An anonymous veteran federal public servant was identified today as the source for a series of internationally embarrassing disclosures about foreign interference in Canadian affairs and about seeming government indifference or reluctance to act over the years. Acknowledging the prospect of eventual prosecution if identified, the whistleblower explains the reasons for sharing concerns about an evolving threat.
Canada’s Veterans Ombud is challenging Veterans Affairs Canada’s arbitrary reduction in the pensions of some retired RCMP officers and civilian employees because they received a one-time lump sum compensation for many years of “horrific” on-the-job abuse and harassment which drove many into early retirement.
ALEXANDER LANDRY and CONNOR HUNERFAUTH
All future activities in the Northwest Passage should be assessed through an Environmental, Social, and Governance lens, advise Hunerfauth and Landry as they provide an overview of key considerations.
(National Post)
As the Army officer who oversaw Canada’s refugee verification mission in Kosovo some three decades, retired Lieutenant-General J.O. Michel Maisonneuve is asking why the internationally-respected Disaster Assistance Response Team hasn’t been deployed to help in the aftermath of the earthquakes that have killed more than 25,000 persons in Turkey and Syria. “In truth,” Maisonneuve says, the CAF have “very little capability to help” due to shrinking ranks and mostly outdated equipment.
(National Post)
As the Army officer who oversaw Canada’s refugee verification mission in Kosovo some three decades, retired Lieutenant-General J.O. Michel Maisonneuve is asking why the internationally-respected Disaster Assistance Response Team hasn’t been deployed to help in the aftermath of the earthquakes that have killed more than 25,000 persons in Turkey and Syria. “In truth,” Maisonneuve says, the CAF have “very little capability to help” due to shrinking ranks and mostly outdated equipment.
Mar 25
(CTV)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden used a day of talks in Ottawa March 24 to tackle a range of shared issues, including defence and security, third-country refugees, Haiti, clean energy and trade in what Trudeau said was a demonstration of how their countries’ interests are “interwoven.” Biden, on his first visit to Canada as President, agreed, saying, “I can't think of a challenge we haven’t met together.”
Mar 23
(CP)
The Transportation Safety Board says that the capsize of a Nova Scotia fishing boat with the loss of six crewmembers during a gale in December 2020 can be linked to federal inaction on recommended stability standards. Modifications by the vessel’s owners, Yarmouth Sea Products, had raised its centre of gravity but the TSB said in its March 22 report that Transport Canada inspectors had had not told the company about the heightened risk of instability.
Mar 22
(CTV)
Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser announced today that Ukrainians and their families now have until July 15 to apply for a free visitor visa which enables them to work and study for up to three years. The previous deadline was March 31.
Mar 21
(CP)
The federal government said March 20 that it expects that the Nexus trusted-traveller program with the U.S. to be back in full operation in about a month. Registration for the program has been on hold for nearly a year, partly because of bureaucratic and legal issues, resulting in backlogged applications. Enrolment centres will reopen at the Halifax and Winnipeg airports on March 27, followed by Vancouver April 3, Calgary and Edmonton April 12, Montreal April 17 and Toronto and Ottawa April 24.
 Polar Knowledge Canada |
 Accenture |
 DRDC Valcartier Research |
Aug 18 –
Interference is typically an extremely valid and indisputable concern, but in the case of the NS shooting spree, that argument is being used to obfuscate the real issue of communication negligence which resulted in deaths that could have been avoided.
Aug 10 –
Alberta awarded third prize of “Her Vision Inspires” contest to an essayist who argues that women should pick babies over careers, writing that importing "foreigners to replace ourselves is a sickly mentality that amounts to a drive for cultural suicide.”
Jun 27 –
Keeping Russia "at bay" is not a solution to the carnage happening in Ukraine. With Russia firing 10 times the amount of ammunition than Ukraine, Putin knows he will win, unless something changes.
