MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 19 Feb 11

• It’ll now (one hopes) be easier for more troops and family members to get help when they need it. “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced the establishment of five new Integrated Personnel Support Centres (IPSCs) dedicated to the care of ill and injured Canadian Forces (CF) personnel, and the wider Canadian Forces family …. These new support centres will be added to the 19 IPSCs already operating under the national Joint Personnel Support Unit, which was launched in March 2009 by Minister MacKay. The new IPSCs will be located as follows: Comox, B.C., Cold Lake, Alta., Borden, Ont., Trenton, Ont., and Bagotville, Qué. A satellite unit will also be established in Moose Jaw, Sask ….” More information on the Joint Personnel Support Unit, under which the centres operate, here.
• How one veteran is trying to help other vets who need help. “Most people remember the humble and honourable work of veterans on Remembrance Day. But everyday many citizens unwittingly walk past some who served this country who are among about two dozen of the city’s homeless. Calgary police Const. John Langford, a veteran himself, was working in the city’s core with the mountain bike unit in early 2009 when he discovered fellow former service members among those down and out on the streets. “I ended up talking with a couple of gentlemen who were in the military and one was in the same unit I deployed overseas with,” Langford said Friday. “It certainly struck a chord.” …”
• James Patrick MacNeil, 1981-2010, R.I.P. Fiance (among other loved ones of fallen troops) visits Afghanistan to help heal.
• Myles Mansell, 1980-2006, R.I.P. Road in Langford, B.C. to be named in honour of the fallen.
• Talking about the Afghanistan mission in Edmonton. “Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber is holding a town hall meeting Tuesday night on Canada in Afghanistan. It’s part of a series of annual forums he has held over the years on various topics. Rathgeber says he got a lot of calls from voters last year when the government announced that it was extending its mission in Afghanistan. Although combat troops are scheduled to leave this July, about 900 other troops are expected to stay in Kabul to train locals. Many had also asked him questions about veterans’ benefits and support programs for troops coming back from the war. “We have a significant number of armed forces personnel in both St. Albert and northwest Edmonton,” he says, so he decided to hold a town hall meeting on the military. The meeting, set for Feb. 22 in Edmonton’s Griesbach district, will feature many officials and military members with experience in Afghanistan, including Edmonton Centre MP Laurie Hawn, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence. Christine Burdett of Veteran Affairs will also be there to answer questions ….”
• CF ship, planes help hunt down drug runners. “HMCS Toronto and two Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora strategic surveillance aircraft return today from the Caribbean Sea, where they were busy performing counter-drug operations as part of Operation CARIBBE. The ship, aircraft and their crews return home following a month-long deployment with the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), during which 68 bales of cocaine, amounting to approximately 1 650 kilograms, with an estimated value of $33M, were intercepted ….” More from the mainstream media here.
• “Military prosecutors in Guantanamo Bay are preparing to take on more cases in a development based in part on “the successful war crimes conviction” of Omar Khadr, insiders familiar with the tribunal say. While the Canadian-born terror suspect is serving an eight-year term resulting from a plea deal, a symbolic 40-year sentence imposed by the military jury shows that the military commissions can effectively prosecute terrorism cases, according to supporters of the tribunal. This contrasts with the recent civilian-court prosecution of Ahmed Ghailani, who beat all but one of the 285 charges he faced for his role in the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He received a life sentence after the jury found him guilty of a single count of conspiracy, but the “near miss” raised questions about whether civilian courts are the right forum for prosecuting terrorists ….”
• “The Canadian Forces Liaison Council (CFLC) recognized eight organizations, including local businesses and an educational institution, with awards for their support to Canada’s Reserve Force, in a ceremony at the Armour Heights Officers Mess, on February 11, 2011 …. Organized by CFLC, the ceremony was attended by 75 military and civilian guests, as well as numerous VIPs, including Brigadier-General Fred Lewis, Commander, Joint Task Force Central – Land Force Central Area …. Employers & educators receiving awards included Air Canada, The Credit Valley Hospital, H&R Developments, Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers, The Ottawa Police Service, Toronto EMS, Windsor Mold Group, Precision Plastics, and The University of Western Ontario ….”
• Cozying Up to the United States (1):  We should because it’s good for both sides of the border.
• Cozying Up to the United States (2):  Joint perimeter security talks “building up the repressive apparatus of the state on both sides of the border and furthering collaboration between the two states’ large and growing military and intelligence apparatuses.”

