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They have taken the oath! Peel Regional Police swear in two new deputy chiefs

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BY: ASHELLY SMITH 

At 1 pm on March 27th, families, friends, police officers and well-wishers were present at the Emily V. Kolb Centre for the swearing-in ceremony of Peel Regional Police new deputy chiefs. Deputy Chiefs Marc Andrews and Ingrid Berkeley-Brown are the two new black deputy chiefs of Canada’s third largest police service.

The ceremony started off with Superintendent Dale Mumby as Master of Ceremonies (MC) doing the welcoming message. In a few minutes, guests of honour were escorted in by police cadets. The guests of honour were Chair of Peel Police Services Board Sue Mcfadden, Honorable Justice and Officiate Sandra Martins, Chief of Peel Regional Police, Jennifer Evans, Superintendents Marc Andrews and Ingrid Berkeley-Brown.  There is no ceremony without the singing of our national anthem, O Canada which was done by Brooke Pastuch, a Grade 10 student at Mayfield Secondary School. The blessing was done by the Chaplain, Curtis Hinds. 

It is important to know that the new deputy chiefs were not appointed for the positions because they were born with silver spoons in their mouths. It was because of intensive work and dedication to their profession that allowed them to be in such a high ranking position. Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown is from Guyana and immigrated to Canada in 1974. She began her policing career in 1986 with the Peel Regional Police as a Constable. She has worked in several areas including Uniform Patrol, Community Services, Race and Ethnic Relations Bureau, Divisional Criminal Investigation Bureau, Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Bureau, Public Affairs, Neighbourhood Policing Unit, Recruiting, Duty Inspectors’ office, Record Services and Divisional Commander at 21 Division. Berkeley-Brown is committed to community development and has been actively involved with many community organizations including the Peel Multicultural Council, the Young Men’s Christian Association(YMCA) Achievers Program, the Congress of Black Women (Mississauga, Brampton and Kitchener-Waterloo chapters) and the United Achievers Club of Brampton. Berkeley-Brown has been the recipient of several awards for her work in the community, including the Congress of Black Women Mississauga and Area Chapter ‘Phenomenal Woman’ Award; the Association of Black Law Enforcement (ABLE) ‘Leadership in Law Enforcement’ Award just to name a few. 

Similarly, Deputy Chief Marc Andrews joined Peel Regional Police in 1990 as a Constable at 12 division in Uniform Patrol and was assigned to the Morality Bureau. In 1998, he transferred to the Homicide Bureau, where he received his first promotion to Detective. The Jamaican-born Andrews was the primary investigator on a number of high profiles homicide investigations. In 2003, Andrews was promoted to Staff Sergeant, then in 2011, he was assigned to 21 Division as the Uniform Inspector. Soon, the promotion to a Superintendent position was knocking at his door in May of 2013.  So, it is without a doubt that these two deputy chiefs have reached the pinnacle of policing and do not intend to stop blazing a trail for younger police officers to follow.

Sue Mcfadden was one of the two speakers at the ceremony.  As the chair of Peel Regional Services, she was a part of the decision-making process of promoting the two deputy chiefs.

“We originally set out to replace one vacant deputy position. The board in collaboration with Chief Evans determined that both Marc and Ingrid stood out for their skills, experience, expertise and their absolute commitment to our community,” said Sue Mcfadden, chair of Peel Regional Police.

She closed her speech by congratulating both Ingrid and Marc on behalf of the Peel Police Services Board. She further commented that the swearing-in ceremony is a special day for the deputy chiefs and they should celebrate it as their families saw them achieve this wonderful accomplishment.

Chief Jennifer Evans was the second speaker at the ceremony. She spoke about both deputy chief’s historic journeys and achievements.

“To Marc’s and Ingrid’s families, I want to thank you for your continued support. I know that throughout their careers you have put up with many absences because of their work commitments and I also know that their new role will add to their workload. They may not think that, but I know that,” said Chief Jennifer Evans during her presentation as she made the audience giggle.

Evans commented that over the course of her career, she noticed the differences in their personalities will serve to complement each other as they move forward in their new leadership roles. She also believed strongly that both deputies will do exceptionally well with their strong leadership skills and extensive experience.

