MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – May 17, 2013

• “Peruvian Defence Minister, Pedro Cateriano, met Ambassador of Canada to Peru, Patricia Portier, to further strengthen defence and security cooperation.  The meeting was attended by Peru’s Interior Minister, Wilfredo Pedraza; Minister of Energy and Mines, Jorge Merino; official of Canadian Commercial Corporation, Stan Jacobson, commercial counselor, Sandra Shaddick and business consultant, Katia Rivadeneyra.  This year, Cateriano paid an official visit to Canada from February 28 to March 2, to deepen bilateral ties in security and defence ….”
• “Some Canadian Forces members and veterans say the military culture needs to accept the usefulness of service dogs for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Many former soldiers are now acquiring specially trained dogs to help them manage anxiety, anger and stressful situations.  Jocelyn Boucher, who served as a warrant officer doing military intelligence in the Canadian Forces for three decades overseas, said he began taking his support dog, Spirit, to his part-time job only to be told a short time later his services were no longer needed.  Boucher was under doctor’s instructions to limit his work to two half-days a week. He and his wife were surprised at his release, as he had recently signed on for three more months at two half-days a week.  “I said, ‘Is this about my dog?’ He said, ‘No, no it’s not about your dog. It’s about the hours,’” Boucher said.  His wife Theresa said she’s convinced he was let go because of the dog. She said the military culture needs to change ….”
• “A sailor in the Royal Canadian Navy says she’s fighting two battles right now — one against breast cancer and another against the navy — over a disputed sick day last year.  “I can’t put into words how it feels,” said Able Seaman Carol Anne Deyoung. “I feel somehow betrayed.”  Deyoung said she felt a growing lump in her breast last June and called in sick.  She was then ordered to go to a military hospital on Canadian Forces Base Stadacona in Halifax. She said she followed orders, but it took her two hours to get there.  A month later, she was told she was being charged with two counts of disobeying a lawful command and one count of absence without leave ….” - more discussion of the case (or at least what we’re able to read of it to this point) at Milnet.ca here
  
• “Charges of committing a terrorist hoax have been dropped against four people arrested last year when Montreal’s subway system was paralyzed at the height of rush hour by smoke-bomb attacks.  Jean Pascal Boucher, a spokesman for the director of criminal and penal prosecutions, says the Crown decided there was insufficient evidence to support the charge.  Three woman face charges of mischief and conspiracy while a man faces an additional charge of possession of a prohibited weapon.  The four accused are free on bail pending their next court appearance on Sept. 3.  At least three smoke bombs were tossed into several subway stations in Montreal on May 10, 2012, shutting down the entire system for hours during the key morning commute period ….”
  
• “More Canadians say they are seeing unidentified flying objects than ever before, with 2012 numbers nearly doubling the record number of sightings recorded in previous years.  In 2012, there were 1,981 sightings, nearly doubling the previous annual record of 1,004 sightings recorded in 2008. There were record numbers of UFOs reported in every province last year except for Saskatchewan and P.E.I. ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – April 8, 2013

• Algeria (1)  Seems like guy #3 is, indeed, in jail (and off the hook, a bit, for the Algerian attack)  “Aaron Yoon, a London, Ont., man who went overseas with two high school friends who later perished participating in a militant attack on an Algerian gas plant, has told CBC News he is shocked to hear his friends were killed.  Yoon, who is about 24, was arrested in Mauritania in December 2011 on charges of belonging to an illegal organization. He was sentenced to two years in prison in the summer of 2012.  It appears Yoon had no role in the Algerian gas plant attack by militants linked with al-Qaeda in January of this year, in which his two former classmates, Ali Medlej and Xris Katsiroubas, were among the dozens killed. Yoon was already behind bars in Mauritania when the attack happened.  Before his arrest, Yoon attended a religious school in Mauritania, reportedly with Americans and Europeans, studying the Qur’an. Yoon, was raised a Catholic, but converted to Islam a year before graduating from London South Secondary School.  Speaking by cellphone with the CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault, Yoon said he didn’t know Medlej and Katsiroubas had been killed, saying that he lost touch with them about two years ago ….”
• Algeria (2)  “Doubt is being cast on a young Canadian man’s claim that the federal government is not helping him try to get out of jail in the West African nation of Mauritania.  Sources familiar with the file tell CBC News that Aaron Yoon has been visited nine times by either Canada’s Honorary Consul based in Mauritania or by consular officials based in Rabat, Morocco.  A spokesperson for Diane Ablonczy, Canada’s minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote in a statement that “Canadian officials continue to provide assistance to the individual as they would for any Canadian detained abroad.” The assistance does not signify a belief in Yoon’s guilt or innocence, read the statement.  The sources say Yoon repeatedly urged officials not to contact his family in Canada to advise them of his situation. The government is required by the Privacy Act to abide by that kind of request ….”
• Algeria (3)  Column:  “You could call them the 519 Caliphate, after their area code. Or perhaps the Middlesex County Mujahedeen. We don’t know what the three London, Ont., high-school students branded themselves, but it appears that Aaron Yoon, Ali Medlej and Xris Katsiroubas were probably the latest in a long history of young Canadians to travel overseas to take part in a foreign struggle ….”
  
