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Senate committee okays reproduction bill

Globe and Mail Update

A Senate committee has unanimously passed legislation that bans human cloning and paves the way for the limited use of human embryos in medical research.
Approval by the committee on social affairs, science and technology virtually guarantees that the legislation, which has been in the works for more than a decade, will be passed by the House into law. The bill was approved without amendments Wednesday.
Federal Minister of Health Pierre Pettigrew reinstated The Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research (Bill C-13) in the House of Commons on Feb 12.
In October, the legislation passed by a count of 149 to 109. The bill did not make it through the Senate before the Liberal government shut down the House in November.
It had completed second reading in the Senate and was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology for review.
The most controversial portion of the proposed legislation would allow a government-appointed agency to approve using embryos left over from fertility clinics for stem-cell research. Many scientists consider human embryos the best source of stem cells, a promising component of regenerative medicine that may one day provide treatments for several con***ions, including Parkinson''s disease.
The bill would also create the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada to monitor clinics that deal with in vitro fertilizations and fertility. The agency would be involved in licensing, protecting the health of those undergoing fertility procedures, and in the collection of data.
The need for the legislation was flagged 10 years ago when a blue-chip committee produced a report calling for immediate regulation. A later bill died in the House six years ago.

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Police struggle in Cecilia case

The investigation: Lack of clothing, missing tenants hamper officers probing death of Toronto girl
By JAN WONG
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - Page A1

TORONTO -- The accidental discovery of Cecilia Zhang''s remains over the weekend points to a dispiriting conclusion: the five-month intensive police investigation has produced almost nothing.
At the scene of her abduction -- her home at 33 Whitehorn Cres. in north Toronto -- police have never said that there is no damning footprint under the window where intruders climbed in, no fibres, no fingerprints. Police have never even named a suspect.
Usually, the discovery of the body is considered a major breakthrough. But in this case, sources say that Cecilia''s skeletal remains were found on Saturday without clothing. And insiders say there is likely to be little DNA evidence at the scene that would provide them with a suspect.
(When the nine-year-old disappeared last fall, no clothing description was ever released, suggesting that she was abducted without even her pajamas.)
The method of her abduction -- from her bedroom during the night -- points to people familiar with the layout of the house in north Toronto. Her parents rented one of the upstairs bedrooms and four other rooms in their basement to mainland Chinese visa students.
In the five years since they bought the house, at least 20 or more students have lived there, a family friend said.
Yet police have failed to interview all the tenants, a police spokesman conceded yesterday. Pressed to say whether every Zhang tenant had been tracked down, Mark Pugash, the spokesman, said only that ''''a considerable number of people" had been interviewed.
"We''ve been as exhaustive as it''s possible to be, given how mobile people are," he added. He declined to give specifics.
Yesterday, Detective Sergeant Gerry Cashman, the chief homicide investigator in the case, told reporters outside the Zhang home he would not alter his method or approach. ''''Our investigation is continuing as it had before and we''re not going to change the direction of our investigation."
Yesterday, Cecilia''s father confirmed in a telephone interview that his wife had received two mysterious calls on her cellphone before they discovered their daughter was missing. The first call came in around 6:50 a.m. The second came in a few minutes before 8 a.m.
Both times, the caller said nothing. Around 8 a.m., the Zhangs realized Cecilia wasn''t in her bed. After frantically checking to make sure she hadn''t gone to school by herself, they called the police.
Veronica Persaud, who was picking up her child from Cecilia''s school yesterday, asked whether police had done enough. "As a parent, I would like to know if they [the police] did focus in that area [around where phone calls were made]. Did they focus immediately, as soon as they got the calls?"
In fact, both pay phones were quickly dusted for fingerprints, but that seems to have led nowhere.
Yesterday afternoon, two police dogs searched the wooded area where Cecilia''s remains were found near the parking lot of the Church of the Croatian Martyrs in Mississauga. Police at the scene said almost nothing about their investigation except that they expected the search to end tonight.
Authorities said yesterday they have set up a joint task force of Toronto and Peel homicide detectives, including ***ual-assault squad members.
They were noncomittal about whether they would reinterview tenants in the Zhang household.
Hazel McCallion, the Mississauga mayor who visited the scene yesterday, said that not too many outsiders would know of the wooded area behind the church. ''''It''s interesting that they had chosen this area," she said. ''''You can''t drive through Mississauga and know of a spot like this.'''' Since Cecilia''s disappearance last Oct. 20, police have grid-searched her Toronto neighbourhood, canvassed door-to-door, put out an alert to international agencies and followed up on hundreds of hot-line tips. But what worked swiftly in the Holly Jones abduction-and-murder case last year was unproductive in Cecilia''s kidnapping.
Toronto police may have missed critical opportunities because of an intrinsic lack of cultural understanding, law-enforcement experts say. Cordell Hart, director of the Center for Asian Crime Studies in Washington, D.C., said he was amazed that Toronto police had not contacted every former tenant, or at least publicized a list of names of those who could not be immediately found.
''''I know a lot of people in the U.S. government who would be happy to run some traces," said Mr. Hart, a retired CIA China-operations case officer.
Early on, he had offered the unpaid assistance of an expert in mainland Chinese crime, Duan Daqi, the only police liaison officer stationed overseas. Mr. Hart works with Mr. Duan, who is stationed at the Chinese embassy in Washington, on a variety of law-enforcement issues.
''''To have the best shot at assessing tenants, you need someone who speaks exactly that language," said Mr. Hart, who speaks fluent Chinese. ''''But they can''t just be Chinese. They must be trained in interrogation and investigation, in perfect wavelength with the language and culture. You''re looking for something that will tip you off. I submit that if Duan Daqi sits down with someone from mainland China and just chats, he could probably say this guy is on the level, or this guy is antsy.'''' Toronto police do have officers who speak Mandarin and Cantonese, ''''enough to be able to help at various press conferences," according to Mr. Pugash, the police spokesman. But he would not provide specific numbers of Chinese-speaking officers. Nor could he say whether any of these officers are familiar with mainland Chinese culture or idiom, or how much they had assisted in interviewing tenants and former tenants.
The original lead investigator, Dave Perry, confirmed yesterday that he had had several e-mail exchanges with Mr. Hart, the Washington official. ''''He''s not the only person who offered diplomatic assistance, but we went through our own channels," said Mr. Perry, who retired late last year.
Asked specifically if Toronto police had received help in Toronto from mainland Chinese criminal investigators, Mr. Perry referred further questions to his successor. Mr. Cashman didn''t return a call seeking comment or a message left with the Toronto police communications department. Mr. Pugash said that while mainland Chinese police gave their ''''co-operation" in locating people, they had not come to Toronto to assist police here.
After Mr. Perry''s retirement, Mr. Hart said he left e-mail and phone messages for Mr. Cashman. To make sure he had received the messages, Mr. Hart enlisted the help of an American friend with connections to the RCMP. He says Mr. Cashman finally called him back about five weeks ago.
''''I was very unhappy with the ''thanks, but no thanks'' call. They said, ''We''re making great progress, and we have offers from all over the world,'' "'' said Mr. Hart, who had offered to pay the costs of Mr. Duan''s air fare and hotel.
Experts in Chinese culture and history have said that Toronto police -- and Cecilia''s parents -- may have inadvertently violated a well-choreographed tra***ion: pay off the ransom quietly without ever alerting law enforcement. Instead, Cecilia''s mother, Sherry Xu, ran to school and then, at the principal''s suggestion, called the police.
Despite the apparent lack of progress, Mr. Cashman gave this warning to Cecilia''s killers. "As always, turn yourself in," he said. ''''We are coming. We are looking. We are going to find you. There are no stops. There is nothing we aren''t going to do to locate the individual responsible. My best advice is get a lawyer and call us."

