FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Mar 30

No Democracy Today Can Avoid Being Tested By Political Turmoil

by bcurry

President Joe Biden recently visited Canada for what became a real love-in with his opposite Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister.  In his speech to Parliament, Biden frequently related to the close relationship to Canada, including our democratic values and institutions.  However, all is not well in both countries.  The U.S. had last year’s violent January 6th insurrection at the Capital and Canada had the truckers’ 3-week illegal occupation of streets within Ottawa’s parliamentary precinct.  Observers claim that a lot of these events are related to what is perceived by some Americans and Canadians as a lack of trust in police, the courts and government at all levels.  What’s worst, in the U.S. you had a former president who refused to accept the results of the last presidential election and today continues to espouse to his followers that the election was stolen.

This past week, President Biden delivered remarks at the second White House-led Summit for Democracy, but at a time when several democracies are under duress of some kind.  One can refer to political conditions in so-called significant democratic countries such as Israel, Mexico, India and Brazil.  Democratic setbacks have also occurred in West Africa, where there have been coups in Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years.  For example, in Nigeria, a country of 220 million people, experts say that the presidential election last February appeared suspect.  At the above noted summit, two notable members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Hungary and Turkey, were excluded in light of fact that their autocratic political systems have grown no less repressive during Mr. Biden’s tenure.

Underlying all this issue is the fact that dictatorships such as Russia and China have been trying to increase their economic and political influence in countries, particularly in Africa and South America.  Both the governments of Russia and China have been accused of having meddled in recent American and Canadian electoral processes.  Dealing effectively with these countries needs to be done in order to avoid any foreign influence in democratic processes.

In the U.S., even the fundamental right of Americans to vote is being challenged in some states where various forms of new voting restrictions or requirements have being implemented or considered, notably by Republican states.  In some cases, such restrictions will especially affect voting by minority groups, college students and marginalized persons. 

Unfortunately, much of political turmoil has been the result of extreme divisions within our societies and large amounts of misinformation and disinformation being spread through on-line social media.  Mainstream media sources, fundamentally important to supporting democratic processes, are continuously under attack.  Journalists themselves have been verbally and physically attacked by extreme politicized groups, both right and left.

Human and civil rights are in danger of being weakened in democratic countries.  Many of the important gains achieved by LGBTQ groups in the last couple of decades are increasingly coming under attack, especially by religious right-wing segments of our societies.  Organized local protests have even occurred against school boards in both countries, and appear to be gaining strength.  Elected school board representatives have increasingly come under attack when it comes to school policies protecting the rights of LGBTQ youth and education regarding sexual orientation.

Generally, trust and confidence in our democratic institutions has to be restored in order to maintain our taken-for-granted freedoms.  Civility has to return to how we conduct our affairs and the rule of law has to be strengthened.  Otherwise, we will only see more and more serious threats to democracies, either here in Canada, the U.S. or abroad.  Words and platitudes are all fine, but actions are now needed.

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Mar 25

Ridiculous Unenforceable Laws Denying Youth Access to Social Media Apps

by bcurry

Recent laws to be enacted in Republican Utah mean that children and teens under 18 would lose access to social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram if they don’t have parental consent.  They now face other restrictions under a first-in-the-nation law designed to shield young people from the so-called “addictive platforms”.  One law would also open the door to lawsuits on behalf of children claiming social media harmed them, something that would be very difficult to prove in court.  This move by the Republicans is hypocritical given that they have argued against any censorship in the past when it comes to restricting Internet access, arguing such government actions infringe on constitutional rights to freedom of speech.  This despite the fact that past concerns had been raised by some lawmakers over user privacy, hate speech, misinformation and harmful effects on teens’ mental health found in apps provided by other tech giants like Facebook and Google.

