Mayor Hazel McCallion skates New Year’s Day just one month shy of her 92nd birthday at Mississauga Celebration Square

January 3rd, 2013

Mayor Hazel McCallion, just a month shy of her 92nd birthday welcomed in the New Year with a skate at Mississauga Celebration Square. Now the usual media outlets have plenty of video of this occasion but guaranteed it won’t be anything like the skate that MISSISSAUGAWATCH documented.

As always, the video, complete with video transcript.

Mayor Hazel McCallion skates New Year’s Day just one month shy of her 92nd birthday (1:39 min)

(Click here to go directly to YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH covering the Mayor’s Skate at Mississauga Celebration Square January 1, 2013

Let’s go on out. Let’s see what we got here.

Apparently Mayor McCallion is going to be skating —or is expected to be skating. So, see what we got here. Thank you.

There’s a knob.

Once you have a knob, that’s all you need. Then you know the Mayor’s around. And there’s Mayor McCallion. And. Let’s see.

There she is.

You know, I got to say, being 91 like that.

Where is she?

Hazel McCallion.

There she is.

In fact I’m going to go like this. And like this. I was right. Here it goes.

There’s the knob. Right there.

There’s the Mayor.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

And judging by developer Victor Oh (honourary President of the Mississauga Chinese Business Association) and Peter McCallion (World Class Developments) it’s clear that the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry is FORGOTTEN.

But that’s okay. It’s been forgotten by the City’s Governance Committee as well as its new Integrity Commissioner.

And thus we herald in the New Year…. same as the Old Year.

Signed,
MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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MISSISSAUGAWATCH tripped up by Peel Police while covering brief hearing that saw charges dropped against Carolyn Parrish,

December 22nd, 2012

On November 20, 2012, the Mississauga News reported that “Charges levied against former councillor Carolyn Parrish that she violated the Ontario Municipal Elections Act by overspending during last year’s Ward 5 by-election have been withdrawn by a Crown prosecutor.”

I actually showed up at Burnhamthorpe Courthouse to file a report and hopefully even get an interview with Carolyn Parrish. Turns out the report I actually filed was not the one I expected!

As always, the video, complete with video transcript.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH to Peel Police officer: City of Mississauga Corporate Security LIES (3:26 min)

(Click here to go directly to YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH walking towards Mississauga Burnhamthorpe Courthouse November 20, 2012

It is Tuesday, November the 20th, 2012 and I’m here at the City of Mississauga courthouse. It is my understanding that there’s going to be a court —I’m not sure if it’s an appearance or what.

The problem, of course, is that I forgot an audio-recorder and I’m here on City of Mississauga property. So, this [video camera] is the only way that I can protect myself. And I have to do this, again for the record, because City of Mississauga Staff lie.

And also there’s no accountability of Staff. So in other words if you complain about lying to the elected officials, they can’t directly investigate whether what you say about City Staff is true.

[VIDEO INSERT]

Councillor Pat Saito, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

That is a Staff responsibility. It’s a Senior Staff —Commissioner/Director-level responsibility, or City-Manager-level responsibility.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH walking towards Mississauga Burnhamthorpe Courthouse November 20, 2012

That is, that the City Manager, Janice Baker provides this impenetrable barrier between City of Mississauga Staff and elected officials.

[At the door of the courthouse] Anyway, I’ll turn this off [close lens cap] and I’ll see. At the very least what I’m going to do is turn the camera off [close lens cap] at this point right here.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH following Carolyn Parrish out of Mississauga Burnhamthorpe Courthouse November 20, 2012

So here I’m officially out. And Parrish and Company.

This was very very very very brief. It was my understanding that the Crown dropped the charges.

Actually the most interesting thing that happened was —I was called by police and prosecution lawyer, basically telling me that I couldn’t videotape inside Burnhamthorpe courthouse. And I said I wasn’t.

That I was only using the video camera as an audio-recorder. And then the police officer said I couldn’t do that either.

And I carefully read the rules on the door which said that you can’t audio-record the hearing.

So I told the police officer that I was only protecting myself because of [sic] City of Mississauga Corporate Security are liars.

Here’s the deal.

His response was that I had a personal vendetta —personal vendetta versus a legitimate complaint and that they really are liars. And it’s just so typical —so typical of law enforcement to stick together.

This kind of Blue Line —oh, they [City of Mississauga Security] can’t possibly be liars, even though Peel Police —what was it, three of four of their police officers were found to the lying in court as part of testimony. [Note, the Toronto Star reported that it was actually five Peel Police officers lying in court]

And as I told the police officer, I have to always always have an audio-recorder going when I’m on City of Mississauga property because City of Mississauga Staff —they lie! And this is a way of protecting myself. End of Story.

Like why is it so difficult that police officers can’t accept the fact that City of Mississauga Staff —and especially their security guards lie? Like, what’s so hard about that, especially given the fact that Peel Police themselves were found to be lying in court?

Like. What the Hell!

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Signed,
MISSISSAUGAWATCH

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Mississauga blogger to City of Mississauga Director of Corporate Security, “CITY STAFF LIE.” (6:38 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford victimized by IKEA Monkey –and my Cat tweeted the Ontario Ombudsman!

December 14th, 2012

Have to admit that I’ve been too serious lately so it’s time to lighten up.

Who hasn’t heard of the Ikea Monkey?

Well, I tried to resist piling onto the Ikea Monkey internet meme —really, I did. But my brain whispered, “Psst! Rob Ford! Ikea Monkey!”

Now they say that the heart wants what the heart wants, but let me tell you what the brain wants, the brain can make so.

So here is the MISSISSAUGAWATCH PhotoShopped….

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford victimized by IKEA Monkey

(I’m still working on IKEA Monkey victimized by City of Mississauga Corporate Security…)

In other animal-related news, believe it or not my cat tweeted the Ontario Ombudsman during #OOLive!

Yep. That’s the blog for today.

Signed,
MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Ah what the heck, one more cat picture.

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Alzheimer’s Month, the impending Alzheimer’s Tsunami –and a “salute” for old time’s sake.

September 12th, 2012

Last blog was August 27th, 2012 —never has so much time gone by between entries.

We’ve had an emergency and are now dealing with the fallout.

My husband and I were supposed to be on Maui until September 6th but were forced to grab a flight back to Canada two weeks early. We were literally ripped from Sun and Ocean without our annual ritual of long-longing last looks and good-byes.

There was absolutely no transition from Maui’s Brilliant Blues and Gentle Greens to Mississauga’s Smog-Browns and Concrete-Grays.

Since arriving in Mississauga my time has been dominated by elder care almost 24/7. And when I do get relieved, my brain either wants to sleep or bugger-off-play. I simply can’t concentrate on one thing for any length of time.

It’s like my brain wants out!

Since 2009 as caregivers, we have had to battle cataracts, glaucoma, prostate cancer, hip replacement, colon cancer, wet macular degeneration (to a point of being legally blind), falls after falls after falls —and that’s just from the top of my head.

Now Alzheimer’s has kicked down both our doors.

And Alzheimer’s is a battle we won’t win.

I recall our family doctor warning us about Alzheimer’s —warned us that we all had to grow a thick skin and steel ourselves— steel ourselves because “in the end there’s only Tragedy.”

“In the end”? There’s fucking Tragedy now!

Over the last year I’ve made it a goal to learn all I can about Alzheimer’s. So let me help you. There is no better Alzheimer’s resource on the Internet than Bob DeMarco’s Alzheimer’s Reading Room at: www.alzheimersreadingroom.com. You need to go.

If you’re a quick study, DeMarco’s Alzheimer’s Reading Room is the website to start your research —and the place to stay! DeMarco isn’t just about conveying Knowledge about Alzheimer’s. He and his late mother Dotty have inspired and touched the hearts of thousands of his reader-caregivers.

I confess that when I’m at a total loss —emotional wreck, I visit Bob DeMarco’s mum, Dotty. I watch videos of her. You know, to remember what’s Important.

95 Year Old Dotty at the Pool March 18 (by Bob DeMarco)
*note: Dotty died just over a month later May 25, 2012 at 5 AM

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

In a recent report a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist stated that Alzheimer’s is now ahead of cancer as the most feared disease. When you are sucked deep into Alzheimer’s World you too will understand why.

September is World Alzheimer’s Month. The statistics are grim. The Alzheimer’s Association website states that “worldwide, 35 million people and their families are affected by dementia”. That’s now.

Just imagine what happens when us-Boomers hit “prime time”…

Last, for readers expecting something political from me, I’ve got nothing.

No. Wait. Have enough energy for this cut-and-paste.

HEY HEY MISSCORPSEC!
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
HOW MANY LIES
DID YOU LIE TODAY?

You know, a cut-and-paste —to remember what’s Important…

UPDATE 12/09/13 Yesterday I experienced the most intense case of “sundowning” yet.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the Mayo Clinic states that sundowning “refers to a state of confusion at the end of the day and into the night. Sundowning isn’t a disease, but a symptom that often occurs in people with dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. The cause isn’t known.”

I suspect the sundowning trigger yesterday was a live-broadcast German vs Austria soccer game. It wasn’t long after it finished that my Alzheimer’s Elder called for his shoes and announced he had to go Home. Announce is usually all he does –call for us to pack up and talk about Home.

Usually I’m able to distract and redirect his attentions. Not this time.

Despite a left leg still injured from a fall, he put on his shoes, slowly “walker-ed” to the bedroom, put on a jacket, removed that to put on a nicer jacket, returned to the living-room and called for his cap. Throughout I followed right behind him making sure he was safe from another fall.

Cap on his head, he then sat down and demanded he be driven Home.

I asked if he wanted a chocolate cookie. He waved that off. That’s how bad this sundowning was.

So I turned on TV as a distraction. Flipping channels.

“TV is shit,” he said. I sure wasn’t about to argue that proclamation. Flipping through more I found a face I recognized —the CEO of Credit Valley Hospital (CVH) and she was talking about the merger of CVH with Trillium Health Care Centre.

“Oh, look! It’s Credit Valley Hospital on TV!” I said. “Remember what a terrific hospital it is? Boy are we lucky to live in a place that is so close to Credit Valley Hospital!”

Then there were vignettes featuring Credit Valley and Trillium staff talking about their programs and how they care for people.

“And Trillium Hospital fixed your shoulder when you fell from the tree, remember?” I offered.

“Boy are we lucky to live in a place that’s even closer to Trillium Hospital, huh? Two great hospitals so close together.”

Silence.

The Sundowning Storm had passed.

By dinner, he was still in his shoes and jacket.

I told him he could wear his special jacket at the table because this was his home and he could bloody do whatever he wanted. But just to be careful not to spill anything on it. Without a word he removed it. And of course I assisted…

He had an excellent start this morning. Said he slept “very good” last night. Both are napping now.

For those new to sundowning, I’ve read that Alzheimer’s caregivers even go as far as driving the Sundowner around for a while and then return home.

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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MISSISSAUGAWATCH report: Maui Community Correctional Center –barbed wire, surveillance –any way you look at it it’s still a jail

August 8th, 2012

For the record, there’s lots happening —and just to give you an idea here’s a partial list:

City of Vaughan’s Council Code of Conduct, Mississauga Council Code of Conduct, George Rust-D’Eye, The LIEberals, Warren Kinsella, Rob Trewartha, City of Mississauga Corporate Security, graffiti, skateboarding,

Reading List:

“The War Room” —Warren Kinsella

“Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics” —Warren Kinsella

Publications:

The Municipal Integrity Commissioner in Ontario: Role and Responsibilities —George Rust-D’Eye, WeirFoulds

Case Law Update: Gagliano v Gomery and the Attorney General (Canada) —WeirFoulds LLP Litigation

Not Why I Ran for Office – The Perils of a Councillor Facing Allegations of Improper Conduct —George Rust-D’Eye, WeirFoulds

Municipal Conflict of Interest Law: A Law in Conflict Based on Interest —Barnet Kussner, WeirFoulds

And believe it or not, all of it is related to the Roots of Youth Violence.

So. Anyway. For a slight change of pace, here’s yesterday’s walk past the Maui Community Correctional Center (aka Wailuku Jail). I kept to the other side of the street and did my best not to look too interested. Hard to do with a video camera but—

Here’s the video complete with transcript.

Maui Correctional Center –barbed wire, surveillance –any way you look at it it’s still a jail (4:30 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, reporting August 7, 2012

It is Tuesday, August the 7rh, 2012 and I’m over here at Wailuku [Maui, Hawaii] and I’m just going to document here the, well they call it a correctional center.

Barbed wire across the top.

I’m just going to take a bit of a walk here. This is in Wailuku. I looked up the name of this facility but haven’t quite remembered it. Uh, maybe it’s called Wailuku [sic] Correctional Center.

Apparently rehab programs and everything in there. But—

It also says “No Trespassing” on that side so that’s one of the things I’m going to make sure I don’t do. I’m staying on this side.

Having been researching Security in Canada —specifically municipal security, I can see the video surveillance cameras there bristling among the also-bristling barbed wire.

It’s really interesting because on this side of the road is Freedom.

So it’s kind of the contrast of what a street can do. People being on the right side over here with the video surveillance cameras. Look at that. And the barbed wire.

And over on this side, hibiscus and no fence at all. So.

I also went and read what are the rules of the facility including such things as photography. There is nothing against that. But in the process I was also reading about the rules of just Visitation.

And it was really interesting because one of the things that they said was, women who are having their menstrual periods are required to take off their pads and put on new ones when they’re visiting inmates here. Possibly because they might be smuggling something personal in the pads, I’m not sure.

But what was really interesting was —they had to provide their own pads. It wouldn’t be something that the correctional facility would do on its own.

It is my understanding that women are housed here as well as men.

And yeah, it’s quite the video surveillance. Let’s see if I can get that one right there. I’m pretty good at this. Had a lot of practice with the Security hacks in my own municipality. I’m not saying the people here are of the same ilk.

But you can see here just this massive row of barbed wire all the way across. Anyway.

And over on this side. Freedom.

So. We’re parked over here.

[waiting at crosswalk]

[inaudible] That person’s letting me go. This person’s also letting me go. And now of course I’ve got to do a very quick jaywalk across the street.

But again, here’s the Maui mountains over here. Lush, I guess it’s the Kehalani subdivision. And across the street? You would not want to rent a room on that side!

Turning camera off.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Female visitors will inform the female Search ACO of their menstrual period. Visitors shall be
required to remove and change sanitary supplies in the presence of a female ACO.
The used sanitary supplies will be discarded and replaced with new supplies.
It is the visitor’s responsibility to provide sanitary supplies for the change.

—MAUI COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER (MCCC)

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City of Mississauga Corporate Security: Mayor Hazel McCallion’s Secretive Police Force

June 26th, 2012

For the record, the following video documents the Digital Ally video event recorder tucked inside each City of Mississauga Corporate Security Response Unit as well as March 18, 2012 footage of two City of Mississauga Response Units parked outside Peel Police 11 Division at Dundas and Erin Mills Parkway.

As usual, we provide a video transcript.

City of Mississauga Corporate Security: Mayor Hazel McCallion’s Secretive Police Force (6:27 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, reporting from inside City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ Response Unit, June 19, 2012

It is Tuesday, June the 19th, 2012 and you won’t believe this, but I’m leaning against and inside a City of Mississauga “knob unit” —”677″. And I’ve come primarily to check on the Digital Ally that was, that I noticed, I guess it was Friday, when I was videotaping it at Celebration Square.

And I was very fortunate because I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Peel Regional Police as well as the OPP. And both Peel Police and OPP do not use video systems in their cruisers.

In the case of the OPP; however, they said they’d love to have them, but you know the problem with money.

But what we have here are security guards that are using Digital Ally in their Police Package Dodge Chargers!

And what I want to do is I just want to take some pictures here. And especially of this.

And of course, I’m videotaping myself because it’s—

I tell you something. It’s really hot in here too.

[to cute little kid 9/10 years old now sitting in the passenger seat] Thank you. That’s cool.

Cute little kid 9/10 years old seated in the “677″ Response Unit passenger seat

Where did you get that?

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, photographing Digital Ally from inside City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ Response Unit, June 19, 2012

What? My camera? Or the computer?

Cute little kid 9/10 years old seated in the “677″ Response Unit passenger seat

The computer.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, photographing Digital Ally from inside City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ Response Unit, June 19, 2012

Oh. They have all kinds of interesting stuff on that computer, guy.

Cute little kid 9/10 years old seated in the “677″ Response Unit passenger seat

[regarding Digital Ally] I wanna go on YouTube.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, fiddling –you know, inside a City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ Response Unit, June 19, 2012

It’s not that kind of camera.

Cute little kid 9/10 years old seated in the “677″ Response Unit passenger seat

[inaudible]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, finished photographing Digital Ally inside City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ Response Unit, June 19, 2012

I’m not sure you want to push those buttons or not. Okay. Good meeting ya.

[DIP TO WHITE]
[Footage detailing Digital Ally inside City of Mississauga Corporate Security "677" Response Unit]

Includes the following warnings.

Do NOT engage City of Mississauga Corporate Security guards or their bosses without at least an audio-recorder going!

and

Procedure for self-protection following any incident involving Mississauga Corporate Security or City of Mississauga Staff

MOST IMPORTANT!

For your own protection regardless of whether you are in the wrong, as soon as practical after an incident, file a Freedom of Information form requesting:

All records, emails, and any other documents pertaining to [your name].
All records, emails, and any other documents including any video surveillance footage

pertaining to the incident of [date] at [location] involving [your name] and [Mississauga Corporate Security or City staff].

The filing fee is $5.00.

Forms are available at City of Mississauga ONLINE FORM:

Access / Correction Request – Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

[CROSS DISSOLVE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, driving south on Erin Mills Parkway to Peel Regional Police 11 Division, March 18, 2012

It is Sunday, March the 18th 2012, —day after St. Patrick’s Day.

And it just occurred to me that I need to file a report.

And I’m going to go here at the Peel Police 11 Division because the Response Units —two City of Mississauga Response Units, that I had seen earlier— I’d gone to buy a Subway in Streetsville and noticed one of —the Response Units —were going together along, let me see, Britannia.

And the one that was following actually had its lights going. And I found that suspicious.

And then later on, I’m driving, just because I like to drive my Dodge Charger [turns off car] and was going this way —let me just do this a little bit here on an angle. There we go.

It’s the —can’t see it from here, I think it’s the “677″, “678″ car. It doesn’t matter.

The thing is that I’ll be filing Freedom of Information on what the incident is. And it has to be because like I said, one of those Response Units had their back lights flashing. And now that they’re here I can only assume that —just go back a little bit— that they may have brought a prisoner. And dropped him off here at Peel Police.

And one thing I want, for the record, and it’s important to say —when anybody gets confronted by these security guards, you’re in big trouble. They lie.

[DIP TO WHITE]
[interview with Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 28, 2012

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

City Staff lie!

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 28, 2012

It is your opinion—

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

No. This is on video.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 28, 2012

It is your opinion that City Staff lie and I take exception to that.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

Okay.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

City Staff are professional, honest and hard-working and your allegations of lying are completely without foundation.

So stop saying that they lie. They do not lie.

[DIP TO WHITE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, driving south on Erin Mills Parkway to Peel Regional Police 11 Division, March 18, 2012

They have nothing! Nothing in the way of Ethics. Or oversight. And I mean the two go hand-in-hand.

So. One thing I do not want is now for [starts car] you know, to be here and having those security guards walk out and see me here.

So. It’s time to bugger off.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Last. Had to laugh when I was working up this video. As I was examining the June 19th footage, the audio picked up a City of Mississauga Security guard refer to the Digital Ally as a “Digital System” rather than a “Video System”. Or more accurately an on-board video event recorder.

Even funnier (and absolutely shameless) was the City of Mississauga Security guard who told the public “We’re a great service”.

HAHAHAHAAHAHA!

Normally I’d file a complaint but I know the City’s Security public complaints process is totally fraudulent! (And yes, I’m laughing as I type this.)

Signed,
MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Click here to access (2797 x 9616) original sized image on Flickr.

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Mississauga Council Code of Conduct shields Senior City Staff from Integrity Commissioner —MISSISSAUGAWATCH deputation

June 16th, 2012

For the record, this video was presented as a deputation at the June 11, 2012 Governance Committee meeting.

Complete with transcript.

Mississauga Council Code of Conduct shields Senior City Staff from Integrity Commissioner (14:03 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, introducing the video deputation June 10, 2012

I just posted these [photographs] to the internet the other day. And I got an immediate response.

Seems these are photographs of Mississauga’s very first girl’s hockey team –circa 1965/66. Erindale. That’s me.

And that’s me right here playing right wing to Mabel Boyd on left.

And reaching further back, that’s me and my grandfather beside the Miles Lane bridge over the Cooksville Creek circa 1953 before Hurricane Hazel came and washed the entire bridge out.

So why do I show this?

Photographs — speak to History.

As for video? That’s how History speaks!

The video clips span from May 2008 when Councillor Mullin first suggested “an ombudsman” to address complaints against City Staff to the April 16, 2012 Governance Committee meeting discussions.

Listen carefully and see if you can recognize the most important comment ever made by a City of Mississauga elected official regarding authentic accountability.

Meaning –if you were to take this video and cut it into a one minute clip, what would be the all-important take home message?

And that’s a challenge for you. See if you can recognize Real?

[VIDEO INSERT Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008 BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, whispering into camera, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

This is the one.

Mayor Hazel McCallion, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

Councillor Mullin? Thank you.

Councillor Pat Mullin, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

Yes, I read “R-4″. And I guess my question, and this is regarding the whole complaints issue, with regards to Don Barber at the Council meetings.

And there is an addition to this which talks about the possibility of an investigator. And I guess my concern with that would be, well first of all is that the cost of relatively significant.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, whispering into camera, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

Use the Ontario Ombudsman.

Councillor Pat Mullin, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

And how many times would an investigator have to come forward to take a look at complaints.

But I guess I’m looking for some direction from possibly Staff if there is something that we can put in place which would be, I guess would be a complaint procedure —against Staff. And maybe somebody could respond.

Or if there’s another way in terms of looking at it.

I talked to Mary Ellen Bench about it and I mean I’m wondering if there is something like maybe the ombudsman that could take a look at something like this.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, whispering into camera, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

Yeah, yeah.

Councillor Pat Mullin, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

And it just seems to me that it would be an ongoing scenario—

Mayor Hazel McCallion, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

Yuh.

Councillor Pat Mullin, Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008

—and a continuation. And never a satisfaction at the end of the day. That we would be just putting more and more money into this.

[VIDEO INSERT Mississauga Council meeting, May 21 2008 ENDS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, narrating the video deputation June 10, 2012

And then May 2010. Me. Unprepared, incoherent —and ineffective in front of Mississauga General Committee.

[VIDEO INSERT Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19 2010 BEGINS]

Councillor Eve Adams, Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19, 2010

Good morning and welcome.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19, 2010

Good morning Councillor Adams and Council.

I came here to discuss the minutes of meetings and then walked in a saw the —this one here, if I could have this [over head projector] on the [Council] Code of Conduct for integrity commissioner.

And I consider that way more important than anything I have to say about minutes.

So I kind of regret that I didn’t know about this.

You can’t just switch, can you?

Councillor Eve Adams, Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19, 2010

It actually is on the agenda so you can speak to it.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19, 2010

Yeah, but I’m not good on my feet. I need to prepare ahead of time. I’m not swift.

But I was hoping that —this is really important.

If people remember, it was Councillor Mullin who had said that there were issues that are chronically coming up regarding —and she was mentioning Donald Barber as an example.

And she had recommended that, you know, once and for all, to deal with it. And this is how, I think, the idea of the integrity commissioner came up.

And I also recall I had urged Councillor —I think Councillor Saito was going to lead the charge on this.