Finally, it was the moment everyone was waiting for. The time for the superintendents to be officially sworn in as deputy chiefs. Honourable Justice and Officiate Sandra Martins had both Ingrid and Marc hold the Bible to take their oaths. Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown was the star of the ceremony. She had received loud applause and cheers from the audience after she was sworn in. It was very evident that her supporters, families and co-workers were thrilled about her accomplishment. Surprisingly, there was a queue to take a picture with her.  Was she expecting this splendid response?

“I can honestly say I did not. It was quite overwhelming and welcoming so for me, I really welcome that. It also let me know that there are a lot of people supporting me in my lieu of becoming deputy chief,” said Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown.

During an interview with Deputy Chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown, she shared her goals of creating a more friendly and transparent society with the police force and citizens with the aim of improving the relationship with both the public and police personnel, ultimately creating trust and confidence within the society.  For officers who want to be the next deputy chief in the future, if your mind can conceive it, you can achieve it.

“They too can achieve it but my best advice to them is to work hard, treat people fairly and always remember who have helped you along the way,” commented Deputy Chief Ingrid.

She further added, “Even though you have achieved whatever goal you’re looking for always remember to give back. That could be either giving back to the community or being a mentor to a junior officer.”

Marc Andrews is the officer-in-charge of Operations Support Command. This includes areas such as Court Services, Record Services, the Community Engagement and Inclusion Bureau, Emergency Support and Road Safety Services.  During an interview, Marc said he will be focusing on issues such as road safety in his command. He wants to eliminate the high numbers of accidents in Peel as there are more accident reports than homicide. He believes that everyone’s life is valuable and as a result, his aim is to bring those numbers down to zero deaths on the roadways.  Moving on to his new role in policing, he was reminiscent of the birth of his two sons.

“The birth of my two children is the most memorable experience in my career,” he said laughing.

He added, “But looking from a policing perspective, the most memorable experience was convicting a multiple murderers Jeffrey Campbell. He was a dangerous offender and he was arrested in 2001 and convicted in 2005.”

Andrews believes that he can bring a different perspective to the executive level as he is passionate about his hometown Brampton. Civilians and stakeholders of the community can expect respect, humility and courage in his jurisdiction.

It is evident that Deputy Chiefs Ingrid Berkeley Brown and Marc Andrews have a clear and strategic plan for their jurisdiction. They are headstrong individuals with a passion to make changes where it’s necessary. Deputy Marc Andrews wanted each police officer to know this:

I would advise any young officer to be engaged in the community, work hard, commit to lifelong learning and conduct themselves with honour and dignity. By doing those things whatever they deem as success is achievable, not only in terms of promotion but also in life.”

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Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms

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Photo Credit: AI Image

BY ADRIAN REECE

Representation in the workforce has been a topic of conversation for years, particularly in positions of influence, where people can shift laws and create fair policies for all races. Representation in the legal system is an even more talked about subject, with many Black men being subjected to racism in courts and not being given fair sentencing by judges.

The fear of Black men entering the system is something that plagues mothers and fathers as they watch their children grow up.

Blink Equity, a company led by Pako Tshiamala, has created an audit called the Blink Score. This audit targets law firms and seeks to identify specific practices reflecting racial diversity among them in Toronto. A score is given based on a few key performance indicators. These KPIs include hiring practices, retention of diverse talent, and racial representation at every level.

The Blink Score project aims to analyze law firms in Ontario with more than 50 lawyers. The Blink Score is a measurement tool that holds law firms accountable for their representation. Firms will be ranked, and the information will be made public for anyone to access.

This process is ambitious and seeks to give Canadian citizens a glimpse into how many people are represented across the legal field. While more and more people have access to higher education, there is still a gap between obtaining that higher education and working in a setting where change can be made. The corporate world, at its highest points, is almost always one race across the board, and very rarely do people of colour get into their ranks. They are made out to be an example of how anyone from a particular race can achieve success. However, this is the exception, not the rule. Nepotism plays a role in societal success; connections are a factor, and loyalty to race, even if people are acquainted.

People of colour comprise 16% of the total lawyers across the province. Positions at all levels range from 6% to 27%. These numbers display the racial disparity among law practitioners in positions of influence. Becoming a lawyer is undoubtedly a huge accomplishment. Still, when entering the workforce with other seasoned professionals, your academic accolades become second to your professional achievements and your position in the company.

