| A roundup of some of the latest news in women, Toronto, and/or politics this week. What stories did you read this week? Tell us in the comments. |
- Today (February 13th), Toronto Council’s budget committee will review Tory’s latest proposal, which includes proposed cuts to Toronto police and TTC budgets, as well as the suggestion that the city borrow money from itself to balance this year’s budget, which some have criticized as a risky move.
- After Torontonian Zunera Ishaq challenged a Canadian citizenship policy which required Muslim women to remove their niqab during citizenship ceremonies, the policy was deemed illegal this past week. However, Harper has vowed to appeal the ruling.
- Windows were shot out at Montreal Muslim Secondary School last the weekend. The Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia says this is the latest in an increasing number of violent instances reported to them against Quebec Muslims.
- The Toronto Star publisher expressed regret over a story published last week on the HPV vaccine, Gardasil. The article presented anecdotal evidence of women and girls who experience health issues after receiving the vaccine, but no direct correlation has been proven. Many doctors and experts were outraged by the sensational piece, given that the vaccine has been proven to be safe and is widely used to help prevent cervical cancer.
- The Department of National Defence is investigating an incident in which someone used their IP address to edit the Retaeh Parsons Wikipedia page. The edits included deleting the word “rape” and altering a quote to suggest Parsons had consensual sex with those accused of raping her.
- The National Post gave cameras to 12 young Aboriginal girls at Maples Collegiate in Winnipeg, empowering them to tell their own stories with their own footage.
- Three Muslim students were killed on Tuesday near the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus – Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salah. Though #MuslimsLivesMatter trended nationally on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations was disappointed that the story didn’t get the same kind of coverage on major news networks.
- A trans woman named Penny Proud was murdered this week, making her the sixth trans or non-conforming person of colour to be killed in the U.S. this year.
