The U.S. killing of Iranian MGen Qassem Soleimani with a missile strike in January is being called “unlawful and arbitrary under international law” by a UN investigator who says the U.S. had offered no proof for President Donald Trump’s explanation that the strike was necessary to stop Soleimani from “plotting imminent and sinister attacks.”
Analyzing Canada’s public safety, border and national security and immigration issues through Budget 2019 and Bill C-97
Two men, Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, had been arrested following Project Smooth, an RCMP national security investigation that began in 2012 and involved an undercover FBI informant who had infiltrated the alleged plot.
They were tried and convicted of terrorism in 2015, and lawyers get to work preparing for an appeal. Last week, they finally won the right to an appeal based on the type of jury selection chosen.
Western Canada Select (WCS) Oil is important for Canada and the World Market.
Canada’s new Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister finally has a mandate: What should Canadians expect?
As we go to press, I can’t help thinking about the recent revelation of a controversial, insane, deplorable, inappropriate (pick one) decision by Correctional Service Canada. Terri-Lynne McClintic was caught on surveillance video in 2009 leading little Tori Stafford away to her eventual death. It took police less than a month to catch and charge Michael Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, in the horrific abduction, rape, beating and murder of a defenceless 8-year-old girl.
The ineffectiveness of Canada’s system of removing non-citizens who have been ordered deported has increasingly been in the news – both for failed refugee claimants who have entered the country illegally, and the ongoing reality of non-citizens convicted of serious crimes. Put succinctly, in Canada there’s clearly a difference between being ordered deported and actually being removed.
Canada, a founding partner of both NATO and NORAD, is facing an increasingly asymmetrical threat environment that has become more complex because of lawfare and hybrid warfare. This requires Canada to have interlinked policies of defence and security; foreign affairs; economic and international trade; and environment. All of these issues are interconnected and cannot be viewed in isolation by any of Canada’s military, political or policy leaders.
As students across the U.S. march in solidarity for tougher gun laws in an uprising against the ongoing gun violence seen in their schools, the Government of Canada is introducing new gun legislation.
Democracy Watch released the letter it sent on 25 Sept 2018 to Ontario Auditor General (AG) Bonnie Lysyk calling on her to investigate and issue a ruling on the question of whether public money was spent on ads to produce and promote the Ford Conservatives’ fake news videos posted on social media and whether they violated the Government Advertising Act (GAA).
Statistics Canada wants to collect your individual banking transactions and sensitive personal identification information, but the initial plan has been put on hold after public outrage followed evidence that the data had been requested without consent of the randomly chosen Canadians.
The personal banking and financial transactions being requested include bill payments, cash withdrawals from ATMs, credit card payments, electronic money transfers and even account balances of Canadians across the country.
Thanks to excellent reporting by Andrew Duffy of the Ottawa Citizen, Canadians recently learned of a disturbing decision from Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Smith that acquitted a man of sexual assault against his former wife because the man and his then wife believed that their religion and culture entitled him to have sex with her whether she consented or not.
A Review of the Facts
With the return of Parliament on the near horizon, one of the security issues sure to attract attention (apart from the Omar Khadr $10.5M payoff and the Liberal government’s deer-in-the-headlights approach to the flood of persons illegally entering Canada to claim ‘refugee’ status) is what exactly is in Bill C-59 and how is it different from the Conservative’s much maligned C-51?
The House of Commons committee on the status of women has recommended that all RCMP members and judges receive mandatory training about gender-based violence and sexual assault.
The Government of Canada has repealed the coming into force of the private right of action for violations of Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). The Government has listened to concerns raised by businesses, charities and the not-for-profit sector about the implementation of CASL, which would have permitted individuals to sue for violations of the law.
On September 7, 2017, Fastenal Canada Ltd., of Kitchener, Ontario, was fined $265,000 after pleading guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to two counts of contravening the Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations, 1998 made pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. The fine will be directed to the Environmental Damages Fund.
Senator Bob Runciman has introduced a bill in the Senate to ensure judges have all the facts before they release violent or habitual criminals on bail.
Bill S-217, introduced on February 3rd, requires the prosecutor to make it known at the bail hearing if the accused has a criminal record, is currently facing other criminal charges or has failed to appear in court in the past. This may result in repeat offenders not getting any pre-trial credit at sentencing when they are deservedly denied bail because of their record.
The Government of Canada has introduced legislation to create a new labour relations regime for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) members and reservists.
The legislation would address the Supreme Court of Canada decision on the Mounted Police Association of Ontario (MPAO) v. Attorney General of Canada case, which found key parts of the current RCMP labour relations regime to be unconstitutional.
The Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) Judge Advocate General (JAG) is launching consultations with Canadians as part of the ongoing comprehensive review of the court martial system.
After the body of Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook was found in the Ottawa River, Sgt Chris Hrnchiar of the OPS forensic identification unit made some online remarks that now have him under internal investigation. Still on the job, Hrnchiar could face loss of pay, demotion, suspension or dismissal.
Last week, federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) ministers responsible for justice and public safety concluded two days of productive engagement, working on justice and public safety priorities for Canadians.
An Elder welcomed ministers to traditional Mi'kmaw territory.
Experts are meeting today and tomorrow at Carleton University to discuss “the challenges of dealing with natural resource development projects and activism" - or, in the words of one participant, how to protect Canada's infrastructure from "domestic extremists".
In 2012, CSIS knew exactly where John Maguire was before he left Canada to join ISIS in Syria, where he reportedly died fighting in 2015. Six months later, the RCMP was still trying to trace his movements.