• Algeria (4)  Column:  “….  Religion is but one of several factors galvanizing mostly alienated youth to militancy, according to studies by security services in Canada, the U.S. and across Europe. Often their inspiration was no farther than a click away on the Internet. Their biggest motivation has been revenge for the occupation of Muslim lands and the killing of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.  Constantly looking for culprits under prayer carpets is racist, Islamophobic and, more crucially, counterproductive. It feeds the jihadist narrative that the West is at war with Muslims — something that terrorist groups use as a recruitment tool.”
• How Terrorists are Made (1)  “The allure of fighting for a cause steeped in religious obligation is one of the reasons why more and more North American youth are choosing to join terrorist organizations overseas, says Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a Canadian man who says he once fought alongside Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia ….”
• How Terrorists are Made (2)  “Terrorists using social media – they were, unfortunately, among the early adopters.  Still, it’s not often that a wanted terrorist – especially one whose name is on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Terrorists list – would agree to take part in a live blog moderated by the Global News special investigation program 16×9 on Friday ….”
• Syria  “Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird (yesterday) announced that Canada is providing real leadership to help address the effects of raging crisis in Syria. Canada is extending credit of up to $2 million to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The Canadian contribution will make possible the investigation announced recently by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon into alleged chemical weapons use in Syria ….” - more here
• North Korea (1)  “Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird …. issued the following statement:  “In another series of dangerous actions and rhetoric, North Korea continues to threaten regional and global security. These acts serve as a reminder of why North Korea is among the most isolated regimes in the world.  While the North Korean people starve, precious resources are used for military weapons and the country’s nuclear program. We call on the leadership in North Korea to reverse this dangerous course and start attending to the urgent needs of its people, who have continued to suffer under repressive regimes.  The United Nations Security Council has taken strong and unequivocal actions with the virtually unanimous support of the international community, serving clear notice to the rogue regime in Pyongyang ….” “
• North Korea (2)  “As nuclear-armed North Korea continues to threaten war, a former Canadian diplomat says it is time for Canada to reconsider its decision to not join a ballistic missile defence program.  “You can’t be sure whether something aimed at the United States isn’t going to strike Canada. Our interest is in protecting Canadians, ” Colin Robertson said in an interview on the Global News program The West Block with Tom Clark.  Robertson’s call comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un began mobilizing long range missiles and cleared his army to launch a nuclear attack on North America. Diplomats in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang have also received warning that their safety will not be guaranteed past Wednesday and have been urged to leave ….”
• One of the other places the troops are working  “The 1,700 km stretch of Haitian coastline is dotted with numerous islands, making surveillance difficult and gives smugglers and criminal groups an advantage for carrying out their illegal activities. They pose a real threat to the country’s stability and the establishment of a credible and effective law enforcement agency. To combat this, training and mentoring are underway for the Haitian National Police (HNP) so that it can fight criminal activity throughout its territory, as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) ….”  - more on Canada’s OP Hamlet in Haiti here
• Well done CSOR!  “The fifth Warrior Competition concluded (28 Mar 13), with the Jordanian teams winning nine awards.  Organised by the Jordan Armed Forces and the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre (KASOTC), the four-day international competition, included 35 teams from 18 Arab and foreign countries …. The Canadian Special Operations Regiment team leader said the competition was “fun”, with the team winning five awards and third place in the overall results ….” - more on the competition here
• “When Sylvain Chartrand was captured in Bosnia while in the military, when he was suffering from post-traumatic stress, the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Veterans Hospital was a welcome haven. But veterans like Chartrand and about 14,000 others in the Montreal area worry about what’s going to happen when the hospital passes from federal to provincial hands in less than six months.  “We need places where they have multi-disciplinary health care professionals who work together for the benefit of the veteran,” Chartrand said during a demonstration in front of the hospital Saturday afternoon.  The biggest concern for people who use the hospital is whether the province can maintain the level of care that it enjoyed under federal stewardship. The hospital has consistently ranked among Canada’s best, and is the last of 18 veterans hospitals to have gone from federal to provincial management.  Workers and patients want answers now, as to whether the province plans on retaining the hospital’s standards ….” - more here
• “The Mounties have been called in to investigate allegations that a long-time veterans advocate continues to be harassed, even after he won a human-rights case against a federal review panel.  The RCMP probe was initiated at the request of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which is carrying out a separate review of fresh allegations by Harold Leduc.  Leduc is the outspoken former warrant officer who created a political storm last year when he claimed members and management of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board leaked private information about his post traumatic stress diagnosis.  He alleged the leak was made in order to discredit his decisions at the board, which takes a second look at the rejected benefits claims of ex-soldiers.  The human rights commission had previously ordered the veterans board to pay Leduc $4,000, including legal costs, for harassment he’d suffered from other agency members.  But he claims the harassment did not cease, even though his position with the board was not renewed last fall ….”
  