And I asked her to invite the Ontario Ombudsman in to address Council to give them some idea as to how to set up an integrity commissioner.

This is —you know, I’ve been observing Mississauga Council since June 14, 2006. And I’m talking about audiotape, videotape and stuff like that.

This has got to be the most important Corporate Report and direction. Certainly from the view of treatment of citizens and Ethical Infrastructure. And this thing did not go through Audit Committee, for example.

It just kind of showed up here and Staff is recommending that you accept it.

There’s not any possibility for public input. I don’t even know if it’s been run through [the] public.

And you know I would think that first you’d check to see the validity of the public complaints system that you already have in place. The one for Corporate Security and the generic ones. And whether those are being handled properly.

Because if they’re not —and I’m saying they’re not, and I’ve got Freedom of Information saying it, so, you know, the fact that, the fact that —well, okay, it’s not a fact because it’s based on evidence but it’s sort of ultimately my conclusions. And somebody else could look at the evidence and see it differently.

But for me, I’d question any integrity commissioner —or a process here, because I just don’t see the Ethical Infrastructure in place to support something like that—

—Mayor McCallion was giving an address at UTM last week and I was there. And she was talking about public input and the importance of it.

And this [Corporate Report] just came up and could be rubber-stamped today and that’s it.

So I would hope that Council might look at this and say, “You know this is really important. Let’s put some —let the public look at this and talk about it.”

Anyway, I’m hoping that —I’ll be preparing for this at Council. Because I’m better —I’m very scattered [inaudible] I’m sorry.

[VIDEO INSERT Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19 2010 ENDS]

[VIDEO INSERT MISSISSAUGAWATCH Governance Committee April 16 2010 video deputation BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, reporting April 14, 2012

And that was May 21, 2008 and that issue still hasn’t been addressed. It hasn’t.

And while there’s now an integrity commissioner in place to file complaints against elected officials, there still is no consistent person —ombudsman or integrity commissioner, or otherwise, to deal with complaints against City Staff.

And that includes everything right up to the Commissioners and the City Manager.

So it’s interesting to look at the May 21, 2008 video and see that [shakes head and gestures, "WTF"]. And that’s the other thing I would request is for the Governance Committee to perhaps consider expanding the mandate of the Integrity Commissioner to also include complaints against City Staff.

Thanks.

[VIDEO INSERT MISSISSAUGAWATCH Governance Committee April 16 2010 video deputation ENDS]

[VIDEO INSERT Mississauga Governance Committee discussion April 16 2010 BEGINS]

Councillor Pat Saito, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

—with the hiring of the Integrity Commissioner —and the anticipation is that this person would be, hopefully, here by the end of June. And then in the Fall, this committee would sit down with the Integrity Commissioner and work on the amendments to the [Council] Code of Conduct with that person being here to work on it with us.

So there is an opportunity for some of the concerns that you have raised to be reviewed during that process.

They may not all be addressed because —I don’t agree the Integrity Commissioner that we are looking at to deal with the Code of Conduct and the application of the Code of Conduct. That is for Members of Council.

I don’t agree that that person should be handling about all City Staff. That is a Staff responsibility —it’s a senior Staff, Commissioner, Director level responsibility, or City Manager level of responsibility. [* Note. MISSISSAUGAWATCH never suggested that the Integrity Commissioner address complaints regarding "all City Staff". But rather Senior Management —City Manager, Commissioners, Directors.]

Now having said, Councillor Carlson and I were just talking about it there and there may be some validity in taking a look at the Integrity Commissioner dealing with complaints of the Senior Staff —the Commissioner, City Manager level.

But at this point, I don’t think either of us are, you know, that’s just something that was thrown out in discussion. Whether that would happen, whether we would think it’s a good idea after we’ve, you know, we’ve sat down and talked about it or not, I don’t know.

But as far as Staff below that level, that is dealt with by Senior Staff. That is their responsibility.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

Actually that, yeah. I, I —that’s good. I like that.

Councillor Pat Saito, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

But anyway, we’re —thank you. Gee we agree on something—

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

I’ve got a question to what you said, Councillor Saito.

At the beginning you said you weren’t sure about that Number 2 thing, “Upon receipt”—

Councillor Pat Saito, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

I just wasn’t sure where it was from. If you could—

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

It’s under Rule 12.

Councillor Pat Saito, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

That was under Rule 12.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

Rule 12 deals with the Respectful Workplace Policy. And that is Provision 2 under Rule 12.

So anything that the Integrity Commissioner receives a complaint and he feels that it deals with the Respectful Workplace Policy, then he can’t investigate. He must hand it to Human Resources.

Councillor Pat Saito, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

Then it’s referred. Okay. Thank you. I just lost the context on it so I appreciate that.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

And that’s what I’d like you to fix, please. Thank you.

Councillor Jim Tovey (Chair), Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

Okay, hang on a second, Ursula.

Councillor Chris Fonseca, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

I think Councillor Saito’s point, I think for all of us, when we’re looking at this over-review of governance —her point about you get out of it what you put into it, is really important in terms of understanding the process of when a complaint is made. Whether it be internally amongst councillors— Whether it be from a member of the public towards one of the council-members or from a member of the public towards Staff.

But I’m —Councillor Saito and Councillor Carlson —you just, Councillor Saito, you just spoke for Councillor Carlson, I guess, in saying that you’d be willing to look at —if there’s a way that we can look at including, perhaps, I don’t know, we would have to have more discussion around the Leadership Team.

But I think for all of us, including the Leadership Team and Council, we’re committed to this Governance Committee, specifically because we want to make sure that we move forward for the City of Mississauga —that we have a transparent and clear path when it comes to a complaint process, a Code of Conduct, and also in terms of an independent person who is working to analyze and review that whole process.

So thank you for coming.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

Thank you.

[VIDEO INSERT Mississauga Governance Committee discussion April 16 2010 ENDS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, narrating the video deputation June 11, 2012

So what’s that all-important take home message?

[VIDEO FLASHBACK Mississauga Governance Committee discussion April 16 2010 BEGINS]

Councillor Chris Fonseca, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

[VIDEO FLASHBACK Mississauga Governance Committee discussion April 16, 2012 ENDS]

[VIDEO FLASHBACK Mississauga General Committee discussion May 19, 2010 BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19, 2010

—you know I would think that first you’d check to see the validity of the public complaints system that you already have in place.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, narrating the video deputation June 11, 2012

And, because you can’t say this often enough!

[BLACK SCREEN TEXT SUMMARIES ALL-IMPORTANT TAKE HOME MESSAGE]

Councillor Chris Fonseca, Mississauga Governance Committee meeting, April 16, 2012

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, Mississauga General Committee meeting, May 19, 2010

—you know I would think that first you’d check to see the validity of the public complaints system that you already have in place.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Signed,
MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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An old cat came back, Chicago NATO, CUTV Montreal, Freight Train graffiti –and stonewalled –again!

May 23rd, 2012

I’m painfully aware that I haven’t posted a blog since May 13th, 2012. And things haven’t changed: Energy and spirit low. And I don’t feel like writing.

All I’m interested in is researching.

That said, I do have new videos to share.

My dad’s old cat, “Mooch” made a full recovery from his latest Feline Chronic Renal Failure crash. I learned a lot about euthanasia… like it’s easy to be philosophically for it when you’re not facing that decision!

Feline Chronic Renal/Kidney Failure –Dehydration Crash. Facing Euthanasia –The Cat Came Back! (28:05 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

Don’t know about you but I’ve been following both the Chicago NATO protests and the student protests in Montreal. Not through traditional media, mind you; via on-the-ground citizen-journalists live streaming events as they happen. Specifically in Chicago, I followed Tim Pool’s TimCast at: www.ustream.tv/user/Timcast and Concordia University’s CUTV Montreal.

Having been to G20 —as in videotaping right at Bay and King when Black Bloc lit up the police cars, I much prefer the real of citizen video versus traditional media.

On May 20th, CUTV took forever to go “en direct”. Were they having technical problems? Camera? Connection? Finally CUTV began live streaming and it became clear that Montreal police had “attacked” the CUTV crew and equipment several times during that evening…

CUTV Montreal to Montreal Police, “Who made the call to target CUTV?” (3:13 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

And last, on May 22nd, I realized just how much I missed doing a graffiti run. So I parked beside the CPR track and a graffiti-covered freight train trundled by. Set the video to 15% actual speed. Add Music “Sound of Siren (feat. M.I.A. & Busy Signal)” by Artist: Major Lazer….

GRAFFITI MISSISSAUGA. Once Upon a CPR Freight Train: Offeesah! Offeesah! (3:54 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

Last, on April 30th, I sent a simple email asking a City of Mississauga employee to identify him/herself. I waited a reasonable two weeks for a reply that never came. On May 14th, I repeated my request. Today, four Mondays after my first request, I repeated my request again.

In my interview with Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Corporate Security, I told him directly to his face that “City Staff LIE”. They also stonewall —and hide.

Lie Stonewall Deny: MYTHissauga’s “Brave Bold Future” stays true to its “Lie Stonewall Deny” Past.

UPDATE: May 23, 2012. Just got this tweet:

CUTV News ‏@CUTVnews

SPVM Riot police trying to disconnect our livestream at last night’s #manifencours http://goo.gl/rxQuM #cutv

Retweeted by anonymous

CUTV linked to this video and it’s really quite something. The CUTV crew is courageous —tenacious. And it’s bound to get them in trouble with police.

May 23rd: Police Attack CUTV’s Journalist & Kettled Protesters (11:22 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

Just want to echo this comment left by ben0976 :

“Merci CUTV pour votre travail exemplaire.”

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

“Anarchy” in Streetsville, Mississauga, Ontario

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Director of City of Mississauga Corporate Security concedes, “Citizens/kids need audio recorders.”

April 1st, 2012

What follows is a video, complete with transcript. It includes an audio excerpt from a March 26, 2012 interview with Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities and Property Management (aka Director City of Mississauga Corporate Security).

Director of City of Mississauga Corporate Security concedes, “Citizens/kids need audio recorders.”

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]
Music: Baloney Again by Mark Knopfler

MISSISSAUGAWATCH in Tim Horton’s lineup with City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ knob unit in the mirror

It is Wednesday, March the 28th, 2012 and guess what we’ve got right behind me.

I’m in a Tim Horton’s lineup here [laughs] and the knob unit, a knob unit, right there.

Just right behind me. Look at that. [laughs] And it’s not like he can disappear because he’s trapped behind another one.

This is too good. Right there. Knob unit. Oops. Better this way.

[sighs] Yeah, you just can —actually, this funny. This is great. I’m having a great time. Let me just see. Can I get a close-up there? ‘Cuz the guy’s trapped.

Let me see. Wrong angle. There it is.

[City of Mississauga Corporate Security guard now calls up my license place on his computer console]

You followed the wrong car, pal.

[text insert 01: Audit Committee, March 17, 2008]

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion:

   So, I hope that the people we hire are sensitive to the fact that
   we are dealing with the public and we should give them every
   understanding possible.

Mississauga Corporate Security Manager Jamie Hillis:

Yes. Absolutely.

[text insert 02]

“I’ll finish my lunch since I’ve been working for 8hr’s [sic] with out [sic] any
break, then when I’m done eating I’ll tow your car so you can feel satisfied
that your tax dollars are well spent, or maybe I’ll watch you while you use
the park and give you a ticket beacuse [sic] I can”

-City of Mississauga Corporate Security guard alias “HyJynx”
blueline.ca Sat Oct 15, 2005

[text insert 03]

“And wouldn’t you know, the next weekend I ran into him again, same bat time
same bat channel. Only this time there were 3 of us vs. him.

Lets [sic] just say that the Administration of Justice was not the one dragged
through the cement …er rather mud… yeah the soft squishy stuff.”

–City of Mississauga Corporate Security guard alias “HyJynx”
blueline.ca Mon Dec 26, 2005

MISSISSAUGAWATCH in Tim Horton’s lineup with City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ knob unit in the mirror

Thank you very much.

Tim Horton’s attendant

Thank you. Have a good day.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH in Tim Horton’s lineup with City of Mississauga Corporate Security “677″ knob unit in the mirror

Wait a second. This is hard to do as you can imagine. There he is. Let’s see, go right there.

At least he’s not honking to say get out of the way.

Yep, I really enjoy this. Let’s just get a close-up. There it is. The guy’s getting his coffee.

You’re on video surveillance, pal.

I wonder what knob unit it is.

They have “675″, “676″, “677″, “678″.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Video of City of Mississauga Corporate Security, Election Night, Mississauga City Hall, October 25, 2010.

[audio insert 01. Audit Committee, March 17, 2008]

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion:

   So, I hope that the people we hire are sensitive to the fact that
   we are dealing with the public and we should give them every
   understanding possible.

Mississauga Corporate Security Manager Jamie Hillis:

Yes. Absolutely.

[audio insert 02. Interview with Ken Owen, Director, March 26, 2012]

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

Then it’s just your allegation up to this point that [name deleted] said that.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

Yes.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

And I’m supposed to take you and your word but I’m not supposed to take my Staff at their word.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, because that’s been my saying all along is that, and that’s why I have this stuff [audio, video, Freedom of Information] because when it’s your word against City Staff —a citizen’s word, especially a kid’s word against City Staff, you lose a hundred percent of the time just because of that.

That’s why I’m saying you either have to have something on audio or better yet video because if you get into a situ—

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

I am not sure why this is such a revelation.

[audio insert 01 repeated. Audit Committee, March 17, 2008]

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion:

   So, I hope that the people we hire are sensitive to the fact that
   we are dealing with the public and we should give them every
   understanding possible.

Mississauga Corporate Security Manager Jamie Hillis:

Yes. Absolutely.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

So that I’m a third party. This person says this and that person says that. And I’m supposed to determine without any evidence one way or another what the right story is.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

Yeah. And I guess—

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

I am?!

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

No, no, no, no. What I’m saying is, I would say that the majority of complaints are like that, wouldn’t you say? Where the public don’t have an audio-recorder. They don’t have their cellphone ready.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 28, 2012

And I would also tell you that the majority of complaints, the story that you get is not —able to be substantiated.

It is a person who is in a moment providing their recounting, usually after the fact, of what happened. And there is no evidence that what they say is absolutely true.

It’s their view of events.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 28, 2012

Uh-hm.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

Often filtered through some other lens.

So to suggest that I should take those stories at face value and act on them is bizarre. It’s just not—

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 26, 2012

Okay.

So, so basically then —yeah, no, I feel good about that.

Because it’s been something I’ve been saying is that if in a case where you have a problem with City Staff, you should be audio-recording your telephone conversation. You should be having a video-recorder going or something like that.

So that you, you, if you, you can not put yourself in a position of a He-Said/She-Said scenario. Okay? I think we can agree on that.

Ken Owen, Director, City of Mississauga Facilities/Property Management and Corporate Security, March 26, 2012

[silence]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH interview with Ken Owen, March 28, 2012

Okay. Great.

[Video. MISSISSAUGAWATCH (and finger) drives past Mississauga City Hall, March 18, 2012.]
[audio insert 01 repeated again. Audit Committee, March 17, 2008]

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion:

   So, I hope that the people we hire are sensitive to the fact that
   we are dealing with the public and we should give them every
   understanding possible.

Mississauga Corporate Security Manager Jamie Hillis:

Yes. Absolutely.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

This blog is dedicated to the 9/10 year old girl in this City of Mississauga Corporate Security Special Occurrence Report.

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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Bonnie Crombie, Cyber-stalking –and the Truth about “ForTheTruth”

March 9th, 2012

Something really weird happened to me at the February 7, 2012 Mississauga Election Campaign Finances Committee hearing.

What follows is my video report complete with transcript.

It is what it is…

Bonnie Crombie, Cyber-stalking and the Mississauga Elections Finance Committee hearing (7:51 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH parked at northern entrance of Mississauga City Hall, February 9, 2012

It is Thursday, February the 9th, 2012.

Just want to file a report. And I just want to talk about what happened on Tuesday, February the 7th.

There was a hearing right here at Mississauga City Hall of the Elections Finance Committee. And it dealt with allegations brought against Councillor Bonnie Crombie by Mark Cashin and Cecil Young.

And I was fortunate enough to witness it and videotape the whole thing. And I mean the whole thing.

Now because I have videotape, I don’t have to give my impressions of the actual hearing.

What I do want to document today is something absolutely bizarre. I mean just Twilight Zoney, that happened during one of the recesses in the hearing.

At one point, Councillor Crombie’s son, Jonathan, just out of the blue, came up to me, smiled, introduced his friend —and then just started to talk me up.

And seemed nice enough.

And I’m not sure what happened. Why it happened. But, smiled at me, said he liked my blog and certainly his demeanor, his smile —the way he looked me in the eyes, was of somebody who genuinely meant what he said!

And for the life of me, it would be like meeting someone at a party over hors d’oeuvres or something. Exchanging the most —the warmest of pleasantries.

And it’s almost like this sort of separation of mind and body because my mind recoiled and was asking, “What’s going on here?”. Because it being February the 7th, it wasn’t even three months before that his mother had accused me of “cyber-stalking” her children —including her youngest daughter!

“Cyber-stalking”!

And cyber-stalking is a criminal offense!

And it wasn’t just that Councillor Crombie accused me of this —out of the blue, she did this in front of Mississauga Council in front of Rogers Cable 10 TV.

Accused me of “cyber-stalking” her kids and her young daughter!

It was devastating! Absolutely devastating!

So imagine, less than three months later, let’s see, November, December, January, February, yeah. Less than three months later one of her children is walking up to me, friendly like none of this ever happened.

That these “cyber-stalking” allegations didn’t make it on Rogers Cable 10 and, in several newspapers across the country.

And, let’s not forget that not only did she accuse me of “cyber-stalking” but also of being “ForTheTruth”.

“ForTheTruth” is an alias that’s used for an online commenter at the Mississauga News. “ForTheTruth” also “FTT” —same thing.

Councillor Bonnie Crombie, Mississauga Council, November 9, 2011

Thank you. I don’t know who you’re here [sic] who you are today. Are you Ursula? Are you The Muse? The “FTT”? “ForTheTruth”?

MISSISSAUGAWATCH parked at northern entrance of Mississauga City Hall, February 9, 2012

I am not “ForTheTruth”! I am not that individual at all.

I only go on as “MISSISSAUGAWATCH” and “The Mississauga Muse”. Both are identifiable individuals —me!

So that was a reckless allegation made by his mother less that three months prior that was devastating!

No one has hurt me as badly as Bonnie Crombie —ever.

And now her son is going up to me as if he was [sic] a fan of mine.

And not just that.

He then asked if he —if I minded having a picture taken with him and his friend. So he wanted me to be in a photograph with him and his friend!

What?!

That’s what I meant by Twilight Zoney. I don’t understand any of it.

You know it’s not the behaviour of somebody who believes that I was cyber-stalking!

And the other thing is, I’m not too bright. It sometimes takes me a while to play something through my head to really understand the implications. And worse, sometimes it takes me years! [laughs] Only, yeah, really, years to understand the implications of something that I witnessed or videotaped.

The other thing that I only think about now is, if he was a regular reader, if he read my blog, why wasn’t he upset at my recent entries about City Security and their fraudulent complaints system? And how they abuse kids.

And how something as simple as, well, sitting in the wrong place gets you threats of being “taken down” and arrested.

Why isn’t Jonathan, a “Liberal” upset about that? Why isn’t he saying, look, you know I read your blog and why doesn’t he take me aside and say, you know, it bothers me that you’ve got this Freedom of Information on City Security, tell me more about it.

No, it was, “Can I have a picture with you?”

What?!

You know when things don’t make sense to me, it’s like my brain just kind of stops, seizes, and ——goes into some kind of —arrest. And doesn’t process information for a while. And there’s this delay.

And it’s part of the reason why I’m not really a good public speaker or good on my feet. Because when-when, something —it’s quite easy to discombobulate me.

And it’s usually something illogical. And this was —illogical. No idea why it happened. No idea.

And I can’t bear Jonathan ill. Because —I can’t rule out, the possibility, that he was genuine.

And I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Believe it or not. Believe it or not.

[Grabs camera and aims it up through the car's sunroof and at Mississauga City Hall's yellow bricks]

Let me see what have I got here. Oops. Forgot you can pull open the windows. Ah yes.

See those bricks?

Each one of those bricks represents a Lie.

How many Lies —lie in those bricks and mortars?

Turning camera off.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH, The Mississauga Muse —and NOT “ForTheTruth”

City of Mississauga Corporate Security documents as secured through Freedom of Information

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City of Mississauga Security “BULLIED ME WITH THREATS OF ‘TAKING ME DOWN’ THAT HE WAS ‘A POLICE OFFICER’ AND THAT HE WOULD ARREST ME.

February 7th, 2012

Just working my way through the public complaints filed against City of Mississauga Corporate Security just in from Freedom of Information (FOI).

It takes just a few minutes to confirm there’s plenty missing. For example, love the August 19, 2009 response letter from City of Mississauga Corporate Security Head-Boss, Ken Owen that begins:

“Further to my letter to you of June 22, 2009 regarding your complaint dated June 5, 2009″

and there’s no June 22, 2009 original letter or a public complaint dated June 5, 2009!

Anyway, I’m following up with some more FOI’s and in the meantime, it’s important to share this worrisome public complaint (as incomplete as it is).

Regular readers know how often I’ve said that if you’re ever unfortunate enough to be caught in a You-said/They-said scenario with City of Mississauga staff, you will lose every time! Every. Single. Time.

This poor-sap-complainant lost too.

Regular readers will also know how often I’ve said that should you ever find yourself dealing with City of Mississauga staff, at the very least defend yourself with an audio-recorder! That includes any telephone conversations you have with them. Believe me, the City of Mississauga is recording you! (for “quality control purposes”)

So here’s yet another formal complaint illustrating why I never step a foot on City Property without at least one audio-recorder going and why I’d never turn it off until I’m back safely Off City Property.

This public complaint against City of Mississauga Transit Security Guard #401 has been transcribed so that it will be searchable through Google —and easily cut-and-pasted. It is typed exactly as the complainant wrote it:

BADGE # 401 APPROACHED ME ON MAY 5
AT THE SQUARE ONE BUS TERMINAL AT 5:30 PM.
HE CALLED ME STUPID & ILLITERATE MORE THAN
3 TIMES. ALSO BULLIED ME WITH THREATS OF
“TAKING ME DOWN” THAT HE WAS “A POLICE
OFFICER” AND THAT HE WOULD ARREST ME.
I WAS SITTING IN A NO SITTING ZONE. I COMPLIED
WITH THE OFFICER RIGHT AWAY NOT KNOWING THAT
YOU COULD NOT SIT THERE. HE VERBALLY ABUSED
ME AND ALSO HIT ME WITH HIS KNEE. HE CONTINUED
TO THREATEN ME WITH ARREST AND LEAD
ME AWAY FROM THE BUS TERMINAL UNDER
CONSTANT THREAT OF “TAKING ME DOWN” &
ARRESTING ME FOR “SITTING WHERE THERE ARE
SIGN” I DID NOT KNOW. HIS BEHAVIOUR WENT BEYOND
A POSITION OF SECURITY. HE WANTED TO FIGHT ME “FOR
SITTING”.

“BULLIED ME WITH THREATS OF ‘TAKING ME DOWN’ THAT HE WAS “A POLICE OFFICER’ —Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion’s very own Corporate Security Transit Guard #401 impersonating a police officer. Hard to believe, right?

“HE WANTED TO FIGHT ME ‘FOR SITTING.’” Hard to believe, right?

Believe it or not this is the second complaint about being harassed for “sitting”!

Threats of Arrest are common with City of Mississauga Corporate Security.

