Responsibility for ac THE Canadian Human Rights Council announced Friday they had beaten the Toronto Dominion in a case they took to the federal court of Canada. What had those nasty bankers tried to do this time which aroused the ire of the human rights types? Gouge an old lady? Foreclose on a widow? Nope. They instituted a Policy of drug testing to ensure their employees who have access to large amounts of your money aren’t junkies. With the potency of hero- in reaching levels of 80% and 90% purity and the addiction rates increasing, at frightening levels, the bank felt ir was incumbent to ensure they were protected from the potential ravages of an addict with a habit far exceeding his ~ or her available salary. Seems reasonable enough on the surface. But the CHRC decided this was an affront to all Canadians and a clear violation of the Canada Human Rights Act. They argued the policy infringed on the rights of addicts because junkies weren’t responsible. According to the CHRC, heroin addicts are “disabled.” The federal court agreed in a majority decision. The act prohibits discrimi - nation on the basis of disabil- ity and defines disability to include those with a previous or existing dependence on a drug. . “A finding of trace amount of drugs in one’s system docs not mean that the employce is unproductive or about to engage in a work-related crime,” Justice J.A, McDonald wrote for the majority. He ruled that the test had the potential to discriminate against employees and was not sufficiently related to performance on the job. John Hucker, secretary- general of the Canadian uman Rights Commission, responsible for pursuing the case through the courts, was Bd Dual Climate Control Heated Seats _ e Alloy Wheels Leather, Keyless Remote Entry ts Rook Rails and much more crime and punishment pleased with the de “There is little evidence that drugs are a problem in king sector,” said is getting a bit th The “loony left” and social activists have been bat- ting the conservative right over the issue of state-spon sored heroin provision to addicts. Thar debate rages on. Privately run compani trying to protect themselves from the crise related to drugs have been using drug testing for scme time now. Bear in mind that virtually every study done on crime and criminology attributes 2 significance portion of crimi- nal activity to drugs and the pursuit of sufficient money to supply a burgeoning habit. Now, despite the ravages addicts unleashed on society, the second highest ccurt in the land has said chey’re “disabled.” What’s next? Pensions for bank robbers? Retirement homes for car thieves? Isn’t anyone responsible for their own actions any- nore? maitibox 2345 Last week's column illus- trating the offer by Coquitlam businessman Doug Stead certainly struck a chord with a great many reod ers. Stead, you'll remembez, is the man who challenged the constitationality of photo radar and won. The attorney general has mounted an al of that decision. The AG managed to get an appeal date in September, barely nwo months away. Not bad considering the backlog thar forces the rest of us to wait upwards of a year to even see the inside of 2 courtroom. The column spoke of the inherent reasons for Stead’s fight and his belief that pow- erful individuals are protect- ing certain pedophiles who are well-connected to politi- cians and judges. He put up a $10,000 bounty for information lead- ing to the arrest and convic- tion of a politician, senior civil servant, judge or doctor engaged in acts of sex with children and young teens. Since that column ran, mere individuals have called with pledges of more money. Ar this point, the reward pocl stands at $20,000 and a further $10,000 is on the way. Clearly, neither Stead nor L anticipated this reaction. Consequendly, this is going to have to take a somewhat different format than origi- nally considered. In order not to be at risk of the inevitable portshuts coming from certain quar: ters, it has been decided to Set up 2 non-profit society to act as a go-berween for incoming information, ensure all information gets to the appropriate police authority, assist the police in any way possible and ulti- mately, to disperse the reward pool t the justly deserving individuals who come forward. All will be done with legal ccunsel and all monies will be held in trust on that basis. The end goal is to eradicate trom the positions of power individuals, cither engaging in acts of pedophilia or. virtuc of their office, using their power to condone and protect pedophiles from appropriate prosecution. Stead is trying to protect our children. He has seen first-hand the system protect- ing those it should be prose- cuting. He wants to change that so more kids won’t be victimized. This is a David and Goliath story. Let’s hope David wins this battle. As a side note, several police officers called after that column ran. They believe this is going to make tor a lot of nervous people. Given that many victims drift into a life of street prostitu- tion, some as young as 10 or 12 years old who might wish to co-operate with police