The Inquisitr » canada

Facebook photos cause Canadian woman to lose benefits for depression

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:41:26 +0000

French Canadian IBM employee Nathalie Blanchard, 29, remained on leave from her position at the company for a year and a half due to a diagnosis of major depression.

Blanchard said doctors advised her, in the course of treatment, to “try to have fun”- so she did, joining friends for trips to the beach and enjoying nights out. But photos of Blanchard’s “fun” posted on Facebook lead to the loss of her benefits in an insurance claims investigation. Blanchard’s profile was friends-locked and she doesn’t know how the insurer, Manulife, accessed her pictures. Blanchard says she notified the company about her trip and her lawyer Tom Lavin calls Manulife’s investigation “inappropriate.”

While the reach of Manulife’s investigation was certainly uncomfortably far and arguably invasive, the scarier part seems to be the idea that something like “major depression” could be diagnosed from a picture or that the validity of a medical diagnosis can be debated due to a picture of a woman on a beach. Blanchard’s lawyer agrees, telling press:

“I don’t think for judging a mental state that Facebook is a very good tool,” he said, adding that he has requested another psychiatric evaluation for Blanchard.

“It’s not as if somebody had a broken back and there was a picture of them carrying …a load of bricks,” Lavin said. “My client was diagnosed with a major depression. And there were pictures of her on Facebook, in a party or having a good time. It could be that she was just trying to escape.”

Manulife refused to comment on Blanchard’s case except to say that they “would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook.”

[CBC.ca via AppScout]

The International Olympics Commission gets to keep being sexists – no female ski jumpers allowed

Steven Hodson — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:07:35 +0000

I’m sorry but I have to say this from the very beginning – this is utter and total bullshit.

Word has come down from the British Columbia Court of Appeals that the International Olympics Commissions can not be forced to allow female ski jumpers on the grounds that their rules go against the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Justice Ann Rowles, one of the three appeal court judges who heard the case over the last two days, said she was aware a decision was needed quickly. Reasons for the decision will be released next week.

The women could seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, but lawyer Ross Clark, who is representing the ski jumpers, said such an appeal would need to overcome a lot of hurdles.

The appeal to B.C.’s highest court was an attempt to overturn a B.C. Supreme Court decision that found that while excluding the women from competing is discriminatory, the International Olympic Committee is not subject to the Charter and cannot be forced to hold a women’s ski jumping event.

Source: The Toronto Star

I’m not blaming the British Columbia Court of Appeals for their decision because in fact they were right. However that doesn’t change the fact that the IOC policy against female ski jumpers is archaic and just plain wrong. The IOC argument has always been thatthere are not enough competitions to merit making a woman’s ski jumping an Olympic sport.

Like I said at the beginning this is bullshit and the IOC is totally wrong in excluding woman from participating in a female ski jumping category.

19-year-old Canadian folk singer killed by coyotes

Kim LaCapria — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:13:46 +0000

Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old Canadian folk singer described as “up and coming,” was killed in attack by coyotes in a Canadian national park on Tuesday.

The attack, described by an expert as “very unusual” and “not likely to be repeated,” occurred when Mitchell was hiking alone in the Breton Highlands national park in Nova Scotia. Passersby called for help when they heard Mitchell screaming, but authorities were too late to save her from the “extremely aggressive” two coyotes that attacked her. The singer was airlifted to a Halifax hospital, were she died yesterday.

Mitchell’s grieving manager, Lisa Weitz, said family and friends are devastated in the wake of the tragedy. She spoke to the Toronto Star and is described as “choking back tears” as she discussed the young woman’s life:

“She had just gotten her (driver’s) licence and her first set of wheels to take her on the road to the Maritimes.”

“She was just exhilarated to be on the road and performing. We are all devastated.”

Mitchell played what was to be her last performance on Saturday, and was set to play Wednesday in Sydney, N.S. She was on a short break from her touring when she set out on the ill-fated hike. Mitchell is only one of two people known to have been killed by coyotes.

[Source: Toronto Star]

Hell just froze over in the Canadian wireless landscape

Steven Hodson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:49:43 +0000

Well I have to admit I never saw this coming and I will bet that neither did Telus Communications’ competitors but for once a wireless communication company in Canada has decided to stop screwing their customers – even if it is only a little. Typically we are used to hearing companies talking about how they are going to be raising their rates so hear of one that is actually going to lower their rates comes as a bit of a shock – a good thing I was wearing my nitro patch.