Transport Canada issued a “protective direction” on November 20th, requiring the major railway companies to provide detailed information on their cargoes to municipalities and first responders – but the quarterly and annual reports will only cover what had been shipped in the previous three months and 12 months, respectively. At best, it would give municipalities and first responders a feel for what has already gone through their jurisdictions, not what’s coming (somewhat akin to closing the stable door after the horse has bolted).
One of the most important issues in policy development is to make sure that the subject being scrutinized is accurately identified so the right questions can be asked to help get the most effective answers. This is critical because the converse is also true; ask the wrong questions and you will get the wrong answers.
Many people believe the sale of contraband tobacco is a “victimless crime,” acknowledges Gary Grant, a retired police officer and spokesperson for the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco. In fact, he suggests every Canadian is a victim of the contraband tobacco chain. Profit from illegal cigarettes finances criminal gangs, cuts legitimate tax revenues, defeats attempts to discourage tobacco use (which is overloading the health care system), and harms new generations of Canadian young people every day.
Surveillance, Censorship, Intolerance and Violence
Implications for privacy at the Sochi Olympics
Athletes train their entire lives to compete in their sport at the Olympics. But in Sochi, our athletes, their coaches, sports organization representatives, spectators and dignitaries may find themselves competing in a different sort of games… that have already begun (without an opening ceremony).
The United Kingdom’s response to terrorism has been shaped by the various terrorist threats it has faced during the 20th century; from Russian anarchists, Irish republicans, Middle Eastern groups, to the supporters of causes such as animal rights. While the threat from Irish terrorism has diminished, an ongoing and serious terrorist threat to Northern Ireland remains. Currently, the UK assesses its most significant risk to national security as that from terrorism associated with and influenced by al-Qaeda.
Though it may be cliché to comment on the way wireless technology has changed the modern world, today, mobile devices allow us to express ourselves through social media in real time, help us navigate our daily lives, enable us to bank, trade, buy and sell on the move, and allow us to carry the internet’s unlimited information resources in our back pocket.
The first of this three-part series provided a global perspective, and this second article examines environmental factors of the illicit tobacco market, looking at illicit trade along Canada’s tobacco roads. Our focus is almost exclusively on illicit cigarettes manufactured in Ontario and Quebec and the factors driving this specific and lucrative trade. Watch for the final installment of FrontLine’s tobacco series, (to appear in the next edition), which will examine possible courses of action to reduce the scope and impact of the illicit trade.
Canada's largest law firm, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG), has long recognized that businesses operating in the defence and security industry sectors routinely encounter complex issues that require a specialized type of legal expertise. For this reason, it created a Defence and Security Industry Group comprised of lawyers, patent agents and other professionals who have sectoral experience working with industry clients in a wide range of areas.
Bringing Together Law and Technology
If you talk to Alison Redford about what it takes to do her job as Alberta’s Attorney General, her answer isn’t what you would expect from the province’s top lawyer. Crime rates have eased since she was appointed in 2008 but Attorney General Redford would not attribute this success to any one development alone. And, she makes the point that getting tough on crime takes more than just getting tough – it takes getting smart.
What happens when one or more of the complex systems that keep our civilization running break down? As unpleasant as it is to contemplate, this question dominates the thinking of Dr. Wolfgang Kröger, Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Safety Analysis of ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).
Canadians can be forgiven for wondering which way is up when trying to decipher the flood of news recently surrounding the status of Canada’s actions in security related cases. One day we’re subjected to shrieking headlines announcing the judge ordered “end” of security certificates – complete with a grinning Adil Charkaoui cutting off his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet – and the next it’s confirmed one of the ringleaders from the 2006 Toronto terrorism plots has just plead guilty.
2007/2008 What a Difference a Year and a UDI Makes
Mitrovica is Europe’s most divided city – Belgrade’s last bastion of influence in Kosovo – a thorn in the side of both the newly sovereign Kosovo Assembly in Pristina and the international community overseeing Kosovo’s new status. It is the flashpoint of most post-independence violence and demonstrations, and the seat of power for the illegal “parallel-institutions” that divide Kosovo’s internal governance with that of Belgrade’s.
Piracy on the high seas has been making the news headlines; most notably with the audacious hijacking in November of the Saudi-owned super tanker Sirius Star. At present the vessel, together with its multinational crew, languishes off the Somali coastal town of Hardeheere while negotiators attempt to reach an agreement with the present illegal custodians over a ransom payment for its release. The Sirius Star is just one of many vessels hijacked in recent times by pirates operating from Somali coastal towns and ports.
Canada has experienced a long and tortuous history of policing our Ports.
At the end of the First World War, the port police in Montreal are believed to have had more than 100 officers but in 1920 they numbered three individuals with limited responsibility.
Canada and her European allies had best beware of the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah as UN negotiations to halt Iran’s military nuclear program continue in stalemate, and tensions rise with Israel and the U.S.
On July 11, the eve of the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the recent conflict, Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, threatened European Union negotiators that Iran would harm Western interests if its nuclear program was referred back to the UN Security Council.
Outsourcers have a responsibility to protect client data regardless of where it flows or is stored – as is certainly highlighted by a barrage of client data security breaches of late.
GOOD BUSINESS SENSE
Greg Pellegrino, Global Managing Director, Public Sector, at Deloitte Research, in a Study entitled: “Prospering in the Secure Economy” explains the new secure economy, and the opportunity for enhancing business value by responding through investment in responsible approaches to security.
