#tebasumdurrani

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) -- Today, January 24, marks the Day of the Endangered Lawyer. As a Canadian lawyer I want to draw attention to the challenges facing some members of the legal profession in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban government assumed power in the country more than a year ago, the risk of retaliation and danger have only increased for many lawyers and judges, particularly women, advocates say. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) --  On a spring day 20 years ago, at the height of Ontario’s Walkerton water-contamination tragedy, Bruce Davidson was standing in his backyard with his nine-year-old son. The town’s hospital was just across the park from his home. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) AND MARINA ECKERSLEY (FGJ ‘20) --  In late April, Joe, a City of Toronto employee in the economic development and culture division, received an email from the city’s redeployment team. It said he had two options: be redeployed, possibly to a long-term-care facility or shelter — or be placed on unpaid emergency leave. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) --  The Toronto Immigration Holding Centre, in Rexdale, is one of three such facilities administered by the Canadian Border Services Agency. Experts say that, if significant measures aren’t taken, these centres, which last year housed thousands of detainees, could soon also be caught up in a growing public-health crisis, as the country grapples with the spread of COVID-19. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) AND CLARA PASIEKA (FGJ ‘20) -- “I’m scared for when I get out,” says Ron*(whose name has been changed to protect his identity) while incarcerated at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre, one of Ontario’s nine provincial detention centres.He says the phone system in the jail created problems communicating with Children’s Aid Society (CAS), a community services centre, an anger management program, his bank and his car insurance company. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) -- Dhaneshwari Naidoo says that, for 26 years, she paid her rent, maintained her three-bedroom townhouse in the former Toronto borough of Etobicoke, and worked with neighbors in the community garden. Then, in September 2015, Naidoo’s son was charged with possession of illegal weapons and drugs. The following May, even before her son’s conviction, Toronto Community Housing served Naidoo an eviction notice. Her appeals stretched into April 2019, when Ontario’s Divisional Court upheld the public-housing provider’s eviction. About a year after her son was released early for good behaviour, she had to move — although her son was no longer living with her. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI AND CLARA PASIEKA (FGJ ‘20) -- Andrea Hatala lives with a visual impairment. But all her life, she says, people have told her, “Oh come on, you can really see.” So it was hard for the 52-year-old Toronto resident, who receives income from the Ontario Disability Support Program, when Ontario auditor general Bonnie Lysyk said last month that some people are likely receiving benefits to which they are not entitled. READ MORE. 

BY TEBASUM DURRANI (FGJ ‘20) AND CLARA PASIEKA (FGJ ‘20) -- When Krista tried calling a 24-hour mental-health crisis line from an Ontario jail, she says, she couldn’t connect. “I tried three or four times, and it wouldn’t go through. I was having a mental breakdown … in here, they don’t care,” says Krista (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) from inside a provincial detention centre. Advocates, academics, and prisoners themselves suggest that barriers to accessing services remotely from inside prison are common. Experts say that they are the result of an outdated telephone system that is overseen by the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and, since 2013, has been contracted out to Bell Canada. READ MORE.