Days of encounters, trade, treaties, betrayal, death, exploitation, celebration, abuse, robbery. Times of trust and of lies. Some hope and some faithless moments. Historical reference points very according to one's personal history and perspectives but the confluence of National Aboriginal Day on June 21, 2007 with the Aboriginal Day of Action on June 29, 2007 at the least deserves attention.

One of these days is to:  

Share in the Celebration!

On June 21st, 2007, Canadians from all walks of life are invited to participate in the many National Aboriginal Day events that will be taking place from coast to coast to coast.

June 21st kick starts the 11 days of Celebrate Canada! which includes National Aboriginal Day (June 21), Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (June 24), Multiculturalism Day (June 27) and concluding with Canada Day (July 1)!

The other is to:

Climate Trend plots temperatures over three time scales to show historical trends. You can look up your location and see temperatures over the last century. The original data comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

For example, here is Ottawa: at Latitude 45° 22' N and Longitude 75° 43' W, and it is 114 metres (374 feet) above sea level.

CO: How can CSR reports be communicated, vetted, and understood by a corporation's stakeholders?

• CSR reporting is a step towards corporate accountability and provides an opportunity for firms to build their public and brand images, but what happens when there are 10's of thousands of reports produced every year?
• The internet provides an opportunity to create searchable databases of reports - and critiques
  
• The leading reporting standard is the Global Reporting Initiative
  
• The media has to play a role in calling attention to good and bad reports
• NGOs can use the results of reporting to build campaigns
• This article looks at the Global Compact - Communication of Progress (COP) initiative - "detailing efforts made in implementing the Global Compact’s ten universal principles in business strategy and operations."
• According to GlobeScan's 2004 report, consumers are reading CSR reports as well.

• Even the best intentioned sustainable initiatives may emit greenhouse gases, carbon offsetting may provide a solution. Others argue that emissions are a cheap way to buy good publicity without actually changing our practices. What do you think?

Carbonfund.org 

The International Criminal Defence Attorneys have arrived at the CSR party. Does this mean that criminal liability is far behind? Of course corporations already face liability for environmental damage, labour abuse, and breaches of corporate laws. The areas where liability is murkiest is in the area of human rights abuses or breaches of CSR undertakings (ie the Equator Principles , the Forest Stewardship Council standards (FSC Canada).

"Some of the major human rights and social issues in the "CSR" universe may soon move from the domain of voluntary corporate action to that of legally required conduct - with enforcement imposed via criminal or major civil penalties. This is the focus of the first special research and monitoring project supported by the Defence Watch. " - International Criminal Defence Attorneys.

Commentary: That age old question that has plagued the greatest philosophers, will finally be ruled upon: do chimpanzees have/deserve human rights? Well maybe not age old but at least an interesting question.

• This question has arisen in a surprising context: a bankruptcy case, where the parties refused to settle. If they had settled and permitted the chimpanzee to
• The case presents great opportunities for animal rights but being the cynical character I am, it also raises concerns about the nature of human rights.
• Namely, human rights are inherent in our being "human". They are not doled out to the deserving. Whether you are Hitler or Mother Theresa you have human rights. If a court decided that chimpanzees are "close enough" to being human, then the chimanzees are in a sense receiving a discretionary grant of rights. This means that another court could take away the rights.
  
• The case also raises the very problematic value calculation that places the rights and worth of cute animals above those of uncute humans. Just like the person carrying the gourmet pet food passes the homeless person without a feeling of guilt, the legal fees in a case like this is are in my humble "anthropocentric" opinion wasteful and ridiculous.
  
• For a different perspective see Release & Restitution for Chimanzees
• Oh yes, about the title of this article. The commentary around this article has once again raised the possibility of the "humanzee " although apparently research into this possibility would raise ethical issues .