The Truth Behind the Conventional Wisdom that (Exploited) 'Foreigners' Are Taking Away Jobs

"[The new influx of guest workers in Canada] releases the pressure on firms to provide better jobs, jobs where you have control over your time, where the pay is decent. It lets the steam off. And that pushes us toward a society that doesn't respect workers so much."
"So they [cafe or franchise, or supermarket owners] go to their local Member of Parliament and say, 'I'm in trouble here. I can't get enough workers for my front counter'. The real response to them should be: 'Well, pay them more'. But it's not the answer they want to hear, because they want to make more profit." 
"When something is scarce [theoretically, workers to fill positions], the price for it goes up and people and companies adjust. That's the whole wonder of the capitalist system."
"Everyone knows these guest workers have no rights If they lose their jobs they're gone. They're not about to complain. Canadian firms are now not only getting just lower-wage workers these days, they're getting very compliant workers."
"These are people [ordinary low-wage Canadians] who feel there was a deal promised to them, where everyone would share in the benefits of deregulation and a more flexible labour market."
"But then government did things like bring in more temporary foreign workers and those people are feeling like, 'What the hell just happened?'"
"If you want people to feel like they have a share, don't bring in somebody to replace them every time their wages start looking like they're going to go up."
David Green, economist, University of British Columbia

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pushed up the number of guest workers in Canada much higher than former Conservative immigration minister Jason Kenney. (Photo: Trudeau in Burnaby South byelection earlier this year._ Darryl Dyck/CP

A paper was recently produced by two academics -- economist David Green of UBC and Carleton University's Christopher Worswick of the faculty of public affairs -- that concluded with the understanding that a huge leap in guest worker numbers entering Canada has harmed low-wage employees across the country. Rising numbers of non-permanent foreign workers that have arrived and continue to come into Canada each year has doubled in the last ten years, escalating in particular under the Federal Liberal government, since 2015.

The entry of low-paid guest workers in increasing numbers to perform often-menial jobs in low-paid industries were often the entry jobs for new immigrants to Canada, seeking to establish themselves and taking any workplace positions that would enable them to establish a toehold in the job market that would see them often working their way up to better paying jobs. Immigrants are no longer finding those jobs available; they are taken by temporary workers on work visas for limited periods of time, with an ever-replenished number of new temporary workers.

At the same time as the steady increase in the number of non-permanent foreign workers has been transforming the Canadian job market of entry-level employment, a greater number of study visas to foreign students has also been occurring. In 2014 about 200,000 foreign students arrived and that number increased in succeeding years. In 2018 annual foreign student numbers had swelled to over 400,000. And how this impacts the same job market is that foreign students are permitted to work 20 hours weekly, and full-time during summer breaks.

Workers are busy on the shop floor at Sunterra Meats in Trochu, Alta., in 2016. The company at the time employed many temporary foreign workers. The number of those workers in Canada has roughly doubled since the 2015 election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Ted Rhodes / Postmedia News files

This has resulted in new immigrants' situation in seeking employment facing a "worse and worse" employment environment, reflecting earned incomes, forcing them to seek longer periods of social welfare aid. Low-wage workers are suffering under the steadily growing and expanding numbers of temporary, non-permanent foreign workers arriving into Canada annually. Downward pressure is being placed on wages, exacerbating employment opportunities for the traditional low-paid worker-base.

"It's totally under the radar", commented Professor Green in observing that the majority of Canadians have no idea of the extent of the problem afflicting other Canadians and permanent residents of Canada. Temporary workers were originally seen as a temporary solution to businesses requiring short-term workers to compensate for skill shortages in particular sectors, where low-skill guest workers from overseas filled the gap but are now increasingly brought in to staff fast-food restaurants, stack supermarket shelves, and fill in for basic kitchen duties.

In 2013, there was a public backlash against increased volumes of foreign workers into Canada leading the then-Conservative immigration minister to dramatically cut numbers. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power in 2015, the numbers were immediately increased with much higher totals. While the aware public in Canada has focused on the issue of immigration levels, also expanded by 30 percent since 2015, the official temporary foreign worker program has not changed, but other guest-worker plans have.

There has been a fourfold expansion of the "international mobility" program, which few Canadians even know the existence of. In 2008, about 70,000 guest workers entered Canada under the "international mobility" category. By 2018, over 250,000 in this category were being accepted, typically representing people on two-year visas who mostly find employment in the service sector. Known informally as travellers on "holiday worker" visas, they are often young people working at ski resorts like Whistler or serving beer in Vancouver or Toronto pubs.

The largest group of over 250,000 "international mobility" workers to arrive last year were from India, followed by those from the United States, China, France and South Korea. About 70,000 international mobility workers arrived in Toronto in 2018, to Vancouver's 30,000, according to figures provided by a UBC-backed website Superdiversity, in its interactive graphics based on immigration department data.

