NATIONAL NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / SOMMAIRE DES NOUVELLES NATIONALES
ADM(PA) / SMA(AP)
October 08, 2010 / le 08 octobre 2010
MINISTER / LE MINISTRE
Quebec Online Video Sparks Controversy
An online video from a Quebec women's group is being decried as out of touch for calling Canadian
soldiers "cannon fodder." In the video from the Quebec Federation of Women, an actress tells viewers
that she had three children but would not have had any if she knew that they would become cannon
fodder. The video is part of a campaign to keep Canadian military recruitment drives out of Quebec
schools, including universities. "It's fiction so leave it as fiction. They're anything but cannon fodder," said
Tory MP Laurie Hawn, the parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay. Mr. Hawn was
indifferent when asked if the video should be taken down, saying the group could "do what they want."
Alexa Conradi, the president of the left-wing feminist group, said they never intended to offend anyone.
Conradi called the video "a strong way of raising the message" (B.Lilley: KWS 10; no mention of Minister:
P. Curran: Ctz A10, Gaz A12, CH A10, WStar D5; A. Chung: TStar A6; CP, A. Blatchford: STJ C10).
Vidéo antimilitaire
Les mères de soldats offensées par la vidéo antimilitaire diffusée sur l'internet se trompent de cible,
estime la présidente de la Fédération des femmes du Québec, Alexa Conradi, qui croit que ce sont les
forces armées canadiennes qui sont à blâmer. Malgré la controverse, la Fédération des femmes du
Québec et sa présidente ont choisi de garder la capsule en ligne. La vidéo présentait une mère disant:
"Avoir su qu'en donnant la vie, j'allais fournir de la chair à canon, je n'aurais peut-être pas eu d'enfants."
Elle visait à dénoncer le recrutement dans les écoles (Pr A25, LN 25).
Canada's 1st Canadian Division Parade
The red patches on their shoulders stood out brightly on the overcast morning. For almost 100 years, that
patch distinguished members of Canada's 1st Canadian Division, and as soldiers wearing it marched on
parade at CFB Kingston on Thursday morning, they proudly restored a cherished tradition. A ceremony
originally scheduled for July officially re-established 1st Canadian Division headquarters, replacing the
Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters. Presided over by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, the ceremony
brought back to life a division that served with distinction in both world wars and Korea (M. Lea: KWS 1).
F-35 Jet Fighter: Comment
Don Martin: Confronted by an insider warning against the sole-sourced purchase of a fighter jet dubbed
the Flying Credit Card, a furious Stephen Harper yesterday chose to attack the whistle-blower -- and warn
against massive aerospace job losses if opponents continue "playing politics" with the lives of Canadian
troops. Such hyperbole suggests the F-35 jet fighter controversy is getting under the Prime Minister's
skin. He may have cause to fret. Retired assistant deputy minister of materials Alan Williams -- an expert
who is hard to dismiss -- took the parliamentary stand yesterday afternoon to denounce the lack of
competition for $9-billion worth of fighter jets as likely to squander billions of tax dollars and lost business
opportunities. Mr. Williams warned Defence Minister Peter MacKay's logic on the F-35 file is "flawed,"
and he's taking public positions that "insults our intelligence." This is no opposition cheap shot. Mr.
Williams doesn't dispute this jet might be the best choice for Canada. He just argues good government
protocol suggests an open bidding competition would ensure the right fighter lands the best value for
taxpayers. This fighter deal is getting cloudier by the day. Perhaps it's time to see what else is out there
(NP A4, CH A18).
Semrau Decision: Comment
Michael Den Tandt: Now there are calls for Defence Minister Peter MacKay to overturn Semrau's
dismissal from the Canadian Forces on a charge of disgraceful conduct -- effectively, to wipe the slate
clean. This would affirm, some well-intentioned folks believe, that Semrau's crime (he is alleged to have
shot a mortally wounded Afghan insurgent to death on the battlefield) was not a crime at all. That's all
very nice -- in the movies. Indeed, Semrau's story will make a terrific movie some day. The moral
dimensions and inherent drama guarantee it. But the calls to reinstate him are misguided. DND will never
do it. Nor should it. Here's a bet: A poll of the CF, all ranks, would find an overwhelming majority strongly
against reinstatement (TSun 23, LFP A8, KWS 4).
A column from Peter Worthington was reprinted: WSun 11, KWS 5.
Veterans Affairs: Comment
Michael L Blais: The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity on the veterans' front, including
when Minister of Defence Peter MacKay and Minister for Veterans Affairs Jean-Pierre Blackburn
teamed up for announcements on financial increases and long-overdue care improvements. News then
broke of systematic charter violations in reference to retired intelligence officer Capt. Sean Bruyea's
Veterans Affairs Canada files. Now the question is, just how can the bond of trust between our troops,
veterans and VAC be restored? First, Prime Minister Harper must call for a full public inquiry into
Veterans Affairs Canada's activities. The breach of privacy violations against Capt. Bruyea and Col.
Stogran are not internal VAC issues, they are a breach of federal privacy laws, the spectre of widespread
abuse corrupts the very level of trust to which veterans are entitled. Second. The prime ministerial
appointment of the Veterans Ombudsman, while an admirable act, cannot be effective should the prime
minister and his government simply decide to ignore/dismiss the recommendations. Someone perhaps ...
like Col. Pat Stogran? Our troops and veterans deserve nothing less. Pro Patria (KWS 5).
CDS / CEM
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
MILITARY POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMISSION / COMMISSION D'EXAMEN DES PLAINTES
CONCERNANT LA POLICE MILITAIRE
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
CANADA IN AFGHANISTAN / LE CANADA EN AFGHANISTAN
Troops Express Optimism About Afghan Progress
It doesn't fit with the dark narratives still being written by many observers of the Afghan war, but among
Canadian troops there is a widespread consensus that an invisible corner has been turned in their very
intimate fight with the Taliban in Panjwaii. The situation in Panjwaii -- where a campaign to rout out
entrenched Taliban in the western part of the district is expected soon -- has undoubtedly been helped by
the arrival of large numbers of additional U.S. and Afghan forces to the west, north and northeast, as well
as in Kandahar City. This has squeezed the Taliban out of some of their bastions at the same time that
Canada has used the troop surge to consolidate its forces in a much smaller territory than when it was
responsible for most of the province (M. Fisher: EJ A14, CH A19, RLP D10, VProv A30).
Ex-Envoy Calls for Afghan Plan
On the ninth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan, a former Canadian diplomat called on NATO
countries to devise plans to leave the war-torn country. "It's been almost 10 fruitless years on the ground,"
said Louis Delvoie, a senior fellow in the Centre for International Relations at Queen's University.
Speaking Thursday, Canada's high commissioner to Pakistan 1991-94 with diplomatic responsibility for
Afghanistan said while there are no defined plans to leave the country, Canada and the U.S. plan to begin
to withdraw troops in 2011, while NATO is looking to be out by 2013 following an increase in the size and
strength of the Afghan army and police. Ms. Delvoie said NATO countries are in a no-win situation (M.
Norris: CSun 24, KWS 3).
Karzai Convenes Peace Council
On the day the Afghanistan war entered its tenth year, President Hamid Karzai yesterday inaugurated a
peace council charged with brokering an end to the conflict. The council is Mr. Karzai's brainchild for
opening a dialogue with the Taliban and other insurgents who have been trying to bring down his
government since the United Statesled invasion overthrew their regime in late 2001. Mr. Karzai has handpicked 68 people to sit on the peace council, which was set up following a nationwide conference in June,
to be joined by another two women after women activists pushed for greater representation. Analysts
warn, however, that the council is so heavily stacked with warlords and militia leaders it could be set up
for failure (AFP, S. Ahmad: NP A14).
U.S. Apology Over Pakistan Strike
A U.S. apology for a helicopter strike inside Pakistan has raised hopes of an end to a week-long blockade
of a vital NATO supply line, although the alliance said on Thursday it was not hindering the war in
Afghanistan (Reuters: KWS 13, LFP B2, FDG A10).
Call for Rape Investigation: Comment
Janet Bagnall: This week, more than four years after she became the first Canadian servicewoman to die
in combat, Captain Nichola Goddard was back in the news. Goddard, who was deployed to Afghanistan
in January 2006, was killed in a battle with the Taliban on May 17, 2006, two weeks after her 26th
birthday. Before she died, she wrote to her husband about a culture of oppressive sexual harassment and
assault at her camp in Afghanistan, saying, "There were six rapes in the camp last week, so we have to
work out an escort at night." This information is contained in a new book, Sunray: The Death and Life of
Captain Nichola Goddard, by Calgary Herald columnist Valerie Fortney. When Fortney tried to learn more
about sexual assault or harassment on Canadian Forces bases, she hit a brick wall. "It's a big no-go
zone," she told Postmedia News. The Canadian military's figures seem implausible: Goddard told her
husband there were six rapes in a single week, yet all the Canadian military will admit to is a single
conviction for assault in the space of six years. If the Canadian government is sending young women into
combat without investigating in a coherent, systematic way whether sexual harassment or assault is
putting additional, possibly intolerable, stress on them, that is unconscionable. Nichola Goddard’s words,
written in frustration and fear four years ago, should be the start of a new openness about sexual violence
in the armed forces. Taking what she said seriously -that would be the right way to honour a fallen soldier
(Gaz A21).
OTHERS / AUTRES
F-35 Fighter Jets
The former purchasing boss for the Canadian Forces condemned the federal government for buying 65
F-35 fighter jets. Alan Williams told Parliament's defence committee Thursday all their reasons for buying
the fifth-generation stealth jets are "flawed," and they're wasting taxpayers' money by not asking for
competitive bids. In the case of the jet fighters, Williams said a competitive bidding process could have
shaved off $3.2 billion. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper fired back from Winnipeg, saying Williams has
changed his tune since he was at DND. "His advice was very different at the time that he was actually
paid to give it," Harper said (B. Weese: ESun 52, KWS 10).
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg Thursday to celebrate the plant's
multimillion- dollar expansion, as well as to defend the military contract that's making the expansion
possible. Magellan president and CEO James Butyniec said the expanded facility, which will be filled with
between $80 million and $100 million worth of new equipment and will require an undetermined number
of additional employees, will be able to manufacture about 10 of the horizontal stabilizers per month at
peak production. It may be used to manufacture other products in the future (P. Turenne: WSun 3; M.
Cash: WFP B4/B6).
