Canadian Broadcast Standards Council Dings Ezra Levant Again!

From the release:

The host of The Source, Ezra Levant, showed videoclips of a protest that had occurred outside the Sun’s Toronto office.  The protestors objected to Sun Media’s coverage of the Idle No More movement.  A few days later, Levant replayed the clips, saying that, following their initial broadcast, he had received information from viewers about who some of the protestors were.  He identified one couple by their names, stating that they were “professional protestors” who had engaged in other protest activity.

The CBSC received a complaint from the identified woman, who asserted that she was not the person in the clip as she had not attended the Sun Media protest and had not even been in Toronto at the time.  She also complained that Levant had tarnished her reputation and that of her husband by accusing them of being professional protestors and using the Aboriginal movement to cause a “ruckus”.

The CBSC’s National Specialty Services Panel concluded that Sun News Network breached Clause 6 of the CAB Code of Ethics for including inaccurate information in the talk show.  Levant had acknowledged his error on the February 8 episode of The Source.

The actual decision can be found here.  Its worth noting that Ezra didn't bother correcting himself until after the complaint was filed (not when the error was first pointed out).

I wrote about this one previously.  From the original complaint:

Neither me nor my husband was even in the country when that protest took place, nor have we been anywhere near Toronto since Jan. 1 of this year. After writing Sun to tell them that the information that they aired was false, demanding an apology, Sun actually aired the program again!

There has to be some accountability. This is the just tip of the iceberg in terms of their racist, misleading, and at times outright false programming. 

At the time, I contacted the complainant via email.  They were considering legal action at the time, which I think meant another defamation suit; I don't know what has happened with that.

PS.  I have an theory about who fed Ezra the false names in this case.  Ez, baby, you shouldn't trust that pair with anything.

Innocent No More

Arnell Tailfeathers is the guy who uploaded the footage that blew up Tom Flanagan:

"It wasn't to completely discredit him. I mean when we came into that discussion that evening, we didn't know what to expect," said Arnell Tailfeathers, a freelance videographer.

"We just thought ... if something happens — we better document it."

Yeah, I'm not buying it. Somebody found that old article in the Manitoban where Flanagan talked child pornography.  And someone  made sure a question about that article got asked when Flanagan appeared at the University of Lethbridge. And then Mr. Tailfeathers posted the video, and  seems to have run a twitter spam campaign  the night of Feb. 27th  to insure that it got noticed.  Of course nobody could know that Flanagan would go off like that, but to claim it was all a spontaneous goof...

I'd prefer to think that the folks at Idle No More, with whom Mr. Tailfeathers is associated, are starting to think beyond road blockades and towards a more creative form of resistance.

Tom Flanagan Child Porn Comments Update

The PMO takes him out to the woodshed:

MacDougall is this guy. Wow!  That blew up bigger than I expected!  Who says Idle No More is washed up?

Wow x 2!  Wildrose condemns and, essentially, fires Flanagan.  Did INM take down Tom Flanagan?

Wow x 3!  Fired by CBC.

Idle No More Strikes Back!

So Chris Slothouber notes that someone one is mucking with twitter to get that Flanagan video to trend. I think its this fellow, who uploaded the footage.  Interestingly enough, he claims to have a connection to the folks at Idle No More, who have good reason to be unhappy with Mr. Flanagan. In fact, the question that triggered Flanagan's unfortunate response seems to have been a deliberate attempt to catch the man out.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Randy Hillier, Then And Now

Tory MPP Randy Hillier has been taking some flack over on his Facebook page for condemning Idle No More  protests after having  having engaged in some highway blocking himself back in the day.  Here's his initial statement:

McGuinty states"In our democracy, we do not direct the police, that would be inappropriate" Either Dalton does not understand his responsibility or is purposely skirting it. The legislature directs police by passing laws and appointing judges and Police to enforce them. Here's my advice - any protest that unduly interferes with economic activity and harms or injures people or property, is no longer a protest but a criminal activity.

And you can see part of the exchange between him and one Andy LaPier below:

Well, here's the statement from the old "Rural Revolution" website:

Canada's busiest Highway 401 and the International Bridge  at Johnstown Ontario to the USA 
were closed for 3 hours by 270 vehicles and 50 tractors in show of the demonstration of rural dissatisfaction. 