Some apps already have age restrictions.  For example, from the outset Facebook required everyone to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account (although in some jurisdictions, this age limit may be higher).  Creating an account with false info is a violation of its terms. This includes accounts registered on the behalf of someone under 13.  However, it is really left up to the parents, who in most cases supposedly oversee their children’s use of apps, to deal with underage children.  If an underage child created an account on Facebook, the company explains how the parents can delete the child’s account.  Thus, the onus is on the parents.  However, children have been shown to easily get around such bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.  Trying to prevent 14 to 17 year olds from accessing TikTok or any other social media app is also mind-boggling.  It tough enough for parents to oversee teenagers use of social media, never mind trying to limit their access.  After all, in this age of social media, many teens have come to rely on its use to stay in contact with their friends as part of modern socialization (especially during the pandemic).  It’s like trying to take their cellphones away!  As one university professor of child development in Utah warned, the state’s measure could inadvertently boomerang, exacerbating youth mental health issues by cutting off vulnerable young people from important sources of information and support.

Instead, recognizing that prolonged and over use of social media can have an impact not only on the mental health of youth, but also that of adults.  Yes, bullying and sexting can be facilitated by social media, but these issues can also happen through in-person and other means.  Indeed, laws against bullying and child pornography already exist and the authorities can deal with such inappropriate and often illegal behaviour on-line or through other means.

However, the question of user privacy on social media, especially for that of children, is a very serious one.  What is really needed is better education of people and readily accessible information for people to make them more fully aware of the dangers of providing certain types of information via social media.  There is little doubt that TikTok and others are harvesting information provided through the use of their apps.  Although it is apparently rare that such info is used for nefarious purposes, the fact of the matter is that it’s out there.  Last year, California enacted a law requiring tech companies to put kids’ safety first by barring them from profiling children or using personal information in ways that could harm children physically or mentally.  Hopefully, such laws will force social media providers to take enhanced precautionary measures to protect children.  The onus here, as it should be, is on the providers.

The controversial suggestion that social media use can lead to a form of “addiction” is still up for debate, given the normal behavioural patterns and general physical dependencies associated with addicts.  If there is a concern, it is the total dependency of a child on social media for social development purposes.  It may suggest a degree of isolation and poor people skills at a young age, which could have developmental implications leading into adolescence and adulthood.  Rather than simply banning a child from using social media, parents need to seek open communication and possibly expert help in dealing with such concerns.  In my opinion, this issue is a societal and parental one and not one that overbearing governments can regulate.

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Mar 13

Work-Life Balance and Shift to More Stay-at-Home Fathers

by bcurry

One thing that the pandemic has done is to give more fathers, notably those working remotely, a chance to spend more time with their family members, especially their children.  A study by Statistics Canada in 2010 indicated that about 12 percent of stay-at-home parents were the fathers, triple the number recorded in 1986.  I would expect that many of us probably know at least one or more parenting couples where the man has stayed at home for a number of valid and rational reasons.  Often, it is the fact that the woman is in a better paying job with good health and dental benefits, as well as opportunities for advancement.  Due to changes in the labour market, data has shown that women increasingly have become the top earner in the family.  In many cases, there are considerations over the high cost of childcare, particularly where it is not subsidized by the state and where affordable and licensed childcare is lacking.  From a monetary point of view, it just doesn’t make any financial sense for both parents to work.

A survey by Harvard’s Making Caring Common project in June 2020 found that more than two-thirds of fathers said they felt closer to their children since the pandemic started.  As well, according to a Morning Consult survey for The New York Times in 2022, 47 percent of employed fathers said flexibility and control over their hours was a top priority.  This is 10 percentage points more than those who said they felt that way before the pandemic.  Recruiters are also now seeing more and more men with families who are asking about the company’s position on flexible hours and parental leave provisions.

Surprisingly, many employers still require long, inflexible hours and penalize workers for prioritizing family life.  However, what the pandemic and its impact on working conditions did is to expedite what was already a known trend in the labour market.  Working remotely has given more fathers the opportunity to share greater responsibility in household duties and childcare.  Where both parents worked, working women in the past had to do most of the household work. Now, all that has changed with the advent of new technologies and working conditions.  In many occupations in certain industries, telework and hybrid work have increasingly become the norm. 

