Reid Morden of CSIS to investigate RCMP power struggle

Reid Morden has been appointed to investigate what is essentially an HR issue within the RCMP. The top brass of the broken police force have submitted a formal complaint that they do not like the way that Elliott, their civilian commissioner is treating them.

Morden previously served as deputy foreign affairs minister and president of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., and was an adviser to Justice Jeffrey O'Connor during the Maher Arar inquiry.
He also served from 2004 to 2006 as executive director of the independent inquiry into the United Nations Iraq oil-for-food program.

Here's hoping that he is just the guy to expose whatever is disfunctional within the RCMP so that our national police service starts serving Canada with dignity and pride again.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/07/30/rcmp-workplace-assessment-boss-elliott-morden.html#ixzz0vFyIiErD

Water Rights in Canada

In a recent post I confessed to being perplexed that Canada abstained from the vote to designate clean water as a human right. I have been aware for some time, since the president of the global company I work for told us at an international meeting that water would be the biggest issue on earth within the decade. In order to get some illumination on the Canadian Government's position I searched out the information that I have posted verbatim below. It was found at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law blog:


http://ablawg.ca/2010/07/08/water-rights-and-water-stewardship-what-about-aboriginal-peoples/

Settler society and Aboriginal conceptions of water rights differ in many respects. At common law water could not be owned but riparian doctrines have in the past maintained a semblance of communal ownership and guarantees of water quality. In common law, riparian lands lay along the shores of non-tidal rivers and streams. The owners of riparian rights were entitled, among other things, to divert waters for domestic consumption and any other reasonable purpose. Downstream owners along the watercourse were entitled to obtain waters not significantly diminished in quantity or quality by upstream uses: Alastair Lucas, Security of Title in Canadian Water Rights (Calgary: Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1990) at 5-7.

Water scarcity and the commoditization of water have led the Crown to claim ownership of almost all waters. In western Canada, the assertion of federal Crown ownership in and control over waters occurred in the late 19th century with the North-west Irrigation Act, S.C. 1894 c.30, s. 4, am. by S.C. 1895 c. 33, s.2 (NWIA). This ownership was transferred to the province under the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (NRTA) being a Schedule to the Alberta Natural Resources Act, S.C. 1930, c. 3. Riparian rights were then extinguished under provincial land grants unless confirmed by a court before June 18, 1931 or by the terms of the grant: Public Lands Act, R.S.A 2000, c. P-40, s. 3. This would include regulating the right for water diversion of riparian property owners: Water Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. W-3, s.22. The current model is for the Crown to allocate (license) fixed amounts of water to municipal or private interests, on some priority basis, usually first in time: David R. Percy, The Framework of Water Rights Legislation in Canada (Calgary: Canadian Institute of Resources Law, University of Calgary, 1988) at 12-14. The individualism of modern settler society and the market imperative have resulted in limited self-regulation and limited regulation of water uses with consequent dangers to the environment, fisheries, water quality and quantity. Current water legislation does not even impose a “beneficial use” requirement as in Western U.S. Water Law; see Arlene J. Kwasniak, “Waste Not Want Not: A Comparative Analysis and Critique of Legal Rights to Use and Re-Use Produced Water - Lessons for Alberta” (2006-2007) 10 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 357.

Aboriginal conceptions of water usually deem waters to be sacred givers of life. Water must be shared respectfully without any use being paramount. The use of water for sacred purposes, hunting and fishing, transportation, recreation and domestic consumption is a shared responsibility, and must address current needs, the needs of the land and future generations. The use of waters is governed by a natural law, by which the taking of waters without due regard to the environment and the needs of current and future generations can only lead to disaster. Aboriginal peoples see themselves as caretakers with responsibilities to preserve water and life.

It looks like our waters might be safer and more equitably handled in the hands of our Aboriginal people! After all, big business has done so much damage to the waterways of the world that most are unfit for human consumption all right the noses of our goverment. Why is it that no one is ever held accountable for the undoing of the environmental damage that their factories cost and yet they get to keep the profits made while doing so?

Beaver on the Highway

Harris - Clouds

Why did Canada Abstain from the UN vote on the Human Right to Water?

I do not understand why my country abstained from the UN vote that was overwhelmingly passed that designated clean drinking water as a human right. It seems so 'UNCanadian' to me!

The following was taken directly from this site:http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/right/index.html

The Right to Water


Maude Barlow cited in The Commons Water is essential to life - no one should be able to control it or expropriate it for profit. In the current global water crisis, billions of people still lack access to basic water and sanitation services. Everyday, thousands of people die from preventable diseases contracted because they do not have access to clean water.

The majority of those dying are children under the age of five.

The right to water has been recognized internationally through the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. But in 2002, the Canadian government was the only one to vote against accepting water as a human right at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Moreover, the Walkerton Inquiry found that the right to water does not exist in Canadian legislation. As such, our government’s position, both internationally and domestically, continues to deny the fundamental human right to water.

Why would our government take a stance that is so out of line with Canadian values?



The world’s water companies would like to see water regarded as a human need, enabling them to control and sell water to the highest bidder for profit. Because Canada manages the largest freshwater resources in the world, companies are lining up to pump, bottle and privatize our water for their profit. Despite the increasing threat to our water, the Canadian government has not updated its national water policy in over 15 years. Instead, governments over this period of time have continued to support free trade agreements that only further threaten our ability to safeguard our water for people and nature.

The Council of Canadians has had a long-standing campaign nationally and internationally through our Blue Planet Project to declare water as a human right. We must ensure that water remains a human right that is public, protected, and priceless.

What you can do:

•Act for Canada’s Waters: Join your local Council of Canadians chapter and get involved in protecting water in your community. For more information on our local chapters, please click here.

Publications:

•Frequently Asked Questions: A UN covenant for the human right to water

•Fact Sheet: Five things you should know about Canada's position on the right to water

•Fact Sheet: A National Disgrace: Canada’s shameful position on the right to water

•Fact Sheet: Global water movement grows in numbers and force

•Climate change threats put human right to water in the spotlight, Canadian Perspectives, Spring 2010

•Taking on the privatizers at the World Water Forum, Canadian Perspectives, Summer 2009

•Maude Barlow warns United Nations General Assembly about growing water crisis, Canadian Perspectives, Summer 2009

•Bringing the fight for the right to water to the United Nations, Canadian Perspectives, Spring 2009

•A National Disgrace: Canada’s shameful position on the right to water needs to change, Canadian Perspectives Spring 2007

•Taking back the World Water Forum, Canadian Perspectives, Summer 2006

•Report: Passage to India: A report on the People's World Water Forum and the World Social Forum, January 2004

For more information on the issue of water as a human right please see:
•WIN! United Nations passes right to water resolution, Blog post by Brent Patterson, Director of Campaigns and Communications, Council of Canadians, July 28, 2010

•Canada must support the right to water, Embassy, Maude Barlow, Meera Karunananthan, and Anil Naidoo, July 21, 2010

•A human right Canada rejects: Access to clean water, The Toronto Star, Maude Barlow and Anil Naidoo, June 13, 2010

•Letter sent to all UN Missions from Maude Barlow requesting support for human right to water and sanitation initiative, July 6, 2010

•Briefing Notes by Maude Barlow that explore why a UN Convention on the Right to Water is an idea whose time has come (November 2006)

•Water is a Human Right

•Blue Planet Project

•Development and Peace

•Association pour un Contrat Mondiale de l'Eau

Mirror Lake

Whistleblowing Legislation in Canada

The information below on Whistleblowers was take directly from the following site:
http://www.canadianlawsite.ca/whistle-blower.htm#c



Those who disclose information about something they believe to be harmful to the public's interest, occurring in business or in government. It includes disclosure to authorities within the organization, to outside agencies or to the media.