• “Relax folks: those “loaded” U.S. nuclear missiles being shipped around Vancouver Island by train aren’t real and are just movie props.  In fact, they were used for Gareth Edward’s reboot of the Godzilla movie franchise, filmed on Vancouver Island in late March, just as tensions are on the rise with North Korea.  At one point, the fake nukes were strapped to a train car and appeared to be headed towards the Canadian Forces test ranges in Nanoose Bay, B.C.  Godzilla publicist Ernie Malik says the props were likely made in B.C., as the entire film was expected to be shot in this province, and were used in one scene.  Canadian Forces spokesman Kevin Carle says the military doesn’t have nuclear weapons and has not received any complaints about the props ….”
  

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – April 6, 2013

• Algeria  “How three London teens ended up dead or jailed, accused of terrorism”
• Way Up North (1)  Arctic expert on a proposed CF arctic training centre in the far north  “…. I think the idea of training soldiers for cold weather is a really important one in a country that has Arctic conditions across very large parts of the provinces in wintertime. So yes, if there is a need for disaster response in Saskatchewan in winter, then it’s really important to have winter trained soldiers. And Resolute [Bay] strikes me as a good place to do that because of course there are facilities there that are used that were built for scientists to use in the summer. So the idea of having a dual functional dormitory and cafeteria and warehouse in Resolute to be used for training soldiers in the winter and for scientific support – for housing scientists in the summer – is simply common sense ….”
• Way Up North (2)  Paper:  “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Break It:  Expanding and Enhancing the Canadian Rangers” ( 28 page PDF)
  
• Way Up North (3)  “Soldiers and Canadian Rangers kicked off their spring time Arctic sovereignty operation April 2, launching patrols across the High Arctic Islands from Resolute Bay.  This year’s Operation Nunalivut will see more than 120 members of the Canadian forces, including about 35 Rangers, fan out from operation headquarters in four patrols. Three of these will cover the northwestern portion of the islands ….”
• “On behalf of the Honorable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister for La Francophonie, Parliamentary Secretary Eve Adams (yesterday) joined Her Excellency Ms. Quentin Bryce AC CVO, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, at the National War Memorial for a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of Canadian Veterans and Canadian Armed Forces personnel ….”
• “The Honourable Vic Toews, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, (yesterday) announced that the Government of Canada has delivered on its commitment to provide an ex gratia payment to the families of the victims of the bombing of Air India Flight 182. This payment is a symbolic gesture to acknowledge the administrative difficulties families faced following the bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985 ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – March 28, 2013

• RCAF to fly elephants to California on Bob Barker’s dime?  “It’s time for three aging elephants at Toronto Zoo to finally pack their trunks and head into the sunset of their retirement years in sunny California.  Apparently, a Jumbo jet just isn’t big enough.  The three pensioner pachyderms — Toka, Thika and Iringa — will be airlifted to the West Coast aboard a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17.  Armed Forces officials met this week with representatives from Zoocheck, an organization that enables these kinds of difficult animal transfers. A decision from Defence Minister Peter MacKay is imminent and the Toronto Sun has learned it’s anticipated that once the expected approval comes through, Operation Dumbo Drop will swing into action and the elephants will be moved almost immediately.  Zoocheck had originally asked the Armed Forces to transport the animals to California, because no other organization has a plane big enough to accommodate the massive animals ….  The cost of the airlift is estimated to be in the $500,000-$700,000 range, but Canadian taxpayers won’t pay a cent. Former game show host Bob Barker has pledged $850,000 through his elephant rescue foundation to pay for the airlift — so the price is right ….”
• More Canadian, American engineers working together, this time in Florida
• Way Up North (1)  More, again, on Canadian jets guarding Iceland’s airspace
  
• Way Up North (2)  “Joint Task Force (North) will conduct Operation NUNALIVUT 2013 (Inuktitut for “land that is ours”) from 2 to 30 April 2013, as one of the major sovereignty operations conducted every year by the Canadian Armed Forces in Canada’s North.  The Operation will take place in the northwestern portion of the Arctic Archipelago, extending as far west as Mould Bay, Northwest Territories, and north to Isachsen, Nunavut, with the Task Force Headquarters located in Resolute Bay, Nunavut ….”
• Way Up North (3)  “When the Government first announced it would enhance the Ranger Program, I believed it was an excellent opportunity to improve security and sovereignty of the Arctic. Unfortunately, I am not convinced that the new resources are well spent. Additional options should be examined ….”
• Letter to the editor from the CF:  We do TOO have a decent system of taking care of the mentally ill and families of the fallen
  
• “The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister for La Francophonie, applauded The War Amps of Canada for its legacy of support for Canada’s Veterans. The War Amps recently achieved two significant milestones—its 95th anniversary and 1.5 million sets of keys returned to Canadians ….”
  
