MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – October 12, 2012

• Delisle Spy Case (1)  Let the editorials begin!  “Here’s the thing. A Canadian naval officer working in the HMCS Trinity intelligence hub in Halifax goes rogue. He hands the Russians a “vast amount” of classified data. It includes information on warship and aircraft deployments; tidbits about anything Russian, including mobsters; info on Canadian politicians; and a Who’s Who of military personnel complete with phone numbers and email addresses. And he gets away with it for years.  Then, when he confesses, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government shrugs and has nothing more to say than “we don’t comment on matters of national security.” Nice try. But Parliament shouldn’t let them off the hook that easily ….”
• Delisle Spy Case (2a)  Good idea …. “Canada and its allies are revamping security procedures in the wake of the Delisle spy case where the self-confessed Canadian agent for the Russians smuggled secrets out of protected military facilities using a USB memory stick.  “Together with our allies we are reviewing the procedures that were in place to protect the security of that information,” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters Thursday during a press conference in B.C.’s Lower Mainland ….”
• Delisle Spy Case (2b)  “The federal public safety minister says Canada remains tight with its intelligence allies despite a naval spy scandal that is said to have done “irreparable damage” to the country’s interests.  Vic Toews said Thursday he doesn’t believe Canada’s reputation with its closest collaborators has been hurt at all by navy Sub-Lt. Jeffery Paul Delisle’s actions ….” - more here.
• Delisle Spy Case (3) For now, anyway  “Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, who has pleaded guilty to selling military secrets to Russia, still holds his rank and receives a salary, the Department of National Defence confirmed to CBC News.  But that may not last forever if the Canadian Forces follows the precedent set in the case of convicted murderer Russell Williams, who was stripped of his rank as colonel and denied severance pay ….”
  
• Africa (1)  Canada:  Can’t have Mali become the next Afghanistan  “Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird on Thursday warned against letting the situation in Mali, sliced in two since a coup and partly controlled by Islamist radicals, go the way of Afghanistan.  “Terrorism is the great struggle of our generation,” said Baird after holding talks with French counterpart Laurent Fabius.  “We must not allow the same problems that the world allowed to happen in Afghanistan to show their face in the Saharan region and Mali,” he said.  “The territorial integrity… the humanitarian situation, the fight against terrorism must remain a priority,” he said.  The European Union is planning to send military trainers to help Mali’s army oust rebels and Islamic extremists controlling the north of the country, according to EU sources and a draft document obtained by AFP on Thursday.  France has drawn up a UN Security Council resolution seeking a detailed plan within 30 days on an international military intervention following a formal request from the authorities in Bamako.  The draft resolution by the former colonial power also calls on UN member countries and organisations such as the EU to train and equip the Malian army, which diplomats estimate at 1,500 men against twice that number for the rebel groups and fighters from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the north ….”
  
• Africa (2)  Meanwhile, the PM’s in Senegal, helping kids learn about geomatics (G.I.S., map making and the like) and helping keep people fed.
  
• Congrats  “For the first time, a Royal Canadian Air Force officer has won the Canadian Forces’ top marksman award twice in a row.  RCAF Capt. Ken Barling, NORAD headquarters air combat systems officer, was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Champion Shot for the second year in a row at this year’s Canadian Forces Small Arms Concentration competition held Sept. 9 – 22 at Connaught Range in Ottawa, Ontario.  Barling works as an Air Domain crew-member in the NORAD command center. He was posted to NORAD in August 2011.  “I feel very fortunate to have done as well as I did,” said Barling. “There are a lot of other first rate marksmen out there, and the competition was very close.” ….”
  