Reason for Whistleblowing Laws

Whistleblowing provisions are designed to facilitate regulation and enforcement of laws by encouraging employees to report evidence essential for industry regulation and the prosecution of corporate wrongdoers.

New Brunswick is the only Canadian Jurisdiction Providing Specific Protection for Whistleblowers

In New Brunswick, Section 28 of the Employment Standards Act, Chap. E-7.2 provides, in part, as follows:
◦28. Notwithstanding anything in this Act an employer shall not dismiss, suspend, lay off, penalize, discipline or discriminate against an employee if the reason therefor is related in any way to

◦(b) the making of a complaint or the giving of information or evidence by the employee against the employer with respect to any matter covered by this act; or

◦(c) the giving of information or evidence by the employee against the employer with respect to the alleged violation of any Provincial or federal Act or regulation by the employer while carrying on the employer's business; or if the dismissal, suspension, layoff, penalty, discipline or discrimination constitutes in any way an attempt by the employer to evade any responsibility imposed upon him under this Act or any other Provincial or federal Act or regulation or to prevent or inhibit an employee from taking advantage of any right or benefit granted to him under this Act.

Statutes that Address Whistleblowing

◦Ontario's two main environmental statutes, the Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19 and the Environmental Bill of Rights, S.O. 1993, c. 28, contain extensive protections for employees who have been discharged, disciplined or harassed for complying with Ontario's environmental legislation.

Under both statutes, employees who have had reprisals taken against them are authorized to file a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, which will first try to effect a settlement or, if unsuccessful, hold an inquiry into the complaint. If the Board finds the employee's complaint justified, it has broad powers to order rectification, reinstatement or compensation. Because Ontario's Environmental Protection Act prohibits an employer from taking reprisals against an employee for complying with the Act, an employer who contravenes this section could be prosecuted under s. 186 of the Act, which states that every person who contravenes the Act is guilty of an offence.

◦The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-15.3 ("CEPA") also contains a whistleblowing provision. It declares that no federal government employee shall be disciplined, dismissed or harassed for reporting on the release of certain toxic substances to a CEPA inspector. These provisions have been criticized for applying to only a limited number of violations under CEPA, for protecting only reports to a CEPA inspector, rather than the media or other officials, and for extending only to federal public servants, rather than all employees in the federal sphere (Environment Canada, CEPA Issue Elaboration Paper #10 -- Public Participation for Environmental Protection, 1994, pp. 119-20).

◦Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.1 prohibits employers from taking reprisals against a worker because the worker has complied with the Act, sought its enforcement, or given evidence in a proceeding brought under the Act. Alleged contraventions are dealt with either by binding arbitration pursuant to a collective agreement, if one exists, or by filing a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. If a penalty for contravention is not established in the collective agreement, the Board can substitute such other penalty that to the Board seems "just and reasonable in all the circumstances".

◦The employment standards provisions in the Canada Labour Code, R.S.C. c. L-2, which apply to employers under federal jurisdiction, contain similar protections for employees who have testified, given information to an inspector, or sought enforcement of the Code. Employers who contravene these provisions are guilty of a summary conviction offence and liable to a fine of up to $15,000.

◦The Canadian Human Rights Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. H-6, prohibits any person from threatening, intimidating, or discriminating against an individual because that individual has made a complaint, given evidence, or assisted in the initiation or prosecution of a complaint under the Act.

This land is your land

Support William Elliott- Commissioner of the RCMP

William Ellliot.
Commissioner of the RCMP.






















Elliott was appointed the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on 6 July 2007, making him the first commissioner that had not previously served in the police or military. His appointment came after the resignation of Giuliano Zaccardelli, who left the force rocked by scandal and in crisis. Reaction to Elliott's appointment was mixed. Public perceptions are that the force's problems are rooted in its institutional culture and many felt that someone from outside the Canadian policing milieu and "free of loyalties" was necessary to effect necessary change. Many on the force, however, believe that one of their own, someone "who understands the force's unique culture and structure was needed to clean up the organization.

This man was appointed to do a difficult job and the very people he was sent to restructure or repair have decided not to cooperate with him. This is typical of people who have been at the top of their authority silos for too long. They are no longer serving the law but have decided that they are above it. It is time to tell them that they too are responsible for obedience and accountablility under the law. Elliot deserves to have his mandate validated by Harper and by the public so that we can fix whatever is broken in our national police force and bring it to readiness for the future. This is the only process that will restore the faith and compassion of the Canadian public. The RCMP may need changes from our government and our populations in terms of more man power and funding in light of their overwhelming responsibilities. That can only come when we know that they have their house in order.


William Elliott received a B.A. and an LL.B. in Common Law from the University of Ottawa and called to the bar of Ontario in 1981. He worked in private law practice until 1988 when he joined the civil service. He rose rapidly within the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada's office first as Legal Advisor and Special Assistant, then in 1989, he was named Executive Assistant. He then became chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski in the Mulroney government. From 1992 to 1998, he was with the Department of Justice as Senior General Counsel and Head of Legal Services for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. He also held the position of Senior Counsel Manager, Comprehensive Claims and Northern Affairs in the Department of Justice. In 1998, Elliott became Deputy Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard and from 2000 to 2003 was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, for the Department of Transport.

Before becoming National Security Advisor in 2005, he was an Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, responsible for the Security and Intelligence Secretariat at the Privy Council Office.

How can anyone possibly say that he is unqualified for the position. Is it not more likely that the system that is in place among the upper eschelon of the RCMP has just decided not to cooperate?

The HMS Investigator and Canadian Sovereignty

Capt McClure is credited as the first European to discover the western entrance to the Northwest Passage.The issue of sovereignty has become increasingly important to Canada as the melting of arctic ice has increased interest in marine shipping through the Northwest Passage. Mr Prentice said the discovery of the Investigator supported Canada's historical claim to the region, which the country inherited when it gained independence from Britain.



Archaeologists discovered the HMS Investigator' under about 25ft of pristine, icy arctic water this week using sonar and metal detectors.The Canadian researchers also found three graves of British sailors who died of scurvy on the 1853 expedition.


Parks Canada, a government agency, will inventory and study the ship and other artefacts but will not remove them. It has been in touch with the British government regarding the sailors' remains.
"You could make out all the planking on the deck, the details on the hull, all of the detail of the timber," Mr Prentice said. "It's sitting perfectly upright on the floor of the ocean."

Neptune Project

In a passing reference during the TED talk (also posted below), I learned that Canada had been instrumental in a huge oceanographic project. I went looking for our contribution to elaborate and here is what I found. We have much to be proud of in terms of our scientists and their advances. They do not always get the credit they are due but they are never the less- forward thinking, working on behalf of all of humanity and BRILLIANT! We do not always toot our own horn and often Americans grab ahold and run with things but I have decided to trumpet CANADIANS and their work especially when their contributions are allotted only a passing mention.

