FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
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| NEWS Special dates for the month of June The month of June marks the official start of summer as well as several other noteworthy dates. Environment Week runs until June 7, during which community members are encouraged to take part in environmentally friendly practices such as leaving the car at home and walking, cycling, rollerblading or busing to work. Some other special weeks include: Deaf-Blind Awareness Week, June 1-7; The National Tournament at Spruce Meadows, June 3-7; Native Awareness Week, June 15 to 21; and Calgary Jazz Festival, June 19-28. In addition to the Summer Solstice and Father's Day, which land on June 21, other designated days are: World Environment Day, June 5; Ride for Heart (Heart and Stroke Foundation), June 7; Super Cities Walk (Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada), June 7; National Neighborhood Party, June 14; World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, June 17; National Aboriginal Day, June 21; and International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, June 26. Clean Calgary paint exchange If you have a garage full of unwanted paint cans, or need some chap paint to finish projects around your home or community, visit the Clean Calgary Great Paint Round-Up on Saturday, June 6 at the Manchester Yards (Dartmouth road and 25th Avenue SE) south of the Stampede Grounds. The round-up is described as a win-win environmental project - good paint will be used, while paint that isn't usable will be properly disposed of. Due to the cooperation of the Alberta Paint Contractors Association, there will also be several thousand additional cans of paint this year. Unwanted paint can be dropped off at no charge. Paint can be picked up for $1 per can, up to four litres, to help cover the cost of the event. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. Since 1992, the round-up has diverted over 100,000 cans of usable paint from the waste stream back into the community, where it can be used. Contact the Clean Calgary office at 230-1443 for more information. Green Party wants federal government to step in Joan Russow, leader of the Green Party of Canada, wants the federal minister of fisheries and oceans to take over the prosecution of an Alberta feedlot operator who is alleged to have dumped 30 million litres of sewage into the Saskatchewan River Basin. "Alberta has been far too lenient on polluters," says Russow. According to Russow, examples of leniency include the plea bargain arrangement with Bovar, owners of the Swan Hills Waste Treatment Plant, over illegal emissions, and the recent private prosecution commenced by Martha Kostuch against Ri-Dale trucking in Rocky Mountain House for allegedly mining gravel directly from the North Saskatchewan River. An estimated 30 million litres of raw, untreated sewage from the Western Feedlot site near Mossleigh, Alberta was released into the West Arrowwood Creek, two kilometres upstream of the Bow River. The feedlot finishes approximately 200,000 cattle annually. The Green Party claims the catastrophe has impacted the entire Saskatchewan River Basin, which extends from Alberta through to Manitoba. "When there is virtually no government monitoring or policing of intensive agriculture, the government becomes an accomplice in these national disasters," says Russow. "If the Alberta government is going to put business interests above all else, somebody must intervene, and that somebody is the minister of fisheries and oceans. "As water is the lifeblood or our nation, the federal government must assert its authority in protecting the water, the fish, and the health of the citizens downstream of Mossleigh." Alberta Cup Mountain Bike Race at COP Hundreds of mountain bikers will tear up the trails at Canada Olympic park June 6 and 7 for the Alberta Cub Mountain Bike Race. The dual slalom races begin on Saturday, and the cross-country circuit runs on Sunday. This year a new element has been added - a trials competition will also take place on Sunday. Sanctioned by the Alberta Bicycling Association, the event runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days. A bike expo and trade show will also be held during the weekend event, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with bike shops from Calgary on-site. The Alberta Cup Mountain Bike Race is open to men and women of all ages and abilities, with $2,500 in cash and prizes to be won. Call 247-5452 to register or for more information. The event is free to the public. Burned areas to be re-forested Labatt Breweries Prairie Region, Alberta Environmental Protection (AEP) and the Junior Forest Wardens have launched a campaign to help re-forest the fire-ravaged areas of Alberta. Labatt will make a donation for every case of Wildcat or Wildcat Strong beer sold in Alberta between now and Labour Day, 1998. When matched with funds from AEP, one seedling will be planted for every case of Wildcat sold in Alberta. "This is a great way for the public and private sector to work together to enhance and restore our forests," says AEP Minister Ty Lund. "This program will provide up to one million seedlings that will be planted in burned out areas of the province." The program will also involve Alberta's Junior Forest Wardens, who will help plant the seedlings. Lunds says the children and families involved will receive a valuable educational opportunity to see how forests can be regenerated after a catastrophic season. The program will run from June 15 to September 1, 1998. Details will be available where Wildcat is sold. The seedlings will be ordered this fall for distribution and planting next year. "The people who buy our products, especially Wildcat, are the same people who are out and enjoying Alberta's forests," comments Labatt regional president Marc Portelance. Number of spousal assaults drop In 1996, 89 per cent of spousal assaults reported to police in Canada were against female victims and 11 per cent were against males. Between 1993 and 1996, the reported incidents of spousal violence dropped by seven per cent. However, the pattern differs for male and female victims: incidents involving male victims rose six per cent, whereas those involving females fell nine per cent. The overall drop in reported spousal assaults is consistent with the decline in overall crime rates during the same period. The 1993 Violence Against Women Survey lends itself to analysis of a number of factors that affect the risk of being the female victim of spousal assault. The strongest risk factor is the presence of emotional abuse by male spouses, particularly degrading name-calling. Other factors increasing the risk of victimization are the age of the couple (18 to 24 years of age), living in a common-law relationship, long-term unemployment on the part of the male partner, and witnessing violence as a child (by either the man or the woman). In 1996, children under 18 were victims in 22 per cent of the violent crimes reported to police. Family members were responsible for one-fifth of physical assaults and one-third of sexual assaults on children. Parents were the most likely perpetrators in cases of family-related physical (64 per cent) and sexual (43 per cent) assaults against children. Fathers were responsible for 73 per cent of physical assaults and 98 per cent of sexual assaults committed by parents. Girls and boys appear to be vulnerable to abuse by family members at different stages of their development. In cases of sexual assault, girls are more likely to be victimized at 12 to 15 years of age, compared with four to eight years of age for boys. The likelihood of being physically assaulted by a family member increases with age for girls, reaching a peak at age 17. For boys, the peak age for physical assault is 13, and then it declines. In cases of homicide, spousal killings are often preceded by a history of violence. Between 1991 and 1996, police officers were aware of previous domestic violence between the victim and the suspect in 56 per cent of all spousal homicides. One-quarter of family homicides involving children and seniors also had a known history of violence. Between 1977 and 1996, there were 12,666 victims of homicide in Canada, one-third of which involved family members. The largest category of family homicides during this time period involved spouses (49 per cent), followed by children killed by a parent (22 per cent) and parents killed by a child (10 per cent). For children under 18, the highest risk of homicide occurs within the first two years of life. In 1996, the rate of homicide for infants under two was seven times higher than the rate of homicide for those aged two to 17. The data for this report are drawn from a number of sources, including police reports from the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR II), as well as the Homicide Survey, the 1993 Violence Against Women Survey, and the Transition Home Survey. Source: Statistics Canada. |
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