Corporate Ethics - A Contemporary Oxymoron

To those trusting souls willing to leave their and their country's fate to the market forces of unfettered capitalism, please take a few minutes to read the situation of black South African gold miners who toiled under apartheid with no protection from the environmental hazards of their job.

It seems that Anglo American, the company responsible for the deaths and ill-health of the workers highlighted in the article, feels no obligation to pay compensation to the miners or their survivors, as evidenced by the following excerpt:

Anglo American says it is not responsible for the compensation claims because it owned only a minority share in the South African mines where the plaintiffs were working. It says it is “sympathetic” to the plight of the former workers and is working to find a “sustainable solution” so that they can obtain medical treatment and compensation benefits.

I interpret the second sentence to be only the meaningless political bafflegag everyone seems so fond of practicing these days.

You can read the complete story here.

Asbestos - An Opportunity to End Canada's Shame

While I have written previously on Canada's ongoing indefensible practice of exporting chrysotile (asbestos) to developing nations despite its well-known lethal health effects, this country does get the chance to begin to rectify things today as it meets in Geneva with 142 other countries that have ratified the Rotterdam Convention, which concerns pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons.

Canada has previously opposed the listing of asbestos; judging by the response I got from my M.P., I am not hopeful that it will relent this time, despite international and domestic pressure to do so.

The full article about Canada's past obstructionism and present opportunity can be read here.

Does This Peel Police Action Help You To Sleep Better at Night?

I stand to be corrected, but I was under the impression that in Canada, we are, at least in theory, protected from arbitrary police intrusion and arrest. Apparently the Peel Police are not aware of this legal 'quibble'.

Some Food for Thought

Perhaps it is because I am currently reading The Trouble With Billionaires, by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks, but I have become especially sensitive to the increasingly shrill anti-union rhetoric by CEO's and some allegedly 'ordinary' members of the public. Were we to accept the word of lavishly-paid corporate leaders and their minions, Air Canada and Canadian postal workers are living in the past in their fights to prevent the introduction of two-tier wages and benefits (including pensions0 for new hires.

It is therefore refreshing to see the other side of the question being represented in newspapers such as The Toronto Star, which thus far has resisted the trend to simply becoming organs for the business agenda.

I am providing links here to an article and two letters found in today's paper that help to provide non-business perspectives on these issues.

Good jobs not in the plan, is written by John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.

This is followed by two letters that question the motives of the Conservative government and Canada Post respectively.

Another Sad Story of Police Misconduct

The headline in yesterday's Globe (on-line edition) really says it all: Peel police officers fabricated evidence in prostitution case: judge

The story tells of how the two offending Peel officers claimed that a fake i.d. allowing a 17-year-old to work in Brampton sex clubs was found in her pimp's wallet. The truth is the i.d. had been turned over to the police by the girl herself. Because of this malfeasance, some very serious charges against Courtney Salmon, including human trafficking, had to be thrown out of court.

While Superior Court Judge Douglas Gray severely rebuked the officers, saying that he had to throw out the case to protect the integrity of the justice system, his words and action will be have been for naught if the offending officers are not charged and, if convicted, dismissed from the force. The erosion of public trust in the police continues unabated.

The Ugly Truth About Shark Fin Soup

I was pleased to read in today's Star that two Toronto city councillors, Glenn De Baeremaeker and Kristyn Wong-Tam, are making a motion this week to ban the sale and consumption of shark fin soup, long regarded by the Chinese community as a status symbol. Perhaps not everyone knows the barbaric cruelty involved in bringing such a dish to the table, but essentially it involves cutting off the fins of living sharks and then dumping them back into the ocean to either drown or bleed to death. Amazing how indifferent we can be to the earth's other creatures, isn't it?

An excellent documentary on the industry, especially strong in Costa Rica despite its illegality, is Sharkwater, which is availble for viewing on You Tube. To watch the first part, click on the image below and also learn the vital role sharks play in ocean ecology, upon which we are dependent for our survival:

Syria's Torture and Murder of Its Children

Despite this being an age of almost instant communication and information, it has become very easy for us to isolate ourselves from the larger world, ensconced as we are in our protective shell of flat-screen televisions, blu-ray players, and myriad other technological wonders. Once in a while, however, the reality of that larger world breaks through that shell and throttles us.

One of those moments occurred last night while I was watching Anderson Cooper 360 as he presented graphic video depicting the kind of brutality we may have become inured to in movies but not in real life. I should warn you that this video, showing beatings and shootings of unarmed Syrian citizens, is difficult to watch; even more horrifying is the segment that deals with the torture, mutilation and murder of Syrian children, their only 'crime' being their participation in peaceful protests.

As well, if you really want to think about it, the Syrians' thirst for democracy and freedom and what they are willing to risk for it puts our own cavalier attitude toward democracy, as evidenced in the recent federal election, to shame.