Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) presents a session discussing white collar crime and its harm to society.

Money, Power and Poverty: What Harms are done by those at the Top of Society versus those at the Bottom?

Date:                    Thursday, Nov 8, 2018
Time:                    Doors open 11:30 a.m., Presentation 12 noon, buffet lunch 12:30 p.m., Q&A 1 – 1:30 p.m.
Location:              Royal Canadian Legion (north door) 324 Mayor Magrath Dr. S. Lethbridge
Cost:                    $14 buffet lunch with dessert/coffee/tea/juice or $2 coffee/tea/juice. RSVP not required

It can be argued there are polite crimes versus impolite crimes, visible crimes versus invisible crimes, and crimes we can openly discuss, versus crimes that cannot be discussed. Some crimes we intentionally ignore and instead blame the victims.

Twice recently, the speaker heard the quote, “We cannot arrest our way out of the addiction problems in southern Alberta”, once by the Chief of Police and recently repeated by an emergency room physician speaking to SACPA. It could be said that, "Society doesn’t die because we can’t arrest all the criminals at the bottom, rather, society dies because we rarely arrest any criminals at the top."

The speaker will follow that analogy and connect some dots between social and mental stress, illness, addiction and corporate power or capitalism's contribution to the problems. This talk will focus upon hidden systemic financial crime that regulators (and polite society) are unwilling or unable to discuss, and the trickle-down effect upon society.

Speaker:             Larry Elford

Larry worked inside the investment industry from 1984 to 2004 and has since testified as an expert to four legislative/parliamentary committees on Finance, Justice and Human Rights. In 2009, he produced a documentary film about the unique violence of systemic white collar crime. It is titled Breach of Trust.

In 2018, he published a non-fiction book, About Your Financial Murder, which described hidden financial industry practices that serve to unjustly enrich corporations, while harming the public. The book outlines specific, hidden harms to society roughly equivalent to the financial harm done by all measured crimes in the land.

Moderator:         Austin Fennell

For more information on the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs, please visit the SACPA website.