Published online 20 April 2010 written by Nicola Jones



Nature 464, 1115 (2010)
doi:10.1038/4641115a

Undersea project delivers data flood

Sea-floor observatory in the Pacific Ocean to provide terabytes of data.

VICTORIA, CANADA

NEPTUNE CANADAResults are pouring in from an ambitious project that has wired the floor of the northeast Pacific Ocean with an array of cameras, seismometers, chemical sensors and more. The challenge won't be getting good data, but rather handling the vast quantities of it, project scientists reported last week at their first post-launch meeting in Victoria, Canada.

The Can$145-million (US$145-million) project, called NEPTUNE Canada (North-East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments), has laid 800 kilometres of cable to transmit power and data, and established five 'nodes' that act like giant, 13-tonne plug-in points for scientific instrumentation, lying up to 2.6 kilometres beneath the waves (see map). The network spans the Juan de Fuca plate, which sits between the Pacific and the North American plates and hosts earthquakes and tsunamis, giant clams and whale pods, along with hydrothermal vents and frozen methane deposits.

NEPTUNE Canada is the leading effort to wire a wide region of ocean floor with multiple sensors, making real-time, interactive data streams freely available to anyone online. It is breaking ground for similar networks elsewhere, including Japan (the Advanced Real-time Earth Monitoring Network in the Area, or ARENA) and Europe (the European Sea Floor Observatory Network, or ESONET). Scientists want to use NEPTUNE Canada to study how different systems interact, answering questions such as whether earthquakes trigger methane release, and how climate change is affecting the ocean.

The project was launched in December 2009 after a decade of work. Three-quarters of its 78 instruments are delivering data at present, and, despite some teething problems, project scientists are delighted by the progress. "I'm flabbergasted," says Mairi Best, associate director of science for the project at the University of Victoria. "Everyone was painfully aware of how many pieces are involved, how many ways it could go wrong."

The original vision for NEPTUNE called for 3,000 kilometres of cable off the coast of Canada and the United States. But the US contribution has been held up, having only recently received funding as part of the 2009 economic recovery package. US project managers now plan to install 800 kilometres of cable and several nodes that should be up and running by 2014. "It is a shame that the time-lag has split the project," says Brian Bornhold, a marine geologist and NEPTUNE Canada project scientist at the University of Victoria. But the two countries still plan to work closely together. "The Canadian success is absolutely fantastic," says John Delaney, an oceanographer at the University of Washington, Seattle, who helped to dream up the idea for NEPTUNE and is working on the US project. He thinks that such vast ocean monitoring systems will become more common in the future: "This is the first of them; it is by no means the last."

Bit torrent

NEPTUNE Canada is now sending about 0.1 terabytes (1012 bytes) of data back to shore every day, and should ramp up to about 60 terabytes per year. This may be small scale for, say, particle physicists — the Large Hadron Collider is expected to generate an annual 15 petabytes (1015 bytes) of data — but it marks a substantial change for oceanographers, who are used to obtaining isolated bursts of data from week-long cruises, and then spending a year analysing the results. "Half of our staff are in data management," says Best. In terms of data handling, "everyone is outside of their comfort zones", she says.

“If they don’t analyse it, someone else will.”

The fact that the data are freely available online should spur the scientists in charge of each instrument to make the most of the results, says Benoît Pirenne, who heads NEPTUNE's data management and was previously in charge of archiving astronomical data for the European Southern Observatory. "If they don't analyse it, someone else will," he says. Teams are looking for innovative ways of crunching through the data, including getting the public to help watch the vast quantities of video archive and highlight noteworthy events.

Early results from NEPTUNE Canada include seismometer readings from the Chilean earthquake in February, and bottom-pressure sensor results that tracked the small tsunami waves it generated. The project also has a crawler called Wally (named after the robot in the 2008 film WALL·E) that is investigating methane beds by remote operation from Germany. The results could help to improve estimates of how much methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is being released from oceans.

To get renewed government funding, the project will have to prove its worth by generating demand, says Martin Taylor, chief executive of the Ocean Networks Canada, the agency managing NEPTUNE Canada. So far, thousands of users in 71 countries have signed up for free access to the data, says Best. The project hopes to raise funds by charging companies to test new oceanographic instruments on the NEPTUNE network, and to sell parts of their data-management system.

The first maintenance expedition, planned for May this year, will show how well the instruments are holding up to the high pressure and salt water. "We're learning a lot," says Pirenne, "which is another way of saying that things are breaking."

Oil industry cooperation with Harper

Canadian appointed as UN internal watchdog

Last Updated: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
.The Associated Press

The United Nations has turned to a Canadian who was the World Bank's chief auditor as its choice for the next head of the UN's internal watchdog agency.Carman Lapointe-Young won approval Wednesday from the General Assembly to become the undersecretary-general for oversight. She will be given the huge task of trying to quickly fix an agency that her predecessor says is in disarray.

The Manitoba native was appointed to the non-renewable, five-year term as head of the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose leadership was severely criticized in an end-of-assignment memo by outgoing OIOS head Inga-Britt Ahlenius of Sweden.
Ban said in a statement that Lapointe-Young has the "breadth and depth of experience and expertise required for this demanding position." He said she will be expected to rebuild OIOS and fill its many vacancies as soon as possible.

Corruption scandals

Over the past decade the UN has been rocked by a series of corruption scandals in its multibillion-dollar spending. The best known resulted from a two-year investigation into the UN-run oil-for-food program for Iraq led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.
Volcker's inquiry culminated in an October 2005 report accusing more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam Hussein's regime to bilk $1.8 billion US from a program aimed at easing Iraqi suffering under UN sanctions. As a result of the scandal, the UN created a special anti-corruption task force between 2006 and 2008 that found 20 significant corruption schemes. Its work led to sanctions against about 50 UN vendors, many of which were permanently debarred, as well as felony convictions against three UN officials , including two senior procurement officials.

Lapointe-Young won the nod despite some grumbling among diplomats from developing nations who said her appointment upset an informal understanding that the top accountability post should alternate between developing and rich Western nations.

At the General Assembly, several diplomats touched on the issue of geographical diversity. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky acknowledged the concerns of representatives of "regional groups" in the General Assembly who were consulted before Wednesday's approval, but said Ban's selection was ultimately based on merit.

Lapointe-Young has been the director of the office of audit and oversight at the International Fund for Agricultural Development since February 2009. From 2004 to 2009, she was the auditor general of the World Bank Group.

She succeeds Ahlenius, who left the OIOS post in mid-July after blaming Ban for blocking her attempt to hire a former U.S. federal prosecutor as permanent head of the investigation division and taking other measures that she said undermined the operational independence her office is supposed to have.
Ban and his senior advisers soon closed ranks and disputed many of the memo's assertions while trying to put the dispute quickly behind them. Ban is reviewing the memo and has ordered a review of the UN's ability to investigate itself, his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, said last week.

"Where there are lessons to be learned, we will draw them," Angela Kane, the undersecretary-general for management, said in a statement Wednesday.
In a statement labelled "Accountability for a Stronger United Nations," Kane said Lapointe-Young will inherit an office with 76 vacant posts because Ahlenius failed to fill them.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/07/28/united-nations-canadian-auditor.html#ixzz0v2JLF2ff

Canadian Politics Is no Place for Grown ups (RMR spoof)

Royal Canadian Autumn

Canadians Find Wreck of Ship That Helped Trace Northwest Passage in Arctic

By Alexandre Deslongchamps - Jul 28, 2010 12:52 PM EDT Wed Jul 28 16:52:35 UTC 2010

Canadian archeologists this week found the wreck of the HMS Investigator, which was part of an expedition by British explorer Robert McClure and was the first to sail the last portion of the Northwest Passage in the Arctic.

