Pregnant, homeless and invisible in Toronto

More than 300 homeless women give birth in Toronto each year.

Media fights to televise Sinclair inquest

Several news outlets will be in a Winnipeg court Friday to argue that an inquest into the high-profile death of a homeless man should be televised so as many people as possible can watch it.
Read more [CBC - Manitoba]

Family of homeless man found dead in Vancouver alley contact police

The family of the homeless man found dying in a downtown Vancouver alley this week have contacted police.

Vancouver homeless man fondly remembered

Those who knew Thomas Sawyer are in mourning following the Vancouver homeless man's mysterious death on Sunday. Sawyer, 55, was found dying in a downtown alleyway. With no visible signs of violence to his body, he was taken to hospital but died of massive internal injuries
Read more [CBC - BC]

Activists Debate Vancouver Olympic Protests

by Derrick O’Keefe
March 9, 2010
Socialist Voice

After years of organizing work, the protest movement around the Vancouver Winter Olympics can proudly claim a number of important victories. A vibrant demonstration of thousands met the corporate spectacle head on, marching to within metres of the Opening Ceremonies at B.C. Place February 12.

The ‘Welcoming Committee’ that organized this mass protest was representative of the range of groups challenging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Vancouver Games conveners (VANOC).

The achievements of this movement include: Pushing back hard against attempts to restrict free assembly and speech, exposing the “greenwashing” of the Games, and raising awareness of homelessness and indigenous rights issues. The IOC brand was successfully dented and the longer-term impact of the Games illuminated. Over the course of the Games, a host of creative direct actions and protests pushed demands for social justice.

However, there were also missed opportunities, and some acrimonious debate in the activist community.

Read the rest here
Read more [Streams of Justice]

Bolster Haiti's hopes

Governor-General Michaëlle Jean did what she could to keep the world's fickle attention focused on Haiti this week, where people are still digging out from the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed 200,000 people and left 1.3 million homeless.

Turkey quake search 'called off'

At least 51 killed and scores homeless after 6.0 magnitude quake strikes Elazig province.
Read more [Al Jazeera - English]

US troops withdrawing from Haiti

Earthquake survivors fear mass pullout of troops is a sign of dwindling international support

Thousands of US troops are leaving Haiti in a swift scaling back of US military involvement in post-earthquake security and reconstruction.

A gradual reduction from a peak of 20,000 in early February has accelerated in recent days and by the end of this week fewer than 8,000 are expected to remain in Haiti and on offshore vessels.

"Our mission is largely accomplished," General Douglas Fraser, head of US Southern Command, which runs the Haiti mission, told reporters.

Many Haitians are not so sure. Survivors from the 12 January quake worried that the withdrawal signalled waning international support and that UN troops and Haitian police would struggle to keep security.

"I would like for [US troops] to stay in Haiti until they rebuild the country and everybody can go back to their house," Marjorie Louis, 27, a mother in a makeshift camp at the national stadium, told Associated Press.

Another family sheltering under a tarpaulin at another camp agreed. "They should stay because they have been doing a good job," Lesly Pierre, 35, said. "If it was up to our government, we wouldn't have gotten any help at all."

The 7.0-magnitude quake devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and, according to the authorities, killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.2 million homeless, about half of whom are living in squalid camps.

With basic infrastructure destroyed and the UN and Haiti's government paralysed the US military took control of ports and airports and aid distribution. The troops were welcomed by a stricken population grateful for any help.

However some aid agencies, notably Médecins sans Frontières, complained that military flights hogged the airport and diverted civilian aid aircraft to the neighbouring Dominican Republic. French and Italian officials said the US intervention was clumsy and overweening.

Leftist leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Cuba's Fidel Castro accused the US of conducting an imperial occupation under a humanitarian banner.

Despite widespread hunger and squalor – which could worsen with the imminent rainy season – the feared collapse in law and order did not materialise.

The situation remains potentially volatile. Last Friday crowds looted a UN food convoy travelling from Gonaïves to Dessalines. There is a question mark over the Haitian police and 10,000-strong UN force's ability to fill the gap left by dwindling US troops.

It was unclear how many US troops would remain over coming months. Of the 8,000 still on the Haiti mission about half were offshore.

Prospery Raymond, country manager for Christian Aid, said what people needed most was food, clean water and adequate shelter. "Once basic needs have been provided for, there will be no problem with security. A military presence is very costly, Christian Aid would rather see that money directed towards the needs of the Haitian people."

• Haiti
• Natural disasters and extreme weather
• United States
• United Nations