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The Winnipeg Sun n Thursday, OcTOber 25, 2012

COMMENT

Harpers clear on crime


PM comes to defence of Jamaican Canadians
Anyone who supports a tougher criminal justice system knows this valid argument unfortunately attracts racists. That is, people who blame crime on immigrants in general, blacks in particular and, certainly in Toronto, Jamaicans most of all. Thats why it was good to see Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday the chief architect of toughening Canadas Criminal Code denouncing such attitudes during a Toronto meeting with Jamaican PM Portia Simpson Miller, marking the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence. As reported by the Globe and Mail, Harper warned against making such racist assumptions before a packed hall of Jamaican Canadians. Referring to a series of high-profile, gang-related gun crimes in Toronto this summer, Harper said: It has come to my attention that since July, many in ... Torontos Jamaican-Canadian community, feel that they live in the shadow of criminality arising out of (these) inciHe spent a lot of time, subsequently, trying to explain what this meant, noting he didnt care if they were Canadian citizens or what their skin colour was, he just wanted them removed from Toronto. But that made no sense, since we dont deport Canadian citizens for crimes committed in Canada. Rather, it seems obvious Fords initial call for deporting these gangsters was based on an erroneous assumption that because many were black, they were foreigners. In reality, many if not most were born here. Theyre our problem. Gang and gun crime happens for many reasons poverty, drugs, family breakdown, a lack of opportunities for the young. It doesnt happen because any one ethnic group is culturally pre-disposed towards crime, a smear racists have been making for centuries against blacks, Jews, Italian, Asians, the Irish, take your pick. It also ignores the fact most victims of black crime, for example, are law-abiding blacks who make up the vast majority of the black community. On this point, those of us who call for tougher measures to combat violent urban street crime and for tougher immigration and refugee laws have an obligation to be clear.

Outrage over prayer ridiculous


Darryl Mills QMI Agency
So, Winnipegs soon-to-beofficial police chief has dared to declare that he believes prayer could be one tool to help solve some of the social woes that have negatively impacted my great hometown for a number of years. How dare he?! He should know better. Christians, of course, are highly offensive these days and should just keep their mouths shut. Burn their Bibles, ban their prayers and mock their beliefs. What a silly man. Social media and media comment boards has been all atwitter with reaction to Devon Clunis comments that he believes the prayers of many people, of many different religious faiths and backgrounds, could play a key role in helping to stem the tide of mayhem and violence that has become rampant in some parts of my great hometown. Can someone please explain to me what the problem is? I can understand an outcry if he said prayer was going to be made mandatory for police personnel, or was going to replace actual policing methods. Hey, then people would be absolutely correct for calling the guy a loon. If his crime-fighting strategy was going to revolve around getting down on bended knees and praying fervently instead of increasing patrols and targeting high crime areas then find him a rubber room. But he didnt say any of that. He just said he would be praying, and encouraged others of all religious beliefs to do the same. Again, how dare he?! This former Winnipeg Police chaplain is a man of faith and has strong beliefs. How dare he even whisper such things??! One comment I saw on Facebook almost knocked me over. A woman responding to a post of a story about Clu-

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Crackdown on criminals
Were advocating a crackdown on criminals, regardless of race, creed or colour. Further, as well as advocating for a crackdown on violent urban street crime, its equally important to call for tougher laws against whitecollar crime. Especially since not one senior Wall Street executive has gone to jail for the massive financial fraud they committed leading up to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and global economic crash. Thats to say nothing of the fact our laws in Canada against white-collar crime are even more lax than in the U.S. Most of those perpetrators, by the way, are white. Which doesnt mean all white people share the stigma for what they did, either.

Acting WPS chief Devon Clunis.


nis prayer plan said This made me ill. I was stunned. We live in a world filled with hate and violence and rape and killing and child exploitation and prejudice, but it is someones belief in PRAYER that makes someone ill??! How backwards is that? The ultimate point of the whole situation isnt even belief in prayer. It is this mans right to believe in prayer and his right to share his views with others. He wasnt promoting hatred or intolerance or ignorance, just encouraging others, those who believe in a higher power, any higher p o w e r, t o engage in something that billions of people on this planet still believe has value, purpose and power. If him encouraging people to pray is what people in Winnipeg are going to be outraged and ill about, then maybe it really is time to just roll up the streets, turn off the lights and forget about trying to solve the challenges facing Winnipeg because if this is what gets people passionate and up-in-arms and angry, then all the prayer in the world likely wont help. Cheers to Clunis! Whatever methods he depends on to battle the criminal element that affects Winnipeg, he has a challenging road ahead.

dents ... Canadians understand that the only community placed under a shadow by the perpetrators of these crimes is the community of criminals. People who came from Jamaica to Canada have come in search of a better life, and to contribute positively to our country, not to live in fear of street gangs and criminals. Ideally, this should go without saying. But it needed saying. During last summers crime wave in Toronto, for example, Mayor Rob Ford said he wanted the feds to use immigration laws to deport anyone convicted of gun and gangrelated crimes from the city.

Crooks become folk heroes in Quebec


Who are our new idols? Politicians have been out of fashion for a long time. Sports champions too are so yesterday. Music icons are deja vu. No, our true new heroes these days in Quebec are bandits who have screwed taxpayers for years and are now remorseful for the public inquiry on corruption and collusion in the construction industry in the province. Last Sunday, Lino Zambito, a construction contractor who openly admitted to paying 2.5% of the value of his companys public contracts to the Mob, 3% to political parties and 1% to corrupt bureaucrats, was the guest of honour on Radio-Canadas top celebrity show, Tout le monde en parle. He was welcomed like a rock star, with a standing ovation and a pop song to give his step rhythm and show him on top of his game. Zambito explained to the

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1.5 million Quebecers watching that parents at his kids school salute and applaud him when he drops his young ones off every morning. Or on an absurd note, Gilles Surprenant, the former top engineer of the city of Montreal, recently revealed that although he received over $600,000 in kickbacks to approve inflated invoices of road construction crooks, he gave some of this money back to the community by gambling away over $250,000 at the Montreal casino.

He said he felt relieved that the police seized over $125,000 in zip-loc bags in his basement. Are we all collectively going nuts or what? How could such criminals become role models in Quebec today? Last time I checked at the Vatican, neither Saint Zambito nor Saint Suprenant were on the verge of being canonized by the Pope. It re m i n d s m e o f Je a n Braults testimony a few years ago before the Gomery inquiry that gave us all the details about the scheme to funnel taxpayer dollars to the Liberal Party of Canada through the now-famous sponsorship program.

Applauded
In the public eye, he went overnight from being a Liberal swindler to a man who speaks the truth. At the end of his confession, when Brault came out of the

courtroom, people lined up of on the sidewalks to applaud and thank him. Do we think that these witnesses have gone Hollywood? Is reality so much stranger than fiction we cannot differentiate them anymore? Lets all remember if those crooks agree to reveal a lot about their scams, its also because they could face an extra 15 years of jail if theyre found lying and that everything said in such a public inquiry cannot be used against them when they face actual criminal charges. Is it our Catholic past that makes us idolize someone who sins but confesses? Why do we treat them better than someone whos been honest his whole life? I just dont get it. Its more than time that artists of all sorts, politicians of all stripes and athletes of all sports inspire us again. We are desperate for new heroes it seems!

Maybe it is time to roll up the streets, turn off the lights and forget about trying to solve challenges facing Winnipeg because if this is what gets people up-in-arms and angry, then all the prayer in the world likely wont help.

Darryl Mills is publisher of the airdrie (alta.) Echo and a proud former Winnipegger.

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