There is little doubt that efforts to reduce the costs of childcare and ensure the quality of public and private childcare providers will result in influencing the current trends, particularly in Canada.  Recently, provincial governments signed on to a major federal initiative to increase the amount of affordable childcare spaces across the country over the next five to ten years.

Regardless, more and more fathers will be looking to their employers to accommodate having more time to spend with their families.  The issue of work-life balance is at the top of their agenda, forcing employers to adjust accordingly if they wish to retain experienced and motivated employees, both men and women.

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Mar 8

China Tried to Meddle in Our Elections, but What Should Come Next?

by bcurry

In recent months in both Canada and the U.S., main media sources have been raising questions about China’s attempts to influence our elections.  However, the involvement of the Chinese government abroad has taken a number of initiatives not only during elections but also all year round.  Not only are they interfering in our affairs, whether through disinformation campaigns, illegal campaign activities or threatening and intimidating nationals of their countries who now live in Canada and the U.S., but also through so-called Chinese police stations.  Both Canada and the U.S. have significant Chinese communities, particularly on the west coast and in cities such as Toronto and New York.  According to the New York Times, Chinese outposts are suspected by the F.B.I. of conducting police operations without jurisdiction or diplomatic approval — one of more than 100 such outfits around the world that are unnerving diplomats and intelligence agents.  Western officials see the outposts as part of Beijing’s larger drive to keep tabs on Chinese nationals abroad, including dissidents.

Declining to get into specifics, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Brenda Lucki, went on record to stipulate that the RCMP is investigating four such Chinese police stations and that investigation is ongoing.  Chinese personnel at these outposts have been known to carry out surveillance and to covertly harass both American and Canadian citizens of Chinese origin and Chinese nationals.  Beijing on the other hand has explained that these police stations are meant to track down known fugitives abroad and force them to return home.  In response, Canadian officials have called for China to shut down police operations in Canada.  The F.B.I. has carried out at least one raid which was the first known example of the authorities seizing materials from one of the outposts.

Since national opposition parties in Canada have continued to call for a public inquiry into China’s attempts to influence recent federal elections, they have forced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to at least introduce a review process to be carried out by an independent person with required and acceptable qualifications.  This individual will determine whether or not a full public inquiry could be undertaken without disclosing on-going national security initiatives.  No one denies that China’s evident attempt to influence our elections is a real threat to undermining trust in our electoral processes.  The question then becomes, what can we realistically do about it?  Expelling Chinese officials could be one means to get our point across, but could also lead to a diplomatic war involving the retaliatory expulsion of Canadian/American diplomats and officials.  In the meantime, in order to ensure that our democratic ways are not undermined, one could begin by encouraging and supporting counter measures within both countries.

For example, when it comes to the spreading of misinformation, via the internet or other means, both Americans and Canadians need to be better informed as to where the information is coming from.  In Canada, parties select candidates in each riding through voting processes by registered members.  It has been suggested that the Chinese have sent non-citizens of Chinese descent to vote in constituency candidate meetings in order to support the selection of candidates who support China’s positions on Hong Kong and Taiwan.  The solution appears to be simple enough!  Party officials should only register Canadian citizens for voting purposes, candidate selection being a strong democratic process. 

The last thing that Canadians and Americans want to do is take it out on our Chinese population in response to the Chinese government’s incursion into our democratic processes.  Intimidation and threats of any community members is unacceptable to say the least, and needs to be investigated and stopped by our police and security forces.  Due to the current tense relations between China and the West, one can understand why governments don’t want to get into a full out diplomatic war.  There is little doubt that economic implications are enormous for both Canada and the U.S., particularly when it comes to China and trade.  Nevertheless, we owe it to both our citizens of Chinese descent and to all citizens to make it clear that illegitimate activities by the Chinese regime need to stop.  As citizens, we all have to do our part and become better informed about such activities.