The reliance on low-wage guest workers has been instrumental in creating an increasingly fearful workforce, unable to demand adherence to local labour standards. Professors Green and Worswick warn that the situation is such that it may lead to a populist revolt, the same kind of push-back that resulted in the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President. Whom the elite scorned as having been elected by "stupid people", many of whom felt the promise of globalization, transnational movement of capital and labour had been of no benefit to them.

The volume of guest workers arriving in Canada each year lept up after the federal Liberals were elected. “TFWP” stands for temporary foreign worker program. “IMP” stands for international mobility program. “Study” stands for foreign students, who are allowed to work. Source: Superdiversity.

The InCredible Vanishing Act

"Our only road comes in the winter-time."
"If they don't make us that road after the ferry stops, we're stuck here until we can pass over the ice on snowmobiles."
"We're an isolated community, eh. We only have the air and the ferry."
"[The entire community is on edge]. Some people are scared, I mean, I am."
"Everyone is keeping their children inside. No one is out walking around at all. It's eerily quiet."
Judy Sinclair, resident, York Landing

"You have to know the land to get around here. If you don't, it will eat you up."
"It's heavily, heavily wooded area. Terrain is swamp and heavy woods. We're thinking of scenarios of how they made the trek here."
"They'd be noticed and pointed out immediately."
"We have our local First Nations Safety Officers that do searches for drugs and alcohol and just question persons entering the community about what their intentions are here."
"No possibility [attempting to travel from Gillam by the Nelson River, to York Landing], they'd be sucked into the current; they are very strong. You can't sit on a floater and drift down the river. There are hydro dams."
"No updates as to any sightings since yesterday. There's really a huge effort here to locate them."
"RCMP have notified us to remain vigilant and to report any information or tips you may have directly to the authorities."
Leroy Constant, chief, York Factory First Nation

Police continue to comb the wilderness near Gillam, Man., last week. The RCMP regrouped in the small community on Tuesday, searching for B.C. murder suspects Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod. (Gilbert Rowan/CBC)

The RCMP thoroughly investigated the possibility that the two fugitives, Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, of Port Albini in British Columbia wanted as suspects in three murders in northern British Columbia might be in York Landing, an inaccessible, remote community about 90 kilometres from Gillam, Manitoba, where police have been hunting for the two for the past week.
The exhaustive search yielded no clues whatever to their whereabouts, leading the RCMP to pack up and return to Gillam.

There had been a sighting by a band safety officer, a member of the Bear Clan Patrol watch group, of two men at the town garbage dump who fled into the nearby forest when they realized they had been spotted. That news, relayed to the RCMP in Gillam, spurred them to respond. And since the only way they could travel to York Landing was by air or sea, it took an hour by ferry for the first contingent of RCMP officers with their search gear to arrive. After which an intensive house-to-house search of the residences of the 500 Cree inhabitants commenced.



It was a mysterious enough conundrum where the two might have got to in Gillam, the last stop on the sole road leading to it and the only road leading out. The two had torched the vehicle they had stolen, on their arrival at Gillam, and then just disappeared. Both Gillam and York Landing are isolated communities, where everyone knows everyone else. Strangers would immediately be noticed, their presence eliciting curiosity at best, and in the instance of the two fugitives an immediate alert of the police.

Presumably the two fugitive teens have retained the firearm they used to shoot dead Australian tourist Lucas Fowler, 24 and his 25-year-old American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, as well as the killing of University of British Columbia biology lecturer Leonard Dyck, for whose death they have been charged with second-degree murder. They are not seasoned, outdoorsmen and hunters, with limitless experience in wilderness camping and making use of resources available for those who can recognize them, to avoid starvation.

They would be  undergoing privation and danger of types they would likely never before have encountered as urban youth. If this is a hide-and-seek game they are playing at for excitement that their online gaming practise has prepared them for, they're succeeding admirably in evading capture by experienced hunters of psychopaths, well equipped and presumably more than capable of hunting down their lawful prey. The police are heavily armed, they have all-terrain quads, pickup trucks.



There is a Canadian Air Force Hercules at their disposal with thermal detecting devices to aid in the search. The RCMP search teams have re-assembled in Gillam, their search in York Landing concluded with no results gained whatever, no hints gleaned that might lead to the apprehension of two murderers. They are determinedly resuming their intensive search in Gillam and surrounding area, particularly the vast northern forest surrounding the community.

"I guess we're back to Square One."
"I just ultimately want everyone to still stay safe and vigilant to make sure that they still keep an eye out. You don't know if they're in the area or not." 
Dwayne Forman, mayor, Gillam

The RCMP are ending a checkstop of vehicles on the road leading to Gillam. (Lyzaville Sale/CBC)

Eluding Capture in Manitoba

"Up here, all the towns and communities, they look like ghost towns. Like, everyone's inside. There's a high level of stress, anxiety and fearfulness because they're being kept in their houses."
"Quite a few people have even left the area altogether, kind of waiting for this to blow over."
"Some of the people, you can tell by their voice that they're almost at the point of breaking down crying. You could say it's traumatic."
Wade Taylor, Bear Clan Patrol Volunteer

Winnipeg-based aboriginal patrol volunteers received a request to fly to Gillam, to meet with and reassure residents of the town, in an attempt to instill confidence that their security and safety is being taken seriously. The Patrol volunteers who responded numbered eight, spending their time meeting and reassuring people at their doorsteps, on the streets, at public events the communities organized. People are not accustomed to being told their safety depends on their remaining indoors.

