Roughly 150 people gathered at Stephen Avenue in Calgary to protest
for democracy and human rights in Iran. Members of the Iranian community
and other concerned citizens have kept a close eye on events leading up to
the June 12 elections. After news of the election results spread around
the world, groups calling for the end of violence and greater transparency in
Iranian election began to stage rallies in various cities in and outside Iran.
Calgary Democracy Iran formed almost immediately. Through social networking
sites such as Facebook and e-mail, Faezeh Peyman says she was able gather
support for the rally in Calgary which took place Tuesday, June 23 during the
noon-hour. People called for justice for individuals killed or detained.
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for people to
accept disputed election results and unit behind President Mamoud Ahmadinejad
who has won a second term. His main opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi has also
claimed victory over the elections and has called for an investigation
into reports that many have been denied their vote. So far, the Iranian regime
remains steadfast in upholding the results of the election.
The arctic region has become the front-line of the climate-change battle. The region was one of the first areas to show clear signs of change. Scientists from around the world work in the arctic, spending time studying the impact that climate change has had on the region, and trying to establish how these changes relate to the global picture.
The grassroots group Women Together Ending Poverty held a free public workshop at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Hall to discuss the Landlords’ Tenants Act, also known as the Residential Tenancies Act, the legislation that sets out the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants in Alberta.
Sleep deprevation, forced-stripping, dog-terror, water-boarding, stress-positions. Each of these terms represents a tactic that has been employed by the US military or CIA in prisons in Iraq, Guantanomo Bay and elsewhere. They are tactics that had originally been labelled as “no-touch interrogation methods” employed by the United States government.
There is only so much that can be covered in a half-hour interview, but CJSW got the goods on what ails Canada’s parliamentary system when we recently sat down with Green Party of Canada leader, Elizabeth May. In her new book, Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy, May tackles many of the important issues relevant to the Canadian citizen’s curiosity about what’s happening in Ottawa and its effects across the country. In the interview with CJSW reporter Mark Strowbridge, May covers a gamut of subjects, including how the RCMP managed to get Stephen Harper elected in 2005, how only Canada, the US and the UK still use the outmoded first-past-the-post system when the rest of the world has gone proportional representation, and how the media consortiums are failing in the journalist duties and more.
In early June of this year, Royal Dutch Shell settled out of court the lawsuits pending against it from events sounding claims of human rights abuses against the Ogoni people of Nigeria. Shell had been accused of collaborating in the execution of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the Ogoni tribe. Shell has agreed to pay a settlement of $15.5 million. However, Shell denies any role in the deaths and refers to the settlement as a “humanitarian gesture”. The money from the settlement will go towards a trust fund for the Ogoni people, as well as to the families of the nine people executed.