Issues & Experts >
Issues & Experts Archive > Week of April 15 – 22, 2002
Week of April 15 – 22, 2002
Document Tools
Apr 16, 2002
Legal landmarks to become school yard landmines?…Two recent court decisions have set legal landmarks that are invoking a lot of debate among parents and a lot of rethinking among school administrators. Shaheen Shariff is a PhD candidate and a research associate at SFU’s centre for education, law and society. "I think these decisions on bullying are long overdue and have a lot of merit," says Shariff. "But I’m also concerned that school districts will see them as the green light to bring in more zero tolerance polices and initiatives that don’t address the root causes of school violence." Shariff is an expert on the impact of law on educational policy. She says the Dawn Marie Wesley decision establishes the standard that youth can be held responsible for harassment that instills fear, regardless of the intended result. The Azmi Jubran ruling, Shariff adds, puts schools on notice. "They can be held legally accountable for creating a discriminatory environment for students through their handling of bullying and violence in schools." Shariff can talk more about the impact of these decisions and the ironic origin of the word bullying.
Shaheen Shariff, 604.291.4570, sshariff@sfu.ca
No progress on party merger…Last week’s meeting between new Alliance leader Stephen Harper and Conservative leader Joe Clark led to an unsurprising stalemate. What did the event mean for the future of the parties? "With five of the six ‘Alliance rebels’ returning to the Alliance fold, and with Harper’s rejection of Clark’s proposal for a long, staged approach to a merger, Clark is looking much more vulnerable to internal and external (i.e., the Ontario business community) pressure to step down as Tory leader," says SFU political science professor David Laycock. On the Alliance side, Laycock says Harper may seem to be riding higher with his merger proposal’s rejection and the return of the prodigal MPs. "But he is still nowhere near where he needs to be to restore business community funding to his party. He is still leading a party that contributes as much to the vote-splitting on the right as it did when Stockwell Day was leader." Laycock says the biggest winners over the last several days of "Alliance-Tory drama" were the incumbent Liberals.
David Laycock, 604.291.3089
Industry in transition…The mining industry has often been criticized for having a myopic vision of the world around it, a criticism that stimulates a highly politicized debate about the role of mining in today’s world. The resulting gap between the corporate community, mining’s other stakeholders and the general public has never been wider. Alistair MacDonald ‘s research on the state of the North American industry for his SFU master’s thesis (last spring) led him to delve further into the issues. He has now written Industry in Transition: A Profile of the North American Mining Sector. The book is part of the ongoing effort by the international Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) initiative to present research detailing the historical legacy, present state and future possibilities of the global mining industry. MacDonald focuses on the corporate sector based in the U.S. and Canada and its role in a global context. "I set out to show how mining companies work and react to changing risks, and what their decision makers value and fear most in the new millennium," says MacDonald. While a student, he laid the groundwork for the establishment of what is now the B.C. Centre for Responsible Mining (based at UBC). He is currently reviewing the MMSD’s recommendations, following its two-year global analysis of the industry aimed at finding ways to change its reputation and practices. Its report is due in May.
Alistair MacDonald, 604.786.1072; amacdonb@sfu.ca
Shaheen Shariff, 604.291.4570, sshariff@sfu.ca
No progress on party merger…Last week’s meeting between new Alliance leader Stephen Harper and Conservative leader Joe Clark led to an unsurprising stalemate. What did the event mean for the future of the parties? "With five of the six ‘Alliance rebels’ returning to the Alliance fold, and with Harper’s rejection of Clark’s proposal for a long, staged approach to a merger, Clark is looking much more vulnerable to internal and external (i.e., the Ontario business community) pressure to step down as Tory leader," says SFU political science professor David Laycock. On the Alliance side, Laycock says Harper may seem to be riding higher with his merger proposal’s rejection and the return of the prodigal MPs. "But he is still nowhere near where he needs to be to restore business community funding to his party. He is still leading a party that contributes as much to the vote-splitting on the right as it did when Stockwell Day was leader." Laycock says the biggest winners over the last several days of "Alliance-Tory drama" were the incumbent Liberals.
David Laycock, 604.291.3089
Industry in transition…The mining industry has often been criticized for having a myopic vision of the world around it, a criticism that stimulates a highly politicized debate about the role of mining in today’s world. The resulting gap between the corporate community, mining’s other stakeholders and the general public has never been wider. Alistair MacDonald ‘s research on the state of the North American industry for his SFU master’s thesis (last spring) led him to delve further into the issues. He has now written Industry in Transition: A Profile of the North American Mining Sector. The book is part of the ongoing effort by the international Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) initiative to present research detailing the historical legacy, present state and future possibilities of the global mining industry. MacDonald focuses on the corporate sector based in the U.S. and Canada and its role in a global context. "I set out to show how mining companies work and react to changing risks, and what their decision makers value and fear most in the new millennium," says MacDonald. While a student, he laid the groundwork for the establishment of what is now the B.C. Centre for Responsible Mining (based at UBC). He is currently reviewing the MMSD’s recommendations, following its two-year global analysis of the industry aimed at finding ways to change its reputation and practices. Its report is due in May.
Alistair MacDonald, 604.786.1072; amacdonb@sfu.ca