MISSISSAUGAWATCH Shatters the MYTH behind the City of MYTHississauga: The 2009 MISSISSAUGA photographs that Traditional Media didn’t
January 1st, 2010
MISSISSAUGAWATCH REVEALS MYTHississauga —THE 2009 PHOTOGRAPHS TRADITIONAL MEDIA NEVER TOOK
JANUARY 2009 (Uploaded January 27, 2009)
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion hugs and congratulates Michael Nobrega, president and chief executive of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) after their successful Enersource public meeting and Cable 10 broadcast. Michael Norbrega is also a member of the Board of Directors of Enersource.
FEBRUARY 2009 (Uploaded February 26, 2009)
Freedom of Information confirms that the City of Mississauga keeps youth banning letters indefinitely. This ban letter dated April 20, 1993 had no accompanying documentation. How old was this youth? How long was he/she banned? Were parents/guardians informed? What happened as a result of this youth’s refusal to sign? Did he/she attempt to file a complaint? How is life for this person 16 years later? Freedom of Information dredged up 66 youth banning letters in the files of the City of Mississauga child/youth worker. Most from the 1990′s!
FEBRUARY 2009 (Uploaded March 12, 2009)
Dr. Alvin Curling visits Mississauga to speak on the “Roots of Youth Violence” report. Afterwards MISSISSAUGAWATCH asked Dr. Curling if the “Roots of Youth Violence” authors had filed Freedom of Information during the course of their 2-million dollar 17-month study.
Dr. Curling’s response? No. They used only public documents. When you know the vast gulf that exists between what the City of Mississauga claims publicly and the chronic opposite that Freedom of Information confirms, MISSISSAUGAWATCH condemns the McMurtry/Curling “Roots of Youth Violence” report’s failure to peer beyond the veneer as a significant root of youth violence.
APRIL 2009 (Uploaded April 20, 2009)
Fed up with the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Network’s two years’ lack of progress and not seeing any youth at their meetings, let alone the target “at-risk” scrotes, MISSISSAUGAWATCH launches its graffiti research. In hindsight, this comparative study of graffiti in Brampton, Mississauga, Hamilton and the Hawaiian Island of Maui was key in communicating with youth “scofflaws”. And to some extent, “seeing” a city through the eyes of a tagger.
And see we did. Back in April when I took this photo, I thought “FTC” were the tagger’s initials. No. Seeing/photographing so many “FTP”s in Hamilton, we knew them to mean “F*** the Police”. We now know that this Brampton “FTC” is simply an “FTP” variant —”F*** the Cops”.
MAY 2009 (Uploaded May 17, 2009)
It was December 11, 2006 when I first emailed Mayor Hazel McCallion and Council warning them about Staff non-compliance to Corporate policies. In part I wrote, “I urge Council to postpone discussion/approval of the Revised Violence and Vandalism Policy until the Audit Committee has conducted an independent review of management practices and compliance with other (related) City of Mississauga Corporate Policies and Procedures. For the same reasons, I urge Council to postpone discussion/approval of Item 30: Corporate Policy and Procedure Video Surveillance. There are ‘alarm bells’ in both policies given the current Corporate climate.”
It was at the May 11, 2009 Audit Committee meeting when the Mayor finally acknowledged, “There seems to be a complete disregard for policy.”
With over $2,500 worth of Freedom of Information documents, we have five words for Hazel McCallion. Not “seems to be”, lady!
JUNE 2009 (Uploaded June 21, 2009)
Back in October 2008 MISSISSAUGAWATCH covered the Lincoln-Alexander school lockdown. On June 17, 2009 it was St. Joseph Secondary School’s turn. MISSISSAUGAWATCH is attempting a study to examine the correlations (if any) between bans and arrests issued by City of Mississauga Corporate Security guards with suspensions and expulsions from Peel/Dufferin-Peel Schools. We say “attempting a study” because the City of Mississauga isn’t exactly a community partner when it comes to addressing the true Roots of Youth Violence (considering that Freedom of Information and direct observation confirms the City itself to be a major, entrenched tap root).