Jun 20 –
It is now 11 years since I served in Afghanistan, and almost a year since those who helped us were abandoned to the increasing brutality of Taliban rule, it's time the govt cut the red tape and made good on its promises.
TBD July/Aug 2023
St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
10 March 2023
(CP)
A $2.8-billion settlement agreement between the federal government and plaintiffs representing 325 First Nations whose members went to residential schools has been approved by Federal Court of Canada. Justice Ann Marie McDonald said in her March 9 ruling (Docket No. T-1542-12) that the settlement does not release the government from similar future lawsuits.
10 March 2023
(CP)
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has warned that provinces and territories which permit private clinics to charge patients directly for virtual health care could see their future federal funding clawed back. He said in a March 9 letter to his counterparts that “there should be no fees for medically necessary health-care services, wherever people may live.”
10 March 2023
(EuroNews)
Preparing for November’s global climate summit in Dubai, the European Union countries has agreed to push a global phaseout of fossil fuels. “The shift towards a climate-neutral economy will require the global phase-out,” the EU said March 9, adding that fossil fuel use must peak in the near future to achieve “net zero” carbon emissions.
10 March 2023
(CBC)
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced today that she will table the federal government’s budget on Tuesday, March 28.
9 March 2023
(Al Jazeera)
A 48-year-old Saudi held without charge for nearly 21 years by the U.S. at Guantánamo Bay has been repatriated, the latest in a series of similar releases. Ghassan Al Sharbi, whom the Department of Defense said has “physical and mental health issues”, had been compliant in detention and was found to have had no leadership or facilitator roles in al-Qaeda.
9 March 2023
(Al Jazeera)
The government of Georgia, a former Soviet republic hoping to join the European Union, is “unconditionally” withdrawing draft legislation its critics said could stifle media freedom and civil society. President Salome Zourabichvili, who said she would veto it, likened it to Russian law used to clamp down on dissent.
9 March 2023
(Al Jazeera)
Ice coverage in the seas around Antarctica was at its lowest monthly extent in February, breaking a previous record from 2017. Some 34 pr cent below the average for the month, it was at its lowest extent in 45 years of satellite coverage. The European Union monitoring service said its findings “may have important implications for the stability of Antarctic ice shelves and ultimately for global sea level rise.”
9 March 2023
(Toronto Star)
City council in the northwestern Alberta community of Grande Prairie has voted to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force. The two-year transition in the city with a population of some 64,000 is expected to cost $19 million with the provincial government covering $9.7 million. Premier Danielle Smith has endorsed the idea of a province-wide switch
9 March 2023
(CBC)
The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission which handles public grievances against the RCMP has opened an inquiry into the force’s Community-Industry Response Group which was set up in 2017 to deal with protests against resource extraction in B.C. Terms of reference posted today include whether the CIRG’s operations are consistent with legislation and the findings of the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
9 March 2023
(CTV)
NORAD, Russia, bilateral trade, industrial supply chains, climate change, clean energy and cross-border travel concerns are expected to feature prominently in U.S. President Joe Biden’s March 23-24 visit to Ottawa. Confirmed today, it will be Biden’s first visit as president since he assumed office in January 2021.
9 March 2023
(CBC)
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly disclosed today that Canada refused a diplomatic visa for a “political operative” to take up a new post at China’s embassy in Ottawa. Asked by a Conservative MP whether Canada had expelled any Chinese officials, she pointed out that “for any expulsion there is an expulsion afterwards of us in China and right now our biggest challenge is to understand how China operates, how they plan, how they work.”
8 March 2023
(CP)
Acquitting a Montrealer of criminal harassment and threatening a neighbour, a Quebec judge, said it is “not a crime to give someone the finger” and also called the case a bewildering injustice. “Flipping the proverbial bird is a God-given, Charter-enshrined right that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian,” Justice Dennis Galiatsatos ruled. “It may not be civil, it may not be polite, it may not be gentlemanly. Nevertheless, it does not trigger criminal liability.”
