Daily Archives: June 4, 2008

Aussie Sex Commish: One More For The List

[AAP] Paid maternity leave is a basic human right, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says.

A national scheme was long overdue and a pressing issue for the two-thirds of working women not able to access paid leave, she said.

The rest.

Fixing Racist Canada, One Municipality At A Time

[NovaNewsNow] Kings County has been added to the Canadian Commission of UNESCO’s list of municipalities in the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination. 

The county is municipality number 26 in Canada to join by a resolution of council, and only the third in Nova Scotia to do so. Halifax Regional Municipality and Truro are the other two.

The rest.

Dalhousie Prof: Indiana Jones Sells Racy Ideas

[Vancouver Sun] While the high octane quest for the Crystal Skull in the latest Harrison Ford film may make for a gripping yarn, modern-day archeologist are more likely to tread carefully before they even begin to put shovel to layers of dirt and history.

“Indiana Jones is a caricature of the past, but it sells at the box office. The public gets fed this racy old set of ideas and that concerns me,” said Brian Noble, social anthropology professor at Dalhousie University and part of the $2.5-million, seven-year project. “The public is not really aware of the stakes in this for the local communities.”

The rest.

British Columbia’s Other Tourism Bureau

[Vancouver Sun] When Maclean’s, after devoting considerable space to their side of the issue, politely told them to get stuffed, this gang went shopping for a jurisdiction where they could cause the magazine and Steyn trouble by accusing them of human rights violations. That’s why all these people from Ontario are crowded into a basement room at the Law Courts on Hornby Street arguing over a piece of B.C. legislation.

The rest.

Blogger: Thought Trials Just Need Some Tweaking

Gotcha. And we can assume you’ll pick up the tab for this reality quest?

[Covenant Zone] So, for example, Mark Steyn thinks the reality in Europe is xyz; and saying this sends shivers down the spine of Khurrum Awan. Well, instead of putting on an expensive trial with punitive intent, as if that’s the only way to change minds and retrograde behaviours, why not, when cases merit it, put on a trial whose intent is simply discovery and better articulation of our shared reality?

The rest.

British Embassy In Latvia Flies Rainbow Flag

[Pink News] Yesterday afternoon the Union flag was replaced with the international symbol of the LGBT community at the British embassy in the Latvian capital.

The ambassador, Richard Moon, took part in a flag-raising ceremony with embassy staff and gay rights advocates from the UK and Latvia looking on. He then presided over afternoon tea.

The rest.

Association of Newspapers Blasts UN Human Rights Council

[Guardian] The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum today condemned the UN Human Rights Council for its “repeated efforts to undermine freedom of expression”.

WAN accused the UN council of undermining freedom of expression at the request of autocratic governments in the name of protecting religious sensibilities in a resolution issued at the newspaper industry body’s 2008 congress in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The rest.