Let me resurrect the formal complaint filed by a 13-year-old skateboarder against City of Mississauga Corporate Security from my February 5th blog, Security guards threaten skateboarder at Mississauga Civic Centre’s Skateboard Plaza with arrest: “my son is only 13 yrs old”.

Reminder. While the Mississauga News promoted a “viral” video showing violations of the City’s skateboarding rules at both the Civic Centre and Celebration Square, this 13 year old “harasst” by two City of Mississauga Security guards was skating where he should be —at the designated Civic Centre’s Skateboard Plaza.

Note that the Skateboard Plaza is the only place where skateboarding is allowed in the Civic Centre/Central Library/Living Arts Centre complex.

Now compare this complaint with the one above, also typed exactly how the complainant wrote it:

I was skateboarding at the skatepark yesterday when two security gaurds both white. one with short hair skinny no beard or mustache and the other one was large short hair, beard, mustache come up to me and started to harrast me and asking personal questions like my name, number, adress and so on.

“my son is only 13 yrs old.”

They were bringing up something that happend long time ago at BCC (Burnhamthorpe Community Center). I did not do anything and I was walking away when the large man grabbed me and the other man took my board away. The large man was saying I was making the problem worse by not cooperating and was threatening to arrest me, for no reason. I asked him why he was grabbing me by my arm and pulling me back, he did not answer back. I also asked him why he was bringing up something that happend long time ago somewhere else over here and he still did not give me an answer. So I told them “what am I doing wrong? I’m skating at the proper spot, why are you bothering me?” They started to laugh at me and smile. After they harrast me I went home and told my parents. That why where here today to make a formal complaint.

Dated November 4. 2011

I’m reminded of a video clip of the March 17, 2008 City of Mississauga Audit Committee meeting.

Mayor Hazel McCallion turned to Mississauga Corporate Security Boss Jamie Hillis and said, “So, I hope that the people we hire are sensitive to the fact that we are dealing with the public and we should give them every understanding possible.”

Hillis lied, “Yes. Absolutely.”

And the Mississauga Council Code of Conduct promises to be as fraudulent as City’s Security formal Public Complaints process.

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Hey Hey MissCorpSec what do you say?
How many Youth did you ban today?

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Security guards threaten skateboarder at Mississauga Civic Centre’s Skateboard Plaza with arrest: “my son is only 13 yrs old.”

February 5th, 2012

Have to laugh at this Mississauga News article.

Made-in-Mississauga video goes viral

Mississauga scenery. A video shot by Mississauga resident Paul Reid
that features skateboarder Alex Neary has received more than 3,500 views
after only a few days on YouTube.

MISSISSAUGA NEWS Juia Le

Mississauga’s Paul Reid spent two years fine-tuning a video he put together to promote C1RCA footwear and apparel and Toronto skateboarder Alex Neary.

And now that the video has gone viral on YouTube, the 18-year-old Videography and TV Production student at Humber College says he’s glad he took the extra time. In the first week, more than 3,500 viewers clicked on the video to watch Neary show off his flips and tricks — mostly with Mississauga scenery as the backdrop.

Reid, a Glenforest Secondary School graduate, says it’s “pretty exciting” watching his three-and-a-half minute video that is now promoted on skateboarding websites including Skateboard Canada (www.sbcskateboard.com), Concrete Skateboarding (www.concreteskateboarding.com) and Push (Push.ca).

Check it out at (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok2zQ9ZjRa4).

Reid spent countless hours filming and editing the Neary video and says he’s very proud of the end product.

The video shows Neary, who’s part of C1RCA’s Canadian skateboarding team, performing stunts at the Civic Centre and other locations in Mississauga.

Skateboarding at Mississauga Civic Centre….

“The large man was saying I was making the problem worse by not cooperating and was threatening to arrest me, for no reason.”

Now read this 13-year-old boy’s experience while skateboarding at the Mississauga Civic Centre Skateboard Plaza. All documents secured through Freedom of Information.

This 13-year-old boy’s complaint has been transcribed so that it will be searchable through Google —and easily cut-and-pasted. It is typed exactly how the youngster wrote it:

“my son is only 13 yrs old.”

Dated November 4. 2011

City of Mississauga Staff once again violated Corporate policy (not) dealing with this 13-year-old skateboarder’s formal complaint against two City of Mississauga Corporate Security guards.

In fact, there is no evidence that this boy’s complaint was dealt with at all.

Freedom of Information shows no evidence of the City’s child worker being involved, no evidence of an investigation by Human Resources as required by Corporate Policy and no response letter sent to the child/parent advising them of the results of any “investigation”.

A February 3, 2012 Mississauga News article, “Made-in-Mississauga video goes viral” shows video of Toronto skateboarder, Alex Neary, violating City of Mississauga rules by skateboarding around City of Mississauga Civic Centre and Celebration Square over a period of several days.

In the meantime this 13-year-old boy, skating in the designated Skateboard Plaza was harassed by the City’s Corporate Security guards.

Why?

As City of Mississauga Corporate Security guard, “HyJynx” (aka: Mike Keter) once proclaimed, “beacuse [sic] I can”. It’s true. Because they can!

MISSISSAUGAWATCH once again extends a warning to youth/minors (all “vulnerable” human beings for that matter), that City of Mississauga Corporate Security guards and their bosses are abusive liars. A warning too, that the City of Mississauga’s Security formal public complaints process is fraudulent.

Freedom of Information has confirmed that City of Mississauga Corporate Security guards (and this includes Transit) are accountable to no one but their Security bosses. And these Security bosses are Above the Law and a Law unto Themselves.

Next, and again for the record, I offer these two emails sent to the Mississauga News after their “Made-in-Mississauga video goes viral” article appeared online.

From: MISSISSAUGA WATCH <mississauga_watch@yahoo.com>
To: “jle”
Cc: John Stewart ; Gerry Timbers ; “mississauga_watch@yahoo.com”
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2012 2:54 PM
Subject: Your article, “Made-in-Mississauga video goes viral”

Hello Ms Le,

I’m writing about your Feb 03, 2012 article, “Made-in-Mississauga video goes viral”.

Question.

Prior to writing your article and promoting this video, did you confirm with the City of Mississauga that Paul Reid and Alex Neary got a PERMIT to skateboard in the Mississauga Civic Centre/Celebration Square complex allowing them to skate areas other than at the skateboard plaza at the back of City Hall?

A favour of a reply is requested,

Ursula

Managing Editor Gerry Timbers, replied, “No” and I responded with:

From: MISSISSAUGA WATCH <mississauga_watch@yahoo.com>
To: “Timbers, Gerry”; “Le, Julia”
Cc: “Stewart, John” ; “mississauga_watch@yahoo.com”
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2012 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: Your article, “Made-in-Mississauga video goes viral”

Thanks Mr. Timbers for your response.

It’s been a while now since I wrote the Mississauga News about the obscene number of bans and arrests issued by City of Mississauga security guards against youth and minors.

I’ve mentioned that City Security issued a ban against two 15/16 year olds and a little girl (9/10 year old) for 30 days from all three complexes at once (Civic Centre, Library and Living Arts Centre).

I informed Mississauga News that despite corporate guidelines requiring the City’s child worker, Karen Morden, to get involved in these bans, she never was. And also parents and guardians were never informed.

I also informed you that should kids be silly enough to return to Property during a ban, they would be immediately arrested –no exceptions.

Here is the edit [sic] from Ken Owen saying just that: www.flickr.com/photos/43172810@N00/3857571836/

I’ve also mentioned how City of Mississauga Security especially target skateboarders. I even shared these three lists of bans with you back in 2008.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2459/3740370773_60e2362391_b.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2593/3740370753_b1f70c091a_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3482/3740325311_566aee4e1a_b.jpg

Note these only show bans/arrests to December 2008. And this isn’t all arrests –since City Security can successfully bury those by calling in Peel Police to arrest.

Here is a Special Occurrence Report (SOR) that shows City Security banning of four 11/12 year olds (from Mississauga Civic Centre, Living Arts Centre and Central Library.

www.flickr.com/photos/43172810@N00/3694922190/in/photostream/

Three facilities at once. Harsher punishments than adults misbehaving at other facilities and transit!

As a result of City of Mississauga Security abuses (lying, lack of oversight, and now a fraudulent formal public complaints system confirmed through Freedom of Information), I began researching both graffiti and skateboarding.

As it happened I came upon superb skateboarding videos of kids skating all around the Civic Centre and especially Celebration Square. I downloaded and saved them all from YouTube for an eventual report I will write.

I’ve been documenting/videotaping the flagship skateparks at Iceland (Mississauga), Chinguacousy (Brampton) and Turner skatepark (Hamilton). In addition, three on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Watching the YouTube videos that the skaters themselves produced at Mississauga Civic Centre and Celebration Square just blew me away. I watched them all –marveling at this Discovery. The Discovery that the best skatepark of all is Civic Centre/Celebration Square.

Have to say, having researched skateboarders, Civic Centre/Celebration Square is enticing! Can’t see how the best skaters can resist the uninterrupted concrete, the steps, the rails. And the architecture for a video backdrop? Makes Civic Centre/Celebration Square the best place I’ve ever witnessed from which to produce skateboard videos!

Two problems.

1. City rules are skateboarding is limited to the Skateboard Plaza.

2. And you’ve got quasi-fascist unaccountable security hacks patrolling the area. (One of the videos shows an interaction with a City of Mississauga security guard. Another video shows an older woman strolling the Civic Centre and admonishing the skaters. I’ve said nothing since it looks like it’s just three decent kids really into skateboarding.)

I don’t know how much you know about the skateboard culture but there are some sk8rs who view it a badge on honour to brush against a security guard.

The point is City of Mississauga Corporate Security aren’t like the mall guards who are subject to Bill 159 and its provincial complaints system. City of Mississauga Council neatly made their Security exempt from Bill 159 by passing a by-law making them peace officers. Simple as that.

Just last week I got Freedom of Information back on all public complaints under the new “formal” public complaints process. One kid filed a complaint and wrote (2009) about being banned from the bus for being rude to the driver and now having to lose his summer job because he can’t get transportation. He wrote about now being worried that he can’t get to university and needed to appeal. He then wrote saying that Joe Cairney (Security boss) had told him there was no chance to appeal the decision. That’s a lie.

And that was 2009 when the formal public complaints policy was in place that would ensure fairness for the public.

Now back to skateboarding. I just watched the “viral” video. Have you? Because high profile boarder Alex Neary is shown violating Civic Centre skateboard rules over several days (different clothes).

What’s got me concerned after watching all the remarkable Civic Centre/Celebration Square skateboard videos is that this place will get known for what it is. A superb, illicit skatepark right next to Square One.

[DETAILS DELETED]

[DETAILS DELETED] Here’s what one of my YouTube [DELETED] contacts wrote about getting arrested.

“I had a friend who was arrested by peel for [DETAILS DELETED].

As a result he cant get a job with any major corporation or company, because of the charges its almost like your forced into a life of crime to support yourself. I wouldn’t consider any teenager who goes out to paint some walls and express themselves a criminal. Now when he applies for a job he’s put in the same category as a drug dealer, rapist etc.”

City Security arrests skateboarders too and when they [DELETED] apply for a job they’ll be “put in the same category as a drug dealer, rapist etc.”

And City Security LIES about their professionalism, their complaints system and their giving “the public every understanding possible”.

I’m not soft on crime. You-people want “uniforms” that are hard-nosed, hard-lined, so be it. But I do have a problem with law enforcement LYING. Over the summer I read that at least three Peel Police officers lied in court to get a conviction and that Peel Police won’t be investigating them. I’ve got tons of Freedom of Information on City Security lying –and that includes video.

I know you don’t believe me about all this any more than you have in the past. But I have an obligation at least to inform you about what my research/video and Freedom of Information has confirmed regarding treatment of youth/minors on City Property by City of Mississauga Corporate Security.

Thanks,

Ursula

The Lesson Here.

I suspect that by now you’re wondering that if the City of Mississauga’s formal public complaint process is so fraudulent, then why waste your time writing up a complaint that goes nowhere.

Because those citizens filing these complaints, futile as they are, leave a RECORD of how City of Mississauga Corporate Security operates —a paper trail of how the Mayor’s Security force successfully avoids accountability.

Repeat. As far as we know, City of Mississauga Corporate Security are the only municipal security operation not subject to Ontario’s Bill 159 Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005 and its provincial public complaints system.

And through Freedom of Information we can confirm that the City Manager never bothers to check up on this quasi-fascist force, and how neither the Mayor or any councillors provide any oversight either —despite Councillor Pat Saito’s utterances to the contrary.

Each unsuccessful formal public complaint against City of Mississauga Corporate Security acts as a warning to others.

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Procedure for self-protection following any incident involving Mississauga Corporate Security or Corporation of the City of Mississauga Staff

MOST IMPORTANT! For your own protection regardless of whether you are in the wrong, as soon as practical after an incident, file a Freedom of Information form requesting:

All records, emails, and any other documents pertaining to [your name].
All records, emails, and any other documents including any video surveillance footage pertaining to the incident of [date] at [location] involving [your name] and [Mississauga Corporate Security or City staff].

The filing fee is $5.00. Forms are available here: City of Mississauga ONLINE FORM: Access / Correction Request – Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Why this is important

A Freedom of Information request (FOI) immediately protects the requested documents from deletion based on the City’s official “Records Retention Policy”. Without such a request, video surveillance footage can be erased after only five days.

Do not assume that because you were in the wrong, there is no reason to file your FOI! Your records on file with the City can contain gross errors. In particular, FOI has shown that Mississauga Corporate Security records can be inaccurate and severely biased. You can also use the FOI request form to request a correction of your file. Although you cannot make them correct false information, your side of the story will become part of the official record.

Finally, always keep in mind that the “official record” can make your incident appear far worse than it actually was.

CITZEN/YOUTH ADVISORY: IF YOU ARE BANNED, ISSUED TRESPASS OR ARRESTED BY MISSISSAUGA CORPORATE SECURITY GUARDS

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BEWARE of TRAPS in Mississauga Code of Conduct if filing complaint with integrity commissioner

December 7th, 2011

Once again, apologies for taking so long to write a new blog.

For the record, currently I’m in a protracted research phase —doing a lot of reading, studying actually. Also doing a lot of videotaping while reviewing five years worth of audio and videotape relating to City of Mississauga municipal government. And throughout all this, I’ve also have to scour Freedom of Information documents going all the way back to January 2007.

Not fun.

Also, I’m preparing a 3-part video on the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry’s recommendations as they relate the City of Mississauga’s Council Code of Conduct, hiring of an integrity commissioner and other MYTHissauga window-dressing “ethics” initiatives.

Today, the Mississauga News came out with article, Politicians to blame for voter apathy: study.

Some highlights:

The politically disengaged are not as apathetic or ignorant of politics as previously thought — they opt out because they feel the political system has failed them, says a survey of Canadians across the country, including a focus group from Mississauga.

• less engaged Canadians overwhelmingly describe themselves as outsiders. They do not feel they have a voice or any ownership stake in the political system
• Canadians’ dislike for politics seems closely related to a perceived gap between the ideals of democracy and the reality of how they are represented politically
• Disengagement is, in fact, a response to people’s personal interaction with politics and government

“A common theme across the focus groups was that the political system has failed many Canadians in clear and tangible ways,” said Alison Loat, Samara’s co-founder and executive director. “Consequently, political disengagement is a learned response — this is a far cry from the conventional wisdom that assumes the disengaged simply do not care.”

Kendall Anderson, Samara’s communications and project manager, says the research shows most disengaged non-voters start off wanting to be part of the system, but a series of unpleasant experiences ultimately turns them into non-voters.

Love that “perceived gap between the ideals of democracy and the reality of how they are represented politically”. Recall how I warn people about the “vast yawning gap between what Mississauga trumpets versus the behind-the-scenes Reality.” The perceptive reader will see that “vast yawning gap between what Mississauga trumpets versus the behind-the-scenes Reality” simply means “lie”.

Quite convenient for the Mississauga News to come out with their citizen-disengagement article today. Leads in quite nicely to the theme of this video: Our Lying, Deceptive Governments. And how integrity commissioners are just a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. A reminder that I truly believe that “The System is CORRUPT, there is no way to fix it.”

So. The video, complete with transcript.

BEWARE of TRAPS in Mississauga Code of Conduct if filing complaint with integrity commissioner (7:34 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH reporting from Cooksville 5 & 10 intersection. December 5, 2011

It is Monday, December the 5th, 2011 and I’m parked here at Highway 5 and 10. And I just want to report a little bit, to provide a little bit of an update for you regarding what’s been going on in Mississauga.

There’s so many competing issues for me right now that the best way for me to describe what’s happening is that I feel mired in all kinds of conflicting issues. And mired to the point of paralysis.

And it’s not just conflicting and competing but there’s also this important kind of thinking that I have to do.

It isn’t enough just reading this book, “REPORT ON THE MISSISSAUGA JUDICIAL INQUIRY Updating the Ethical Infrastructure“. You need to think about it. You need to think what the implications are.

So, one of the things that I’m doing is I’m reading this [Mississauga Council Code of Conduct April 2011]. Not just reading but understanding the rules —almost to the point of committing certain things to memory.

And then I go back and I read in here [REPORT ON THE MISSISSAUGA JUDICIAL INQUIRY Updating the Ethical Infrastructure] what Commissioner Cunningham recommended for improving the Mississauga Code of Conduct.

And it’s taken a lot of time, and a lot of pondering —a lot of thinking.

I’m also filing at least one —at least one complaint with the integrity commissioner.

And it’s got to be done right. It’s got to be done right because I got really tripped up in a complaint that I filed against City of Mississauga Corporate Security.

And I need to refer you to the series on nursing homes by the Toronto Star. And they were reporting on some of the horrid abuses at nursing homes including one where a male nurse raped one of the women in his care.

The Toronto Star in that particular article also said that when they reviewed the investigation letters in nursing homes, the actual letter, the resolution letter, was sanitized. And that’s the word that they used: “sanitized“.

And so sanitized that they really couldn’t tell what the complaint was about. Or what they were investigating.

So, they couldn’t for example, determine from the letters whether something dealt with sexual abuse —or physical abuse.

I can tell you the City of Mississauga Corporate Security do the same thing. They sanitize their resolution letters so badly, when you read the resolution letter and then read what the actual public complaint was about, they’re two different things.

And just a little bit of background.

I’d sent an email asking a question through publicinfo@mississauga.ca. And I got a response that I considered rude enough that I asked for the identity of the individual who sent me the comment. And I repeated my request, for that person to identify himself, over a period of three months.

So I gave the person almost three months to come clean, and identify himself. When he didn’t I filed a complaint.

The individual confessed and by “confessing”, this person knew that he could stop the investigation and that was it. Basically I got a resolution letter that said, yes, the person was rude, he had been spoken with and I’m to consider the matter closed.

The point is, that again, when somebody reads the letter, oh, a person was being rude, it’s been taken care of.

No! No. The individual refused to identify himself!

And when I filed Freedom of Information asking them to follow the trail of where my email was sent, up across the top it said, “Jamie Hillis” —who is the Manager of Corporate Security.

So there’s every evidence, that the person who was hiding anonymously in email was actually the Manager, Jamie Hillis, who’s charged, by the way, with implementing the public complaints process! And the policy.

By the way, I fought that all the way to the IPC, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commission. And they sided with allowing this individual his anonymity.

It was a mistake that I made —well, first of all, the biggest mistake was I felt now that they had a formal complaints procedure that it would be somehow legitimate. Clearly it wasn’t.

And I keep saying that the City of Mississauga has infinite capacity to pervert. They have infinite capacity to pervert policies, procedures, guidelines, provincial legislation and anything else.

And it’s the same here [with the Mississauga Council Code of Conduct April 2011]. I know for a fact, just because of prior behaviour, that if I don’t file the complaint with the integrity commissioner absolutely according to this [Mississauga Council Code of Conduct April 2011] document —it too will be perverted.

Also just for the record, I don’t believe for a minute that when I do file the complaint —or complaints, with the integrity commissioner, that it’s even going to matter.

Again. The City of Mississauga has infinite capacity to pervert.

And something else. I’ve been talking about McCallion-backed councillors. Tovey, Mullin, Fonseca, Crombie, Starr, Mahoney and Saito. Seven of them.

And just a reminder that [Councillor] Nando Iannicca basically said to all the councillors —and he stood by this. And he said, if you did not vote for the Inquiry, you’re not fit for public service.

[Video Insert begins]

Councillor Nando Iannicca, Mississauga General Committee, November 2, 2011

If you did not vote for the Inquiry. If you do not agree with its findings. And if you are not appalled at what happened, you are not fit for public service.

Acting Chair, McCallion-backed loyalist Councillor Katie Mahoney, Mississauga General Committee, November 2, 2011

Councillor Iannicca, I am going to cut this deba—

[Video Insert ends]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH reporting from Cooksville 5 & 10 intersection. December 5, 2011

So you understand [laughs] that three of the four councillors who are going to be “working” on this Code of Conduct and in possibly hiring and making recommendations for Mississauga’s next integrity commissioner are, according to Nando Iannicca, “not fit for public service”.

So that gives me a lot of confidence here!

[Music: Caspian & Grafhic - Matrix Shit]

This thing here with the integrity commissioner —and preparing a complaint, just believe me when I say, it’s got to be done in the right order. And you have to make sure as a citizen that you don’t fall into the traps that are inherent in this [Mississauga Council Code of Conduct April 2011] document.

And here’s an allegation. They were put here on purpose. On purpose.

[DIP TO BLACK]

Councillor Nando Iannicca, Mississauga General Committee, November 2, 2011

If you did not vote for the Inquiry. If you do not agree with its findings. And if you are not appalled at what happened, you are not fit for public service.

Acting Chair, McCallion-backed loyalist Councillor Katie Mahoney, Mississauga General Committee, November 2, 2011

Councillor Iannicca, I am going to cut—

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Example of SANITIZED City of Mississauga Corporate Security resolution letter.

Can you tell what the complaint was about?
Can you tell this complaint was against a Security BOSS?
Can you tell from this letter that contrary to Policy, a Security underling “investigated” a superior —and cleared him?

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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Bonnie Crombie and “What parent waits almost three months to act upon concerns that her child is being cyber-stalked?

November 25th, 2011

From the: I don’t call it “MYTHissauga” for Nothing Department.

Bonnie Crombie, “cyber-stalking”, Hazel McCallion scandal and other MYTHissauga MYTHteries (12:47 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH parked at Square One with Mississauga City Hall in background, November 19, 2011

It is Saturday, November the 19th, 2011 and I’m parked here at Square One and you’ve got Mississauga City Hall in the background. And I just want to set the record a little bit straight, or at least follow up on events that happened on November the 9th, 2011 inside Mississauga Council Chamber, when McCallion-backed Councillor Bonnie Crombie accused me of “cyber-stalking”.

And I’m going to —there’s a printout of a National Post, Megan O’Toole’s article, “Mississauga councillor accuses watchdog of ‘cyber-stalking’ her children on Facebook“. And I just want to read part of it that says “she” meaning Councillor Bonnie Crombie

“was referring to an online video compilation featuring Facebook photographs of her three children that was uploaded by ‘MississaugaWatch’ this past August. The video primarily focuses on Alex Crombie, now 22, contrasting picture of his vacations and parties with a Facebook site he created to support his political ambitions.

But the video also highlights photographs of 14-year-old Natasha Crombie and 18-year-old Jonathan Crombie. The children were younger in some of the featured photographs, Ms. Crombie said.”

And at the time, I reacted, I was in total shock during the Council meeting. I —was aware that I had created a video but had not realized —not remembered that there was the younger Crombie’s Facebook page.

And upon reviewing it, I realized that yes, that was true.

[DIP TO WHITE]

The problem that I have is reference —the hot button word “cyber-stalked”. And again, read Megan O’Toole’s article. It says that it was the online video uploaded “this past August”.

