The RCMP report into missing and murdered Aboriginal women is now out, and there are a few interesting things to note, most of them presented in helpful infographics – that the homicide rate for Aboriginal women is four times that of non-Aboriginal women, that they are most likely to be murdered by an acquaintance, spouse or family member, and that their killers have an average age of 35, are less employed, and use intoxicants. In other words, it’s a more systemic societal problem and not one that can be solved by the government’s tough-on-crime policies consisting mostly of the threat of harsher penalties. Also of note are the fact that the solved rate for murdered Aboriginal women is on par with non-Aboriginal women, so it seems less like police inattention to these deaths, but the breakdown also pointed to a very big problem in BC, such as with the “Highway of Tears,” showing that there clearly needs to be more work undertaken in that area. The report renewed calls for a national inquiry to help address those systemic and societal issues and better understand how to tackle them, while the government took the statistics from the report and said that they are taking action by doing things like strengthening programmes to combat domestic violence on reserves. All RCMP divisions have been ordered to re-examine their unsolved files on these missing and murdered women in the hopes of generating new leads, and they have six months to report back on their findings. Funds for family violence prevention programmes will also be re-directed to higher-risk communities to partner with local agencies to help address “vulnerability factors.”

The government has been having closed-door meetings with stakeholders about fixes to the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme, and it may include new fees or tying the ability to get new workers to the local unemployment rate (though one fails to see how that would deal with sectoral shortages or those highly skilled TFWs who are needed for specific projects). Kenney does seem fixed on having Canadian employers raise their wages to solve their labour problems (though we’ll see if this backfires when Canadians, used to their cheap fast food, start to balk at the higher prices). Meanwhile, with all of the faux outrage of the Liberal Stripper Programme™ of Temporary Foreign Workers, iPolitics finds that the Conservatives have been at it too, though they keep insisting that it was in much smaller numbers. Brent Rathgeber blogs about the need for the TFW programme in Alberta because there is a genuine need in the food service industry there because employers can’t retain staff as it is, and suggests some fixes that would better benefit the province.

Reuters finds that Canada hasn’t put sanctions on a couple of Vladimir Putin’s key allies because they have business interests in Canada. In other words, this puts us in line with those other European allies who carve out sanctions for those who have interests in their countries as well, and shouldn’t really surprise anyone. The government was also lobbied by Bombardier about the sanctions, given that aircraft orders to Russia are big business, especially for the Quebec economy, and the government would want to avoid doing anything to impact that.

The NDP want the Speaker to rule on the legitimacy of the order that had the House sending Mulcair to committee, saying that they want limits around it to prevent abuse. Or, conversely, they could make sure to have the requisite 25 MPs in the House at the time to ensure that they could legitimately block a future motion, like they should have had at the time and Peter Julian wasn’t apparently able to manage. I think this calls for someone to say something about showing up for work…

Jean Charest says that the delays in ratifying the Canada-China FIPA signed nearly two years ago is sending the wrong signal about how serious we are about trade with that country.

Thanks to the Joint Commons-Senate Library of Parliament Committee, the treasure trove of Order Paper Questions are about to go online. Not unsurprisingly, the Conservatives have been concern trolling about the expense of such a measure.

Stephen Maher looks at the way in which the “cyberbullying” bill along with other goodies stuffed into the omnibus budget bill is making it easier for police and other authorities to get warrantless access to Canadians’ private data, and how they can’t even offer plausible excuses for needing to do so.

Damaged by fire, HMCS Protecteur prepares for a three-week tug voyage back to CFB Esquimault after damage assessment in Pearl Harbour. This will likely be her last voyage, as it is unlikely the Royal Canadian Navy will repair her for just a couple of years more of service.

The sale of bankrupt railway company Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, which was at the centre of the Lac Mégantic disaster, has now been completed, and the proceeds will help pay off creditors. The new owners, who are renaming the company, plan to spend millions to upgrade their rails before they resume any oil shipments, which may not be for another 18 months.

In part three of her look at Supply Management, Martha Hall Findlay offers suggestions for how to dismantle the system based on Australia’s experience, while a professor from Waterloo offers his criticism of the movement to end Supply Management.

Here’s a profile of Justin Trudeau’s key advisor, Gerald Butts.

Susan Delacourt feels for the poor people of Toronto who are dealing with elections or by-elections for all three levels of government, and to make things worse, a number of former federal MPs are now running in municipal elections, adding to the confusion.

If you need a long weekend long read, Maclean’s examination of sexual assault in the Canadian Forces is now online. It’s a harrowing read, but one that you should undertake.

And Laureen Harper is getting some airtime in those taxpayer-funded 24/Seven videos that tens of people watch, reminding us of those leaked Conservative documents that said that she was of use in the next campaign to help put a good face on the party.