Hours after Prime Minister Stephen Harper touted the controversial purchase of F-35 fighter jets at
Winnipeg's Bristol Aerospace plant, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was at a North Winnipeg school
calling the deal "undemocratic." He told a crowd of 150 people that Harper failed to explain why the
contract for the fighter jets wasn't tendered, and why the country needs to spend $9 billion on planes.
"That's undemocratic and I will fight it all the way," Ignatieff said, adding: "We've got a government that I
don't think respects the institution of democracy" (J. Skeritt: WFP A6).
An infuriated Stephen Harper has accused Michael Ignatieff of ``playing politics with the lives of the men
and women in uniform'' by opposing Ottawa's decision to spend $16-billion on new fighter jets, opening a
new front in the debate between military might and health care. Mr. Harper was visiting an aerospace
manufacturer in Winnipeg on Thursday to promote the contract for the new Lockheed-Martin F-35s. Mr.
Ignatieff called Mr. Harper's remarks ``offensive'' and ``absurd.'' The Liberals, he said in a phone
interview, are only asking ``legitimate questions that have to be answered before any sensible Canadian
will agree to buy these planes'' (J. Ibbitson: G&M A8)
Camp Mirage Pullout
Canadian troops will be pulling out early from a military base in the United Arab Emirates after failing to
reach an agreement with the government there for its continued use. Camp Mirage in Dubai has been an
important staging ground for the Canadian Forces mission in Afghanistan. The UAE has been lobbying
Canada to get additional landing rights for its two major airlines and it's been reported that there is a link
between those efforts and Canada's lease for the base. Its existence is supposed to be kept under wraps
for national security reasons, but Camp Mirage is a poorly kept secret (M. Fitzpatrick: NP A4, Ctz A3, CH
A19, EJ A4, WStar D5; S. Chase / B. Jang: G&M A3).
Russell Williams Coverage
Widespread coverage noted that the lawyer for former commander of CFB Trenton Col. Russell Williams
intends to plead guilty Oct. 18 to two counts of first-degree murder, two sexual assaults and scores of
break and enters (A. Humpreys: NP A1; K. Wallace: NP A8; L. Greenberg: NP A8, Ctz A5, SSP A12, Gaz
A4; M. Hurley: Ctz A1, EJ A3, Gaz A4, VTC A9, SSP A1, RLP A10, VSun B3, CH A1, WStar C1, VProv
A36, NBTJ A4, WFP A11; M. Mandel: OSun 4, ESun 10, CSun 10, TSun 4, WSun 12, KWS 12, LFP A1;
B. McVivor: CSun 28; CP: HCH B1, CG A10, SJT A11, MT&T C1, FDG A11; J. Rankin / S. Contenta:
TStar A1, HS A1).
The Globe reported that Mr. Williams videoed part of the two murders and two bizarre sexual assaults he
will formally plead guilty to later this month (C. Blatchford: G&M A1).
Williams plaide coupable
L'ex-commandant en chef de la base militaire de Trenton plaidera coupable au 88 chefs d'accusation
déposés contre lui, dont deux de meurtres prémédité, a indiqué hier son avocat. Au moins une douzaine
de voitures remplies d'agents armés accompagnaient hier Russell Williams, au palais de justice de
Belleville en Ontario. L'ancienne étoile montante des forces armées est accusée du meurtre prémédité de
Jessica Lloyd, 27 ans, et de la caporale Marie-France Comeau, 37 ans. Des accusations d'agressions
sexuelles et d'introduction par effraction pèsent aussi sur lui. Williams sera de retour en cour le 18
octobre (Pr A25, Dr 18, VE 18, Tr 26, Dv A4).
Russell Williams Coverage: Comment
Andrew Duffy (analysis): More than any other organization, the military takes leadership seriously.
Leadership there confers the ability to command those of subordinate rank; it is the vehicle through which
perilous and complex missions are accomplished, sometimes at the cost of life or limb. Which is why
mistakes -- particularly of the kind embodied by Williams -- cause deep unease at the Department of
National Defence. How could someone so cruel, depraved and criminal be promoted to the senior ranks
of the Canadian military? How could a psychopath be placed in a position of command? "How could we
have missed this?" retired Air Force Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt asked on a recent CBC documentary. Others
contend the military did not look hard enough. Retired Canadian Forces Col. Michel Drapeau, a University
of Ottawa law professor, called Thursday for a thorough review of Williams' rise in the Canadian Forces.
It's important, he said, to understand whether that process was flawed, whether it overlooked any
evidence of Williams' unsuitability for command (EJ A3, Ctz A1, CH A3, Gaz A4, VSun B3, WFP A11).
Leonard Stern: The criminal case of Col. Russell Williams all but concluded Thursday with the news he
won't contest the charges against him. Yet despite the dénouement of the legal drama, other questions -unanswerable ones, mostly -- will remain. The unanswerable question is: How did he become a killer?
Was Williams born with an undetected defect? And how could there be such a jarring disparity between a
man's public face (committed husband, loyal patriot, natural leader) and his private one (sexual
predator)? (Ctz A1).
Veterans Affairs Privacy Controversy
Bureaucrats could lose their jobs for circulating a veteran's confidential medical files, the veterans affairs
minister said Thursday. Jean-Pierre Blackburn says he's still deciding what to do with officials who
accessed the personal files--including psychiatric and pension information -- of a veteran who's spoken
out frequently against the department. "They may be fired," Blackburn said. "We will have more
sanctions. They will be more severe." Meanwhile Canada's Privacy Commissioner is launching a wideranging audit of Veterans Affairs after an investigation by her office found an alarming breach of a Gulf
War veteran's privacy rights. Ms. Stoddart made the comments after releasing the findings of her office's
investigation of a complaint made by Gulf War veteran Sean Bruyea. Using privacy laws, Mr. Bruyea
obtained nearly 14,000 pages of government documents that related to him (L. Payton: TSun 30, ESun
13, OSun 10, WSun 6, CSun 22, KWS 9, LFP B3; CP: HCH B1, SJT C10; B. Curry: G&M A7; R.
Brennan: TStar A4).
Stoddart blâme Ottawa
Le ministère des Anciens Combattants a enfreint la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels
dans la manipulation du dossier du vétéran Sean Bruyea, a conclu hier la commissaire à la protection de
la vie privée, Jennifer Stoddart. Mme Stoddart avait ouvert une enquête en juillet 2009, après que le
retraité des Forces canadiennes eut appris, en consultant son propre dossier, que des informations
médicales et financières hautement personnelles le concernant s'étaient retrouvées en 2006 dans des
notes de synthèse remises à l'ancien ministre des Anciens Combattants, Greg Thompson (Pr A17, VE
22).
CFB Kingston Building Names After Fallen Soldier
Today, Capt. Matthew Dawe, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2007, is in an illustrious fraternity of having
a military building named for him. In a ceremony Thursday at CFB Kingston, a new, 97-room residence
for troops coming to the base for training was dedicated in his honour, the first time a member of the
Canadian Forces killed in Afghanistan has been so recognized (M. Lea: KWS 6).
Section: News
Lead: An online video from a Quebec women's group is being decried as out of touch for calling
Canadian soldiers "cannon fodder."
Headline: Quebec women's group blasted for online video MILITARY
Page: 10
Byline: BRIAN LILLEY, PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Illustrations:
soldiers "cannon fodder."
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: OTTAWA
An online video from a Quebec women's group is being decried as out of touch for calling Canadian
soldiers "cannon fodder."
In the video from the Quebec Federation of Women, an actress tells viewers that she had three children
but would not have had any if she knew that they would become cannon fodder. The video is part of a
campaign to keep Canadian military recruitment drives out of Quebec schools, including universities.
"It's fiction so leave it as fiction. They're anything but cannon fodder," said Tory MP Laurie Hawn, the
parliamentary secretary to defence minister Peter MacKay. "They are doing incredible work over there
under extremely difficult circumstances. All Canadians should be proud of what our men and women are
accomplishing over there."
Hawn was indifferent when asked if the video should be taken down, saying the group could "do what
they want."
But a high-profile voice from Quebec is calling for the video to be removed.
"I would take it down if I were them," said Bloc Quebecois defence critic Claude Bachand.
Bachand said the women's group is aiming at the wrong target.
"It's a bit harsh and hard take on the military," said Bachand. "We have to make sure we don't hit on the
military. We could hit on the government and the mission they are asking them to do."
Military families are expressing outrage at the video, saying it demeans the loss of their children, but the
group behind the video is defending their work.
Alexa Conradi, the president of the left-wing feminist group, said they never intended to offend anyone.
Conradi called the video "a strong way of raising the message."
Earlier this year opposition to military recruitment in Quebec saw a recruiting centre in Trois-Rivieres
bombed.
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: News
Byline: Peggy Curran
Outlet: The Ottawa Citizen
Headline: 'Cannon fodder' video angers military families; Quebec women's group stands behind
controversial antiwar message
Page: A10
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: MONTREAL
Source: Postmedia News
A Quebec-based women's group is standing behind an antiwar video campaign that refers to soldiers as
potential "cannon fodder" in a bid to question military spending.
A publicity spot by the Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) on YouTube features an actress playing
a distraught mother whose three children are in the military.
Her eldest son has been killed overseas while a second one struggles with the psychological after-effects
of the war; as she packs an assault rifle and bra into her daughter's duffle bag, she wonders whether it
would have been wise not to have children, rather than see them wind up as "cannon fodder."
"People say 'make love not war' but what they should say is 'make love for war' -- because it takes a lot of
children to supply an army," she says.
"Having known that by giving birth I was supplying cannon fodder, I would perhaps have chosen not to
bear children," she continues, stuffing the bra into the bag and placing a stuffed animal over the pack.
The fictional military mom struck an angry chord with her real-life counterparts.
"We are proud of our children and respect their choices," Céline Lizotte, whose 23-year-old son was killed
by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan last year, told a Montreal radio show, part of a heated
debate with FFQ president Alex Conradi.
"How can you say we sent them when it is their own choice? Who are these mothers who say they are
cannon fodder?" But while Conradi said the video is designed to shock and rouse Quebecers into asking
questions about the war, it's not meant insult or upset the families of men and women who "make real-life
sacrifices" in battle.
In a telephone interview, Conradi defended the video, one of five the FFQ prepared, leading up to the
World March of Women next week. Conradi argued it's fair to ask why so much tax money is being spent
on new fighter jets and wondered whether Canadians want the forces distributing materials or recruiting in
schools.
According to a Canadian Forces spokesman, the military can't keep up with the demand for career fairs at
high-school, college and university campuses.
