Patrick Gordon Macdonald, 26, of Ottawa is the first in Canada to be charged with terrorism and hate propaganda offences for advocating violent neo-Nazi ideology. RCMP announced today that they had arrested him because he had helped to develop material for the U.S.-based but international Atomwaffen Division. [node:read-more:link]
A New Brunswick woman was fined $1,000 and banned from driving for a year after pleading guilty to impaired in 2017 has won a Supreme Court of Canada appeal. Procedural delays meant that the ban stretched out to more than two years, which the court (Docket No. 39997) described as unwarranted “kind of double punishment” and affirmed the Common Law convention that courts can grant credit for time served. [node:read-more:link]
The UN says cocaine demand and supply are booming and methamphetamine trafficking is expanding beyond established markets. In annual report released June 25, it says the number of people taking drugs rose by 23% to 296 million in 2021, the latest year for which data are available, and that only half the increase is due to population growth. [node:read-more:link]
Newly re-elected Premier Danielle Smith apologized in the legislature June 20 for having contacted her then justice minister about criminal charges facing a “street preacher” who encouraged a border blockade last year. “Although I had no ill intent, the ethics commissioner found it was improper for me to contact (him) in the way I did,” she said, adding that new legislators will be trained on the structure of government and that she has asked her new justice minister for guidelines on cabinet interaction. [node:read-more:link]
The RCMP has closed its file on the SNC-Lavalin scandal that rocked Parliament four years ago because there was “insufficient evidence” to lay criminal charges. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was found to have violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to influence his justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to over-rule a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to grant a deferred prosecution agreement. [node:read-more:link]
A Calgary man has been remanded in custody on four terrorism-related charges following a national investigation. Zakarya Rida Hussein, 20, appeared in court June 16, charged with two counts of facilitating a terrorist activity and two of participating or contributing to a terrorist group’s activity. [node:read-more:link]
Confirmation that 3,314 foreign nationals considered security risks were permitted entry into Canada between 2014 and 2019 erodes trust in the immigration system, NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said today. She was responding to a report that they were among 7,141 brought to the attention of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada by the CBSA and CSIS. [node:read-more:link]
Federal and provincial governments’ responses to crime and addiction evidently aren’t sitting well with most Canadians, according to the results of a national poll of 1,500 respondents by Léger, the Montreal-based market research and analytics company. “There are some very strong sentiments being expressed,” says Andrew Enns, the company’s executive vice-president. “We’re seeing large percentages of people saying things are getting worse.” [node:read-more:link]
Having officially assumed command of the RCMP after serving in an acting capacity since March, the new Commissioner, Michael Duheme, said May 25 that “change and growth” are his priorities for the beleaguered federal force, which has approximately 19,000 uniformed officers and 11,000 civilian staff. “My first priority […] is recruitment,” he said, addressing a concern raised by an oversight board earlier several weeks ago. [node:read-more:link]
New DNA testing has confirmed the identify of a U.S. citizen who murdered a Montreal teenager in 1975. Franklin Romine had been a suspect in Sharron Prior’s killing but evidence at the scene was not enough for testing or use in court. Romine died in 1982 but DNA from his exhumed body recently was found to match that on a shirt used to restrain Prior. [node:read-more:link]
Canada’s criminal justice system is in urgent need of comprehensive, substantive, informed and multi-jurisdictional reform. Thanks to the ‘revolving door’ of repeat offenders playing Canada’s current criminal justice system, the general public has been arriving at the same conclusion – reform is urgently needed. [node:read-more:link]
On April 27th, the Bill C-233 received Royal Assent. This is the final step in the legislative process to put into law a number of pragmatic and effective changes to Canada’s Criminal Code bail laws which will help enhance the protection of victims of domestic and intimate partner violence. [node:read-more:link]
Changes to Canada’s bail system proposed today by Justice Minister David Lametti would make it harder for some accused of serious violence to be released. Introduced in response to widespread provincial calls for action, Bill C-48 would amend the Criminal Code to provide for maximum 10-year sentences on weapons-related offences and repeat offenders would have show reverse onus to avoid pre-trial incarceration. [node:read-more:link]
The Canadian Armed Forces’ Provost Marshall, Brigadier-General Simon Trudeau, reports that 93 cases of criminal sexual offences have been referred to civilian police since December 2021 and 64 are under investigation. The others were declined and while Trudeau offered no explanation, some police had concerns about the strain on their resources. An additional 97 cases reported to Military Police were not referred outside. [node:read-more:link]
RCMP officers in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Nunavut are about to begin field-testing up to 300 vest-mounted cameras which will capture audio and video for uploading to a digital evidence management system. Depending on the results, national deployment of at least 10,000 cameras is expected to begin in late 2024. [node:read-more:link]
