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Newsstand: January 5, 2015
On this day in 1895, French captain Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his rank after being convicted of treason. The Dreyfus Affair was a sad chapter in French history and almost tore the Third Republic apart. In today's (2015) news: a ticketing and towing blitz begins to enforce a no-tolerance rule on illegal parking, the implementation of a province-wide computer system in Children's Aid Societies may take years longer than expected, a model says her face was used to advertise skin-lightening procedures without her consent, and the Pan Am velodrome hosts its first test event.
Starting today, Mayor John Tory’s plan to enforce a no-tolerance rule regarding illegal parking (part of a larger effort to curb traffic congestion) begins. If you drive in the city, you’ve been warned: park legally or face tickets and towing, even if the mayor has to drive a truck himself to get it done. Seriously, he said that.
The province-wide computer system that Children’s Aid Societies are expected to have fully online by the end of 2016 will actually take until the 2019-2020 fiscal year to put in place, according to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. The system, known as CPIN, is intended to make information sharing easier between cities and regions in the province, and the Jeffrey Baldwin inquest jury recommended it be in place by the end of 2016. Jeffrey Baldwin’s grandparents won custody of Baldwin and his siblings despite having previously been convicted of child abuse, and it was precisely because the Catholic Children’s Aid Society didn’t unearth those convictions in its files until after Baldwin’s death.
Toronto model Chinthiya Rajah, of Sri Lankan descent and a vocal opponent of skin lightening, says a photo of her was used without her consent to advertise the website lightnaturalskin.com, which is run by local private health clinic the Liberty Clinic. Rajah, who has worked as a model for more than a decade, says she never signed a release allowing her photos to be used in such a manner. The clinic, when contacted by the Toronto Star, said it had gotten her photo from a stock image site. Following a social media-based controversy, the clinic removed the ads featuring Rajah’s face. “In my culture, paler is better, but I don’t support that,” Rajah told the Star. “I’m the type of person that believes in embracing your skin tone no matter what your colour is.”
The $56-million velodrome in Milton will host its first event leading up to the 2015 Pan Am Games: the Canadian Track Championships. The velodrome boasts a 250-metre oval indoor cycling track that is the only one in the country to adhere to international cycling regulations. Rather than travelling to the U.S. to train, as they have had to until now, Canadian cyclists can train in Milton.