"We won't go to a campus where we are not wanted," Lieut. Joseph Frey said. He added that the military
is not recruiting in elementary schools, saying some confuse cadet programs with reserve or regular
forces.
"The idea is to get people in last year of high school when they are starting to think about potential career.
We do not aim at young children."
Back to Top
Section: News
Headline: YouTube video compares recruits to 'cannon fodder'; Coalition's series against school-based
recruitment angers mother of soldier killed in Afghanistan
Page: A6
Byline: ANDREW CHUNG Toronto Star
Outlet: Toronto Star
Illustrations:
tor, above, says if
she knew her children were growing upto be "cannon fodder'' she would never have given birth. /YouTube
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
A feminist coalition in Quebec has come under fire for placing on YouTube an anti-war video that
compares military recruits to "cannon fodder."
The video has enraged at least one Quebec mother whose son was killed last year in Afghanistan. She
has created a Facebook group denouncing the video to which hundreds signed up on Thursday to show
their support.
The YouTube video is one in a series placed online by the Fédération des femmes du Québec, in
preparation for the World March of Women next week.
It shows an actress playing the part of a grieving mother. As she fills a military-issue bag with her
children's personal belongings, including a rifle, she explains that her eldest son has died in Afghanistan
and, as she places a red, flowery bra in the bag, that her youngest daughter has just been recruited in
school.
"People say, 'Make love, not war,' " the actress begins. "But you should say, 'Make love for war,' because
you need a lot of children to make an army."
"If I'd known that in giving birth I was going to supply cannon fodder," she continues, "I might not have
had kids."
The idea is to create an emotional story around two demands: withdrawing troops immediately from
Afghanistan, and halting any school-based recruitment.
For Céline Lizotte, these words strike at the heart of what it means to be a mother, and particularly the
mother of a soldier.
Lizotte's son, Cpl. Jonathan Couturier, died in September 2009 after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in
the Panjwaii district near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was 23.
"It's a huge lack of respect, an insult," Lizotte said in an interview. "I don't consider my son as cannon
fodder. What were they looking to get across with this video? It has nothing to do with feminists."
Lizotte, who is demanding the video be removed from the web, said you can't criticize the government by
"going after someone's grief."
No mother can know what her child will grow up to be, she added. "It's the career my son chose and it's
the career I respect."
Alexa Conradi, president of the women's federation, said the video was not meant to hurt, but to "stir up a
debate." She has no intention of taking down the video.
"I can understand why some women and mothers of military officers felt hurt but it was never and still not
our intention to question them or the role of their children," Conradi said. "What we're trying to do is make
the government responsive to a critique."
There are different perspectives that need to be heard, Conradi reasoned. "What we're saying is that the
army is using our children. We're not saying that women shouldn't have had those children."
The women's group has focused its international work on militarization and war, and how that affects
women. Women often experience armed conflict in terms of rape and civilian deaths.
The federation contends that Canada's mission in Afghanistan is not improving the lives of women there.
Back to Top
Section: National
Byline: Andy Blatchford
Outlet: The Telegram (St. John's)
Headline: Anti-war video sparks outrage
Page: C10
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: MONTREAL
Source: The Canadian Press
A fictional military mom packs an AK-47 and a stuffed doll into a duffel bag and laments that she might
not have had kids had she known they'd grow up to become "cannon fodder" in Afghanistan.
The images are part of a new anti-war video designed to shock - and they appear to have succeeded.
A women's group created the video to protest the Afghan war and the Canadian military's efforts to sign
up new recruits in schools. The Quebec Women's Federation has posted the clip on its website and on
YouTube.
But soldiers' families are condemning the video, which has triggered an online flood of angry comments.
The video features an actress portraying a distraught mother whose daughter was recruited at school by
the military.
"If I had known that in giving life, I would be providing cannon fodder, I might not have had a child," the
woman says as she tucks a stuffed lamb, a bra, bright-coloured underwear and an assault rifle into a
dark-green duffel bag.
The fictional mother says her oldest child was killed in Afghanistan, while her youngest returned from the
war with mental problems.
"People say, 'Make love, not war,' but, come on, that's not what they should say," the actress says as she
stares into the camera. "What they should say is 'Make love for war,' because it takes a lot of children to
build an army."
Celine Lizotte, whose son was killed in Afghanistan last year, says the video shows a total lack of respect
for the mothers of dead soldiers. Lizotte is demanding the video be taken down.
"Because they died in combat, (these women) have the nerve to describe them as cannon fodder," Lizotte
wrote on a Facebook group she started to denounce the video.
The Facebook page, titled "Soldiers aren't cannon fodder," attracted a wave of condemnation directed at
the video.
"Get rid of this video," Christiane Collin wrote on the Facebook group's wall.
"I am the mother of a solider who leaves for Afghanistan at the beginning of December and my son is not
and will never be cannon fodder!
"He is a soldier by choice and I respect his decision!"
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: The red patches on their shoulders stood out brightly on the overcast morning.
Headline: Historic revival
Page: 1
Byline: MICHAEL LEA, THE WHIG-STANDARD
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Illustrations:
-Standard The traditional red shoulder patch of the 1st Canadian Division
was on proud display at CFB Kingston on Thursday morning for a ceremonypresided over by Defence
Minister Peter MacKay to re-establish the 1st Canadian Division headquarters in the Fisher Building on
the base.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
The red patches on their shoulders stood out brightly on the overcast morning.
For almost 100 years, that patch distinguished members of Canada's 1st Canadian Division, and as
soldiers wearing it marched on parade at CFB Kingston on Thursday morning, they proudly restored a
cherished tradition.
A ceremony originally scheduled for July officially re-established 1st Canadian Division headquarters,
replacing the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters.
Presided over by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, the ceremony brought back to life a division that
served with distinction in both world wars and Korea.
The Kingston-based unit will be a rapid-response headquarters for future Canadian missions, domestic or
overseas. It will oversee the Disaster Assistance Response Team and civilian-evacuation operations,
such as occurred in Lebanon in 2006.
Maj.-Gen. David Fraser commands the unit, which will be housed in the Fisher building.
A career infantry officer with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Fraser received battlefield
commendations in Bosnia and earned his Master's degree at Royal Military College and Queen's
University.
He commanded a multi-national force around Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2006, the scene of some of the
fiercest fighting of the war there.
The new unit will have 132 personnel when it is fully staffed.
It will combine land, air, maritime and special forces elements for joint operations. Coming under its
command are the 21 Electronic Warfare Regiment, 4 Engineer Support Regiment, and 4 Air Defence
Regiment.
mlea@thewhig.com
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
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Section: Canada
Byline: Don Martin
Outlet: National Post
Illustrations:
aerospace workers yesterday as he announces an expansion of the Bristol Aerospace plant in Winnipeg,
which will work on the F-35 fighter jet. Harper is taking heat over the purchase of the jets
withoutcompeting bids.
Headline: Harper facing dogfight over fighter jet deal
Page: A4
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: National Post
Confronted by an insider warning against the sole-sourced purchase of a fighter jet dubbed the Flying
Credit Card, a furious Stephen Harper yesterday chose to attack the whistle-blower -- and warn against
massive aerospace job losses if opponents continue "playing politics" with the lives of Canadian troops.
Such hyperbole suggests the F-35 jet fighter controversy is getting under the Prime Minister's skin. He
may have cause to fret.
Retired assistant deputy minister of materials Alan Williams -- an expert who is hard to dismiss -- took the
parliamentary stand yesterday afternoon to denounce the lack of competition for $9-billion worth of fighter
jets as likely to squander billions of tax dollars and lost business opportunities. Mr. Williams warned
Defence Minister Peter MacKay's logic on the F-35 file is "flawed," and he's taking public positions that
"insults our intelligence."
This is no opposition cheap shot.
This comes from a 33-year public servant who signed the memorandum of understanding in 2002
committing Canada to $100-million in funding to develop the F-35 stealth fighter. He's even written a book
on the subject: Reinventing Canadian Defence Procurement: A View From The Inside.
The government moved quickly to undermine the witness's credibility.
"In terms of the individual you are talking about, his advice was very different at the time that he was
actually paid to give it," sniffed Mr. Harper during a brief media chat in Winnipeg.
Well, not really. While the PMO helpfully distributed Mr. Williams' testimony from 2003 that predicted
major Canadian benefits from the ongoing F-35 partnership, he never said the original contract was
anything more than a lucrative business opportunity. Nowhere does he state Canada was committed to
buying the jet.
"That's a lie," Mr. Williams snapped yesterday when told of Mr. Harper's comments. "I've never ever
changed my opinion about sole-sourcing. I have no idea to what he's referring to. I take great offence to
that."
Mr. Williams doesn't dispute this jet might be the best choice for Canada, even though some of our
international F-35 partners have rebelled against the soaring price tags and are increasingly concerned
about quality control problems.
He just argues good government protocol suggests an open bidding competition would ensure the right
fighter lands the best value for taxpayers.
"Procurement demands not only the highest degree of integrity, but also the appearance of the highest
degree of integrity," Mr. Williams warned as Conservative MPs rolled their eyes. "Undertaking sole-source
deals leaves the procurement process more vulnerable to fraud, bribery and behind the scene deal
making and leaves the federal government more susceptible to such charges."
Government MPs are transparently obvious when they sense danger in a committee witnesses-- and Mr.
Williams was no exception.
By ensuring the Prime Minister was up to speed on the former bureaucrat's position, and by distributing
details of every single sole-source deal Mr. Williams ever inked as a government employee, the
Conservatives clearly view him as red toxic sludge.
Look, it's possible he's taking a rogue position, but his insights seemed both informed and interesting.
Mr. Williams said our original jet-fighter partnership allows Canada to purchase other jets without losing
supplier contracts, which seems to suggest the government can safely sound the market for better deals.
And it remains a stretch to insist there's only one fighter on the planet that Canada can use to engage
Arctic patrols against make-believe Russian hostiles or, perish the thought, perform Afghanistan flyovers
for another dozen years.
This fighter deal is getting cloudier by the day. Perhaps it's time to see what else is out there.
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Section: Editorial/Opinion
Lead: now 2nd Lieut. Semrau -- has captured Canadians' imaginations like few other events of the
Afghan war. Many consider him a hero, unjustly tried and punished.
Headline: Why Robert Semrau must not be reinstated
Page: 23
Byline: MICHAEL DEN TANDT
Outlet: The Toronto Sun
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: The tragedy of Capt. Robert Semrau
now 2nd Lieut. Semrau -- has captured Canadians' imaginations like few other events of the Afghan war.
Many consider him a hero, unjustly tried and punished.