It is not only the town of Gillam where the two teen-age Port Albini, B.C. fugitives, Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and 19-year-old Kam McLeod, are being sought by the RCMP, for second-degree murder of University of British Columbia biology lecturer Leonard Dyck, and as suspects in the murder of a young couple, Australian tourist Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, as they travelled in northern British Columbia, but surrounding First Nations communities as well.

Police officers complete door-to-door searches overnight Sunday in York Landing, Man. (Gilbert Rowan/CBC)

Police are using tracking dogs and drones, and going door to door to every residence in Gillam, Manitoba. Abandoned buildings, sheds, are all being investigated. The search has an aerial component with a helicopter joined by the arrival of a Canadian Air Forces Hercules aircraft equipped with high-tech thermal detection gear. Mounties are checking homes, abandoned buildings, garages, anywhere it is thought that fugitives from justice could find shelter. 

The two fugitives have managed to evade capture over a week, following the grisly discover of the bodies of the young travellers beside their vehicle adjacent the Alaska Highway, and soon afterward, some distance away, the body of the biologist, his vehicle torched. Police have appealed to the public for tips and they received 200, all of which have been followed. Some tips were posted to social media, not to police: "If the tips are valid, it can create a substantial delay on the response by police and be detrimental to the overall investigation", pointed out the RCMP.

The forest nearby Gillam has been searched, and nothing found. It was thought that if the two sought haven there they would be facing onerous circumstances of boggy forest floors, omnivorous insects, bear predation, but there are hunting cabins as well they could have accessed, and plentiful water and berries in season. Manitoba Hydro supplied police with information about their regional facilities, one a 600-room Keewatinohk Converter Station Camp close by Gillam, used during the construction of the Bipole 3 transmission line, and now vacant.

In Split Lake, Man., RCMP officers and vehicles take the ferry to York Landing at 7 a.m. Monday to search for fugitives Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod.

Photography by Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail

And then came word that the fugitives could be in nearby York Landing. The RCMP dispatched its search teams to York Landing. A credible report by a member of the community patrol group that two unidentified men had been seen at the remote community's garbage dump, but had fled when they realized they were being watched, led the police to converge on the community for an intensive search there. Nothing was found in the community of about 500 people —  90 kilometres southwest of Gillam which is accessible only by air or a two-hour boat ride. 

So the intensive search has revered to Gillam. Questions abound: If the two were in the Gillam area how could they without any means of transportation make it to York Landing? RCMP suspect that someone in the area may inadvertently have given the two assistance without realizing that a manhunt is underway for them, which seems eminently unlikely since all the surrounding communities are well aware of the ongoing hunt for two killers. 

Heavily armed police officers are searching the community of York Landing, Man., for B.C. homicide suspects Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod. (Angela Johnston/CBC)

On the other hand, a week ago Monday, constables with Tataskweyak Cree Nation, also known as Split Lake, stopped the suspects in their vehicle at a gas bar, as they drove through the community, before the vehicle was found burned near Gillam. Because Split Lake is a dry community, the constables checked for alcohol, and had no reason at the time to suspect who the men were.  

"They did see … maps and camping gear within that vehicle they were driving", it was reported. So they might have been well provisioned to secure themselves in the wilderness area surrounding the communities. Under ordinary circumstances, perhaps, not in a northern muskeg forest facing all manner of dangers inherent in a true northern wilderness area.

The wilderness around Gillam is thick forest and swampy muskeg where wolves, black bears and even polar bears can be found

In All Fairness : U.S. Immigration/Refugee Intake

"It's the complete, 100 percent focus on harsher options that will deter the influx, with a disregard for managing what's happening."
"We have a lot more families, a lot more unaccompanied children, and the focus has just been on how can we deter, rather than how can we handle."
Department of Homeland Security official

"This [considerations toward radical alterations to the immigration laws risk sending the wrong signal by decriminalizing illegal border crossings] is tantamount to a public declaration [repeated and amplified by smugglers in Central America] that our borders are effectively open to all."
"This will increase the recent levels of monthly apprehensions at our Southern border -- about or more than 100,000 -- by multiples."
Jeh Johnson, homeland security secretary, Obama administration

The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. (Photo: Thomas Dwyer)

In the United States there are two descriptive terms relating to deportations: removal and return. Someone who has been issued a court order, or directed by a border patrol agent to leave the country represents a "removal", in the deportation lexicon.  On the other hand "return" refers to those released back across the border to Mexico or Canada (as examples) in the absence of a formal order of removal. The two terms are generally absorbed into the meaning of deportation as a total sum.

In 2000, the Clinton administration saw the highest number of total deportations. At that time over 1,860,000 people left the United States in a combination of removal and return, with roughly nine people returned for every one individual removed. This data was compiled by the Office of Immigration Statistics in an effort to harmonize returns and removals from the U.S. back to 1927.