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Mar 3

Employ of Children in High Risk Jobs Still Exists in North America

by bcurry

In my experience in the occupational health and safety (OHS) field at the federal level in Canada over two decades, I came across numerous examples of young people, often 13 to 17 years old, who were killed or injured on the job.  In both Canada and the U.S., labour standards legislation prescribes that young people of certain ages cannot work in employment where risks to health and safety are high — such as mining, construction, agriculture, oil and gas, roofing, meat processing, commercial baking, forestry, etc., etc.  Normally, to work in higher risk jobs, persons must be 18 or older and require more OHS training and supervision than older workers.  This is the law.  However, U.S. federal law still allows those 12 and older to work on farms for unlimited hours, as long as there is no conflict with school.  For general nonfarm work, federal law sets 14 as the minimum age and restricts work for children under 16 to eight hours a day.

Regardless, there continue to be cases where child labour is still seen in certain industries, particularly where the exposure to hazards and safety risks are clearly part of the work.  For example, in 2011 American public health experts and federal labor officials sought to bar teenagers under 16 from the tobacco fields, citing the grueling hours and the harmful exposure to nicotine and other chemicals.  However, their efforts have been continuously blocked.  Opponents of such use of child labour noted that Brazil, India and some other tobacco-producing nations already prohibit anyone under 18 from working on tobacco farms.  American agricultural organizations argued that the proposed federal rule would hurt family farms and make it harder for young people to learn farming skills. The Obama administration withdrew the the proposal in April 2012 after encountering intense opposition from farm groups and Republican lawmakers.  At the time, some big tobacco corporations however said they strongly opposed the illegal use of child labour.  Philip Morris International bans its growers from using workers under 18, a measure that goes well beyond American law. Some labour contractors, however, evidently have flouted this requirement without the growers’ knowledge.

This past week, the New York Times published an article which investigated the number of migrant children ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labour laws — including in plants that make products for well-known brands like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom and belong to companies supplying Hearthside Food Solutions, Walmart, Target, PepsiCo, Ben & Jerry’s, Whole Foods, Ford and General Motors.  Many of these children, 13 to 17, are falling through wide cracks in the regulatory system.  The Times noted that the growth of migrant child labour in the U.S. over the past several years is a result of a chain of wilful ignorance.  Companies ignore the young faces in their back rooms and on their factory floors.  Schools often decline to report apparent labour violations, believing it will hurt children more than help.  And the Department of Health and Human Services, responsible for ensuring sponsors will support these children and protect them from trafficking or exploitation, behaves as if the migrant children who melt unseen into the country are doing just fine.  Too many people are turning a blind eye!

Some of these children will actually die on the job.  For example, the Times reported that recent deaths included a 14-year-old food delivery worker who was hit by a car while on his bike at a Brooklyn intersection; a 16-year-old who was crushed under a 35-ton tractor-scraper outside Atlanta; and a 15-year-old who fell 50 feet from a roof in Alabama where he was laying down shingles.  Over the years, I found numerous examples of young people (13 to 17) in Canada being killed while in higher-risk employment.  Many more have been injured on the job, often seriously.

Of equal concern is that the evident use of migrant children by scurrilous businesses has led to increased child trafficking in the U.S.  Traffickers bring in migrant children illegally, give them fake I.D.s and find them businesses willing to turn a blind eye and employ them.  This is all being done despite the knowledge and oversight of several federal, state and local authorities.  Finally, after several media investigative sources raised this issue, the Biden administration just announced a wide crackdown on the labour exploitation of migrant children, including more aggressive investigations of companies benefiting from their work and the larger companies that have child labour in their supply chains.  In addition, Congress needs to increase penalties for child labour violations, which may now be occurring in the thousands.  Federal investigators have long complained that the maximum fine for violations — about $15,000 per occurrence — is hardly enough to deter child labour.  It’s about time that something concrete may be done!

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Feb 25

Is Changing Text in Classic Novels a New Form of Censorship?

by bcurry

This week is Freedom to Read Week (February 19 to 25).  In Canada, we have the Freedom to Read Foundation which organizes this week and is sponsored by the Book and Periodical Council (BPC), the umbrella organization for Canadian associations whose members are primarily involved with the writing, editing, translating, publishing, producing, distributing, lending, marketing, reading and selling of written words.  Through earlier blogs, I have been an advicate for any persons or organizations that oppose the banning of books or overt censorship in reading materials, whether in our schools, libraries or publishing firms.  Imagine that books such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Mariko Tamaki’s This One Summer are among those books that have been challenged in North America.  The list is much more extensive in states such as Florida and Texas, where there have been right-wing efforts to ban swaths of stories about Black Americans and LGBTQ people.