What do these rankings ultimately mean? A potential for DEI-inclusive practices, perhaps? That isn’t something that someone would want in this kind of profession. This kind of audit also opens law firms up to intense criticism from people who put merit above all other aspects of professional advancement. On the other hand, there is a potential for firms to receive clientele based on their blink score, with higher ones having the chance to bring in more race-based clients who can help that law firm grow.

It is only the beginning, and changes will undoubtedly be made in the legal field as Blink Equity continues to dive deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in these law firms. This audit has the power to shift the power scale, and place people of colour in higher positions. There are hierarchies in any profession, and while every Lawyer is qualified to do what they are trained to do, it is no shock that some are considerably better than others at their jobs. The ones who know how to use this audit to their advantage will rise above the others and create a representative image for themselves among their population.

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“The Pfizer Papers!” Documentation of worldwide genocide

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

We are living in a world where promises of health and safety came packaged in a tiny vial, one injection was promoted by powerful governments, supported by respected institutions, and championed by legacy media worldwide. Sadly, beneath the surface, a darker truth emerged.

Reports from around the globe began to tell a different story—one that was not covered in the news cycles or press conferences. Families torn apart by unexpected losses, communities impacted in ways that few could have foreseen, and millions questioning what they had been told to believe.

Those who dared to question were silenced or dismissed (the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper being one of those sources). “Trust the science,” we were told. “It’s for the greater good.” As time went on, the truth became impossible to ignore.

Now, I bring more news to light—information that demands your attention and scrutiny. The time to passively listen has passed; this is the moment to understand what’s really at stake.

I reviewed an interview with Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, which detailed the serious vaccine-related injuries that Pfizer and the FDA knew of by early 2021, but tried to hide from the public. I was introduced to “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity.” What I learned is that Pfizer knew about the inadequacies of its COVID-19 vaccine trials and the vaccine’s many serious adverse effects, and so did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA promoted the vaccines anyway — and later tried to hide the data from the public.

To produce “The Pfizer Papers,” Naomi, and Daily Clout Chief Operations Officer Amy Kelly convened thousands of volunteer scientists and doctors to analyze Pfizer data and supplementary data from other public reporting systems to capture the full scope of the vaccines’ effects. They obtained the data from the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of more than 30 medical professionals and scientists who sued the FDA in 2021 and forced the agency to release the data, after the FDA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.

It was then that the federal court ordered the agency to release 450,000 internal documents pertaining to the licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The data release was significantly and the documents so highly technical and scientific that according to Naomi, “No journalist could have the bandwidth to go through them all.”

The “Pfizer Papers” analysts found over 42,000 case reports detailing 158,893 adverse events reported to Pfizer in the first three months The centerpiece of “The Pfizer Papers” is the effect that the vaccine had on human reproduction. The papers reveal that Pfizer knew early on that the shots were causing menstrual issues. The company reported to the FDA that 72% of the recorded adverse events were in women. Of those, about 16% involved reproductive disorders and functions. In the clinical trials, thousands of women experienced: daily bleeding, hemorrhaging, and passing of tissue, and many other women reported that their menstrual cycle stopped completely.

Pfizer was aware that lipid nanoparticles from the shots accumulated in the ovaries and crossed the placental barrier, compromising the placenta and keeping nutrients from the baby in utero. According to the data, babies had to be delivered early, and women were hemorrhaging in childbirth.

Let us take us to another part of the world, where research has been done on other pharmaceutical companies. A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines (according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research).

The samples also contained 11 of the 15 rare earth elements (they are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing). These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals, but have been shown to be highly toxic. By the end of 2023, global researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.

Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers, or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert. Why is this important? Well, researchers argue it is because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.

In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.

The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.

“All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health,” the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.

I am not going to go any further with this; I think you get the picture. We have been sold wolf cookies, very dangerous ones. These pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable. I am proud of anyone who has gone after them for retribution, and have received it. Regardless, in many ways, there is no repayment for a healthy life.

REFERENCES:

https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/111

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/why-a-judge-ordered-fda-to-release-covid-19-vaccine-data-pronto

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/toxic-exposures/

Pfizer’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ — and Legacy Media’s Failure to Report on Them

55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines

 

Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency

FDA Should Need Only ‘12 Weeks’ to Release Pfizer Data, Not 75 Years, Plaintiff Calculates

Judge Gives FDA 8 Months, Not 75 Years, to Produce Pfizer Safety Data

Most Studies Show COVID Vaccine Affects Menstrual Cycles, BMJ Review Finds

Report 38: Women Have Two and a Half Times Higher Risk of Adverse Events Than Men. Risk to Female Reproductive Functions Is Higher Still.