Closing a bridge sounds a lot like "interfering" with economic activity to me.  And as to "keeping a lane open for emergency vehicles", I'm not sure that's relevant if its even true.  Here's a shot of the 401 that day from the same website:

Looks pretty damned closed to me, and anyone travelling West would have had their "economic activity" pretty thoroughly interfered with.

Which Federal Conservative MP Spoke At Illegal

...401 blockade.  This one.  Mind you, Scott Reid is still a back-bencher.  The whole illegal protesting gig didn't work out for him as well as for some.

Which Ontario Conservative MPP Did This?

Canada's busiest Highway 401 and the International Bridge  at Johnstown Ontario to the USA 
were closed for 3 hours...

Hint: Tim Hudak gave him a position in his shadow cabinet.

AFN Demands: My Favorite One

All legislation must be unquestionably consistent with s.35 of the Canadian Constitution and the UNDRIP.  Legislation and provisions of legislation as in C-38 and C-45 that contravene our Treaty and inherent rights must be reconsidered and implementation of these provisions be put to a halt. We must have an environmental regulatory regime in this country that respects our rights. Legislation that tinkers around the edges of the Indian Act must stop and be replaced with support for First Nation government and nation re-building including a mechanism for our Nations to push away from the Indian Act as they determine. To fulfill the original relationship, Canada must put in place an ongoing process that all new bills and policies of the federal government must be in full compliance with section 35 and consistent with international human rights standards. 

This complaint is the thread that has always woven together the disparate strands of the Idle No More movement.  Now, "reconsidering" this legislation may sound like the AFN is getting a bit sucky, but if you were to split these two bits off from the omnibus bill and debate them again--reconsider them--I'm sure they would go the same way as the Lawful Access.  Harper wouldn't dare reintroduce either--especially C-45--because who among Canadians wants to gut the laws that protect our rivers and lakes from despoilation?   Or at least so I would wager (maybe a fin, maybe a $20).

So, if I may offer some friendly advice to INM, I would over the next few days and weeks make these concrete bits of legislation the focal point of any protests.  And, if I were Chief Spence, I would forgive Mr. Atleo and give hugs all around and go out together for some Chinese-food and scarf four plates immediately.  If you two get the ball rolling on repealing these bits of noxious legislation, then you've already won your Order of Canada.  In fact, the nation will owe you both a Senate seat for when you get old.

But of course it won't happen overnight; chief Spence needs to get strong for the next round.

On Simplistic Arguments

From John Ivison's column today:

Another area where the government is attempting to make structural changes that could end the cycle of poverty and despair is by creating a First Nations Education Act, aimed at dragging native education into the 21st century. Currently, reserve schools have no regular reporting system, there is no dispensation for kids who fall behind, there is no way to certify, regulate or discipline teachers and there is no way to monitor attendance. A panel on native education last year said 100 schools are “unsafe learning 

In response, a few bullet points from a talk by Dr. Pam Palmater:

First Nation Education Act
(TIME STAMP: Video Part 3, 4:40-7:20)

•Incorporates and imposes Provincial Laws into First Nation Education on Reserves.
•Violation of Treaty Right to Education.
•The Feds wish to take the Treaty Right to Education - Nationalize it, Control it, Legislate it.
•Does not account for Education being chronically underfunded, even in comparison to the Province.
•The Feds will vacate jurisdiction to the Province – not just stepping away from Treaty Obligations – but Funding Obligations (“Want to apply for Post-Secondary? Go Apply for Provincial Scholarships” is the vision for the future).
• Once they legislate a treaty right, they will say it is outside of Section 35 and there’s no way to undo it.

Part 3 of Ms. Palamater's talk, where she discusses the  FN Education act (from about 4:40 to 7:20 in on the tape):



The other parts can be found by going through the vid to the original youtube upload.

Its worth noting that Ezra Levant was accused by Ms. Palmater of jeopardizing her safety when he flashed a Google-map image of her Ajax, Ont., neighbourhood during a recent episode of his talk-show.  I suppose that was just part of the "rational debate" on these matters that John Ivison feels is slipping away.