Morning Update: Experts call for solutions to bias in prison risk assessments after Globe investigation

Good morning,

Ottawa must address systemic racism in prisons, which is being perpetuated by risk assessments that are biased against Black and Indigenous inmates, opposition and legal critics say following a Globe and Mail investigation.

Jonathan Rudin, program director of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, said the recent investigation of risk-assessment scores “confirms what people have suspected,” but until now, they had no detailed information on inmate scores.

The investigation: Federal inmates' risk assessments determine everything from where a prisoner is incarcerated to what rehabilitation programs they are offered. After controlling for a number of variables, The Globe found Black and Indigenous inmates are more likely to get worse scores than white inmates, based solely on their race.

How we did it: The Globe used Correctional Service of Canada data to measure the biases. Extracting this information wasn’t easy. We finally received the data we’d requested nearly six months past the legislated deadline to provide it. The final spreadsheet documents in staggering detail the lives of 50,116 people in custody or supervised release. This is what happened next.

The backstory: A little more than two years ago, Data reporter Tom Cardoso dropped a letter in the mail. Freedom of information requests are often a shot in the dark, but after asking for 20 years of records from the Correctional Service of Canada, he quickly uncovered some disturbing patterns. He also began looking for inmates who could talk about their experiences.

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The B.C. provincial election comes to a close

John Horgan returns to Victoria on Monday with the majority government he wanted, and a mandate to steer British Columbia through the challenges of the pandemic ahead. The preliminary results after Saturday’s general election had the NDP elected in 55 seats, a healthy majority in a legislature of 87.

• Voter turnout: It was the lowest in almost a century, with less than 52 per cent of registered voters marking a ballot – despite an overwhelming response to mail-in ballots and advance polls.
• Opinion (Gary Mason): B.C. NDP’s pandemic election gamble pays off
• Recap: Here’s a play-by-play of how the day went, leading to an NDP victory
• Map: Take a look at a map of the results in the provincial election

In the rough Atlantic seas, Marshall’s fight isn’t over

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The new fishery owes its legal foundation to Donald Marshall Jr., the late Mi’kmaq activist who fought to change the laws around Indigenous fishing rights in Canada.

In interviews, his family told The Globe and Mail they were inspired by the Sipekne’katik action, and disturbed by the violence that has followed it.

Also read

• Preserving Mi’kmaq culture through storytelling
• As an Indigenous man, I’ve always known I have to fight or submit. I choose to fight

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

More mergers in oil sector expected after Cenovus, Husky transaction: The wave of consolidation sweeping through the oil patch, highlighted by Cenovus Energy Inc.'s planned takeover of Husky Energy Inc., puts Canada’s largest homegrown energy companies in a position to expand their stakes in Alberta’s oil sands as foreign players sell holdings to reduce carbon emissions.

Ontario keeps watch on effect of restrictions as COVID-19 cases pass 1,000 in one day: The rise in new cases to 1,042, reported on Sunday, may reflect new infections resulting from family gatherings over the Thanksgiving weekend.

New ceasefire announced in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict despite continued fighting: The announcement comes after two earlier Russia-brokered ceasefire agreements frayed immediately after taking force, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

MORNING MARKETS

Global stocks dip on surging virus cases, stimulus doubts: Global shares started the week on the back foot on Monday as surging coronavirus cases in Europe and the United States clouded the global economic outlook. Just before 6 a.m., Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.06 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 1.97 per cent and 0.41 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished down 0.09 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.82 per cent. Markets in Hong Kong were closed. New York futures were weaker. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.86 US cents.

Looking for investing ideas? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies plus what investors need to know for the week ahead. This week’s edition includes five dividend stock picks, a REIT to consider and sliding railway shares.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

People with disabilities deserve a basic income

Evelyn Forget and Sheila Regehr: “Basic income replaces money; it doesn’t replace needed supplies and services. With increased money, people with disabilities can decide for themselves how to meet needs that are often not met by the current system, such as service dogs or alternative therapies.”

History helps explain why Alberta isn’t likely headed for a pandemic lockdown (and would never cancel Halloween)

Kelly Cryderman: “Why does the province often stand apart politically from other parts of the country? It has to do with history near and far.”

Brenda Lucki does not need to take the fall for the shortcomings of the RCMP

John Ibbitson: “But how would replacing Commissioner Lucki accelerate efforts to confront and purge racism within the RCMP? How would it promote the full equality of women in the force?”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

Here’s why you can’t focus at work or stop doom-scrolling on your phone

Dr. Sonia Lupien is the director of the Montreal-based non-profit Centre for Studies on Human Stress. She might not have the full answer, but she can offer insight on how the brain responds to stress – as well as suggestions on how to temper its negative effects.

The moment there is a threat (like the pandemic), your brain won’t allow you to finish tasks like you might need to do at work. In the brain, these stress hormones affect regions involved in emotion, as well as learning, memory and other cognitive functions.

MOMENT IN TIME: News photo archive

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Neonatal care, 1973

For more than 100 years, photographers have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography for The Globe and Mail. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re celebrating nursing.

Until the late 1960s, babies born at Toronto hospitals experiencing medical distress had to be assessed, referred and transported to the Hospital for Sick Children for further care, a process that took, on average, six agonizing hours. As the Women’s College Hospital underwent an expansion in 1967, a last-minute decision was made to include a perinatal intensive-care unit within the hospital’s third-floor obstetrical unit – an addition that meant everything needed for higher-risk pregnancies would be in one space. In 1973, Globe and Mail photographer John McNeill captured some moments between health care staff and patients in the new unit, which was one of few in the province. In this photo, head nurse Elva Bote is seen caring for a premature baby in an incubator. Andrea Woo

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