Another investigation reveals another school board gone very, very wrong

Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter

“School boards are really important political entities,” Osgoode Hall law professor Patrick Case told reporters at Queen’s Park on Tuesday. “For a lot of people who come to Canada, this is their first connection with this sort of governance in their lives. … They’re tremendously important to get right.”

Wise words. Alas, school boards have a notorious habit of going very, very wrong. Case, along with veteran public servant Suzanne Herbert, were at the legislature to present their review of the York Region District School Board, which Education Minister Mitzie Hunter requested in January after a festival of bad press. Most notably there was dodgy spending on “jurisdictional learning” (edu-speak for “almost certainly pointless international travel”), and there was now-former trustee Nancy Elgie, who refused to resign for months despite being caught on tape calling a student’s mother the N-word (she claimed a head injury had turned her into a racist; we were to assume she would soon recover).

It is, in a word, withering. Based on their discussions with trustees, Case and Herbert sensed “little appreciation for (trustees’) individual and collective responsibility for the circumstances that … led to this review.” Somehow, in this ultrasensitive era and with York Region’s hugely diverse constituency of students and parents, they evinced no “appreciation of their obligation to take a strong and unequivocal stand against racism and intolerance.” None even launched a code of conduct complaint against Elgie — though in another case a “racialized trustee” was forced “to make an apology for the use of the term ‘white privilege’.” Case and Herbert found code of conduct complaints “are generally used selectively and as an intimidation tactic,” and described a “culture of fear” among more well-meaning trustees.  (more...)

Another investigation reveals another school board gone very, very wrong

More coverage:

York school board needs fresh leadership

Now, watch the diversion to gender ideology -- standard operating procedure for Cultural Marxists, courtesy of the OISE mafia.

Ban all travel at troubled York board, report to recommend

York Region trustees and senior staff — including the director of education — should be banned from all international travel amid growing concerns about where they are going and why many have made repeat trips, says a report to be released Tuesday on the scandal-plagued public school board.

Sources told the Star the two ministry reviewers ordered to probe the troubled board found trustees’ lack of concern for their use of public funds “astounding.”

The “full moratorium” is one of the many recommendations of a much-anticipated report by Patrick Case and Sue Herbert that will touch on a number of controversies first reported in the Star around the board’s inaction on issues of racism, Islamophobia, as well as a worsening culture of fear within the organization.

The reviewers heard concerns from many community members about the cost of the trips, including some staff and trustees making multiple visits to the same location with no clear purpose.  (more...)

Ban all travel at troubled York board, report to recommend

Related:

Almost half of TDSB students expelled over last 5 years are black, report says

No, Muslims are not taking over public school boards

Moving from religious accommodation to religious acceptance

Hate religion in public schools? Yell at your MPP, not your school board

Celebrating Canada's heritage

Former Vancouver ballet teacher accused of sexual exploitation dies

A former Vancouver ballet teacher accused of sexual exploitation has died.

Back in November 2014, Alejandro Vargas Gomez was taken into custody on two counts of sexual exploitation and one count of luring.

He was an instructor at the Goh Ballet Academy, and police alleged that he’d begun a sexual relationship with a student, who was between 16 and 18 years old, in January that year.

Dan McLaughlin with the Criminal Justice Branch confirms Gomez is now dead and his charges have been abated.

No information is being provided as to his cause of death, or whether he died in custody.  (more...)

Former Vancouver ballet teacher accused of sexual exploitation dies

Background:

Goh Ballet Academy teacher facing charges of sexual exploitation, luring

Tax haven blacklisting in Latin America

As governments (slowly) get to grips with the fact that tax havens are inflicting great harm on economies and democracies across the globe, facilitating mega amounts of tax dodging, and vast movements of criminal money by way of the secrecy services some of them offer, the question of our times is how we deal with them. Attempts to create tax haven blacklists (in order to potentially implement sanctions for non-cooperative jurisdictions) have so far been farcical as we’ve noted many times, most recently commenting on the European Union’s current work compiling its own blacklist system, here and here. So far the criteria for inclusion in tax haven blacklists has been weak, such lists have been ineffective and it’s been far too easy for some of the world’s worst offenders to wriggle their way out of them, or simply be big and bad enough not to worry about being included in the first place – for example – Tax Haven USA. If the EU, or anyone else really wanted to do this properly, the work’s already been done for them – with the best objective ranking available – the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index.

Anyway, we were very interested to see that Brazil attempted to tackle Irish tax havenry in September 2016 by putting Ireland on its tax haven blacklist, effective more or less immediately.

