Author and educator Jackson Katz advocates the ‘bystander approach’ to sexual and domestic violence prevention
Jackson Katz is a social theorist, educator, and anti-sexism activist who says that gendered understandings and behaviour are heavily influenced by media and popular culture. Katz is a major advocate of the ‘bystander approach’ to gender violence and bullying prevention. (more…)
Jim Manly’s participation in a recent mission attempting to deliver aid to Gaza helps raise awareness of needs, issues
On October 16, 2012, a tall ship called The Estelle began its voyage from Greece to Gaza, carrying citizens from a number of countries, including Parliamentarians from Greece, Norway, Spain and Sweden, and retired Canadian Parliamentarian Jim Manly. The passengers were peaceful civilians committed to non violence; they carried a cargo of aid and communications equipment—and a symbolic cargo of solidarity with struggling Gazans. (more…)
‘Dying with dignity’ has been supported by many members of Unitarian Fellowships across Canada—for over thirty years
It’s your life and it should be your choice as to how and when you die. That’s what British Columbia resident Gloria Taylor believed. That’s why Taylor, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease, took her case for the right to die to the B.C. Supreme Court. She won that battle. Now, Gloria Taylor has died, of natural causes. Gloria’s mother, Anne Fomenoff, said of her daughter’s passing, “Gloria was able to live her final days free from the fear that she would be sentenced to suffer cruelly in a failing body.” (more…)
Pastor Ward Draper is “bringing the church back to where it should be”—and that includes providing clean needles and pipes
Pastor Ward Draper is ministering to addicts in Abbotsford, in defiance of the municipality’s ban on harm reduction activities. Pastor Draper is the founder and executive director of The 5 and 2 ministries, the only Canadian church outside of Toronto that does needle exchange work. And it happens in a city that, according to The Province newspaper, is the only community in the country that bans needle exchange work. (more…)
The federal government had argued that the individuals and non-profit groups involved had no right to bring the case to court
A court case was launched in British Columbia in 2008 by an organization of sex workers and one former sex worker challenging the constitutionality of Criminal Code provisions dealing with adult prostitution. That case was dismissed by the B.C. Supreme Court in part because the trial judge found that the group did not have “public interest standing” to bring the case to court. The decision was overturned, but the federal government then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. (more…)
Canada may have gone farther than most countries in harsh treatment of HIV non-disclosure. What will the Supreme Court say?
Under Canadian law, a person living with HIV may be guilty of a crime [opens to PDF] for not disclosing his or her HIV-positive status before engaging in certain activities. Charges have been laid against people living with HIV in numerous cases, particularly cases involving sexual contact.
But a group called the Global Commission on HIV and the Law has taken the position that nondisclosure of HIV status, as well as sex work and possession of drugs for personal use, should all be decriminalized [Download the report in PDF]. (more…)
