Supreme Court judge in B.C. finds RCMP guilty of entrapment

John Nutall and Amanda Karady who were found guilty on terrorism charges in June of 2015 had the verdicts thrown out as a British Columbia Supreme Court Justice found that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were guilty of entrapment.

The couple thought that they were planting pressure-cooker bombs to kill and maim crowds gathered at the B.C. legislature on Canada Day three years ago. However, the plot was not their idea and police operatives convinced them that it was a better plan than those the couple suggested. The justice even called the terror plan a "police manufactured crime".

Justice Catherine Bruce did not mince words but claimed the RCMP used trickery, deceit, and even veiled threats to ensure that the couple tried to carry out the very terrorist acts of which they were found guilty. In her ruling, she even said:“The world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more. There is clearly a need to curtail the actions of police ... to ensure that future undercover investigations do not follow the same path.”

Bruce said that the RCMP, in a sting lasting months, knowingly exploited the couples' vulnerabilities to ensure they tried to carry out the offense planned by the RCMP themselves. She said the couple was marginalized, socially isolated, and were former heroin addicts dependent upon methadone and welfare to subsist. They were all talk and no action, she said. They were recent converts to Islam.

Bruce maintained that without the involvement of undercover officers the couple would have been unable to articulate, plan and execute the bomb plot. Bruce even claimed that it was the police not the couple who led the plot. The primary undercover officer discouraged the couple from seeking outside spiritual help and convinced them that he was a member of a powerful international terrorist group. He said that the group would likely kill them if they did not follow through with the planned terrorist action. Bruce claimed that the undercover agent was actually the leader and the couple his disciples.

After the verdict, the couple were temporarily re-arrested but later released under a peace bond with strict conditions for up to a year. Bruce had delayed registering the conviction of the couple at the request of their defense lawyers who argued that the RCMP had entrapped their clients. Had the conviction been upheld the couple could have faced a maximum penalty of life in prison. The Crown has filed an appeal of the ruling.

The case is historic in that this is the first time that the entrapment defense has been argued successfully in a terrorism case. The decision means a permanent halt to court proceedings. Although this is not an acquittal or a finding that the person is not guilty, it has a similar result in that those accused can walk free without any criminal record.

There were 240 police officers involved in the sting operation and it included more than 70 hours of surveillance of the couple. Apparently, someone with ties to the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service may have had a role in radicalizing the couple in the first place.

Senator Mike Duffy cleared of all criminal charges

Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt cleared Senator Mike Duffy of all 31 criminal charges against him and criticized both the Prime Minister's Office under former PM Stephen Harper and also the RCMP.

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An article in the CBC by Neil MacDonald praises the judge's decision:

 Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt proved that in Canada, the courts are there to protect citizens against the venal machinations of those in high office, and the terrifying power of the police and prosecutors who answer to them.Not only did the judge drop all 31 charges, he described those charges as an abuse of power.

MacDonald is scathing in his remarks on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police(RCMP) who prosecuted Duffy. Instead of defending the law as their motto claims, saying they "genuflected to authority, using police discretion to toss a single newsworthy individual into the nightmare of the criminal system, essentially stealing two years of his life, while ignoring other senators who were doing just about exactly the same thing as Duffy." MacDonald notes that while Duffy was charged with taking a bribe there was no charge against the aide in the PMO who offered it in the first place. He claims the RCMP have been found wanting, if not negligent.

David Scott an Ottawa lawyer who years ago defended another individual from what was also a type of RCMP persecution, said: "I'm frankly proud of the way this turned out. It is completely unprofessional to have such an active animus at work in an investigation. The RCMP was lusting to do this [charge Duffy] because of the high-profile nature of the case. There was a hue and cry to 'get this creep. It's the power of authority. I have no doubt that this was a case of pleasing the masters."Harper had obviously decided that Duffy should be punished.

Nearly two years ago Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP Giles Michaud issued a long news release detailing the charges against Duffy and revealing the complex investigation officers made to expose the wrongdoing. When asked this Friday what Michaud had to say now, a junior officer said: "The RCMP respects the decision of the court. It would be inappropriate to comment further." When asked why it was inappropriate to comment now when the charges were made it was thought appropriate to advertise them the officer said that it would be inappropriate to comment.

Mike Duffy was a well-known TV personality before he was appointed by the Harper government to represent Prince Edward Island(PEI). Among the charges against him were that he said that his principal residence was in PEI so that he could claim expenses for his Ottawa residence: In 2012, Duffy has a vacation home on the island. Duffy was one of four senators accused of saying that their primary residency outside of Ottawa in order to claim living expenses for work in Ottawa.[22][23] Duffy, who has lived and worked in Ottawa for decades, has claimed his primary residence is in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island and claimed $42,802 in living expenses for the national capital region from November 30, 2010, to November 30, 2012.[24] Duffy may have also claimed $40,333 in the two years after his Senate appointment in December 2008.While a senator, Duffy was a popular speaker for the Conservatives. In March of 2010 he criticized University of King's College and other Canadian journalism schools for teaching Noam Chomsky and critical thinking. He claimed that Canadian journalism schools were producing leftists who thought free enterprise was bad.

Harper decided that Senators should repay these claimed expanses. Duffy was unwilling since he thought it would be an admission that he had done something wrong. Duffy claimed that he had claimed the expenses after seeking advice on the matter. However, he gave in to the demands of the Harper administration providing he did not have to pay:In late February 2013, it was alleged that special counsel and legal adviser Benjamin Perrin drafted a letter of understanding between Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, Nigel Wright and Duffy.[33] Perrin denied involvement in a May 2013 statement.[34][35] Wright then wrote a personal cheque to Duffy for $90,172 to cover past residency expenses claimed as part of the agreement with the PMO. A Conservative Party spokesman confirmed the money was a gift with no expectation of repayment.[36] Duffy then repaid the Government of Canada $90,172 in March 2013 for expenses previously claimed.

Duffy faced up to 14 years in prison if convicted of the most serious offences charges The defense and cross-examination of Duffy finished back on December 17th, after sixty days. The oral closing arguments were heard between Feb. 22 and March 4. The acquittal was on April 21.

Duffy has serious health problems suffering a heart attack in 1992. He needs drugs for heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoarthritis.