Now there are calls for Defence Minister Peter MacKay to overturn Semrau's dismissal from the Canadian
Forces on a charge of disgraceful conduct -- effectively, to wipe the slate clean.
This would affirm, some well-intentioned folks believe, that Semrau's crime (he is alleged to have shot a
mortally wounded Afghan insurgent to death on the battlefield) was not a crime at all.
Yes it contravened the Geneva Conventions, the International Law of Armed Conflict and Canada's own
military code of conduct. No one disputes this.
But morally, according to the common sense of the common people? Semrau did the wounded Talib a
favour, ending his misery. He should be given a medal for moral courage, not fired. And let's face it: If you
don't stand by men like him, who put it all on the line for Canada, what are you worth, really?
That's all very nice -- in the movies. Indeed, Semrau's story will make a terrific movie some day. The
moral dimensions and inherent drama guarantee it.
But the calls to reinstate him are misguided. DND will never do it. Nor should it.
Here's a bet: A poll of the CF, all ranks, would find an overwhelming majority strongly against
reinstatement.
AN ULTIMATE AFFRONT
Wipe the slate clean? No. That would be the ultimate affront to the thousands of men and women in
Canadian uniform who have faced similar moral quandaries on the Afghan battlefield, and done the right
thing. That is to follow the code, and give what first aid or comfort is possible to the wounded prisoner.
If anything, Semrau's sentence-- he was demoted and dismissed but will serve no jail time, as he was
found not guilty of second-degree murder-- was too lenient, in deference to public opinion.
Here's why.
The weight of responsibility that falls on the shoulders of our soldiers in Afghanistan, especially the NCOs
(corporals, sergeants and warrant officers) is staggering.
Every time they go outside the wire, they hold the lives of their section-mates or vehicle- mates in their
hands. They hold the lives of dozens of Afghans, civilian and military, in their hands.
If they miscalculate, drive too aggressively or too cautiously, lower their guard at the wrong instant, take
deadly action too soon or not soon enough--they and everyone around them can die or be maimed.
When outside the wire they're constantly at risk of ambush. The attacks come from explosive-packed
taxis, transport or "jingle" trucks, suicide bombers on motorbikes, and bombs planted in the ground.
RISK IS 24-7
Even inside the relatively safe confines of Kandahar Airfield there's a risk of rocket fire, 24-7.
The only protection they have is each other. Their collective safety and security depends utterly on their
training and professionalism. Professionalism includes, at its core, respect for the code of conduct. That's
because, out there, there are no other rules.
Here's an irony: The hospital at Kandahar Airfield regularly nurses back to health insurgents wounded
and picked up on the battlefield. Our doctors and medics spend precious resources helping to heal the
enemy. Crazy, eh?
They do it, not because they want to necessarily and not because it always makes a lot of sense -but
because Canadian soldiers uphold the rule of law. Semrau didn't. He showed terrible judgment under fire.
This makes him a danger to the men and women he would command.
It's not fair. But it's not that complicated, either.
michael.dentandt@sunmedia.ca
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
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Section: Editorial/Opinion
Lead: It could have been worse, but to many combat soldiers the sentence to Capt. Rob Semrau for
"disgraceful conduct" by shooting a wounded Taliban ambusher in Afghanistan in 2008 is wrong,
unnecessary and unrealistic.
Headline: Semrau verdict will hurt our soldiers' morale
Page: 11
Byline: PETER WORTHINGTON
Outlet: The Winnipeg Sun
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
It could have been worse, but to many combat soldiers the sentence to Capt. Rob Semrau for "disgraceful
conduct" by shooting a wounded Taliban ambusher in Afghanistan in 2008 is wrong, unnecessary and
unrealistic.
Lt.-Col. Jean-Guy Perron sentenced Semrau to a reduction in rank to 2nd lieutenant and "dismissal" from
the military but spared him jail time, which the prosecution had urged.
In theory, since he was not dismissed with "disgrace," Semrau can re-enlist.
If he were to do so, and if he were accepted (uncertain), odds are he'd soon be a captain again. He is too
good a soldier for the country to afford to lose -- to say nothing of those who have served with him and
trust his leadership.
By saying Semrau ignored the laws that govern warfare, and that his "behaviour is unacceptable and will
not be tolerated," Col. Perron showed he does not understand the realities of the battlefield.
Undermine
Rather than strengthen military morale, the verdict is likely to undermine it.
Semrau is the first Canadian soldier ever charged with killing a mortally wounded enemy, but not the first
to have done it. Mercy killing is not a valid defence in the military, but it is what every soldier would wish
for himself in that situation.
If the Semrau case proves anything, it's Canada's need for an inspector general (IG) for the army -something the British, Americans, Australians, Germans, Japanese and a host of countries already have.
Although the function varies in different countries, the institution of an inspector general in the U.S. army
seems a model the Canadian military could emulate.
This has been proposed in the past, but the DND bureaucracy has always, even pathologically, rejected
it.
Maybe, in light of the Semrau case, things will change.
An inspector general would be useful in controversial cases like Semrau's (shooting a mortally wounded
enemy on the battlefield), where a court martial may send the wrong message. Something between
absolution and conviction, with the military not judging itself.
Military law tends to over-sentence compared with civilian courts.
Referring some cases to an inspector general could satisfy those who want an independent adjudicator
who understands the military, and those who favour the full impact of military law.
In the U.S. military, the IG is part ombudsman, but has the authority to investigate, to determine whether
criminal charges are warranted.
The IG does not report to Congress, but to the secretary of defence and the army chief of staff.
It was the U.S. inspector general who reported on prisoner abuses in Iraq and recommended the removal
of senior officers. The IG also reports on various issues, such as sexual harassment and friendly fire
casualties. It is helpful in dealing with wrongs that are short of being criminal.
In Canada, there is an Office of the Inspector Gene ra l linked with Foreign Affairs, and an IG for CSIS.
So it's not unreasonable to have one for the military.
One who repeatedly advocates the need for an inspector general for our military is retired Col. Michel
Drapeau, now Canada's foremost lawyer on military law.
Drapeau himself would make an ideal inspector general -- he's incorruptible, knowledgeable and
respectful of the military, believes in justice, has concern for soldiers, and has the courage to do what he
thinks is right.
Meanwhile Semrau must decide whether to appeal his conviction or start a new life. Right now, the
Canadian army seems the big loser.
wpgsun.letters@sunmedia.ca
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
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Section: Editorial/Opinion
Lead: The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity on the veterans' front. Nationally, veterans
continue to rally in defence of Col. Pat Stogran, Veterans Ombudsman, and the serious concerns he has
identified. Revelations pertaining to repeated Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) violations of retired Capt.
Sean Bruyea's privacy rights might be a good indication that veterans concerns are well justified.
Headline: When trust is violated, where do Canadian veterans turn? LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Page: 5
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity on the veterans' front. Nationally, veterans continue
to rally in defence of Col. Pat Stogran, Veterans Ombudsman, and the serious concerns he has identified.
Revelations pertaining to repeated Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) violations of retired Capt. Sean
Bruyea's privacy rights might be a good indication that veterans concerns are well justified.
Minister of Defence Peter MacKay and Minister for Veterans Affairs Jean-Pierre Blackburn teamed up for
announcements on financial increases and long-overdue care improvements. A baseline income for
Canadians Forces members whose disability awards are based on lower pay grades and a catastrophic
injury award of $1,000 a month for life was proposed. At this point of time, however, there no clarification
as to whether the award is taxed or whether the increase will be deducted from the wounded veteran's
Manulife SISIP LTD payment. Nor do we know just who will qualify for this catastrophic award or what the
qualification requisites are. As such, one can only wonder where and if there is any substance to these
announcements.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also entered the fray and proclaimed that veterans suffering from ALS,
some who launched legal action against the Canadian government for treatment support when VAC
denied their claims, would now be considered for VAC benefits. It is frustrating to note, however, that
there seems to be no real plan or date for support implementation for those suffering from ALS. This
disease waits for no man, not even the prime minister of Canada. To offer hope to those afflicted and
their families yet have no plan or method of implementation logically raises questions about the true
motives behind making promises at this time. Again, where is the substance?
News then broke of systematic charter violations in reference to retired intelligence officer Capt. Sean
Bruyea's Veterans Affairs Canada files. Sean is a staunch advocate for veterans' issues and longstanding critic of the New Veterans Charter (NVC). The sanctity of his medical and financial files was
repeatedly violated at the high levels of government and VAC bureaucracy with the intent, allegedly, to
use this information to impugn his credibility prior to the NVC enactment. To compound the issue, Col.
Stogran admitted that the security surrounding his personal medical files had also been compromised and
that he also had grave concerns that his confidential information would be used against him. Because of
the investigation into the hundreds of violations initially reported by Sean Bruyea, Privacy Commissioner
Jennifer Stoddart launched the first-ever department-wide investigation into Veterans Affairs Canada
activities weeks before Minister Blackburn claimed responsibility for the same systemic investigation of
his department. >
(On Thursday Stoddard said what her investigation "found in this case was alarming." Later in the day,
Blackburn told reporters that some officials "may be fired" for the apparent intrusion.)
These issues have tested, perhaps broken, the bond of trust between our troops veterans and the
bureaucracy and ministerial officials at Veterans Affairs Canada. Let us not forget, this nation is at war.
Canada's sons and daughters are being repatriated with terrible injuries and under such extraordinary
circumstances one might realistically claim that it is Prime Minister Harper's responsibility to implement
measures to restore a state of integrity to Veterans Affairs Canada.
The question is, just how can the bond of trust between our troops, veterans and VAC be restored?
First, Prime Minister Harper must call for a full public inquiry into Veterans Affairs Canada's activities. The
breach of privacy violations against Capt. Bruyea and Col. Stogran are not internal VAC issues, they are
a breach of federal privacy laws, the spectre of widespread abuse corrupts the very level of trust to which
veterans are entitled. How can a government address the serious problems at VAC and improve our
veterans' quality of life if the government does not take comprehensive measures to study, evaluate and
propose changes to a variety of NVC inadequacies? There must be a forum guaranteeing veterans a
state of meaningful dialogue, the prospect of change, a mandate to recommend and implement measures
of improvement.
Second. The prime ministerial appointment of the Veterans Ombudsman, while an admirable act, cannot
be effective should the prime minister and his government simply decide to ignore/dismiss the
recommendations. To be effective, the Veterans Ombudsman must be a legislated position responsible to
parliament, not the government of the day. When necessary, the Veterans Ombudsman must have the
legal mandate to intervene, investigate and implement corrective measures on behalf of the veteran.