It’s clear that Councillor Crombie knew since August that this video was online.

And I have to say that on November the 9th, the presentation, or the deputation that I made in front of Mississauga Council, I only decided to do because the week before —the Wednesday before, which was, yeah, November the 2nd, was a pretty big exchange of words between the McCallion-backed Councillors, all insisting that the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry was unnecessary. And that their $40,000 outside legal opinion was all that was ever needed.

And that there wasn’t much that the Inquiry revealed that wasn’t in that report. And you know that’s outrageous! Absolutely outrageous. And I thought I’d follow up on a video —and on a presentation.

The night before, which was November the 8th, the video was going so poorly that I almost bailed. I almost said forget it, I’ll do it the next week or some other time.

And you know, it’s left me to wonder, you know, having considered pulling out —I was that close! The question in my mind is how long would Councillor Crombie have taken to finally act on her concerns regarding “cyber-stalking”?

Mid-August and it was almost mid-November —we’re talking about almost three months! And only because I went up there.

I’ve had a lot of time to think. Like. Since November the 9th, I really haven’t done any kind of blog. I’ve been really thinking. And thinking. And thinking.

And again, there’s this thought that keeps skipping around in my head, like a record.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Councillor Crombie knew about that video since mid-August. And yet she waited until November the 9th —at a Council meeting, to act on those concerns. And she had plenty of opportunity in the meantime.

I remember seeing her —let me see, I guess the first would be her swear-in when she walked into Council for the first time.

[video insert of Councillor Bonnie Crombie's September 28, 2011 swear-in.]

Gave her oath of office. There was the Judicial Inquiry with Justice Cunningham giving his report. She was there for that too.

[video insert of October 3, 2011 Inquiry Report release showing Brian Crombie sitting behind me!]

A couple of other things.

What if I hadn’t gone up there? When was she going to express this concern?

Who waits three months?

And I just don’t get that.

What parent waits three months —almost three months to act on a concern about “cyber-stalking”?! And I keep asking myself that. Like a broken record, “What kind of parent waits three months”?

[pointing to Mississauga City Hall in background]

That place doesn’t make sense. It’s toxic. It’s corrosive to the soul. And by the way, for the record, it was toxic and corrosive to the soul when I first started back in June 14th, 2006. There were already indications.

But it’s so much worse now.

Anyway. I have something else for the record.

And that’s regarding not going back to Mississauga Council.

October 2010, I already found it grim.

[video insert of October 25, 2010 Mississauga City Hall election night. Hazel McCallion flings up joyous arms at Carolyn Parrish's defeat. Victor Oh, Honourary President of the Mississauga Chinese Business Association enters stage left. Then video of Peter McCallion checking election results.]

And it goes beyond corrosive to the soul to a point of being just —ashes.

I’m so desperately trying to make sense of this place. [Points to Mississauga City Hall] How it’s structured.

This Empire of Illusion.

[video insert of October 25, 2010 Mississauga City Hall election night. Hazel McCallion drinking in the victory accolades then pan to Manager of Mississauga Corporate Security Jamie Hillis.]

About the malfeasance and the corruption in here.

[video insert of October 25, 2010 Mississauga City Hall election night. Close up of Manager of Mississauga Corporate Security Jamie Hillis.]

The abuse of authority. And above all, the abuse of —history. History. The revisionism.

And it was a very short comment by an online commenter at the Mississauga News who said, Mississaugans don’t care about optics.

And no sooner did this guy post that than a week or two later, the Toronto Star comes out with a poll that says that Hazel McCallion is the most popular mayor in Canada and that 78% of Mississaugans approve of her. And this was after all of these revelations came out with the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry!

And that really stung! That —was crushing to me!

That an online commenter, that Mississaugans don’t care about optics is true! I mean I have to accept that it’s true. You can’t fight that.

And already —I’m going to play two things. Comments that I made on September the 18th, just before residents of Ward 5 were to go to the polls. And at that point I had already announced that my research time was over.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH reporting while parked on street, Malton, September 18, 2011

I’ve often been asked, well, you’ve been doing this since 2006, when are you going to stop?

And I’ve always believed that there will be a signal. There will be a signal that your data collection time is over.

And my signal, regardless of whether this [by]election had been held or not, was seeing And seeing Victor Oh popping the champagne. That’s when it all came together. When you saw Sheldon Leiba, Mississauga Board of Trade, Victor Oh, Mississauga Chinese Business Association, Honourary President. And thank you Andrew, for your photographs documenting the Mississauga Chinese Business Association.

That was for me, The Signal.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH reporting while driving north on Hurontario, November 19, 2011

And also, an even more important one, I believe it was October the 9th [actually it was October 12, 2011]. And it was there, interestingly enough, that I had said that I would —that my research time would be closing by mid-November.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH reporting inside Mississauga Council Chambers, October 12, 2011

I would think that by mid-November my research time here is going to be over.

There’s one more event that I have to monitor, cover, and beyond that I think you’ve got this closure.

That —I mean some can argue and say wait a second, now you need to document and follow how the Judge’s recommendations are going to be implemented. And of course, I will.

But I will predict now, that they will not be authentically implemented. And I’ll tell you why—

[DIP TO WHITE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH reporting while driving north on Hurontario, November 19, 2011

Like there’s a lot that I don’t understand —that makes no sense.

And of course, always, you drive around and you ask yourself, “What parent waits almost three months to act upon concerns that her child is being cyber-stalked?”

[DIP TO WHITE]

Music: Living in the Past by Jethro Tull

And on one of these drives, a song came on by Jethro Tull. And it’s called Living in the Past.

And I realized that by not going to Mississauga Council anymore, that’s essentially what I’m doing. Is it’s like, I’ve cut my own political observation and ended it on November the 9th, 2011.

And it’s like I’m now Living in the Past.

That is, any interest that I have regarding Mississauga Council has a time-frame of say, May 6, [sic] 2006 when I first stepped into that Mississauga Council Chambers, to November the 9th, 2011, which was my last time.

So the song Living in the Past then is a way of focusing me now to those five years but also being a kind of discipline thing, to say, look, perhaps something new is coming up that you should be observing or researching, but no, your job now, is to Live in the Past and report on that Past.

And that’s going to be interesting. To become an expert on the Mississauga Council that was existing between May 2006 and November 9, 2011.

But I have to say it’s a relief.

Oh God, it’s a relief.

[DIP TO WHITE]

I think I’m like a lot of human beings, in that, you know you search for meaning, you search for —your world has to make sense? And right now it doesn’t. And as a result, I’m not sure where to go.

I know I have to file more Freedom of Information. That’s for sure.

And I know you don’t turn to the Traditional Media. That’s for sure.

Anyway, that’s more than enough. Turning camera off.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

As always I’d appreciate being advised of any errors in the transcript.

Signed,

The (“What parent waits almost three months to act upon concerns that her child is being cyber-stalked?) Mississauga Muse

Or misses these chances?!

September 28, 2011 media interview with me two feet away!

—and LEAVING with me just two feet away…

—and Brian Crombie sitting behind me during release of the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry report, October 3, 2011

What parents wait almost three months to —ahhhh, never mind!

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Mississauga’s Brand New CELEBRATION SQUARE: a Walk-about –a Warning.

June 18th, 2011

Yes, I had a walk-about Mississauga’s CELEBRATION SQUARE today.

As is our custom, here’s the video complete with transcript.

Mississauga’s Brand New CELEBRATION SQUARE: a Walk-about –a Warning. (6:28 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (Mississauga Civic Centre walking out to Mississauga CELEBRATION SQUARE, June 18, 2011)

It is June the 18th, 2011 and I’m here inside the Mississauga Civic Centre and this is the first time that I’ve stepped on the Mississauga CELEBRATION SQUARE since they closed it down.

And what I want to do —and I’ve done this at numerous other city halls or public buildings, is what I call the Video Surveillance Pop-In Test.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (touring Mississauga CELEBRATION SQUARE, June 18, 2011)

And I’m going to walk here and just take a look at how different it is and just record my first impressions.

[DIP TO WHITE]

And we have the video surveillance camera up here. And that one’s been there since 2006 when I first recorded it.

And this is going to be a war memorial here.

[DIP TO WHITE]

I guess this is going to be the skating rink eventually. It’s going to be good for kids. I mean people are using it right now. Already.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Let’s see, the first place to look, are of course, posts. And so far nothing.

[DIP TO WHITE]

I remember one of the things about the old city hall —you know, the way it was structured, in that it had a massive yellow wall right through here.

I always considered it symbolic of the barrier between the Governed versus Those Who Govern.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Looking around some more.

You know, I by now should be able to pick up on the video surveillance cameras. There doesn’t seem to be any.

[DIP TO WHITE]

And just taking a look here. So far the only one is that one right there at the apex of the building.

[DIP TO WHITE]

It’s going to be a massive stage. And zero doubt what will happen on Wednesday, is Council of course is going to sit and share their wisdom from there.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Now it’s going to be interesting what these guys are advertising.

So Mississauga has gone all Toronto on us. It’s going to be interesting how much they get. Like in cost per second.

Lady walking her dog.

[DIP TO WHITE]

But I can say right now, and this is with certainty, because I’ve become something of an expert —there is no video surveillance on this site anywhere, except the apex, right there.

So. That’s going to be interesting.

And the other thing that’s interesting is you have here the Civic [sic] Centre Drive. And Councillor Nando Iannicca said it is possible that, you know, they’ll open it up on certain occasions and then keep it closed at other times.

So quite a bit of flexibility there.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Oh look at this. There’s a knob right there. Oh yeah. And another knob.

Now these guards are exempt from Bill 159 and have no viable public complaints system. Their security bosses investigate them and all it takes to stop an investigation is for those guards to confess to something —and you can bet that their strategy is to confess to something lesser than what the complainant was complaining about.

Actually in some respects that’s worse than video surveillance because I’ve documented so many examples of guards lying. And their bosses. People who get and run afoul of them aren’t even going to have the benefit of video surveillance to help them out.

[CROSS DISSOLVE]

Yeah, I wanted to come here because, I think one of the things that I want to do is try and see whether I can get my husband to videotape from there on Wednesday down on what’s happening here. While I’m over there covering the actual Council meeting.

Because it will be historic. No question.

And you can bet the political hacks will be really hacking it up, grinding it out —300%. And sometimes 300% really is possible.

[DIP TO WHITE]

This is different. Before we never had access to this little amphitheater. Now they’re actually putting it to use.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Here’s something else that’s interesting. They’ve put the, I think it’s called “Wisteria” up again. Starting new. So that’s neat.

[DIP TO WHITE]

I can tell you this. Regarding, “don’t be a litterbug”, I’ve seen City Staff tossing cigarette butts right here as they were smoking.

[DIP TO WHITE]

So I can confirm for now that that is the only video surveillance camera anywhere in this region for now.

And we have at the door here, two warning signs for automated video surveillance cameras. And that was only because of lobbying by Donald Barber and me.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Despite video surveillance cameras around, there are [sic] no signage at all. And we had a Security Manager lying about it.

[DIP TO WHITE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (inside Mississauga Civic Centre, June 18, 2011)

And what I’m going to do is show you one of the things, about the only—

ELEVATOR (Mississauga Civic Centre, June 18, 2011)

Going up.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (inside Mississauga Civic Centre, June 18, 2011)

—truthful thing that’s going on.

ELEVATOR (Mississauga Civic Centre, June 18, 2011)

Parking Level One.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (inside Mississauga Civic Centre, June 18, 2011)

And magically, it really is Parking Level One.

So this is about the only thing inside City Hall that you can actually trust as not lying to you.

[Mark Knopfler, "Don't Crash the Ambulance"]
[DIP TO BLACK]

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Since we’re talking about the history of the Mississauga Civic Centre, I just realized that I have unique Civic Centre material that I videotaped back on November 18, 2007.

On that date I documented every outside perimeter wall of Mississauga’s “Big Yellow” City Hall and shot the tape non-stop. This resulted in a video record 1 hour, 7 minutes, 32 seconds long. The footage confirmed that while City Hall bristled with video surveillance cameras, there was absolutely no signage up advising citizens of their presence. This ran contrary to the Province’s Guidelines for the Use of Video Surveillance Cameras in Public Places —and made liars out of the Security bosses.

No Signage didn’t just violate the Provincial guidelines, the same Corporate Security hacks also violated the City’s own Video Surveillance policy —that Security authored!

The Council of the City of Mississauga passed the Video Surveillance policy back on December 12, 2006. The policy states:

“SIGNAGE: A sign will be installed in a clearly visible location at all facilities which are subject to surveillance.”

My own November 2007 video “surveillance” confirmed that Mississauga City Hall, Mississauga Central Library and Mississauga Living Arts Centre had no evidence of a signal sign ANYWHERE.

I know this is difficult to believe but the fact is that MISSISSAUGAWATCH has yet to find a Corporate guideline or policy that City of Mississauga Corporate Security hasn’t violated —and then lied about!

With that intro, here’s a true Oldie —a 1 hour, 7 minutes, 32 seconds on November 18, 2007 video record of the Mississauga Civic Centre compressed into 1 minute 35 seconds —music the William Tell Overture.

I called it “MISSISSAUGA SIGNZ” because the entire purpose of the video was to provide irrefutable proof that there were no Signs!

MISSISSAUGA SIGNZ (Moving FAST Forward) Uploaded: November 29, 2007

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

And what the heck, might as well include irrefutable proof that Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre had no video surveillance signage up despite Security Manager Jamie Hillis’ “SIGNAGE: A sign will be installed in a clearly visible location at all facilities which are subject to surveillance” claims to the contrary.

Note, this video documentation of the Living Arts Centre was conducted on Nov 21, 2007.

SIGNZ -MISSISSAUGA LIVING ARTS CENTRE Uploaded: November 29, 2007

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

Last. Do I have an “appropriate” photo to end with?… Yeah.

QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?

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Mississauga News, “Graffiti ‘artists’ target City Hall”. MISSISSAUGAWATCH arrives too late…

April 7th, 2011

Saw the Mississauga News article, “Graffiti ‘artists’ target City Hall” and decided to investigate. Unfortunately I took a long nap first. The old saying is too true, “You snooze. You lose.”

MISSISSAUGA NEWS "Graffiti ‘artists’ target City Hall" # Joseph Chin # | # Apr 06, 2011 - 12:47 PM

Still. Here’s the video, complete with transcript.

Mississauga News, “Graffiti ‘artists’ target City Hall”. MISSISSAUGAWATCH arrives too late… (4:01 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (reporting from computer work station, April 6, 2011)

It is April 6, 2011 and this is the article in the Mississauga News, “Graffiti ‘artists’ target City Hall” and this is a picture.

[DIP TO WHITE]

And I really did want to go and see the graffiti for myself and you see that the article is posted at 12:47. And it’s really true when they say, “You snooze, you lose” because I showed up significantly later —cuz I just wanted to check these tags.

Unfortunately by the time I showed up, this had all been erased.

However, there’s nothing that says that I can’t at least file a report on not the graffiti there anymore. So here we go.

[PUSH]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (reporting from inside car at Mississauga City Hall, April 6, 2011 7 pm approx)

It is Wednesday, April 6, 2011 and we’re here at Mississauga City Hall because I read in the Mississauga News that the skateboard plaza, right in there, had graffiti and it even looks like it’s been bombed. So I want to document it before it’s erased.

[DIP TO WHITE]

One of the things that was reported was that there’s a video surveillance camera —despite video surveillance cameras, it still got bombed. And the reality is the skateboard plaza does not have a video surveillance camera at all.

There is one and it’s just been recently installed —right there.

Anyway, what I have done is document the skateboard plaza, I think probably on four or five other occasions. Primarily just to have a look-about because it’s one of my study sites as far as skateboarding study sites is concerned. But I will, if I happen to come upon graffiti, also document it.

So that’s what we’re going to do now.

[DIP TO WHITE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (walking towards Skateboard plaza, Mississauga City Hall, April 6, 2011)

Again the important thing is when we see a person we shoot down because we don’t want to violate anyone’s privacy. And I sure hope that the graffiti is still up so I’ve got something to document.

There’s a knob unit. Right there. Oop, look at this. Oooo. This doesn’t happen often.

676 car.

[DIP TO WHITE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (inside the Skateboard plaza, Mississauga City Hall, April 6, 2011)

Now it looks like —yeah, that is new since I’ve looked.

Okay, unfortunately I’ve arrived too late and it’s already been removed. Dang! Too bad!

Oh well.

Yup. Too bad.

[DIP TO WHITE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (checking out the OutHouse at the Skateboard plaza, Mississauga City Hall, April 6, 2011)

The only thing then that I can record that’s new since the last time is that.

And the only other thing is the last time that I was looking at this, gosh, it might have been last year, Fall? Don’t know.

Oh yeah. Okay. So it’s still there.

That’s cuz the knobs’d never think about lookin’ in here.

[REVERSE CLOCK-WIPE]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (checking out the OutHouse at the Skateboard plaza, Mississauga City Hall, September 9, 2010. Fire/ambulance sirens…)

I’m here at the City of Mississauga —kind of noisy out here but what can you do?

And I was just checking out for graffiti and stuff like this. And I went in here. Take a look at this.

That’s quite the graffiti.

Ewwwwoooh my Gawd!

Oh it stinks in here!

And just imagine the stink.

But. That ain’t got nothin’ on—

[CUT]

Sheridan College President Dr. Jeff Zabudsky (Hazel McCallion’s 90th Birthday $350.00 a ticket Party, February 12, 2011)

—Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Hazel McCallion Campus!

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (at Hazel McCallion’s 90th Birthday $350.00 a ticket Party, February 12, 2011. As audience cheers)

Oh my Gawd! Oh my Gawd…

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

GRAFFITI MISSISSAUGA, "S BLOCK" "S-BLOCK" MISSISSAUGA CITY HALL "BOMBED" (MISSISSAUGA CITY HALL MATERIAL courtesy Peel Regional Police through Freedom of Information)

GRAFFITI MISSISSAUGA, “S BLOCK” “S-BLOCK” MISSISSAUGA CITY HALL “BOMBED”
(MISSISSAUGA CITY HALL MATERIAL courtesy Peel Regional Police through Freedom of Information)

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City of Mississauga’s DIRTIEST secret: What Hazel McCallion, Katie Mahoney and Pat Saito HIDE from the Media

January 22nd, 2011

Introduction —directly to the point.

Read the January 13, 2011 Mississauga News editorial about the City of Mississauga’s “Culture of secrecy” and take special note of the last two paragraphs.

What is surprising is just how far some — certainly not all — councillors are prepared to go to keep taxpayers’ business out of taxpayers’ sight and to protect their dirty little secrets.

We need real integrity and transparency at City Hall, not the facade we’ve lived with for the past few years.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH has been saying that for years —and called for the Ontario Ombudsman into municipalities for almost as long.

Here’s video of the City of Mississauga’s dirtiest secret as revealed by City staff and the politicians themselves. As always, followed by the transcript.

Mississauga’s dirty secrets: What Hazel McCallion, Katie Mahoney and Pat Saito HIDE from the Media: (4:15 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

McCallion-ally Councillor Katie Mahoney (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

—We sometimes as Council believe we’re above City policies and procedures. So there is no legal recourse on this as I’m understanding. But if it did go to court it would have some —there would be some weight attached because that disclaimer was in place?

City Solicitor Mary Ellen Bench (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

It would certainly be one of the things that the court would look at if it got into the wrong hands, yes. But again, it’s not something that would be the subject of a charge.

In this case, we do have, for example, the Respectful Workplace Policy.

McCallion-ally Councillor Katie Mahoney (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

Exactly.

[REVERSE CLOCK-WIPE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Could you put the Mission Statement on again?

I’m wondering why you haven’t included, “Based on its values of Honesty Trust, Quality and Excellence”—why you haven’t included the word “honesty”?

Deputant (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Our, uh, do you want to speak to that, Janice?

City Manager Janice Baker (Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Um, Madam Mayor, I think from our perspective, these are the values that come out of a series of discussions and workshops certainly at the staff level. I think we all believe that honesty is the basis of trust. So I—

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

I hope so.

City Manager Janice Baker (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

You know that—

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

I hope so.

City Manager Janice Baker (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Well, clearly. I mean you can’t, you cannot ha—

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

On the part of Council. And on the part of Staff.

City Manager Janice Baker (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Well our values—

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Honesty with the citizens.

City Manager Janice Baker (Respectful Workplace Policy: Mississauga Council meeting, May 23, 2007)

Our Values are universal.

[CLOCK-WIPE]

City Solicitor Mary Ellen Bench (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

We do have provisions in our Code of Conduct that talks about respect for the City’s by-laws and policies.

[REVERSE CLOCK-WIPE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, March 17, 2008)

In regard, Madam Chairman at [sic] this report, I think this is an extremely important report regarding the Corporate procedures regarding Security Staff that is established. And I think that we’ve been [sic] appreciate that we were a little weak on this in regard to procedures. And I think we should thank, what’s her name —Ursula.

I think she raised the question, didn’t she?

Commissioner of Corporate Services Brenda Breault (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, March 17, 2008)

She certainly raised the issue. So—

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, March 17, 2008)

Yeah. You raised the issue, Ursula. You know, we don’t always complain. We sometimes —we do accept suggestions. And I think this—

[CLOCK-WIPE]

City Solicitor Mary Ellen Bench (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

We do have provisions in our Code of Conduct that talks about respect for the City’s by-laws and policies.

[REVERSE CLOCK-WIPE]

Councillor Carolyn Parrish (Mississauga General Committee meeting, April 1, 2009)

I’m going to tell you the reason it flew through without my asking questions I want to ask is I think it involves personnel.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH whispers into camera (Mississauga General Committee meeting, April 1, 2009)

That’s right.

Councillor Carolyn Parrish (Mississauga General Committee meeting, April 1, 2009)

And I want to know why —and it’s coming up again in-camera, and I want to know why it took four months for us to be informed and I want to know who goofed up when it says in the policy, “Cash and cheque on delivery. Arrangements for tickets.”

[CLOCK-WIPE]

City Solicitor Mary Ellen Bench (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

We do have provisions in our Code of Conduct that talks about respect for the City’s by-laws and policies.

[REVERSE CLOCK-WIPE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, May 11, 2009)

Well, I’m not happy with the report I can tell you. I’m not happy with the contents of the report. There seems to be a complete disregard for policy —following policy.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, May 11, 2009)

A lot of things in here were dealt with years ago and it’s a complete disregard for policy. Following policy, in my opinion.

Why would anybody on a major contract be the one signing officer to approve all payments and all credits and everything?

[CLOCK-WIPE]

City Solicitor Mary Ellen Bench (Mississauga General Committee meeting Wednesday, January 12, 2011)

We do have provisions in our Code of Conduct that talks about respect for the City’s by-laws and policies.

[REVERSE CLOCK-WIPE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, May 11, 2009)

I’m getting a little frustrated as Mayor as we set up policies and then they’re not followed. And that’s what bothers me.

[CROSS DISSOLVE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee meeting, May 11, 2009)

Anyway.

So now we’re going to set up one up. Fine.

Someone:

Yeah.

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009)

If we set one up, it better be followed. That is the key. No use setting it up if it’s not going to be followed. You know, I don’t know why there’s such a disregard for policy.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Mayor Hazel McCallion (Mississauga Judicial Inquiry, September 20, 2010 Testimony)

I pride myself on the staff that we have at the City of Mississauga. They’re very professional —and they follow the policies very, very, very diligently.

[DIP TO BLACK]
[END OF TRANSCRIPT]

E MALAMA KAKOU. To Care For All.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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Video: Did Hazel McCallion deny the Mississauga News an interview on election night as “punishment” for not endorsing her?