The latest example of overreach concern classic books by Roald Dahl, wherein the U.K. publisher, Puffin U.K., decided that there was a need to censor several of the author’s cherished children’s stories.  News broke last week that hundreds of changes were made in the latest editions of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and other Dahl classics.  The changes reportedly have been made to align his language with modern standards of inclusion, diversity and accessibility.  In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” for instance, Augustus Gloop is no longer “fat”; he’s “enormous.”  And the Oompa Loompas aren’t “small men”; they’re “small people.” While Matilda once went to India with Rudyard Kipling, now she travels to California with John Steinbeck.  In “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” even the chickens’ feelings have been spared; they’re no longer called “stupid.”  These changes remind me of the removal of the n-word in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.  However, these more recent publishers’ changes are even more ridiculous!

This movement is once again a result of attempts by certain factions of today’s society and parents to protect their children from exposure to so-called sensitive materials, as well as the rise of so-called “safetyism.”  For some reason, there are those that believe children and adolescents are so fragile that they need to be protected from stressors.  What I don’t understand is that almost all books are reviewed by schools and libraries before they are made available to children and adults alike.  According to well defined criteria, they are then placed in the appropriate areas depending upon the recommended areas of interest and applicable reader ages.  In addition, parents do have to option of contesting the criteria and limiting what is read by their children at home.

Trying to limit ourselves and our children’s exposure to history and past societal attitudes appears to be another means by which we are shielding people from the realities of certain times reflected in past and modern literature.  This behavior in turn leads to more and more censorship based on one’s perceived needs to provide such protection, often to the detriment in the normal development of youth in our society.  While language evolves from one generation to another, it partly does so because of our understanding and appreciation of history itself.  Changing words to reflect current morality and societal values does not change our history.  Indeed, we are doing a disservice to up and coming generations if we continue to attempt to shield them from certain past and current realities.  How otherwise do we get the opportunity to seriously and frankly discuss certain critical issues, both past and current?  This process is what constitutes the very basis of knowledge, regardless of the disciplines involved.  How else can we learn to deal with certain realities, thereby creating a greater chance for future understanding, respect and tolerance?

We may not always like what we read, but in a democracy one has the right to be free to choose what we read.  This is what universal literacy is all about.  The more resources that we can freely access, without censorship, the better!

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Feb 20

Telehealth Raises New Concerns About How Drugs Are Dispensed in North America

by bcurry

Back in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the Trump administration made it easier to treat patients by telehealth or telemedicine, including remotely prescribing certain controlled substances.  Today, all manner of medical care, from management of chronic diseases like diabetes to substance abuse treatment, have become more accessible and affordable.  While many patients have benefited, the rapid growth of remote prescribing and at-home use of various drugs has outpaced the evidence that doing so is safe and effective.  As the gap between medical treatment and online shopping has narrowed, already-thorny debates over the proper balance between availability and safety have become increasingly urgent.  The introduction of telehealth has created a whole new industry when it comes to providing health care, especially with the provision of drugs used to treat such mental health issues such as depression.

Back in 2017, I read about a new use for the drug ketamine, a long-used anesthetic that was primarily used to sedate patients during surgery but has also been used as a date-rape drug.   Ketamine was undergoing studies by several researchers both in Canada and the U.S. for its ability to rapidly stop suicidal thoughts in a high percentage of patients.  As far back as 2013, one Canadian researcher, Dr. Pierre Blier, director of the mood disorders research unit at the Royal Ottawa Hospital, called ketamine the biggest breakthrough since the introduction of anti-depressants.  For patients resistant to other drug treatments, it is considered an alternative to one of the only remaining treatments — electroconvulsive therapy, which has potential long-lasting side effects and is more invasive and often requires hospitalization.  For anyone suffering from clinical depression, ketamine has been shown to be effective and safe if prescribed and closely monitored by an attending physician.  Needless-to-say, there are known serious side-effects from the use of ketamine, and there is a potential for addiction and abuse.