The number of people returned during the George W. Bush administration far exceeded those who were removed. Close to 360,000 people were removed and over 810,000 people were returned -- for an average of one person removed for every two people returned, during G.W. Bush's final year in office.

The number of removals under President Obama, on the other hand, vastly exceeded the number of returned people, a change driven through the emphasis by the administration on removals and by fewer illegal crossings coinciding with the recession. The change in balance was attributed to the fact that there simply were fewer crossings thus resulting in fewer returns.

Compulsory removals peaked in 2013 when over 432,000 people were removed by the Obama administration. Close to 179,000 people were returned, for a ratio of 2.4 people removed for every one person returned, that same year. Augmenting the deportations and softening the impact on the unauthorized immigrant population was the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The final year of the Obama administration mirrored the first year of the Trump administration when about three people were removed for every one returned, in 2016 and 2017. The Pew Research Center estimates the presence of 10.5 million people living in the United States without authorization. The peak was reached a decade ago, at over 12 million illegals living in the U.S. Many of these represented long-term residents as well as recent arrivals.

Recently, the top echelon of Democratic candidates opted for support of decriminalizing illegal border crossings. Those not in favour of such a dramatic step compare such a move to the "federal equivalent of a parking ticket" that would expunge penalties such as family separation and detention. President Donald Trump's recent announcement of a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in ten cities roused great controversy.

The purpose was to target thousands of people issued with deportation orders. In the first weekend of the announced procedure, a mere handful of arrests had taken place. The issue of undocumented, illegal people entering and living in the United States in such monumental numbers is one that various administrations have struggled to find a solution for. This administration is only the latest in a protracted search for a plan to divest the country of illegal residents.

This is a country that is reputed to take in about a million legal immigrants yearly. The U.S. accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world. One in seven citizens in the U.S. is foreign born, from all over the world. Every country has the right to select whom they will permit to enter their borders and to live among their citizens. Those wishing to emigrate from their countries of origin have the option of filing a legal application. The U.S. takes in its share of refugees as well. In 2016, 85,000 refugees from around the world were accepted by the U.S.

Immigrants listen to a speech as they wait to become U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony in Los Angeles. (Mark Ralson/AFP/Getty Images)

Fugitives

"It really is [the end of the road]. The road ends here in Manitoba. This is the dead-end corner of the world. I see it as the perfect place to get caught."
"To leave, they [the fugitives] would have to backtrack along the road or walk through the forest. The only other routes of travel would be the Nelson River or the train tracks."
"Its doable. People lived here a hundred years ago, so you can do it. People have gone out in the forest and done fine, but it takes a certain kind of person to stick that out. You kind of gotta want to be there. Or need to be there."
"There's a lot of rivers they'd need to cross, a lot of swampy ground. It's wet, vegetative ground. Soft and hard walking. Depending on where you are, you could sink up to your waist."
"Right now, there's berries growing everywhere. I can't walk in my front yard without making jam. It's a bumper year on rabbits. I've never seen so many rabbits."
"Anything that floats will get out there [to Hudson Bay via the Nelson River] but the truth is, if they made it to the bay they would be facing a whole different element."
"They'd be dealing with tide-waters, very large waves and polar bears."
Jesse Taylor, 32, Gillam town employee, wilderness outdoorsman

RCMP search the area near Gillam, Man., for homicide suspects Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod on Friday. (RCMP/The Canadian Press )

So this is what 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmelgelsky may be coping with in their determination to evade capture as suspects in three grisly murders. Held to be responsible for the shooting deaths of Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and his 24-year-old American girlfriend, Chynna Deese whose bodies were discovered close by their van as they parked close by the Alaska Highway not far from Liard Hot Springs in British Columbia.

Photos of Bryer Schmegelsky submitted to CBC News by an online gamer at Steam, a video game distribution platform, where the two met. (Submitted)

The two have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of University of British Columbia botany lecturer Leonard Dyck, 64, whose body was found on a turnout south of Dease Lake, B.C., on Highway 37, some 470 kilometres west of the first homicide scene. Their burned-out pickup stood about two kilometres from Mr. Dyck's lifeless body. They were then tracked to northern Saskatchewan and following that to northern Manitoba, a burned-out Toyota they had stolen attesting to their arrival there.

"There have been no confirmed sightings outside of the Gillam area, however we remain open to the possibility."
"Our plea today is that if anyone in and around those communities [of Gillam of and Fox Lake Cree Nation] may have inadvertently helped them get out of the community ... to just please come forward."
RCMP Cpl.Julie Courchaine

Officers comb the wilderness near Gillam, Man., on Thursday. (Gilbert Rowan/CBC)

The two were last reported having been seen in Gillam on the 22nd. Since then police have searched with dogs, drones, helicopters and patrols, hoping to unearth their presence. The military has been brought in for sighting by plane. Asking for help from the public in the hope that some clue might give investigators an idea where they might possibly look. Exiting Gillam would mean leaving the very same way they arrived. But they destroyed the stolen vehicle they arrived with. And there have been no local reports of vehicle theft since then.