Burnaby BC and environmental activists fight to protect Burnaby Mountain

Both the city of Burnaby BC just outside of Vancouver along with environmental activists are joining battle against Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan intends to expand the Trans Mountain bitumen export pipeline so as to triple its capacity. This would require adding many storage tanks to their present storage facility at Burnaby Mountain. However, another factor that concerns environmentalists is that it would increase oil tanker traffic through the Burrard Inlet by four to six times what it is now, increasing the likelihood of a disastrous oil spill. A National Energy Board (NEB) decision granted Kinder Morgan access to the Burnaby Mountain municipal conservation area. The city plans to appeal the ruling. The city has tried to block the company from doing survey work in the Burnaby Mountain conservancy for the route preferred by the company for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The Energy Board ruling claims that the geotechnical work in the area is necessary to provide the data to the Board to make recommendations to the government about whether the project should proceed. Derek Corrigan, the mayor of Burnaby questions the Board's legal authority to over-rule municipal bylaws. Corrigan said: "We are disappointed but not surprised by this ruling. We believe that it is inappropriate for the National Energy Board to rule on the critical constitutional issue of whether a multinational pipeline company can override municipal bylaws and cause damage to a conservation area, for a project that no level of government has deemed to be in the public interest." The city lawyer Greg McDade claims that the power to rule on municipal laws and enforcement powers does not exist in the National Energy Board Act and has never been claimed before by any federal tribunal.
 The Board however claims that it does have the power to override municipal bylaws. The NEB order prohibits Burnaby from attempting to enforce any bylaw blocking the Kinder Morgan work but ruled that Kinder Morgan must give the city 24 hours notice of work in advance and also repair any damage its work causes.This is the first time the National Energy Board has issued an order indicating what a municipality must do. Both sides are launching court battles, with Kinder Morgan managing to get a court injunction against protesters who were blocking workers from carrying out their drilling on the mountain.
 Thursday morning police swept in shortly after 8 AM after deciding to arrest anyone not obeying the court injunction. By 9:45 it was reported that at least ten people were arrested with at least one being a First Nations member. The RCMP have forced journalists and witnesses far away. There is an arrest-free area cordoned off by police. The people there are requesting community members to come to the site. As this short clip shows, the police were not always restrained in treatment of some protesters. The incident would appear to be the same as described here: A middle-aged female who was in front of the line was tossed to the ground behind police and was quickly arrested."Hey, that's violence," a protester yelled at police as the woman slammed onto the road. An RCMP tweet claimed that 26 people in all were arrested but that only five remained in custody by Thursday evening. Many were released after being cited for civil contempt. They were required to promise not to interfere, obstruct or impede survey crews.
There is still one ongoing protest a ceremonial First Nations fire remained burning throughout the day tended by a group of women. RCMP Staff Sgt. Major John Buis said: A ceremonial First Nations' fire remained burning throughout the day. A pair of RCMP officers sat down and spoke to a group of women who were tending the fire in the afternoon."We are in discussions with First Nations on how to respectfully remove a sacred fire and totem pole that remain inside the zone in contravention of the order." The government, has recently passed extensive anti-terror legislation. The RCMP has warned that environmentalists are a greater threat to Canada's energy system than jihadists. The climate is being prepared in which any militant actions by environmentalists can be treated as terrorist acts and no doubt dealt with using the powers of the new anti-terror laws. Conservative legislation has "streamlined" approval processes in the Conservative view or "gutted" them in the opinion of environmentalists. Under whatever description, the legislation is a move to prevent environmentalists from slowing up approval or even blocking approval of projects. Marc Eliesen former head of BC hydro recently withdrew from Kinder Morgan hearings calling them a farce and a waste of his time. Having successfully blocked legal ways of stopping development the Conservative government will now see to it that any illegal attempts by environmentalists to stop projects can be dealt with using powerful and punitive anti-terror legislation.

RCMP raid head office of SNC-Lavalin in Montreal

The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) carried out a raid on the offices of Canadian Engineering firm SNC-Lavalin in Montreal. The company confirmed that the RCMP had a search warrant and that the company was cooperating with the police.

The company said: 'The warrant relates to an investigation of certain individuals who are not or are no longer employed by the company.' The company itself had asked for an investigation after two top executives resigned.

Two Vice Presidents and the CEO resigned after an internal audit found 56 million in missing payments. In the background also is an alleged plot to smuggle some members of the Gadaffi family into Mexico. SNC-Lavalin had a number of lucrative contracts in Libya under the Gadaffi regime and some in the firm had connections with Gadaffi relatives.

Cynthia Vanier a Canadian consultant is in jail in Mexico arrested in an alleged plot to smuggle Gadaffi relatives into Mexico. She has been questioned by the RCMP although the police told her she was not a suspect. They are after the former executives it would seem. Vanier has complained about her treatment by Mexican authorities and the lack of any help from the Canadian government.

All this bad publicity has sent shares of the firm downward. For more see this article.

Canadian finally removed from UN terror list

Abousfian Abdelrazik a Canadian citizen born in Sudan was arrested when he went to Sudan to visit his mother in 2003. Sudanese authorities suspected that Adbelrazik had ties to Al Qaeda. Abdelrazik says he was tortured by his Sudanese captors and asked questions that he thinks were prompted by CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service)
 While he was imprisoned Abdelrazik's passport expired and he ended up having to live in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum. In July 2006 the U.S. listed Abdelrazik as an Al Qaeda supporter and the UN also added his name to a list of terrorists.
 However, Abdelrazik has never been charged with anything. Quite the opposite he has been cleared by both the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Agency) of any terrorist connections.
  In June of 1909 Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn concluded that CSIS had been complicit in arranging Adbdelrazik's arrest. He also ruled that the Canadian government had denied his constitutional rights by not issuing him a visa to return to Canada.
  CSIS asked for a prompt review of the case more than two years ago. But two years later the investigation seems to be dying a slow death. No one from the CSIS has responded to reporters' questions about the status of the investigation.
 However finally Abdelarzik's name has been removed from the UN's terrorist list. Abdelrazik has been trying to clear his name ever since he returned to Canada in June 2009. If the case of Maher Arar is any precedent Abdelrazik will probably never get the U.S. to change their characterization of him as an Al Qaeda supporter. Arar is still on a no fly list. Arar was rendered to Syria after he was held during a transfer of planes in the U.S when he was on his way back to Canada. He was deported on the grounds he was an Al Qaeda supporter. He was deported to Syria even though he was a Canadian citizen and told U.S. authorities he would be tortured there. Even though there was a long expensive inquiry in Canada that cleared Arar and awarded him ten million dollars the U.S. has never changed their position. For more on Abdelrazik see this article.

Collective bargaining at the RCMP

This is the first article I have seen on this matter. Obviously the Brown report should have had more to say on this matter and could have easily made recommendations to solve the problem of unionisation. To allow unionisation with compulsory arbitration rather than the right to strike would seem to be a fair enough balance of security versus rights to organise.

Collective bargaining at the RCMP

Management declines to negotiate.

Dateline: Tuesday, December 18, 2007

by Roy J Adams

Subsequent to the Supreme Court's BC Health Services decision in June constitutionalizing collective bargaining, several regional associations of Mounted Police sent in requests to bargain to RCMP Management.

Shortly before these developments independent investigator David Brown's report into problems surrounding the RCMP pension system had revealed a cornucopia of internal problems including an erratic and autocratic management style that was creating huge morale and safety problems. In July a new commissioner, civilian William Elliott, was appointed with a view towards addressing these problems.

New Task Force report fails to offer solutions for troubled, fractious force.



Since the Supreme Court had made it pretty clear that public sector employers have a constitutional duty to recognize and bargain in good faith with independent associations of their employees, one might have expected this new regime, with the blessing of the federal government, to respect the Mounties' desire to negotiate. Maybe not. The answer was no.

This episode is the most recent in a long and troubled history that goes back to the post-World War I era. Workers from many walks of life were organizing and demanding negotiations about their conditions of work, police among them. In 1919 a police strike in Boston led to riots and looting.

That incident confirmed the fears of Canadian legislators. Worried that police strikes would lead to chaos and anarchy, the federal Cabinet had produced, in 1918, an Order-in-Council forbidding any Mounties from becoming "a member of or in any wise associated with any Trades Union Organization". Contravention of the regulation was "cause for instant dismissal."

While these events were occurring in North America, on the international stage the rights of labour more generally were being acknowledged. In 1919 the International Labour Organization came into existence and quickly established the international standard that the rights to organize, bargain collectively and strike were fundamental to democratic society.

However, even the ILO recognized that some work is so essential that its absence would cause undue hardship to innocent bystanders and so, representatives of labour, business and governments agreed that, for workers in critical jobs, arbitration could be substituted for the strike-right. There was only one exception to the general rule. Police and the military could be forbidden by their governments to organize altogether.

Some governments exercised that option but, more commonly, sober reflection calmed alarmism and police were eventually permitted to unionize and to bargain like other workers. As the Boston strike faded in memory, Canadian police formed associations that eventually won recognition by the authorities. Except for the RCMP, nearly all police forces in Canada are, today, permitted to organize and bargain collectively and have done so.

Despite these developments, the federal government continued to withhold bargaining rights from RCMP officers. However, when Mounties joined with other public sector workers agitating for recognition in the 1970s the authorities had a partial change of heart. In 1974 they approved the establishment of the so-called Div-Rep system.