The access to cheaper sources of ketamine for at-home treatment has been facilitated by the emergence of telehealth.  Marketing to doctors is often done through social media posts and mailers, wherein they extol the benefits of ketamine.  Companies that once served primarily local customers now ship their products across the country.  The ketamine boom has presented an alluring opportunity.  Because ketamine is regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Health Canada as a controlled substance, provision of the drug still requires a physician’s prescription.  Previously, while prescribing ketamine for depression was allowed, patients needed to first meet in person with a doctor, and treatment was mostly limited to infusions in clinics.  Now, telehealth providers will accommodate patients by providing online access to a physician.  Patients have the option to schedule live telemedicine visits with their providers at any time for no additional cost.  Needless-to-say, this isn’t an ideal situation when it comes to providing medical follow-up for monitoring purposes.  Some at-home providers simply view ketamine as just another medicine to be taken regularly.

Covid-19 exacerbated the nation’s mental health crisis and underscored the inadequacy of many existing treatments, accelerating a reconsideration of once-stigmatized psychedelics.  The sale of ketamine has reportedly grown ten times what it was in 2019.  People who are using telehealth to acquire the drug are desperate, but may also be prone to addiction and abuse.  Some suffer serious health side-effects but are hesitant to report them for fear of loosing their cheaper access to the drug.  One the one hand, the growth of telehealth is yet one more example of reacting to the lack of availability and affordable access to mental health services in many communities.  On the other hand, there are those that worry that this potentially lifesaving treatment could become inaccessible if more rigorous intervention by regulators is implemented.  In addition, more research on the long-term use of such drugs as ketamine is needed to determine if its continuous medical use might be harmful.  Since many online users are reluctant to provide information about its use, such needed research may be more difficult to undertake.  Like access to other controlled substances, regulators need to take a closer look at the growth of telemedicine in both countries.  After all, if there are profits to be made and drug costs are reduced, one can certainly foresee the continuing growth of this sector.

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Feb 16

We Now Have a Generation of Survivors of School Mass Shootings

by bcurry

Since the Columbine High School attack of 1999, which left 12 students and one teacher dead and reshaped how Americans viewed mass shootings, we now have a generation of young people who have witnessed more than one school shooting.  Most recently, gunshots erupted on the vast Michigan State University campus, killing three students and injuring five others.  Unfortunately, many on campus felt a chilling sense of familiarity.  Today, several college students were just children when the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killed 26 students, teachers and staff members in 2012.  Nine years later, the Oxford High School shooting in a nearby township outside of Detroit left four teenagers dead.  These were just but a representative few of the recent school mass shootings in the U.S.

Following the recent shooting at Michigan State University, the New York Times interviewed several students only to find that a number had also experienced a school shooting when they were in elementary and high schools.  One student interviewed on campus, who was at Sandy Hook Elementary on the day of the shooting, was reported to have said that “it was incomprehensible to have lived through two mass shootings in her 21 years.”  University faculty interviewed also noted that a number of their students had experienced a school shooting while in primary or secondary school.  Can one imagine how this latest school shooting must psychologically affect these young people?  I couldn’t imagine their current state of mind!

Those of us who attended college understand that the idea of security on campus is a difficult concept because of the size of a campus, with many buildings and facilities being frequently used by students, teachers and administrators.  Since mass school shootings occurred more frequently, colleges have introduced new security or safety measures in order to protect students and to prevent casualties from such incidents.  These include requiring key cards or photo identification to enter most campus buildings, sports facilities and residences.  Common across the country, campus wide systems were introduced whereby security alerts are sent to cellphones when there is a possible or actual threat on campus.  However, in most cases students must opt into the service, rather than opting out.  Campus police departments as part of their continuous training learn to prepare for and how to respond to threats. In the U.S., they often work closely with Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) campus liaisons to track potential threats from outside the school.  Many colleges also have threat-assessment teams made up of public safety officers, counsellors and student affairs groups, who try to spot troubled students and staff members who might be considering violent acts.  In such cases, school and community support services are made available to students with any issues.  However, this does not help those situations, as in the case of Michigan State, where the perpetrator comes from off-campus and is not affiliated directly with the school.

