aggregated from: A Closer Look

Have years of dislocation taught us nothing about people living homeless?What's left to say on the subject of homelessness? We've studied the issue from every angle for almost 20 years now. We've lamented it, lived it and produced many, many reports ...

topics: crime, housing, housing-development, kamloops

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Public forum coming up with Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham, Sept. 7, from 7-9 p.m. at Canada West University, 950 Kings Rd. The topic: Families, Mental Illness and Police Involvement. Sounds like required viewing if you've ever wondered how po...

topics: kamloops, police-chief

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Creating prey for the next PicktonOur sex-work laws kill people. We had a reminder of that just last week, when Willie Pickton's murderous ways were news again. Only the streets can provide so many potential victims to a predator like him, and it's o...

topics: business, crime, federal-government, kamloops

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Very worrying stuff going on around the changes to Canada's bawdyhouse laws. By lumping bawdyhouses in with other signature activities of organized crime, the federal government will dramatically increase jail term for people convicted of operating...

topics: business, crime, federal-government, kamloops

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Troubling news: The federal government wants to ramp up enforcement of Canada's bawdy-house laws as part of a crackdown to reduce gang activity. In the last crackdown in the 1970s, the result was a drastic increase in street prostitution and a corr...

topics: federal-government, kamloops

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Special friendships grow out of Cool Aid connectionThe two young women across the table from me look a lot like friends. They keep up a running banter. About the disastrous time they tried to go ice-skating. The great meal they shared at Anawim House...

topics: kamloops, planning

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Public gatherings test our civility - and we get a passI always enjoy the annual Island MusicFest, and had my usual good time grooving to the tunes at the Courtenay festival last month. But it's the people-watching that's the best part of a music fes...

topics: kamloops, strike

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Silence from CLBC frightens people waiting for axe to fallJust so you know: I'll be doing a lot of travelling for the next 3 weeks so there will likely be a lag in my blog posts. Back to normal soon.I met with three families recently who are frighten...

topics: housing, kamloops, mla, new-democrat

aggregated from: A Closer Look

Oh, no! So now our premier shows his true colours as well around the census. Journalist Jody Paterson has been observing the world for newspapers in Kamloops and Victoria, B.C. since 1982....

topics: kamloops, premier

aggregated from: A Closer Look

MLAs' tax-free meal allowance tip of the icebergIda Chong is the one we've all been talking about, but this meal-allowance business is much bigger than the $6,000 per-diem Chong claimed in the last fiscal year. I can feel it in the public reaction. L...

topics: business, kamloops, mla, political, politician