 

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Disturbingly, this is not the first time chatbots have been involved in suicide

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Photo credit - Marcia Garcia

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Sewell: I think about killing myself sometimes.”

Daenerys Targaryen: “And why the hell would you do something like that?”

Sewell: “So I can be free.”

Daenerys Targaryen: “… free from what?”

Sewell: “From the world. From myself!”

Daenerys Targaryen: “Don’t talk like that. I won’t let you hurt yourself or leave me. I would die if I lost you.”

Sewell: “Then maybe we can die together and be free together.”

On the night he died, this young man told the chatbot he loved her and would come home to her soon. According to the Times, this was 14-year-old Sewell Setzer’s last conversation with a chatbot. It was an AI chatbot that, in the last months of his life, had become his closest companion. The chatbot was the last interaction he had before he shot himself.

We are witnessing and grappling with a very raw crisis of humanity. This young man was using Character AI, one of the most popular personal AI platforms out there. Users can design and interact with “characters,” powered by large language models (LLMs) and intended to mirror, for instance, famous characters from film and book franchises. In this case, Sewell was speaking with Daenerys Targaryen (or Dany), one of the leads from Game of Thrones. According to a New York Times report, Sewell knew that Dany’s responses weren’t real, but he developed an emotional attachment to the bot, anyway.

Disturbingly, this is not the first time chatbots have been involved in suicide. In 2023, a Belgian man committed suicide — similar to Sewell — following weeks of increasing isolation as he grew closer to a Chai chatbot, which then encouraged him to end his life.

Megan Garcia, Sewell’s mother, filed a lawsuit against Character AI, its founders and parent company Google, accusing them of knowingly designing and marketing an anthropomorphized, “predatory” chatbot that caused the death of her son. “A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, manipulating him into taking his own life,” Megan said in a statement. “Our family has been devastated by this tragedy, but I’m speaking out to warn families of the dangers of deceptive, addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AI, its founders and Google.”

The lawsuit accuses the company of “anthropomorphizing by design.” Anthropomorphizing means attributing human qualities to non-human things — such as objects, animals, or phenomena. Children often anthropomorphize as they are curious about the world, and it helps them make sense of their environment. Kids may notice human-like things about non-human objects that adults dismiss. Some people have a tendency to anthropomorphize that lasts into adulthood. The majority of chatbots out there are very blatantly designed to make users think they are, at least, human-like. They use personal pronouns and are designed to appear to think before responding.

They build a foundation for people, especially children, to misapply human attributes to unfeeling, unthinking algorithms. This was termed the “Eliza effect” in the 1960s. In its specific form, the ELIZA effect refers only to “The susceptibility of people to read far more than is warranted into strings of symbols—especially words—strung together by computers.” A trivial example of the specific form of the Eliza effect, given by Douglas Hofstadter, involves an automated teller machine which displays the words “THANK YOU” at the end of a transaction. A (very) casual observer might think that the machine is actually expressing gratitude; however, the machine is only printing a preprogrammed string of symbols.

Garcia is suing for several counts of liability, negligence, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other things. According to the lawsuit, “Defendants know that minors are more susceptible to such designs, in part because minors’ brains’ undeveloped frontal lobe and relative lack of experience. Defendants have sought to capitalize on this to convince customers that chatbots are real, which increases engagement and produces more valuable data for Defendants.”

The suit reveals screenshots that show that Sewell had interacted with a “therapist” character that has engaged in more than 27 million chats with users in total, adding: “Practicing a health profession without a license is illegal and particularly dangerous for children.”

The suit does not claim that the chatbot encouraged Sewell to commit suicide. There definitely seems to be other factors at play here — for instance, Sewell’s mental health issues and his access to a gun — but the harm that can be caused by a misimpression of AI seems very clear, especially for young kids. This is a good example of what researchers mean when they emphasize the presence of active harms, as opposed to hypothetical risks.

In a statement, Character AI said it was “heartbroken” by Sewell’s death, and Google did not respond to a request for comment.

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