Trachoma is a highly contagious and blinding disease which occurs in 57 countries and destroys the lives of around 40 million people. Globally trachoma costs over 2.8 billion dollars in lost income. Unnecessarily, as trachoma is easy to treat and prevent with the right medicines and hygiene rules. Overall, Africa is the most affected continent: [...]
As Chair of the Human Rights Committee, I witness many touching and insightful stories to help the Senate stay informed on issues that Canadians face from all walks of life. Monday was no exception. Professor Sara Davis Buechner, Associate Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia appeared to be a poised, successful, and [...]
I have dedicated my life and career to advancing the rights of women and yet quite often I am reminded of how far we still have to go. Nothing reminds me of this more of this in Canada then our missing and murdered Aboriginal women. According to Canadian Police Information Centre there are 1,559 missing [...]
As many of you are aware, Kinew James, a 35-year-old federally sentenced Aboriginal woman, died at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon on January 20th, 2013. Ms. James had mental health needs, having admitted to self-harming behaviour and had threatened to hang herself while incarcerated at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario. And [...]
(Une version française suit) Ottawa, April 25, 2013 —This afternoon, Senator Mobina Jaffer delivered her second reading speech on Bill S-216, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Criminal Code (mental health treatment). “Bill S-216 would create the same provisions for mental health treatment that already exist for drug treatment in the Controlled [...]
Today marks the thirty-first anniversary of the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter entrenched four fundamental freedoms: freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association. It protects the [...]
While Black women make up just 2.6 per cent of the female population in Canada, they comprise almost 10 per cent of the federally sentenced female population. Over the last ten years, the number of federally sentenced Black Canadians has risen by 50 per cent. In their report, “Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading? Canada’s treatment of [...]
Today I want to share a story that I came across in the news a few short days before Christmas. It’s a follow-up to the horrific van crash near Hampstead, Ontario that killed ten migrant workers and one Canadian last February. Nearly a year later, survivor Juan Jose Ariza is still recovering from the mental [...]