Public safety

Saturday February 10, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 10, 2018

Should Hamilton homeowners be allowed to point cameras at the street?

The city will look at making it legal for homeowners to point security cameras at the street as a way to aid police investigations.

February 17, 2014

But the province’s former privacy commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, is urging council to think twice.

Councillors endorsed a motion from Coun. Sam Merulla Wednesday to study changing a city bylaw that bans residential security cameras from pointing anywhere other than the homeowner’s own property.

Merulla argued home security footage is an increasingly crucial investigative tool, pointing to footage that helped police track down the people who murdered Ancaster’s Tim Bosma.

“You can already walk down the street holding a video camera without breaking the law. But you can’t point a security camera at the street? That doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

January 17, 2001

He also argued the existing bylaw is tough to enforce, given a homeowner can refuse access to a bylaw officer seeking to examine camera footage.

But Cavoukian, now a privacy expert-in-residence at Ryerson University, said Hamilton’s bylaw was hailed as a “progressive” measure when it was passed in 2010. (The rule was one of many included in the city’s “fortifications” bylaw enacted in response to gang clubhouse concerns.)

“You would be going from a wonderful bylaw that protects your citizens’ fundamental right to privacy … to allowing practically everything (in neighbourhoods) to be recorded,” she said. “Why would you do that?”

It’s unclear how many Ontario cities actually ban private homeowner cameras from pointing at public spaces. London has a bylaw with similar provisions. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Friday October 10, 2014

Friday October 10, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 10, 2014

Has Ottawa been too slow to take on radicalized Canadians?

Canada is sending fighter jets to take part in air strikes against Islamic State fighters abroad. That we know.

But closer to home, the Conservative government isn’t saying much about its promised comprehensive plan to deal with jihadist recruits who are either planning to go to, or are returning from, overseas conflicts.

Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney appeared before a Commons committee on Wednesday, flanked by the heads of the RCMP and CSIS, to discuss the government’s efforts to combat homegrown extremism.

What he had to say amounted to a recap of criminal legislation the government has already passed, measures aimed at punishing rather than preventing, the radicalization of Canadians.

It’s one thing for Liberal leader Justin Trudeau to ramble on about the “root causes” of terrorism, as he did with the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge after the Boston Marathon bombing, but no Conservative wants to be heard saying the same.

Instead, Blaney ran through a set of now well-worn numbers.

Ye olde scary costumes gag from 2001

Among them, Canadian authorities are aware of at least 130 Canadians suspected of taking part in terrorism-related activities in places such as Syria, Iraq and Somalia. About 80 have returned to Canada.

“I can confirm for Canadians that, as we speak, the RCMP is investigating these individuals and will seek to put them behind bars where they belong,” Blaney solemnly informed the public safety committee.

But who these individuals are — what they have done, how they became radicalized — on those matters, Blaney offered little.

Instead, he repeated the pledge made last week by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that additional measures are coming soon.

“Preventing violent extremism is an essential element of our response, and that is why some of the important work is being done in this regard as we speak.” (Source: CBC News)

 

Thursday April 30, 2009

April 30, 2009

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 30, 2009

WHO Warns of Imminent World-Wide Pandemic

The United Nations public-health agency raised its global pandemic alert level to phase 5 from phase 4 Wednesday, indicating the A/H1N1 virus has caused outbreaks in at least two countries in one region. “All countries should immediately activate their pandemic preparation plans” and be on “high alert” for outbreaks, said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan issues a statement on the decision to raise the influenza pandemic alert to phase 5 and urging everyone to take the alert seriously. Video courtesy of Fox News. Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in a televised address that only essential businesses such as supermarkets, hospitals and pharmacies should stay open, and only critical government workers such as police and soldiers would be on duty from Friday through Tuesday. School had already been canceled nationwide.

The steps are aimed at stopping further spread of the virus, blamed for 168 deaths in Mexico and one in the U.S., even though the WHO has suggested nations should focus on minimizing its effects, not containing its spread.

Dr. Chan said the decision to raise the alert level was made after the agency established that sustained person-to-person transmission was occurring in the U.S., in addition to Mexico. The outbreak at a private school in the New York City borough of Queens caught the attention of WHO officials, because students who had traveled to Mexico returned to campus and infected others. (Source: Wall Street Journal)