A man from Guelph, Ont., is asking Elections Canada to launch an investigation into fraudulent telephone calls that told Ontario voters that their polling stations had moved for last week's federal election Dave Hudson .

A man from Guelph, Ont., is asking Elections Canada to launch an investigation into fraudulent telephone calls that told Ontario voters that their polling stations had moved for last week's federal election.






Dave Hudson said he wrote to Elections Canada and provided a link to the automated phone call that told him his polling station had been changed for the May 2 vote.





"This is an automated message from Elections Canada. Due to a projected increase in voter turnout, your poll location has been changed. Your new voting location is at the Old Quebec Street Mall at 55 Wyndham St. North," the message states.





Hudson recorded the voicemail, which is still on his answering machine, and uploaded the file to SoundCloud, an online audio-sharing site.





It has been played on Ontario radio stations, he said.





Hudson said he immediately knew the message — which he said was also circulated in Ottawa, Kitchener, Ont., and in ridings on the West Coast — wasn't from Elections Canada.





"I knew I shouldn't trust it. My reaction was more frustration that whichever group or individuals would go to such lengths to make it harder for people to vote," he said. "(Canadians) should be allowed to vote freely. It's a little disturbing."





Hudson, a librarian, said voters using social media spread the word that the automated calls were a hoax.





In an email to Elections Canada, Hudson insists the agency "take whatever steps are within its power to hold those involved accountable."





So far, no one has taken responsibility for the calls.





Elections Canada spokesman John Enright said none of the country's 20,000 polls were moved on election day and that the organization doesn't contact voters by telephone.





He said the agency receives about 600 complaints following each election and that every complaint is investigated.





Under Elections Canada policy, Enright could not confirm or deny whether officials were looking into Hudson's specific case.





"It's a concern that anyone would use Elections Canada in any communication with the electorate because we don't do business that way," he said. "(And) certainly not by telephone."





Polls rarely change locations, Enright said, and would only be moved if a fire, flood or an other emergency would prevent access to a polling site.





He added that an Elections Canada official would stay in the vicinity of the original site to inform voters of any changes.





Hudson said that in his 25 years with the agency, he can't recall complaints of fraudulent telephone calls telling voters that their station had moved.





Elections Canada must by law issue a report to Parliament within 90 days after a federal election outlining how many complaints were filed.

Some public servants say bullies in the schoolyard have nothing on some executives inside the bureaucracy.

Some public servants say bullies in the schoolyard have nothing on some executives inside the bureaucracy.




Victims of harassment tell CBC News that bullying, intimidation and harassment is a problem inside some public service departments, especially at the higher levels.



"He'd yell, scream, swear and belittle," recalls Jim Johnston, referring to his former supervisor, a director general at the Canada Border Services Agency. Johnston is a retired director of the federal agency in Windsor, Ont.



"He only manages with conflict. I was very afraid of him. He had a superiority complex. He was vicious. He always wanted power."



Johnston says after years of harassment he was pushed out, forced into retirement. He has now filed a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on the grounds of discrimination.



He said he was "reorganized" out of his director job and the responsibilities that went with it while on sick leave and was passed over for promotion and encouraged to retire. He also says he was maligned and harassed by his superior, a director general. But he says he wasn't the only one who faced similar abuse.



"People would move to get away from him. The Employee Assistance Program co-ordinator dealt with people who were harassed. It's a code of silence. People were afraid of retribution," notes Johnston.



Johnston says up until now he's been reluctant to tell his story publicly because his son still works at the border agency.



"My family has 130 years of history of customs. I bleed blue. I now teach customs. I've never gotten it out of my system," says Johnston who now teaches at St. Clair College in Windsor.



Johnston is one of many complaining about harassment in the public service.



Over 1 in 4 public servants say they have been harassed

The last Public Service Employee Survey in 2008 found 31 per cent of women and 25 per cent men reported having been the victim of harassment in the previous two years. Only 46 per cent of women said that they were satisfied with the way in which their department or agency responds to matters of harassment and discrimination.



Julie Côté, who is a director at Canadian Heritage in Gatineau, Que., is currently on disability leave.



Julie Cote took her case to Quebec's worker's compensation board after she said she was a victim of psychological harassment. "I just became very ill and depressed and I couldn't function anymore," says Côté, who spent 30 years in the federal government.