Instead of an independent union, RCMP officers would be able to elect representatives to sit with management to discuss conditions. But management would have the final say. Neither the right to strike, nor the right to submit issues in dispute to binding arbitration would be available.

Many officers were willing to settle for this system (referred to disparagingly by traditional unionists as "company unionism"). Others weren't.

Some of those opposed took the issue to the Supreme Court. In 1999, the Court said that forbidding officers from forming independent associations was unconstitutional. On the other hand, RCMP management did not have to recognize or bargain with those associations or replace the Div-Rep system with genuine collective bargaining.

In the "BC Health Services" case, the current Court overturned that position by declaring that, in principle, the denial to any Canadian workers of the right to organize and bargain contravened the Charter. Employees, the Court said, have "the right to unite, to present demands to government employers collectively and to engage in discussions in an attempt to achieve workplace-related goals." The Charter also "imposes corresponding duties on government employers to agree to meet and discuss with them."

Failing to achieve recognition in the latest round, the Mounted Police Association of Ontario has filed a new court case. In deciding the issue, the courts might reason that if exclusion of police from the general principle is permitted internationally, legislators should be allowed to use their judgment. But if a balancing of the rights of workers and the public is the Court's key standard for deciding such issues, as Chief Justice Beverly McLaughlin said in a recent speech that it would be, then the courts should strike down the standing policy and the law sustaining it.

Substituting arbitration for the strike-right has been highly effective in ensuring the continuous delivery of crucial services not only for police but for other public sector workers as well. Forbidding police to unionize is unnecessary overkill.

The federal government — in cooperation with RCMP top management — does not have to wait for the courts to decide the issue. It could simply do the right thing and abandon the offensive policy. But the just released report of the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP, chaired by David Brown, probably ensures that it won't do that.

The Task Force might have (should have) been able to connect the dots tying the long-term denial of bargaining rights to the oppressive culture, internal friction and inadequate training and safety provisions that afflict the force. But it didn't. With regard to labour relations, it merely recommended a minor tune-up of the Div-Rep system. Astonishingly, it managed to overlook or ignore altogether the Supreme Court decision.

Roy J Adams is a prominent Canadian author, newspaper columnist, human rights activist and academic.

He emigrated to Canada in 1973 and taught industrial relations at McMaster University until 1997. Since then he has been a newspaper columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and has written a number of articles. His most recently published book is Labour Left Out: Canada's Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right.



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NDP: RCMP audit exposes incompetence.

From the Air India Inquiry evidence it is not just the RCMP that suffers from incompetence, the CSIS displays its own fair share of incompetence. As Comartin claims there is no proper centralised oversight of the RCMP. The recommendations of the Arar inquiry in many cases have not yet been acted upon even though the government is committed to them.

RCMP audit exposes incompetence, says NDP
Last Updated: Friday, September 21, 2007 | 7:36 AM ET
CBC News
The RCMP has not been keeping track of all its national security criminal investigations, a recent internal audit says, as the NDP accused the force of "incompetence."

The report, which was published in July, found that RCMP headquarters was in the dark about several national security investigations opened by its own divisions, and also suffered from a staffing shortfall.

NDP public safety critic Joe Comartin said the lack of a centralized monitoring process within Canada's national police force to ensure accountability meant the RCMP was operating inefficiently.

"There could have been three or four of those [divisions] investigating the same matter and not knowing that that was going on elsewhere in the country," Comartin said.

"Again, that's a level of incompetence that really can't be tolerated."

The internal audit also found that there were too few officers working on cases, and that most of the staff with the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams require more training.



Fewer than half of the officers on the teams attended the RCMP's national security training courses, and even fewer took courses in anti-terrorism legislation, the audit found.

'We changed that policy 100 per cent'
The authors of the report urged the force to address the problems.

Assistant commissioner Mike McDonnell said the RCMP was acting on the recommendations. As of four months ago, he said, headquarters started keeping tabs on all national security operations.

"We changed that policy 100 per cent and have taken out any area of ambiguity with respect to reporting, and directed that the reporting will be centrally controlled," he said. McDonnell also said 233 staff would receive the national security training they need by next spring.

As for the staffing shortfall, McDonnell said the force's budget would need to be more than doubled in order to meet the need — a concession that Comartin said would likely lead nowhere. Instead, Comartin said it might be time for CSIS to take over all national security activities.

Lorne Waldman, one of the lawyers who represented Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar during the inquiry into Arar's deportation and torture in a Syrian jail, agreed that throwing money at the RCMP might not be the solution.

"They've had five years to correct the mistakes that happened, that led to Mr. Arar's deportation," he said. "Five years into the process, I'm not at all convinced they've come very far in correcting the errors that were made."

RCMP cancels 25km security perimeter for SPP

I guess the huge perimeter was regarded as too provocative. However the protesters will be herded into two small areas. This may cause problems. Naturally the protesters will want to overflow and march into the streets. This could cause problems since no doubt police will be surrounding the areas and will arrest people and prevent protest in "unauthorised" areas.
In the Philippines many protesters take the position that restricting rights to where protest can take place is a violation of their rights (with a few exceptions perhaps). Perhaps Canadian (and US) protesters should take a similar view. Another good tactic is to put nuns in the front lines of the protest or some elderly clergy. This tends to cause restraint among the police or at least gives good photo ops for the protesters if it doesn't!


RCMP Cancels 25-km Security Perimeter for SPP in Montebello
Written by Brent Patterson
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
The RCMP has told the Council of Canadians that there will not be a 25-kilometre security perimeter and that Security and Prosperity Partnership opponents will be able to assemble in Montebello for the upcoming leaders summit.

In a new plan approved by the RCMP this past Friday, there will be two areas near the now heavily-fenced Chateau Montebello grounds where people can gather for the two-day summit which will be negotiating political and economic integration between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

We are looking at having Maude Barlow, former Mexican ambassador Gustavo Iruegas, and former US state department official Ann Wright - all opponents of the SPP - speak outside the Chateau Montebello in the early afternoon on Monday, the first day of the summit.

The Council of Canadians will also be negotiating with officials to allow a delegation led by Maude Barlow to deliver more than 10,000 petitions opposing the SPP to the gates of the Chateau Montebello.

Despite the Council's concerns about the limited size of the protest areas, it does appear that the RCMP is backing down from earlier reported plans of checkpoints outside Montebello and the turning away of cars and buses, which we believe would have been contraventions of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

A coalition of groups will be holding an Integrate This! Public forum on Sunday August 19 at 4:00 pm at the University of Ottawa. The forum was originally scheduled to take place in a Papineauville community centre but police prevented the municipality from renting the space to the Council of Canadians. For more information on the public forum, please go to www.integratethis.ca.

Please read the Council of Canadians 'statement on non-violence'.

Brent Patterson
Director of Campaigns / Organizing
The Council of Canadians
700-170 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5 Canada
Tel: 1-800-387-7177 x291
www.canadians.org

RCMP defends its actions in Arar affair

The RCMP knew very well that the information from El Maati was probably the result of torture but used it any way. If the RCMP did not want to reveal its sources then it should not have used the information since it knew it might very well be tainted.
The RCMP and CSIS did nothing to alert the government about their suspicions that Arar was being rendered. They did nothing to help the government get Arar released either. In fact there were mysterious leakings of classified documents concerning Arar's confessions that made Arar look to be a terrorist. Very convenient.


RCMP defends its actions in the Arar affair
Updated Sun. Aug. 12 2007 12:10 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The RCMP is brushing aside suggestions it was wrong to rely on questionable intelligence obtained from abroad to support search and wiretap warrant applications in the case of Maher Arar and another Canadian of Arab origin held in Syria.


A Sept. 2006 report by Justice Dennis O'Connor said the RCMP wrongly labelled Arar a terrorist and passed that information to U.S. authorities, who then arrested Arar and deported him to Syria on Oct. 8, 2002.


