Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 18, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba Sickened by sex assault re City police Hunt for predator dec. 17. I am sick to my stomach to think that any Parent would let their child out on our crime Ridden streets at 1 a. M. But As police said the bigger picture is catching this predator first then dealing with incompetent parents. I would like to know Why the other adults let this child leave their place alone. Should they be held accountable for allowing a child to be on the streets so late at night alone and scared Joyce Mcgregor Winnipeg canadians behaving badly we Here in grand Forks really appreciate the tremendous positive Impact that Canadian shoppers have on our City. We Are thriving thanks in Large part to you. However there Are a few things that tend to put a Damper on things and cause us to cringe at the thought of shoppers from Canada descending on our fair City. Please do not gather in the store Isles with your friends and hold Long conversations. It is a hassle to get around you when you act like you re the Only ones that matter. Please tip the waiters waitresses. They need to make a living too. When you take clothes from the Racks dont leave them lying around on the department store floors or shelves. Control your children. Be courteous. I dont speak for everyone in grand Forks. But i hear Many of these complaints from enough people to know these Are problems. Thank you. See you this weekend he Jim Oliver grand Forks n. D. Police respect the Media re police and the Media dec. 15. I have been a Public information officer for the Winnipeg police service for approximately three years now. In that time i have experienced the ups and Downs of our working relationship with the Media. I have gotten to know the majority of reporters in the City of Winnipeg and Many editors and producers As Well. I can say that although we May not always agree respect has been shown on both sides of this debate. This editorial stated that reporters phone Calls and requests for information Are frequently ignored forcing reporters to work around official channels for Basic information. I can assure you that no reporters requests to the Public information office of the Winnipeg police service have Ever been ignored. I can also assure you that requests for information Are always followed up and information is provided As Long As providing that information does not. Jeopardize a police investigation. Jeopardize the safety of officers or members of the Public. Identify a youth. Identify an individual who has not formally been charged with an offence. Fly in the face of the criminal code of Canada the Yuja Nippa phia or other legislation that both the Media and the police service work within. Our office receives More than 100 requests from the Media per Day and we Pride ourselves at doing everything in our Power to return those Calls. Many reporters have my cellphone number which they use frequently. Given my unique position within the police service i am privy to the role of the reporter More than an officer who does not perform this Job function. I understand your frustration at times and am hoping you can understand ours. An officer on the streets of Winnipeg has a responsibility to protect the citizens we serve and themselves. Police officers in the course of their duties cannot be hindered by the Media. We will continue to put Forth every Effort to build a relationship with the Media and we Are asking for your co operation in this Effort. Sgt. Kelly Dennison Winnipeg police service Afghanistan policy clarified the editorial a Defeated Taliban dec. 14 suggests mistakenly that the government has announced it will keep a reconstruction base in Kandahar until 2015. It remains a fact that Canadas current military commitment in Afghanistan is to february 2009. The Federal government has made Clear to canadians and our allies that any future military deployments in Afghanistan beyond 2009 must be supported by a majority of parliamentarians. The Independent panel on Canadas future role in Afghanistan continues to examine and deliberate on potential options for Canadas continuing commitment and will report to the prime minister and Canadian Public before the end of january 2008. David Mulroney associate Deputy minister of foreign affairs and interdepartmental coordinator for Afghanistan tories respect diversity re liberals miffed As tories court minorities dec. 17. In pointing out How liberals Are being abandoned by ethnic minorities Joe Paraskevas mistakenly writes that conservatives have rarely connected Well with ethnic minorities. Nothing is further from the truth. Conservatives have a distinguished record of reflecting Canadas diversity. For starters conservatives boast a number of firsts the first Muslim elected to parliament the first hindu elected to parliament the first chinese Canadian elected to parliament the first indo Canadian woman elected to parliament the first japanese Canadian Cabinet minister and the first Black Cabinet minister. Manitoban can take Pride in the remarkable accomplishments of former conservative senator Paul Tuzyk who represented Manitoba in the Senate from 1963 to 1986 and was one of the earliest proponents of multiculturalism. Many of these firsts were from Western Canada. What is More a conservative government introduced the first Bill of rights in 1960 and the first multiculturalism act in 1988. Liberal my Raymond Simard has Good reason to be worried his conservative opponent in St. Boniface police officer Shelly Glover is fluently bilingual and a proud Metis a potent Symbol of conservatism being the new Home for Canadas increasingly diverse population. Jason Kenney Secretary of state multiculturalism and Canadian identity full review required t he Man hired to review past prosecutions by George Dangerfield believes he has been Given very limited parameters for that Job. Former Ontario Superior court judge Roger Salhany says he is looking into Only those cases of or. Danger Fields that involved a Lack of disclosure of material to the defence. This ignores the fact there Are other grounds upon which a miscarriage of Justice can be triggered. Or. Sal Hanys parameters Are More restrictive than was recommended by an inquiry that spurred the review. When commissioner Patrick Lesage reported on his inquiry into the wrongful conviction of James Driskell he noted that or. Dangerfield now retired had acted on numerous prosecutions that had been called into question or overturned due to miscarriage three in which non disclosure was a Factor and four others in which Reliance on hair microscopy evidence was refuted by Dan analysis. He then recommended that if there Are similar cases of his in which people come Forward claiming a wrongful conviction