MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – September 14, 2012
- Egypt “Canada has shut its embassy in Cairo for the day out of worries about security. A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman says the embassy is a close neighbour of the American mission, which has been the focus of angry protests by mobs. Canada shut down the embassy for the day out of concern for the safety of staff, she says. All personnel are safe and accounted for. Given that the normal Egyptian weekend is Friday-Saturday, the embassy is expected to be open for business on Sunday ….”
- Libya “Canada is reviewing the security situation at its embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli in the wake of the killing of American diplomats in the eastern city of Benghazi, says Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. “As you would expect, we’ll re-evaluate the environment as we regularly do for our personnel in Tripoli,” Mr. Baird said Wednesday from India, where he was on an official visit ….”
- “Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in Egypt, Libya and Yemen are horrific and disgusting, and that security concerns for Canadian staff in Iran forced Canada to close its embassy in that country. He didn’t elaborate on what the security concerns were that prompted the closing of the embassy in Iran several days before the U.S. missions were attacked ….”
- Kenya Some bad crap happening there, too “The European Union, Canada and Norway issue the following statement: The EU, Canada and Norway are deeply concerned by reports of continued violent clashes in Kenya’s Coast Province that have recently killed over one hundred people and displaced thousands. The EU, Canada and Norway present their condolences to the families and friends of all those affected. The EU, Canada and Norway call upon all parties to cease violence and engage in dialogue in order to resolve their differences, and welcome ongoing mediation efforts ….” – more on the fracas there here.
- Defence Minister welcomes new tanks to the CF “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, announced …. the arrival of the Leopard 2A4 Canadian tank as members of the Combat Training Centre’s Armour School showcased the dynamic fire-power and mobility of the latest platform of the Armoured Corps. The Government purchased the tanks from Netherlands in 2007 as part of a $650 million tank replacement project …. A total of 42 Leopard 2A4 Canadian tanks will be delivered to the Army by the end of 2013, with the first five currently serving at the Armour School at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. These five Leopard 2A4 Canadian tanks have already been integrated into training and are playing a key role in preparing armoured soldiers and officers for the challenges of the future ….”- more on the tanks via the Info-machine here, a bit of media coverage here & here, and some video of Canada’s “Army of the West” showing off the same tanks (which, I guess, arrived before the Minister’s announcement) here.
- “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, will make an announcement at the Fort York National Historic Site. Media are invited to attend ….”
- On the new money announced for mental health services: “…. Getting Canada’s troops and veterans the help they deserve and need has been a long, tough slog, and the Conservative government’s delivery still bears watching. Ottawa has moved in the right direction, but at nothing like the quick march that was called for.”
- Joshua Baker, 1985-2010, R.I.P. (1) “A teary military officer has pleaded guilty to negligent performance of duty over a 2010 training incident that killed a reservist and injured four others in Afghanistan. Four other charges were dropped by a military prosecutor. As Maj. Christopher Lunney took the stand at his court martial to offer an apology, he had to stop several times to compose himself. Cpl. Josh Baker died on a training range northeast of Kandahar and four others were wounded in February 2010. An uncontested statement of facts entered at Lunney’s trial says he failed to ensure a properly qualified officer was in charge of the exercise that day. Two other soldiers still face courts martial on charges of manslaughter in relation to Cpl. Baker’s death.”
- Joshua Baker, 1985-2010, R.I.P. (2) “Commander Peter Lamont, a Canadian Forces military judge, has sentenced Major Christopher Lunney to a reduction in rank to Captain and a severe reprimand in relation to the death of Corporal Joshua Baker and the injury of four other soldiers ….”
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (1) “The lead investigator examining the 2008 suicide of Cpl. Stuart Langridge says he kept a suicide note from Langridge’s family because he considered it evidence that might have helped determine whether the death by hanging could have been foul play. Sgt. Matthew Ritco, of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, told a Military Police Complaints Commission inquiry Thursday the note could have had fingerprints or DNA, although the note was never forensically examined ….”
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (2) “The decision to withhold Cpl. Stuart Langridge’s suicide note from his grieving family was a “judgment call” and not a nefarious attempt to protect the Canadian Forces from embarrassment, the lead investigator testified Thursday. Within hours of being called in, Sgt. Matthew Ritco seized the note from the Edmonton barracks room where Langridge’s body was found, and listed the veteran soldier’s last communication as the second item on his crime-scene inventory. It then disappeared from military records associated with the case and did not resurface until 14 months later, when Langridge’s parents, Shaun and Sheila Fynes, were notified of its existence ….”
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (3) “A psychologist who assessed a Canadian soldier who killed himself was never contacted by military police in the investigation that followed Cpl. Stuart Langridge’s death, a public inquiry was told Tuesday. Dr. William Lai, a Defence Department contract psychologist, heard from the military only once after the 28-year-old’s suicide in March 2008. “Somebody contacted me about having to appear before some sort of hearing,” Lai told the Military Police Complaints Commission. “I don’t remember exactly what the organization was called, but subsequently, I was told I was not required.” ….”
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (4) “A military investigator who was at the scene of a Canadian soldier’s suicide defended a decision to leave Cpl. Stuart Langridge’s body hanging from a chin-up bar for 90 minutes. Warrant Officer Jon Bigelow, of the military’s National Investigative Service, said it was necessary in order to rule out foul play. “It was still part of the crime scene,” he told a public hearing on Wednesday. “Unfortunately the body had to remain.” It was procedure not to cut down the body and cover it until photographs and video were taken, Bigelow added. The Alberta medical examiner was present when the police went through the room where Langridge hanged himself and gave “the thumbs up” to continue. “If there were any issues or concerns that we were taking too long, I’m sure he would have talked to us,” Bigelow said ….”
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (5) Column: “….There are reports that the federal government has agreed to cover the family’s costs of legal representation before the MPCC inquiry. One hopes so.”
- Way Up North “On an otherwise ordinary Monday in early August, a ship built in Asia, travelling from Europe and bound for Africa sidled up to the berths of the port in Churchill, Man., ready to be loaded with Canadian grain. After filling the hull with Prairie wheat, the MV Puffin was off, bound for the Nigerian port of Lagos with 42,779 cubic metres of cargo. The Puffin was the port’s first customer this shipping season. But if shifting global trade winds are any indication, a lot more vessels will follow in its wake. When Sir John Franklin set out to find the elusive Northwest Passage in 1845, the voyage that is now the focus of a Parks Canada search was a dream that cost him and his crew their lives. Now, pursuit of that passage to cross between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is seeing renewed interest as Arctic ice recedes to record lows. That’s opening up shipping lanes for huge tankers like the Puffin and others, which are always looking for cheaper and more efficient ways of hauling their freight from point A to B. Cruise ships already made the crossing on scheduled routes, and countless adventure seekers have made the trip over the years. Regular tanker travel is the next frontier ….”