At the end of the road there is the vast northern forest. With plentiful food and liquid available in its natural state, in an environment potentially hazardous to the well-being, much less survival of the uninitiated to outdoor survival. The town of Gillam has 1,200 residents, the Fox Lake reserve another 200. Everyone is familiar with everyone else; a strange face is noticed immediately, and noted. There have been no reports of the two fugitives appearing in public for the past week.

Without some kind of human intervention that might give the pair direction, support, advice and practical help of some kind, the mystery is where they might be in the forest with its boggy floor, the presence of bears, and blood-sucking bugs prevalent at this time of year, to drive animals and humans to distraction. If they are there, in the forest, they are not enjoying themselves.

"Everybody in this town knows everybody else and when somebody new comes into town, a new vehicle or a new face, people recognize that right away."
"As unnerving as this whole situation is, in my opinion, it's kind of the best scenario. Everybody knows everybody and there is only one road in and one road out. They'll find them, it's just a matter of time", assures Jesse Taylor, the informative outdoorsman.

In the interim, the hope must be that there be no further encounters with this deadly pair -- that anyone else might lose their lives. Two young men led by demons of destructive violence that only they know of, one entranced by the allure of violent fascism augmenting an already-disturbed psychotic personality, the other an unnervingly willing accomplice whose trail of bloodshed has left a nation stunned. Normal kids, their parents assure the public.

Fit for Pride

"[The] externally-booked event prompted UBC community members to express their views on freedom of expression and academic freedom, and ask questions around the university’s commitment to equity and inclusion."
"[The university remains] deeply committed to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion. [It acknowledges some community members were] personally affected [by the event]."
"UBC remains committed to finding more ways to maintain a respectful environment for everyone in our community."
University of British Columbia vice-president academic, Andrew Szeri

UBC has been barred from the 2019 Vancouver Pride Parade after hosting what the Pride society describes as a "transphobic" speaker.   Simon Little / Global News

How, a logical mind might ask, can someone who identifies as a  transgender male be labelled "transphobic" by the LGBTQ2 community. Jenn Smith describes himself as an 'activist', and he campaigns, as a "transgender-identified male", through speaking engagements and published articles on the deleterious effects on society of "the dangers" of "transgender ideology". On June 23 Jenn Smith spoke on "The Erosion of Freedom: How Transgender Politics in School and Society is Undermining Our Freedom and Harming Women & Children"; the venue was UBC.

Jenn Smith, who identifies as a transgender man, has caused controversy across B.C. for recent anti-SOGI events. (Jenn Smith)

This did not sit well with Vancouver Pride, who warns groups and institutions that if they wish to be viewed as friendly to the LGBTQ2+ community and enjoy the privileges of a valued supporter of said community, they must submit to strict guidelines. The Vancouver Pride Society has taken the drastic step of 'disinviting' UBC from a presence at the Vancouver Pride Parade; due punishment for its indiscretion in permitting a 'transphobic' transgender male to air his rejection of the social climate that surrenders to the demands of the transgender community, introducing young children to trans identity at school.

The Society takes its entitlements seriously. It is on the constant lookout for "any recent homophobic or transphobic events and the institutional response", which led in this instance to disallowing the university to attend Pride events since it had dropped below Pride's minimum score enabling parade participation. While the university's invitation to attend the parade has been withdrawn, the generous offer to permit students, employees and faculty as individuals to march in the parade was extended; in other words disavowing their links to the university in favour of attending the parade.

"We reject applications every year. But not usually once they've been accepted and ready to go in the parade, in this instance."
"There was significant commentary and requests from the queer and trans community on campus and also other community groups for UBC to cancel the event."
"We definitely want to send a message to UBC and to other organizations as well."
"It's probably going to be disappointing for some people and to that I say: we're holding your organization, your university, to be accountable to make changes."

Andrea Arnot, executive director, Vancouver Pride Society

Participants in Vancouver's Pride Parade in 2016. UBC won't be marching this year. (Lien Yeung/CBC)

Well, several weeks have passed since Vancouver Pride disciplined UBC, forbidding them the privilege of marching in the Vancouver Pride Parade. And now, UBC has company; sitting in the penalty box with them is the Vancouver Public Library. Which failed to exercise its discretionary intelligence by permitting "transphobic hate speech" on their premises. A violation of the B.C. Human Rights Code, they thundered. And it's true the B.C. Human Rights Commission has certain standards of protection of human rights in favour of Pride.

But in accusing the library of hosting feminist activist Meghan Murphy whom Pride considers a purveyor of "transphobic hate speech" and where, they claimed "During this event five speakers asserted that transwomen are not women and should not be treated as women", they made their point. To which the detested feminist Meghan Murphy responded: "No one on the panel said anything derogatory, hateful or discriminatory about trans-identified people". Which goes to show how little an earnest critic knows of the trans community to whom any doubts as to the eligibility of a male to claim womanhood or vice versa is impermissibly violent.