Furthermore, the ombudsman must have a staunch military background, strong credentials, an
abundance of integrity and an ability to relate to the veterans he/she has sworn to assist.
Someone perhaps ... like Col. Pat Stogran?
Our troops and veterans deserve nothing less.
Pro Patria
Michael L Blais, CD Niagara Falls, Ont.
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
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Section: News
Byline: Matthew Fisher
Outlet: Edmonton Journal
Headline: Optimists feel worst of the war may be over; Afghanistan in much better shape: soldiers
Page: A14
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan
Source: Postmedia News
It doesn't fit with the dark narratives still being written by many observers of the Afghan war, but among
Canadian troops there is a widespread consensus that an invisible corner has been turned in their very
intimate fight with the Taliban in Panjwaii.
"I challenge anyone to say it isn't working for us here now," said bombardier Daniel St. John of Niagara
Falls, Ont., who is attached to the Royal Canadian Battle Group and whose combat forces are mostly
based in the Taliban heartland to the west of Kandahar City.
"When I was last here in 2007, there was a lot more fighting and the trust level with the Afghans was
nothing like it is today. They wouldn't work with us then.
"If Canadians could see the contact that we now have with the local population, they might have a
different perspective on the war than they do. Morale among our troops has never been higher."
Cpl. Steve Posthumus of Burlington, Ont., and the Royal Canadian Regiment, who is also on his second
Afghan tour, said all the troops "can see improvements."
"It is probably too early to say that we are winning, but I sense it," he said.
"IED strikes are down. Our casualties are way down. It appears that Afghan forces are getting better."
These factors have influenced other positive developments, the infantryman said.
"The pattern of life in Panjwaii has changed," he said. "People are out more. They talk more. The shuras
(meetings of tribal elders) that are held are more effective."
The situation in Panjwaii -- where a campaign to rout out entrenched Taliban in the western part of the
district is expected soon -- has undoubtedly been helped by the arrival of large numbers of additional U.S.
and Afghan forces to the west, north and northeast, as well as in Kandahar City. This has squeezed the
Taliban out of some of their bastions at the same time that Canada has used the troop surge to
consolidate its forces in a much smaller territory than when it was responsible for most of the province.
Maj.-Gen Walter Holmes, a vastly experienced retired Airborne Regiment commander who is now the
Royal Canadian Regiment's honorary colonel, provided a word of caution after giving out about 300
medals to combat troops in Panjwaii and about 100 medals to troops at Kandahar Airfield.
"I have been here a few times and I have never seen it looking so good," Holmes said. "There is a feeling
that it is quieter now.
"On the other hand, while agreeing that it is better, some soldiers told me that they are not sure whether
this current situation is real or sustainable."
These are among the key questions with the current battle group's tour set to end this fall. A battle group
from the Royal 22nd Regiment is to be the next and last combat rotation to serve in Kandahar before
Ottawa sends Canada's troops home next summer.
"If it is sustainable, that would then set the stage for the Van Doos," to get out more into the villages than
his regiment had been able to, Holmes said.
"What has happened is that the ball is now rolling and we don't want to stop it," Posthumus said, adding
that although his family opposed it, he would be willing to return to Afghanistan a third time.
"There are 152 reasons why we want to be here," the corporal said, referring to the number of Canadians
who have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
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Section: News
Lead: On the ninth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan, a former Canadian diplomat called on
NATO countries to devise plans to leave the war-torn country.
Headline: Ex-envoy calls for Afghan plan
Page: 24
Byline: MIKE NORRIS, QMI AGENCY
Outlet: The Calgary Sun
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: KINGSTON, Ont.
On the ninth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan, a former Canadian diplomat called on NATO
countries to devise plans to leave the war-torn country.
"It's been almost 10 fruitless years on the ground," said Louis Delvoie, a senior fellow in the Centre for
International Relations at Queen's University.
"It's time to discuss an exit strategy," said Delvoie, who has written extensively on Canadian international
relations.
Speaking Thursday, Canada's high commissioner to Pakistan 1991-94 with diplomatic responsibility for
Afghanistan said while there are no defined plans to leave the country, Canada and the U.S. plan to begin
to withdraw troops in 2011, while NATO is looking to be out by 2013 following an increase in the size and
strength of the Afghan army and police.
Delvoie said NATO countries are in a no-win situation.
"There will be no victory in Afghanistan," he said.
"In 20th century conflicts, few, if any, have ended in decisive battles or surrenders. That kind of outcome
for the West will be difficult indeed."
Not being able to claim victory will be an embarrassment, he said.
"It won't be easy for North America to withdraw without a loss of face. It will be played up (by al- Qaida
and the Taliban) as a victory over the crusaders," he said
Delvoie cautioned, "the hopes of turning Afghanistan into a functioning society -- with free and fair
elections, human rights -- is an absolute pipe dream."
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
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Section: World
Byline: Sardar Ahmad
Outlet: National Post
Illustrations:
Afghanistan. The Taliban say they will not enter talks until all foreign soldiers leave the country.
Headline: Peace Council to open talks with Taliban; Karzai's brainchild; Afghans fear anypower-sharing
could bury new freedoms
Page: A14
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: KABUL
Source: Agence France-Presse, with files from news services
KABUL - On the day the Afghanistan war entered its tenth year, President Hamid Karzai yesterday
inaugurated a peace council charged with brokering an end to the conflict.
"To the opposition, be they the Taliban or anyone who wants to serve his country, we call on them to take
the opportunity and respond to this effort and help bring peace to this country," he said, opening the High
Peace Council.
The council is Mr. Karzai's brainchild for opening a dialogue with the Taliban and other insurgents who
have been trying to bring down his government since the United Statesled invasion overthrew their
regime in late 2001.
Mr. Karzai has hand-picked 68 people to sit on the peace council, which was set up following a
nationwide conference in June, to be joined by another two women after women activists pushed for
greater representation. Analysts warn, however, that the council is so heavily stacked with warlords and
militia leaders it could be set up for failure.
"I wish you, respected members, success and I wish our hopes come true -- the hope for peace and
stability in the country," said Mr. Karzai.
Although the president made no reference to the date, yesterday was the ninth anniversary of the United
States launching operations against the Taliban for refusing to surrender al-Qaeda leaders over the
September 11 attacks. The council opened amid reports of high-level secret talks between the Karzai
government and the Taliban in an effort to end the war.
While doubt has been cast on whether the reports involve negotiations or merely talks before talks, a
member of the peace council has already contacted ex-officials of the former Taliban regime. Afghan
Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Pakistani politicians and Arab delegates met the officials in
Kabul this week, Afghanistan's Pajhwok news agency reported.
The meeting focused on how best to build a settlement with the insurgency, according to a former Taliban
official who attended, and who asked not to be named. Mr. Karzai's deputy spokesman, Siamak Herawi,
confirmed the meeting, which took place at Kabul's Serena Hotel, but declined to give details. The Taliban
has said publicly it will not enter into dialogue with the government until all 152,000 U.S.-led foreign
troops based in the country leave.
Yesterday, in a statement marking the war's anniversary, the Taliban claimed to control 75% of
Afghanistan and said: "Strongholds of jihad and resistance against the invading Americans and their allies
are as strong as ever.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan advises the confused American rulers: come to yourselves and have
mercy on your people by immediately pulling out of Afghanistan," the statement read in English.
There is also a fear among Afghans, particularly the urban elite who have prospered in the last nine
years, that any power-sharing deal with the Taliban could bury some of their new-found freedoms,
particularly for women.
"My biggest fear is if Afghanistan goes back to the dark period of Taliban," lawmaker and women's activist
Fawzia Koofisaid.
"Perhaps Taliban will change. But for those who don't respect women as human beings, certainly I don't
want any government to talk to them."
U.S. General David Petraeus, the NATO commander in Afghanistan who was credited with easing the
quagmire in Iraq, has confirmed Taliban "overtures" to the Afghan government and foreign forces about
quitting the fight.
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Section: News
Lead: A U.S. apology for a helicopter strike inside Pakistan has raised hopes of an end to a week-long
blockade of a vital NATO supply line, although the alliance said on Thursday it was not hindering the war
in Afghanistan.
Headline: U.S. sorry for strike
Page: 13
Byline: EMMA GRAHAM-HARRISON, REUTERS
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Illustrations:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, on Thursday.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: KABUL
A U.S. apology for a helicopter strike inside Pakistan has raised hopes of an end to a week-long blockade
of a vital NATO supply line, although the alliance said on Thursday it was not hindering the war in
Afghanistan.
The U.S. ambassador to Islamabad said late on Wednesday that the cross-border raid, which killed two
Pakistani soldiers and triggered the supply-line shutdown, was a "terrible accident."
A joint NATO-Pakistani report released the same day said gunmen aboard the Apaches had likely
mistaken warning shots from the border guards for an insurgent attack when they opened fire.
Pakistan closed the supply route through its territory on Sept. 30 after NATO helicopters strayed over the
border several times, culminating in the shooting. The military cited security concerns, but the move was
taken as a pointed response to a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.
"I think the U.S. apology and NATO regrets should be more than enough and I don't believe that the issue
of reopening of the route will drag on," said Mehmood Shah, former security chief of the Pakistani tribal
areas bordering Afghanistan.
"By closing the route, Pakistanis wanted to convey a message and I think they (NATO) have learned the
lesson."
The closure of the route through the Khyber Pass was followed by a series of attacks on dozens of fuel
tankers plying a second, southern route into Afghanistan to supply NATO troops.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said security was being evaluated and a decision on reopening the supply
route to Afghanistan would be taken "in due course," but also emphasized Washington and Islamabad
were "allies in the fight against militancy."
They are an often fractious pairing, but NATO needs Pakistan.
Trucking routes through the country bring in around one third of the fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan,
and large amounts of other supplies.
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
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ection: Editorial / Op-Ed
Byline: JANET BAGNALL
Outlet: Montreal Gazette
Illustrations:
Afghanistan. She was later killed.
Headline: Military owes it to fallen soldier to launch rape investigations
Page: A21
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: The Gazette
This week, more than four years after she became the first Canadian servicewoman to die in combat,
Captain Nichola Goddard was back in the news.
Goddard, who was deployed to Afghanistan in January 2006, was killed in a battle with the Taliban on
May 17, 2006, two weeks after her 26th birthday. Before she died, she wrote to her husband about a
culture of oppressive sexual harassment and assault at her camp in Afghanistan, saying, "There were six
rapes in the camp last week, so we have to work out an escort at night."