The HMS Investigator was found using sonar equipment on July 25 in Mercy Bay in Aulavik National Park, Marc-Andre Bernier, an archeologist with Parks Canada, told reporters today. The team, which included members from Parks Canada and researchers from the University of Western Ontario and Memorial University, was looking for the wreck and a nearby cache of provisions transferred from the ship.
“This is the ship that sailed the last leg of the Northwest Passage and in doing so, McClure and his crew were credited” with finding the passage, Bernier said, adding that the ship was found within 15 minutes of the start of the search. The ship “seems to be in fairly good condition,” Bernier said.
The HMS Investigator, which was on an expedition looking for Sir John Franklin and members of his 1845 voyage, was abandoned in 1853 after it was trapped in ice for two years. The cache played an important role in Inuit culture after they began to use some of the materials and resources left behind, Bernier said.

“The Inuit came back for at least a generation after to harvest some of the materials that were there,” Bernier said. “It’s part of their history and heritage.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at adeslongcham@bloomberg.net.

A Canadian Landmark

Dieffenbaker Human rights

In a country with so much land and so many resources maybe it has been our relative safety and prosperity that has allowed Canadians to think about other people and the ways in which we believe that they should be treated. Canadians have been among the very first to defend invaded populations, to send peace keepers and to insist upon human rights. No, our record is not perfect but overall it is pretty darned good and we actively try to address the occurrances when we have not measured up to our own beliefs even if retrospectively. In the video below, our former Prime Minister Dieffenbaker speaks about Human Rights at his time in history. I hope we will always be willing to not only implement the golden rule but to build upon it.

Invasion of Canada by Benedict Arnold

MacLeans World Survey about Canada

La Joute Fountain in Montreal

Manitoba Crime wave! (Must be a slow news day!)

RCMP locate looted lawn ornaments

It's a case of law and ornaments in Dauphin, Man., where RCMP are trying to reconnect residents with some missing gnomes. According to police, officers were called at about 6 a.m. CT Sunday to a noise complaint at a residence in the city, located 315 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

When they arrived, a number of people were arrested for underage drinking. Inside the home, officers also found a "large number" of stolen lawn ornaments. No figure on the figurines was given.
The RCMP were able to locate the owners of some ornaments but the rest remain homeless.
Police are requesting the public contact them to identify their missing ornaments.
Four male youths have been arrested and charged with possession of stolen property.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/07/27/mb-lawn-ornaments-stolen-manitoba.html#ixzz0uuaYWPUT

Media in Canada

Media

OverviewFactsLeadersMedia

Canada has a long history of public broadcasting. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was set up in the 1930s in response to the growing influence of American radio.

Broadcasting in French and English, the CBC runs four radio networks featuring speech-based and cultural programmes. It also operates two national TV channels, TV and radio services for indigenous peoples in the north and the international broadcaster Radio Canada International.

There are just under 2,000 licensed radio stations in Canada, many of them commercial. There is extensive take-up of multichannel TV.

The Canadian media are free to present a wide range of views and opinions. The broadcasting regulator rules that quotas of Canadian material - usually 30-35% - must be carried by TV and radio stations.

The press

•The Globe and Mail - Toronto-based national daily

•La Presse - Montreal-based daily

•The Toronto Sun - daily

•National Post - daily

•Le Journal de Montreal - daily

•Vancouver Sun - daily

•The Gazette - Montreal-based daily

•The Toronto Star - daily

•Maclean's - weekly news magazine

Television

•CBC - public, operates English-language national network and cable news channel CBC Newsworld

•Société Radio-Canada - public, operates national French-language network and cable news channel RDI

•CTV - major commercial network

•TVA - major French-language commercial network

•Aboriginal People's TV Network (APTN) - Winnipeg-based national network, via cable and satellite

•CPAC - parliamentary and political channel

•CRTC- regulatory body; the CRTC website has information about the main TV groups and their services

Radio

•CBC - public, operates English-language network Radio One and cultural network Radio Two

•Société Radio-Canada - public, operates French-language services Première Chaîne and Espace Musique

•Radio Canada International - external service run by CBC

•CRTC- regulatory body; the CRTC website has information about the main radio groups and their stations

News agency

•The Canadian Press

Robitaille: When a Canadian Passport can be Revoked

In an article online this morning relating to the revokation of the passport for the Russian spy who obtained a Canadian passport I found the following quote:

Where Passport Canada is informed that an individual may have provided false or misleading information to obtain a passport, or may have misused a passport, we review the matter and take appropriate action," Robitaille said Monday.


She noted the Canadian Passport Order, legislation governing travel documents, allows the agency to revoke a passport if the holder:

-- is charged in a foreign country with a crime that would constitute an indictable offence if committed in Canada;

-- uses the passport to assist in committing an indictable offence; or

-- has obtained the passport through false or misleading information.

 
The point of my post is my shock that a Canadian who  is merely charged with a crime might have their passport revoked in a foreign land. That is frightening because in Canada we believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The person who had their passport revoked would certainly be in no position to argue that fact in a foreign country if they had been falsely accused.  I hope that I have read this wrong and that someone will correct my misapprehension of the facts if I have.

Fox News

I have had a strong dislike of Fox news primarily due to its unprofessional and argumentative tone. The fact that people who have a broadcast audience can exemplify the characteristics of bullies over and over again and still maintain a loyal following who do not bother to challenge the veracity of the journalism is downright frightening. That dislike has been magnified by several occurances of Canada bashing in the last few years. Below you will find several clips from as far back as 2006 demonstrating that this is an ongoing trend and tactic rather than simply a gaffe.

Bill O’Reily and Canda








Fox news disrepects Canadian military





Ann Coulter on Canada

David Letterman on Canada

Julian Assange and Wikileaks

Given the current information suggesting that 4 Canadians were killed by friendly fire that has come out of Wikileaks, I thought you might like to meet the founder of Wikileaks and hear from him directly in his recent TED talk. My personal position is that our governments should never withhold from us their actions that would be contrary to our laws or our societal values. Governments should not have the power to act in a manner contrary to our societal beliefs. I, of course, understand that there are real reasons for secrecy but if that is to protect the reputation of the powerful - I am all for their exposure.

***As always, though, raw data must be evaluated as it can be as false as any other report!

Harper Slapping Back Critics- Retaliation by Defunding

Article cut and pasted from CBS written by Brian Stewart


Another critical group feels Ottawa's axe


By Brian Stewart, special to CBC News

In Canada's "marketplace of ideas," it's amazing how many stalls are being slammed shut these days and how many attendants are trembling for their very existence. In the fields of justice, human rights and foreign aid, it seems that one non-governmental agency after another is being "de-funded" into non-existence or near paralysis by the Harper government.

So what, you ask. Well, the end result will likely be a less civil society with less informed debate and less public testing of ideas. Also, I suspect, less courage in the voluntary sector. For decades, I have covered human rights and aid groups here and around the world and have never seen such a chill as what is happening now in our own country.

