IN THE NEWS

Ontario has announced sweeping changes to its policing laws including the ability for police chiefs to suspend officers without pay if they are in custody or charged with a serious federal offence not allegedly committed in the course of their duties.

Police chiefs across Ontario have long asked that the province give them the power to suspend without pay officers accused of egregious wrongdoing. 

Police in Ontario could soon get more tools to search for missing people, such as the ability to track cellphones and enter a home or building to search for them.

Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian, plans to sue the government of Canada for $50 million, because he claims this country is complicit in his confinement and abuse at the Guantanamo facility. Ameziane was never prosecuted or charged.

Last week Quebec's anti-corruption task foce arrested sitting National Assembly member Guy Ouellette, a former police officer, but he has not been charged with any crime. The task force says the arrest was in connection with leaked documents but  Ouelette says it was designed to intimidate him in his work as a legislator.

During an interview with investigators, Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old Uzbek native, asked to hang an ISIS flag in his hospital room and said "he felt good about what he had done".

The collision of two tanker trucks on the 400 highway north of Toronto killed three people and wrecked more than a dozen vehicles. Support groups say such accident scenes put first responders at risk of mental disorders.

Mubin Shaikh, a Canadian Muslim who was radicalized in his teens, told the UN Security Council that he’s haunted by a video image: A 3-year-old boy uses a large knife given to him by his parents to cut off his teddy bear’s head.

At least eight people are dead in a New York City terrorist attack after a man drove through a bike lane in a rented truck. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered sincere condolences on behalf of all Canadians.

A new report says that between 2013 and 2015, on average, more than 2,500 state-sponsored cyber activities a year were directed at Canadian government computer networks. The Communications Security Establishment reports that about one attempt a week succeeded.

The Gulf Islands were the site of a simulated ferry evacuation with the JTFP of the CAF coordinating search and rescue operations in a large-scale, on-water exercise. The exercise is jointly managed by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Coast Guard with coordination through the JRCC involving both air coordination by the CAF and marine rescue coordination by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Montreal police headquarters is among the locations raided last evening by the Quebec provincial force but no details have been released. A source has told Radio-Canada an officer close to the Montreal police chief might be the target.

Over five years, the federal government could spend $546 million to implement new marijuana laws. A new budget forecast says agencies like Health Canada and the RCMP will get some of the money for  licensing, inspection and enforcement. Canada plans to legalize marijuana before next July.

A group called the Innocence Project is asking Ontario to amend the Police Services Act to make mental health training a requirement of the Ontario Police College. The group plans a constitutional challenge if the province doesn't take action this year.

Despite active research, Type 1 Diabetes has no cure and requires daily insulin shots. This expensive, daily drug regimen is the only way to postpone certain death, and yet CRA Minister Lebouthillier has decided that people suffering from this long-term, incurable medical problem no longer qualify for the $1500 disability tax credit.

During the trial of two men convicted of plotting to destroy a Via Rail train, they attempted to depict themselves as psychotic and drug addicted, but the undercover FBI agent who worked to arrest them writes they knew exactly what they were doing.

Critics of a recent RCMP recruiting video say it shows a police force dominated by values from the past. Training scenes from  the video appear to depict military behaviour.

France has charged eight men, including three minors, following an investigation into far right activists allegedly plotting to target politicians and mosques.

At a meeting of G7 interior ministers in Italy, Canada's Ralph Goodale asked his American counterpart to review how it issues travel visas. The Public Safety Minister told acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke that some people use their visas to the US in order to cross into Canada illegally.

The St. John's Status of Women Council has  criticized a national police operation in which officers across the country interviewed sex workers to find victims of exploitation and trafficking. The RCMP said  324 interviews in seven provinces yielded 14 arrests.

Police in Halton, Ontario are the first in Canada to acquire an advanced, dedicated LTE wireless public safety network. As well as voice communications, the network sends dispatch information, records information, GPS data, maps, pictures, videos and real-time analytics to mobile devices.

It is a common story among firefighters, who are exposed to harmful toxins on the job. Most know all too well the price some pay for that exposure. A growing body of evidence has shown firefighters have an increased risk of cancer and other serious illnesses compared to the general population, partly due to their exposure to hazardous chemicals from the smoke.

A federal lawsuit filed against several U.S. and European pharmaceutical and medical supply companies alleges the corporations knowingly financed anti-American military activity through bribes and kickbacks to Iraqi government officials.

International aid is arriving in Somalia in response to Saturday’s massive truck bomb that killed more than 300 people. Another nearly 400 people were injured in the deadliest attack in Somalia’s history and one of the world’s worst attacks in years. Scores remain missing and the death toll could still rise.

In September, Maisum Ansari was charged with 337 firearms offenses after 33 guns were found in a Pickering, Ontario residence. Police also found 53 kilograms of a substance now identified as the deadly street drug fentanyl.
 

The government of Canada could prosecute the Afghans who captured and held Joshua Boyle, his wife and their children, but apprehending suspects is probably impossible. The family returned to Canada Friday after five years in captivity.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has suspended the use of a three-page, 41 item questionnaire used to help screen illegal border crossers in Quebec. Critics say its apparent focus on Islamic beliefs and practices was inappropriate.

Captured by Afghan terrorists in 2012, a Canadian man (who was once married to Omar Khadr’s oldest sister Zaynab), his American wife, and their children have been recovered "safe and sound" by the Pakistani Army and Intelligence Agency actioning info shared by U.S. intelligence, which had been tracking their movement.

A Vancouver businessman has updated the yellow 'baby on board' triangle sign with a new product that gives first responders useful information about all the people in a vehicle. The Child´s Medical Data Carrier comes with an app that provides data including directions to the nearest hospital and messaging to key contacts.

Fast-moving wildfires caused widespread destruction across Northern California’s wine country as flames engulfed multiple counties and raged across more than 100,000 acres, forcing mandatory evacuations and prompting California’s governor to declare a state of emergency.

The lawyer for 19 year old Canadian Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy told a New York court his client suffers from mental illness and drug issues. El Bahnasawy pleaded guilty in 2016 to plotting terrorist attacks.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police report that the number of people illegally crossing into Canada from the United States to seek asylum has increased by five times since 2016. This year, 13,000 people have been taken into custody after crossing.

The British Columbia Civil Rights Association is appealing a decision by an oversight panel that cleared the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) of illegally monitoring pipeline protestors. The Security Intelligence Review Committee ruled CSIS did not exceed its mandate.

The suspect in the Edmonton attack that injured five people had been detained for days after arriving in the United States from Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said. A U.S. immigration judge ordered Sharif to be removed to Somalia but he was released and did not report back.