"There were times when I was really bullied by a couple of assistant deputy ministers. It was horrible there were many times I'd leave those meetings crying. And this was not based on poor performance, because I've never had a poor performance evaluation."



Côté, an Ottawa resident, says she wasn't just bullied, she was mobbed, a term often used to describe workplace harassment. "Mobbing, is just a bunch of players who contribute to the diminishing of an individual. In my case, I know the direction came from senior management, from the very top. Everyone wants to please the boss, so they went along."



Côté took her case to Quebec's worker's compensation board (Commission de la Sante et de la Securite du Travail du Quebec). She's claiming psychological harassment.



In yet another case, Zabia Chamberlain says senior managers inadequately handled her harassment complaint. Chamberlain worked as a director at Human Resources Skills Development Canada in Gatineau. She says her superior harassed and intimidated her for nine months.



Zabia Chamberlain said she made repeated efforts to find another position away from a supervisor she says repeatedly harassed her. (CBC) She filed a complaint. Eventually, an informal investigation was carried out by a senior official in the branch. It confirmed Chamberlain had been harassed. But Chamberlain says her request to be moved to an equivalent job outside the building and away from the harasser was denied.



Through access to information, she's found emails between other managers assigned to resolve her case. One manager notes, "we may have to be more forceful in our approach."



"I only read about mobbing in 2010," says Chamberlain. "Mobbing sounds like chaos and I believe I suffered a great deal of chaos. There was a lot of recklessness and I believe there's still a lot of recklessness to the way this was being handled."



'By far the most common solution, pack up and get a different job. No shame in that.'

—Waterloo professor emeritus Kenneth WesthuesRules and policies won't curb harassment: workplace expert

Chamberlain, Côté and Johnston were all directors — executives in the public service. The executive branch is non-unionized, so those workers don't receive support or advice from union lawyers. They're also forced to seek recourse through different channels.



Kenneth Westhues, who is a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo, has studied workplace mobbing for about 20 years. "Workplace mobbing is about ganging up on a particular individual, towards eliminating that person from the workplace." Westhues notes even in an institution with many policies, rules and regulations, harassment still happens.



"Over the past few years I've gotten, I don't know, 50 to 100 inquiries from federal public servants many of them high level public servants, who say I have read your research on public mobbing and I think this has happened to me."



Westhues predicts most of the complaints are legitimate, but he doesn't think more rules or better legislation will solve the issues. In fact, he thinks managers need to use more common sense and victims need to know when to move on.



Labour expert Kenneth Westhues says he has received at least 50 inquiries from federal public servants who believe they have been ganged-up on at work. (CBC) "What I urge people to do is sit down with a piece of paper and write out, what are their resources, job security, tenure, how much money they have.and make a decision on the basis on realistic assessment.



"By far the most common solution, pack up and get a different job. No shame in that."



But many public servants choose to stay and fight. They seek legal solutions from people like Paul Champ, an Ottawa lawyer who's taken on many cases of harassment in the federal public service.



He says victims of harassment take complaints to the Public Service Labour Relations Board, the Public Service Integrity Commissioner and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, but rarely is the resolution satisfactory.



Champ says he's seen cases sit in tribunals or the courts for more than a decade, costing the taxpayers and the complainant a lot of time and money. He says there's often a great cost to the government because many victims go off on sick leave.



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Do you have a story or information you'd like to share about this issue? Contact Julie at Julie.Ireton@cbc.ca.

"If that person goes off on stress leave for a couple of years or even six months, the cost of them being away, but also are they ever going to be the same?"



Champ notes that many jurisdictions are trying to deal with the issues of workplace harassment.



"Quebec has passed in their labour legislation prohibitions against harassment in the workplace. Ontario actually has the occupational health and safety legislation. Unfortunately, I don't know if organizations and particularly the federal government are truly addressing it properly," says Champ.



Managers face hurdles when firing employees

Côté has another theory as to why the federal government faces the problem. She says it would be better if the federal government could fire people, like in the private sector.



"The whole issue of not being able to fire, it's onerous for managers. It's an onerous job to document it and get rid of them for incompetency or whatever. And so most don't go that route."