Yup it appears that Telus as of November 5 will be killing off the money grab known as system access fees that usually saw just about $7.00 added to your mobile bill every month. Considering that this is really just a bogus fee in the first place that amounted to nothing more than a bonus for the company it’s nice to see them removing it.

However not all is golden however as Telus will increasing the price of their plans by $5.00

Beginning Nov. 5, Telus will offer wireless packages to all consumers and businesses without the monthly fees of $6.95 for “access” and $0.75 for 911 service. But the company will also boost the core price of all its plans by $5 a month.

As an example, Telus currently offers 100 minutes of talk time under a plan called “Your Choice 25.” The core price is $25, but the additional fees raise the price to $32.70 a month before taxes. Under the new model, the 100 minute plan will cost $30, with no extra fees, plus taxes. In addition, Telus will offer voice mail service without charge.

The changes amount to a decrease in average revenue per user of as much as 8 per cent.

Source: The Globe and Mail

So our actual savings will really be around the $3.00 mark buy hey .. 3 bucks is 3 bucks not to mention the fact that they killed off one of the most ridiculous fees around. Now just to get the rest of companies to follow suit.

Netflix gives cable television a wake-up call – outside of the US

Steven Hodson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:43:13 +0000

When I first saw the news from Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb about Netflix being in the process of setting up a streaming movie service for outside of the United States I didn’t really clue in on it at first. Then as I started to think about it from my position as a resident of one of those other countries outside of the U.S. I realized that this could be the largest wake up call that cable television providers could have gotten that the future is coming to them and it isn’t going to be nice.

You see here in Canada companies like Cogeco, Rogers, and Shaw – the big three cable providers in the country – have had the marketplace pretty well to themselves. As with the telco side of the business they have dictated what we can see and how much they want to soak us for in order to watch what they provide.

Now assuming, with crossed fingers, that Netflix is including Canada among the countries that they are talking about streaming movies to the consumer would now have a viable alternative to cable television. No longer do we have to be reliant on cable television to be our sole source of movie entertainment. Depending on what kind of subscriptions and pricing that Netflix goes with I wouldn’t be at all surprise to see it be an almost instant hit with Canadians.

I know myself that if the subscription price was reasonable and I was able to pay for it using PayPal I would sign up right now. Tie that service in with Windows Media Center and I would be one step closer to being able to say good-bye to an overpriced cable service. Not to mention the brownie points I would earn with my wife.

Here’s hoping Netflix is including Canada in their roll-out plans.

Please!

It takes an FCC study to show Canada’s falling broadband position

Steven Hodson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:16:39 +0000

I have felt for some time that Canada has slowly been relinquishing the leading role it held for as long as I can remember. Granted in the medical field my home country still is well known and respected but when it comes to technology we have been heading downhill.

Some might argue the point but it only takes looking at the country’s position as a broadband provider to see that decline. It was this point that both a Canadian ISP commissioned report and a comprehensive study by researchers at Harvard University that was commissioned by the FCC (pdf report).

The FCC study led by Professor Yochai Benkler reviewed international rankings with differing policy approaches and in Canada’s case it was noteworthy because it tries to link Canadian policy with its falling rankings. The specific rankings as noted by Professor Michael Geist on his blog

On the issue of rankings, the study uses several reports to conclude yet again that Canada trails much of the developed world on broadband. The specific rankings are:

Overall – 22nd

Access – 16th

Speed – 20th (using the same Speedtest.net source that Rogers relied upon in its ad campaign that led to a lawsuit by Bell)

Price – 25th

The FCC report points out that Canada was once a broadband leader

It was a very early broadband adopter, relying primarily on facilities-based competition between cable and incumbent telephone companies. As early as 2000, broadband subscriptions were already 31% of all Internet subscriptions. As of December of 2003, Canada had the second highest level of Internet penetration per 100 inhabitants in the OECD, second only to South Korea, and third highest, after South Korea and Japan, by the per-household measure. At that time, there were 1.29 cable broadband subscribers for every DSL subscriber.

The report suggests its reasoning behind why Canada is suffering on the competitive front this way

Canada has the highest monthly charge for access to an unbundled local loop of any OECD country. Combined with the presence of strong incumbents and the Canadian regulator’s practice of promising to sunset the requirement of opening access to core facilities – originally copper loops, now fiber – it is possible that the investment environment is too expensive and too uncertain for non-incumbent entrants.