October 27th, 2010

This blog is dedicated to the Mississauga News.

Just quickly. I want to document one of the many things that happened at Mississauga City Hall (Great Hall) during election night as the results came in.

I was reporting into my video camera when Donald Barber interrupted and said that something was up with the Mississauga News. He’d pointed to a gray-haired man with glasses who I immediately recognized as hanging around the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry hearings —essentially making sure he was within camera shot of Hazel McCallion at every opportunity. (I have other insights into this individual. Unfortunately since I have no audiotape of our conversations anything I write languishes in the realm of his word against mine. So I can’t report on it.)

Anyway. As is my custom now, here’s video of what happened, followed by the transcript. Purely for the record. Seems unless you funnel to the public precisely what Hazel McCallion wants you to…

Did this charmer prevent the Mississauga News from getting an interview with Hazel McCallion? (2:26 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

“The Mississauga Muse”/MISSISSAUGAWATCH (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

Well, if the phone calls are anything—

Donald Barber (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

We’ve got a situation brewing over here.

“The Mississauga Muse”/MISSISSAUGAWATCH (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

A what?

[DIP TO WHITE]

I had Donald Barber saying it looked like there was an altercation and —but I don’t think so. Because we’ve got the knobs standing sort of, rather relaxed looking. But, it’s interesting —they’re like at every corner.

[CAMERA SHIFTED TO RIGHT TO DOCUMENT CROWD INTERACTION]

Donald Barber (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

The short, gray-haired guy who’s making the-uh, he’s getting in the face of the Mississauga News. Telling them to get out of the way. Don’t answer questions. Hazel doesn’t want to answer their questions.

“The Mississauga Muse”/MISSISSAUGAWATCH (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

Which one’s that?

Donald Barber (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

The guy who’s got the roses. There.

“The Mississauga Muse”/MISSISSAUGAWATCH (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

Oh.

(sees City of Mississauga Corporate Security guard approaching)

Oh, oh. It’s— Don, help ‘em (Mississauga News) out.

Donald Barber (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

What?

“The Mississauga Muse”/MISSISSAUGAWATCH (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

Just watch the knobs here.

[CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS CAMERAMAN, REPORTER AND GRAY-HAIRED GUY.
THE "MISSTAPO" LOOK ON. MISSISSAUGA NEWS CAMERAMAN SMILES IN RESIGNATION TO COLLEAGUE]

“The Mississauga Muse”/MISSISSAUGAWATCH (covering election results inside Mississauga City Hall, “Great Hall” October 25, 2010):

Hazel’s whores.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Last, it is our intention to upload to YouTube all raw video of what transpired in the Great Hall, the eve of election night, October 25, 2010 as a historical record. After all, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” (George Orwell). Future Mississaugans need their History.

We simply cannot allow Hazel McCallion and her MYTHissauga sycophants to invent Herstory. At least not unopposed.

UPDATE: October 27, 2010 7:44 pm. Just worked up raw video of the moment Hazel McCallion knew she’d defeated Carolyn Parrish. I offer this footage as a historical record of what transpired on October 25, 2010 at Mississauga City Hall (“Great Hall”) for a Future Mississauga. (video from camera on to camera off. Censored between 3:16 through 3:18 for obvious reasons.)

I hope the Future gets this YouTube history in addition to MYTHissauga’s Herstory.

Historical raw video record. Hazel McCallion the moment Carolyn Parrish’s defeat is confirmed (6:32 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

UPDATE: October 28, 2010 9:24 am. Just worked up raw video footage again from camera on to camera off. Last video of the October 25, 2010 eve. The results were in. Hazel McCallion had left. The media were packing it up. And it was time to summarize what it was like to be a nobody who took seriously Councillor Nando Iannicca’s challenge, “If you don’t like what Council’s doing, run for office” and run against Hazel McCallion. I confirmed that you don’t just run against Hazel McCallion.

Rather you go up against all municipal employees who live in this city, all the $$$$$$$ backing her from Harold Shipp on down, OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System), AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) and “reporters” who just funnel what she says directly to the public (ie: that Global guy might as well work for ROGERS television.)

And I also read from from Tom Urbaniak’s book HER WORSHIP HAZEL MCCALLION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MISSISSAUGA (p. 237)

Mississauga City Hall election coverage: Tom Urbaniak’s WARNING when you stand up to Hazel McCallion (7:41 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

UPDATE: October 28, 2010 4:57 pm.

With this next video, I’ve come full circle as a researcher into City of Mississauga municipal government. This video represents closure. Shot with a Canon Powershot SD700 that I still use to this day, the quality isn’t the best. On November 13, 2006, I covered the Mississauga election returns at the “Great Hall’ Mississauga City Hall knowing very little about municipal government. Not knowing who’s who. Hadn’t even filed my first Freedom of Information yet. Just constantly under the watchful gaze of Mississauga Corporate Security bosses, Joe Cairney and Cathie Evans.

I fell down such a deep dark hole…. and you don’t ever get out!

Hazel McCallion historical record: November 13, 2006 Mississauga City Hall election coverage (5:25 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

Last blog for a while.

Signed,

The (“Willow trees are strong enough to bend. Never like the oak that lives in fear of the wind”) Mississauga Muse
MISSISSAUGAWATCH

The sovereign can no longer say, “You shall think as I do on pain of death; but he says,
“You are free to think differently from me, and to retain your life, your property,
and all that you possess; but if such be your determination,
you are henceforth an alien among your people …
you will never be chosen by your fellow citizens, if you solicit their suffrages;
and they will affect to scorn you, if you solicit their esteem ….
and those who are mostly persuaded of your innocence
will abandon you too,lest they should be shunned in their turn.

–Alexis de Tocqueville

from Tom Urbaniak’s book HER WORSHIP HAZEL MCCALLION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MISSISSAUGA (p. 237)

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Dedicated to Malton –MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA (non) mayoral address (Lincoln Alexander Secondary School)

October 9th, 2010

Lots to do so I’m going to make this fast.

What follows is my experience trying to get my mayoral (non) campaign speech across to the audience still hanging tough inside the cafeteria at Lincoln Alexander Secondary School on October 7, 2010 when my turn finally came.

As a strategy I waited until Mayor Hazel McCallion gave her talk—which everyone assumed was the last of the evening. Nope.

I’d been waiting a very long time to talk to the good folks in Malton and especially Lincoln Alexander. And it was Show Time.

I won’t be providing a transcript of the video (they cut the microphone on me because they didn’t know that I was a mayoral candidate and—well, you’ll have to watch). So instead, along with the video, I’ll just cut-and-paste my script.

Dedicated to Malton –MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA (non) mayoral address (Lincoln Alexander Secondary School) 7:34 min

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

SCRIPT OF THE MALTON/LINCOLN ALEXANDER SPEECH

Hi. I’m unique among the people here because I am *not* running, I’m simply registered. I registered as part of my research into municipal governance and the City of Mississauga in particular. Since January 2007 I’ve spent over $2,000 on Freedom of Information to investigate Mississauga.

The McMurtry/Curling Report on The Roots of Youth Violence states:

“Community Centres and programs run by mainstream social service providers that have facilities are not “youth-friendly” or accessible to youth, particularly Black youth.

“Not youth-friendly”—that’s what I see too.

I have a moral obligation to tell you something.

In 2008 I attended four Mississauga Youth Plan meetings, one of which was held across the street at Malton Community Centre on March 3, 2008. I witnessed a City of Mississauga security guard deny a half dozen black youths entrance into that meeting. A couple of the kids peered through the window to friends inside and gestured that the guard wasn’t letting them in! I’ve got a photograph to prove that.

At this meeting, youth were asked to write up a wish list. Of the four Youth meetings I attended throughout the city, Malton kids were the only ones to write “DON’T KICK US OUT” as a wish.

However, you won’t see “DON’T KICK US OUT” recorded in the City’s official version of the Mississauga Youth Plan!

Here are the City’s Security records for Malton Community Centre January 1, 2006 until September 26, 2008. During that time, City security guards issued 200 bans and arrests!

By contrast, the combined stats for Cawthra, Meadowvale, Clarkson and River Grove show only 22 bans representing more than twice the foot traffic of Malton Community Centre. And no arrests.

People might respond with, “Well, you know, this is Malton –isn’t 200 what you expect?”

So I investigated the City’s bans for the nearby Westwood Mall Transit Terminal during the same period. NO bans—or arrests. Zero.

I don’t know about you but I am pretty sure more people go through that transit terminal in a day than Malton Community Centre.

From what I can figure, of the 200 Malton Community Centre bans/arrests, 48% of them are youth and minors.

Contrary to its own guidelines, the City does not inform parents when a child is banned. Over the entire City there are hundreds of parents and guardians with no clue of the City’s bans to their kids.

That’s deadly because if a kid returns to property before a ban’s expiry, he is ARRESTED. Freedom of Information retrieved this direct quote from the Director of Corporate Security about the Arrest policy: “…no exceptions. Let them tell it to the judge”.

And that’s still not the worst part.

It’s what Staff and security guards write about you or your kid into their computer system that you have to worry about. The vast majority of people written into City Security’s “occurrence narratives” simply cannot imagine what’s written about them!

And that computer database with stuff written about your kid rides in the front seat console of every one of the City’s Security RESPONSE UNITS.

And how would you like to be the parent of this kid?

Or this one?

If your kid goes to Malton Community Centre I urge you to file Freedom of Information on any records that the City of Mississauga might have on your youngster.

If nothing comes up, great.

If it does? Do not try to fix things up by dealing directly with City Security. They are highly-accomplished liars and I have proof of this. Besides, you can’t remove what these security guards wrote about your kid. But you CAN enter into the records your youngster’s side of the story.

And you can file a complaint—even if it was something that happened back in 2006.

Go to www.mississaugawatch.ca. I will help!

Thanks for listening.

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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CITY OF MISSISSAUGA “INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER”? What happened to the ONTARIO OMBUDSMAN?

May 20th, 2010

You’ll (almost) read about what happened with the City of Mississauga hiring its own integrity commissioner in the Toronto Star’s article, “Mississauga puts off vote on new ethics measures Solicitor’s report recommends code of ethics and, to police it, integrity commissioner”.

Imagine the “integrity” direction over the next few years —to improve municipal governance in Ontario, every town, village and city, over 440 of them, is free to hire their own “integrity commissioner”.

Look how Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals dealt with the Ontario Ombudsman, when Andre Marin became too effective in advocating for improvements to public service! Watchdog with too much bite?… McGuinty gets rid of him! Expect municipalities to do the same. (Pssst. Town of Aurora.)

I’m a liberal but may the entire Liberal party go down next election for the dirt they’ve worked against Marin and his SORT Team! (I’ll be videotaping myself in a booth voting Conservative next provincial election!)

Next. As always, here’s the video of yesterday’s “Please put off the vote on the integrity commissioner” plea complete with transcript. Dedicated to our finestkind Ontario Ombudsman and his finestkind SORT Team.

Video: CITY OF MISSISSAUGA “INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER”? What happened to the ONTARIO OMBUDSMAN? (4:34 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (May 19, 2010 General Committee Deputation):

Good morning, Councillor Adams and Council.

I came here to discuss the minutes of meetings and then walked in and saw this one here —can I have this on?

The Code of Conduct for Mayor and Members of Council for integrity commissioner. And I consider that way more important than anything that I’ve got to say about minutes. So I kind of regret that I didn’t know about this.

But you can’t just switch, can you?

MISSISSAUGA COUNCILLOR EVE ADAMS CHAIR ( May 19, 2010 General Committee):

It actually is on the agenda so you can speak to it.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (May 19, 2010 General Committee Deputation):

Yeah but I’m not good on my feet, I need to prepare ahead of time, I’m not swift.

But I was hoping that —this is really important. If people remember, it was Councillor Mullin who had said that there were issues that were chronically coming up regarding —and she was mentioning Donald Barber, as an example.

And she had recommended that, you know, once and for all to, to, to deal with it. And this is how, I think the idea of the integrity commissioner came up. And I also recall, I had urged Councillor —I think Councillor Saito was going to lead the charge on this. And I’d asked her to say “Invite the Ontario Ombudsman in” to address Council to give them some idea as to how to set up an integrity commissioner.

This is —you know I’ve been observing Council since June 14, 2006. And I’m talking about audiotape, videotape and stuff like that. This has got to be the most important Corporate Report and direction, certainly from the view of treatment of citizens and Ethical Infrastructure.

And yet this thing did not go through Audit Committee, for example. It just kind of showed up here. And Staff is recommending that you accept it.

There’s not any possibility even for public input. I don’t even know if it’s been run through (the) public.

And you know, I would think that first you’d check to see the validity of the public complaints system that you already have in place. The one for Corporate Security and the generic ones. And whether those are being handled properly.

Because if they’re not —and I’m saying they’re not, and I’ve got Freedom of Information saying it.

So you know the fact that, the fact that —well, okay, it’s not a “fact” because it’s based on evidence but it’s sort of ultimately my conclusion. And someone else may look at the evidence and see it differently.

But for me, I question any integrity commissioner that may —or a process here, because I just don’t see the Ethical Infrastructure in place to support something like that.

So I have concerns and I’d love to see Council perhaps not endorse it yet and really get —run it through MIRANET, run it through some of your ratepayers’ associations.

Haz-Mayor McCallion was giving an address at UTM last week and I was there and she was talking about public input and the importance of it.

[CROSS ZOOM]

MISSISSAUGA MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (University of Toronto/Mississauga May 13, 2010):

The sky is the limit with the involvement of the people. Any decisions that politicians make, can be controlled. Believe it or not.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (May 19, 2010 General Committee Deputation):

And this just came up —it can be rubber-stamped today. And that’s it. So I would hope that Council might look at this and say, you know this is really important, let’s put some —let the public look at this and talk about it.

Anyway I’m hoping that —I’ll be, I’ll be preparing for this at Council. Because I’m better —I’m very scattered now —sometimes, I’m sorry.

MISSISSAUGA COUNCILLOR EVE ADAMS CHAIR ( May 19, 2010 General Committee):

[inaudible] I think I might have some things to help you out here. If I can turn to the Councillors now who are listed, who I think may want to address some of their concerns.

[CROSS ZOOM]

MISSISSAUGA MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (University of Toronto/Mississauga May 13, 2010):

The sky is the limit with the involvement of the people. Any decisions that politicians make, can be controlled. Believe it or not.

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

HAZEL MCCALLION QUOTE (at UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO/MISSISSAUGA MAY 13, 2010) "The sky is the limit with the involvement of the people. Any decisions that politicians make,. can be controlled. Believe it or not"

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

MISSED (or avoided) a KEY "ROOT CAUSE" TARGET

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MISSISSAUGA BRAMPTON GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) Off the Cuff Hate Crime/Gang REPORT PART 2

April 2nd, 2010

This time Part 2 —the transcript of this video report —uploaded to YouTube just prior to the Hate Crime/graffiti data released by the Peel Police Services Board at their Friday, March 26, 2010 meeting.

GRAFFITI MISSISSAUGA "HATE CRIME" "JULY 29" 2009 "ERIN MILLS PARKWAY" "WHITE POWER" "NIGGER" PERMISSION WALL"

Rather than repeat the introduction, please click here if you’re interested in viewing/reading Part 1 MISSISSAUGA/BRAMPTON GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) REPORT conclusion: Studying graffiti/tags is an important window into youth culture first.

Otherwise, we begin Brampton/Mississauga graffiti Part 2 video and transcript.

WARNING! DO NOT VIEW THIS VIDEO IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THE F-WORD AND EVEN WORSE WORDS!

NOTE: When I uploaded Part 2 to YouTube on March 25th, I referred to it as a DRAFT and said that I’d replace it at a later date with a more-worked version. I’ve since changed my mind. Viewing this a week later, I realize that it’s important to show “works in progress” –even as rough, rushed and off-the-cuff as this one was.

Video: MISSISSAUGA BRAMPTON PEEL GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) REPORT PART 2 (MISSISSAUGAWATCH) 10:31 min
uploaded March 25, 2010

Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube

Video: MISSISSAUGA BRAMPTON PEEL GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) REPORT PART 2 (MISSISSAUGAWATCH) 10:32 min

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (parked directly in front of the City of Mississauga Big Yellow evil empire, March 25, 2010):

Just to speak a little bit further on the lack of overlap between what the July and August 2009 Peel Regional Police graffiti photographs showed and mine —that was a surprise. I had actually figured that I would recognize more tags than I did.

[DIP TO WHITE]

The other thing is, in my own driving and looking around, the tags that I documented, while they might still be there —they’re the original tags that I documented a year ago. And I often don’t see new ones by the same individual.

And I’m not quite sure how to interpret that.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Peel Police has [sic] suggested that catching graffiti [sic] is very difficult to do —and catching people in the act. That’s not a surprise.

So the question is, do the kids just naturally grow out of it in the sense that they’ve tagged maybe for a few months and then just grown out of that, or whether they’ve been caught, whether they’ve been talked out of it by buddies —I don’t know. But it doesn’t seem to be something that for a lot of them they don’t do for any length of time.

[DIP TO WHITE]

For graffiti people who might be out there watching this and offended, I have to admit that I haven’t been at the Mississauga Graffiti Wall. I’m aware that it exists. I just have difficulty getting access to it. But it appears to run —I’ve checked Google Maps and it runs along Streetsville. And I have seen the graffiti there and there’s a lot of beautiful stuff there. I’m talking about the artwork because it is Art —it’s just unauthorized Art and therefore it’s a crime, but—

It may be a crime, but it’s still Art.

In the case of somebody spraying “FTP” on a post, don’t convince me that’s art —that’s just tagging.

[DIP TO WHITE]

One thing just looking at the occurrence reports and the quality of the occurrence reports, who’s ever writing them, the descriptions are excellent. The best occurrence reports also explain what the graffiti represents. And I’m satisfied myself, that I’m beginning to recognize gang-related graffiti versus just a bunch of boys [sic] who are out on a lark.

[DIP TO WHITE]

However at the same time just because somebody’s putting up gang graffiti doesn’t make them gang members either. It just means that they know the gang symbols —as do I.

[DIP TO WHITE]

There was the underpass, clearly permission wall underpass and it had been sprayed with —I know one of the words was “White Power”. I can’t remember if there was the word “N*****” in there. I seem to remember that to be the case, which again would it clearly make it a Hate Crime.

But what was interesting is, I remember, oh, about a year ago, maybe more, Councillor Katie Mahoney saying, oh, we put up these permission walls and when we do, other graffiti artists respect this art and won’t draw over it.

Wronnnnnnnnnnnng! They draw over it.

And the best example to show that taggers will draw over other graffiti artists is just to go to the [points to Mississauga City Hall] skateboard plaza in there.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Some of the permission walls constantly attract taggers. There’s only one that doesn’t and it was done by a respected, well-known graffiti artist. And it seems to be that, yes, that stuff is not touched because people recognize it as a true graffiti artist.

The other stuff? Pfffft.

[DIP TO WHITE]

I have to say that at this time last year, I don’t think there was as much graffiti around as there is now. I think it’s on the increase. However, at the same time I also know that I’m a much much better at spotting it.

So, and Peel Police also suggest that maybe there isn’t as much —that the increase that they see might not be so much an increase in graffiti, as an increase in reporting.

[DIP TO WHITE]

There’s a lot of question marks, here. You see I’m kind of struggling with what the graffiti says.

But there’s absolutely no doubt that if you are not —I’m talking about now people who want to understand youth and trends of youth. I’m not talking about the kind of youth that feel comfortable walking into building.

[DIP TO WHITE]

The youth that I’m interested in and the most at-risk aren’t going to be writing as much. They’re more likely going to be expressing themselves on YouTube.

Again. It’s just a hypothesis right now.

And I think in the case of video, YouTube is richer for the [sic] kind of research because sometimes you see incidental things. In the case of one video, I was, I won’t say what the subject was but somebody was

[DIP TO WHITE]

driving down Highway 10. And you could see out the window, as they were videotaping out the car, there was a Mississauga Transit bus. And also a City of Mississauga Transit Enforcement vehicle. I don’t know if it was the 301 or 302 car but there are these little snippets that you get and then you can email the videographer and say, hey, can you tell me something about that incident.

Or, hey, I noticed some interesting graffiti you’ve got in your video. Can you tell me the location.

And you know, at first they don’t want to tell you. But then when they start looking at your stuff and they realize that yeah, you’re really interested in researching and what they have to say, they do share it.

[DIP TO WHITE]

When they really know that you’re not reporting the location, you get, I get emails —really terrific insights into graffiti and the tagging culture. And it is a culture. It’s a —yes, it’s a sub-culture.

But when you think about these people [points to Mississauga City Hall], these people look down on —not just look down on, they look at taggers and graffiti artists and the “bad youth” with the most, with the most contempt.

And [points to Mississauga City Hall], these people view themselves as “decent folk” where the tagger is essentially an animal.

[DIP TO WHITE]

What was really interesting was to be going through and reading each of the [Peel Police] documents and I matched the photographs up with the occurrence reports and then I flipped the page and I saw big black spray paint on yellow brick and I knew immediately that it was [points to Mississauga City Hall] City Hall.

And as I looked at the other pictures, sure enough, somebody, and I don’t know the date, about late July, “bombed” City Hall!

And it looked like they started at the skate plaza, went around the front, did the pillars —I don’t know what those watchtowers are at both ends—

[DIP TO WHITE]

But I want to make it clear I will never report a location of graffiti and tagging. Because when you’re researching if you report, what happens then, it becomes erased. And because of that, you have changed something in what you’re researching.

And one of the things I’m researching is how long some of these graffitis [sic] —graffiti meaning paintings or drawings, or tags, stay up!

If it’s on public property, Public Works, I will tell you this, Public Works gets rid of stuff really fast. A lot of the stuff on private property stays up a lot longer.

[DIP TO WHITE]

Peel Regional Police and Peel Council say how much they try to work with the community. I had been at the Lincoln Alexander School lock-down, had an opportunity to talk to Malton residents and they spoke very highly of Peel Regional Police. Every last one, including a Honda Civic, you know, with the dark tinted glass coming in with three youth in it.

And you’re kind of thinking, oh oh, [laughs] this is going to be a drive-by shooting. No, they rolled down the window and they asked what was going on and those guys in there with the hats this way [turns cap sideways] they supported Peel Regional Police too.

[DIP TO WHITE]

What I’m trying to do is anything that I remember I want to record right now because I’m really interested in how much of it, of my observations, matches Peel Regional Police. And wouldn’t it be interesting if it’s different? Because it really shouldn’t be. If —there might be different stuff that Peel Police record, but the ratio of the Hate Crimes and “FTP”s [F*** the Police] and this kind of thing, the ratio should be the same as my photographs.

Should be. Well, we’ll see.

[DIP TO WHITE]

[PART 2 VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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MISSISSAUGA/BRAMPTON GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) REPORT conclusion: Studying graffiti/tags is an important window into youth culture

April 2nd, 2010

—As promised —the transcript of this video —uploaded to YouTube just prior to the Hate Crime/graffiti data released by the Peel Police Services Board at their Friday, March 26, 2010 meeting.

Advisory: I research graffiti/tags and do not report any locations no matter how offensive (even racist) it is. After all, if I am documenting such observations as how long something stays up, I can’t be the one reporting it! Having begun my research into graffiti on April 19, 2009, I can now confidently say that studying graffiti/tags is an important window into youth culture. Graffiti and especially the tags, give marginalized/alienated youth a voice they simply don’t have anywhere else.

These youth never showed at Mississauga Youth Plan meetings. Never showed for Peel Youth Violence Prevention meetings.

These youth NEVER show. Because they KNOW.

Like I do.

Want to prep you for the graffiti stuff with a quote from Peel Regional Chair Emil Kolb, February 28, 2008.

