Marc Weisblott of the EyeWeekly did a piece on the human right tribunal controversy.

Omar Ha-Redeye, a 29-year-old University of Western Ontario student who contributes to the blog Law Is Cool — where human rights commissions aren’t being dismissed out of hand — feels Levant has abused his high-profile platform.

“The only distinguishing feature between this case and the previous ones is that the respondent has taken it upon himself to start a campaign against the human-rights commissions, rather than resolve it quietly and efficiently,” says Ha-Redeye. “Had he taken on the issue prior, there’s a possibility they would have summarily dismissed the complaint as a frivolous retaliation for his activities.

“The problem is that Levant has conflated this issue with other HRC issues, and quite deliberately. These commissions have done enormous good in Canada in the past — their informality, which he criticizes, is intended to provide flexibility.”

Taking selective cases to the court of public opinion does a disservice to the immense good that human rights tribunals have played in creating equity in Canadian society – especially in stemming the tide of anti-Semitism.

The vast majority of cases are resolved quicky and quietly, with both parties reaching an equitable resolution.

As a regular attendee of the World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) for several years now, Omar was pleased to see the most important annual event in emergency management continue this year.

In previous years Omar had presented at the WCDM on subjects that included the SE Asian tsunami, and ethics in disasters. As part of his private consultancy, he continued training in these areas for private security agencies and governmental organizations.

Pandemic Simulation

This year he participated in a pandemic workshop sponsored by Hoffmann-La Roche Limited:

Experiencing a Pandemic: Managing a Metropolitan Crisis

Effective crisis decision-making will be essential during a pandemic event. An ineffective response will threaten the very survivability of our communities, key industries and critical infrastructure. In this computer-based simulation of a pandemic flu event in Toronto, you will participate in making interdependent crisis-decisions and experience firsthand the cascading intended and unintended consequences of your decisions in near real time.

The exercise was run by Crisis Simulations International (CSI), who describe their programs as,

…designed to build critical leadership and decision-making skills among the senior leaders who direct community resources and in whose hands lie responsibility for the safety and survival of their communities. Those skills apply to virtually any crisis those senior leaders may be called upon to face.

Omar played the role of a hospital CEO of a major health system, with facilities in Toronto and London, Ontario, where he currently resides.

Ontario Association of Emergency Managers

Omar also greeted members of the emergency management community at the Ontario Association for Emergency Managers (OAEM) booth.

The OAEM is the largest organization for interdisciplinary emergency managers in the province.

Emergency Management and the Law

One of the highlights of the conference was a session by Norm Keith, a partner with a Canadian law firm Gowling, Lafleur, Henderson.

Keith is the leader of the Occupational Health and Safety, Workers’ Compensation, and Emergency Management (“OHS”) practice group at Gowlings. He is also the author of a text, Canadian Emergency Management and Response Manual: A Guide to the Law and Practice.

Keith spoke on the importance of emergency management preparedness, and its applicability to Canadian law. He stated that a successful emergency management will
prevent and mitigate:

• Injury/illness to people
• Unwanted environmental release and human/animal exposure
• Property damage / Insurance claims
• Damage to business reputation
• Regulatory Enforcement, and
• Costs associated with the above

An effective Emergency Plan should include:
1. Purpose & Policy Statement
2. Scope
3. Definitions
4. Responsibilities
5. Equipment Maintenance & Testing Procedures
6. Employee Training
7. Procedures
8. Crisis Management
9. Testing
10. Debriefing
11. Business Continuity / Recovery
12. Records Management
13. Revision History
14. Appendices of Checklists / Forms, Audit of Building Resources

The importance in addressing all of these areas is the potential civil liability and monetary exposure to those suffering injury or property damage as a result of a disaster or emergency.

A special thanks to Michael Allison of Young Blood PR for assistance with the photos at the conference.

The 2007 Ontario provincial elections was a great success for the Liberal Party, winning 71 out of a possible 107.

Liberals were especially successful in the Toronto region, where they retained all of their ridings and gained an additional riding in York South—Weston.

Another new riding that Liberals nearly won was Trinity-Spadina. It’s one of Toronto’s most ethnically diverse ridings, including Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Italy, and Little Portugal. It also has considerable economic diversity, with the prosperous Annex in the northern part.

And so it was in the Annex that the riding association was preparing well in advance for the 2011 election.

The NDP incumbent had defeated the Liberal candidate, Kathryn Holloway, by a narrow margin of less than 5% votes. In an election which had the lowest voter turnout in Ontario history, the opportunity to win this riding for the Liberals seemed imminent.

Guests of honour included Greg Sorbara, MPP, and Hon. Chris Bentley, M.P.P. for London West.

The event was held at The Manyata/Spice Room, in Hazelton lanes.

The South Asian Bar Association of Toronto held a reception for Attorney General of Ontario at the Ontario Bar Association.

Sona Sood spoke about the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) and the important work it does in the Toronto community.

Ron Chaudhry, President of SABA, also explained the role of the organization and some of the work that it does.

On Tuesday, June 17, 2008, Omar Ha-Redeye attended the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) Health Law Section’s year-end dinner.

The event featured a debate over the Ontario Hospital Association and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s report released in April, 2008, Guidebook for Managing Disruptive Physician Behaviour.

The report states,

Disruptive behaviour is demonstrated when inappropriate conduct, whether in words or action, interferes with, or has the potential to interfere with, quality health care delivery. Disruptive behaviour may, in rare circumstances, be demonstrated in a single egregious act (for example, a physical assault of a co-worker)1 but is more often composed of a pattern of behaviour. The gravity of disruptive behaviour depends on the nature of the behaviour, the context in which it arises, and the consequences flowing from it.

Four representatives from both sides of the issue, the physicians versus hospital administrators and medical directors, engaged in a debate on disputes that arise in healthcare settings.

The event was moderated by Dr. David Cameron a lawyer-physician of Cameron Health Law Consulting.

Participants included:

• John Morris, Borden Ladner Gervais, LLP
• Dr. Ken Melvin, UHN
• Tracey Tremayne-Lloyd, Gardiner Roberts LLP
• Lisa Constantine, McCarthy Tetrault LLP

Dr. Cameron provided a summary of the event on the OBA Health Matters newsletter.