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Some stories to start your day

Here's what's happening around Greater Sudbury today
091014_Fall_Colours
Today is the first day of fall, but it's definitely going to still feel like summer. (Supplied)

Good morning, Greater Sudbury. 

Here are some stories to start your day.

Summer weather on the first day of fall

Today is the first day of fall, but it's definitely going to still feel like summer.
Friday there will be a mix of sun and cloud. Forty per cent chance of showers in the morning with risk of a thunderstorm. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. 
Wind becoming south 20 km/h in the afternoon. High of 26 C. Humidex of 31 C. UV index 5 or moderate.
Friday night there will be a few clouds. Fog patches developing near midnight. Wind south 20 km/h becoming light in the evening. Low of 17 C.
For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.

Sex trafficking a form of modern slavery, say police

According to the most recent figures from the UN, about 40 million people in the world are modern slaves, ranging from domestic and sex workers to people forced to work in factories or farms.
It's a problem that's even more shocking when you realize that a form of slavery exists in Greater Sudbury, where human traffickers target young people – usually girls – and have developed fairly sophisticated techniques to lure them into selling their bodies for sex.
Greater Sudbury Police Staff Sgt. Rick Waugh said Wednesday there are people who choose sex work voluntarily, which is not a crime in Canada. In a presentation to the police services board, Waugh said police focus is on the grooming operations traffickers use to lure young people into the life and trap them there.
“The reality is, it does happen here in Sudbury,” Waugh said. “People are exploited mentally at first, because of the grooming process.”
Human trafficking isn't just about sex work; it's a crime in which someone is forced, controlled or tricked into doing sexual acts, unpaid labour, removal of their organs or outright slavery.
Read more here.

Sudbury Catholic District School Board crushed his dreams, human rights complaint alleges

In a story that could be lifted from a Seinfeld episode, a Sudbury man has failed in his bid to sue the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for crushing his dreams to be a filmmaker.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario issued a ruling Sept. 14, detailing the reasons why the man launched the claim.
“The applicant alleges that from the time he started high school in 2001 until 2005, he wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking,” the transcript reads. “The applicant alleges his teachers and teachers' aides at the respondent’s school all dissuaded him from pursuing his career as a filmmaker. 
“The applicant alleges that throughout his high school years, his teachers and teacher’s aides told him that will not succeed as a filmmaker because his English and punctuation skills were bad, his reading and writing skills were at a Grade 3 level and his career choice of being a filmmaker was an unrealistic goal considering his learning limitations.”
He claimed staff at his school discriminated against him by “failing to support and assist him in pursuing his career goals as a filmmaker.”
Read more here.

Take Back the Night expands its focus to stand up for society's most vulnerable

Traditionally, Take Back the Night marches focus on the right of women to be out alone at night without being accosted.
But this year, organizers of Sudbury's march expanded its aim to demand that right for everyone, especially vulnerable minorities, including the disabled, the LGBT community and racial minorities.
Plenty of representatives from the above-mentioned communities were among the hundreds taking part in the Sept. 21 march.
That included Rob Decosse, who uses a wheelchair. He said he was primarily at the event because he's a supporter of women's rights.
But Decosse also shared his thoughts on the safety of disabled people on Sudbury's streets. While he said he personally doesn't feel unsafe while out alone, he knows of other people in wheelchairs who do.
“Because they are powerless, sometimes being downtown is not always a safe place at night,” he said.
Read more here.

Missing girl, 15, last seen Sunday in New Sudbury

Greater Sudbury Police are requesting the public's assistance to locate 15-year-old Elana Faries. She was last seen Sunday, Sept. 17 in New Sudbury. There is a concern for her well-being.
The teen is described as being 5-6 tall, about 130 pounds, with long black hair. She was last seen wearing glasses, a black sweater, a black shirt and black jeans.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Greater Sudbury Police at 705-675-9171 or Crime Stoppers at 705-222-TIPS, online at www.sudburycrimestoppers.com or by texting TIPSUD and the information to CRIMES (274637). 


1,806 days banned: Rainbow board lifts trespass order on Sudbury parents ... partially

After 1,806 days (that's four years, 11 months and 10 days), a longstanding trespass order banning a Sudbury couple from certain Rainbow District School Board properties has been partially lifted.
Dylan and Anita Gibson are vocal opponents of accommodation reviews who often attended Rainbow school board meetings before they were banned.
Keenly interested in school board politics, they also ran unsuccessfully to become Rainbow board trustees in the 2014 elections. Their two children attend Rainbow board schools.
The parents had been banned from the board's high schools and its downtown board office since September 2012, after what they say was a seemingly innocuous interaction with a now former Rainbow board trustee.
They got word Sept. 18 from Rainbow board director of education Norm Blaseg that they were no longer barred from entering the board's high schools.
However, they are still prevented from entering the board's downtown board office. And a new restriction has been added — they're now also banned from the board's new Centre for Education, located in the former Wembley school.
Read more here.

Sudbury byelection trial reporter's notebook: 'Who is Brian Band?'

Sudbury.com political reporter Darren MacDonald provides some observations after watching 10 days of the Sudbury bribery trial involving Liberal Party fundraiser Gerry Lougheed Jr. and former Liberal campaign director Patricia Sorbara, including the following:

The Sudbury Liberals were really, really dysfunctional in 2014:
That there was infighting among local Liberals heading into the June election is no surprise. 
The struggle between Andrew Olivier and the Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) over the nomination was already known. The party wanted Marianne Matichuk, but when she turned them down, Olivier won the nomination. What emerged in the trial were problems between Olivier's camp and former MPP Rick Bartolucci. 
It had been assumed the friction between the OLP and Olivier was the main point of contention. Bartolucci, no Wynne supporter, was assumed to be in Olivier's corner. But a new recording unveiled at the trial had Olivier complaining to Sorbara about Bartolucci, how he felt the former MPP was providing no help and was almost “sabotaging” his campaign.
Bartolucci hasn't testified, but Bill Nurmi, the former riding association president, testified they asked if they could help, but were told they weren't needed. Both stories can't be true.
Read more here.

Closer look reveals high 'unfounded' rate for sexual assault cases really isn't so high after all

Too many internal errors led to Greater Sudbury Police Service's high rate of dismissed sexual assault cases, as revealed in a Globe & Mail article investigative series, said the city's top cop.
Human error, internal missteps, a “coding error” and unconscious biases are among those internal errors, said Chief Paul Pedersen.
In filing reports of sexual assault, Statistics Canada provides certain options with which police can close cases, he said. Either they are solved, they are open and pending, or they are unfounded.
 “When a situation arises where there isn't enough evidence to bring a case to court, police are faced with the situation how to classify that case at that point in time,” Pedersen said at a press conference on Sept. 20. “And, in this case, many of the cases were being designated as unfounded, when in actuality, they should have been designated as open and requires more information, if and when it does come forward.”
Greater Sudbury Police have termed it as a “coding error” that contributed to 33 per cent of nearly 400 dismissed sexual assault cases being classified as "unfounded." He said it also boiled down to a flaw in internal checks and balances in closing those cases.
You can read reporter Arron Pickard's story full here, and watch new media reporter Heather Green-Oliver's video here.


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