I am not talking about the normal, up-front budget cuts that most federal departments will now face and pass along, but a more sinister loss of funding that seems tied to political payback. The difference is profoundly important. For when an NGO has its budget cut, apparently for speaking out, others fear the same fate. It brings to mind Winston Churchill's famous saying about grovelling before a fearsome power: "Each one hopes the crocodile will eat him last."

40 years of support

The latest group to feel the axe is the Canadian Council on International Co-operation, an umbrella group that co-ordinates public policy on the foreign aid front and is now in the process of laying off 17 of its 25 employees because the federal government withdrew its $1.8 million in annual funding. CIDA Minister Bev Oda appears at the G8 summit in Muskoka in June 2010. When it comes to groups like the CCIC, CIDA doesn't want to fund core budgets, her spokesman said. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press) After leaving the CCIC dangling since early spring, the Canadian International Development Agency, the body responsible for funding these NGOs finally announced late last week that no more federal money would be forthcoming.

Forty years of government support was eliminated in a terse statement.

The CCIC has had its critics in the aid community. Some experts feel it is too cerebral and politically correct. But important groups like Oxfam and Save the Children defend it and many NGOs feel its treatment has been shabby. As Robert Fox, the director of Oxfam Canada put it recently in an interview with Embassy newspaper, if CIDA had concerns about what the CCIC does, then someone at CIDA should have called over and talked it through, rather than let the organization go through months of uncertainty.

Gerry Barr, the well-respected head of the CCIC has been less forgiving: "This is the politics of punishment," he says. "Today, you can see the emergence of a kind of partisan brush-clearing exercise and a punishment approach adopted towards those whose public views run at cross purposes to the government."

No warning

CIDA holds unusual life and death power over many Canadian NGOs because most of the government's foreign aid flows through CIDA to the NGOs that carry it out. In today's Ottawa, all NGOs know a simple fact of life: Displeasing the government means CIDA can turn off your NGO tap with ease. Either by simply eliminating the flow or diverting it to another group that the government favours.

Last December, you'll remember, a large ecumenical organization called KAIROS, the human rights arm of 11 Canadian church organizations, saw its tap wrenched shut when CIDA cut off $7 million, the group's entire overseas budget, apparently for taking positions on the Middle East that the Harper government disapproved of.

Not long afterward, another organization called MATCH was also shut down by funding cuts. The only Canadian aid group exclusively focused on the rights of women in the developing world, it too had been critical of government actions.

Then, after Barr's CCIC protested that such cuts were causing a "chill" within the NGO community, it had its budget allocation for this year suspended and, now, cut completely.

Critical co-ordinator

On the government's ledger, the CCIC cut doesn't amount to very much. But for an essentially shoe-string organization, the loss of $1.8 million from CIDA represents over two-thirds of the CCIC budget.
Sometimes called the "heart and soul" of Canada's voluntary efforts overseas, the CCIC represents some 90 organizations, including some of the largest aid groups working on Canada's behalf.

For 40 years, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have funded the CCIC, even though they have often been exasperated by its blunt criticism. But they did this because the organization was seen as the critical co-ordinator for advancing the knowledge, discussion and planning of foreign aid and development.

Foreign assistance is not just a matter of delivering help. It's also a highly complex matter of getting it right, if possible, through study, research, the exchange of ideas, co-ordination of plans, and, yes, open debate and criticism. This is the area the CCIC excelled in. It played a leadership role and set high standards.

A deaf ear

Parsing CIDA's rationale for its many changes is difficult at the best of times.
Cutbacks today are sometimes justified after the fact, in private, by suggesting that certain NGOs were not meeting the current, big three aid priorities: children and youth; food security; and sustainable growth.

Canada's new aid priorities

South America: Bolivia, Caribbean regional program, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Peru
Southeast Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam
Eastern Europe: Ukraine
Middle East: West Bank and Gaza
Africa: Ethiopa, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania

All are laudable goals, to be sure, but few trust CIDA to show consistency. In fact, it was just last fall when the auditor general complained that Canada's foreign policy priorities, or "themes," have been reshuffled five times in the last 10 years, producing an astonishing 12 different themes in all.

For years, Barr and the CCIC have argued that CIDA's chronic attention-deficit disorder makes programming impossible when "based on themes that may have a half-life of six months."
"It's like planning next year's crop on the strength of this afternoon's weather," Barr says.

But for criticism like this, and others, CCIC now seems to be paying the price.
A real loss

At this point, the CCIC may survive without government funding, but it won't have the same research and analysis capability. The whole foreign aid community will have less independent information to go on and fewer opportunities to co-ordinate actions.
Meanwhile, the Harper foreign aid strategy of greater focus on fewer countries and more emphasis on economic development may be a good one. Or not.

I hope it's successful and will watch new efforts with interest.

But I wonder how we will be able to judge anything in this field in the future with any confidence if independent voices are silenced and independent information dries up out of fear of government retaliation.
At this rate we may yet find ourselves in an arid civic landscape where our only humanitarian guide to the world is a new press release from CIDA.

Then we will be lost indeed.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/23/f-vp-stewart.html#ixzz0ut80P4ee

Constitutional debate

This video captures a time in Canadian history of which we can all be rightfully proud. A nearly unanimous decision on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the repatriation of our constitution. We should insist that our current politicians work together for our benefit with the same spirit of National UNITY that was experienced then.

Prime Ministers of Canada- Present to distant past

Average Age: 56 years, 8 months, 9 days
Youngest: Clark, The Right Honourable Charles Joseph P.C., C.C., A.O.E., B.A., M.A., LL.D. 39 years, 11 months, 30 days
Oldest: Tupper, The Right Honourable Sir Charles P.C., G.C.M.G., K.C.M.G., C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., M.D. 74 years, 9 months, 31 days



The Right Honourable Stephen Harper

P.C., B.A., M.A. 2006.02.06 1959.04.30 46 years, 9 months, 9 days Author, economist, lecturer

The Right Honourable Paul Edgar Philippe Martin

P.C., Hon. B.A., LL.B. 2003.12.12 1938.08.28 65 years, 3 months, 15 days Businessman, lawyer

The Right Honourable Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien

P.C., C.C., O.M., Q.C., B.A., LL.L., LL.D 1993.11.04 1934.01.11 59 years, 9 months, 24 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable A. Kim Campbell

P.C., C.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.B., LL.D. 1993.06.25 1947.03.10 46 years, 3 months, 17 days Lawyer, lecturer

The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney

P.C., C.C., G.O.Q., B.A., LL.L. 1984.09.17 1939.03.20 45 years, 5 months, 30 days Author, corporate executive, lawyer

The Right Honourable John Napier Turner

P.C., C.C., Q.C., M.A., LL.D. 1984.06.30 1929.06.07 55 years, 23 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau

P.C., C.C., C.H., Q.C., M.A., LL.L., LL.D., F.R.S.C. 1980.03.03 1919.10.18 60 years, 4 months, 16 days Lawyer, professor of law, writer

The Right Honourable Charles Joseph Clark

P.C., C.C., A.O.E., B.A., M.A., LL.D. 1979.06.04 1939.06.05 39 years, 11 months, 30 days Journalist, lecturer

The Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau

P.C., C.C., C.H., Q.C., M.A., LL.L., LL.D., F.R.S.C. 1968.04.20 1919.10.18 48 years, 6 months, 3 days Lawyer, professor of law, writer