The final conclusion by the FCC when it comes to Canada and it’s place in the broadband world:

Canada has the highest monthly charge for access to an unbundled local loop of any OECD country. Combined with the presence of strong incumbents and the Canadian regulator’s practice of promising to sunset the requirement of opening access to core facilities – originally copper loops, now fiber – it is possible that the investment environment is too expensive and too uncertain for non-incumbent entrants.

So much for the idea of a ubiquitous real time web.

Salvation Army In Canada Reports 75 Percent Rise In Food Bank Demand The Past Year

AHN — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:00:50 +0000

The recession has spurred a higher demand for food amid a decline in donations received by relief and charitable organizations. According to the Salvation Army in Canada, demand for food service has jumped by almost 75 percent the past year.

As a result, the organization has served more than 25,000 people and more than 65,000 meals the past 12 months in 275 locations across the country. The 72.6 percent rise in food request, was however accompanied by a 40.4 percent dip in donations.

Hardest hit by the slower pace of donations were Salvation Army units in Ontario and British Columbia. The report, released Wednesday, observed that despite Canada slowly recovering from the global financial crisis, more Canadians are seeking the assistance of social service institutions.

Salvation Army territorial secretary for public relations and development Graham Moore said in a statement, “As a national trend, it appears that our food services and programs are taking a hit from the prolonged effects of the recession. We’ll continue to do more with less, hopeful that the generosity of donors and volunteers will answer the needs of those shaken by economic hardship”

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, Moore said the Salvation Army will improve its efforts to boost stock and supply, as it called on Canadians for more food and other kinds of donations.

He added, “Thanksgiving is one of our busiest periods for food service and distribution. We remain committed to serving Canadians in need with warm meals and groceries, but we also need the public’s commitment to help meet this year’s heightened demand.”

Canadian Telecoms To Roll Out iPhones In November

AHN — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:15:31 +0000

Canada’s smartphone market will further heat up in November following the separate announcement Tuesday by Bell Canada and Telus Corporation of plans to roll out their Apple iPhone 3G and 3Gs models.

Their move is expected to put pressure on Rogers Communications, which used to be the exclusive distributor of Apple smartphones.

Bell, which is launching the smartphone ahead of schedule, recently completed its upgrade of its wireless network in the direction of the high-speed packet access technology, which is the network standard that iPhones would work. Bell’s original timetable was to launch its iPhone by February 2010.

Previously, Bell and Telus used the code-division multiple access network technology. Rogers had been using HSPA technology since 2004.

Bell Canada president and chief executive officer George Cope said in a statement, “The new HSPA network executes on our strategic imperatives to accelerate wireless in Canada and to invest in next-generation broadband networks – supporting our goal for Bell to be recognized by customers as Canada’s leading communications company.”

Telus said it will provide more information about prices and availability of its coming offering in the next few weeks.

60-year old woman blogger stabbed to death in Mexico

Steven Hodson — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:38:48 +0000

Canadian René Wathelet was a successful financial planner who had decided to make the quiet little Mexican island called Isla Mujeres, which lies 10 kilometers off the coast of Cancun, as part of her change in careers. The mother of of three grown children had been intent on building a a new career around social media consulting business and had both a professional blog as well as her personal one – En direct des Îles.

This past Thursday though this dream came crashing down when neighbors reported hearing screams coming from René’s home. Shortly afterwards Mexican police found her dead from a reported 30 stab wounds to her chest and neck.

Police also said that they had arrested a 24-year-old Mexican by the name of Joaquin Palacios Garza as he was trying to flee the scene of the murder.

"She was full of life, she had these eyes that sparkled all the time, she’s the kind of person you want at your party," said Michelle Sullivan, a friend of Wathelet’s in Montreal.

"It’s particularly hard for us to comprehend what’s happened because she was full of life."

Wathelet kept residences in both Montreal and Isla Mujeres for years before moving to the island permanently a few months ago, Sullivan said.

In her final blog entry, dated the day she died, Wathelet wrote about her morning walk along the beach and looking north across the waves toward Montreal.

Source: The Star – Blogger stabbed to death in Mexico

image: Lanry Parra, NOVEDADES DE QUINTANA ROO/AP FILE PHOTO

Bob Barker declares war on Edmonton Zoo over an elephant

Duncan Riley — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:05:07 +0000

Legendary American game show host Bob Barker has declared war on zoo in Edmonton, Canada after officials refused to agree to move its resident elephant.