G8/G20 Security Highlights, 20 Jun 10

Rabble.ca has posted this assessment of who’s going to be protesting:

So here I was sitting in the newly opened convergence space hosted by the Toronto Community Mobilization Network at 1266 Queen Street West (Toronto) and we’re all drinking tap water and listening to some great tunes and I’m thinking: yup, look at us scary anarchists doing scary things like spoken word performances, serving food to each other and napping quietly in the corner.

Yes, polite society should be very afraid! Here come the Berserkers tearing young saplings from the ground and whipping them at the police …..

In fact, we are so scary that the United States has issued a travel advisory for next weekend stating, “even demonstrations that are meant to be peaceful can become violent and unpredictable. You should avoid them if at all possible.”

I mean, according to the police – who of course will all be wearing their kid gloves during the demonstrations and cannot be blamed if police riots break out; hmmmm….I mean, wait a minute…. aren’t they called POLICE riots and not PEOPLE riots for a reason? ….

Further reinforcement of the “it’s not our fault if there’s violence” message?

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Some of the initial media coverage of the Ottawa Police Service arrest and charging of three men in connection with the RBC bank firebombing in Ottawa is starting to use the “T” word:

…. “Their actions do speak for themselves and their willingness to post it publicly is alarming as well,” said Ottawa Police Chief Vern White at a news conference on Saturday morning.  White also continued labelling the incident as an act of domestic terrorism, and said he was “confident” the Crown may still end up with terrorism charges.  RCMP assistant commissioner Francois Bidal appeared to suggest more charges were still possible.  “We will leave no stone unturned in uncovering the evidence we have before us now,” he said.  But Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer representing Clement, criticized those remarks.  “Pre-trial comments that attempt to characterize offences are not helpful to the administration of justice,” he said.  “There’s no talk of terrorism by anybody except our Chief of Police,” Greenspon said, adding that the charges laid so far relate strictly to property damage …. (CTV.ca)

…. Police say the investigation continues and are determining whether they can lay charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The law has been used only a handful of times since Parliament passed it in 2001.  Terrorism charges can only be laid with the consent of the federal Attorney General, and police wouldn’t say whether they’ve initiated conversations to this end …. (Globe & Mail)

…. Asked whether he continued to consider the act domestic terrorism, White said: “I do stand by that label.”  But he added that determination is the investigative responsibility of the RCMP …. (Canadian Press)

…. In the past, Chief White has characterized the firebombing as domestic terrorism, and he stood by that description Saturday. But he said no terrorism charges have been laid so far, and it will be up to the RCMP to decide whether they should be …. (CBC.ca)

All are to be considered innocent until proven guilty in our system, and I’m happy to let the police and courts do their thing.  Here’s how the Criminal Code of Canada defines “terrorism”, and here’s my quick-and-dirty assessment of the law in light of events we read/hear at Army.ca.

I await with interest how the legal process unfolds.

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For more from all sides, check out the page o’ links here.

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G8/G20 Security Highlights, 19 Jun 10

Suspects arrested, charged with RBC bank machine firebombing last month – this, from the Ottawa Police Service:

…. three men have been charged as follows:

Roger Clement 58 years old, of Ottawa
RBC Arson – 18^th of May 2010
Arson Causing Damage
Possession of incendiary material
Use explosives with intent to cause property damage
Mischief

(….)