• “A new Canadian study challenges the notion that rape is frequently used as a tool of war.  Researchers at Simon Fraser University say there’s no evidence to support the widely held belief that high levels of sexual violence are common in war-torn countries.  “The mainstream narrative on wartime sexual violence that has emerged over the past two decades has been greatly influenced by a series of prominent UN reports and innovative initiatives — in particular, those associated with the Security Council’s ‘Women, Peace and Security’ policy agenda,” the 2012 Human Security Report reads.  “But while highly effective in drawing attention to wartime sexual violence and building support to prevent it, the mainstream narrative rests on a set of assumptions that are partial, misleading and sometimes flat wrong. Some of the assumptions also have unfortunate implications for policy.”  The report found that in countries at war between 2000 and 2009, reports of conflict-related sexual violence are “low to negligible.” ….”
• “Surviving war and time, a Canadian flyer that’s roamed the skies for 70 years — losing some heritage along the way — is about to find a new home.  But it would take top dollar to get the veteran back to the place it first protected.  A rare Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft that flew along Canada’s East Coast during the Second World War — possibly helping to protect convoys from German U-boats — is going up for auction and bids could reach a lofty $2.6 million.  Sholto Gilbertson, with the London, England-based Bonhams auctioneers, which is selling off the Hurricane Mk XIIa 5711 — fully equipped with 12 Browning .303 machine guns — said little is known of how the now fully restored fighter spent the war.  Built in 1942, it could have been used as a trainer for Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilots in Nova Scotia, or may have seen action during patrols over the Atlantic coast.  But what is known is the iconic monoplane Hurricanes, which protected London during the Battle of Britain, are disappearing ….”  More details from the auction house here.
  
• War of 1812 (1)  “Jacques Gourde, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, for Official Languages and for the Economic Development Agency for the Regions of Quebec, announced …. on behalf of the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, that the building located at 105 McGill Street/400 Place d’Youville, in Montreal, Quebec, will be called the Dominique Ducharme Building …. The Ducharmes were an important family involved in the fur trade and were for long closely associated with First Nations. Dominique Ducharme played a key role in the victory at the Battle of Beaver Dams in Upper Canada and at the Battle of the Chateauguay in 1813. It took the combined efforts of the British navy and army, volunteer Anglophone and Francophone militias and First Nations allies to put an end to the American invasion.”
• War of 1812 (2)  “Local Member of Parliament for Ancaster–Dundas–Flamborough–Westdale, David Sweet, on behalf of the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, …. announced that the building located at 55 Bay Street in Hamilton, Ontario, will be named the Sir Isaac Brock Building in recognition of his contribution during the War of 1812 …. Major-General Sir Isaac Brock played an instrumental role in the defence of Upper Canada and in the victorious Battle of Queenston Heights during the War of 1812. The first major American attack occurred at Queenston Heights on October 13, 1812. After losing his initial advantage, Brock led the troops himself in an attempt to charge up the Heights, where he was singled out by an American marksman and killed instantly. British forces, Canadian militia, and First Nations warriors rallied and drove back the Americans, forcing nearly 1,000 to surrender ….”
  
• “As early as 1862, militia regiments were being organized in what was to become Canada, at a time when Americans to the south were engaged in Civil War. In fact there are several regiments still active today that can trace their history prior to Confederation. Canada Post has created a new stamp issue to salute three of these regiments as well as honour them collectively for 150 years of military service.  The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada was founded in Montreal in 1862 as the 5th Battalion, Volunteer Militia Rifles of Canada. Tens of thousands of Canadians have served in Canada’s Black Watch in foreign wars, United Nations peacekeeping and stabilization missions, NATO interventions and crises at home. Its distinguishing emblem, The Red Hackle, is proudly worn as a symbol of tradition, duty and sacrifice.  The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, was also founded in 1862. “The Rileys” have served Canada in active duty at war, in peacekeeping efforts and in relief work at home. Originally known as the 13th Battalion Volunteer Militia (Infantry), it merged with the Wentworth Regiment in 1936 to become The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment).  In 1861, a group of Torontonians, fearing invasion from the south, raised a volunteer battalion that would lead to the formation of The Royal Regiment of Canada. This regiment would go on to serve Canada proudly in battle on three continents, and serve in peacekeeping missions around the world. The Volunteer Militia Rifles formed in 1862 and became the Royal Regiment of Canada in 1939 ….”      
• “The Royal Canadian Mint have launched their latest tribute to brave and pioneering Canadians with the issue of this commemorative coin to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Georgina Pope (1862 – 1938) who is noted with serving with distinction as a Nurse in the Boer War as well as the First World War.  She was born in Prince Edward Island and, after qualifying as a Nurse in 1899 – having completed her studies at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, she volunteered for services during the second Boer War in South Africa with the rank of Lieutenant. Having spent more than a year at the front of the Boer War, Pope was awarded the Royal Red Cross for having served with distinction and was appointed Canada’s First Matron of the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1908. Pope is also credited with being one of the first women of her day who were given a military rank as well as the salary attributed to that rank. When Pope died on the 6th June 1938, she was granted a full military funeral. Georgina is one of fourteen figures from Canada’s military history commemorated at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa ….”
  

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