are employable in Canada, are able to integrate into Canadian society, and are able to settle and live here safely and comfortably.

Laudable goals unmet

While these are laudable goals, testing immigrants for language at the point they apply for citizenship misses one big thing — these immigrants have already been living here for years. As a result, testing for language at this stage will not help in achieving these goals.

Once people immigrate to Canada, they are legally entitled to work, study and live in Canada for the rest of their lives. At no point do they have to be retested for language to maintain their right to live in Canada. Many immigrants come to Canada and never apply for citizenship. If these immigrants are not required to take a language test before immigrating, they can live here without proving any language proficiency.

If knowledge of English or French is so important for employment, integration and settlement, why do we allow some immigrants into Canada without testing them for English or French? Furthermore, why do we let them to stay here without periodically testing them for language?

While periodically testing immigrants for language would probably infringe on their charter rights, there is another practical reason why we should not testing them for language after arrival in Canada — these immigrants will likely improve their English or French in Canada out of their own self-interest to be successful.

…The fact is that most people who live in Canada, whether they are immigrants or individuals born here, will learn English or French. English or French is the language used in virtually all schools and workplaces in Canada. The motivation to speak English or French will not come from a citizenship test requirement, it will come from a person’s need to be successful here. The money spent by new Canadians who pay for these tests and the money spent paying government officers to review these test results can be better spent elsewhere.

Source: Language requirement for citizenship unnecessary, Reis Pagtakhan writes – Manitoba – CBC News

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Citizenship Act: Changes to revocation for misrepresentation coming

2016/05/06 Leave a comment

At the CIMM hearings 5 May on the IRCC estimates, Minister McCallum committed to address the concerns raised by witnesses regarding that revocation for fraud or misrepresentation lacked  procedural protections and due process (e.g., no right to appeal).

He stated that he would return in the fall with legislation and that IRCC was considering options. This could not be done “overnight” in the “proper way” and hinted that some of these options might include machinery changes (e.g., role for IRB).

In addition, he acknowledged that some of the amendments ruled inadmissible (see C-6 Citizenship Act: Clause-by-clause review) may be possible at some future date.

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