• “Far from a victimless crime or a local police problem, cross-border smuggling is an epidemic that renders both Canada and the United States vulnerable to external security threats, a study released by commissioned by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) warned …. Smugglers threaten the safety and integrity of local populations, as well as the viability of future Canada-U.S. economic and security co-operation along the border, the study’s authors warn.  The Ottawa-Montreal corridor bordering the states of New York and Vermont is one of the worst regions for cross-border contraband and human smuggling on the Canada-U.S. border. Although the contraband trade is active in many border regions, including in the Pacific Northwest and along the East Coast, it is endemic in the Cornwall, Ontario, region between Montreal and Kingston and upstate New York.  The unique geographic and legal characteristics of this corridor create the conditions in which the illegal movement of narcotics, weapons, humans, tobacco and counterfeit goods can thrive ….” – more in the study here (PDF)
• “The government has a duty to stop Canadians from travelling overseas to commit terrorism, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Wednesday at the opening of a conference on countering violent extremism.  As both Algeria and Bulgaria were investigating terrorist attacks attributed to Canadian citizens, Mr. Toews called violent homegrown extremism “one of the greatest threats” facing democratic nations.  “There is a real concern that new and evolving conflicts in the world may lure youth to engage in violent extremist activities at home and abroad,” according to speaking notes of the address released by his staff ….” – a bit more from the Info-machine here
  
• “You couldn’t take them home with you, but the stories of participants in a unique event should last long in the memory.  To celebrate National Francophonie Week and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Historica-Dominion Institute recently held a human library event at the Centre culturel franco-manitobain in St. Boniface …. During the event, a number of speakers — including RCAF pilot Maj. Karl-Hans Désilets, navy medic Dorothy Butler, harmonica master Gérald Laroche and Coun. Dan Vandal (St. Boniface) — sat around tables and shared their experiences with community members.  Among the featured speakers was Melvin Swan — an Ojibwa warrior and Canadian Forces veteran who faced racial discrimination while serving, which lead him to launch and win a landmark human rights case against the military. Despite suffering a recent stroke, Swan continues to advocate for cross-cultural awareness and mentor aboriginal youth ….”
  

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – March 27, 2013

• “(Northumberland—Quinte West Conservative) MP Rick Norlock says there are no plans to rethink moving a secretive commando unit to CFB Trenton despite expected cuts in defence spending.  The feds wrapped up the expropriation process on the remaining properties needed to construct a 400-hectare training facility for Joint Task Force 2 in August, 2012.  Norlock, who sits on the government’s parliamentary defence committee, was unable to provide a timeline as to when construction of the massive training facility is expected to begin.  “All indications I have is that the project is a go, but I don’t have a definitive date,” said Norlock.  Norlock said the extent of defence department budget cuts won’t be known until the budget implementation bill is tabled in the House of Commons.  A national defence spokesperson told QMI Agency in February a design contract for a JTF-2 training campus north of CFB Trenton would be issued “soon.”  But now it appears the government could move the project back.  “I don’t know when an RFP for design work will be issued,” said Norlock ….”
• What’s HMCS Ville de Quebec up to?
• Canadian, American engineers train together  “For two weeks in March 2013, members of the Royal Air Force 3 Wing Construction Engineers Canadian Forces Base, Bagotville, Quebec, made the 145th Civil Engineering Squadron at the North Carolina Air National Guard Regional Training Site in New London, N.C., their home ….”
• New fire trucks for the Air Force
• More on Canada’s Air Force guarding the skies of Iceland for a while
  
• Way Up North (1)  “Is (Canada’s) Arctic focus being lost?”
  
• Way Up North (2a)  “Myth of fresh Cold War in Arctic won’t die”
• Way Up North (2b)  Russian media:  ” ‘US anti-missile reshuffle, really, aimed at control over Arctic resources’ “
  
• “SOSsitter, the site that helps Canadians find a local nanny, babysitter, special needs caregiver, pet sitter, or a cleaning lady, is offering a permanent discount on its services to families in the Canadian Forces.  “The Canadian Forces today have more than one million individuals in service, and many tend to their family needs while on duty,” says Paulina Podgorska, founder of SOSsitter. “We have more than 15,000 caregivers and housekeepers registered across Canada, they are all ready to help.” ….”
  
• “Harper Government Supports Military Families at “Military Families Matter” Event in Cornwall” by having Minister of Veterans Affairs give keynote address
• Afghanistan  “A man who worked alongside Canadian Forces troops during the war in Afghanistan has been denied entry to Canada.  Esmatullah Meherzada, like hundreds of Afghans, worked with Canadian soldiers on the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team. Now that the war is over, he’s worried Taliban fighters will kill him for the work he did.  Meherzada qualified to emigrate to Canada under a special program started in 2009 and closed in 2011. But after he applied to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, he was flatly denied.  Meherzada said last August he received a rejection letter from Canadian immigration officials saying he was not trustworthy, and may even be an insurgent ….”
  
