John Anderson, a professor of Criminology at VIU, was recently made the Nanaimo area speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). I got in touch with him in late Nov., and he told me all about it. To start with, what exactly are a LEAP speaker's duties? JA Well, I think you have to know a little bit about LEAP first. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition are peace officers who are taking a stance that is contrary to most members of their organization--their whole legal and prosecutory community. Being a spokesperson for LEAP means that you have some affinity for their values for whatever reason, either as a former peace officer or as a currently active one. I fall into the former category--I was a peace officer at the Vancouver Pre-trial Services Centre from '83 to '88. And even back then, I was aghast at what our drug policies were doing to people. That was something I would share with a few people I worked with, as well. I was rubbing shoulders with other graduates of SFU, and at that time it wasn't often that we found too many correctional officers with baccalaureate degrees in Corrections, and I think we tended to be a bit more critical than other members of the rank and file [that had been] in service for a de! cade or two before us. [continues 1454 words]
I can't help but think that we are heading down a dangerous road. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is spitting in the face of democracy, and seemingly flipping the bird to the Canadian public. He has, again, prorogued the government. What does this mean? All of the work that has been done over the past year has been pretty much tossed out the window-and don't forget that all the money spent on salaries drafting legislation, sitting in the House, and debating bills, is at the expense of taxpayers. [continues 561 words]
What would you do if I sang out of tune; would you stand up and walk out on me? Well, Mr. Harper, if I was there, I damn well would have, and I also might have thrown a shoe at you too. As almost everyone knows, and probably has seen on YouTube, Prime Minister Stephen Harper sang the Beatles' tune "With a Little Help From my Friends" at a gala event in Ontario. (Check it out on YouTube if you haven't seen it yet.) I know that this issue has been talked about a lot, but damn it, I want to point out the hypocrisy too. [continues 537 words]
Dear Editor, I'd like to take the time to inform your readers of a socially damaging Bill that the Conservative government is trying to pass. Bill C-15 is blanketed as a anti-crime Bill, created to curb organized crime. Though there are specific measures in the Bill that pertain to stiffer penalties for organized crime related offenses, there are also measures that hurt the average Canadian. It is not a secret that at least 30 percent of Canadians enjoy smoking cannabis, with occasional smoking bumping up that figure. Bill C-15 has a huge target on the back of that 30 percent. [continues 154 words]
