Thursday, May 19, 2011

The investigation may have ended, but the questions have not.

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit -- or SIU -- is an arm's-length police watchdog. It has conducted two investigations into the alleged assault of a bystander at last summer's G-20 protest in Toronto. This week, the SIU announced no officer would be charged in connection with the assault -- despite the fact that investigators have a photo of a man they call the "subject officer."

The photograph is clear, and in close-up. The victim's father says the photographer also gave the SIU a sworn statement, saying this was the man who assaulted Dorian Barton.

On last night's program, we spoke with Mr. Barton. He went into detail about how he received a black eye and a broken arm during his arrest.

In the SIU investigations, none of the twelve witness officers at the scene said they could identify anyone involved. Furthermore, the SIU's news release, and our interview from last night with an SIU spokesperson, left the impression that the identity of the "subject officer" in the photo was not known. More on that later.

First, here's Talkback's take.

Thanks for all your calls to Talkback. We received a lot of email as well. Gary Reany writes:

"Either the police are lying or they are hopelessly incompetent. If they can't identify an officer who works in the same room as them, given a photograph of his face, then how can they be expected to solve crimes and catch criminals from the population at large?" That email comes from Gary Reany.And Denise Young in Calgary writes:

Shame on the SIU, Toronto's police watchdog, which must be one of the most inappropriately named organizations in the country! Between Toronto and Vancouver, how can any Canadian citizen have faith in our police forces? It is time for real citizen oversight of our police forces at all levels."

And here are just a few of the comments posted to our Facebook page, where you'll find some additional photos of Mr. Barton with his injuries.From Michelle Kong: "This is so maddening. Even us high school students have the integrity to own up to our own crimes! But our police officers? Of course not, what are you thinking?"And from Jim Taggart: "What the police don't understand is how they blow their credibility and trust with the public when they protect peers who abuse the public trust."

Thanks for all your feedback.

Today, Toronto's police chief Bill Blair wrote a letter to the editor of The Toronto Sun newspaper. In it, he wrote that the Toronto Police had provided the SIU with the name and badge numbers of the officers involved in the Dorian Barton investigation -- including the the identity of the officer shown in the photo.

That wasn't the impression we got from the SIU's spokesperson.

So we called back and today reached Ian Scott, the director of the Special Investigations Unit in Toronto.

His fall from grace -- when it finally came -- was swift.

A grand jury has indicted former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on seven criminal charges, including sexual abuse and attempted rape. But the 62-year old diplomat and banker was also granted bail set at one million dollars cash.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who resigned from the IMF late Wednesday, will now be under house arrest in a private apartment in Manhattan, where he will be monitored by armed security guards until his court date, which has been set for June sixth.

Across the Atlantic, France is looking on in shock and awe. And a lot of commentators are saying the maid who was sexually assaulted isn't the victim here -- Dominique Strauss-Kahn is.

Natacha Henry is a writer and broadcaster in France. We reached her in Paris.

When the Virginia Historical Society put together its "Bizarre Bits" exhibit, it included things like a fungus carving of General Robert E. Lee and a wreath made of human hair.

The intention was, in part, to creep people out. But not so much so that someone would contact the health authorities, who, in turn, would show up to whisk one of the "bits" away.

That, however, is exactly what happened. To explain, we reached the head of collections, Lee Shepard, in Richmond, Virginia.

Genetically speaking, Olivia Pratten is the product of the mother she knows and an anonymous sperm donor. And for years, she has been fighting to have the courts recognize the rights of people like her to know the identity of their donor parents.

This morning, the British Columbia Supreme Court became the first court in North America to do exactly that. It will mean the end of anonymous sperm donation in British Columbia.

We reached Ms Pratten in Toronto.

And now, another installment of Quote/Unquote -- today, courtesy of Lyudmila Savchenko.

She's a well-known Ukranian meteorologist, and this week, she got into trouble with Ukrainian National Radio for speaking her mind during her live weather forecast.

You might think that, as far as any news program goes, the segment on weather is the most politically neutral. But Ms. Savchenko went beyond the weather and into politics, and her intemperate comments were enough to get her suspended.

Here's what she said. Quote:

" You cannot remain indifferent to the beauty, complete with the delicate scents of lilacs and lilies of the valley, the melodic trills of birds. Sometimes it seems like nature is compensating for the disorder, lawlessness and injustice in our country."

Unquote.

It's been four days since fires forced the evacuation of Slave Lake, Alberta. And although the basic needs of the evacuees are being met, their need for information remains insatiable.

Yesterday the Mayor of Slave Lake arrived at one of the largest evacuation centres, a multiplex in Athabasca, where she met behind closed doors with hundreds of her constituents. Many had questions about why they didn't have more warning about the fires.

Earlier today, we reached Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee at the town's command centre in Slave Lake.

Everything old is new again for Fabian Manning.

In March, Mr. Manning resigned his seat in the Senate so that he could run in the federal election. At the time Mr. Manning said, and I quote:

"I could have stayed in the Senate and gone on with a lifestyle that wouldn't necessarily have me up every day working on behalf of the people. I chose not to."

Instead, he chose to run for the Conservatives in the Newfoundland riding of Avalon. But alas, the voters of Avalon did not choose him.

But all was not lost for Mr. Manning. Yesterday, to the outrage of many a Newfoundlander, Prime Minister Harper re-appointed Fabian Manning to the Senate. He also appointed Larry Smith and Josee Verner, both of whom were also rejected by voters in the federal election.

Today at his home in St. Bride's, Mr. Manning was asked if he'd run for election again. Here's his response, for the record.