• “Minister Toews to speak at the Symposium on Countering Violent Extremism” today
  
• “Members of the RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) arrested and charged one Windsor resident with False Report of a Terrorist Activity and Public Mischief.  In December 2012, the Windsor RCMP received information of a possible terrorist plot involving several males in the Windsor area.  INSET investigators immediately began investigations into the reported plot. Extensive interviews and enquiries were conducted which led to investigators determining the reports of terrorist activity were false.  On December 24, 2012, INSET investigators with the assistance of the Windsor Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police arrested Abdul Raham ELSAFADY (33 years old) of Windsor, Ontario ….” 

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – March 1, 2013

• Quebec military families still pissed they may not be able to send their kids to English-language schools - more here
• “A man arrested in connection with a major student protest in Quebec this week is facing various charges, including inciting terrorism.  Denis Marc Pelletier is back in a Montreal courtroom today for what is supposed to be a bail hearing, although a lawyer says it’s not clear if it will proceed.  The 29-year-old Pelletier is facing at least seven charges, including possession of explosives, possession of an arson device and uttering threats.  The charge of inciting terrorism stems from alleged postings on a social media site last weekend ….” - more in English here and here, and in French here
  
• American chap faces charges of vandalism linked to the breaking of a store window during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto
• RCAF folks reportedly enjoying training in Florida
• Way Up North  Think tank paper “examines the challenges and potential successes for Canada as it takes over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council” - paper available (16 page PDF) here
• “Validity of Khadr’s guilty plea in doubt”?
• Former Canadian intelligence guy:  it ain’t JUST the Chinese cyber spying

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights –February 28, 2013

• Editorial on defence cuts:  “…. The Conservative government should be careful to avoid a repeat of the “decade of darkness.” ….”
• Remember this bombing from three summers ago at a Quebec recruiting office?  Cops have arrested (and released) someone in connection with the attack, and the investigation continues.
• Remember the proposed bill to make it easier for foreign nationals to become citizens if they join the CF, and allow the removal of citizenship from those committing acts of war against Canada?  Bill C-425 has passed Second reading (here’s who voted which way in the 276-3 vote), and moves to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration for further study.
  
• From the Info-machine:  “Through the door of what looks like an ordinary ocean freighter shipping container is a world of high-tech machines and highly trained technicians working to identify insurgents hoping to harm Canadian soldiers ….”
• Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs:  Thanks, Queen’s University, for offering priority hiring to vets
• House of Commons debate on nursing home beds for vets (and how Canada seems to want to get out of the business of supplying them?)
  
• “Marcella Cormier doesn’t think she’s asking for much.  A veteran’s widow of three years, she’s now in her own battle – with Veterans Affairs Canada.  The 68-year-old said she needs the housekeeping service from their Veterans Independence Program, but is being unfairly denied.  “I guess the main reason is we didn’t get it when my husband, Paul, was living. I was a little bit younger then and I felt I didn’t need it at the time, but now I would certainly like to be able to get a bit of help.”  Veterans’ surviving spouses are eligible to receive the housekeeping and/or grounds keeping assistance through the program. However, not all widows are treated equally, depending on what benefits the veteran was receiving at the time of death ….“
  
• Defence Minister to sign some paperwork with Peru tomorrow
• “Prince Philip is planning a lightning trip to Toronto this spring.  The Duke of Edinburgh will travel to the city on April 27 to present a new regimental colour to the Third Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment.  It’s his only engagement during what Ottawa describes as a “private working visit.” ….”
• Way Up North  “(Aboriginal Affairs) Minister Valcourt Announces Plateau Site in Cambridge Bay as Location for Canadian High Arctic Research”
• Ooopsie …. “A health care executive who Prime Minister Stephen Harper once appointed to oversee the national spy agency is now a wanted man.  Quebec’s anti-corruption squad issued arrest warrants Wednesday for Dr. Arthur Porter and four other men embroiled in allegations of fraud swirling around the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal’s English-language hospital network ….” – a bit more here
  

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – February 25, 2013

And we’re back!  Thanks for your patience….

• “A re-write of the Canada First Defence Strategy will come after the next budget, according to both the minster of defence and Canada’s top military official Friday morning.  Both Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson and Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the Ottawa Conference on Defence and Security that times are tight, but transformation means reinvestment in operational capabilities.  However, an overall reassessment of the Canada First Defence Strategy, the document that has provided the vision for the Canadian Forces since 2008 will only come following federal budgetary decisions.  ….”
• France’s top soldier thanks Canada for Mali help  ….
• …. adding more help would be nice, too
  
• Head of U.S. Special Forces to Canadian defence audience:  “The U.S. cannot address the challenges of tomorrow alone. They are too diverse, too unpredictable …. We don’t have the fiscal capability, the manpower, and in some cases the resources to go it alone. None of us do.”
  