The ideal is that campuses of colleges and universities are meant to be open in the spirit of higher learning and freedom.  Therefore, at the post-secondary level, the authorities have to undergo a balancing act between allowing freedom of movement and enforcing security on campuses.  In the U.S. in particular, this is not an easy thing to do.  Even in Canada, colleges and universities have introduced more security measures in light of what has happened south of the border.  Fortunately, Canadians have seen far fewer violent incidents on our campuses, especially incidents involving gun violence.  Remembering back to my days in college, it is a shame that young people today go off to campuses under such a cloud of insecurity.  One has to feel for the parents who can only assume that their children are learning and developing in a safe environment.

Students today are being forced to be ever vigilant, recognizing that even college campuses are but another reflection of our societal woes.  Gone it appears are the more carefree and anticipated opportunities for growth that come with college and university experiences.  Increasingly, students are being forced to deal with continuous security and safety issues.  However, perhaps these experiences are meant to prepare young people for what they will experience in later life.  Alas, reality has indeed embraced our campuses.

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Feb 6

Both the U.S. and Canada Have Raised Security Concerns About Chinese Businesses

by bcurry

Relations between the U.S. and Canada regarding China haven’t been this low for years.  The recent shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon has simply made matters worst.  We know that the balloon flew over parts of western Canada before moving over American air space.  While Chinese authorities argued that this was simply a weather balloon that had gone off course, officials at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) claimed that it was a spy balloon.  In the end, President Biden ordered that the balloon be shot down over the ocean within American controlled waters, allowing the military to retrieve the balloon’s remnants for further study.  In protest, Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China.  In addition, a number of American Congressional members once again turned their attention to Chinese businesses, such as TikTok and Huawei, which have been operating in the U.S. 

With respect to social media platform TikTok, U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns about TikTok mining users’ private data and passing on the information to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng insisted that China would “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”  There is little doubt that Chinese companies are operating under the auspices of the CCP.  Whether or not these companies represent a national security risk has yet to be fully determined, despite all kinds of allegations by some American and Canadian authorities.

China is making major inroads into a number of countries as a way to extend its influence around the world.  For example, the latest interest by Chinese companies is in Mexico due to the advantages for imports to the U.S. because of the North American trade deal involving the three North American countries.  Chinese firms are establishing factories in Mexico that allow them to label their goods “Made in Mexico,” then trucking their products into the U.S. and Canada duty-free.  They are currently setting up operations inside the North American trading bloc as a way to supply Americans and Canadians with goods, from electronics to clothing to furniture.  This also allows Chinese companies to greatly reduce skyrocketing shipping and transportation costs, while taking advantage of Mexico’s highly skilled workforce, given the presence of its universities that churn out engineering graduates.  The Mexican government is openly welcoming billions of dollars worth of Chinese investments as a means to further develop their industrial sites close to the U.S. border and the potential creation of thousands of new jobs.

As a matter of increasing its influence abroad, China has invested in numerous infrastructure investments around the world, notably in Africa, South America and Asia.  Such investments often target critical sectors such as those in transportation (high speed rail), energy (oil and gas extraction) and mining (nickel deposits).  Many countries and their political elites believe that China is now the relevant superpower and the U.S. is in relative decline, especially after the disastrous foreign policies administered by Donald Trump. 

There is little doubt that American and Canadian politicians, particularly those of the right-wing persuasion, will continue to raise security concerns wherever Chinese businesses are active.  What is ironic is that American and Canadian companies were quick to invest in manufacturing operations in China, hoping to take advantage of cheaper labour costs and weaker environmental and health and safety regulation.  China took full advantage of the resulting opportunities to expand their business and economic interests in North America.  At this time, based on speculating about possible security concerns, I question whether we can prevent these business ties?  This recent balloon episode may have raised such concerns, but it apparently is nothing new since it is reported that three similar balloons actually flew over the U.S. when President Trump was in office.  Strange that no one complained about those incursions at that time?

