Fair Warning

Finished December 7

Fair Warning by Michael Connelly

Jack McEvoy is a journalist who now writes for a consumer protection watchdog site called Fair Warning. When a woman that he had a brief liaison with a few months ago is found dead, he comes under suspicion. The police that come to see him are obviously aware of his past work, some of which put the police in a bad light and he finds later visits from them even more concerning. 

He, however, has had his curiosity piqued by what they tell him, and starts his own investigation into her death and others with similar body trauma. 

This is a story that proves dangerous, not only to Jack, but to his fellow reporters at Fair Warning, and to those with connections to the killer. 

One of the really interesting aspects to this novel is the involvement of DNA analysis organizations and the regulation, or lack thereof, around privacy, sharing of data (even when the organizations claim it is stripped of identifying data), and the reselling of such information on the dark web. This story definitely kept me interested. 

21 Things You May Not Know about The Indian Act

Finished April 3
21 Things You May Not Know about The Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph

I took my time reading this as I wanted to think about some of the things outlined here more deeply. There are so many things to be ashamed of about this piece of legislation. It was a way that the government reneged on the nation to nation agreements that had been agreed upon in the treaties, and tried to separate the people from their culture. In spite of saying they wanted to have the native people adapt they constricted them from accessing the markets available to other Canadian, separated families, and tried to prevent people from talking amongst themselves.
Everything done under the Act was done against the indigenous people, not for them, and when others tried to speak out about the wrongs being done, they were silences as well.
I think all Canadians should read this and think about how they would feel if they were the ones subjected to this Act.

Death by Prescription

Finished January 5
Death by Prescription by Terence H. Young

I chose to read this book because I remembered the newspaper stories when Vanessa died, and because I too had an adverse reaction to the same drug, Prepulsid. Luckily for me, my adverse reaction didn't cost me my life, as it did Vanessa. But it did scare me sufficiently to cease taking the drug immediately, despite the advice of my then-doctor to continue it.
Young tells the story here of his fight to bring out the truth about Vanessa's death and what led to it. But he also shows us the power and influence of pharmaceutical companies not just in Canada, but world-wide, and the lack of government initiative to make the necessary changes. In the end, it all comes down to money over life and health, and that is a sad commentary on human nature.
Well-researched, and open, this book shows the dangers of our current reliance on drugs over changing behaviours.