• CDS:  Stand by for MORE cuts to defence spending ….
• ….. including the Reserves (with this post from Milnet.ca to provide a bit of context)
• HMCS Glace Bay helping search for missing fishermen off southwest Nova Scotia
• Meanwhile, HMCS Toronto has been working with the Israeli Navy
  
• Way Up North:  Training exercise near James Bay winding down
  
• Joshua Baker, 1985-2010, R.I.P  One former soldier found guilty of charges related to Baker’s death, one serving Reserve officer demoted and fined.
• CDS:  Still lovin’ them (50-ish year old) Sea Kings!
• Minister of Defence visits the U.K., signs some papers
  
• A new Associate Minister of Defence (wonder if this part of her job description – “…. to fulfil the Government’s commitments to the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces ….” – means she’ll be responsible for saying how well vets and wounded warriors get treated?)
• CF troops in Quebec pissed at possible changes to rules allowing their kids to go to English-language schools
  
• Poochie helping vet deal with PTSD
• He’s Aboriginal, he’s Muslim, and he’s on Canada’s (and Australia’s?) spywatchers’ radar
• “A New (security think tank) Report Questions How Much We Should Fear al-Qaeda”
• Remembering the end of the WW 2 Italian Campaign here, and War of 1812  here, here, here, here and here.
  

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – February 11, 2013

• A different reading of the tea leaves from recent promotion/retirement announcements  “There were two ways to read the senior officers’ promotions and retirements list that was circulated to the brass last week by Canada’s top general, Tom Lawson.  The consensus of those outside the military was that the rotation that was announced was a clearing of the decks so that the Harper government can proceed with steep cuts to defence spending. This conclusion suggested that some of those getting out were doing so because they refused to be patsies. That line of thought might lead some to believe that those replacing them might be more pliable.  But those still in harness are not pushovers or patsies. At least 17 of the men – and they are all men – who are being promoted or cross-posted have held or still hold senior positions in Afghanistan.  Another way to read this year’s annual list – and it is an annual list, not something extraordinary only done this winter – is that it is ironic that many of the most battle-hardened Afghan veterans have been promoted at a time when the prime minister has been sending strong signals that he does not intend to send combat troops overseas for the foreseeable future.  Among the biggest winners in this game of musical chairs was Canada’s most celebrated infantryman, Maj.-Gen. Jon Vance, who had two combat tours in Kandahar. Another was Vance’s high school buddy, Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner. Vance is soon to become a “three leaf” while Milner, a tanker who was Canada’s last combat commander in Kandahar, is about to become the last Canadian two-star to serve in Kabul, where he will be the deputy commander of NATO’s Afghan training program ….”
• What HMCS Regina is up to in the Gulf of Aden fighting terrorism  “The Gulf of Aden, situated between Yemen and Somalia, contains one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. With an average of 21,000 ships transiting annually, it is part of the waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Arabian Sea. Determining which of these ships is engaged in legitimate commerce and which may have more detrimental intentions is one of the challenges faced by Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150).  CTF-150 is part of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and consists of ships from countries such as Australia, Canada, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Tasked with counter-terrorism and maritime security operations, the task force works to prevent and stop illicit activity in the region.  HMCS Regina, Canada’s contribution to CTF-150, is currently conducting what is referred to as maritime interdiction operations. The aim of these patrols is to prevent illicit activity by observing and investigating the local shipping activity. By determining the normal trade routes and routines of the various types of vessels that pass through the region every day, CMF is better able to determine which activity is suspicious or illegal ….”
  
• “Guidelines that have protected the independence of military police since the Somalia affair will be curtailed by new legislation working its way through Parliament, a civilian watchdog warns.  The Military Police Complaints Commission will tell a Commons committee next week that the bill would give the Canadian Forces’ second-in-command the ability to direct investigations into soldiers under his or her command.  MPCC chairman Glenn Stannard has submitted a brief to the Commons defence committee saying Bill C-15 goes against a two-decade trend of making military police more independent.  The clause prompting the MPCC’s concern — found in Sec. 18.5 of the bill — allows the vice chief of defence staff to “issue instructions or guidelines in writing in respect of a particular investigation” to Canada’s top military policeman, the provost marshal.  “Such an express authority is inconsistent with existing arrangements in place since the period following the troubled Somalia deployment which specifically sought to safeguard MP investigations from interference by the chain of command,” said the MPCC brief ….”
• Chad Horn, 1986-2008, R.I.P.  “A Calgary woman is desperate to get a treasured memento back, that was stolen by a heartless thief.  Anita Bowes’ truck was stolen from the Somerset C Train Station, but the license plate is what she’s especially concerned about.  It was dedicated to her 21-year-old son Chad Horn, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2008 while serving with the military.  “It said, ‘Chad Horn, for those he loved he sacrificed,’ and it’s a picture of him in Afghanistan,” remembers Bowes. “We never saw him after Afghanistan, he never made it home for us to talk to him and see him.”  The stolen truck is a white, 2005 Ford F-250 ….”
• Canada’s war poet Suzanne Steele on teaching in the U.K. and remembering how war bring together folks who may not otherwise come together
  
