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Weekend Newsstand: February 7, 2015
There are now six confirmed cases of measles in Toronto. In the news: Ontario's children's aid societies need new language to discuss the kids in their care, one Junction Triangle man's crusade against a sign has positive results, and Enbridge's embattled Line 9 project might be up and running before we know it.
Ontario’s children’s aid societies use outdated and offensive terminology that alienates the very young people they’re trying to help, according to a recent Metro report. Terms like “apprehending” for taking a child out of their family’s care; “probation” for the initial phase of a child staying in a new foster home; and “custody” and “runaway” all lend the affected children a semi-criminal air. Instead, according to the Children in Limbo Task Force, language needs to be both modernized and humanized to make clear that case workers understand their wards are human beings with feelings who understand how they’re being talked about. The task force has submitted this information to the ongoing five-year review of Ontario’s Child and Family Services Act.
Junction Triangle resident Daniel Masih has overcome tremendous personal tragedy in the last year, but he can also look at a recent victory: his campaign to have an offensive sign removed from outside a church-turned-loft building has been successful. The sign read “Praise the loft,” an attempt to tie the new living spaces to the building’s historical religious purpose. Masih’s tragedy was unrelated: his older brother and that brother’s two sons were found, dead, in a burned-out car near Barrie in July. The investigation is still ongoing, but police have said they are “satisfied” that the person who caused the deaths also died in the car. Masih’s tragedy had no bearing on his desire to see this sign removed, though, according to him. He was raised Catholic, which is why he found the sign offensive. Alex Spiegel, head of the loft’s developer, has decided to cover up the offending phrase.
A spokesman for Calgary energy company Enbridge says the company plans to ask for permission to open the Line 9 pipeline “within the next day or two,” according to the CBC. The pipeline already exists; the plan is to reverse the flow of oil and gas. The National Energy Board approved the project in March of last year but imposed several conditions. Then, the project was supposed to go live in November, but was delayed by the discovery that only six of 104 water crossings had valves within one kilometre of the water on both sides. Critics of the project say that with this announcement by Enbridge, it looks like the NEB has caved into the company’s demands.