that Manitoba Justice direct an Independent external review of those cases. Or. Dangerfield has seen two cases overturned due to miscarriages James Driskell and Thomas soph now and others Are under review. Advocates for those convicted believe there Are other cases that need a look. Or. Be sages words seemed to imply that a review of the Dangerfield cases ought to be Broad pointing to examples beyond cases where non disclosure was at fault. Indeed according to the director of the prosecutions Branch or. Salhany was asked to review cases in which or. Danger Fields prosecutor Al conduct specifically was at Issue. Or. Salhany has said he has looked at Only one Case to Date. Or. Salhany has been asked by Manitoba to take on the judicial inquiry into the Harvey Zenk affair his consultants plate is filling up rapidly. Or. Dangerfield deserves a full review. A Shadow has fallen Over the former top prosecutors professional record and he has had to Battle suggestions that his career path has been pocked with miscarriages of Justice. Further those with evidence that other cases were not tried to the highest standards of prosecution which requires a search for truth need to know that the prosecutions Branch is open to their complaints. A truncated process May compound a perception that Justice will not be done that the search for truth is being subverted or delayed by the use of the Long complicated process of seeking the extraordinary Federal process of review. Justice minister Dave Chomiak needs to ensure or. Sal Hanys review is As Broad As necessary. A frail state dramatic events in Iraq on the weekend Are a Sharp reminder that things Are not always what they seem. On sunday British forces formally handed Basra the last part of shiite dominated Southern Iraq Back to its friends As the commander of the departing British military contingent put it. Whether by Basra is friends he meant the largely sunni Muslim government in Baghdad or the separate reality of shiite militias that fight with each other and the government for control of Oil Rich Southern Iraq is hard to know. What is Clear is that far from being the Triumph of iraqi Independence that the British painted it the Transfer is proof of iraqis difficulties. More proof could be found in the North in the kurdish sector of the country where turkish warplanes sunday pounded kurdish villages. The turks claim they targeted hideouts of the leaders of kurdish rebel groups fighting against both Turkey and Iraq and Iran and Syria for Good measure in an Effort to establish an Independent Kurdistan composed of the kurdish populated portions of those four nations. Despite their Strong protests Over the turkish action in the North iraqi leaders May Well have mixed feelings about it. Their outrage was most directly aimed at the turks failure to ask for permission from Baghdad for the incursion rather than the fact of the military action itself. There May be some resentment As Well Over turkeys claims that it in fact had american permission and used american intelligence for its raid on Iraq. Coming on the same Day As Basra was nominally returned to Baghdad is control it posed a neat juxtaposition of contrasting claims. The South of Iraq Basra and the other shiite provinces is prosperous if not always peaceful. It controls most of iraqis Oil wealth the violence there is largely Intra denominational and on the decline at least for the present. The North consists of a de Facto Kurdistan that is largely culturally and ethnically homogeneous. It is peaceful and prosperous to the Point that the Western news Media largely ignore it now except when the turkish military catches the worlds attention As it did on sunday. In the Centre of the country in Baghdad sits the Central authority elected but isolated. The impunity with which the turks could attack underlines the iraqi governments continuing impotence. Turkeys provocation in Iraq should not be treated lightly by its nato allies the americans in particular need to treat it More seriously if they Hope for Iraq Ever to be taken seriously but it also serves to drive Home the frail reality of the situation there. Bob Cox / publisher Margo Goodhand / editor Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 136 no 39 � 2007 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697 7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697 7412. E mail letters free press. My. Ca letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg free press or its staff. H ave y our s a Winnipeg free press poll to Days question vote online at wow. Winnipeg repress. Com yes 53% / no 47% / total 2,807 previous question do you like the idea of shopping in the is the chief pegu is Trail Extension where projected costs Middle of the night have risen to $ 64m from $ 34m in less than a year out of control As coun. Dan Vandal says Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion e editorials Equality of civil rights a 14 w Winnipeg f ree p Resst tuesday december 18, 2007 comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. My. Ca Winnipeg repress. Com hold parents accountable re City police Hunt for predator dec. 17. I was saddened and angered upon Reading the suggestion from the police spokesperson that the biggest question surrounding the assault of this child is How do we find the bad Guy sure the first Job of our police service is to apprehend and bring bad Guys to Justice but there will always be those with criminal and evil intent on the streets. The rest of us have to look beyond Mere cops and robbers. By far the bigger question Here is what in heavens name was a Little girl doing roaming alone in the worst part of the City in the Middle of the night answer this question and you will get much closer to the Root of a Host of problems that Are now defining a Large part of our City youth involved in gang activity mindless and destructive Graffiti teenage prostitution youths involved in drug and weapons offences minors involved in automobile theft. Where Are the parents of these kids Why like the rest of us Are they not taking responsibility for their control and safety Why Are they not held accountable even More infuriating is the report that the Crown is Likely unwilling to use current legislation to charge the parents of this Little girl with negligence and total dereliction of their parenting duties. Until Deadbeat parents Are held financially and criminally responsible for the care and the actions of their children this pathetic kind of Story will have no end. If the parents of this child would have had her safely at Home where she belonged or at the very least had bothered to teach her the oldest Rule of All dont take rides from strangers the bad Guy would never have had a Chance to strike in the first place. Paul v. Jacuzzi Winnipeg letter of the Day ;