On Thursday, newly-released documentary evidence compiled by a public inquiry showed Canada's spy agency suspected -- within two days of Arar's deportation -- that the United States was to ship Arar somewhere in the Middle East to face possible torture.


Canada was unaware at the time that Arar had already been "rendered" to Syria, where he was tortured into false confessions of links to al Qaeda.


O'Connor concluded, in a section of his report that had also been secret until now, that the RCMP used information from an unnamed country to help obtain search warrants against several individuals in January 2002 -- as part of a wider anti-terrorist investigation known as Project A-O Canada.


Those details came out Thursday in the final disclosure of roughly 1,000 blacked-out words from the original 2006 report -- words which government lawyers argued would compromise national security, international relations or the defence of Canada if released.


Assistant RCMP Commissioner Mike McDonnell says Canada was keeping its word in keeping secret and acting upon intelligence information obtained relating to Arar.


"I think it's safe to say that all information comes with a caveat: that it's for our use and our use only and we protect the source," McDonnell said in an interview aired Sunday on CTV's Question Period, explaining the RCMP's view on why the information wasn't released.


"That's a common international practice, it's a common domestic practice on criminal intelligence -- that you need the other person's permission to act on that intelligence. The third party rule, it's called. So when we give our word to another agency that the information is for our use and our use alone, we prefer to protect that and keep our word."


But Marlys Edwardh, one of Arar's lawyers, blasted the Mounties for relying on intelligence obtained abroad -- possibly under torture -- to support search and wiretap warrant applications within Canada.


She told CTV's Question Period that obtaining a search warrant in Canada requires, under the Criminal Code, that a party swears to that information, and a judicial officer assesses whether or not it justifies a search.


But the information the RCMP used to obtain a warrant, said Edwardh, "was either entirely unevaluated or indeed was information that came directly from torture. And the RCMP in characterizing that information and putting it before a judge had really mischaracterized the strength of their case, mischaracterized the kind of inferences that were available.


"And quite frankly that undermines our administration of criminal justice in this country."


The O'Connor report found the RCMP included suspect evidence in an application for a wiretap warrant in September 2002. This time the information came from a purported confession by Ahmad El Maati, another Arab-Canadian who was interrogated in Damascus but later repudiated the statements he made there and said they were extracted under torture.


The RCMP acknowledged, in their affidavit, that El Maati had changed his story but suggested he could be lying in his claims of mistreatment as part of a "damage control'' effort. They also insisted that, whatever the circumstances of the original confession, they had obtained evidence to corroborate what the Syrians had passed to them.


A separate inquiry is currently under way, under former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, into the cases of El Maati and two other men: Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin. All three deny any terrorist links and suspect the RCMP and CSIS collaborated in their detention and torture abroad.


McDonnell would not answer questions as to why the RCMP wasn't more forthcoming before the judge about Syria's poor human rights record or possible use of torture in extracting information.


"Justice Iacobucci has an inquiry into those events, and I wouldn't want to pre-empt his work in any manner," he told Question Period.


McDonnell said since the Arar affair, the RCMP has made substantial changes to its policy and procedures regarding information handling and sharing.


"This includes the creation of a Sensitive Document Handling Unit at RCMP headquarters, which will ensure criminal intelligence is properly vetted and controlled."


When asked why such a system wasn't already in place before the Arar affair, McDonnell replied that police and intelligence agencies in the West just weren't prepared for the terrorist events that were to happen in 2001.


"I think the whole Western world was taken aback by the events of 9/11 and I don't know any of our allies that were prepared for this event, any police agency or intelligence agency that was prepared for such an event," he said.


"I think to be fair we have to look at the context of the times. We just suffered a horrendous attack and everyone was working to stop another one."


O'Connor's report did not find that CSIS, which hasn't yet commented on the new report, alerted the government at the time it suspected Arar would be deported. Critics say this oversight suggests collusion between Canadian and U.S. security authorities in the ordeal Arar ultimately faced in Syria.


Edwardh told Question Period the fact CSIS did nothing with the information they had suggests "rendering" was something the agency supported.


"They did not come forward to any political person in Ottawa, they didn't' seek access or give information to cabinet. Certainly we didn't see anything like that and one can only conclude that knowing what they knew and doing nothing served their interests and supported the U.S."

With files from The Canadian Press

Mounties: Afghan heroin a direct threat to Canadians.

I wonder why this report is making it into the news? Of course it is hardly a threat except indirectly as a result of increased crime by addicts etc. Perhaps the RCMP is trying to encourage a poppy eradication program in Afghanistan. It is interesting that estimates are that 92 per cent of heroin now originates from Afghanistan.
Obviously the occupation has encouraged growth of the crops, no doubt it has enriched former warlords sitting in the Karzai government. However, eradication without some policy of substitution or alternative source of income for farmers will be a disaster. Perhaps legalising some production for medical use might offer a partial solution.


Afghan heroin a direct threat to Canadians: Mounties
Last Updated: Monday, August 6, 2007 | 9:09 AM ET
The Canadian Press
The RCMP has warned at least two federal agencies that Afghan heroin is increasingly making its way to Canada and poses a direct threat to the public, despite millions of dollars from Ottawa to fund the war-torn country's counter-narcotics efforts, newly released documents reveal.

"The RCMP informs us that Afghan heroin is increasingly ending up on, or is destined for Canadian streets," say Foreign Affairs and Defence Department briefings, obtained separately by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The Afghan-produced heroin "directly threatens" Canadians, say the identically worded briefings.

Paul Nadeau, the director of the RCMP's drug branch in Ottawa, said about 60 per cent of the heroin on Canadian streets comes from Afghanistan.

"Keep in mind, though, that when we seize it, it doesn't have a stamp on it that says where it came from," he said.

Rather, it's the investigative tracing of smuggling routes that reveals the drug's country of origin.

Continue Article

Until a few years ago, most heroin came from an opium-producing region in Southeast Asia called the "golden triangle," a mountainous area of around 350,000 square kilometres overlapping Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.

In recent years, organized crime groups from Southeast Asia have taken to trafficking synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy, which have more users — and more profitability — than heroin, Nadeau said.

New traffickers, who Nadeau said are often, but not always, of Indian origin, have stepped in, bringing with them new shipping methods.

The Southeast Asian traffickers were notorious for brazen heroin shipments, sometimes totalling up to 100 kilograms a haul. The new traffickers typically prefer smaller, but more frequent, shipments, Nadeau said.

"It seems to be involving the classic couriers, suitcases at the airport, smaller amounts, but no doubt, more shipments coming in," he said.

Roughly 92 per cent of the world's heroin comes from opium poppies grown in Afghanistan, according to the 2007 World Drug Report, released in June by the United Nations Office on Drugs.

Afghan heroin typically flows into Canada through two main trafficking arteries, Nadeau said: via the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then onto India and, finally, Canada; and from Afghanistan to western Africa, then through the United States into Canada.

Public suspicious of police investigating police.

Of course usually a special "independent" unit is used to investigate police however it would be better if there were some entity independent of the police entirely. No doubt the entity might have trouble getting co-operation from the police in many instances but I understand special units also have that problem because of the blue veil.
The Houston case seems to involve gross violation of norms. I wonder if anything will happen.

The public remains suspicious when police investigate police

Vancouver Sun


Friday, July 20, 2007


Edmonton Police Chief Mike Boyd did the right thing this week by reversing a departmental policy against officers testifying for the defence.

The policy was based on the notion that police and the Crown were part of the same team, so it would be a conflict of interest for a police officer to provide testimony that might undermine the Crown's case.

The policy was being used to call on to the carpet Const. Joe Slemko, the Edmonton police officer and blood-spatter expert who was asked by the family of Ian Bush to testify at the recently completed coroner's inquest into his death in Houston, B.C.