 "To frame my speech, which advocates explicitly for women's rights, as well as for free speech, democracy, and the importance of public debate about policy and legislation impacting us all, as 'transphobic', dangerous, or 'discriminatory', is absolutely inaccurate." Innocently naive; the temper of the times mitigates against such dangerous thought as opposite opinions and reasonable debate, much less the airing of any opinions contradicting the 'settled question' of the authenticity of gender fluidity.

In theory universities and libraries have been bastions of free speech, arenas of intelligent discussion where students are exposed to all aspects by which any given topic may be viewed, questioned and determined on the basis of cerebral functioning and an open mind. Back to the B.C. Human Rights Code; it entertains discriminatory publication issues, not free and open debates. And nor have either Meghan Murphy, feminist activist, nor Jenn Smith, anti Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity activist been found guilty by law of "hate speech". 

At an earlier event where Meghan Murphy rented a room at the Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver Pride objected as well at that time. In response, VPL chief librarian Christina de Castell issued a statement to the effect that the library is "not endorsing, or hosting this event" and that it has "zero tolerance for discrimination and does not agree with the views of the Feminist Current" founded by Ms. Murphy. The library permitted the event to proceed in reflection of its "commitment to free speech and intellectual freedom".

"As such, we will not refuse to rent to an individual or organization simply because they are discussing controversial topics or views, even those we find offensive."
"We seek to be a welcoming place for all, and actively find ways to support the trans, gender variant and two-spirit communities."

The Vancouver Public Library's central branch has held LGBT events, such as this Pride display in 2013.

   Photo:  Charlie Smith

Canada's Mafia Influence

"It was an inopportune time for them to come."
"We happened to be live [with wiretaps] when they [a southern Italian 'Ndrangheta boss and his lieutenant] travelled here [to Toronto]."
Det.Sgt.Carl Mattinen, anti-Mafia task force, York Regional Police Force

"[The Canadian board can have influence over the] entire 'Ndrangheta."
"The governing body of the Siderno branch no longer operates only in Calabria, transmitting orders abroad, but also does so directly on Canadian soil, to give it a more effective and efficient command structure."
Italian federal police authorities

"[This indicates that Canada's mobsters are] more strategically powerful than we had thought before."
"From the wiretaps it appears that -- differently from the situation portrayed in [previous investigations] -- the chamber of control in Toronto can extend its strategic resonance to Siderno as well, for the first time reversing the order."
"Decisions might be taken in Canada first and arrive in Siderno later."
Anna Sergi, criminology lecturer, University of Essex, 'Ndrangheta specialist

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The head of one mob family in the southern region of Calabria, Carmelo Muia, was assassinated -- a not uncommon occurrence between disputatious, territory-jealous mobsters anywhere, but particularly those of the infamous Italian Mafia. His brother inherited his role as mob boss and vowed to avenge the murder of his brother. Whose life was taken not by police authorities in a shoot-out with the gang, but by someone within the 'Ndrangheta network harbouring a grudge.

Vincenzo Muia, the new boss of the Mafia clan left leaderless with his brother's death, was intent on hunting down those responsible for his brother's assassination; honour demanded it, much less brotherly love. In analyzing details of the ambush, seeking clues, he finally concluded that the identity of the culprit must surely be a chief suspect whose own two brothers had been killed during a mob feud in which Carmelo Muia had been involved.

Vincenzo though prepared to order his personal sense of justice be carried out, exercised a bit of caution, wanting to be absolutely certain before launching a murder that would have internal repercussions within the mob clan network of the Mafia. So he travelled with an aide to Canada to verify his suspicions by interviewing "u Briganti", two brothers, Angelo Figliomeni and Cosimo Figliomeni, Toronto-based "fugitives" who had fled Italy just as Italian authorities were preparing to charge them.

Carmelo Muia sought answers and advice from the brothers before proceeding. The brothers were part of the 'chamber of control' a local board of decision-making with authority over the clan mobs within the Mafia. The original "camera di controllo" established in Siderno. It now appears a decision was made to launch a shadow chamber, but then the 'shadow chamber' of authority became dominant according to police in both Italy and Canada.

Who assert that the board, located north of Toronto has assumed the authority of decision-making beyond Canada's underworld, extending abroad, including back in its origins in Siderno, Italian authorities claimed in court documents. Camelo Muia's arrival in Canada happened to coincide with York police preparing to move in on Mafia leaders in the region, resulting in mass arrests out of an anti-mob probe, a large Toronto-area Mafia bust.

Among those arrested was Angelo Figliomeni. Respected, influential Calabrian mobsters have left their country of birth to immigrate to the Toronto area, many in flight from Italy's anti-Mafia investigations. The Canadian chamber of control was meant to supplement the Siderno original but has now overtaken it in significance and authority, a planned move to ensure the survival of the Mafia and its kingpins.

According to Fausto Lamparelli, director of the Central Operational Service of the Polizia di Stato the level of 'Ndrangheta authority concentrated in Canada is unprecedented.