This information is contained in a new book, Sunray: The Death and Life of Captain Nichola Goddard, by
Calgary Herald columnist Valerie Fortney. When Fortney tried to learn more about sexual assault or
harassment on Canadian Forces bases, she hit a brick wall. "It's a big no-go zone," she told Postmedia
News.
A "no-go zone" if anything underplays the Canadian military's reluctance to discuss, never mind deal with,
the possibility of sexual assault and harassment of female soldiers. In the years since 2004, the Canadian
military admits to having investigated only five reports of sexual assault in Afghanistan. Just one
investigation led to a guilty verdict, a spokesperson for the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal and the
Canadian Forces National Investigation Service told Postmedia News. An Afghan man was arrested after
an investigation by the Afghan National Police and tried and found guilty by the Afghan justice system.
The Canadian military's figures seem implausible: Goddard told her husband there were six rapes in a
single week, yet all the Canadian military will admit to is a single conviction for assault in the space of six
years.
The Canadian numbers seem even less believable stacked against U.S. statistics. According to figures
published last year by a lobby group, the Service Women's Action Network, 3,230 sexual assaults were
reported against U.S. soldiers, an increase of 11 per cent over 2008. The group also pointed out the U.S.
department of defence itself estimates that 80 per cent of sexual assaults in the military are not reported.
Prosecution rates for sexual assailants are low: In civilian life, 40 per cent of alleged sexual attackers are
prosecuted, whereas only eight per cent of alleged attackers are ever prosecuted in the military.
Out in the field, U.S. servicewomen reported 163 sexual assaults in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. In
Canada, a report by the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal stated there were 170 sexual assaults in the
military in 2008, a drop from the 176 reported in 2007 and 201 in 2006.
But if the information out of Canada's military deployments and on its bases is not as accurate as it
should be, service people are paying a high price. Again, turning to the Americans, research shows that
sexual violence is the primary causal factor for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among female soldiers.
For their male counterparts, the strongest PTSD predictor is combat experience.
Americans are awash in information compared with Canadian military people. The last thorough airing in
Canada of sexual assault in a military context was more than a decade ago. In 1998, Canadian military
compiuled a report on activities of military police in 1997, reported by Maclean's magazine. The report
showed that military police investigated 145 sexual assaults and related incidents. Just over half the
alleged assailants were servicemen in the regular forces. More than one in four victims were teenage
cadets, with regular National Defence Department employees (including female soldiers) making up
another quarter of victims. At the time, in 1998, the military insisted that their rate of sexual assault was
substantially lower than among civilian populations, 64 sexual assaults per 100,000 population compared
with 89, a claim that should be retested.
If the Canadian government is sending young women into combat without investigating in a coherent,
systematic way whether sexual harassment or assault is putting additional, possibly intolerable, stress on
them, that is unconscionable.
Nichola Goddard, whom this country professes to honour, has already been snubbed once, when the
coffin holding her remains was deliberately hidden from a saddened public on its arrival from Afghanistan.
Her words, written in frustration and fear four years ago, should be the start of a new openness about
sexual violence in the armed forces. Taking what she said seriously -that would be the right way to
honour a fallen soldier. jbagnall@montrealgazette.com
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: The former purchasing boss for the Canadian Forces condemned the federal government for
buying 65 F-35 fighter jets.
Headline: Feds' jets buy doesn't fly Tories wasted $3.2B, ex-purchasing boss says
Page: 52
Byline: BRYN WEESE PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
Outlet: The Edmonton Sun
Illustrations:
technician Ray Llanes during a stop in Winnipeg Thursday.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: OTTAWA
The former purchasing boss for the Canadian Forces condemned the federal government for buying 65
F-35 fighter jets.
Alan Williams told Parliament's defence committee Thursday all their reasons for buying the fifthgeneration stealth jets are "flawed," and they're wasting taxpayers' money by not asking for competitive
bids.
In the case of the jet fighters, Williams said a competitive bidding process could have shaved off $3.2
billion.
In July, the government announced they would buy 65 Joint Strike Fighter jets for $9 billion, with
maintenance costs over the life-cycle of the planes expected to inflate the total to $16 billion.
Williams, who was the assistant deputy minister at the Department of National Defence (DND) until he
retired five years ago, told the committee when he nada's participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program,
it wasn't a commitment to buy the planes, only to help develop it and secure business for Canada's
aerospace industry.
But Prime Minister Stephen Harper fired back from Winnipeg, saying Williams has changed his tune since
he was at DND.
"His advice was very different at the time that he was actually paid to give it," Harper said.
"What are the Liberals and their friends in the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois seriously suggesting, that
after developing one aircraft, we'll go out and buy a second aircraft so we'll have two aircrafts we're
paying for instead of one?"
Top brass from the Canadian aerospace industry have praised the deal for allowing them to go after
some $13 billion worth of work on the world's newest fighter jet, which is more than any guaranteed
industrial and regional benefit that could have been written into a competitive contract for an older model
plane.
bryn.weese@sunmedia.ca
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg Thursday to celebrate the
plant's multimillion- dollar expansion, as well as to defend the military contract that's making the
expansion possible.
Headline: PM defends F-35s Points to jobs in visit to Bristol plant
Page: 3
Byline: PAUL TURENNE, WINNIPEG SUN
Outlet: The Winnipeg Sun
Illustrations:
Llanes during a stop at the Winnipeg plant on Thursday.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg Thursday to celebrate the plant's
multimillion- dollar expansion, as well as to defend the military contract that's making the expansion
possible.
Bristol, a division of Magellan Aerospace, is building a $22-million, state-of-the-art facility at its Berry
Street campus in order to create a temperature- controlled environment to manufacture horizontal
stabilizers for the tails of the 65 new F-35fighter jets the Canadian government announced in July it will
buy at a cost of $9 billion.
Magellan president and CEO James Butyniec said the expanded facility, which will be filled with between
$80 million and $100 million worth of new equipment and will require an undetermined number of
additional employees, will be able to manufacture about 10 of the horizontal stabilizers per month at peak
production. It may be used to manufacture other products in the future.
Butyniec said the expansion would not have happened without the F-35 contract.
Harper jumped on this point Thursday, attacking the Liberals, who have suggested they would put the
contract on hold. The Liberals, along with other critics, have said the government is ordering too many
planes at too high of a price using a contract that shouldn't have been sole-sourced.
"To do what Mr. Ignatieff and his allies suggest now is to put in jeopardy every single job in this room and
every single job that depends on the Canadian aerospace industry with no possible upside whatsoever
for the Canadian Air Force," Harper said. "This is not a political game. It is about lives, and as you know
well, it is about jobs that are important for this city and for this country."
The F-35 jets are meant to replace the military's CF-18 fleet. Canada's newest CF- 18s will be more than
30 years old by the time the first F-35 is delivered, Harper said.
Harper was to appear at a Conservative fundraiser Thursday night at Canad Inns Polo Park before
departing the city. Coincidentally, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was also in Winnipeg Thursday for a
number of small events.
paul.turenne@sunmedia.ca
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: Top Story
Outlet: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Headline: Jet deal just the start: Bristol - Officials predict more work; as PM pays visit
Page: B4
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Bristol Aerospace had already committed about $120 million to enable it to bid on (and win) parts
contracts for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter long before the Canadian government's recent decision to buy
65 of the expensive high-tech jets. But now the Canadian military is a customer, Bristol officials say they
believe even more work is going to come its way.
With at least 200 workers at the Winnipeg plant looking on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper lavished praise on the skills of the Bristol Aerospace workforce for its success in building state-ofthe-art parts for the new fighter jet.
"You are exceptional people," Harper said.
Bristol had already shipped $35 million worth of parts for the jet program it has been working on since
2003.
Harper was on hand for a "sod-turning" of a new $20-million, 139,000-square-foot advanced composite
manufacturing centre, even though construction is well underway with the roof expected to go on in the
coming weeks.
Don Boitson, general manager of Bristol and vice-president of Magellan Aerospace, its parent company,
said, "The work we're now doing for the JSF (three different parts packages) will mean about $1 billion in
revenue for Bristol through the lifespan of the contract, about 20 to 30 years."
It will also mean at least 100 Bristol employees will be dedicated to F-35 work for the life of the contract.
Bristol has a 700-person workforce and Boitson said the decision as to whether it will need to hire more
people will depend on the volume of work it wins from its other customers, including Boeing and
Bombardier.
Another Magellan executive said the Canadian government's recently announced decision to buy some of
the multimillion-dollar jets could mean Bristol and its sister divisions of Magellan Aerospace would
eventually double the number of parts contracts it wins for the F-35 program.
Magellan CEO Jim Butyniec said, "We have been in the development stage for almost 10 years already.
This thing will grow."
Bristol is supplying parts to three of the major manufacturers of the plane including some parts for a
version of the jet Canada won't even be buying.
While opposition parties attempt to make political hay out of the fact the government did not issue a
competitive tender before agreeing to buy the jets, Harper pointed out Thursday it was a previous
government that decided to become part of a consortium of nations formed in 1997 to develop the F-35
JSF, and it has already invested $150 million in its development.
In addition to that, the federal government has lent Bristol $43.4 million and the province has also lent it
$20 million through the Manitoba Industrial Opportunities Program to assist the company in its cash-flow
requirement while fitting out its shop.
"This (choosing the F-35 to replace the Canadian Forces' aging fleet of F-18 fighters) was and is the right
thing to do," Harper said.
It is still not clear how much Canada will pay for the jets and Lockheed Martin has been called onto the
carpet in Washington for cost overruns. The National Post recently reported the Department of National
Defence said the cost will be about $70 million per plane for Canada. But some estimates for versions the
U.S. military is buying are as high as $135 million each.
Officials from Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the project, were on hand for the event Thursday.
Production of the planes is still in the low-rate initial production phase, but will soon kick into full-scale
production over the next four years.
Boitson said that means going from one plane a month, to one a week, then to one a day over the four
years, eventually getting to 200 planes a year.
The new facility is to be ready for production by next August. Bristol will move its main F-35 work -- the
horizontal tail components -- to the new plant just west of its existing 700,000-square-foot campus of
buildings.
Bristol is also making a composite part called a vane box that the engines are housed in as well as some
small fuselage panels.
Another Magellan Aerospace company, Chicopee Manufacturing in Kitchener, Ont., has a $60-million
contract to produce wing tie bars for the leading-edge flap installation and aft engine thrust mounts for the
F-35.