While we have no doubt that Boyd was sincere in his disavowal of the policy, which he said was a vestige of a previous administration, the fact that it was in place until the chief was called in front of the Edmonton Police Commission this week is another illustration of the fundamental problem with police being allowed to investigate their own -- the persistent notion that in a paramilitary organization loyalty trumps truth.

Slemko testified before the inquest that the blood-spatter evidence from where Bush was fatally shot in the back of the head by a rookie RCMP constable when they were alone in the detachment was not consistent with the story the officer told.

In the end, hobbled by the direction from the coroner that the conduct of the police in the case was beyond their mandate, the inquest jury was unable to answer the questions that begged for reply.

Bush's family is left with the unpalatable official response that the 22-year-old mill worker, who had been arrested for having an open beer outside a hockey arena, was essentially responsible for his own death after attacking Const. Paul Koester in the interview room of the station.

While we doubt any finding would satisfy the Bush family that justice has been served in this case, even for more detached observers there are still many troubling aspects.

One tangential tragedy is that the shoddy nature of the RCMP's internal investigation means that the young RCMP constable who pulled the trigger might never escape the cloud of suspicion that it was not such a clear case of self-defence as he has made it appear.

What is clear is that any credibility he had as a witness in his own defence was undermined by the way his colleagues and superiors treated him after the shooting.

Naturally we are not suggesting that police officers involved in fatal shootings should be treated like murderous thugs. Far from it. They always deserve our thanks, especially when their life is on the line. But certain standards of investigation still have to apply, even when the action of police is best described as heroic, even when, as Koester maintains, it is a clear case of self-defence.

In this case, Koester did not give a detailed statement until three weeks after the shooting. Three months passed before he was questioned by investigators.

Bush's body was left unrefrigerated at the Houston detachment for two days before being turned over to the pathologist.

But even without these obvious flaws, no investigation carried out by colleagues can be perceived as truly credible.

Now that the RCMP has a new civilian commissioner, William Elliott, one of his first tasks should be to work with the federal and provincial governments to establish an outside investigation unit to look into incidents like this that will inevitably occur.

Both Koester and Bush deserve better than the current practice of police investigating police.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

RCMP often rewrote critical reports!

So the RCMP was in fact a watchdog over the RCMP Commission for Public Complaints rather than the other way around! Imagine that the rules under which the Commission operated allowed the government to rewrite the reports! This is so amazing one wonders if the reporting is correct. At most one would think that the RCMP could file a rebuttal to whatever the force disagreed with as an addendum. What is the use of a commission of complaints if the RCMP can rewrite its reports!


RCMP often rewrote critical reports, watchdog says
Tim Naumetz, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, July 19, 2007
OTTAWA -- The past two RCMP commissioners before the recent appointment of a public servant to head the force effectively rewrote half of the rulings by a civilian watchdog agency that found Mounties used excessive force or acted improperly over a year-long period, the head of the independent agency says.

The RCMP Commission for Public Complaints issued 48 interim reports on public complaints against the RCMP between March, 2006, and last March. Half of the 184 findings in the reports went against the officers involved, the commission's annual report says.

But former commissioners Beverley Busson and Giuliano Zaccardelli challenged half of the adverse findings, questioning witness credibility, reweighing evidence, introducing new evidence and substituting their own findings of fact in the cases, said the report from commission chair Paul Kennedy.


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Font: ****The refusal of the RCMP commissioners to accept the findings of commission reviews over Mountie actions "strikes at the core of civilian accountability of the RCMP," the report said. "More than half of the commission's adverse findings have been overruled by the RCMP commissioner, enabling the RCMP, in effect, to ignore the merits of the commission's recommendations."

The report added the resistance "significantly undermines" civilian review of the RCMP and is "inherently biased" against the person who has lodged the complaint. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day tabled the report in the Commons Thursday through a special procedure used when Parliament is not sitting.

The commission's annual report included two examples where the RCMP commissioner of the time essentially rejected adverse findings after a civilian review of incidents in which police dogs injured suspects or, in one of the cases, an unarmed suicidal young man in an argument with his father.

An RCMP dog handler unleashed his dog after the young man began running away after hiding in nearby bushes, even though the commission later found he was not threatening anyone and was not carrying a knife his father had claimed was present.

"The RCMP commissioner believes that the decision to release the dog was justified because the young man could have had a knife, was reported suicidal and was running away," the public complaints commission said in its report on the incident.

In another case, however, where an RCMP officer used a Taser stun gun on a handcuffed woman in a police station, the RCMP commissioner of the day agreed with the commission's findings that use of the Taser in that situation was "totally inappropriate" and denied the officer access to Tasers until he finished a new training course in their use.

The complaints commission -- while finding the RCMP "generally" meets high standards of professionalism investigating complaints against its members -- found "a few extremely poor" internal investigations raised public suspicion over the way the force polices itself.

A man who suffered injuries to his shoulder and a broken bone in police custody complained about his treatment, but the commission found later no notes were taken at the time by the officers involved and key witnesses were not interviewed during the internal investigation into the complaint.

The internal inquiry failed to determine how the man was injured and who injured him.

Kennedy said changes he is proposing for the law governing civilian review of the RCMP should require the police force to accept the findings of independent reviews of complaints.

"If this process is going to have any kind of credibility, once we have done our findings, we've made our findings, that should be it," he said in an interview. "There should be no discussion of what our analysis and what our findings are."

NDP MP Joe Comartin agreed, saying the lack of accountability over RCMP reaction to civilian oversight is one of the major problems the national police force faces. "If no disciplinary methods are taken, you're not going to change negative conduct. That has permeated the RCMP."

Ottawa Citizen

Praise for Elliott from Collenette

No praise from politicians will probably help Elliott convince those who wanted someone from inside the force but Collenette must think he is quite good to give him this thumbs up. We will just have to wait and see.

New RCMP boss should fit in with the force, says former minister

Don Butler
CanWest News Service


Saturday, July 07, 2007


OTTAWA -- The next commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a blunt-spoken man of 53 who's committed to doing what's right for the country, says a former Liberal cabinet minister who worked closely with him for years.

And though some might find him a bit brusque, adds David Collenette, William Elliott's forthright style should be a good fit with the RCMP's para-military culture.

"He's a consummate public servant," says Collenette, who as minister of transport worked with the incoming commissioner from 2000 to 2003, when Elliott was Transport Canada's assistant deputy minister of safety and security.

"He's a very thorough person," he says. "He's very dogged. He's very balanced and fair-minded. He doesn't play any political games. He's very much up front."

Elliott, a senior public servant, lawyer and former Conservative political aide, will become the first outsider to lead the storied but troubled police service in its 134-year history when his appointment takes effect July 16.

Along with his wife Carolyn and their four children, he lives in an unpretentious two-storey house on a leafy suburban street in old Ottawa's west end, virtually the definition of a traditional middle-class neighbourhood.

But there's nothing traditional about his path to the top RCMP job. He has never been a police officer, or worked for any police organization.

After earning degrees in arts and law from the University of Ottawa in the 1970s, he was called to the bar in 1981.

He practised law until 1988, when he went to work for Don Mazankowski, then deputy prime minister in the Mulroney government. He later rose to become Mazankowski's chief of staff.

In 1992, in the dying days of the Conservative government, he joined the public service as a senior counsel and manager with Justice Canada, dealing with land claims and other legal issues involving Indian Affairs and Northern Development. That same year, he was appointed Queen's Counsel by Kim Campbell during her fleeting term as prime minister.

In 1998, the Chretien government named him deputy commissioner of the Coast Guard, a job he held until becoming assistant deputy minister at Transport in 2000.

When the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred, Elliott was in Beijing attending a conference. With all flights into North America grounded, it took him three or four days to make it back to Ottawa.

"We really felt badly," Collenette recalls. "We couldn't get him back in time."