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Canada Rules Against File Sharing Suits
Wed Mar 31, 7:54 PM ET
TORONTO - A Canadian federal court ruled Wednesday against a motion that would have let the music industry begin suing individuals who share copyright music on the Internet.

Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled that the Canadian Recording Industry Association did not prove copyright infringement by 29 "music uploaders."
He said downloading a song or making files available in shared directories, as facilitated by the popular "peer-to-peer" Kazaa service, does not constitute copyright infringement under Canadian law.
"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings," von Finckenstein wrote. "They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service."
He compared the action to a photocopy machine in a library. "I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P service," he said.
The recording industry has argued that it, and likewise artists, have suffered billions of dollars in lost revenue as tens of millions of people have turned the Internet into a music-swapping bazaar.
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America has launched almost 2,000 lawsuits against file swappers since last year. The RIAA has settled some 400 cases, generally for a few thousand dollars each.
The Canadian ruling is similar to a U.S. court setback for the recording industry in its campaign of legal intimidation to discourage online file-swapping. In December, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the industry can''''t force Internet providers to identify file-swappers unless they first file a lawsuit.
Just as that made the process of identifying defendants more cumbersome, so does the Canadian judge''''s decision.
The Canadian Recording Industry Association took five Internet service providers, including Bell Canada, Rogers Cable and Shaw Communications, to Federal Court last month, trying to force the companies to hand over the names and addresses of 29 people who allegedly shared hundreds of songs with others last November and December.
The individuals are currently identifiable only through a numeric Internet address and user handles, and the association can''''t begin civil litigation the alleged offenders are identified.
The judge''''s denial of the recording industry''''s request means Internet providers won''''t have to divulge their client list.
The Canadian Recording Industry Association''''s lawyer said the group expected to appeal and said Canadian law needs to be altered to reflect technological change.
"In our view, the copyright law in Canada does not allow people to put hundreds or thousands of music files on the Internet for copying, transmission and distribution to millions of strangers," said attorney Richard Pfohl.
University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist, who specializes in Internet and e-commerce law, anticipates the decision will push the industry to increase its lobbying efforts for copyright reform.
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khè khè, thích nhất câu này
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Arial" id=quote>Trích từ:
Justice Konrad von Finckenstein
"I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P (peer-to-peer) service," he wrote.
[/QUOTE]
Được emxinh sửa chữa / chuyển vào 15:28 ngày 01/04/2004