“I had a young gentleman in to see me yesterday that was here to convince me that we need to get away from the word, ‘multi-culture’ and we need to get to the word of ‘integration’. If we don’t get to the word of integration —how these communities are going to integrate, that, maybe not in our time here soon, but maybe in his children’s time, they’ll be a big issue in this Region.”

To me, that’s the most important thing Chair Kolb ever said in the four years that I’ve been researching municipal governance.

PEEL REGIONAL CHAIR, EMIL KOLB, MULTICULTURALISM vs INTEGRATION, YOUTH GANGS, RACISM

OK, enough background.

WARNING! DO NOT VIEW THIS VIDEO IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THE F-WORD AND EVEN WORSE WORDS!

Video: MISSISSAUGA BRAMPTON PEEL GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) REPORT (MISSISSAUGAWATCH) 10:09 min
uploaded March 25, 2010

Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube

Video: MISSISSAUGA BRAMPTON PEEL GRAFFITI RESEARCH (preliminary) REPORT PART 2 (MISSISSAUGAWATCH) 10:32 min

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (parked directly in front of the City of Mississauga Big Yellow evil empire, March 25, 2010):

March 25th, 2010 and all I care about is that I get this report up on YouTube today and before tomorrow’s Peel Police Services Board meeting.

I read in the Toronto Sun that Peel Regional Police were going to be tabling their annual Hate Crime statistics.

[DIP TO WHITE]

And there was mention that quite a bit of the material that would be presented was in the form of graffiti.

So I’m absolutely intrigued and I want to record my own findings and study so far on graffiti and I thought what better place to do it than right here in front of Big Yellow evil empire City of Mississauga city hall. Because, see right there? Freedom of Information, direct observation, videotape, observing the Mississauga Youth Plan, Peel Youth Violence Prevention —all manner of emails and documents going back and forth, that, right there is a MAJOR Root of Youth Violence.

So I thought no better place than right here with that in the background.

[DIP TO WHITE]

OK, first of all the Mississsauga Youth Plan. I had been observing it including four meetings, ostensibly called “youth input” meetings.

Let’s put it this way. The youth that really needed a voice, not only weren’t represented, they wouldn’t have even been welcome there!

[DIP TO WHITE]

So I realize that the youth who were most at-risk, the ones who got in trouble with police and that I would see at Brampton Court House —they’re not going to these meetings.

And I thought, well, how do I even go about finding them? And I managed to do that through YouTube. And it became very clear that if you want to know what youth are thinking (laughs) you don’t invite them to the Mississauga library!

The youth that I’m primarily interested in, the target group, the most at-risk, have already pushed these people aside and recognized them for what they are. Frauds.

[DIP TO WHITE]

But how do you gain access to them? To be able to see what it is that they’re thinking and what it is they’re saying because, for the most part, they’re not interested in talking to people like me. I’m 60 years old for example. They just— and a lot of them don’t even trust you or think that you’re legitimately interested in them. And, by the way, I don’t blame them.

And they certainly have a hatred —an absolute hatred, for institutions. And may I also say that I don’t blame them for that either.

[DIP TO WHITE]

So in March 2009, I watched a lot of true youth voice videos on YouTube. And it became obvious that graffiti was a big thing in those kids’ lives. So by April I was already deciding that I was going to start documenting graffiti here in Peel Region.

[DIP TO WHITE]

The other thing I want to say is even though I’m a resident of Mississauga, I think Peel Region. And in fact, the fact that I’m wearing this hat today is symbolic of that. I’m a Peeler. I think in terms —I love the City of Brampton. I love Brampton kids. Those are the kids I taught for most of my career. So there’s this strong feeling of community within me and pride for Peel.

So it wasn’t just a case of me documenting City of Mississauga graffiti, I also wanted to know what was happening in Brampton. And I began my first photographic foray on April 19, 2009.

[DIP TO WHITE]

And I did not report any of the graffiti. While I put these samples up on my Flickr site, I did my best to try to hide the locations. And I can say that even now, that some of these graffiti and tags are still up.

[DIP TO WHITE]

There are some really-truly graffiti artists. And I mean like ART. It’s zero question, it’s ART.

[DIP TO WHITE]

The other thing is, in July and August I also expanded my graffiti research to the Hawaiian Island of Maui. And also expanded my research to include skateboarding culture and to compare —and I also researched skateboarding, to compare the urban-style skateboarding that we have here in Brampton slash Mississauga versus the west coast style of skateboarding that you’d see in California and definitely on Maui.

Very very interesting and I also speculated that there would be a difference in the graffiti between the urban here Mississauga one and west coast, Hawaiian Island kind of graffiti as well.

[DIP TO WHITE]

The other thing that I did, is in July and August, what with me researching Hawaiian or Maui-based graffiti, it meant that there was a two-month window that I didn’t have graffiti here in July and August. So what I did just recently, is I filed Freedom of Information with Peel Police requesting their graffiti information for the months of July and August.

And I can’t thank Peel Regional Police enough for two reasons. For one thing the amount of material that they gave back both in terms of print-outs, colour print-outs and also one DVD cost —was roughly $44.00. And they waived the fee. I’m grateful.

But the other thing is, by reading their —Peel Regional Police’s occurrence reports and the quality of their observations and the insights there, that did two things. I learned a lot from what Peel Regional Police is looking for in terms of its own graffiti research. And to realize that they are applying Science to the study of graffiti. As am I, by the way.

[DIP TO WHITE]

One thing that I found with the graffiti here, is I agree too that a lot of the graffiti is —of the Hate ones, and there isn’t as much as you might think. Which in some ways is good.

But yeah, you see the swastikas. You see the White Power. You see N***** and niggaz.

However, I’ve also documented graffiti which shows sort of the Chinese —the target Chinese community, with the Chinese hat and the moustache, with “Chinaman” down there. Or drawings of the turban. And then —I mean really offensive stuff!

The other thing I was looking for was the relationship that these youth who do graffiti have with Police. Because I felt the relationship between youth and Police would be reflected in the graffiti.

And I admit that there’s some “F*** the Police” and “FTP” which is short for “F*** the Police”. And Peel Regional Police, in their July and August 2009 data also showed some evidence of that.

But what was neat was, it’s still quite rare.

And when you go, for example, to the City of Hamilton, which is one of my alternate study sites —comparative sites, “F*** the Police” is one of the most common pieces of graffiti. As is “FTP”. And I’m talking about every pole. Along every area— even in the parks.

And I’m talking about Beasley Park where “F*** the Police” is about this high in big black letters and has been there since I started back in April.

[DIP TO WHITE]

So there’s a really huge difference in the relationship, I believe —at least that’s what I think it suggests between the youth in the City of Hamilton and the Police, as opposed to what we see here in Peel and the relationship with Police.

Sure there’s the odd tag but it isn’t nearly as prevalent and as obvious as City of Hamilton.

And so one of the questions you ask is well, what’s the message there?

[DIP TO WHITE]

The other thing that is interesting is, when I looked at the photographs that Peel Regional Police had for July and August, there was very little overlap between what they documented and what I did.

And the other thing really interesting is, Peel Regional Police —their July/August stuff, a lot of it was parks. And a surprising amount was City of Mississauga sites and parks. And City of Mississauga Corporate Security being the ones filing the reports on graffiti.

[DIP TO WHITE]

That’s not a surprise because I avoid City of Mississauga property because (whispers) I know about these security guards.

[DIP TO WHITE]

So I always have a— I have to have a [sic] audio recorder to even feel remotely-safe on City property. So I try to avoid that and my analysis is more along the roadways and just driving along the roads and pulling aside when I see something.

[PART 1 VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Signed,

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

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“STONEWALLED” SUB-CONTRACTORS FALL VICTIM TO CITY OF MISSISSAUGA FACILITIES AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT’S “DUE DILIGENCE” OF CONTRACTS

February 27th, 2010

This video has been prepared for the sub-contractors who appeared before the Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Mississauga Council meeting. Unpaid for their work, stonewalled and given the runaround, they too fell victim to City of Mississauga’s Staff’s chronic non-compliance to Corporate policies.

Truth be told, in the case of these sub-contractors, they fell victim to yet another policy believed to be “in place”, just that Mississauga’s Internal Audit did not find any trace of it!

And who was responsible for this contract? Why, none other than City of Mississauga Facilities and Property Management! The same fine folks who honed City of Mississauga Corporate Security into the unaccountable, no oversight, unethical knobs who also profess to be a “dedicated team of security professionals”.

Have to say I felt so sorry for the sub-contractors. In the words of the deputant, “blue collar” workers comprised of “single parents with kids on disability that are being —that are losing a lot of money”.

Sure they’ve been stonewalled, screwed-over and eventually forced to file Freedom of Information to peer at the truth. But in some ways they’re lucky —it’s still just money.

This same City of Mississauga Facilities and Property Management and their Corporate Security Guards arrest people/youth/minors.

By far the most offensive thing in the video I’ve prepared is Councillor Pat Saito looking the deputant in the eyes and saying, “I was assured by Staff at that time that when they did due diligence” and “Mayor McCallion and I did discuss that with Staff yesterday and we have been assured by Staff that they…”

Considering the number of times that I’ve advised Councillors that Staff’s word cannot be trusted, I’m just so offended she’d fling that “I was assured by Staff” turd at these people.

Saito’s “I was assured by Staff”comment alone is Perfect Testimony as to why the City of Mississauga can’t be trusted to hire its own Integrity Commissioner. There’s NONE THERE NOW!

This video is dedicated to the sub-contractors and their families who fell victim to the City of Mississauga Facilities and Property Management’s chronic non-compliance to policy and procedure.

So. As always, the video —followed by the transcript.

Video: HAZEL MCCALLION/MISSISSAUGA COUNCIL DECEIVE SUB-CONTRACTORS AND PUBLIC –WITHHOLD VITAL INFORMATION (10:22 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

Okay, it is Thursday, February the 25th, 2010 and I’m here, underground, near 130 Adelaide Street and I’m to meet with the Judicial Inquiry investigators at 2 o’clock.

You know, I’ve been mentioning the non-compliance of City of Mississauga Staff to numerous policies. And you know, as recently as February 3rd I detailed quite a number of them in a deputation.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (Mississauga General Committee Deputation, February 3, 2010):
* sequence edited for brevity and audio begins after Policies 1 through 6.

Now these are non-compliance.

Video Surveillance Policy (The Corporation’s first SNOOP policy)

Violence and Vandalism Policy (2000 to 2006)

Violence, Vandalism and Bullying Policy (the existing current one)

Corporate Security Code of Conduct

Corporate Security Public Complaints Policy (if you can believe that)

Conflict of Interest Policy

Vendor (and this comes from Audit) Performance Policy (Assumed abandoned, Internal Audit could no trace of it.)

Charging Interest to non-government organization Policy

Infoplace Cash Collection Policy (cost the City over, what? —$700,000 plus)

And then By-laws —the Records Retention By-law. That’s confirmed through Freedom of Information, and even Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

And the City Manager, Janice Baker responded with that she would simply not accept what I had said.

CITY MANAGER, JANICE BAKER (Mississauga General Committee Deputation, February 3, 2010):

The accusations that she’s made about the behaviour of Staff at the City are extremely serious and, you know, I am actually quite taken aback by them.

[dip to white]

But to suggest that there is a callous disregard at —by the Staff at the City of Mississauga for both the responsibilities that we have for the care, custody and control of records, written and electronic, is something that I simply cannot accept. I’m sorry.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

So, what happened at yesterday’s Council meeting was quite remarkable.

It was the 2009 Corporate Awards for Excellence that had been —were being handed out. And you would hear “Leading Canada in management”.

[cross zoom]

CITY MANAGER, JANICE BAKER (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting , February 24, 2010):

Mississauga is continually looked upon as a municipal leader.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

Our excellent Staff, our excellent commitment to the taxpayer.

[cross zoom]

CITY MANAGER, JANICE BAKER (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting , February 24, 2010):

—to address the needs of all sectors and members of our community.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

They are Trust, Quality and Excellence.

[cross zoom]

CITY MANAGER, JANICE BAKER (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting , February 24, 2010):

They have exemplified our values of Trust, Quality and Excellence.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

And Excellence and Excellence and more Excellence.

[cross zoom]

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting , February 24, 2010):

Just outstanding. Solves all problems. Brings Peace and Harmony on all issues that he faces.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

And you know, it’s a killer when I know what Freedom of Information and the Audit Committee has revealed.

[dip to white]

And then, more to the point, there was a group of about six sub-contractors who went before Council* and detailed their frustration with being paid, or in this case, not paid, for work they’d done by [sic] a contractor that was hired by the City of Mississauga.

[cross zoom]

BRIAN MCMAHON, HALTON BMAC MECHANICAL INC (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting February 24, 2010):

Very early in the project, we expressed our concerns to the City Staff that the sub-trades weren’t being paid.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

His frustration that there were people really counting on the money and feeling hardship at this point.

[cross zoom]

BRIAN MCMAHON, HALTON BMAC MECHANICAL INC (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting February 24, 2010):

—to maybe do something, [inaudible] single parents with kids on disability that are being —that are losing a lot of money

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

Things wouldn’t happen —then there was, he used the word “stonewalled” on occasion.

[cross zoom]

BRIAN MCMAHON, HALTON BMAC MECHANICAL INC (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting February 24, 2010):

Through the Freedom of Information Act —because I was being stonewalled by so many people—

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

And then what was really interesting was, he asked, “Did the City do due diligence before hiring the contractor?”

[cross zoom]

BRIAN MCMAHON, HALTON BMAC MECHANICAL INC (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting February 24, 2010):

Through the Freedom of Information Act —because I was being stonewalled by so many people —through the Freedom of Information Act, I found out the information I do have. I have access to the contract and to his —to the contract, to the statutory declarations that he was signing.

I also have, I also have his references and his resume, which at the least leaves much to be desired.

[dip to white]

Now there’s projects that he had that he put down as a reference, these are projects that he’s been, basically, kicked off for non-performance —this contractor, he’s done projects where there’s been liens to put on it and he’s been asked to leave.

And these are the —I want to know about due diligence of hiring this contractor and awarding him this job.

The sub-contractor says, "—I want to know about due diligence of hiring this contractor and awarding him this job."

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

And as soon as I heard the “due diligence” I said (laughs) I knew about an Audit Committee just recently, where again, there was issue with contracts. And the Audit Committee had investigated just how contracts were being handled in the City and Hazel McCallion brought up some issues where there had been problems with contractors in the past.

[cross zoom]

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

We sit down with management as we go through the Audit and say exactly what our concerns are so that they have time to address them. And as you can see, by the end of June of this year, five out of seven of the recommendations will be completed.

And also that formal Vendor Evaluation Criteria will be developed by mid-2010.

[cross zoom]

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

But on that point—

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

[inaudible]

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

On that point—

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Yeah.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

There was a procedure set up years ago on Vendor [requisitions? inaudible]. Did you find any trace of it?

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

It’s just an informal vendor performance review right now [inaudible] it’s not being —there’s no formal process in there. The first thing—

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

There was —there was a policy established. Every vendor, and especially on major contracts, that when we had bad experiences —and we have had some bad experiences—

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Yes.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

There was a policy established years ago that the vendor would be categorized. And in fact some would be cut off for future contracts.

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

That’s not—

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Did you find no trace of it?

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

No, it’s not in there.

COUNCILLOR PAT MULLIN (Chair, Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

No, the answer’s no. So I guess [inaudible]

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Well it was set up, I can tell you.

COUNCILLOR CARMEN CORBASSON (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

I remember the discussion.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Do you?

COUNCILLOR CARMEN CORBASSON (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

I remember the discussions.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Some of you who’ve been around long will remember? It was set up. So obviously it got lost in the shuffle somewhere. Cuz we ran, we ran into some bad examples. And that’s when we set the policy. That’s years ago. That’s not —ten years ago, would I be right? At least. So where did that —what happened to it?

Hazel McCallion, "And that’s when we set up the policy. That’s years ago. That’s not —ten years ago, would I be right? At least. So where did that —what happened to it?"

DIRECTOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, SALLY ENG (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

There is some mention of a purchasing By-law where we would be able to —or the purchasing agent has the authority to, prevents [sic] the bidder from bidding in future contracts. But we have not been able to find any detailed processes relating to what you’re talking about.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Okay.

COUNCILLOR PAT MULLIN (Chair, Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

[inaudble] that we should look into, I guess for the future. Because I remember the discussion.

[inaudible —several speakers at once]

CITY MANAGER, JANICE BAKER (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

That’s what one of the recommendations is.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

I’m getting a little frustrated as Mayor as we set up policies and then they’re not followed. And that’s what bothers me. I was in the business —in the private sector and we had millions of dollars in contracts. And it’s been something I’ve been promoting —is control of the contracts. And that policy was set up because we ran into one vendor who were [sic] behind two millions dollars, I remember.

Anyway.

So now we’re going to set up one up. Fine.

Someone:

Yeah.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

If we set one up, it better be followed. That is the key. No use setting it up if it’s not going to be followed. You know, I don’t know why there’s such a disregard for policy.

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Just to conclude. Working with Facilities and Property Management, we’ve had a good rapport with them and I just want to thank Ken—

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

The guy that did the renovations at the [audio suppressed]. I hope he never sees another contract.

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Yeah.

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Am I right?

COUNCILLOR CARMEN CORBASSON (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

And the one at the [audio suppressed]

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

And the one at the [audio suppressed]

COUNCILLOR CARMEN CORBASSON (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

That was a bad one.

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

And I’ll be honest with you that’s—

MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

Now that was a bad one.

COUNCILLOR CARMEN CORBASSON (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

I think that’s when it was raised.

SENIOR INTERNAL AUDITOR, AL STEINBACH (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

[inaudible] of this audit, Madam Mayor they, ah, that contractor again, there was no formal evaluation for those contracts. And that’s why we recommended that that be formalized and documented.

HAZEL MCCALLION (Mississauga Audit Committee, May 11, 2009):

There was even an evaluation form used many years ago because of our bad experience with contractors and we’d see their name pop up again being awarded a contract.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010) :

So, Staff and Council approved a policy that outlined how to go about evaluating a contractor to make sure that the City would be doing this due diligence. And what was interesting is, that was never mentioned to the contractor [sic] sub-contractor who was up there!

[cross zoom]

COUNCILLOR PAT SAITO (Mississauga Council Corporate Awards of Excellence Meeting February 24, 2010):

I was assured by Staff at that time that when they did due diligence —and you questioned the due diligence on page 3, which is “I 3c” of the report you filed. You questioned the due diligence of the City.

[dip to white]

And Mayor McCallion and I did discuss that with Staff yesterday and we have been assured by Staff that they went to three of the projects —former projects, that this contractor had undertaken —that they’d used as references, and they were similar-sized projects.

And the information that we’ve received from our Facilities Staff, who oversaw the project, is that they received good reviews from two of them. They weren’t able, I guess to get a hold of the third one. But two of them did give good reviews and we have that review.

It doesn’t have a lot of detail in it.

[cross zoom]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (underground somewhere under 130 Adelaide, February 25, 2010):

So instead McCallion and Councillor Saito said, yes, Staff did do due diligence and check [sic] things out.

And again, once I found out that it was Facilities and Properties [sic] Management, again, because I sat in on the Audit Committee, I know that there have been Audits done of that Department that describe their record-keeping as from adequate to non-existent.

February 24, 2010's Mississauga sub-contractor deputants and MISSISSAUGAWATCH have a LOT in common! Both Victims of City of Mississauga Facilities and Properties Management!

And because I research City of Mississauga Corporate Security, also part of Facilities and Properties [sic] Management, there’s a lot of non-existent as well in terms of record-keeping.

So —what’s interesting is, in front of the cameras, there’s this kind of a non-acknowledgment of what happened in the Audit Committee.

[cross fade: logo]

TRANSCRIPT ENDS

Signed,

The (If you like how Mississauga Facilities and Property Management bungles Contracts, you should see the cluster****bungleknobfest that passes for Security!)

P.S. Have I an appropriate sign-off pic? Yep!

CITY OF MISSISSAUGA AUDIT COMMITTEEE JANUARY 24 2000 MINUTES

COMMENT left at the Mississauga News

The Mississauga Muse

Feb 27, 2010 9:07 AM

Really happy this morning…because I finally answered my biggest question

“Does Hazel McCallion know?” Meaning does Hazel McCallion know how Staff operate? Wednesday’s Council meeting CONFIRMS not just that McCallion KNOWS, but that she, like her Staff are Perps. By not telling those sub-contractors on Wednesday, that at the May 11, 2009 Audit Committee she found out that Internal Audit could find no trace of a formal Contractor Evaluation Policy that was passed by Council “10 years ago” she made her Respectful Workplace utterance about “honesty with the citizens both on the Council and on the part of Staff” a lie. First time I ever stepped foot inside Council Chambers (May 5, 2006). Got The Answer to “Does Hazel McCallion know? Wednesday, February 24, 2010. Zero doubt that Mississauga News “knows” too.

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MISSISSAUGA JUDICIAL INQUIRY VIDEO VIGNETTE: Councillor Carmen Corbasson, “This isn’t about Mayor Hazel McCallion. This is about Governance, how do we improve it. Not only for this municipality, but across the Province. And I don’t know what price tag you put on that”

November 3rd, 2009

BACKGROUND:

The October 28, 2009 Mississauga Council meeting will always be remembered as the Judicial Inquiry Meeting.

Facing blistering criticism from angry Hazel McCallion supporters and even dire threats of defeat from “When-Our-Hazel-Dies-I-Want-Her-Here-In-This-Hall” Mega-builder Harold Shipp, seven Councillors held their ground —and put their political futures directly on the line.

HERE COMES THE SUN

In his October 31, 2009 article, Mississauga melee gets ugly, Toronto Sun, columnist Ted Woloshyn telegraphs the 2010 pro-McCallion strategy.

He writes:

So expect Hurricane Hazel, who’s facing a tornado of trouble right now including a judicial inquiry into her actions and the inability to win key votes at council, to fight back hard.

To regain her power, expect McCallion to essentially build Team Hazel, for next year’s election. Team Hazel would consist of four sitting councillors and seven candidates hand-selected by the Hurricane, who back the mayor.

The other seven incumbents are now seen as anti-Hazel. If even two of those went down in defeat, control of Mississauga’s council chamber would shift dramatically, and in the end control of council equals control of the city.

An endorsement from a mayor who continuously garners in excess of 90% of the vote would carry a ton of weight. Would a politician who runs as part of Team Hazel get a little more attention and maybe a few more lawn signs?

I suspect an endorsement from Mississauga Mega-builder Harold Shipp is worth a mega-ton as well. Not to mention a mega-ton of lawn signs!

Having researched City of Mississauga governance (videotaping, Freedom of Information etc) and documenting “citizen input” over the years, this is the Picture…

The vast majority of Mississaugans do not know what’s going on. Second, of those who don’t know what’s going on, I’ve concluded that sadly, few would care if a judicial inquiry confirmed widespread malfeasance and corruption. Voters clearly vote with their wallets and wallets don’t care about ethical governments.

During his deputation in support of a judicial inquiry, Donald Barber stated:

“I’m not here to discuss anything about Hazel. We all know that, you know, even if she was dead and buried, her name was on the ballot sheet, she’d be elected That’s fine.”

To which Mr. Barber received strong applause and cheers.

I’d go so far as to say that even if headlines confirmed that she routinely stuffs cats and political opponents into a wood-chipper, Mississaugans would re-elect Hazel McCallion. Such is the Pathology of MYTHissauga.

Over the next while, MISSISSAUGAWATCH will post videos of the October 28, 2009 Council meeting onto YouTube for posterity. Regardless of who is speaking, all videos will begin the same way —with Harold Shipp and his $$$threat$$$ of political oblivion to any Councillor who’d stand up during a recorded vote in support of a judicial inquiry.

