Police need to rethink training and procedures to make them more effective, Vancouver Sun editorial says

Last week’s report in The Vancouver Sun that the number of persons killed in police shootings in British Columbia has now reached seven — already tied for the highest number in the last 12 years but with more than two months yet to run (and we know this largely because this newspaper now keeps its own annual tabulation) — must cause deep concern to all reasonable people. Especially when it is reported that more than half of the 48 people killed since 2004 were experiencing some kind of mental health crisis when fatally shot.  Read the rest of this editorial at the Vancouver Sun…

The project is called Le temps d’une soupe, and it aims to bring Montrealers into greater sympathy with those who sleep on the street or in shelters. The central part of the work is a platform where pairs of strangers are seated in matching chairs (no two pairs the same), given a bowl of soup, and invited to talk together while they eat. Mediators prompt the conversation with a card containing a question or piece of information about homelessness, and also step in if an exchange gets too heated or uncomfortable. Read this story at The Globe and Mail…