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Back to Top
Section: none
Outlet: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Headline: Ignatieff vows to fight F-35 'all the way' - Untendered plane; purchase 'undemocratic,' he says
Page: A6
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
HOURS after Prime Minister Stephen Harper touted the controversial purchase of F-35 fighter jets at
Winnipeg's Bristol Aerospace plant, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was at a North Winnipeg school
calling the deal "undemocratic." The fact that the two were in Winnipeg on the same day was mostly
coincidental, but Ignatieff devoted part of his Open Mike tour at Tyndall Park Community School to
blasting Harper for focusing on "planes, prisons and photo-ops," and not the issues that matter most to
Canadians, such as rising debt, secure pensions, and support for aging parents.
He told a crowd of 150 people that Harper failed to explain why the contract for the fighter jets wasn't
tendered, and why the country needs to spend $9 billion on planes.
"That's undemocratic and I will fight it all the way," Ignatieff said, adding:
"We've got a government that I don't think respects the institution of democracy."
The point of the tour, and the jabs, Ignatieff said, was to make Canadians are aware of the stark contrast
between the Liberals and the Conservatives and that there is an alternative to the current government.
Winnipeg is the second stop on Ignatieff's Open Mike town hall tour, where audience members can pose
any question to the Opposition leader and he also takes questions from Canadians across the country via
a live online feed.
It comes on the heels of his summer bus tour of 160 communities across the country.
For two hours, Ignatieff answered questions from Winnipeggers about the long-form census, pension
plans, poverty and generic drugs. He said the idea is to let people know they have a choice in the next
election, and to elaborate on what they will get if they choose the "red door" or the "blue door."
He used the platform to call the Liberals the party of evidence, reason and science, and not simply
"ideology," like the Conservatives. Ignatieff said the Liberals plan to introduce a private member's bill to
restore the long-form census, and that it will be an issue in the next election.
He told the crowd his party supports investing in initiatives that help middle-class families and family care
to stem the "tidal wave" of health-care issues that will arise as the population ages.
He will be at the Winnipeg Harvest food bank Friday morning.
"This is about creating clear contrasts. Manitoba is a hugely important battleground in the next election,"
he said.
"The key thing is to get alternatives. For instance, planes, photo-ops, attack on the census, attack on the
minority rights of the francophone community versus a party that says, 'Let's stand up for middle-class
families."
jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca
Back to Top
Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: JOHN IBBITSON
Headline: Harper, Ignatieff duel over jets
Page: A8
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
An infuriated Stephen Harper has accused Michael Ignatieff of ``playing politics with the lives of the men
and women in uniform'' by opposing Ottawa's decision to spend $16-billion on new fighter jets, opening a
new front in the debate between military might and health care.
Mr. Harper is portraying himself as standing tall to protect Canadian sovereignty, while Mr. Ignatieff's
party contrasts what it calls ``Tory planes and prisons'' with Liberal promises of help for homecare.
The debate over the Joint Strike Fighter purchase is one of several contrasts that both parties appear
eager to embrace. Who ultimately triumphs in an election that is expected in months will say a lot about
what Canadians want from government in the difficult decade ahead.
Mr. Harper was visiting an aerospace manufacturer in Winnipeg on Thursday to promote the contract for
the new Lockheed-Martin F-35s. Successive Canadian governments, both Liberal and Conservative,
have been working to replace the aging F-18 fleet since 1997.
Mr. Harper's decision to come to Winnipeg on this particular day was likely not coincidental. Mr. Ignatieff
was also here, for one of the town halls that are a prominent part of his schedule this fall. Mr. Harper
clearly wanted both to steal the local spotlight and to sharpen the distinctions between the Conservative
and the Liberal approach to the aircraft.
Mr. Ignatieff wants a review of the decision, with an eye to sending it to an open competition. That
position, when he was asked about it at a press conference in the plant, disturbed the Prime Minister's
typically calm public demeanour.
``To do what Mr. Ignatieff and his allies suggest now is to put in jeopardy every single job in this room and
every single job that depends on the aerospace industry with no possible upside whatsoever for the
Canadian air force,'' he said. ``Their position here is playing politics with the lives of our men and women
in uniform and the jobs of the people in this room, and we will not stand for it.''
Mr. Ignatieff called Mr. Harper's remarks ``offensive'' and ``absurd.'' The Liberals, he said in a phone
interview, are only asking ``legitimate questions that have to be answered before any sensible Canadian
will agree to buy these planes.''
Mr. Ignatieff's case received a powerful endorsement on Thursday in the Commons defence committee
from a former senior public servant, who said the purchase was a great mistake.
``When the government made the decision to sole source for the [F-35] as our next jet aircraft, I was
disappointed,'' Alan Williams, a former assistant deputy minister for military procurement, told the
committee. ``I could not understand why they took this decision.'' He argued for an open competition to
select the new fighter.
When asked about Mr. Williams's comments at a press conference at the factory, Mr. Harper replied
sharply: ``His advice was very different at the time he was actually paid to give it.'' Mr. Williams, when told
at the committee meeting of the remarks, described them as ``absolutely a lie. ... I take great offence at
that.''
Mr. Harper told the workers at Bristol Aerospace Ltd., which has an $11-million contract to work on the
fighters, that they were ``helping to provide our government with the tools it needs to defend our
sovereignty, which is, after all, the very first duty of any government of Canada.''
Abandoning the commitment to the F-35, Mr. Harper said, would cost aerospace firms billions of dollars in
contracts to help build the new fighter, while delaying a replacement for the CF-18.
The Liberals insist that there is plenty of time to hold an open competition, which they say could lower the
cost of the replacement and potentially provide even more business for Canadian firms.
Back to Top
Section: Canada
Byline: Meagan Fitzpatrick And Tobi Cohen
Outlet: National Post
Headline: Troops to pull out early from Dubai base; Dispute over airspace
Page: A4
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: Postmedia News
OTTAWA - Canadian troops will be pulling out early from a not-so-secret military base in the United Arab
Emirates after failing to reach an agreement with the government there for its continued use.
Camp Mirage in Dubai has been an important staging ground for the Canadian Forces mission in
Afghanistan but it has also become a pawn in a dispute over access to Canada's airspace.
The UAE has been lobbying Ottawa to get additional landing rights for its two major commercial airlines
and it has previously been reported that there is a link between those efforts and Canada's lease for the
Middle East base. Its existence is supposed to be kept under wraps for national security reasons, but
Camp Mirage is a poorly kept secret.
Government officials would not confirm the end of Canada's lease agreement with the UAE, saying they
do not comment on operational matters, but sources said the options to renew it were too expensive and
not in Canada's best interests.
Simultaneously, the UAE government issued a statement yesterday indicating negotiations over
expanding the number of flights to Canada have broken down.
"The UAE is disappointed that despite intensive negotiations over the last few months the UAE and
Canada have been unable to arrive at an agreement on expanding the number of flights between the two
countries," the UAE ambassador to Canada, Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ghafli, wrote.
While his statement said the UAE "values its strong relationship with Canada," it also hinted at a strain in
diplomatic relations.
"It is unfortunate that this process has been so protracted and frustrating," he wrote. "The UAE entered
negotiations in good faith on the understanding that a solution would be reached and that constructive
ideas would be brought to the negotiating table. The fact that this has not come about will only negatively
impact the populations and economies of both countries."
The two airlines, Emirates and Etihad Airways, currently fly three times a week to Toronto and want to
add such other Canadian destinations as Calgary and Vancouver.
The Canadian government says it's not in Canada's commercial interest to allow for the expansion.
Back to Top
Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: STEVEN CHASE AND BRENT JANG
Headline: The Canada-UAE desert dustup
Page: A3
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
It was during a secret meeting in Paris this September that Canada realized there was little room for a
compromise that would enable its Afghanistan-bound troops to keep using a covert military base near
Dubai.
The Canadian government is now preparing to relocate forces from the United Arab Emirates to
somewhere such as Cyprus rather than give in to what it considers unreasonable demands from the host
country.
The prospect of a time-consuming move to a potentially costlier and more distant staging location has
Defence officials angry and frustrated. The Forces are already engrossed in complicated logistical
preparations to withdraw from Afghanistan next year.
In a remarkably blunt diplomatic gambit, the UAE has been threatening to evict Canada from Camp
Mirage if the Harper government doesn't grant its two commercial airlines lucrative additional landing
rights at airports in Toronto and other cities, sources familiar with the negotiations say.
Trouble has been brewing for months, and contingency plans were already in the works when officials
from the Canadian government - including the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade met with UAE officials in Paris last month.
Canada's goal at the behind-the-scenes-talks was to explore the idea of a compromise, to see whether
the UAE could be persuaded to put some water in its wine. International air negotiations are usually made
public, but these discussions were not.
UAE and its state-owned carriers, including Emirates Airline, have been seeking dozens of new landing
slots in Canada in return for letting the Canadian Forces stay in Camp Mirage. Air Canada and Transport
Canada oppose the idea of linking air negotiations to geopolitics, though. The fear is that UAE is more
interested in stealing lucrative international traffic from Air Canada to cities such as Frankfurt than simply
flying more customers to its domestic airports.
Canada wasn't prepared to give much ground under the circumstances. And neither were UAE officials, it
turned out.
A federal government source said there was a `` huge gap'' between the number of new landing spots the
UAE wanted and the number Canada was willing to give.
The meeting confirmed for Canada that the UAE was not willing to consider alternatives to what they
wanted, the source said.
``It ended with nothing.''
The Harper government had nothing to say officially on the future of Camp Mirage on Thursday, even
though sources inside and outside Ottawa said the UAE has sent Canada official notice to vacate it within
30 days.
Officials say the Canadians ramped up plans for a move after the Paris meeting and are eyeing Cyprus
as an alternative staging ground. Cargo pallets from Canada might be routed through a German base.
There's still time for a compromise, but it's not clear how much good will exists for one.
The UAE government vented its frustration in a statement on Thursday, warning that failure to reach a
deal on more landing rights will hurt both countries, saying six flights a week for its carriers are
insufficient.
``It is unfortunate that this process has been so protracted and frustrating,'' UAE Ambassador Mohammed
Abdullah Al-Ghafli said.
``The UAE entered negotiations in good faith on the understanding that a solution would be reached and
that constructive ideas would be brought to the negotiating table. The fact that this has not come about
will only negatively impact the populations and economies of both countries.''
Catherine Loubier, director of communications for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, would say
only that the Canada-UAE relationship is strong and mutually beneficial.
``The government of Canada is fully capable of supporting our military commitments in Afghanistan, and
we choose arrangements that are in the best interests of Canada.''