Barker, who these days is an animal rights activist, is trying to relocate Lucy the elephant to an animal sanctuary in California run by the Performing Animals Welfare Society or PAWS. Zoo officials though claim that she is not well enough to make the trip.

Despite Veterinarian James Oosterhuis telling officials that a move would kill Lucy “after discovering her nose and trunk were so swollen it was forcing her to breathe through her mouth,” Barker plans to take the fight to move Lucy to court.

Barker told CBC News that PETA has retained a well-known Toronto lawyer, to represent them. “The zoo is absolutely implacable” said Barker. “They won’t consider even saying that when Lucy is feeling well that we can take her to the sanctuary.”

Cactus Joe’s shocks family with “littell f***er” receipt

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:10:05 +0000

A spelling-impaired employee has been terminated after presenting a family with a receipt referring to their grumbly two-year-old as a “littel f***er.”

Craig and Kimberley Cartin paid the £31.75 bill in full but complained to higher ups after the incident. The Cartins waited with Molly, 2, and Megan, 1, at the Halifax centre Cactus Joe’s for nearly half an hour before their food was served. When Molly complained in staff earshot, the Cartins say, Cactus Joe’s employees got annoyed at the child, which they believe prompted the insult.

Owner Steve Ryan says the responsible employee has been sacked, and even visited the family to apologize in person. Ryan says:

“This was absolutely inexcusable and it won’t be tolerated.

“The person involved has been sacked and I am planning on consulting my lawyers to see if I can take further action against her.

“I have visited the customer involved and invited him to be our guest this weekend. We offer unreserved apologies.”

[Source: Halifax Courier]

No related posts.

Telus Buys Black’s Photo For $128 Million

AHN — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:27:19 +0000

Vancouver, British Columbia (AHN) – Telus Corporation bought Black’s Photo Corporation for $28 million. Black’s Photo is Canada’s leading national imaging and digital retail chain. With the acquisition, Telus – one of the largest telecommunication firms in Canada – will have more distribution outlets for its wireless products and services across the nation.

Black’s outlets will immediately start offering Telus products and services in its 113 stores nationwide, particularly in the Ontario area, alongside cameras, photo equipment accessories, albums and printing services the shop sells.

Telus bought the 79-year old Black’s from ReichmannHauer Capital Partners. Black’s Photo president and general manager Ethel Taylor will be retained in her post. Taylor said in a statement, “Black’s looks forward to working with the Telus team to expand our products and expertise to include Telus’ wireless devices across Canada. Black’s and Telus share a customer-focused culture and this relationship will further expand our ability to meet clients’ needs for wireless devices with digital imaging capabilities.”

Telus president and executive vice president Joe Natale said, “Black’s is an impressive Canadian retailer with a great brand, reputation and management team. Black’s premium locations provide an established network across Canada for the distribution of Telus’ wireless products, which nicely complements our extensive network of dealers and stores. In anticipation of our clients’ evolving needs and as more wireless devices have imbedded high quality photo and video capability, there is a natural link between Telus and Black’s.”

Man ticketed for speeding at 140kph while watching porn

Paul Short — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:00:20 +0000

A Mississauga, ON man was ticketed for speeding along highway 401 in Southern Ontario, Canada, on the weekend after another motorist observed him watching a pornographic movie on a portable DVD player while driving.

Police caught up with Efe Osemwegie, 32, on highway 401 near Port Hope at 12:39am after they clocked his speed at around 140kph along the 100kph stretch of highway. There was a portable DVD player on the front seat of his vehicle and evidence to suggest the man was also drinking alcohol.

The Toronto Sun says a police administered roadside breath test confirmed Osemwegie had indeed been drinking but, his blood/alcohol level was within the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle. Osemwegie was charged with speeding and having a television within view of the driver.

Old man fends off bear by ramming a branch down its throat

Duncan Riley — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:00:51 +0000

An elderly Canadian man has fended off an attacking bear by ramming a branch down its throat.

Father and son Tom and James Wanyandie were in the woods doing what ever Canadians do in the woods, when they accidentally stumbled across a bear cub. Before being able to raise a firearm (ostensibly to defend themselves), the mother bear attacked,

The bear went straight for James, but 77 year old Tom wasn’t prepared to sit back and allow this to happen. Tom charged toward the attacking bear, swearing at it in a local Indian language, before ramming a branch he’d been using as a walking stick down the animal’s throat.