By the time Elliott was able to return, Collenette and his colleagues at Transport Canada were bleary-eyed and exhausted from working around the clock in the wake of the attacks.

"He came back raring to go," says Collenette. Elliott immediately tackled the urgent task of updating Canada's air safety regulations. "We redid all the aviation safety rules in two weeks," Collenette recalls. "It was an incredible effort."

From 2003 to 2005, Elliott worked as an assistant secretary to cabinet in the Privy Council Office, with responsibility for security and intelligence. He went on to serve as national security adviser to two prime ministers, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, before moving to his present job as associate deputy minister of public safety in May 2006.

Collenette says one thing he liked about Elliott was that "he didn't have any fear of challenging the minister."

He says he appreciated that, because many public officials are obsequious and won't say what they think for fear of offending the minister.

"Really, you haven't got time for those games," Collenette says. "If you want to push back because you think the minister is saying something you don't agree with, then do that. And he did that, and we had some good exchanges. But they were always professional."

Collenette thinks the RCMP will appreciate their new commissioner's directness.

"He's not going to be mulling around, engaging in introspection and dancing around issues. He's going to say, look, here's the problem, this is how I think we should deal with it - what are your views?

"Some people may find that a bit brusque," he acknowledges. "But if you want to get results, you don't want to muck around playing all kinds of political head games. You want to just get to the point."

Though Elliott has already acknowledged his outsider status will present some special challenges, Collenette believes he is up to the task. "There's no question," he says. "If anyone can do it, it will be him."

Elliott's exposure to para-military cultures at the Coast Guard and, to a lesser degree, within Transport Canada, will serve him well, Collenette believes. "He understands how an organization like the RCMP functions."

When Elliott first came to work for Transport Canada, Collenette admits he was initially taken aback by his past life as a Tory political aide.

But he showed no sign of his political roots as assistant deputy minister, he says. "He was just another public servant, and was not partisan in the least."

Collenette doesn't share the concern that Elliott's appointment will erode the RCMP's independence from government.

"He's there for the greater good of the country. If the prime minister's staff try to cross the line, there's no way that he would allow that."

Ottawa Citizen

© CanWest News Service 2007








Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

William Elliot: Long Time Tory

It is hardly surprising that Harper picked a good Tory for the job. It is good to have a little more on his background. The article may be right that he will be on the job only long enough to reform the RCMP as best he can and then will move on and be replaced by someone from within. It will be interesting to see if he can survive and do the job.


Long-time Tory a man of little flash
JANE TABER

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

July 6, 2007 at 9:25 PM EDT

The country's new RCMP commissioner has a gaggle of kids, a modest home in the west end of Ottawa and Conservative ties that go back more than two decades.

Around official Ottawa, Bill Elliott, a lawyer by training, is not known as a motivator, according to a long-time Tory.

Rather, the 53-year-old bureaucrat is considered to be a solid, hardworking guy with little flash, which is in contrast to his predecessor, Giuliano Zaccardelli, a career RCMP member who resigned under a cloud in December and who attracted controversy almost immediately after his appointment for buying $1,000 riding boots.

As well, one look at Mr. Elliott's long résumé shows him jumping every three to four years from job to job in the bureaucracy, indicating that he may be in this top job for only a short time as a mop-up man rather than for the long term.


William Elliott, Canada's new commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, attends a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Friday. (REUTERS/Patrick Doyle)

Indeed, the force is in dire need of a makeover after a devastating report from lawyer David Brown concluded that the RCMP's management was “horribly broken.”

“It wouldn't be surprising to me if Bill were only there for a couple of years to sort it out and get it reconstituted and reset and then take off,” said a Conservative friend who asked not to be named. “Because if you look at his track record he has moved around quite a bit and I don't know if this will be his final resting place in government.”

Although he's not controversial – in fact, a friend said that he is so low-key and discreet that no one would even know he was a senior bureaucrat – his appointment, which takes effect on July 16, comes amid controversy.

He is a civilian appointed to an organization whose members were certain that the replacement for Mr. Zaccardelli would come from within.

As well, the Liberal Opposition has raised concerns about Mr. Elliott's Conservative background, because he started out in 1988 as a special assistant to deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski. He worked himself up to chief of staff, leaving in 1992 to go into the bureaucracy. The Conservative government was defeated in 1993.

But Mr. Elliott's Tory ties predate even his work with the Mulroney government.

In 1984, he was practising law with a large firm, but was also the president of the Ottawa West Progressive Conservative riding association when David Daubney was elected MP.

As far back as 1981, he was working on the campaign of provincial Progressive Conservative MPP Reuben Baetz, a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller.

Mr. Elliott, who one friend describes as a “real family man,” has four children – three girls, the oldest of whom is 27, and a boy. “He's got a great sense of humour,” the friend said. “He's very easy going. He likes to laugh ... he doesn't take himself too seriously.

This week at the Independence Day party at U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins's residence, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was teasing reporters that an announcement of the appointment was imminent. But Mr. Day had been saying this since the job was posted in March.

Word began spreading within the police force on Thursday that Mr. Day was poised to announce the new commissioner. Even then, everyone believed the new top cop would be from the inside, a senior source said.

Late that afternoon, two of the top candidates, including Deputy Commissioner William Sweeney, were spotted at the Privy Council Office, likely receiving the bad news.

Mr. Elliott, who served as a senior bureaucrat in the Public Safety Department, was always considered to be a long-shot for the post, although his name began to surface in speculation about three weeks ago.

Still, many in the RCMP, including Acting Commissioner Bev Busson, said that the person who becomes commissioner should be someone who worked their way up from constable.

Bringing in an outsider, she said in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, would be a mistake. Mistake perhaps, but the five-person search committee unanimously recommended Mr. Elliott for the job.

Norman Inkster, a former commissioner, served on that committee. Yesterday, he said: “I think the challenges facing the RCMP at this time in its history are somewhat unique and perhaps will make commissioner Elliott's appointment the right one. Because, while he comes with certain downsides, not having been a member of the RCMP, he certainly comes with a large number of upsides. And that is, he knows his way around government, he knows his way around government policy and Treasury Board. All those things that are so important in implementing any recommendations that have been made by the Arar commission ... and not to mention the things that are out there are on the horizon ...”

William Elliott to be new RCMP Commissioner

One can understand Harper's desire to have someone as commissioner who is outside the force and has close ties to the government. Elliott will be outside the RCMP culture and somewhat immune to any attempts to deflect him from necessary changes.
It is understandable that top RCMP officials are aghast and offended but for the lower ranks it will probably make no difference. In fact they may be relieved that there is someone not part of the hierarchy that was causing many problems in the top position.
However, there will no doubt be a lot of criticism concerning the politicisation of the post by this appointment. But it is really replacement of one type of politics, insider cronyism, by another!

PM to name bureaucrat as new RCMP commissioner
Updated Fri. Jul. 6 2007 7:34 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The new full-time commissioner for the RCMP will be William Elliott, a civilian and top bureaucrat with the Public Safety Department, CTV News has learned.


The government is expected to make the announcement Friday.


Elliott, who has never served as a police officer, will take the reins of a force troubled by a pension scandal and a special investigator's report that called its governance "horribly broken."


"The prime minister felt he needed an outsider, somebody to sweep in with a new broom, and with no loyalties within the RCMP," reported CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife.


Bev Busson, who filled in as the force's acting commissioner after Giuliano Zaccardelli stepped down last December, had called for a Mountie to lead the RCMP.


"I've spoken to a lot of senior RCMP officers tonight, and they feel this is a demoralizing blow, a slap in their face," said Fife.


"They feel they're being punished for the mistakes and scandal that happened under former commissioner Zaccardelli and a few people who worked under him."


He added that some officers view Elliott as a "political operator" who got his start under the government of Brian Mulroney.


In 1989, Elliott worked as an executive assistant to the office of the deputy prime minister. One year later, he became chief of staff in the same office.