Instead, Côté believes people get mobbed and leave. She says she wishes she'd seen the signs.



"If I'd have been smart I'd have walked away earlier, but I wasn't."



When asked to comment on harassment issues inside the public service, officials at Treasury Board said federal policy clearly states that harassment in the workplace is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.



"Managers are expected to intervene promptly when they become aware of improper or offensive conduct and to involve the parties in resolving the problem."

Ontario's appeal court upheld a decision to not proceed with Ottawa's bid to extradite Khadr to the U.S. to face terrorism charges.

TORONTO — Lawyers for Abdullah Khadr say their client his happy with his latest legal victory.




Yesterday, Ontario's appeal court upheld a decision to not proceed with Ottawa's bid to extradite Khadr to the U.S. to face terrorism charges.



Khadr lawyer Dennis Edney says the federal government has 60 days now to decide whether it wants to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case.



The Harper government says Khadr is an admitted al Qaeda collaborator who the U.S. accuses of supplying weapons to al Qaeda in Pakistan.



Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer freed Khadr last summer, citing gross misconduct by the U.S. in its treatment of Khadr.



Khadr's lawyers argued his self-incriminating statements were the product of torture in Pakistan.



The appeal court rejected the federal government's argument that an admitted terrorist was set free because Khadr could be tried in Canada.

The G20 Legal Defence Fund has reopened for its second application round and is now accepting applications for requests for financial assistance from G20 defendants, both current and past.

The G20 Legal Defence Fund has reopened for its second application round and is now accepting applications for requests for financial assistance from G20 defendants, both current and past. If you have incurred legal or associated costs as a result of criminal charges you faced following the G20 in Toronto, please consider applying for assistance from the Fund. If you previously applied to the Fund, you can reapply for costs that may not have been covered in the first round.




ABOUT THE FUND:

The G20 Legal Defense Fund exists to hold and give out funds raised to support the legal defence of people facing charges stemming from the June 2010 Toronto G20 Summit – this includes legal fees for criminal charges, bail hearings, bail variations, trial preparation, pre-trial meetings, constitutional motions, trial preparation, legal fees for G20-related immigration and child custody issues, and travel costs.



We believe that building movements where we support each other strengthens the struggle for social justice. The fund is run based on the following principles:



1. All accused are presumed innocent.

2. No discrimination against accused people based on their charges, or on the outcome of their charges.

3. Money will be disbursed based on the criteria of risk, and financial need, with the recognition that some groups face oppression, prejudice, and disproportionate challenges when engaging with the criminal justice system.



ABOUT APPLYING:

The application form and submission instructions are available at:



http://g20legaldefencefund.wordpress.com



All applications will be kept completely confidential.

If you have legal aid, you can still apply but your need for funds will be less, so your application will be considered taking that into account.



APPLICATION DEADLINE:

The application and all supporting documentation must be received by JUNE 1, 2011.

Canada's prison service is under fire after an elite group of guards in full riot gear went rogue for 10 days and held inmates at gunpoint, a new report reveals.

Canada's prison service is under fire after an elite group of guards in full riot gear went rogue for 10 days and held inmates at gunpoint, a new report reveals.




“For 10 days, this team followed its own rules of engagement with almost complete impunity,” the report from federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers says. “It operated in a virtual management vacuum.”



A search for a homemade weapon believed to have been smuggled into British Columbia's Kent Institution precipitated the lockdown in January 2010 and a series of what Sapers called “disturbing events.”



The actions taken by the Tactical Team, part of a unique “pilot project” first approved by national headquarters in 1998 and not sanctioned by law, raise serious questions about the correctional service's accountability and governance, Sapers said.



Against the warden's instructions on how to handle the incident, the team used pistols and rifles to remove compliant inmates, many handcuffed behind the back, from their cells to an area where they were strip-searched en masse.



In some cases, searches were videotaped by prison staff showing full frontal nudity.



The description in Sapers' report evokes images of tactics used in Guantanamo. The team's use of laser-sighted semi-automatic rifles, handguns and physical and chemical restraints was an “intimidating, overwhelming and provocative display of force,” the report said.



“The disregard that the Tactical Team displayed for the law and established policies and procedures resulted in serious human rights breaches,” it concludes.