According to local reports, it was enough to startle the bear and give the men a chance to get away. Despite a range of injuries, the pair made it back to their vehicle, where they later called from help.

Canada lost ground in the International ICT Development Index

Steven Hodson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:15:03 +0000

In a new report titled Measuring the Information Society the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) shares with the world its findings for 150 countries and their place in the International ICT Development Index. Needless to say I am not at all surprised to find out that Canada has slipped from 9th place in 2002 to 19th place in 2007. While the country’s absolute number increased over the five years (ie. ICT use increased) it was at a slower rate than many other countries.

During that five years no other country in the top 50 declined as rapidly as Canada as the country was passed by the US, Australia, New Zealand as well as a number of Asian and European countries. As Michael Geist reports in his post on this disappointing news

The decline in a sub-index on ICT use is even more dramatic. The sub-index measures Internet user penetration, fixed broadband penetration, and mobile broadband penetration. Canada ranked 4th worldwide in 2002. By 2007, we dropped to 21st worldwide. While the survey also includes data suggesting that Canada has relatively inexpensive fixed broadband (2nd worldwide), the declining numbers are consistent with other studies that indicate that any advantages that Canada had in the late 1990s have long since disappeared.

And people wonder why I get cranky when I talk about Canada and its place in a broadband world.

Bizarre: Canadian planes intercept Russian bombers before Obama visit

Duncan Riley — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:56:56 +0000

Canadian fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers near Canadian air space last week, only hours prior to a visit from US President Barack Obama.

The Canadian F-18’s intercepted two Russian TU-95 Bear bomber aircraft 118 miles (190 kms) northeast of Tuktoyuktuk.

The Russian aircraft were over international waters, and did not enter Canadian airspace, although Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn’t very happy none the less

“I have expressed at various times the deep concern our government has with increasingly aggressive Russian actions around the globe and Russian intrusions into our airspace,” Harper said at a news conference. “This government has responded every time the Russians have done that,” he said. “We will continue to respond, we will defend our airspace.”

The Russians claim that the flights were on a routine patrol mission and were doing nothing wrong.

Still, flying planes towards Canadian airspace on the day the US President was visiting couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. Are the Russians trying to send a message, and if so, what?

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Twitter to cost Canadians 15 cents a tweet

Steven Hodson — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:26:14 +0000

For those of you with short memories there was a point last year when Twitter had to cut off SMS service to Canada because it was costing them too much money. Granted those with smartphones or the overly inflated iPhone could still use the Twitter page itself but for those with regular cellphones – well we were shit out of luck.

Then on February 20th there was this exciting announcement on the Twitter blog about how they had just signed a deal with Bell Canada to bring back the SMS service (emphasis mine)

Today we’re super excited to be activating full, two-way SMS service for Canadian Twitter-ers who are also customers of Bell Mobility. If you’re a Bell Mobility customer, you can update Twitter via SMS and receive updates from Twitter via SMS. There are no limits and no added fees (beyond your normal texting plan). If you haven’t already, you can activate your phone to Twitter over SMS. Special thanks to Bell’s enthusiasm and eagerness to make this happen.

So you would think everyone would be happy eh?

Guess again because it turns out that little bit of emphasized text in the quote above is a load of bullshit. It turns out that Bell is going to be charging 15 cents for messages sent and received because they say that Twitter is a premium service and therefore isn’t covered by normal company texting plans. Oh by the way this is an exclusive deal – meaning that only Bell can offer Twitter in Canada for the length of the agreement. So screw Rogers, Telus or Fido users – you get no Twitter.

This first broke via The Montreal Gazette and then followed up by The Toronto Star and has now spread to Twitter itself using the hashtag of #belltwit. From The Gazette we get the following

Three months after scrapping its mobile service in Canada, Twitter, a popular microblogging service, inked an exclusive deal with Bell to let its wireless customers "tweet" from their handsets using text messages.

But it will cost users 15 cents per message sent or received – even if the user has an unlimited text-messaging plan.

A spokesperson for Bell said Twitter is considered a "premium" third-party service, and so it’s not covered under text plans.