So. First video on tap, is Ward 1 Councillor Carmen Corbasson and why she supported the judicial review, followed by a transcript from the video (minus my whisperings into camera). All transcripts will be sent to the City Clerk for inclusion into the Council minutes for this meeting.

We begin.

Video: “Mega-builder” Harold Shipp warns MISSISSAUGA Councillors.
Councillor Carmen Corbasson responds” (3:50 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BEGINS:

VIDEO INTRODUCTION speaking AGAINST a judicial inquiry. “Mega-builder” HAROLD SHIPP:

If I were sitting there among you, Ladies and Gentlemen, who serve on our Council today, I would be wondering what my position would be one year from now when an election is held and how many of you might have a chance for re-election —IF you proceed with the action you are contemplating now.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH whispers into camera:

Now that’s a threat. Isn’t that interesting..

DIP TO BLACK (to signify later in the meeting).

COUNCILLOR NANDO IANNICCA (Acting Mayor):

Councillor Corbasson…

COUNCILLOR CARMEN CORBASSON:

Thank you Mr. Acting Mayor and I will be brief. Um, let me first say that this isn’t an easy time for any of us around this table just like it’s not an easy time for you. I don’t think we take comfort in any of the decisions we’ve had to make of late. But notwithstanding, we are elected to make some tough decisions and I think that’s the type of comment you’re gonna hear around this table today.

I am not at all overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up, Councillor Prentice. In fact, I’m surprised there wasn’t more.

And I’ll tell you why I’m surprised because we all know Madam Mayor is loved, admired and respected. And I for one moment am not going to take away that from her. For me, she has been a role model in many many ways. We both started here in the City in 1978 and I’ve learned an awful lot from her.

I— my biggest difficulty is, and I hope you can understand and appreciate that when we have in-camera sessions, we are privy to certain comments and information that the general public is not.

For me, the in-camera session on the judicial inquiry opened up more questions than it answered.

I— that Madam Mayor didn’t declare one Conflict of Interest for a 17-minute or a 17-second, whatever it was, I have no problem with that.

I do have a problem that official government documents got changed with no satisfactory explanation.

I do have difficulty that any member of Council, doesn’t matter if it’s Madam Mayor, or me, or anyone else, can have off-site meetings, with a landowner, who has an interest in the City of Mississauga, that is going to financially benefit a member of any one of our families.

That may not be against the Conflict of Interest Act. But in my opinion, I would hope, and it’s my understanding that a judicial inquiry can —and most probably would, depending on their findings —make some very strong recommendations to have either the Conflict of Interest Act or the Municipal Act changed.

That’s simply put, Ladies and Gentlemen, for me —I’m not going to speak, I’ll let the others speak for themselves.

This isn’t about Mayor Hazel McCallion. This is about Governance, how do we improve it. Not only for this municipality, but across the Province. And I don’t know what price tag you put on that. Is it ten thousand? Is it one million? Is it ten million? I don’t know.

But I would like to see this City in particular, and certainly Madam Mayor come out with credibility, integrity and that we all maintain our dignity.

I do thank you for coming out today, Ladies and Gentlemen and I will turn it back to the Acting Mayor.

COUNCILLOR NANDO IANNICCA (Acting Mayor):

Thank you… [audio fades]

—VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS—

Here’s a fact. Throughout its 30-year history, there has never been anything resembling legitimate oversight of City of Mississauga conduct and operations, let alone independent external scrutiny. Don’t believe? I’m only too happy to hand over three years’ worth of video of Audit Committee meetings (and almost two years worth of Freedom of Information!)

Councillor Corbasson summarized our MISSISSAUGAWATCH research goal in her own justifications for a judicial inquiry. She said:

“— it’s my understanding that a judicial inquiry can —and most probably would, depending on their findings —make some very strong recommendations to have either the Conflict of Interest Act or the Municipal Act changed.”

That’s our goal here too at MISSISSAUGAWATCH! We must change the Municipal Act (Yes. Really).

And we hope to use City of Mississauga Corporate Security’s conduct and operations as “Poster Boy” for precisely why citizens need the Province to grant the Ontario Ombudsman full investigative authority into Municipalities.

There’s every reason to suspect that some (perhaps even many) municipal governments harbour institutional bullies —with Zero Conscience.

Freedom of Information has revealed City of Mississauga “public servants” with Zero Conscience. And residents should have “Zero Tolerance” for that!

CHANGING PROVINCIAL LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE GOVERNANCE

Councillor Corbasson cares not just about Mississauga. Clearly, her support of a judicial review proves that she has her sights set for improving Government throughout Ontario.

Signed,

The (Changes to the Muncipal Act… can’t happen soon enough) Mississauga Muse

SHERI-LYNN RUFFO (SLR) SHIFT SUPERVISOR: CITY OF MISSISSAUGA CORPORATE SECURITY NOVEMBER 14, 2008 BAN OCCURRENCE NARRATIVE OF 9/10, 15/16 AND 16/17 YEAR OLD FEMALES (from Mississauga Civic Centre, Living Arts Centre and Central Library)

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Are increases in Youth bans and arrests a natural consequence of “Zero Tolerance” Policies?

October 14th, 2009

Let’s get right into it.

What follows is a transcript of a deputation I gave to City of Mississauga Council this morning. Called “On Matters of INsecurity”, it was an attempt to correct statements made by Councillor Pat Saito at the September 30, 2009 Council meeting.

She and it seems all City of Mississauga elected officials believe that “various steps” are taken by City of Mississauga security guards before youth are banned from City Property, As Councillor Saito put it, “a ban is not an instant step. Usually. There are other steps that have been taken before that happens in many cases.”

My deputation made it clear that for youth and minors there are no “various steps” prior to banning. And that Mississauga City security guards arrest youth (12 and up) immediately should they return to Property during a ban. After all, Director of City Security Ken Owen insists, Zero Tolerance is the hallmark of Zero Tolerance policies.

In short I reminded Mayor and Councillors of some of the youth-toxic consequences in the “Zero Tolerance” Violence, Vandalism and Bullying Policy that Council passed unanimously in December 2006.

So, here’s video of today’s “Zero Tolerance” deputation followed by my speech notes.

Video: ABOUT BIG BROTHER: On Matters of INsecurity, “ZERO TOLERANCE” (7:13 sec)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube )

I will be handing this speech note to the City Clerk’s office for inclusion in the October 14, 2009 Council meeting minutes. Please know that footnote [1] does not appear in the original presented at Council. But now will.

DEPUTATION: a matter of INsecurity

First of all, thanks Madam Mayor for inviting me to meet with you on August 31st regarding City of Mississauga Corporate Security’s practices of banning and arresting youth and minors while on City property. I apologize that I wasn’t able to attend.

You see, back in July I emailed a list of questions to Commissioner Breault that I needed answering prior to our meeting and there seems to be a bit of a hold up. [1]

Today I want to address something that Councillor Saito said during the last Council meeting (and that the September 30, 2009 Council minutes failed to record).

Regarding making details of youth banned and arrested from City facilities public information, the Council minutes correctly state:

Councillor Pat Saito asked if staff could look at making the information public on Bans at Arenas and Public Places. She enquired if staff could post the information on the site without violating the Freedom of Information Act, particularly the reason for the ban, the type of incidents and what the City is doing about it. She felt that the information could be posted monthly or bi-monthly. Councillor Pat Saito provided direction that a report be brought back on her request.

All true. But the minutes fail to mention what I believe is the most important thing that Councillor Saito said.

(This is a transcript from video)

Quote:

… I think it’s important that our residents are made aware of these incidents and they’re made aware of the various steps that are taken, because a ban is not an instant step. Usually.

There are other steps that have been taken before that happens in many cases.

Frankly I’m surprised that any City of Mississauga elected official would somehow think that various steps are taken before youth and minors are banned from City property. Whatever would give you that idea?

I’m here to tell you that $2,100 worth of Freedom of Information suggests that nothing can be further from the truth.

Regarding Councillor Saito’s belief that “the various steps are taken, because a ban is not an instant step usually”, back in December 2006 Council passed the Violence, Vandalism and Bullying Policy.

Well, just a reminder what the Policy says about bans:

“The City of Mississauga will take appropriate disciplinary action when incidents of vandalism, violence or bullying occur in City facilities. Such action may include the immediate banning of the patron from the facility.”

Security Special Occurrence Reports secured through Freedom of Information confirm “immediate banning” not just of kids as young as 9/10 from three facilities at once (Mississauga Civic Centre, Living Arts Centre and Central Library) but also immediate “Zero Tolerance” arrests of kids should they return during their ban.

Freedom of Information has confirmed the arrest right here of a 12/13 year old who returned to the skate plaza two hours after being banned from there.

Fact is, the Violence, Vandalism and Bullying Policy makes it clear that anyone returning during a ban “will be” arrested. Zero Tolerance. Instant step.

The only way to escape arrest under the Violence, Vandalism and Bullying Policy, should you return during a ban, is to be under 12 years of age.

Now Councillor Saito, you stated that you weren’t going to get specific about what youth information you want generated. I believe you should be specific.

You need to be aware of the “non-robust” nature of that database (and “non-robust” is how the City described that database, not us).

The Security database is wonky, about as flexible as a cinder block and has spit out spurious, unreliable reports when accommodating our Freedom of Information requests.

The database does however have enormous value in its raw data –that is, its historical information. It does after all contain stats on almost three years of worth of bans, fines, trespass and arrests issued by your security guards to hundreds of people –many of them youth and minors.

Essentially, embedded in that raw data just waiting for extracting is a unique social history of the City of Mississauga –testimony of what happens when Security guards are granted the power to ban (and this is a direct quote)

“at their own discretion, and/or effect a trespass arrest if required. This is done at the time of an incident and is necessarily independent of any control or oversight from the Violence and Vandalism Committee.“

That database therefore is invaluable for Roots of Youth violence research.

Next. Related topic.

I need to address Councillor Iannicca’s kindness that he extended to me back in June. How he said he believed that I was sincere, had done my homework but just wasn’t sure of The Ask.

Sir, tomorrow I have to go into Toronto to file yet another appeal with the Information and Privacy Commissioner because the City has blocked total access to City Security’s records of bans, trespass and arrests –the very records that Councillor Saito requested be made public just fourteen days ago.

The Ask, Councillor Iannicca?…

I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a list of specific queries for that database that I believe Council should see.

My husband and I are pursuing our request for the database through appeal to the Privacy Commissioner, but we recognize that for the present, the reporting requested by Councillor Saito and approved by motion of Council is currently the only means of extracting meaningful information.

I therefore ask that these queries be included in any reporting requested by Council. Thank you for your consideration.

[1] In fairness, Commissioner Breault reminded me that I had pulled the original set of (21) questions and then re-submitted them and that I had given her a meeting date of January. True. But what I didn’t make properly clear to her was that I set January on the assumption that I’d get the Mississauga Corporate Security database and my answers by the end of October to get time to prepare..not going to happen.)

And for the record, this is The Ask that I handed to Council.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH LOGO

REPORTS/QUERIES NEEDED:

Record of all Youth bans, trespass and arrests from all City facilities/Property including Transit terminals and routes from January 1, 2006 to current: (fields to include Date, Time, Year of Birth, Gender, Anonymized Identifier (to replace name), First three letters of Postal Code or if missing, City, Banning Period, Primary Ban File Key, Secondary File Key, Facility 1, Facility 2, Facility 3, Facility Group, Security Guard Witness, Security Guard “Writer”, SOR Group and “To” (Shift Supervisor name).

Where there is an arrest, fields to include:

Violent
Weapons
Arrested
Resisted
Fled
Level of Force Used
Name of Peel Regional Police officer.

Database should be able to present these data (including all fields) at the click of a mouse organized by:

Age
Gender
First three letters of Postal code (or if not recorded City)
Facility 1 (aka Facility where Ban originated)
Security Guard “Writer”
Security Guard witness
Shift Supervisor.

Signed,

The Mississauga Muse

MISSISSAUGAWATCH QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS?

FLUSH THE KNOB-GUARDS!
HUMANS DESERVE SPECIAL CONSTABLES EXCLUSIVELY UNDER PEEL REGIONAL POLICE!

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HEY TORONTO STAR! FOR LAUGHS, TODAY I DROPPED DOWN 80 BUCKS AND NOW THIS (ALMOST) 60 YEAR OLD FEMALE IS A SECURITY GUARD TOO!

September 19th, 2009

YAY TORONTO STAR! GOOD ON YA!

FOR LAUGHS, THE (59 YEAR, 11 MONTH, 19 DAY OLD MISSISSAUGA MUSE, WWW.MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA IS NOW A SECURITY GUARD TOO!

Everyone read the Toronto Star front page?!

Star investigation: Fake diplomas, false promises

$80 and I’m a security guard

For $160, the Star’s Brett Popplewell became a licensed security guard and private investigator — two jobs he has no idea how to perform

Sep 18, 2009 04:30 AM

Comments on this story (151)

Brett Popplewell
Staff Reporter

I drop by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services with a passport photo in hand. I complete an application form to be a security guard at a cost of $80. The clerk asks if I’d also like my private investigator’s licence. I ask what’s the catch? They say another $80.

“No training?” I ask.

“Just $80.”

80 bucks and just like that you can get a Security Guard license?! I tell you that explains City of Mississauga Corporate Security Misstapo knobs and knobettes!

So I left this comment at Torstar.

you know, for fun? I’m going to buy a security guard licence!

Really.

Submitted by MISSISSAUGAWATCH.ca at 10:54 AM Friday, September 18 2009
Agree 9 | Disagree 1 | Alert a moderator

Not to be outdone, another Toronto Star reader committed to dropping down 80 and outranking me.

I’m Going for the P.I. Badge

Mississaugawatch is going to buy a security guard licence. I’m going to go for the Private Investigator one myself. I grew up wanting to be Mike Hammer, Philip Marlowe, and Sam Spade. I might just pay the $240.00 and be all three.

Submitted by Janosik at 11:31 AM Friday, September 18 2009
Agree 2 | Disagree 2 | Alert a moderator

Now I could’ve bought a Private Investigator’s license for my 80-bucks but I figured a Security Guard license would have more “legs” (aka: Giggles).

So I grabbed an old never-used passport photo, hopped on a GO Train, headed for 777 Bay Street, 3rd Floor, and dropped down 80-bucks. Now get this, I’m female and just three weeks shy of my 60th birthday yet it took the guy at the desk just 3 minutes and 33 seconds to process me and that included him being the guarantor of my photo!

HAHAHAHAAHAAHAH!

I videotaped the entire thing and bet your boots in less than two weeks, I’ll have a Security Guard card! I can’t WAIT!

COURTESY TORONTO STAR: Star reporter Brett Popplewell obtained a security guard licence for $160 with no training and no experience.

HAHAHAHAAHAAHAH!

When I was filling out the application form, I entertained that just for a lark I would try and talk my 86-year old father into buying an Ontario Security Guard licence too. And that got me thinking…

Ontarians! Fo’ fun! Let’s try and set the Guiness Book of Records for the oldest person to buy a Private Security Guard license!

Also I’m claiming the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services record as the quickest Ontario Security Guard application-processing at 3 minutes 33 seconds!

Anyway, this is to the Toronto Star.

I LOVE YOU TORSTAR!

That out of the way regular readers know the routine by now.

Video of me buying my Ontario Security Guard license and then the transcript. Note the voice of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services processor was turned into a chipmunk-voice for Privacy reasons.

Video: HEY TORONTO STAR! NOW I’M A SECURITY GUARD TOO! (3:43 sec)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

[NOTE: The errors I made filling in the form were not on purpose. I really am that flaky.]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH (hands over Canadian Citizenship papers and waits)

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

[inaudible] take your driver’s licence, ok?

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Yeah, that’s ok.

(re-folds Canadian Citizenship paper and puts inside wallet)

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Thank you.

[inaudible]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

I’m not sure where to fill out the part about whethjer you want to be a Private Investigator or a Security Guard. Is it on the front page you fill it out or where?

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

You filled it out for Security Guard.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Did I? OK, I did it.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Yuh.

(pause)

This is the first time you’re applying for a Security Guard license?

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Yup.

(longer pause)

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Just change your Date of Birth to today’s date?

[inaudible]

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Oh, I got contact lenses in. Do I just scritch —scratch it out?

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Yes, please.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

I got contact lenses so I can’t see very well—

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Oh, I see.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

—when I’m writing. I can see well the other time.

(pause and hands application form back.)

Sorry about that.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

No problem.

Thank you.

(pause…)

“I’m just signing for your guarantor.”

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

OK, Great.

(long pause)

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

[inaudible]

“What happens now is it takes our office five business days to process the application.”

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

OK.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

And, if it’s approved and issued, we’re gonna mail it out. It usually takes three to five business days.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

OK. Great.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

And, if it’s approved and issued, we’re gonna mail it out. It usually takes three to five business days.”Now within the first week –five business days, we go over the application. We also do a criminal background check.”

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

That’s not a problem.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

OK, good. So if anything comes up, we’ll give you a call. But if you don’t hear from us next week, you’ll [receive your license..].”

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

Fantastic.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Any questions or anything?

MISSISSAUGAWATCH

uh… (pauses to think…) No.

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

[inaudible]

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES:

Have a great day.

VIDEO CAMERA TURNED OFF

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT ENDS

Signed,

The (Like I said, a Root of Youth Violence) Mississauga Muse

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SKATEBOARD SUNDAY preliminary report: Turner skatepark (Hamilton), Chinguacousy skatepark (Brampton) and Iceland skatepark (Mississauga)

September 7th, 2009

Yesterday as part of a MISSISSAUGAWATCH Skateboard Sunday survey, I visited three major “flagship” municipal skateboard facilities, Turner in Hamilton, Chinguacousy in Brampton, and Iceland, Mississauga. The Sunday before (August 30, 2009) we wrapped up our summer’s observation of Maui’s three skateboard parks.

We’ve already reported on the Maui skateboard scene in previous Blogs and especially in “MISSISSAUGAWATCH reports on three Maui Skateboard parks (StoneWave-Paia, Kalama-Kihei and Keopuolani-Kahalui)”.

Once back in Mississauga, it became clear that it would be absurd to now compare the Maui Three with the skateparks we’d been observing and reporting on back in May and June. For example, while observing Beasley Park in City of Hamilton, we were not aware that the new $500,000 Turner Skatepark had opened. (Plus back in May/June I preferred neighbourhood skate plazas to observing a larger City-wide facility.)

No more. The Maui Three forced me to turn my attention to local Flagship Parks.

Yesterday, as part of back-to-back Skateboard Sundays, I first visited Turner Skatepark in Hamilton. (I’d been tipped to the existence of this new facility by a commenter here.)

I ran a quick check of City of Hamilton Council’s decisions as to how Turner Skatepark got located where it did, and surfed a tour of what Google Maps suggested was an affluent surrounding neighbourhood (it was).

TURNER SKATEPARK CITY OF HAMILTON

By far the most surprising thing about Turner Skatepark came from a conversation with one of several parents sitting around watching their kids skateboarding. This mother enthused about how the skatepark was right next to the police station (and I mean right-next-right-next).

I responded that such close presence of police must make parents feel comfortable letting their kids skate there.

Her response was, “Oh no, I’d never leave him here by himself!”

That made Turner Skatepark the most fascinating park in our 6-facility study.

After Turner, I traced out the Upper James route that a kid living around Beasley Skatepark would have to take to reach the flagship Turner. There were only three kids skateboarding that day at Beasley and only one had an actual skateboard. A pervert waxed poetic into my video camera about the number and quality of his testicles while three other suspicious characters were sitting on a park bench watching me videotape graffiti.

Now with two months of Maui skatepark observation behind me, I see Beasley Skatepark for what it is. One ramp. One small depression for a “bowl” and some concrete to smear a board across —that’s Beasley.

BEASLEY SKATEBOARD PARK (CITY OF HAMILTON) 090906

Two small girls were on swings unsupervised and I was reminded of the Turner Park mother’s comment, “Oh no, I’d never leave him here by himself!”… Hamilton: A Tale of Two Cities.

I then set off for Chinguacousy Park, City of Brampton. I heard more F-words in my observation time there than at all Maui skateboard parks the months of July and August combined, plus Turner that morning. Not a good start…

However, Chinguacousy surprised me the most of the three local skateparks I visited yesterday. And surprised me in a good way.

CHINGUACOUSY SKATEBOARD PARK (CITY OF BRAMPTON) panoramic shot 090906

(Click here for larger version)

Chinguacousy reminded me of Kahalui’s Keopuolani Skatepark. More about all this in later Blog entries.

It was getting deep into afternoon and I reluctantly headed for Iceland in Mississauga. I say “reluctantly” because 1: I have the City of Mississauga Corporate Security database printout of all the bans and arrests issued at that City Property, plus 2: I’d visited the skatepark there on several other occasions.

ICELAND SKATEPARK (CITY OF MISSISSAUGA) 090906

On this visit, there were perhaps 20 boys, with about an even split of bikes and boarders. Being just fresh from Chinguacousy, I found Iceland the bore. I videotaped a bit, narrating into the camera and then once I was done, a parent supervising his two kids talked me up.

“You mentioned a skatepark in Brampton?”

“Yeah, Chinguacousy. I just came from there.”

I mentioned Chinguacousy’s attributes (like that it was in a park and not beside the 403) and then provided directions. He gathered his two kids and B-lined it for B-Town.

I saw Chinguacousy as a cool mix between Maui’s Keopuolani and Kalama skateboard parks.

CHINGUACOUSY SKATEBOARD PARK (CITY OF BRAMPTON) TRUE TO THE SPORT 090906

Even a Chinguacousy conversation between a kid and a BMXer reminded me of the New York Times article “The End of Falling” in memory of Skateboard pioneer, Andy Kessler.

The BMXer rested his bike on a ramp ledge.

CHINGUACOUSY SKATEBOARD PARK (CITY OF BRAMPTON) close-up BMX BIKE 090906

The kid asked, “How did you get so good?”

“I fall down a lot,” and he sped away.

Having observed all six skateparks now, I’m confident in rating them as if I were a Middle School kid committed to skateboarding. But I recognize that what this almost-60 year old white female might look for isn’t the same thing as a real skateboarder (or for that matter a male!).

For me, the Skatepark Rankings were based on architecture, respect and supervision. Did the parks have the kind of ramps and bowls to attract the serious big-boy skaters? Was there a culture of respect among the park users? If two parks’ architecture and respect rated equal then the ranking came down to a skatepark’s supervision.

I hope you’ll agree that a skatepark where kids are respectful of others and is unsupervised, is infinitely preferable to a supervised park. Unsupervised means it’s the kids’ skatepark where they are free to be respectful, inclusive and solve inevitable conflicts —on their own.

Signed,

The Mississauga Muse

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PUBLIC QUESTION PERIOD TRANSCRIPT (Implications?) MISSISSAUGA PARENTS and GUARDIANS UNAWARE THEIR KIDS ARE BANNED FROM CITY FACILITIES

August 20th, 2009

For reasons that one day I’ll be able to relate, I need to share this YouTube video and accompanying transcript for the record today.

The video shows me at Mississauga Council’s June 24, 2009 Public Question Period. If you know just how much Councillor Nando Iannicca helped me during the previous Council meeting and General Committee meeting and then helped me again on the 24th, you’ll understand why I say that Mississauga youth and minors are indebted to him. As am I.

MISSISSAUGA PARENTS and GUARDIANS UNAWARE THEIR KIDS ARE BANNED FROM CITY FACILITIES

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

Important: The video is an excerpt of my June 24, 2009 Mississauga Council Public Question Period appearance, and begins after I’d been up there for 4:46 minutes, as does the transcript.