Today we’re happy to share an article by Macroeconomics Professor Juan Valerdi [1] (of La Plata National University and El Salvador University) based on the conclusions of his research looking at the approaches of 13 Latin American governments to tackling tax havens.  (more...)

Tax haven blacklisting in Latin America

Related:

Now Brazil puts Ireland on its tax haven blacklist

Polish Auschwitz volunteer Pilecki Report published. Soon to go worldwide

"Witold's Report" - the first report on attrocities of the Holocaust written down by "bravest of the brave", a volunteer to Auschwitz Witold Pilecki has been printed and is soon to go big. Among others, schools, libraries will receive free copies.

This is a great thing that owing to cooperation with the Foreign Ministry the Witold's report will now reach all Polish diplomatic missions abroad (...). The fact that the book was published by a NGO is significant", deputy head of the National Security Bureau (BBN) Dariusz Gwizdala said.

It means that we all can get engaged and support the government in promoting Polish heroes, Gwizdala went on.

He made the statement during the presentation of a unique "Witold's Report" book published by the Cracow's "Where" foundation, The Study of Underground Poland in London and APOSTOLICUM publishing in Warsaw's 'PASTA' Building on Wednesday.

The publication of Witold's Report was prefaced by President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, daughter of Captain Pilecki, Zofia Pilecka - Optulowicz and MoD, Prof. Wojciech Fałkowski.

Witold's Report was presented at the International Book Fair in London, promoting Poland's "bravest of the brave" among both compatriots (with the support of the Polish Institute and the Polish Social and Cultural Center), as well as foreigners at the fair in Olympia.

The Polish Ambassador to London, Arkady Rzegocki, also appreciated the importance of the undertaking and invited the publishers: Eugeniusz Mareschand and the "Where" Foundation representative, Małgorzata Kupiszewska, to personally get to know the "Witold Report".

Rotamaster Witold Pilecki's report (a famous report from the German death camp in Auschwitz) was the first one of this kind. It was developed very conscientiously, with enormous care for fidelity to the original manuscript. The seemingly insignificant emotional, sometimes even unemotional and rough language of the Report, shows with exceptional precision the "hell on earth".  (more...)

Polish Auschwitz volunteer Pilecki Report published. Soon to go worldwide

Related:

“You Must Give Testimony”

Witold's Report by eliahmeyer on Scribd

H/T to Church Militant

Inside the mind of Plymouth's most notorious paedophile

One of Britain's most prolific paedophiles – Plymouth businessman William Goad – stopped attempting suicide in prison after he believed he would be freed six years into his life sentence.

Goad, of Ford Park Road, was jailed for life at Plymouth Crown Court in October 2004 after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young boys.

During his sentencing hearing, prosecutor Martin Meeke QC, told the court: "It is believed there has been no single defendant with more victims than this man."

Millionaire Goad was branded a 'voracious, calculating, predatory and violent homosexual paedophile' who had once boasted of beating his own 'record' of abusing 142 boys in a year.

It was believed he had abused young boys over a 40 year period.

In that time he set up and ran the Mount Gould Camping Club, opened the Cornish Market World in St Austell with a business partner, and later opened a children's play zone Ben's Playworld in the same area.

Mr Meeke told the court Goad had 'preferred boys who had blond hair, blue eyes and aged 13-16' but some of his victims could be as young as eight or nine.

"He kept a photo album containing 30 to 40 pictures of his favourite boys posing with clothes on," he said. Some of Goad's victims had told police that he had continued to abuse them for two to three years, some as many as three to four times a week.  (more...)

Inside the mind of Plymouth's most notorious paedophile

Related:

Paedophile ring linked to Britain's worst abuser 'still at large'

York board parent files human rights complaint after racial slur

A York Region parent has launched a human rights complaint to “force the school board to take racism seriously” after a trustee referred to her as a “n-----.”

The latest blow to the troubled board comes as Education Minister Mitzie Hunter confirmed Friday afternoon that she had formally received a copy of a report she ordered probing incidents of racism and Islamophobia as well as concerns over trustee spending.

“Due to the significant implications of the review, it is essential that I take the necessary time to review their detailed observations and the recommendations based on the concerns raised by local parents and community organizations, and determine our‎ next steps,” likely by next week, said Hunter.

“We know that there have been significant and growing concerns from parents and community members regarding governance and equity issues in the York Region District School Board.”

Two investigators were tasked with looking at how the board handled complaints of racism, which is also one of the main issues in the human rights case parent Charline Grant has filed against the board, the director and former Georgina trustee Nancy Elgie.  (more...)

York board parent files human rights complaint after racial slur

This is the pot that continued to boil as Liberals distracted voters with pseudo-gender identity politics. The house of cards is due to crash down.