Human error led to near collision, report says

Canadian Press :
Toronto ?" Two commercial aircraft carrying a total of 113 people came close to colliding after a controller broke from standard procedure and one pilot failed to report trouble with his landing gear, a report on the 2002 accident concludes.
No one was hurt in the Aug. 25 near-collision at Pearson International Airport in Toronto nearly two years ago, but the report released Thursday by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada indicates that the aircraft were moments from disaster, coming within 30 metres of each other.
A Cessna 206 float plane with four people aboard was cleared for landing and was told to hold short of an intersecting runway. Meanwhile, a Northwest Airlines DC-9 with 104 passengers and five crew was taking off from the same runway, the report says.
Seconds from touchdown, the pilot of the Cessna operated by Cameron Air Services of Toronto told the controller he needed to circle because of trouble with his landing gear.
The Northwest Airlines flight was already taking off, and both aircraft had to make hard turns to avoid colliding, the report says.
It says ?othe Cessna pilot''s decision-making and airmanship, as well as the controller''s use of ad-hoc procedures, were significant factors contributing to this occurrence.?
The report indicates ?oit would have been prudent? for the pilot to advise the air-traffic controller that his right main landing-gear light had not illuminated and that he might need to ?ogo around? before landing.
It also says the controller did not accurately assess the possibility of a go-around when planning the use of simultaneous procedures on intersecting runways.
A lineup of aircraft waiting to take off prompted the controller to stray from authorized procedures.
?oWith a line of approximately 15 to 20 aircraft waiting for departure,? the controller decided to switch from ?osequential to simultaneous operation,? the report says.
Investigators concluded that it would have taken another 45 to 50 seconds for the Cessna to make a normal landing, but by then the Northwest Airlines passenger jet was already taking off.
When the Cessna pilot told the controller he had landing-gear trouble and wanted to go around, the controller ordered him to make a hard left turn.
The Northwest crew had to make a hard right.
After the incident, the Cessna was ordered to fly to Toronto''s City Centre Island Airport, its home base, while the Northwest Airlines flight continued its planned course to Minneapolis.

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Canada''s child poverty rate has increased for the first time since 1996, with nearly 16 per cent of children across the country now living below the poverty line, a new report says.
Nearly one in six Canadian children â?" a total of 1,065,000 â?" are living in low-income homes, and a third of all Canadian children have been exposed to poverty for at least a year since 1996.
Across Canada, 10 per cent of couples with children and more than 50 per cent of single mothers live an average of $9,000 below the poverty line, the report says.
The situation is even worse in several provinces, led by British Columbia, where the average low-income couple lives $10,000 below the poverty line, and the average low-income single mother lives $10,400 below the poverty line. Manitoba and Ontario are also in worse shape than the national average.
Poor jobs are largely to blame, the report says, noting that almost half the country''s low-income children have parents who worked for the whole year in 2002, while a quarter had at least one parent working full time all year round.
A strong economy has also done nothing to close the gap between rich and poor: The top 10 per cent richest Canadian families have average incomes more than 11 times higher than the poorest 10 per cent.
Meanwhile, the use of food banks continues to rise, hitting a record in 2003, when children comprised 317,242 of food bank users.
Regulated child-care programs serve only 12 per cent of all children up to the age of 12, the report says. It urges the government to move "from an incoherent patchwork of early learning and child care services to a framework of universally accessible, publicly-funded programs that are affordable and widely available for all children."
Other suggestions made by Campaign 2000 in the report include:
Increasing federal transfer payments to the provinces for social services
Consolidating child benefits into a single program and raising the maximum child benefit to $4,900
Ending provincial claw backs for social assistance programs
Significantly expanding access to affordable housing -- specifically, the construction of 25,000 new affordable housing units every year for the next five years
A renewed social safety net through the Canada Social Transfer
Restoring eligibility to Employment Insurance
Raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour
Addressing labour market barriers to excluded groups

QUEBEC -- Faced with growing student protests, Premier Jean Charest''s government abandoned one plan to reform the provincial student-loan system Wednesday in favour of a new scheme.
As students staged a protest in Quebec City and prepared for another later in Montreal, Education Minister Jean-Marc Fournier announced the government will no longer tie student-loan repayment to income.
Instead, a plan will be launched to forgive student loans for the poorest students.
Students stormed out of a Tuesday night meeting where Fournier outlined the plan. The students are demanding the government reverse a decision converting $103 million in student grants into loans.
"They want the same thing as before, there is no place to negotiate,'''' Fournier said Wednesday.
Fournier said his new plan will help the poorest students more than the old bursary program did. Fournier''s plan would cost $41.5 million next year, rising to $95.5 million by 2010.
(iem cũng đi nhưng mừ đi được có 1/2 lol.)