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

[time 4:46 min]

A draft of the Policy stated this about Trespass:

“Where a ban has been issued against an individual and the individual fails to comply with the ban, the individual may be charged under the Trespass to Property Act.”

That’s what the draft looks like.

Among other things, Freedom of Information secured two emails –the first is Mr. Owen’s January 17, 2005 email where he takes exception to the draft’s qualifier “may be charged under the Trespass to Property Act.”

And you have one of those documents in your possession right now. But I’ll read what he specifically refers to.

[Time: 5:28]

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

Ursula, I think that we have to come to some conclusion on this issue because I’m at a loss for what you’re referring to or trying to get to. I don’t want to minimize what you’re trying to get to.

I’m going to suggest with the Staff and the Mayor and the City Manager and outline to us exactly what your concerns are. Because I think it’s unfair to Council to have this thing brought to our attention and we’re at a loss to respond. I am, as Mayor.

So I don’t think —I think this issue is getting a little bit out of hand and we’ve got to come to some conclusion on it.

So I’m going to suggest, with Council’s approval, that the Mayor meet with, and the Staff and the City Manager, meet with you, and sit down and go over your concerns and try to find out what you’re after and what we can do about it.

Because I think that’s the only way we can get to the bottom of —and try to help you with getting the answers that you want, you’ve indicated. And we’re not getting it here in your presentation to General Committee or Council.

So I would suggest that Council agrees with that —that that happen.

Councillor Iannicca?…

Councillor Nando Iannicca:

I’d be happy to so move. You may recall that we last dealt with it, I asked that it go back to Committee —we spent some time on it. Even with all of that I think we were still trying to fight with understanding the data, the implications, what this in terms—

Madam Mayor, I agree with you entirely. because through to Ursula, I’m still trying to understand at the end of the day what the Ask Is.

So —I think that you’re genuine in your pursuit. I think it relates to violence under reporting of statistics and it means that we may not be getting the outputs from the system that we should.

I think we all respect all of that. But we’re not clear on The Ask.

We referred it back to Committee hoping that we’d get there. I think it’s raised more questions for you. I respect that. But Madam Mayor, I think that your suggestion is a very, very good one (and it’s good of you to make the time) to sit down, to maybe clarify some of the data.

But then when it comes back, I just want to be clear what The Ask is. What it is you’d like us to do to make the system better, because we share in that with you because I think you’re well-intentioned as the Mayor said, in that regard.

So Madam Mayor, I’d be happy to move that suggestion and thank you for it at the appropriate —and you’ll nail down the data and then bring back to us what it is that you’d like us to do to improve on this. I think that’s very helpful.

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

Councillor Prentice?…

Councillor Maja Prentice:

[inaudible and passes…]

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

‘kay.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

Um, one thing. When you receive something for information, do you have to receive it? Or can you defer [sic] back?

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

We can refer it back.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

Can I request then that Report 9 ”Requests for Additional Information Security Incidents” not be received for report then?

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

But can be referred back.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

Refer it back? Because I would really like the youth/minor statistics in there? Please?

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

The whole matter will be referred –we’ll sit down with you and go over what your concerns are, information you’re seeking, what you want us to do, what you feel Council should be doing in this regard –directions to Staff etc. It will all be looked at. And that’s the only way will get to some consensus,–conclusion of the matter. ok?

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

Yes. And I have just one unusual request. I’m not sure if you can accommodate, but I’d really like an electronic copy of the Mississauga Corporate Security database be handed over to Mississauga’s community partner, Peel Regional Police? Until such time as I can convince—

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

Well that will be referred back.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

Referred? Okay.

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

All, everything will be ref—

MISSISSAUGAWATCH:

I tried. Thank you. (walks away)

[Total time: 9:25 minutes]

Mayor Hazel McCallion:

Thank you

(pause. Sound of papers shuffling)

Corporate Reports?…

VIDEO ENDS.

A meeting with Mayor McCallion was set up for August 31st. I replied that I would not be in Canada that day. I also informed the Mississauga Mayor that before meeting with her I still had to do my “homework” —and that I was still waiting on questions that I was invited to send to City Staff back in June about City of Mississauga Corporate Security (MissCorpSec) and its dATaBAsE.

It’s now August 20th (two months later) and I’ve still to get the necessary answers from “appropriate” Staff that I need for a meeting with the Mayor.

Signed,

The Mississauga Muse

CITY OF MISSISSAUGA CORPORATE SECURITY MANAGER, JAMIE HILLIS (JANUARY 28, 2005 EMAIL ON BANS/TRESPASS/ARRESTS OF MISSISSAUGA'S CITIZENS/YOUTH)

“Corporate Security will continue the common practise to issue a banning notice at their own discretion, and/or effect a trespass arrest if required. This is done at the time of an incident and is thus necessarily independent of any control or oversight from the Violence and Vandalism Committee. Corporate Security will proceed under all existing guidelines and laws.”

—Email: Jamie Hillis 2005/01/28 3:50:48 pm (secured through Freedom of Information)

IMAGE DETAIL: City of Mississauga Corporate Security “Special Occurrence Report” secured through Freedom of Information, showing ban of a 9/10 year old girl for 30 days from Mississauga Civic Centre, Central Library and Living Arts Centre. (MISSISSAUGAWATCH has confirmed that two 15/16 year old females were banned 30 days from just the Civic Centre for “Drugs”. Bottomline, less punishment than the 9/10 year old got handed “at the time of an incident and is thus necessarily independent of any control or oversight from the Violence and Vandalism Committee”.

FACT: There are plenty of Mississauga parents/guardians who haven’t a clue that their kid has received a ban from Mississauga’s City parks, facilities and properties —until their kid returns during their ban and “will be” arrested.

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MISSISSAUGAWATCH CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF ALL PEEL YOUTH CHARTERS FROM CITY OF MISSISSAUGA FACILITIES

August 7th, 2009

This Blog is dedicated to the 9/10 year old girl who was banned for 30 days from three major City of Mississauga facilities at once (Mississauga Civic Centre, Mississauga Central Library and Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre). The ban, by City of Mississauga Corporate Security guards, was for “Disturbance”. It was issued on November 14, 2008, the same day that Roy McMurtry and Dr. Alvin Curling released their Review of the Roots of Youth Violence report. Meanwhile, documents reveal that not much earlier that year (May 9, 2008) two 15/16 year old girls were banned for 30 days from just one facility, the Mississauga Civic Centre, for “Drugs”. Parents/Guardians were not advised in either case —the only consistency found in these bans.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH is currently researching Brampton, Mississauga and Peel municipal governance through Freedom of Information (FOI) on many fronts. Every query, every FOI filed —indeed every tangent we take, relates to Youth and ultimately what we believe to be a Major Root of Youth Violence, municipalities themselves.

Today we post a transcript of the October 25, 2007 endorsement of the Peel Youth Charter by Peel Regional Council.

The Peel Youth Charter was presented with much ceremony and even former Ontario Premier William G. Davis was there to smile for the Photo Op.

Below is video of Larry Zacher’s presentation of the Peel Youth Charter followed by the transcript: vital, historical, Youth Violence related-material that must be posted now.

Please know that when I was videotaping this, I was not aware that Charter-presenter, Larry Zacher, Executive Director of Safe City Brampton is spouse of City of Brampton Councillor, Gael Miles, who is also Chair of the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Network. Apparently neither of them thought this was worth mentioning.

To begin, Google Video uploaded January 5, 2008.

PEEL YOUTH CHARTER endorsed by PEEL REGIONAL COUNCIL (Oct 25 2007) – 08:09 min

Please click here to go directly to the clip on Google Video

TRANSCRIPT of Google Video, “PEEL YOUTH CHARTER endorsed by PEEL REGIONAL COUNCIL (Oct 25 2007)” (Please advise of any errors in the transcript, thanks)

Larry Zacher, Executive Director, Safe City Brampton:

“Good morning, Chairman Kolb and Members of Council.

I have mixed emotions here this morning. I’m very proud to be presenting the Peel Youth Charter but also very intimidated to be following the Honourable William Davis. (laughter)

It’s a hard act to follow before but now that’s he’s bringing children up to his presentations (more laughter) what do you think, Valerie? (more laughter)

I would like to introduce Judge Valerie-Arnold, the Trustee from Brampton in Dufferin-Peel –oh! In the Peel District! -and also a member of the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Committee.

Thank you for having us here today.

First, I would like to congratulate the Honourable William Davis and the Success by Six Committee for the work that they’ve done when creating the Children’s Charter.

The absolute best thing we can do to Youth is provide seamless care for our children, from the day they’re born right though til they become responsible adults.

So it’s very timely that they are here with the Children’s Charter and we’re here with the Peel Youth Charter.

Council supported the development of this document by establishing the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Committee. I guess it was about January 06 and in the following spring we held a Youth Forum because we wanted to get input from the Community.

We had over a hundred and forty agencies represented as well as quite a few young people themselves, came, and we had a full day –it was one of those days where [sic] you’re pretty drained at the end of it, and looking at what are the issues facing Youth, where do we need to go and how can we tackle this as a Community (inaudible).

The outcome of that was the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Strategy, which was published in September of last year –very comprehensive document, a very innovative document, that is probably one of the first that comprehensive an approach anywhere in North America.

I know that for a fact we recently had the World Health Organization in Brampton designating us as an international safe community and one of the programs and one of the issues that they were very very impressed with was the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Strategy and seeing that it was very cutting edge and a very important program for our region.

Out of this Strategy, we’re currently, since it was published in September, we’ve established four working groups that are working comprised of people from all walks of life and all communities and all neighbourhoods in the Region of Peel.

Those working groups are focusing on Youth activities and Youth support and just as importantly, Family support, Community development –these all good ideas take money and resources to put into place, and Educational policies. And they have been working for the last year and a half and will continue to work and develop approaches and programs and strategies as we go forward.

The second very important outcome to come out of the Youth forum and out of the Strategy is the Peel Youth Charter. With that mounted, it’s a big document, I think that some of you have seen it, many of you have seen it and it sets out really how to accomplish two things.

The first is that it’s a statement from all of us that we value Youth and the skills and the energy and everything they bring to our community

And the second part is a –it’s a commitment from all of us to provide a safe and supportive environment for our young people and to do our utmost best to provide Safety initiatives for them and to ensure that they have the opportunities for education, future employment opportunities, that they have a good quality of life in our region and that they have access to the resources and activities they need to develop into happy, healthy, responsible adults.

The Charter has been signed by community leaders throughout the Region and includes the Mayors –Chairman Kolb has already signed it, the Police Chiefs, the Heads of the School Boards, the Community agencies.

We’ve also very strategically left a blank line in there because as we go forward, we want every business, every community agency, every organization that can contribute to Youth to sign on there and become a partner in this.

And by signing it, it’s not just saying, “Hey this is a great thing to hang on the wall”, it is a commitment to do what we can in those key areas –whether it’s Education, Jobs, Safety, any of those areas to support our young people.

So this week our committee has been visiting community leaders, media, going everywhere, presenting the Charter. I’m proud to say also this week the Charters are about to be going up in every school in the Region of Peel.

They’re going up in libraries, recreation centers and wherever other public [sic] –public buildings.

One of the things we’re asking today, Chairman Kolb, is that the Region endorse these Charters going out in Regional buildings, police stations and again where people will see them and wherever we have an organization that can contribute to this Charter.

At this time I would like to ask Chairman Kolb, and he mentioned that there are a number of Regional Councillors who sit on the Peel Violence [sic] Prevention Committee… Councillor Gael Miles, Councillor Katie Mahoney and Councillor Pat Saito and –sorry?

Councillor Gael Miles or Sue McFadden (unsure which) : That’s ok.

Larry Zacher, Executive Director, Safe City Brampton:

So if you can join us at the front, we’ll present —as well, Trustee Tony da Silva, from the Duffeirn-Peel Catholic District Board is here.

(Everyone goes to the front. Mississauga News, Ron Lenyk takes photo. Video ends.)

FACT: Freedom of Information has confirmed that (at least at the City of Mississauga), the Peel Youth Charter is merely, “Hey this is a great thing to hang on the wall”.

OPINION: As a result, all Peel Youth Charters should be removed from City of Mississauga facilities and properties, ASAP.

To review the Peel Youth Charter, [underlined emphasis mine]

PEEL YOUTH CHARTER (signed March 29, 2007)

We believe that young people are valuable members of the Region of Peel. Young people bring a unique, diverse set of ideas, perspectives and skills, and make a valuable and significant contribution to our community. They deserve the same respect, dignity and human rights as all members of the community.

We believe all Peel youth have the right to:

Safe and supportive environments at home, in school, in workplaces and throughout the community.

A standard of living adequate to ensure healthy physical, intellectual, emotional and social development, well-being and a good quality of life.

Be served by governments which acknowledge their responsibility to improve the safety of young people, and to work cooperatively with the community to ensure adequate and equitable funding for youth violence prevention programs.

Have access to relevant, youth-centric health supports that help build a foundation of respect for healthy personal choices throughout the lifespan.

Access to relevant and responsive education and training.

The best efforts by the community-at-large in creating career employment opportunities for young people.

The availability of recreational and leisure activities in the form of play, creative expression or skill development opportunities.

Access to a region-wide network of information and resources to support youth.

Be supported and encouraged to be active citizens regarding issues that concern them.

Be involved in policy, program and service development on issues that affect young people.

Advocate, or to be advocated for on their behalf, on issues that affect young people.

These rights will apply without discrimination or prejudice to all youth in Peel.

By signing this charter we are committed to use our best efforts to ensure the safety, health, education and future employment of Peel’s youth.

Signed by: (left to right on the original Charter)

Susan Fennell (Mayor-Brampton), Marolyn Morrison (Mayor-Caledon), Hazel McCallion (Mayor-Mississauga) Emil Kolb (Chair Region of Peel), Janet McDougald (Chair Peel District School Board), Bruno Iannicca (Chair, Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board), Andy Karski (Inspector Caledon OPP), Mike Metcalf, (Chief, Peel Regional Police), Jim Bird (Vice-President Brampton Safe City Association), Katie Mahoney (Mississauga Crime Prevention Association), Shelley White, (CEO, United Way)

Signed,

The Mississauga Muse

WILLIAM G DAVIS AT THE ENDORSEMENT OF THE PEEL YOUTH CHARTER BY PEEL REGIONAL COUNCIL OCTOBER 25, 2007

William G. Davis at the endorsement of the Peel Youth Charter (Peel Regional Council) October 25, 2007

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Hazel McCallion saves Sheridan Library: “…please, spread the news that this library is NOT closing!”

April 17th, 2009

Hey Missy Dudes and Dudettes,

Apologies for not having a fresh Blog since April 14th but there’s just been so much to document/research that there’s simply been no time to report on what’s happening.

To give you an idea of what MISSISSAUGAWATCH has been up to in the data collection department since Monday’s Blog here’s a list.

Examined the City of Mississauga Corporate Security database (CSIS) as well as analyzing hard copies of their records of bans, trespass, arrests
Filed a follow-up Freedom of Information request to the City of Mississauga on the Mississauga Corporate Security (CSIS) database.
Several phone calls to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario (IPC) on two Appeals that I have with them –one going on to adjudication.
Attended Wednesday’s Mississauga General Committee meeting *groan*
Attended Wednesday evening’s Future of the Sheridan Library Public Meeting
Attended a meeting of the Education and Policy Working Group of the Peel Youth Violence Prevention Network
Visited Peel Board offices to file a Freedom of Information request and was unsuccessful. Freedom of Information person won’t be back til Monday…

Data collection, researching through Freedom of Information and bearing witness to what needs to be witnessed are far more important than regular Blogging.

You’d think that would go without saying. But no.

The Internet is thoroughly polluted with Blogs spouting opinion —the situation made worse by comments to opinion-focussed Blogs spouting opinion from readers spouting their opinions. Far too many Blogs assault readers with hundreds of words before actual supporting documents/data are presented.

The very worst Blogs are 100% opinion.

I can tell you this —consider it a reader alert. As of this week, one more Blog (already toxic with unsubstantiated opinion) has joined our virtual world.

As for MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA, all I can say is Freedom of Information research continues…

Next. Today’s Blog.

SHERIDAN LIBRARY PUBLIC MEETING April 15, 2009

I’ve been observing Mississauga Council since June 2006 and I can’t tell you the number of times Budget deliberations have threatened the Sheridan Library. Cut hours. Cut hours. Cut hours.

Cut hours so much that here’s what Sheridan Library service looks like today (from the mississauga.ca website). Hint: When you scan the hours, think of when kids are in school and parents at work.

NEW! Hours – Winter 2009

Mon 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tues 3 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Wed 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Thurs 3 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Fri 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Sat 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sun CLOSED

There’s a worrisome trend at the City of Mississauga that I’ve already mentioned in previous Blogs. Two years worth of Freedom of Information documents reveal that City of Mississauga Staff aren’t strong on social issues.

Cut-and-pasting from a previous Blog that dealt with cuts to hours of library service, Councilor Saito said it best.

PAT SAITO: They are probably the four libraries that are in the area of most need.”

“I guess when I look at the, the hours, or sorry, the libraries that are suggested to be closed for the saving on the Friday evenings and the Sundays.. You know (small chuckle) they’re the four libraries —four of them, Meadowvale, Burnhamthorpe, Malton and South Common. They are probably the four libraries that are in the area of most need.” —Mississauga Councillor Pat Saito (October 15, 2008 Budget Meeting)

Now speaking of areas with most need, we have Sheridan Library. And I have to say I found the presentation by the Mississauga consultant fascinating. For one thing, she used 2004 data. For those who need the Obvious spelled out for them 2004 was five years ago!

The other odd item was the difference of opinion about the needs of the community in the immediate area. The City of Mississauga consultant downplayed the need —that there were other parts of Mississauga more “at-risk”. Then the E.S.L. (English as a Second Language) teacher for the nearby Oakridge Public School, who attended to support his kids, provided data showing that the Peel District School Board identified his school —Oakridge, as Number One in terms of need.

Two studies. Two very different findings. Something is very wrong here.

I suppose that this is as good a place as any to tell readers that in my former life, I taught at Oakridge Public School back in the mid 70′s. Many youngsters were needy back then!

A lot of people attended this meeting to defend the Sheridan Library. But I have to congratulate that Oakridge E.S.L. teacher because he served up data. Facts.

As a result of the information he provided, he’s made it possible for me to file Freedom of Information on various aspects of the Sheridan Library. (I won’t reveal more because I know the minions of evil empire move their lips to this Blog.)

Enough.

Here’s the bottomline.

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion has the following message.

“Please, spread the news that this library is NOT closing. “

And I’m only too happy to.

HEY EVERYBODY! SHERIDAN LIBRARY IS NOT CLOSING!

And not only that but just from examining the Mayor’s face during her speech and afterwards, it’s a pretty good guess that she’s going to see that this needy community’s largely new immigrants (and the Oakridge kids) get a library reflective of those needs.

Ward Councillor Katie Mahoney has defended Sheridan Library every single time it was threatened. Afterwards, I even stood in line to speak with her and thank her for the resolute defence she played on behalf of these people. Mahoney squawked every single time. And her last Council squawk made it clear to Mississauga Staff not to bring up the topic of closing again.

Still, a Councillor has surprising little power.

What has guaranteed a brighter future for Sheridan Library is McCallion herself. I’m convinced that the Mississauga Mayor did not know the embarrassing conditions at Sheridan Library. Frankly I had my eyes opened too Wednesday evening as well.

The cramped conditions and aging books sure turned the mississauga.ca News Release, “Service Options Review for the Sheridan Community” into an Orwellian joke.

Down at the very bottom of the City’s News Release. it states:

Mississauga is Canada’s sixth largest city with a population of more than 700,000. With well-established infrastructure and state of the art facilities, the City is considered to be an employer of choice, delivering quality municipal programs and services to its citizens. Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse, and progressive municipality, known for its economic strength and for being Canada’s safest city.

“state of the art facilities”?! STICK IT YOU SPINMEISTERS IN COMMUNICATIONS!

Well, I certainly feel better now…

So here is video of Mayor McCallion’s wonderful address to the Sheridan Library Community Wednesday evening. And the transcript of the video. All for the record.

HAZEL MCCALLION SAVES MISSISSAUGA’S SHERIDAN LIBRARY 090315 (4:16 min)

(Click here to go directly to the clip on YouTube)

TRANSCRIPT Mayor Hazel McCallion Sheridan Library April 15, 2009 public meeting:

Thank you very much and I came to listen. And there are some excellent suggestions put forward.

And I want you to know that your Councillor has protected this library.

And I want you to know that myself and the Councillor and even Councillor Mullin, is concerned about reducing the library hours.

Because I really believe the library, in many years, is the community centre as much as it is, especially for the students.

And you know, today, in order for Canada to be competitive, it is so important that our children get every opportunity to learn more because that’s the only way will remain competitive.

[Apologies, battery change]

The services, by the way, Paul, [Ed: Commissioner of Community Services, Paul Mitcham] that we provide in this library obviously is not adequate. I hate to hear that there’s not enough computers. Today, the children, when they’re doing their research, the computer is such a key to it.

So I heard two things tonight –how the library is stocked. Is it that same as others libraries in the area? I don’t mean all libraries. We DO have the Central Library. And we DO have a district library. And we have a [inaudible] library and therefore they should be all equal, whether the neighbourhood is here or in Streetsville or Erin Mills or wherever it is.

So we heard tonight, there is a need. As I say, your Councillor has protected the library. There was a movement to close it and she stood up and made sure it wasn’t closed.

Now we’re here tonight and Councillor Mullin has joined us.

The library, you know, years ago, when there weren’t community centres and there weren’t arenas and there weren’t all those things, there were libraries. Think about that. There were libraries because that was the key to a community.

And so the library is an extremely important facility in the community.

In regard, I agree with Councillor Mahoney as well, that the library should be located in the right location and that is important as well –to be able to be available to as many people as possible.

Not all –we can’t have a library on every corner –we can’t have a library right next to your house, I wish we could, but we can’t. So we have to choose a good location. And I think your Councillor is well aware of where the library should be.

We will attempt –I will try to negotiate with the owner of this plaza as well. And I would think that the economic downturn and the fact that plazas are not doing as well –and this one, I understand is not doing as well as others and I think that there’s a pretty good negotiating opportunity.

Secondly, we will look at land within this area that Councillor has clearly defined to see if there is. It’s tough to purchase land these days, you know. You can’t force people to sell it to you but we will make every effort.

I know that Paul, our Commissioner here tonight, will bring me up to date on the negotiations that are taking place with the owner of this plaza and I will get involved.

So tonight you gave us some ideas –I think they’re great– I want you to know that we are here to serve you and to serve this community as we try– [McCallion cut off by applause]

So thank you for coming and please, spread the news that this library is NOT closing!

[TRANSCIPT ENDS]

Signed,

The Mississauga Muse

HAZEL MCCALLION: READ "TRANSCRIPT Mayor Hazel McCallion Sheridan Library April 15, 2009 public meeting: ...and please, spread the news that this library is NOT closing"

Addtional resources.

I was unaware that the young man sitting in the chair to my right was Peter, the person who left an announcement about the Sheridan Library meeting in “About the Mississaugas Muse”. I Googled him and found his excellent summary of the Sheridan Library meeting.

Peter Browne describes himself as a “Peter Browne student. nerd. politics activist” and I encourage you to read his “Sheridan Branch Library Meeting” summary. Clearly Peter is a Blogger committed to informing his readers. He’s actually posted an audiotape of the meeting as an mp3! Audio and video cut through the He Saids and She Saids of differing opinions of what actually happened.

Also please visit Peter’s Flickr site for his photographs of the information slides presented at that meeting.

Last. Here is the Mississauga News article, “Neighbourhood needs its library, residents say”.

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