What's more, an internal fact-finding review into the searches found the tactical team leader lied about pointing guns at inmates and submitted daily reports that directly contradicted the video evidence which eventually surfaced.



The report reveals that many hours of videotape could not be found and potentially serious abuses went undocumented.



While the bulk of reports filed by the team leader described the prisoners as “verbally resistive/physically uncooperative,” video evidence confirmed inmates, with one or two exceptions, were compliant and generally responsive to staff commands.



“Indeed, if anything, the inmates are seen to be remarkably restrained in their behaviour, given that firearms were often directly pointed at them, only a few feet away,” the investigator's report states.



In response to Sapers' report, Correctional Service Commisioner Don Head said “the lack of managerial oversight and incomplete reporting at the local level is extremely concerning.”



The warden will be replaced in June, and Head has pledged the service would review its use-of-force model and governance structure with internal and external experts.



The maximum-security prison, in a remote area 150 kilometres east of Vancouver, has had trouble attracting and retaining experienced staff.



Its early years were plagued by hostage-takings and riots. More recent statistics show it has one of the highest lockdown rates in Canada.



While almost 30 per cent of the inmates at Kent are serving life sentences, a new 96-bed unit that opened two years ago houses what internal documents describe as “generally motivated and compliant” prisoners in an open-concept setting.



Escalating tensions between staff and the prison's 324 inmates set the stage for the most recent crisis, which was set off when officials received an anonymous note indicating someone had smuggled in a homemade zip gun in a stereo.



The stereo was part of a package delivered to an inmate. As is policy, the items were held in a storage cage for 30 days; there they were searched by the prison's drug detection dog and X-rayed.



Neither of these searches revealed contraband, so the items were delivered to the prisoner. Shortly after, when an officer found an anonymous letter suggesting the stereo contained a homemade gun, the warden ordered the lockdown.



Fifteen minutes later, according to the report, the prison workers' union threatened to invoke a refusal-to-work provision in the Canada Labour Code.



That's when management and the union agreed to employ the specialized tactical unit, which was supposed to provide backup to a standard emergency response team typically used during crises.



Nine days into the lockdown, after every inmate and cell was searched, no zip gun had been found. However, a “sizable quantity” of drugs and handmade shanks were retrieved.



No Tactical Team members were disciplined. Six months after the lockdown, the team was disbanded and its members were given jobs on another high-risk response unit.

The Supreme Court of Canada has granted PSAC’s application for leave to appeal .

The Supreme Court of Canada has granted PSAC’s application for leave to appeal a longstanding pension case.




In October 2010 the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed our case against the federal government for expropriating $28 billion from the federal superannuation fund.



At issue is the fact that the federal government raided a $28 billion surplus from the public service, RCMP and Canadian Forces pension plans after passing legislation that restructured the way the plans are managed.



PSAC claims that the government breached the trust of plan members, violating its fiduciary duty and not meeting its obligations.



In addition, PSAC maintains that the removal of $28 billion in pension contributions, impacting 700,000 employees, is a matter of national importance.



The union believes that the trial judge incorrectly concluded that the Superannuation Accounts had not accrued assets. The evidence clearly demonstrated that the government was required to and did put aside real funds to deal with its pension obligations, along with funds collected from plan members' contributions.



PSAC also disagrees with the trial judge's conclusion that the government had no fiduciary obligation toward plan members and toward their interest in the surplus. The evidence presented in the case established that this was true.



The Court of Appeal found that the federal government did have the discretion to remove the surplus funds, even if it resulted in higher pension contributions for plan members. PSAC believes that the government must be held to account for its actions and that the funds should be restored to the pension fund.

Top court won't hear Tory appeal on GST rebates on election spending.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by the federal Conservatives over GST rebates on election spending.




The Tories wanted to appeal a ruling that had rejected an attempt by the party to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars in GST refunds.



The Conservatives initially won their case in Ontario Superior Court, where they argued the refunds amounted to double-dipping.



The judge there acknowledged the effect would have been to raise the party's election expenses limit.



The Ontario Court of Appeal later sided with Elections Canada and overturned the Superior Court ruling.



The Tories have another appeal against the elections watchdog pending that involves election spending in the 2006 campaign.