MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – August 18, 2012
- Way Up North “Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that he will travel to Canada’s North for the seventh consecutive year, from August 20 to 24, 2012. During his visit, he will stop in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern Manitoba, where he will make announcements in support of the economic and social development of Canada’s North …. This year’s tour reflects the priorities set out in Canada’s Northern Strategy: exercising our Arctic sovereignty; protecting our environmental heritage; promoting social and economic development; and improving and devolving Northern governance ….” - more on the PM’s Arctic road trip here and here.
- Syria (1) Canada’s Foreign Minister on the latest “Canada welcomes the decision of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to suspend Syria’s membership. We also congratulate the OIC on its leadership with this important issue. The Assad regime continues to prove to the rest of the world that it has no regard for human life. Each day sees a new example of the regime’s callous behaviour. Recent reports describe the deaths of 30 people, and the wounding of 150 following an air strike by Syrian forces. The regime’s abhorrent behaviour knows no bounds. “This decision only further emphasizes the growing international isolation of the regime. Now is the time for the UN Security Council to join international consensus and put an end to the brutality of the Assad regime ….”
- Syria (2) Anatomy of a backpedal on Canadian medical aid to Syrian rebels “It’s probably a good thing that Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs wasn’t in charge of covertly supporting the Afghan mujahedeen during the Cold War. Given DFAIT’s clumsy attempts to channel aid to Syria this week, I’m not even sure an underage teenager hanging around the LCBO parking lot should trust Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to secretly buy him booze ….”
- West coast reporter gets to embed with CF troops participating in RIMPAC 2012 “Residents of the Comox Valley are familiar with various military aircraft passing overhead and perhaps wonder what roles they play in Canada’s air defence or rescue capability. Recently I had the opportunity to observe one aspect of their role. I was permitted to fly on one of the CC 130 Hercules tankers out of Winnipeg Squadron 435, used to refuel other aircraft while in flight, as part of the biannual RIMPAC Exercise 2012 in Hawaii. Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) is the world’s largest international maritime exercise, designed to prepare military forces to work together in missions ranging from providing humanitarian aid to full combat operations. RIMPAC began in 1971 as an annual exercise and since 1974 has been scheduled every other year. The endurance of the exercise demonstrates the value of bringing international forces together to train. This year, approximately 25,000 personnel from 22 nations participated ….”
- “A parade was held …. at Canadian Forces Base Borden, to mark the graduation of Aboriginal youth from the seven-week Black Bear Youth Development Program. Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin, Commander Canadian Army and Mr. Peter Ittinuar, the first Inuk Member of Parliament and highly respected member of the Aboriginal community, were in attendance as the reviewing officers for the 57 graduating Aboriginal youth from across Canada. During the seven weeks, the recruits held the rank of private and participated in military and Aboriginal culture events including sharing circles, Pow Wows, drill and weapons training as well as training in the use of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear personal protection equipment ….”
- Next CDS: Whoozit gonna be? One columnist’s choice “…. it seems the one most qualified to be CDS may be Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, former chief of land staff, who was subsequently chief of transformation of the Canadian Forces. Leslie retired last fall but, like Gen. John de Chastelain before him, could be seconded out of retirement to be CDS. Leslie’s report — recommending changes and efficiencies in the Forces without affecting performance — worried the military but was popular with the PM, who is economizing every way he can. Although there would be miffed feelings — even resentment — among contenders for the CDS job, it’s pretty hard to argue against Leslie’s credentials. He was bypassed for CDS when Hillier and Natynczyk got the job, but he’s served as a commander in Afghanistan, as well as in the Balkans, and on paper seems a natural ….”
- “A northern Ontario woman will serve a 20-month conditional sentence in her community for stealing more than $190,000 from the federal government. If not for the significant health and addiction issues at play during the time Crystal Charlebois-Miller defrauded her employer, she would be going to “real jail,” Ontario Court Justice Andrew Buttazzoni said Thursday. “It’s a close call,” he said, after noting jail terms are the usual penalties for cases of fraud against the public at large. Charlebois-Miller, 52, bilked National Defence and Canadian Forces (DND/CF) of $192,000 between December 2004 and May 2008. A former civilian employee at the Sault Armoury, she was a contracts and procurement officer for the department’s Area Support Unit Northern Ontario. Court heard that Charlebois-Miller, who pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000 at an earlier court appearance, changed and falsified documents to divert increasing amounts of money into her bank account ….”
- Ooopsie …. “A festival planned for this weekend in Winnipeg has some people asking how the entertainment got into Canada. A military band and an Eritrean government minister escorting them are members of an organization banned in Canada, say human-rights watchers. “As members of the EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front), they must have lied about their identities,” said Ghezae Hagos of the Eritrean-Canadian Human Rights Group of Manitoba. Canada passed a law in 2010 making EPLF members inadmissible to Canada. The law says it is an organization “known to have engaged in acts of subversion and terrorism.” Zemhret Yohannes, head of research and documentation for Eritrea’s ruling party, and the military Walta Band stop in Winnipeg for what’s billed as a “mini festival” Saturday after visiting Toronto and Calgary. Walta means “the shield” in Tigrinya, the Eritrean language. A monitoring group’s report to the UN earlier this summer (page 22 of PDF) flagged such festivals as fundraisers organized by Eritrean government officials living in the diaspora ….”
- And just what folks are headed to Europe to remember Dieppe on the 70th Anniversary? This from the CF/DND Info-machine: “…. The main commemorative ceremony will be held on August 19, 2012, at the Parc du Canada, in Dieppe, France. This is a Canadian-lead event, with permission granted from the Town of Dieppe and the French Government. The event will include a 55 CF member contingent representing the units involved in the raid from all over Canada, Canadian Veterans who participated in the Dieppe Raid, Canadian cadets and scouts, and a 30-person brass and reed band from Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal. Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal is a regiment that took part in the Dieppe Raid and has the “Dieppe” battle honour as one of its many Second World War honours ….”
- War of 1812 More honours reportedly in the sausage machine “After more than a year of fierce, back-channel debates among historians and government officials, Canadian military regiments with links to 200-year-old units that fought in the War of 1812 have finally begun receiving so-called “battle honours” that formally recognize Canadian soldiers’ contributions in at least five major engagements from the war. While Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced this week that several Canadian regiments will now be recognized for “perpetuating” the 19th-century units that fought in the Battle of Detroit — a key August 1812 victory led by British commander Sir Isaac Brock and allied aboriginal warrior Tecumseh — Postmedia News has learned that similar honours will soon be bestowed to other present-day military units for the Battle of Queenston Heights, the Battle of Chateauguay and the Battle of Crysler’s Farm ….”
