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Montreal looks to form cycling committee
Montreal is aiming to match the pace of other urban cycling centers by forming a new committee designed to examine cycling issues across the island.
Such committees already exist in large Canadian centers like Toronto and Vancouver.
The cycling committee is comprised of city representatives, the transit authority, the police, as well as members of the cycling community.
Pierre-Luc Auclair from the Montreal Bike Coalition, a sitting member, said he likes that the city is including cyclists as partners in the initiative.
Chair of STM, Michel Labrecque said although Montreal has accomplished much in the absence of an official cycling group, more work will have to be done to bring Montreal up to par with renowned bike-friendly cities such as Amsterdam.
The cycling committee is set to convene twice a year and to provide an annual report to the city’s executive committee.
Flickr Photo by: James D. Schwartz
STORY WRITTEN BY: SPOON JUNG
Human Rights group wants U.N. accountable after abuse goes unpunished
Human Rights groups from Haiti want to hold the United Nations more accountable after a Canadian Police officer fled the country after allegedly sexually assaulting a Haitian woman last February.
According to CBC News, the man was among 80 other Canadian officers working for the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti.
Marie Rosy Kesner Auguste Ducena, a lawyer with the Haitian National Human Rights Defence Network, says the officer probably won’t be charged despite the fact that the alleged victim reported the incident to police.
Under UN rules, civilian staff — including police officers — can’t be charged in Canada if a crime is committed abroad.
The accused travelled back to Canada one day after the alleged incident.
Authorities in Canada are carrying out an internal review.
The officer could face disciplinary measures.
In the last six years, 70 cases of sexual abuse by UN personnel in Haiti have been reported, but not one has ended up in a Haitian court.
STORY WRITTEN BY: JENNA MONNEY-LUPERT
India to protect its people from small Chinese invasion
India`s defense Minister has stated that he will do whatever it takes to protect the people from the small Chinese invasion.
According to the Hindu a large group from China`s People`s Liberation Army set up a tented post in eastern Ladakh.
Government sources believe that the Chinese army consists of fifty soldiers and that they arrived on April 15.
Government sources have also stated that India and China have been in touch in order to solve the issue.
CJLO News - April 22 2013
Hosted by: Aisha Samu
Stories by: Spoon Jung, Carlo Spiridigliozzi, Natasha Taggart & Kurt Weiss
Produced by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi
Hundreds protest in India to denounce government response to child rape case
A few hundred people continue to protest around government buildings in New Delhi, furious over claims that police acted unethically when dealing with the rape of a 5 year old girl.
According to Al-Jazeera News, the 100 protesters are furious that police allegedly ignored the victim’s parents when they said she was missing.
Some reports say that police tried to offer the parents money to keep them quiet.
While the Indian public is demanding stricter laws, activists are saying that the government will need to focus on implementation to show that violence towards women and children will not be tolerated.
The victim’s doctor says she is responding well to treatment so far.
STORY WRITTEN BY: NATASHA TAGGART
More prisoners join hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay
Almost half the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are on a hunger strike according to a U.S. official.
The military spokesman says the number has gone up to seventy-seven ... an increase of twenty-five in just the past few days.
Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House says there are seventeen prisoners currently being force-fed with tubes.
And five have reportedly been admitted to hospital, but without life-threatening conditions.
As reported by Al-Jazeera News, the U.S. run military prison has been hit by hunger strikes since early February.
Back then, inmates said prison officials searched their Qurans for contraband, but officials have denied it.
Now, the prisoners are protesting against jailing without charge or trial.
And conditions at the prison are deteriorating.
U.S. Military Policeman and former Guantanamo guard said prisoners have been beaten and humiliated regularly.
International Lawyer Bill O’Neill said anyone involved in planning, ordering or overseeing acts that constitute torture ... should be investigated and prosecuted if the evidence indicates it.
In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama demanded the prison be shut down... But there are still no current plans to close it.
STORY WRITTEN BY: KURT WEISS
Earth Day march draws thousands in Montreal
Thousands joined in the annual Montreal Earth Day march yesterday as the crowd made their way from Place-des-Arts to its final destination at Place du Canada.
Quebec director for the David Suzuki Foundation, Karel Mayrand noted that a number of families and children came out in support. “They have this profound belief that the decisions they make today will actually build a future for their children,” he said.
The seven environmental groups in charge of organizing the event have made climate change the focus of this year’s Earth Day march. According to the CBC, Patrick Bonin, a campaigner for Greenpeace, said that this year’s march specifically targeted tar sands.
The seven groups have drafted a declaration demanding Quebec to strengthen greenhouse emissions standards, reduce petroleum use, and refuse oil from Alberta’s oilsands.
Of particular concern are attempts by Enbridge to have Line 9, which travels through southern Quebec, reversed.
Bonin said Quebec must refuse the pipelines because shipping oil to Eastern Canada would allow oilsands operations to expand, further increasing Canada’s greenhouse emissions.
Bonin estimates that by 2020, emissions from expanded tar sands operations would cancel out all the other efforts made across the country to combat climate change.
Flickr Photo by: LS Lam
STORY WRITTEN BY: SPOON JUNG
Light Rail preferred over reserved lane
The new Champlain bridge will have to do without the orange cones.
CJLO News - April 19 2013
Hosted by: Saturn De Los Angeles
Stories by: Catlin Spencer, Carlo Spiridigliozzi & Alyssa Tremblay
Produced by: Catlin Spencer
Strawberry pickers injured in Greece farm shooting
Around thirty strawberry pickers were injured in a shooting at a farm in southern Greece this week.
Reports state that a farm supervisor fired at a crowd of roughly two hundred migrant workers.
The migrants were hired to pick strawberries at the farm in Nea Manolada.
On the day of the incident, workers had gathered to ask their employers for unpaid salaries.
So far police arrested the farm’s owner and a foreman.
The shooting sparked a social media campaign calling for a boycott.
The campaign is urging people not buy the so-called “blood strawberries” grown in Nea Manolada.
According to the BBC, this region employs thousands of migrant workers.
A European human rights watchdog recently condemned Greece for exploiting and abusing its migrant workers.
Flickr Photo by: USDAgov
STORY WRITTEN BY: ALYSSA TREMBLAY
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