JULY 2009 (Uploaded July 16, 2009)
AUGUST 2009 (Uploaded August 18, 2009)
In July 2009, we stumbled upon Safe City Mississauga’s website and their crime stats, which Peel Police provided. Visiting the website today, we noticed that their 2008 data is no longer there. Fortunately we print-screen. This map confirms that the arrests of four youths at the Mississauga Civic Centre, while recorded in the City of Mississauga Corporate Security (MissCorpSec) database, do not appear in Peel Police statistics! Comparing Peel Police statistics from January 2006 to current with those recorded in the MissCorpSec database is a major goal for 2010 (although we hope we can convince the OPP to do that.)
During the summer, we continued our graffiti study extending it to Maui, Hawaii. We also conducted “Skateboard Sundays” at Maui’s three major skateboard parks. In the case of Keopuolani Skate Park, Kahului and Kalama Skateboard Park, Kihei, the graffiti was conveniently in one place. We found Maui’s graffiti and skateboarders to be significantly different from Mississauga/Brampton/Hamilton’s culture. Researching further into the history of skateboarding, we learned about the sport’s West Coast roots (frustrated surfers faced with an uncooperative ocean) and its gritty urban East Coast morphing by such skate pioneers as Andy Kessler.
SEPTEMBER 2009 (Uploaded September 13, 2009)
September we were back in Canada and one of the first things we did was re-visit our Brampton, Mississauga and Hamilton graffiti study sites to document them as well as photograph any new tags/graffiti. But certainly the most important thing I, The Mississauga Muse, did in September was videotape and photograph both the male and female jail cells at Peel Regional Police’s 11 Division during Crime Awareness Day. And post the videos to YouTube.
PEEL REGIONAL POLICE YOUNG OFFENDERS JAIL CELL 11 DIVISION (MALE) 090912
PEEL REGIONAL POLICE (FEMALE ) YOUNG OFFENDERS JAIL CELL 11 DIVISION 090912
OCTOBER 2009 (Uploaded October 16, 2009)
The City of Mississauga denied MISSISSAUGAWATCH access to the Mississauga Corporate Security database. This database is essential to our understanding the real Mississauga Youth Plan. This database contains the (incomplete) records of bans/trespass and arrests of the youth and minors issued by the City’s security guards. In October 2009, we headed into Toronto to appeal the City’s decision with the Information and Privacy Commission. Note: we say “incomplete records” because we know that not all bans are recorded —let alone entered into the MissCorpSec database.
But our most shocking revelation was not all ARRESTS issued by these security guards are recorded as arrests in the database itself!
NOVEMBER 2009 (Uploaded November 26, 2009)
Both Donald Barber and MISSISSAUGAWATCH once again went up before Mississauga Council to emphasize concerns regarding treatment of citizens/youth by the City’s unaccountable “in-house” security force. Donald Barber called for a systemic investigation into the conduct and operations of City of Mississauga Corporate Security and MISSISSAUGAWATCH made it clear to Council that, “ONTARIANS NEED THE ONTARIO OMBUDSMAN LOOKING INTO MUNICIPALITIES. FULL INVESTIGATIVE POWERS”.
For 2010, expect the City of Mississauga to avoid legitimate oversight and hire their own “integrity commissioner”. Expect also, that should he/she “investigate” City Security, the “integrity commissioner” will issue a press release something like, “We have conducted an independent and thorough investigation into the conduct and operations of City of Mississauga Corporate Security and found all allegations to be unsubstantiated. Our findings confirm that the City’s dedicated team of Security professionals have conducted themselves in exemplary fashion true to the City’s tenets of ‘Trust, Quality, Excellence’”.
DECEMBER 2009 (Uploaded December 26, 2009)
By far the most important thing I did all year.
I attended the Ontario Ombudsman’s Sharpening Your Teeth (SYT) advanced training course for administrative watchdogs interested in honing their investigative skills. No exaggeration, it was what I learned there, plus reading Special Ombudsman Response Team (SORT) Director Gareth Jones’ book “Conducting Administrative, Oversight & Ombudsman Investigations”, that gave me the confidence to file a complaint against City of Mississauga Corporate Security with Peel Children’s Aid regarding the City’s treatment of youth and minors.
That brings us up to date with MISSISSAUGAWATCH 2009 photos. Our summary of our most significant videos for 2009 is next.
Signed,
The (Expect 2010 to be even worse!) Mississauga Muse
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MISSISSAUGAWATCH photos (and documents secured through Freedom of Information) at Flickr The Mississauga Muse
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