Arrests took place in Italy simultaneous to the arrests in York region last week in Canada. Carmelo Muia was among those swept into the ambitious York Region dragnet. The Italian arrests under the probe Operation "Canadian 'Ndrangheta Connection", scooped up the man who had accompanied Muia to Canada, charged with Mafia association and financial crimes. As for Muia, he is charged with interfering with the police investigation in his brother's murder.

Attempting to preempt the police to exact his own vengeance, but as well because he hid evidence from police by taking possession of his brother's cellphone from the murder scene -- to shield evidence from police.

Det. Sgt. Carl Mattinen of York Region’s Organized Crime and Intelligence Services is part of York police’s new anti-Mafia task force, which ran a sting called Project Sindacato that resulted in several arrests.  Peter J. Thompson/National Post

Great Kids : RCMP Charge 2nd Degree Murder

"We're asking for the public, if you spot Bryer or Kam, consider them dangerous. Do not approach. Take no action. And call immediately 911."
"Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky have left British Columbia. We believe that they're likely continuing to travel."
RCMP Sgt.Janelle Shoihet

"We can now confirm that this vehicle [recovered in the Gillam, Manitoba area] is the same vehicle the suspects were travelling in."
"We are engaged with police forces across Canada. We are investigating all tips and are continuing to ask for the public’s assistance."
RCMP Cpl. Julie Courchaine

"[I know my son is in] very serious pain, [and I expect he will die in a confrontation with police]."
"He’s on a suicide mission. He wants his pain to end."
"Basically, he’s going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that. Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I’m so sorry all this had to happen."
Alan Schmegelsky, father of fugitive, Port Alberni, B.C.

Chynna Deese pictured with Lucas Fowler. The two were found murdered off the Alaska highway last week. Facebook / PNG

It all began with the discovery of the bodies of two young people, Lucas Fowler, 23, an Australian traveller, and his 24-year-old girlfriend from North Carolina, Chynna Deese. The two had met when each happened to take a trip to the same destination. They connected, fell in love, and decided to continue travelling together, in a 1986 Chevrolet van. On Monday last, their bodies were discovered close to a popular tourist spot, Liard Hot Springs. They were on their way to the Yukon. Initial news said nothing about their mode of death. It was later revealed they were shot to death.

Days later a pickup truck and camper was discovered around 470 kilometres' distant from the site of the murder of the couple. The Dodge Ram was on fire, and two kilometres away from the truck at a highway pullout the body of a 50ish-year-old man was discovered. Coincidentally two teens were known to be travelling in the area, and initially fears were expressed that McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18 of Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, had also been victims of foul play. Their families hadn't heard from them in days and they were assumed missing.

They're still missing, but the RCMP investigation, in its initial stages into the mysterious deaths, now regards the two young men as more than suspects in the grisly crimes. The young Australian man's father, Stephen Fowler, is a chief inspector with the New South Wales Police Force. The news of his son's murder and that of his companion has devastated him. A dreadful conclusion to the young lives of two people who had found love together. Chynna Deese's mother felt it comforting that her daughter had died together with the man she loved.

The families of the two young men being hunted by police were under the impression that the youths, long-time friends since elementary school, had gone looking for work in Whitehorse or Alberta. The father of the older of the two teens, Keith McLeod, has denied that his son could ever have committed such a criminal act. It appears from the scant information that has been so far divulged that the younger of the two may be pathologically deranged, convincing his older friend to cast away his humanity.

Schmegelsky had been living for the past several years with his grandmother, who had last had a communication from him on July 13. "He was a great kid. I really enjoyed having him", she said of her relationship with her grandson. Although the RCMP is clear that the two are suspects in the three murders, no information was released to the public about any evidence they may have that led them to that conclusion. And nor that they suspect the two to be armed.

This has become a manhunt for two deliberately elusive young men who have done quite a bit of evasive moving about to avoid capture, in the past several days. The provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and possibly Yukon Territory thus far involved, necessitating the cooperation of police forces throughout the provinces and territory. Bryer Schmegelsky's father described the two teens enjoying video games together, playing with Airsoft guns.

On his Facebook page several years ago Bryer Schmegelsky posted a photo of a handgun with the tagline: "Guns don't kill people -- It's mostly the bullets." How very arch. Take it a little further and it is really unbalanced psychopathic personalities that manipulate both guns and bullets to exercise their choice to murder people made helpless in the shock-inducing face of the presence of firearms.
 
"This is what I do know — Kam is a kind, considerate, caring young man [who] always has been concerned about other people’s feelings", attested Kam McLeod's father, of a son possibly under the psychological thrall of a psychopath. As for the kind considerate young man being led by another kind considerate person, there were the earlier words of his father who responded to news that the two were suspects: "No way, I know my son."

Denial first, acknowledgement later.

