Open Sources Guelph - October 29, 2015

On this week's episode of Open Sources Guelph, we leave the Federal Election behind and dig into new issues and some old ones. In the first half, we'll be checking in with Canada's First Nations people as they continue to struggle for fair treatment and equality only to be stymied at every turn. In the United States, they too are a but hungover from an election, but they still have a little over a year to go till theirs is over. And finally, we'll consider a new thought about a favourite fall holiday.

This Thursday, October 15, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz  and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

1) Abuse in Val d'Or. Shortly after the rare achievement of 10 newly elected First Nations' MPs in last Monday's election came news that Aboriginal women in Quebec were once again were finding themselves victims, and this time, it was as victims of the people that are supposed to protect them, the police. Eight members of the provincial police were suspended after a Radio-Canada investigation revealed that officers were assaulting Aboriginal women. How did this issue stay silent for so long, and what affect with this have on the national discussion in addressing mistreatment of Canada's First Nations people.

2) Fears for Tears Report. Elizabeth Denham, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia released a scathing report and called for an RCMP investigation when it was discovered that the province had "triple deleted" emails relating to the topic of the Highway of Tears. With pressure about to grow on the new federal Liberal government to call an inquiry into Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, what was the government thinking by erasing such potentially provocative communiques?

3) Back to the U.S.A. Canada's election maybe over, but the road to the White House south of the border marches on as we reach the one year to Election Day countdown. Vice-President Joe Biden has decided he won't run for a promotion, while Hillary Clinton enjoyed a good week after the latest Benghazi hearing. Meanwhile on the right, Donald Trump is hurting after falling to second place in Iowa, and last night's Republican debate became all about the moderators as CNBC journalists tried to get the candidates to give substantive answers. We'll have the latest...

4) This is Halloween? In an op-ed in the Guelph Mercury, Lakeside downtown pastor Rev. Graham Singh wondered if maybe Halloween was getting too ghoulish. Pass through any Guelph neighbourhood and you'll see skulls, monsters, corpses, and other trappings of the season, but have we gone too far? Singh posits that as Canada welcomes people from Syria and Iraq, witnesses to real life horrors, we've gone from merely scary to being outright grotesque. Is Singh right? Should we thinking more The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and less The Walking Dead?

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.