The Right Honourable Lester Bowles Pearson

P.C., C.C., O.M., O.B.E., B.A., M.A., LL.D. 1963.04.22 1897.04.23 65 years, 11 months, 29 days Author, diplomat, professor, senior public servant

The Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker

C.H., P.C., Q.C., B.A., M.A., LL.B., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.C., F.R.S.A., D.Litt., D.S.L. 1957.06.21 1895.09.18 61 years, 9 months, 3 days Barrister, lawyer

The Right Honourable Louis Stephen St-Laurent

P.C., C.C., Q.C., B.A., D.C.L, LL.L., LL.D. 1948.11.15 1882.02.01 66 years, 9 months, 13 days Lawyer, professor of law

The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King

P.C., O.M., C.M.G., B.A., M.A., A.M., LL.B., Ph.D. 1935.10.23 1874.12.17 60 years, 10 months, 5 days Author, editor, gentleman, journalist, labour expert, lawyer, senior public servant

The Right Honourable Richard Bedford Bennett

P.C., K.C., K.G.St.J., LL.B. 1930.08.07 1870.07.03 60 years, 1 month, 4 days Barrister, lawyer, teacher

The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King

P.C., O.M., C.M.G., B.A., M.A., A.M., LL.B., Ph.D. 1926.09.25 1874.12.17 51 years, 9 months, 8 days Author, editor, gentleman, journalist, labour expert, lawyer, senior public servant

The Right Honourable Arthur Meighen

P.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.D. 1926.06.29 1874.06.16 52 years, 12 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King

P.C., O.M., C.M.G., B.A., M.A., A.M., LL.B., Ph.D. 1921.12.29 1874.12.17 47 years, 11 days Author, editor, gentleman, journalist, labour expert, lawyer, senior public servant

The Right Honourable Arthur Meighen

P.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.D. 1920.07.10 1874.06.16 46 years, 24 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden

P.C., K.C., G.C.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D. 1917.10.12 1854.06.26 63 years, 3 months, 16 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden


P.C., K.C., G.C.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D. 1911.10.10 1854.06.26 57 years, 3 months, 14 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier

P.C., K.C., G.C.M.G., B.C.L., D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D. 1896.07.11 1841.11.20 54 years, 7 months, 21 days Lawyer

The Right Honourable Sir Charles Tupper

P.C., G.C.M.G., K.C.M.G., C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., M.D. 1896.05.01 1821.07.02 74 years, 9 months, 31 days Physician

The Honourable Sir Mackenzie Bowell

P.C., K.C.M.G. 1894.12.21 1823.12.27 70 years, 11 months, 26 days Editor, printer

The Right Honourable Sir John Sparrow David Thompson

P.C., Q.C., K.C.M.G. 1892.12.05 1844.11.10 48 years, 25 days Lawyer, lecturer

The Honourable Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott

P.C., Q.C., K.C.M.G., B.C.L., D.C.L. 1891.06.16 1821.03.12 70 years, 3 months, 5 days Dean, lawyer

The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald

P.C., Q.C., G.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D. 1878.10.17 1815.01.11 63 years, 9 months, 6 days Lawyer

The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie

P.C. 1873.11.07 1822.01.28 51 years, 9 months, 10 days Contractor, editor

The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald

P.C., Q.C., G.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D. 1867.07.01 1815.01.11 52 years, 5 months, 19 days Lawyer

Prime Ministers of Canada

1 1 Sir John A. Macdonald

MP for Kingston, ON 1 July 1867 5 November

1873 1867 (1st) • 1872 (2nd) Liberal–Conservative

Integration of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory into Canada; Manitoba Act; Red River Rebellion; Confederation of British Columbia; Creation of the North-West Mounted Police; Resigned over Pacific Scandal.

2 2 Alexander Mackenzie

MP for Lambton, ON 7 November

1873 8 October

1878 — (2nd) • 1874 (3rd) Liberal

Pacific Scandal; Creation of the Supreme Court; Establishment of the Royal Military College; Created the office of the Auditor General.

(1) 3 Sir John A. Macdonald

MP for Victoria, BC 1878–1882

MP for Carleton, ON 1882–1887

MP for Kingston, ON 1887–1891 17 October

1878 6 June

1891 1878 (4th) • 1882 (5th) • 1887 (6th) • 1891 (7th) Liberal–Conservative

National Policy; North-West Rebellion; Hanging of Louis Riel. Died in office (stroke).

3 4 Sir John Abbott

Senator 16 June

1891 24 November

1892 — (7th) Liberal–Conservative

Succeeded on Macdonald's death due to objections to the Catholic John Thompson. In ill health; retired.

4 5 Sir John Thompson

MP for Antigonish, NS 5 December

1892 12 December

1894 — (7th) Liberal–Conservative

First Catholic Prime Minister. Manitoba Schools Question. Died in office (heart attack).

5 6 Sir Mackenzie Bowell

Senator 21 December

1894 27 April

1896 — (7th) Conservative

Manitoba Schools Question.

6 7 Sir Charles Tupper

MP for Cape Breton, NS 1 May

1896 8 July

1896 — (none) Conservative

Manitoba Schools Question.

7 8 Sir Wilfrid Laurier

MP for Quebec East, QC 11 July

1896 6 October

1911 1896 (8th) • 1900 (9th) • 1904 (10th) • 1908 (11th) Liberal

Manitoba Schools Question; Boer War; Confederation of Alberta and Saskatchewan; Creation of the Royal Canadian Navy; Reciprocity with the US.

8 9

•

10 Sir Robert Borden

MP for Halifax, NS until 1917

MP for Kings, NS from 1917 10 October

1911 12 October

1917 1911 (12th) Conservative

12 October

1917 10 July

1920 1917 (13th) Unionist

First World War; Military Service Act; Conscription Crisis of 1917; Unionist Party (Canada); Creation of the National Research Council; Introduction of income tax; Winnipeg General Strike; Nickle Resolution.

9 11 Arthur Meighen

MP for Portage la Prairie, MB 10 July

1920 29 December

1921 — (13th) N.L.C.

—

10 12 William Lyon Mackenzie King

MP for York North, ON until 1925 29 December

1921 29 June

1926 1921 (14th) • 1925 (15th) Liberal

Lost his seat in 1925 election, which resulted in a hung parliament; the Governor General refused his request to dissolve parliament (King–Byng Affair).

(9) 13 Arthur Meighen

MP for Portage la Prairie, MB 29 June

1926 25 September

1926 — (15th) Conservative

Appointed as a result of the King–Byng Affair. Defeated and lost his seat in 1926 election.

(10) 14 William Lyon Mackenzie King

MP for Prince Albert, SK 25 September

1926 6 August

1930 1926 (16th) Liberal

Introduction of old age pensions; Great Depression.

11 15 Richard Bedford Bennett

MP for Calgary West, AB 7 August

1930 23 October

1935 1930 (17th) Conservative

Great Depression.

(10) 16 William Lyon Mackenzie King

MP for Prince Albert, SK until 1945

MP for Glengarry, ON from 1945 23 October

1935 15 November

1948 1935 (18th) • 1940 (19th) • 1945 (20th) Liberal

Creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; National Film Board of Canada; Nationalization of the Bank of Canada; World War 2; Trans-Canada Airlines.