• “Veterans Affairs will be opening a new access centre for veterans in Charlottetown in what appears to be a concession to a decision made last year to close the department’s only local district office.  Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney was in Charlottetown Friday to visit the department’s national headquarters and meet with local officials.  In an interview with The Guardian, Blaney said he made the decision to open the new access centre after meeting with Egmont MP Gail Shea and hearing the concerns of many on the closing of the district office.  “We needed to make sure veterans here on the Island have a direct access to the personnel,” Blaney said.  “That’s why we are creating an extension of our headquarters, which is an access centre for our veterans, so veterans will have full access to our people here in Charlottetown.”  The closure of the district office was announced last year as part of budget reductions and a streamlining of services at Veterans Affairs Canada ….”
• “The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Royal Galipeau, Member of Parliament for Ottawa–Orleans, will visit the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre to personally deliver hand-made valentines to Veterans living at the long-term care facility. The valentines have been created by students from across Canada ….”
• “What follows is the last of five excerpts from a newly released e-book, “The Canadian Forces in 2025: Problems and Prospects.” The publication was commissioned by the Strategic Studies Working Group — a partnership between the Canadian International Council and the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute in Calgary. In today’s instalment, Scott Knight looks at Canada’s cyber-defence strategy ….”
  
• One columnist’s take on home-grown extremists and taking terrorists’ citizenship away  “…. this isn’t a matter of religion causing extremism. Yes, Islamic terrorists are, by definition, very religious, but they usually adopt this religion after becoming radicalized politically. The path from strict religious faith to violence simply doesn’t exist – in fact, the most religious are among the least likely to become extremists.  This is a political movement based on a territorial claim (what CSIS calls the “common narrative,” which involves securing the “land of Islam” and attacking those who invade or humiliate it). As such, it has more in common with earlier terrorist movements (the IRA, the FLQ) than it does with any widespread beliefs within diaspora communities.  This doesn’t make things easy for police or governments. It’s a criminal tendency, neither imported nor theological, not rooted in communities or faiths. At the very least, we now know where we shouldn’t bother looking.”
• Counterpoint from Mark Collins  “…. Gee, I guess that “land of Islam” (Darul Islam) just has nothing important to do with a certain religion. And by the way, just what is that “territorial claim”? Do Jihadis, e.g., want Spain back without making it Islamic once more? ….”
• An editorial on the issue  “To have Canadian citizenship is a privilege and an honour — one coveted by millions of people living in oppressive regimes the world over who dream of freedom. When Canada extends a welcome to a newcomer who intends to call this country home, it is with the understanding that our embrace of this new citizen includes the expectation that our laws and our democratic way of life will be in turn respected and honoured. To do otherwise is a betrayal — and no betrayal is worse than that of a naturalized citizen turning to terrorism and besmirching Canada abroad. Such an individual is not a Canadian in any sense — he or she does not value the precious gift of Canadian citizenship, does not love Canada and has not sought to be Canadian in mind, heart and soul.  Canada must draw a line in the sand at that point and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has most fittingly done so, with his proposal to strip Canadian citizenship from dual nationals who commit acts of terror or war ….”
• And some CBC commentary on the politics of the issue  “Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was accused this week of making policy on the fly when he told reporters the government would look into stripping dual citizens of their Canadian status if convicted of terrorist acts in other countries.  He wasn’t.  The comments were a calculated political response from the minister, timed to coincide with the news out of Bulgaria that an unnamed Lebanese-Canadian is a suspect in the tour bus bombing that killed six people, including five Israeli tourists, last summer.  For the Conservatives, good politics is often synonymous with good policy.  And the politics of this is hard to ignore ….”
  
• “Two years ago, an Australian police officer named Joe Ilardi arrived in Toronto to try to answer a disturbing question: what was turning some young Canadians into raving Islamists who yearned to wage anti-Western violence at home and abroad?  With the help of the RCMP, Senior Sgt. Ilardi interviewed seven young Toronto men he defined as “Canadian Muslim radicals.” All but one, an immigrant from Pakistan, were Canadian-born. Four had converted to Islam, including a former Mohawk Warrior.  After meeting the men several times for up to six hours in total, Sgt. Ilardi came to an unconventional conclusion: while they had bought into the narrative that justifies violence as a response to the West’s so-called “war on Islam,” they had done so largely for personal reasons.  They were not the downtrodden seeking political justice. Rather, they were deeply troubled youths who had found, in extremism, a reason to feel superior. In their minds, they had joined an exclusive fraternity that knew the truth. They weren’t losers after all; they were better than everyone else ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – February 6, 2013