Elliott also served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from April 2005 until last spring.


David Brown, former head of the Ontario Securities Commission, laid most of the blame for the RCMP's troubles at the feet of Zaccardelli.


Brown cast Zaccardelli as an authoritarian bully whose mishandling of complaints over management of the $12-billion RCMP pension fund destroyed morale within the agency.


Zaccardelli has denied any wrongdoing.

RCMP "tightens" the intelligence standard.

This is unadulterated rhetorical garbage. The tightening is simply applying the norms that were already in place but that were not followed in the Arar case because the RCMP thought that the rules about vetting and placing caveats on the use of data were not in play. At least that is what the RCMP claimed but CSIS claimed otherwise. How the RCMP can be assured that the FBI always follows the rules about caveats is anyone's guess. It is again just saying the right thing.


NATIONAL SECURITY

RCMP tightens intelligence standard
COLIN FREEZE

June 20, 2007

The RCMP is assuring Parliament that it has officially entered a post-Arar world.

Senators asked a top Mountie this week whether dubious intelligence from Canada could ever again be used by the United States to deport a suspect to a third country to face torture.

It was precisely this scenario, in 2002, that appears to have led to the Maher Arar affair and its fallout.

Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell testified that terrorism investigations are now highly centralized within his office, where he and his officials carefully examine all information input and output. He says the national security criminal investigations squad runs on discipline.


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"We are very careful about staying within our mandate," the official repeatedly stressed to the Senate committee on national security. He added that he can even ensure international partners don't cross lines either.

"I am satisfied that in my dealings with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, my information will be protected and that I will be notified and consulted before any action is taken with respect to the information I provide to the bureau," Mr. McDonell testified.

"I am satisfied that, if I said the information could not be used in a certain way, we could work through that."

Five years ago, there was confusion about how information was gathered and how it was treated.

In 2002, Syrian-Canadian engineer Maher Arar was flagged as an "Islamic extremist" on an international no-fly list after the Mounties spotted him while monitoring another suspect.

When Mr. Arar passed through a New York airport, authorities there labelled him an al-Qaeda member and flew him in shackles to Syria, where he was detained for nearly a year.

A Canadian judge who spent years looking into this found that inaccurate information from Canada likely led to the engineer's ordeal.

Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor also found that Mr. Arar was tortured in Syria, though he had never represented any threat to Canadian national security.

Mr. McDonell says that today, the Mounties have "gotten out" of strategic intelligence work and left that job entirely to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

"We take our strategic national security priorities from the service," he told the Senate committee. "We do not produce them."

He added that most of Judge O'Connor's recommendations related to the Arar affair have been "fully implemented" by the Mounties.

In fact, "we were well on our way to that before the recommendations came out" last winter, he said.

Report claims RCMP needs major shakeup.

THe power that Brown had versus an inquiry were extremely limited. A most important point is that an inquiry was denied. The last thing the Government wants is more revelations about incompetence, coverups, and wrongdoings in the RCMP. It remains to be seen what the Task Force will amount to.


RCMP needs major shakeup: federal report
Last Updated: Friday, June 15, 2007 | 7:00 AM ET
CBC News
The RCMP needs major changes in its governance and culture, a government-appointed investigator said Friday.

David Brown, the former head of the Ontario Securities Commission, was appointed by the government in April to investigate allegations that senior RCMP officers covered up abuse of the force's pension and insurance fund.

Brown recommended appointing a task force to look into the RCMP culture and governance to deal with a situation where RCMP members were punished for challenging the prevailing management.

"We need fundamental cultural, structural and governance changes throughout the RCMP," he told reporters Friday. The lower-ranking force members who complained about problems "were treated very unfairly," he said.

The proposed task force should report by Dec. 14. A decision about appointing a task force is up to the government.

"This is of the utmost urgency and importance" because the current RCMP culture is undermining the confidence in the force of lower-ranking officers and the public, he said.



But Brown also said he found no signs of a coverup on the pension issue, just mismanagement. He singled out the management style of former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli for particular criticism.

Brown reviewed repeated previous investigations and inquiries into RCMP management, and as expected, rejected the idea of a public inquiry. Such an inquiry "will uncover nothing new," he asserted.

But he did recommend the Ontario Provincial Police review a criminal investigation of the pension issues to determine if the investigation was done properly.

He did not conclude that the investigation was flawed, only that the lack of independence in the investigation may be a problem.

Testified to pension abuse

Earlier this spring, RCMP officers and staff told a parliamentary committee they had unearthed abuse of the pension fund. They claimed that senior managers responded to their concerns either by punishing whistleblowers, or blocking investigations into the accounting irregularities.

Brown's report was given to Vic Toews, the president of the Treasury Board.

"I'm very pleased that we're moving as quickly as we are, and all I can say at this point is I'm looking forward to seeing a copy of the report and ensuring any recommendations that are made are closely examined," Toews said before it was released.

Some MPs on the parliamentary committee who first heard the allegations in February raised concerns about how much the report could truly uncover, given that Brown's investigation only began in mid-April.

"If we [the committee] are still asking questions at this point, don't tell me — and we're a committee — that he was able to find out all this information so quickly," committee member and Liberal MP Judy Sgro said. "Frankly, I think it's probably a whitewash of a document."

NDP MP David Christopherson was also skeptical. He pointed out that Brown didn't have the same powers as the committee.

"You're going to tell me that every person that we had to squeeze every answer out of, merrily walked in and voluntarily told him all the things that we wanted to hear but they wouldn't tell us? I don't buy it," he said.

Intelligence services call inquests judicial terrorism

Imagine these intelligence agencies are caught not doing their job right in some instances (Air India) and even destroying important records, removing surveillance from key suspects etc. etc. and in the Arar case, sending raw intelligence data to the US some of it completely false, none of it verified or with any caveats, allowing leaks of classified material damaging to Arar's reputation and one could go on and on. None of these worthies were ever punished for anything. Yet they now cry judicial jihad and judicial terrorism. There is a jihad for sure but it is a holy war by intelligence services against human rights and the ability of society to hold them accountable for their manifold failings.


SURVEILLANCE: BALANCING NATIONAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

State agents say inquests causing 'judicial terrorism'
COLIN FREEZE

June 9, 2007

Since 9/11, Canada has secured no convictions under the terrorism laws it passed two months after the attacks, but it has launched three judicial inquiries, all aimed at exploring the missteps of security agencies. This situation has left some state agents complaining it is they who have been put on trial.

How much supervision should be applied against agencies working in the shadow of surveillance and counterterrorism? Mindful of past oversteps, authorities are struggling to find better ways to vet wiretapping practices, to share information with foreign allies and to avoid any involvement in torture in overseas prisons.

Tomorrow, a security conference begins in Ottawa on adjudicating terrorism in democracies. It is being billed as the first event of its kind and the speakers, most of them judges from across North America and Europe, will address a common quandary - how to balance civil liberties with national security.

It's a fine balance. Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor, the Canadian judge who cleared former Syrian detainee Maher Arar of wrongdoing, will be one of the panelists describing the added scrutiny he's recommended for Canadian investigators. While his recommendations have been broadly praised, his inquiry and related ones have prompted some backlash from officials, who wonder whether Canada will retain the tools it needs to prevent attacks.





"The term I've used in the past is judicial terrorism," said Ben Soave, a recently retired RCMP chief superintendent, who argues that a debilitating damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't malaise has begun to hamper Canadian investigations. "The fear factor kicks in," he explained in an interview. "The fear of being tied up in another public inquiry."

"Legal jihad is the one we use," said Jack Hooper, a top official who recently left the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. CSIS, he said, is struggling to comply with the judicial inquiries atop of processes already laden with overseers. While hindsight may always be 20/20, he cautions that those who investigate cases in real time find it "difficult to connect the dots when the whole page is black."