Dyck, who taught botany at the University of British Columbia, was identified by police on Wednesday, two days after they 
released a composite sketch of the man in hopes that someone would recognize him.  RCMP have identified the man discovered 
deceased on July 19, 2019 at a Highway pullout on Highway 37 as Leonard Dyck from Vancouver. RCMP handout

 

Misplaced Credibility

"[Carl] Beech caused unimaginable distress to the men he falsely accused and all the families caught up in his deception. Many of the accused were dead and unable to defend themselves."
"Beech's actions betray true victims, who should never be afraid of coming forward to reveal abuse."
Liz Reid, Crown Prosecution Service, Newcastle Crown Court, Britain, July 2019

"Nick [pseudonym of Carl Beech] has been spoken to by experienced officers from the child abuse team and from the murder investigation team and they and I believe what Nick is saying is credible and true."
Det.Supt.Kenney McDonald, Operation Midland, 2012

"[I have seen] clear intelligence suggesting a powerful pedophile network linked to Parliament and No.10 [Downing Street]."
M.P. Tom Watson, Labour, House of Commons, 2012

"At one stage during questioning, Lord Bramall, [age 92], who took part in the D-Day landings, was asked if he could swim, as if this might prove his involvement in a pool sex party, that was supposed to have taken place."
"The following day [August 2015], in a brave but risky move, Mr. Proctor [Harvey Proctor, M.P.] went public, and at an extraordinary news conference, held at a hotel opposite Scotland Yard, revealed exactly what he and the other VIPs had been accused of."
The Daily Telegraph

Carl Beech/Facebook

Operation Midland was launched in 2012 in Great Britain on the strength of shocking charges made by a man who divulged to detectives the purported abuse he had suffered as a child at military locations and apartments located close to Whitehall. A gang of pedophiles represented by trusted public figures in parliament had murdered three young boys in the 70s and 80s. This was a man whose name is Carl Beech, who named some of the people he accused of abusing him and other young people.

Edward Heath, a former Tory prime minister was among those named, along with Leon Brittan, a former Cabinet minister; former army chief Edwin Bramble; Maurice Oldfield, ex-head of MI6; Harvey Proctor M.P., along with other lawmakers and military figures of popular recognition. At the time that these accusations were being heard and recorded by police, they were given the stamp of believability, police speaking of them as "credible and true".

It might have been thought that the police would be somewhat less credulous at hearing pretty unbelievable narratives of child molestation by important public figures at the highest echelons of government and the military, but such was not the case. "He is a man who has done enormous damage to totally innocent people who have done him no harm at all. An evil man", said D-Day veteran, former general Hugh Beach, who was among those falsely accused.

Himself the son of a military family, he claimed his stepfather, a major, had repeatedly raped him. The claims extended to his step-father making him available to senior government and military figures to sexually abuse him as a boy. On military bases he along with other young boys suffered torture as well as sexual abuse, he claimed.

London's Metropolitan Police force evidently experienced no difficulty in giving their full support to the plethora of lies exuded by the man, launching the investigation that would ruin so many lives. Public figures held in admiration and trust suddenly found themselves considered demonic figures of child molestation, their reputations gone, their public positions evaporated, fighting for what they had so abruptly lost in the tide of public opinion led by the trusted police force.

Then it was discovered by detectives, years after he had engineered the chaotic shambles of respected men's lives, that this former pediatric nurse, school governor, hospital inspector was a hidden pedophile. He had claimed compensation of 22,000 pounds identifying himself as a child victim of the notorious Jimmy Savile the BBC entertainer who enjoyed years of predatory assaults on helpless children. Only after his death was it discovered that the popular, trusted and admired man had ruined vulnerable lives.

Beech's was not among them. Beech was a man who caused former cabinet minister Leon Brittan to die of cancer before it could be revealed that the charges against him were false. Even after his death in 2015 the investigation resulted in his home being raided. Eventually police were condemned for having immediately accepted the allegations against men of good repute that slandered them and shredded their reputations, giving credence where none was due.

Carl Beech was revealed to be a pedophile when child abuse images were discovered on his computer. He admitted to four counts of producing indecent images of children, one count of possessing indecent images, and one count of voyeurism. MP Harvey Proctor spoke of Operation Midland as "a truly disgraceful chapter in the history of British policing". The decision to rubber-stamp Beech's claims, to tarnish the reputations of leading politicians and military figures, to raid their homes, was indefensible.

Gloucestershire Police

It took five years to expose Beech now 51, as a shameless fantasist. Because of his blatant lies, 92-year-old Lord Bramall's home was raided by no fewer than twenty police officers. Once the head of the British army, the ignominy of child predator was pasted to his name, his home raided, his reputation raked through the muck of guilt and speculation.

MP Harvey Proctor was forced to stand in the House of Commons to reveal he had been accused of pedophilia, torture and that he had strangled a 12-year-old boy to death. 

"[The case was] unlike any other I have seen in my career."
"He is not a fantasist, as some people have described him, nor is he a victim of abuse where there was insufficient evidence to prosecute."
"[He was a] very prolific and manipulative liar [who] thrived on being in the limelight.".
"He would quite happily have seen innocent men arrested and face the full weight of the law."
Jenny Hopkins, head, special crime and counter-terrorism, Crown Prosecution Service, London