12 17 Louis St. Laurent

MP for Quebec East, QC 15 November

1948 21 June

1957 — (20th) • 1949 (21st) • 1953 (22nd) Liberal

Canada's entrance into NATO and the UN; Suez Crisis; Creation of the United Nations Emergency Force; London Declaration; Newfoundland Act; Equalization; Trans-Canada Highway; St. Lawrence Seaway; Trans-Canada Pipeline; Pipeline Debate.

13 18 John Diefenbaker

MP for Prince Albert, SK 21 June

1957 22 April

1963 1957 (23rd) • 1958 (24th) • 1962 (25th) Progressive Conservative

Avro Arrow cancellation; Coyne Affair; Cuban Missile Crisis; Canadian Bill of Rights.

14 19 Lester B. Pearson

MP for Algoma East, ON 22 April

1963 20 April

1968 1963 (26th) • 1965 (27th) Liberal

Bomarc missile program; Introduction of Canadian universal healthcare; Canada Pension Plan; Canada Student Loans; Creation of a new Canadian flag; Auto Pact; Rejection of troop deployment to Vietnam; Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism; Creation of the Canadian Forces; 1967 Canadian Centennial celebrations.

15 20 Pierre Trudeau

MP for Mount Royal, QC 20 April

1968 4 June

1979 — (27th) • 1968 (28th) • 1972 (29th) • 1974 (30th) Liberal

"Trudeaumania"; "Just Society"; October Crisis; Use of the War Measures Act; Official Languages Act; Establishment of relations with China; Creation of Petro-Canada; Membership in the G7; Metric Commission.

16 21 Joe Clark

MP for Yellowhead, AB 4 June

1979 3 March

1980 1979 (31st) Progressive Conservative

Youngest Canadian PM. Led a minority government; defeated in a motion of no confidence on tax proposals.

(15) 22 Pierre Trudeau

MP for Mount Royal, QC 3 March

1980 30 June

1984 1980 (32nd) Liberal

Introduction of the NEP; 1980 Referendum; Access to Information Act; Repatriation of the Canadian Constitution; Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Western alienation.

17 23 John Turner 30 June

1984 17 September

1984 — (32nd) Liberal

Trudeau Patronage Appointments

18 24 Brian Mulroney

MP for Manicouagan, QC until 1988

MP for Charlevoix, QC from 1988 17 September

1984 25 June

1993 1984 (33rd) • 1988 (34th) Progressive Conservative

Cancellation of the NEP; Meech Lake Accord; Air India bombing; Canada-US Free Trade Agreement; Introduction of the GST; Charlottetown Accord; Good relations with Ronald Reagan; Petro-Canada privatization; Gulf War; École Polytechnique massacre; Oka Crisis; Environmental Protection Act; NAFTA; Airbus affair.

19 25 Kim Campbell

MP for Vancouver Centre, BC 25 June

1993 4 November

1993 — (34th) Progressive Conservative

First female Prime Minister of Canada. Defeated and lost her seat in 1993 election.

20 26 Jean Chrétien

MP for Saint-Maurice, QC 4 November

1993 12 December

2003 1993 (35th) • 1997 (36th) • 2000 (37th) Liberal

Red Book; HST; 1995 Referendum; Clarity Act; Assassination attempt; Kosovo War; 1997 Red River Flood; Social Union Framework Agreement; Creation of Nunavut Territory; Youth Criminal Justice Act; Shawinigan Handshake; Invasion of Afghanistan; Opposition to the Invasion of Iraq; Sponsorship scandal; Kyoto Protocol; Gomery Inquiry.

21 27 Paul Martin

MP for LaSalle—Émard, QC 12 December

2003 6 February

2006 — (37th) • 2004 (38th) Liberal

Sponsorship scandal; Gomery inquiry; Civil Marriage Act; Kelowna Accord; Rejection of US Anti-Missile Treaty; G20; Atlantic Accord.

22 28 Stephen Harper

MP for Calgary Southwest, AB

Let's tell our own Stories!

Pierre Eliot Trudeau - FLQ crisis during the abductions

Trudeau demonstrates his ability to listen, to follow and to argue the facts. He is clearly a patriot in a difficult time.

Marshall Mcluhen - Interview 1977 content of media

Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms holds Police Accountable

In the course of their investigations, police can make mistakes with sometimes unintentional but nevertheless damaging consequences for affected citizens, who typically swallow the damages in impotent frustration. Well, no more. The Supreme Court of Canada has offered a remedy to that impotence in a ruling that empowers citizens and should have a deterrent effect on police who might be overzealous even while properly acting within their authority.


The ruling flowed from a case of mistaken identity. In August 2002, police in Vancouver were alerted that a white male with short, dark hair and wearing a white golf shirt with some red on it might be planning to throw a pie at then prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Police spotted a white male, mid-forties, with long, grey hair and wearing a grey T-shirt with some red on it. He was running. Police gave chase, caught Alan Cameron Ward, handcuffed him over his protests, took him into custody, had him strip searched and attempted to impound his car. Seven hours later he was released for lack of any evidence. They had the wrong man.

Mr. Ward, a lawyer, sued. On Friday, nearly six years later, the Supreme Court upheld earlier court findings and declared that, while the police had not acted in bad faith and could not, therefore, be liable for civil damages, it was "just and appropriate" that Mr. Ward be awarded $5,000 in damages because strip searches are "inherently humiliating and degrading" and that, in this case, the search was "unnecessary and violative."

While the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has since 1988 guaranteed that Canadians can seek damages if their rights are violated -- in this case the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure -- the issue had not been closely examined until now, Madame Chief Justice Beverley McLaughlin noted in the ruling.

Canadians should be grateful for the clarification, and for Mr. Ward's principles and tenacity.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 26, 2010 A12

Canadian Charm

While a little late, this post features Michael Buble inviting Australia to the Olympics.

Beautiful Manitoba

The Red River Valley of Manitoba

Maurice Strong

"Maurice Strong, a senior advisor to the Secretary- General of the United Nations [ Kofi Annan] and former senior advisor to the President of the World Bank, is one of the world's most influential political and environmental activists. He is a Distinguished Fellow at IISD.

"Strong served on the board of directors for the United Nations Foundation, a UN affiliated organization established by Ted Turner's historic $1 billion donation. He is also a director of the World Economic Forum Foundation, Chairman of the Earth Council, former Chairman of the Stockholm Environment Institute, and former Chairman of the World Resources Institute.

"In his native Canada, Strong's career has spanned over five decades at some of Canada's most prestigious companies. He has run several companies in the energy and resources sector, including the Power Corporation of Canada, Ontario Hydro, and Petro-Canada (the national oil company). He is currently the chairman of Technology Development, Inc., which funds research in the groundbreaking field of applying nanotechnology towards creating energy sources that are both affordable and ecofriendly. "

Maurice F. Strong, PC, CC, OM, FRSC (born April 29, 1929) is a Canadian businessman. He is an entrepreneur, environmentalist, and one of the world’s leading proponents of the United Nations's involvement in world affairs.


Born in Oak Lake, Manitoba, Strong had his start as a petroleum entrepreneur and became president of Power Corporation until 1966. In the early 1970s he was Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and then became the first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. He returned to Canada to become Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada from 1976 to 1978. He headed Ontario Hydro, one of North Americas largest power utilities, was national President and Chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of YMCAs, and headed American Water Development Incorporated.

