A project led by Alexander McClelland, a criminology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa shows that 704 persons have died in incidents involving police use of force in Canada since 2000 and that the annual average has gradually risen. “We're hoping that this data sparks conversations and gets people looking further into why there has been a potential increase, what that means, and brings more scrutiny to the issue,” McClellan says. [node:read-more:link]
The federal government today confirmed more than $32 million to bolster “security and stabilization” in Ukraine, including some $9.7 million previously announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The total includes $7.5 million for de-mining, $12 million to “counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats” and some $13 million for “accountability efforts” including addressing conflict-related sexual violence. [node:read-more:link]
Ottawa resident Awso Peshdary, who pleaded guilty February 23 to terrorism by facilitating Islamic State recruitment efforts, was sentenced to 14 years less time served, which means he will be released on probation in late 2024. The Crown and Peshdary’s lawyer had agreed to what Ontario Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett called a “fit” penalty even though his activities were “horrific.” Peshdary actually thanked the RCMP for arresting him. [node:read-more:link]
A B.C. Supreme Court judge (Docket No. 2021 BCSC 210) has ordered the sale of a house formerly owned by a man who left a beating victim permanently brain-damaged in 2016. Sentenced to seven years in October 2021, the attacker had “sold” the house to his parents for $1 in an attempt to avoid civil action by the victim’s family who now will receive the proceeds of an eventual sale. [node:read-more:link]
The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the government met a “very high” threshold with its unprecedented invocation of the 1988 Emergencies Act to end last year’s “Freedom Convoy” protests and border blockades. “Lawful protest descended into lawlessness, culminating in a national emergency,” Commissioner Paul Rouleau said today in his report to Parliament. Citing “a failure in policing and federalism,” the Ontario Court of Appeal judge acknowledged it was a “drastic move” but said it was “not a dictatorial one.” [node:read-more:link]
Prosecutors have acknowledged that a New Brunswick man who murdered three RCMP officers in 2014 can apply for parole after serving 25 years, not the 75 years imposed by the trial judge. Justin Bourque’s lawyer applied in December to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal to have the precedent-setting sentence reduced after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the law enabling judges to extend parole ineligibility for people convicted of multiple murders. [node:read-more:link]
In response to Haiti’s request for assistance, Canada is deploying two Kingston-class ships to Haiti as violence continues to escalate and hamper any progress in the country. [node:read-more:link]
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discusses the crisis in Haiti with Caribbean leaders this week, he evidently remained resistant to suggestions, including from the U.S., about military intervention. During a multilateral meeting today, he told Haiti’s unelected leader, Ariel Henry, who has UN support for external security forces to combat endemic gang violence, only that Canada has “much to do” to offer support and stability. [node:read-more:link]
Brenda Lucki, the first female RCMP Commissioner, announced today that she will retire March 17, one month short of her fifth anniversary on the job. Despite intense political criticism on several fronts in the past couple of years, she said the federal police force had made “some great progress” in meeting the expectations of Canadians, communities and policing partners. [node:read-more:link]
Convicted after abducting and confining a 3-year-old boy in Sparwood 12 years ago, the sex offender is free again, despite violating his parole board supervision conditions. In November 2022, Randal Hopley had been seen sitting near children attending story time in a local library, however, the judge has now ruled she did not believe he currently poses a risk to the public. [node:read-more:link]
Convicted after abducting and confining a 3-year-old boy in Sparwood 12 years ago, the sex offender is free again, despite violating his parole board supervision conditions. In November 2022, Randal Hopley had been seen sitting near children attending story time in a local library, however, the judge has now ruled she did not believe he currently poses a risk to the public. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. intelligence officials believe that the Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S., and now in the hands of the FBI, is part of an extensive military surveillance program which has conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years. Roughly half have been into U.S. airspace, including the downed “weather” balloon which also entered Canadian airspace after being detected by NORAD. The debris now is being analyzed by FBI engineers in an attempt to learn what kind of intelligence it could have collected as well as how future incursions can be tracked. [node:read-more:link]
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told a parliamentary committee February 6 that officers were deployed as a disruption at three Chinese “police stations” in Toronto and one in Vancouver. “We did a disruption by going in uniform, with marked police cars, to speak with the people involved,” she said. Meanwhile, the RCMP is continuing its investigation into what has been condemned as a global initiative by China against expatriates. [node:read-more:link]
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners, including many linked to anti-government protests in recent months, on the eve of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Persons charged with offences such as espionage, murder or destruction of state property, some of whom face the death penalty, are not being pardoned. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Coast Guard’s rescue of a Canadian at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon took a strange twist on the weekend. A massive wave had rolled the trawler yacht which he was aboard, which turned out to be stolen. He was not only arrested in connection with another incident in Oregon but also is wanted in B.C. on a variety of other outstanding charges [node:read-more:link]