And from the Toronto Star

However, Twitter’s Canadian users were dealt a blow last year after part of the service was discontinued because of the high cost of sending and receiving text messages in Canada. Twitter had apparently been footing the bill for its Canadian subscribers’ incoming text messages.

"We can’t afford to support this service given our current arrangement with our providers (where costs have been doubling for the past several months)," according to a Twitter blog posting from November.

Now, the costs will be borne by the users themselves.

Carmi Levy, the senior vice-president of strategic consulting for AR Communications Inc., said his Twitter use was unaffected by last year’s SMS blackout because he uses a smartphone version of the service that is supported by his monthly data plan.

But he said that Twitter subscribers who don’t own iPhones or BlackBerry-type devices can expect some hefty monthly bills depending on how many other Twitter users they are following.

"It can be dozens or even hundreds of messages (per day)," Levy said. "I sent out just one question earlier this afternoon and I got 15 responses."

As a Canadian and knowing how badly we get screwed by our telephone/internet companies this news really doesn’t surprise me that much at all. However I have to wonder if Twitter knew that there would indeed be charges and if so how much of a cut are they going to be getting of that money.

Apparently they haven’t responded to any questions from the newspapers.

Canada increases its ‘you are a digital criminal’ tax

Steven Hodson — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:15:31 +0000

Here in Canada we have the pleasure of paying some of the highest prices for blank CDs due to the fact that it is thought that anyone using blank CD is automatically a copyright breaking criminal. This is the same idea that was a popular believe back when cassettes were all the rage. The belief was; and heavily promoted by the recording industry – then and now – that there is no reason why anyone would want to use blank CDS other than to pirate music.

This resulted in a 21 cent tax being levied per blank CD which before any other of our famous taxes being applied cost the consumer $11.99 per 50 pack of blanks – without cases. Now that is pretty well the cheapest price with it ranging upward from there depending on the store. Don’t expect that price if you’re shopping in a brick and mortar retailer.

The increase of 8 cents to 29 cents levy on each blank CD-R is being justified by the Copyright Board of Canada because of the increasing usage of compression which allows for more stuff to be recorded on CDs. The interesting thing is that this digital criminal tax isn’t being applied to blank DVD even though they hold more data. This has resulted in CDs being more expensive to buy than blank DVD.

This ~~tax~~ levy amounts to about $30 million per year which is then handed right over to the music industry with a wink and a nod that the musicians will see any of the money.

Crowdsourcing cold case files

Steven Hodson — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:38:01 +0000

It might not be America’s Most Wanted but the police force in Toronto Ontario Canada have been in the forefront of reaching out and using all the web tools available to it. A few years ago when trying to solve a murder of a 22 year old in a club shooting they posted a video to YouTube in the hopes that it would help identify the killers. Fast forward to today and we have things like the Toronto Crime Stoppers YouTube channel and Facebook Page.

Not satisfied with just those couple of options the Toronto Police department has setup a homicide website that will give people the opportunity to help with both current and old cold cases. While the site might not be the epitome of what we think social services site to look like it is definitely a beginning of an interesting way to get people involved.

From the main page of the new site you can select to look through a list of current unsolved cases, unsolved cold cases and a list of the Most Wanted in Canada. In all the available unsolved listings you will find at least a link to a Google Map of where the murder took place. In some cases they will also provide addition links to other information including any YouTube posting they have made relating to the case.

The Toronto Police have apparently been experiencing some pretty good solve rates using these additional sources of getting information – good enough to impress a recent Interpol conference.

Chalk one up for us Canucks.

Canadian students pull support for Cystic Fibrosis charity saying CF is a “white disease”

Duncan Riley — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:49:15 +0000

A Canadian University Students Association is causing local outrage after deciding to withdraw support for a Cystic Fibrosis charity because Cystic Fibrosis is a “white disease.” If that’s not bad enough, the same group also noted that it affects mostly men as well

The Carleton University Students Association voted Monday night in favour of choosing a new charity to support during its orientation week in September, in place of Shinerama, which raises money for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The Globe and Mail reported that the student council motion stated that orientation week “strives to be inclusive” and “all orientees and volunteers should feel like their fundraising efforts will serve their diverse communities.”

Shinerama foundation CEO Cathleen Morrison noted that CF is a fatal genetic disease that affects males and females equally, and although it is more prevelent among white people, it affects people of European, North African, Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, although black and East Asian populations aren’t immune.

Political correctness gone mad.