Terrorism cases are, by nature, difficult to prosecute. Conspiracies are transnational, gathering evidence is tricky and the work is often left to agencies that operate in different legal regimes.

The bureaucratic infighting and artificial barriers - "stove pipes" in the jargon - that existed between Canadian security agencies in 1985 are now under review, by Mr. Justice John Major, after a failed criminal probe. The intelligence gaps of the day allowed Sikh extremists in Canada to place bombs on airplanes, killing 330 people.

In 2001, the peril of sharing imprecise or inaccurate information was highlighted when several Canadian Arabs were jailed in Syria after being arrested in international airports. Now free, all say they were tortured on the basis of false information from an investigation that started in Canada but led to no charges.

It was these episodes that gave rise to the O'Connor commission and its sequel, the inquiry into the other Syrian detentions now being led by Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci. Judge O'Connor's right-hand man for the Arar investigation, Paul Cavalluzzo, says that in cases like these, counterterrorism agencies have only themselves to blame for the scrutiny they invite.

"It's because of events they created, " he said, adding he finds references to "judicial terrorism" to be "hyperbole at its highest" and "unbelievably disrespectful."

But agencies anticipate they are about to be presented with a flurry of competing directives.

"[Judge] O'Connor will say white and [Judge] Major will say black, and at the end of the day the policy silence will be deafening and we'll be back trying to reconcile the right thing to do," said Mr. Hooper, who retired from CSIS in March. "We need people to recognize we don't deal in black and white. We deal in various shades of grey ... and it's hard to build policy around that."

CSIS, he said, is trying to streamline bureaucracy, not to build more. The intelligence service recently arranged to have fewer officials sign off on the paperwork used to launch investigations.

Canada is in the process of prosecuting two alleged al-Qaeda inspired conspiracies. Last year, 18 suspects were arrested and the ringleaders accused of a plan to detonate truck bombs in Toronto. The trial remains far off.

Meanwhile, an Ottawa computer programmer who was arrested in 2004, has launched a series of constitutional challenges of terrorism laws that have delayed his trial.

A judicial inquiry in RCMP pension scandal?

Given the time frame for these inquiries the pensioners may have passed on before the issue is settled. Maybe Ray Romanow could do an investigation. He is just to run for board member of Torstar with the recommendation of Iacobucci.


Day not ruling out judicial inquiry
JEFF SALLOT

OTTAWA -- A full judicial inquiry into the RCMP pension scandal could take years, yet in the end the government might be forced to go that route, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day acknowledged yesterday under pressure from the political opposition.

Mr. Day reiterated his preference for what he describes as a relatively quick and informal investigation by a government appointee, a process that he believes could be wrapped up in 12 weeks.

But Mr. Day told the House the minority Conservative government has not ruled out a formal inquiry down the road. "We have not said an absolute no."

As Parliament broke yesterday for a two-week break, the government had still not named someone to chair the quick inquiry, saying it takes time for qualified people to clear their calendar of other commitments before they can accept such an appointment.


When asked if the investigator might be a retired judge, Mr. Day laughed and said "there is no shortage."

The Conservatives named two former Supreme Court of Canada judges to head commissions of inquiry last year. John Major is investigating the Air-India bombing and Frank Iacobucci is examining the cases of three Canadian Muslim men who were detained and tortured in the Middle East. Both these judicial inquiries will be examining RCMP conduct as part of their mandates.

Before heading to their ridings last night, government and opposition MPs used the RCMP pension issue as fresh fodder to go at each other in the House.

Liberal MP Lucienne Robillard said the fact the Conservatives don't want a full judicial inquiry is evidence they are part of an ongoing "cover-up." She noted that the government has known about the pension-fund scandal since a report by the Auditor-General in November, but did nothing until damning testimony by senior Mounties at the Commons public accounts committee Wednesday.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan shot back that if there was any cover-up it was by the previous Liberal government. The alleged nepotism in the administration of the RCMP pension fund and misappropriation of money took place when the Liberals were in power.

NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said the government owes rank-and-file Mounties whose pension money was at stake a full commission under the Inquiries Act, which could force reluctant witnesses to testify under immunity. Mr. Day said the RCMP's interim commissioner, Bev Busson, can make sure all serving Mounties co-operate with the independent investigator.

RCMP: No Whistleblowers Need Apply

I imagine the problem is greater within the force than in public perception. This article does not mention the problem of overseers of the force. A former head of the complaints commission, Shirley Heafey, has written much and complained much of the lack of co-operation she received in her job. The Iacobucci inquiry may also reveal more problems in the intelligence work of the RCMP. The issue that really bothers me is that no one suffers any punishment from errors or misdeeds. In fact if the Arar case is a good example precisely the opposite happens. As in isolating and punishing whistleblowers no bad deed goes unrewarded it seems.


Long list of Mountie miscues precedes claims of high-level corruption

Sue Bailey
Canadian Press


Friday, March 30, 2007


OTTAWA (CP) - Allegations of a pension scandal covered up by RCMP brass may be the straw that broke the horse's back.

Claims by RCMP officers of high-level corruption are just the latest round of embarrassing misadventures for a storied national police force that's had no end of bad press in recent years - from the Maher Arar affair to the infamous break-in at 24 Sussex Drive.

If true, the claims can't be dismissed by simply pinning the blame on former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, says University of Ottawa criminologist Wade Deisman.

It's apparent that something is rotten at the force's core, he said in an interview.

"Now we have a laundry list - a litany of misdeeds, corruption, lawlessness, failures of oversight, coverups.

"I think the government is kidding itself if they think the decision to have another inquiry is going to get to the heart of the issue. I think the heart of the issue now is about the public having lost confidence in the RCMP."

The men and women who wear the revered scarlet serge have been beset by stumbles and fumbles for at least a decade.

A commission of inquiry into the Arar case last year found that the Ottawa engineer's year-long torture nightmare in Syria very likely stemmed from faulty data passed on to the U.S. by the Mounties.

The force has been skewered for an epic but virtually fruitless investigation into the Air India bombing. Much of the bungling was blamed on former turf wars between the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Other notable fiascos include a libellous letter sent by the Mounties and the federal Justice Department to Swiss authorities in the initial and ill-fated stages of the Airbus probe. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney received a $2-million settlement in compensation for the libel.

A shameful security snafu saw a mentally ill man slip undetected into the prime minister's residence in 1995 while the Mounties stood watch. Aline Chretien slammed the bedroom door shut and called the crack RCMP squad on duty while Jean Chretien armed himself with a heavy Inuit carving. They were not injured, and the intruder was arrested.

The government's decision to call a narrow inquiry into the pension allegations is "backward looking," Deisman says. More vigourous measures are needed for Canadians to have their faith in the national police force.

"To restore public confidence they have to create a forum to discuss how we can have more transparency, and more robust mechanisms of oversight and accountability."

Especially disturbing are rampant reports of internal harassment campaigns against anyone who speaks out, he said.

"What it suggests more than anything else is there are not the proper rewards or protections in place for people on the ground in the RCMP who see this stuff going on and want to report it, but fear for their futures."

A senior investigator who left the force after being blacklisted for years said anyone who crosses superiors is in for a long, tough fight.

"If you open your mouth, say, in a small detachment in Northern Manitoba you're going to be crucified," the officer said on condition of anonymity. "In a larger city ... they'll reassign you.

"You're refused trips, you're sent to places you don't want to go."

Toronto law firm Doane Phillips Young, which represents several Mounties pursuing complaints against their employer, called last fall for a ministerial inquiry into the RCMP.

In a letter to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day dated Dec. 7, 2006, the firm cited an "institutional culture" that protects "troublesome" supervisors to the detriment of the rank and file.

"Faced with unrelenting harassment, sexual and racial discrimination, abuses of authority and widespread corruption among management, many regular RCMP members, like the public itself, have become disillusioned."


© The Canadian Press 2007