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Jan 29

Have Recent Cases of Police Brutality Changed the Way We View Police?

by bcurry

Whether one is pro-police or anti-police, the recent arrest of five former Memphis police officers in the case of the death of Tyre Nichols has once again brought the issue to light across the U.S. and Canada.  In another high profile case this month, two police officers, formerly of the Police Department in Hialeah just outside Miami Florida, face felony charges in connection with the beating of a homeless man whom they detained outside a shopping center and then drove several miles to a remote location.  After the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the historic summer of protest that followed, police killings of American citizens haven’t decreased.  Instead they increased.  Recorded in 2022, the total number of deadly police shootings at 1,096 was the highest since the Washington Post’s database started.  The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, which touched off protests and unrest across the U.S., was often seen as a turning point. 

However, across the country, even as fatal police encounters have continued apace, many cities have been forced to revisit how they investigate and talk about such cases.  These now reflect the reality that cameras are everywhere and that episode after episode of police violence, often involving Black people, has led to distrust of official accounts.  As a result, city leaders are being forced to call out police misbehaviour when they see it.  Charging decisions that once took months or longer now sometimes happen within days or weeks.  

Body camera footage is also more routinely made public, whether it exonerates the officers or raises questions.  There are those who support the police use of body cameras and those who oppose the quick release of footage to the public, as was done in the case of Tyre Nichols.  Police services in numerous countries, including Canada, now routinely employ body cameras for their officers.  Without the availability of such cameras, incidents of obvious savage beatings or killings would most likely not have come to light given past experiences of cover-ups by police services and local politicians.  As well, in certain cases the availability of body camera footage can prove that the use of force by officers was warranted.  Nevertheless, there are those who believe that official messaging must balance demands for transparency with preserving the integrity of any investigation.  That includes ensuring a video release will not compromise the case or the personal security of anyone in the footage.

As Americans and Canadians shift to other priorities like politics and the economy, some experts believe that the broader public has unfortunately become somewhat desensitized to police killings or brutality.  They callously have started to see the police killings as regrettable but ultimately acceptable by-products of much-needed increased policing at a time of rising crime.  This despite the fact that statistics show violent crime has been on the decline in both the U.S. and Canada.  According to a 2021 report by the Statista Research Department, the number of violent crimes in the U.S. dramatically fell over the last two decades, although the number of reported violent crimes rose slightly in the past few years.  What really influences public opinion is the fact that mass shootings have become so prevalent in the U.S., with 39 mass shootings already in the last three weeks of 2023.  These shootings, especially school shootings, are very high profile, although the actual numbers of their victims represent a very small percentage of the total number of yearly homicide victims.

Unfortunately, cases such as that of Tyre Nichols and the one in Florida have once again tainted the image of the police and created increasing distrust of the public they serve.  The horrendous video images have even had an impact on Canadians’ views of police in general.  Police chiefs across both countries now are being forced to deal with the fallout.  As a result of confirmation bias, such incidents can only lend more support to those seeking the so-called defunding of police services in their communities.  Furthermore, one can only hope and pray that the police themselves don’t increasingly become targets of hateful and violent responses.  Recently, Canada unfortunately has seen a significant number of police officers being killed while in uniform.  Between 2010 and 2021, five relatively young officers were killed in the province of Ontario alone.  As Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, declared about this unprecedented number: “To have all of these deaths in such a short period of time is really quite alarming.” 

What this all adds up to is that we are in a critical period where police agencies will have to clean shop, get rid of the bad apples so to speak, and become more transparent and accountable if they intend to enhance citizens’ trust in the police.  By improving the image of the police and quickly and openly responding to claims of police brutality and intimidation, especially among marginal groups within society, one can only hope that this trust can once again be gained and strengthened.

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