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Party assaults create shock waves

September 23rd, 2010 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Party assaults create shock waves)

Social networking’s involvement in sexual assaults reveals dark side of technology

Pictures of the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a weekend party east of Vancouver were circulated on the Internet via Facebook, police told reporters last week. But despite efforts to halt the spread of the images, after the initial web posting was shut down copies continued to spread across the Internet. One of the lead investigators on the case has stated the obvious—that the re-posting of the photos is only making the horror for the victim worse. The girl’s father told the Vancouver Sun, “For me it’s unbelievable in this day and age, youth are so desensitized to crime and pornography.” Since the incident, two arrests have been made. (more…)

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Global hopes for Vienna Declaration

July 15th, 2010 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Global hopes for Vienna Declaration)

International declaration calls on governments to base policing of illicit drugs on facts

The Vienna Declaration [opens to PDF] is the official declaration of the 18th International AIDS Conference taking place in Vienna, Austria from July 18 to 23. The Declaration describes the known harms—and failures—of the conventional “war on drugs” approaches and their overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. The Declaration calls on governments and international organizations to make a number of changes, including the implementation and evaluation of a science-based public health approach to address harms stemming from illicit drug use. (more…)

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Compassion clubs targeted

June 10th, 2010 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Compassion clubs targeted)

Police raids on compassion clubs providing medicinal marijuana are a reminder just how challenging change is going to be

Police launched a major marijuana crackdown in Quebec last week, targeting 35 people in raids on marijuana compassion clubs. Five clubs in Montreal and Quebec City were hit.

In B.C., Maple Ridge RCMP arrested a man who is licensed by Health Canada to grow marijuana, making it the first such case in the Vancouver area where a legal grower has had the drug seized by police. (more…)

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Who has the right to be on the sidewalk?

June 3rd, 2010 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Who has the right to be on the sidewalk?)

Vancouver’s ‘downtown ambassadors’ are the target of a human rights complaint due to ‘hundreds of illegal removals’

On Monday, May 31, 2010, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal began hearing a human rights complaint made by Pivot Legal Society and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) against the Downtown Ambassadors program, operated by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and funded by the City of Vancouver.

The complaint, lodged by Pivot and VANDU in 2008, alleges that the Downtown Ambassador program repeatedly engaged in harassment and “removals” of individuals who are located on public space and who are, or appear to be, street homeless or drug users. The hearing is scheduled for three weeks. (more…)

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National housing strategy demanded

June 3rd, 2010 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on National housing strategy demanded)

Homeless and underhoused Ontarians launch a legal challenge against the federal and provincial governments

On Wednesday May 26, 2010 Tracy Heffernan, a staff lawyer for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, launched a legal challenge on behalf of a group of five applicants, charging that homelessness and inadequate housing harms people, and that the failure of governments to provide adequate housing violates Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees everyone the right to life, liberty and security. (more…)

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A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer joins The Vagina Monologues

April 8th, 2010 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer joins The Vagina Monologues)

New play a call to action and outreach to men to become allies in ending violence against women and children

Eliza Gardiner and the Vancouver Island University Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee present Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, plus her new production of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer, Friday April 9th to Sunday April 11th at VIU’s Nanaimo campus. The plays will raise awareness and funds for the internationally renowned V-Day campaign, and the Nanaimo Women’s Resources Society. Ensler’s new play, A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer, is a compilation of dramatic and poetic pieces by diverse writers that features male performers; it is a call to action and outreach to men to become allies in an international campaign to end violence against women and children. (more…)

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