• Mali (1)  House of Commons debates Mali – Hansard online transcript here, PDF of Mali “take note” debate also downloadable here (via Milnet.ca) and a bit of media coverage here.
• Mali (2)  Political columnist  “Gung-ho on Iraq, Harper cautious on Mali”
• “Canada confirmed Tuesday that a dual Canadian-Lebanese citizen is a suspect in the 2012 bombing of a tourist bus in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian.  “I can confirm the individual in question is a dual national who resides in Lebanon,” said Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.  Baird added that he couldn’t identify the suspect.  “I couldn’t even tell you the last time this person was in Canada,” he said.  Bulgaria’s interior minister says two foreign suspects were involved in a deadly bombing in the Bulgarian resort town of Burgas last July.  Tsvetan Tsvetanov says one suspect had a Canadian passport while the other had an Australian one, and both had been living in Lebanon.  Tsvetanov also blamed the Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah for the Burgas bombing, saying that there is data “showing the financing and connection between Hezbollah and the two suspects.”  Baird seized on Tsvetanov’s comments, to urge the European Union to list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity ….” - Baird’s official statement via the Info-machine here, and more media here, here and here.
  
• HMCS Regina on her way back from fighting terrorism in the Arabian Sea – this note from the Commander of the CF’s Combined Joint Operations Command welcoming them on their journey home
  
• “In an ebook, The Canadian Forces in 2025: Problems and Prospects, commissioned by the Strategic Studies Working Group — a partnership between the Canadian International Council and the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute — five expert authors opine on the challenges facing The Canadian Forces. In today’s first instalment, Douglas E. Delaney looks at the future of Canada’s army ….”
• “What follows is the second of five excerpts from a newly released e-book titled, The Canadian Forces in 2025: Problems and Prospects. The publication was commissioned by the Strategic Studies Working Group — a partnership between the Canadian International Council and the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. In today’s instalment, Roger Girouard looks at the state of the Royal Canadian Navy ….”
• Analyst:  gotta take some online terrorist threats with a grain of salt  “…. a more sophisticated understanding of factors that might indicate whether a threat should be taken seriously can help us to be savvier media consumers in an age where homegrown terrorism, and hence inevitable future online threats, are part of the public discussion.”
  
• Former int officer/columnist  “Despite the ominous hyperbole, no one knows the real extent of the damage Russian agent Jeffrey Delisle caused”
• Remember this wild police chase in the CFB Borden area three years ago?  It’s back in court  “An Angus man who went on a wild and reckless high-speed race through CFB Borden and Angus, running over a cop’s foot and almost striking other police officers, is now on trial before a jury.  Joseph Arlow, 35, is charged with a slew of charges including impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, flight from police, failing to remain and resisting arrest.  But Arlow’s lawyer insists his client was suffering from mental disorder and should be found not criminally responsible.  Arlow was arrested at gunpoint after several police officers from various detachments pursued him after he crashed through the gates at CFB Borden and raced through the streets of Angus and Springwater Township on Feb. 2, 2010.  Police say Arlow’s vehicle reached speeds of 140 kilometres per hour while racing through streets and along Highway 90, running red lights and swerving onto the shoulder of the road to get around a spike belt set up to stop his frenzied drive.  In the process, he also ran over and broke bones in provincial police officer Jim Scott’s foot and drove toward other officers, causing them to scatter for their lives ….”
• Veterans’ Ombudsman underwhelmed with government response to his latest report  “…. While I applaud the Minister’s prompt response to the report’s findings, the changes to the Department’s application process, while a step in the right direction, fall short of ensuring procedural fairness ….” - more here and here.
  
• “The Federal Court has ruled in favour of another United States war resister and has ordered Jules Tindungan’s case be returned to the Immigration and Refugee Board.  According to his lawyer Alyssa Manning, this is the 11th time since 2008 that the courts have ruled in favour of U.S. war resisters.  It’s the first time, however, that the courts have not simply been moved by evidence they wouldn’t get fair treatment in the U.S. thanks to an outdated military justice system and the fact that punishment tends to be tougher the more vocal and political the deserter. In this case, she said, the court was also compelled by evidence that the U.S. military has violated international conventions on warfare.  That said, Manning is not convinced the ruling will necessarily result in asylum for the dozens of U.S. war resisters who haven’t already been deported and subsequently imprisoned, but still remain in Canada at the mercy of either the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) or Citizenship and Immigration. She argues the Conservative government has made it clear that war resisters are criminals and she questions the independence of the arm’s-length IRB as a result ….”
• “Hamilton’s warplane museum is making a public plea for donations to help keep its famous World War II Lancaster bomber flying.  “We expect the Lancaster to be flying at the June airshow,” says Al Mickeloff, spokesman for the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. “But there is a bit of urgency — we need to come up with the money to pay for the current engine, and there are three more that need to be done after that.”  It costs about half a million dollars a year and countless volunteer hours to do the regular maintenance on the Lancaster. Overhauling the four engines every few years costs an additional $500,000.  “Each engine on the aircraft has an 800 hour flight time before it requires a major overhaul,” museum president and CEO Dave Rohrer told CBC Hamilton.  That works out to an overhaul about every 15 years, based on the roughly 55 hours the museum currently flies the aircraft annually ….”