Dateline: the towns of New Bedford and Fall River, Massachusetts.For a long time, Western culture has had a hard time with relaxation. Sure, it's relaxing, which is nice. But it's not chocolate-flavoured, which is a major strike against it.

Well, an American company has finally turned boring old relaxation into a super-awesome choco-snack that's loaded with sugar, bleached enriched flour, and melatonin.

The snack is called "Lazy Cakes". Its mascot is a cartoon brownie called "Lazy Larry", who's just kickin' back and letting life happen to him.

He wears a satisfied smile, and his eyes are half-closed. I'm not saying he looks extremely stoned, I'm just saying -- wait, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Lazy Cakes, as I mentioned, contain the sleep aid melatonin. Eight milligrams of it. Which is a lot, considering ten milligrams can apparently cause an adult to abruptly fall asleep. So people are getting a little concerned about the product's availability in convenience stores -- because children love brownies with cartoon characters on the package. And supposedly, a few children have already taken bites of those brownies, whereupon they've fallen so deeply asleep that their parents have taken them to the emergency room.

On their website, the manufacturers of Lazy Cakes say their product is, quote, "meant as a dietary supplement to aid adults who lead a stressful, energy-drink-fueled lifestyle to wind down and relax." But officials in New Bedford and Fall River, Massachusetts, want to make sure kids don't get their hands on Lazy Cakes -- so they're moving to officially ban them.

Some people will insist that grown-ups need to be able to buy a super-sweet product to make them relax after consuming another super-sweet product that made them really unrelaxed. To which I can only say: relax.

Twenty-nine miners lost their lives in an explosion that could have been prevented.

That's the conclusion of a state investigation into the 2010 Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in West Virginia.

The report is blunt in its condemnation of the mine's owner, Massey Energy, describing the company as "reckless" and "dubious". The report says that Massey blatantly ignored safety standards, and knowingly violated the law.

The explosion happened in April of last year, and at that time we spoke with Ellen Smith, the owner and managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News.

For her reaction to the report, we reached Ms. Smith today in Rochester, New York.

Now, for another installment of Quote/Unquote.Although you've likely never heard of Lakeysha Beard of Tigard, Oregon before, she's a powerful speaker. Her very words could stop a train. In fact, they did. Although her ability to bring the Amtrak Coast Starlight -- operating between Seattle and Los Angeles -- to a grinding halt speaks more to the quantitative strength of her oratory prowess, rather than to its quality.

See, from the time Ms. Beard boarded the train in Oakland, California at ten P-M until almost two P-M the next day, when she was escorted off by Salem City police officers in Oregon, Ms. Beard spoke non-stop on her cell phone. That's sixteen hours straight. At which point, an exasperated and exhausted passenger approached her and requested that she stop. At which point she unleashed a few more choice words not only to that passenger, but to all the passengers sharing the car with her.

It's probably also important to note that Ms. Beard was sitting in a designated "quiet" car on the train, and that staff had made repeated announcements that talking on cellphones was not permitted.

Nevertheless, as she disembarked, Ms. Beard confided to police that being forced to leave the train left her feeling, in a word, quote, "disrespected".

Unquote.

Thirty people died. At least twenty others are still missing and presumed dead.

In December of last year, a boatload of asylum seekers perished off the coast of Australia's Christmas Island. It was a horrific scene, witnessed by onlookers who watched helplessly from the shore as the boat smashed into the rocks, trapped there by rough seas.

This week, the Coroner's Court in Perth began an inquest into what happened.

David Weber was at the second day of the inquest. He's a reporter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and he's in Perth.

Parents in Drummondville, Québec are waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada.

The question is whether the Québec curriculum's Ethics and Religious Cultures program will be allowed to continue as a mandatory class in primary and secondary schools in the province. The class, which replaces religious teaching, covers a variety of religious beliefs in Québec culture. But its opponents say it violates their constitutional rights.

Richard Décarie is a spokesperson for one of the groups that supports the Drummondville parents. He was in court yesterday to present their arguments. Mr. Décarie is also a father, and he wants to have the right to exempt her from the classes. We reached him in Montreal.

Testing your fine motor skills.

Last night, we brought you the story about how the quietness of electric cars may pose a problem. So a British academic has suggested they could be programmed to make specific sounds of their drivers' choosing.

After that interview some of your chimed in with your own suggestions. Christopher Goody in Kaaawa, Hawaii emailed to say, "I would like my e-car to make a sound just like the George Jetson bubble-jet car."

Which would mean that when Mr. Goody pulled into his driveway, it would sound like this:That's impressively futuristic. Betty Thomson of Edmonton, meanwhile, wants something a bit more organic. She wrote, "What I'd like for the sound of an electric car is a flock of mosquitoes. It would sure get you noticed."

Well, yes, it would, Ms. Thomson. And it would also deter hitch-hikers.Patty Pironen from Drayton Valley, Alberta had a couple of practical points to make. She wrote:

"I agree that it's important that cars emit noise, but those noises will need to be of a certain quality or pitch, for two reasons: From an anthropological perspective, one of our basic survival tools is our hearing. Noises -- whether they come from a bear or a car -- help us react to, and avoid, danger. Recently, some cities have increased the volume of their emergency vehicles and police cars because of the likes of MP3 players and IPods: people can't hear the sirens anymore. You can guess the consequences. We may be able to get creative to certain degree in selecting our individual car noises, but let's stay safe out there in the urban jungle!"Thank you for all your emails. When something you hear on "As It Happens" drives you to sound off, call Talkback at 1.866.481.5718 or email us at <url>aih@cbc.ca</url>.