Ask Questions First, Shoot Never
Blood Tribe Police Chief Kyle Melting Tallow is growing his hair out. When I visited the police station in Standoff on the Blood Reserve in late September, his face was framed by a wave of black [...]
By Doug Horner
Justice
Justice
Should there be mandatory minimum sentences?
Lisa Silver The U of C assistant professor of law says no Our legal system is a reflection of who we are as a society. The values at the core of that system promote fairness and justice. These [...]
Taking Back the Neighbourhood
When he moved into a 1960s-era northside bungalow in Lethbridge six years ago, Clint Russnaik liked his new neighbourhood. It was a “great place,” he says, somewhere where “nothing bad happened.” [...]
By Jeff Doherty
Courtroom 356
If you want a glimpse of criminal justice in Alberta, walk up to Courtroom 356 in Edmonton on a weekday morning. Once you go through the glass doors into the foyer, the air smells just a bit of [...]
By Jay Smith
Justice For None
Blair Jason Hinkley, accused of aggravated sexual assault, was released from an Alberta prison in 2016 because the Crown took too long to bring the case to trial. Hinkley was then arrested again, [...]
By Barb Howard
Retrospective: Game Changer
In 2008 the Beaver Lake Cree’s chief councillor, Alphonse Lameman, filed a court action against the governments of Canada and Alberta, alleging that the cumulative effects of industrial [...]
By Arno Kopecky
Are We Serious About Truth and Reconciliation?
For well over a decade I’ve talked to Canadians about the issues Indigenous peoples face. I’ve challenged stereotypes and tried to build relationships that will get us beyond stubborn [...]
Close Contact
The Correctional peace officer counts his inmates differently than his colleagues in other units of the Edmonton Remand Centre do. Each prisoner stands at ease beside his cellmate outside his [...]
Medicare On Trial
An epic battle is underway in a Vancouver courtroom, with doctors, patients and experts clashing over how best to meet the healthcare needs of Canadians. Less visible—but nonetheless central to [...]
Canada’s Top Judge
The Grand Entrance Hall of the Supreme Court in Ottawa is beautiful in an imposing, not to say forbidding, way. Lined with three kinds of marble in chaste tones of beige and gold, punctuated by [...]
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MOST READ
From Dismissed to Disposable
Dawn is breaking January 1, 2020, when I receive a phone call. The paramedic on the other end informs me that my brother, Olivier, has fallen and can’t get up. Administrators of the lodge where Olivier lives have told the paramedic that Olivier has schizophrenia, and the paramedic wants to ...
An Unwanted Voice
In August 2019 the government of Alberta invited me to join the 16-person board of governors at the Banff Centre for an initial three-year term. I had applied through normal channels, was vetted, and was grateful for the appointment to this volunteer role at a place I knew well and cared ...
Holy Healthcare
Just tell them we don’t have it here.” That’s what the nurse told me in Killam Hospital, an hour east of Camrose. I’d asked what would happen if a woman came into our ER asking for the morning-after pill. The nurse wasn’t being self-righteous, but simply explaining the policy.
As ...