Today Strong spends most of his time in the People's Republic of China, and is President of the Council of the United Nations's University for Peace. UPEACE is the only university in the UN system able to grant degrees at the masters and doctoral level. He is an active honorary professor at Peking University and Honorary Chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia.

Kenneth Taylor- Canadian Amabassador and American Spy

Kenneth D. Taylor


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kenneth Douglas "Ken" Taylor, OC (born October 5, 1934 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) was a Canadian ambassador to Iran. Taylor helped six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis in 1979 by contacting Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark and getting him to issue the Americans Canadian passports to fool the Iranians into believing they were Canadians in a covert operation called the Canadian caper.

Iranian students invaded the United States embassy on November 4, 1979 (Iran hostage crisis). During the riot six Americans managed to escape. They hid for four days before reaching the Canadian embassy where they met Taylor who devised the plan to get them out of Iran safely. The other 52 hostages were released on the last day of U.S. President Jimmy Carter's term in office, in January 1981.

After returning from Iran, Taylor was appointed Canadian Consul-General to New York City. In 1980, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was also awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal that same year.
Taylor completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and has since been honoured with its highest award, the Order of Constantine. He returned to the University of Toronto for several years as the Chancellor of Victoria College. Ken Taylor remains a Canadian citizen. He currently resides in New York.

Taylor would play a crucial role in providing intelligence on the hostage crisis to Canadian and American intelligence agencies.Taylor himself now confirms that the C.I.A. organized the rescue of the diplomats who were hiding in the Canadian embassy, a statement which echoes what former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said about the operation in 1986.

News


Former Canadian Ambassador Admits To Spying For CIA

January 24, 2010

(RFE/RL) -- Canada's former ambassador to Tehran has admitted to spying for the United States and serving as the "de facto CIA station chief" after the U.S. Embassy seizure in 1979.
The former diplomat, Ken Taylor, approved the disclosure in a book published this week and confirmed its details for a story in "The Globe and Mail."

Taylor, who says he also helped plan a possible armed incursion into Iran, was celebrated at the time for his publicly acknowledged role hiding six Americans and helping them escape Tehran in the midst of the Iranian hostage crisis.

He suggested officials expected to keep his role three decades ago under wraps, and told "The Globe and Mail" that he didn't think it would be disclosed "for another 30 years."

The book, "Our Man In Tehran" by Robert Wright, was released on January 23.
Taylor said the arrangement was set up by then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, whereby he would provide the CIA with information from his post at Canada's embassy in Tehran.
In November 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 60 Americans hostage, beginning a 444-day crisis situation to free

Tribute to the French Canadian Soldier

I have lived my whole life in Ontario but I feel deeply connected 'Ad mare usque ad mare'. Like many Canadians I am a mixture of many components of Canada- immigrant grandparent, Canadians who lived here for several generations, English, French, Aboriginal and so I love Canada and Canadians and I feel a part of it all. Over the years I have seen how insulated we can be by distance and regional concerns. The post below pays tribute to one Canadian hero who left it all here at home to give his life in WW1 for a better future for humanity in general. Let no one who ever sees this have any doubt about the courage and the valour of French Canadian soldiers. Please watch the video below to be introduced to Corporal Joseph Kaeple and man whose story made me cry with respect, gratitude and sadness that the world lost such a brave and tenacious soul.

We’ve Got the Beaver

Valour Road

Canadian Heroes – Valour Road

Colonial History- Gung Din

The British Colonial history affects Canada in many ways- some good and many painful. Below I have posted Jim Croce singing Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Gunga Din' which is set in India. This work of literature reminds us of another time and in our time, it makes plane the thinking toward anyone of colour or of another religion. The 'WE' that is Canada includes many Aboriginal people, many from India and Pakistan, and many from other areas of the world that have felt the sting of "Her Majesty Victoria's" colonial policies and exploitation. In this poem, that exploitation includes Gunga Din and the English soldier sent to sacrifice his life for the profit of England. It is my unsupported belief that Rudyard Kipling was holding a socially acceptable mirror up to his own time and era in this work of art. Absorbing and reflecting upon the message of the poem should empower us to understand each other better.

Life expectancy by Country Ranking

Rank Member State Population Males Females




1 Japan 74.5 71.9 77.2

2 Australia 73.2 70.8 75.5

3 France 73.1 69.3 76.9

4 Sweden 73.0 71.2 74.9

5 Spain 72.8 69.8 75.7

6 Italy 72.7 70.0 75.4

7 Greece 72.5 70.5 74.6

8 Switzerland 72.5 69.5 75.5

9 Monaco 72.4 68.5 76.3

10 Andorra 72.3 69.3 75.2

11 San Marino 72.3 69.5 75.0

12 Canada 72.0 70.0 74.0

13 Netherlands 72.0 69.6 74.4

14 United Kingdom 71.7 69.7 73.7

15 Norway 71.7 68.8 74.6

UN Human Development Index 2008

Very high human development (developed countries)


Rank Country HDI

2007 data Change compared to 2006 data 2007 data

[2][nb 1] Change compared to 2006 data

[nb 1][2]

1 ▬ Norway 0.971 ▲ 0.001

2 ▬ Australia 0.970 ▲ 0.002

3 ▬ Iceland 0.969 ▲ 0.002

4 ▬ Canada 0.966 ▲ 0.001

5 ▬ Ireland 0.965 ▲ 0.001

6 ▲ (1) Netherlands 0.964 ▲ 0.003

7 ▼ (1) Sweden 0.963 ▲ 0.002

8 ▲ (3) France 0.961 ▲ 0.003

9 ▬ Switzerland 0.960 ▲ 0.001

10 ▬ Japan 0.960 ▲ 0.002

11 ▼ (3) Luxembourg 0.960 ▲ 0.001

12 ▲ (1) Finland 0.959 ▲ 0.004

13 ▼ (1) United States 0.956 ▲ 0.001

14 ▲ (2) Austria 0.955 ▲ 0.003

15 ▬ Spain 0.955 ▲ 0.003


copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

Canadians in World War 2

Old ads to entice Canadian women to serve in the World Wars

Old Movie Version of O Canada

Old Movie theatre version of Oh Canada


Times have changed in Canada in some subtle and not so subtle ways. When I was a girl every movie theatre opened the first movie of the day with O Canada and a short film of our country that lasted the duration of our anthem. Somehow that practice was discontinued but I found it on Youtube (source of many interesting things) and it brought back memories of Saturday afternoons at the movies with enough change for a treat.

Organized by McGill University

This is such a Canadian thing to do after 911. Well done McGill!

Canadian Accent

Muskoka sunset

Oh, Canada!

The Truth and Reconsilation Process in Canada

I think it is intrinsically Canadian to face our failings in the hopes of far better tomorrows. In this painful process we acknowledge, we share the pain and we apologize for the ignorance, intolerance and crimes of the past.  As a Canadian, as a person of mixed heritage and as a human being I pray for healing and for forgiveness for our country in this matter.

Current Canadian Artist

In this land of remote places, Canada harbours artists who may not see the mainstream for many years. When I find one on a blog I try to bring them into the consciousness of more people so here is some of the work of Kate Strickland from Hudson, Quebec, Canada

"I am an artist who creates sculptural objects, combining materials such as paper, thread, beeswax, metal, and natural objects. I also give creativity workshops in Hudson, Quebec. Art vein vessel is a place where I share my work, my creative activities, and the little things that inspire me."