Matthew Morgan – Brown 32 years old, of Ottawa
RBC Arson – 18^th of May 2010
Arson Causing Damage
Possession of incendiary material
Use explosives with intent to cause property damage
Mischief

Claude Haridge, 50 years old, of Ottawa
RBC Arson – 18^th of May 2010
Careless storage / handling of ammunition
Fail to comply with undertaking ….

They’re all back in court later this month – more from the Canadian Press and here at the National Post.

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It’s “Protest School” in Toronto – this from CTV.ca, emphasis mine:

A counter-summit in Toronto meant to challenge the G8 and G20 was dubbed “protest school” by organizers on Friday, as they shied away from denouncing violent action by demonstrators …. “People protest in various ways. Again, we’re simply organizing a conference,” said Dylan Penner, a committee member at the summit and media officer for the Council of Canadians …. While classes such as “direct action training” and “digitally mediated surveillance: rights and resistance” are on the agenda, the committee said the event is meant to be a peaceful weekend of learning …. (Marya Folinsbee, the co-ordinator of the People’s Summit) was a…. quick to point out that many of the workshops encouraged peaceful protest, such as “communication skills for activists,” which teaches protesters “how to de-escalate an angry movement.” But there are also workshops planned for debating and discussing a “diversity of tactics” during the G20 and G8 summits …. “It is really cloudy, and it is really complicated to work in solidarity with each other when these issues are still on the table,” she added ….

So, condemning violence and vandalism is “cloudy” is it?  Interestingly, the organizers of the protests have gone as far as developing a policy for dealing with those who want to fight the man, but may have been accused or convicted of sexual assault – one line stands out for me:

Perpetrators of Sexual Assault, Abuse and Harassment are not welcome in G8 & G20 Resistance Spaces!!!

I’d be happy to hear from anyone who can explain why such people “are not welcome” in the crowd, but those who would commit violence and/or vandalism are.  Simple question.

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Part of the CTV.ca article above mentions one of the message tracks being transmitted by protest organizers:

(Marya Folinsbee, the co-ordinator of the People’s Summit) accused “the state” of being the real perpetrator of violence, as she deflected questions about whether or not organizers of the counter-summit would hold protesters accountable during the G20 …. Penner said protesters have been demonized, and fear-mongering has made the public nervous about violence during the G8 and G20.  The committee for the People’s Summit also suggested violence in past summits has not come from protesters, but from agent provocateurs.  “The state is, in fact, doing criminal activity if they don’t rule out agents provocateurs,” said Christine Jones, co-chair of the Canadian Peace Alliance as she spoke at the news conference Friday ….

This is a message stream making its way out in a variety of ways recently – even picked up from the same news conference and shared by CBC.ca (note the same “money clip” from Christine Jones)

Activists and labour organizations are calling for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to rule out the use of agents provocateurs during the G8 and G20 summits.  Pointing to the 2007 Montebello summit of North American leaders, where Quebec police admitted that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during protests, the People’s Summit urged officials to prohibit any attempt to incite violence to justify what they dubbed a “billion-dollar boondoggle.”  Quebec police denied allegations they used the officers to instigate violence at Montebello.  “The state is, in fact, doing criminal activity if they don’t rule out agents provocateurs,” Christine Jones, co-chair of the Canadian Peace Alliance, said at the launch of the People’s Summit on Friday morning ….

The message gained a bit of traction this week when Syd Ryan, representing the Ontario Federation of Labour, said the same thing..

Are they planting seeds out there so that if/when violence occurs, it’ll already be embedded in people’s minds that it must be the cops’ fault?

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QMI/Sun Media has this quick guide to the protest groups and what they seek.

A new spot to check out what other-than-mainstream “media” are sharing about the Summit protests, here at 2010.mediacoop.ca.  Apparently, any Flickr photo or Twitter post tagged with #g20report will automatically end up posted there.  I’ve added it to my list o’ “news of all kinds” links here.

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