Both Dubai-based Emirates Airline and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways want greater access to Canada.
In June, 2009, Emirates introduced the 489-seat Airbus A380 double-decker jet to its Toronto-Dubai
route, saying the larger aircraft was needed to meet high demand.
Air Canada says that Emirates isn't really interested in transporting customers between Dubai and
Canada, accusing the foreign carrier of plotting to steal international traffic with Dubai as a stopover, not
as a destination.
Back to Top
Section: News
Byline: Adrian Humphreys
Outlet: National Post
Illustrations:
will plead guilty to all criminal charges at his next court appearance, his lawyer said yesterday.
el Russell Williams' Tweed home in February.
-France Comeau
Headline: WILLIAMS TO PLEAD GUILTY; Rising air force star faces life in prison for slayings, sex
assaults
Page: A1
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: BELLEVILLE
Source: National Post
BELLEVILLE - At Canadian Forces Base Trenton, the country's largest air force base, soldiers wearing
camouflaged uniforms move swiftly with the confident stride of their training, but when a visitor says he
just came from their former commander's court hearing, they anxiously stop and lean in close for the
news that Colonel Russell Williams, their decorated superior, is admitting to murdering two women,
attacking two others and committing a lengthy stream of fetish burglaries.
One soldier's eyes widen. Another nods silently. All quickly move on.
In the Belleville courthouse, 20 kilometres away, the orderly world the 47-year-old colonel once
commanded has vanished, and the terrifying details of his secret life are laid bare in court documents. It is
clear that the square-jawed star pilot was publicly leading an exemplary life of service while privately
careening down a path of deviance and violence.
"It just goes to show you, you never know where that carton is going to come from with the bad eggs in,"
said Andy Lloyd, the only sibling of 27-year-old Jessica Elizabeth Lloyd, whose murder this past January
was the culmination of Col. Williams' escalating behaviour.
Yesterday's hearing started the final phase of a case that stunned the military and public alike, rattled
several communities where his victims lived and drew headlines around the world.
Just before court was called to order, a long line of family members of the victims filed in from behind
closed doors, led by Mr. Lloyd and his mother, Roxanne, who clutched a large, framed photograph of her
murdered daughter that beautifully captured her warm and ubiquitous smile.
Col. Williams' lawyer, Michael Edelson, then told Justice Robert Scott that his client will plead guilty to all
counts at the next appearance, on Oct. 18.
The indictments list two counts of first-degree murder; two counts of sexual assault; two counts of forcible
confinement; 86 counts of break-and-enter and theft in deviant fetish raids of women's underwear.
That court record stands in contrast to his military resume.
Before his arrest, Col. Williams appeared a model soldier, often photographed saluting and smartly
dressed in a blue airman's uniform brightened by medals recognizing his service, including one for
fighting terrorism in the Persian Gulf following the 9/11 terror a ttacks.
Having joined the Canadian Forces in 1987, he was considered a rising star, fast-tracked for senior
command.
Before taking command of the air base, he was hailed as a star pilot who had flown Queen Elizabeth II
and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prime Minister, the Governor-General and other dignitaries on their
official travels.
"It was kind of a surreal feeling, seeing him walk across the courtroom. He didn't turn around at all or look
at the family," Mr. Lloyd said.
Indeed, Col. Williams' face looked dour, his jaw clenched and hair cropped to a bristle, as he shuffled into
the packed courtroom in leg shackles and handcuffs but ignored the glaring throng of onlookers craning
for a view. Well dressed in a fine-tailored, dark blue suit and white dress shirt, he sat still and quiet
throughout the brief proceedings, watched over by 15 armed police officers.
Mr. Lloyd said he has many unanswered questions.
"Why? Why her? How did all this come about, there is so many questions everybody wants to ask him,"
Mr. Lloyd said. "They say time heals all. Well it's going to take a very long time."
The time the Lloyd family -- as well as the family of another murder victim, Marie-France Comeau, 37 -will spend in court dwelling on sordid evidence against Col. Williams, however, is now mercifully cut short.
The disconnect between Col. Williams' radiant military career and the secret double life as a predator has
not tarnished Mr. Lloyd's faith in the soldiers populating the military base that neighbours his town.
"My feeling of the military is still the same as it was and it is still very, very high," he said. "That's the way I
was raised," he said. His father spent 25 years in the navy and he and his sister grew up at CFB Uplands,
a defunct military base in Ottawa.
Nor has the heartbreak of his sister's murder soured his affinity for his community.
"Honestly, as strange as it sounds, I've kind of come to like this town more through all this, because of the
amount of random people and good people who have come out of the woodwork for no reason, just
because they want to help."
Belleville, a city of 50,000 just about halfway between Toronto and Ottawa, was only one hunting ground
for Col. Williams, along with Ottawa and Tweed, where the crimes also took place.
Many of the fetish attacks came in pairs.
During his first known attack, on Sept. 9, 2007, he broke into a house on Cosy Cove Lane in Tweed and
made off with underwear, which he sorted and stored throughout his exploits. He then returned to the
same home later that month, Sept. 28, for his second known break-in, according to the indictments.
His next two attacks were also a pair -- this time even more daring -- hitting the same home in Tweed on
consecutive nights, Oct. 19 and 20, 2007.
A pattern of hitting the same home a second time the next day was repeated in Tweed, Ottawa and
Belleville 10 times over the next two years.
His behaviour has two tragic escalation points, pushing his extreme behaviour to dark and dangerous
extremes, the court file shows.
On Sept. 17, 2009, after an increasing frenzy of fetish burglaries, he seemed to no longer be content with
his trophy hunt. Breaking into a home in Tweed that night he confined and sexually assaulted a woman
inside, according to police.
The next night, he was back to the break-and-enters and thefts.
Less than two weeks later, however, he again confined and raped a woman in Tweed.
That victim, Laurie Massicotte, lived three doors away from Col. Williams' home in Tweed. Yesterday, she
officially waived her right to have her identity protected by the court. Earlier, she described to a Maclean's
reporter her 3 1/2 hours of terror as she awoke in the dead of night to be battered by an intruder.
She was blindfolded, shackled, stripped using a knife and forced to pose for degrading photographs as
the attacker threatened her, saying: "I need you to be quiet" and "Don't make me make you."
In the warped world of deviant serial crime, Ms. Massicotte might now be considered fortunate -- given
what happened next.
On Nov. 16, 2009, in Brighton, Ont., an hour's drive from Tweed, Col. Williams broke into a home and
made off with more fetish trophies. Eight days later, he returned to that same home and killed Ms.
Comeau, a 37-year-old corporal at CFB Trenton.
And two months after that, over the course of two days this January, he did the same to Ms. Lloyd.
Col. Williams is expected to enter his formal plea and his sentencing hearing to commence on Oct. 14. It
is expected to last three to four days.
The families of the victims are looking for their turn to have a say rather allowing it to become a platform
for Col. Williams.
"I'm not looking for an apology, it's not going to hold its weight in anything, so we're not looking for an
apology from him but we'd just like to here the truth and what happened," said Mr. Lloyd.
Col. Williams recently submitted to psychological assessments but the results will now presumably be
used at sentencing rather than in defence at trial.
Even so, a guilty plea to first-degree murder requires a life sentence without parole for 25 years, leaving
little room for the elite pilot to manoeuvre.
Back to Top
Section: Canada
Byline: Kenyon Wallace
Outlet: National Post
Illustrations:
Williams' lawyers say he will plead guilty to two sex slayings, two sexual assaults and a series of break
and enters.
Headline: Tire trackkey to cracking case: police; 'It was very odd'; Williams' SUV pulled over in roadblock
Page: A8
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: National Post, with files from Postmedia News
Sometimes the keys to cracking even the most baffling of crimes turn out to be the simplest of clues: a
fingerprint, a piece of clothing left at the murder scene -- and, in the case of Colonel Russell Williams,
who will plead guilty to the murders of two women -- a simple tire track in the snow.
It was Feb. 4 when police, in an effort to find clues in the disappearance of 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd, a
Tweed, Ont., woman who went missing seven days earlier, set up a roadblock along Highway 37 near
Belleville.
Col. Williams, driving home to his Tweed cottage from 8 Wing Trenton, the country's largest air force
base, which he commanded, just happened to be one of the people police pulled over.
It was a fateful stop that suddenly threw the mystery of Ms. Lloyd's disappearance wide open. While Col.
Williams was interviewed by one officer, another noticed the distinctive tire treads on his Nissan
Pathfinder -- patterns that bore an eerie similarity to those found in a field close to Ms. Lloyd's house.
One area man, Lyle Barker, had actually seen an SUV matching the description of the colonel's
Pathfinder in the field the night Ms. Lloyd was killed. He and a relative were driving south on Highway 37
when they passed it.
"It was very odd," Mr. Barker told the CBC's Fifth Estate. "You never see anything like that at that time of
year. It just didn't seem right, like it shouldn't have been there."
Police suspicions were aroused enough by that short stop that they placed the colonel under surveillance
for the next three days.
On Feb. 7, Ontario Provincial Police in Ottawa, where Col. Williams lived in the suburb of Westboro with
his wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, asked him to come to the local detachment for questioning.
The next day, police discovered Jessica Lloyd's body on a rural road in the Municipality of Tweed. Col.
Williams had reportedly directed police where to find her body. Later that day, Col. Williams was charged
with two counts of first-degree murder, along with two counts of forcible confinement and two counts of
breaking and entering and sexual assault.
Police searches of his Ottawa home and Tweed cottage revealed disturbing discoveries of hundreds of
pairs of women's underwear and keepsakes.
The second murder charge related to the death of 38-year-old Marie-France Comeau, an air force flight
attendant based at CFB Trenton, who was found dead in her Brighton, Ont., home on Nov. 25. She was
under Col. Williams' command at the time. She had been tied up, beaten and sexually assaulted before
being killed.
The sexual-assault charges stem from home invasions in September 2009, near the colonel's lakeside
cottage in Tweed. The women were attacked, blindfolded and tied to chairs. Their clothing was cut off and
they were photographed. Both were home alone, aside from an infant who slept through the first attack.
At the time, Col. Williams was not questioned about either attack. Police focused on his neighbour, Larry
Jones, who finally had a cloud lifted from his name when Col. Williams was arrested.
It was later revealed that the colonel may have also been responsible for scores of break-and-enters in
another Ottawa neighbourhood, Orleans, where he lived in 2008 and 2009. Those break-and-enters had
the unusual calling card of the burglar leaving valuables untouched, but cleaning out women's underwear
drawers.
In April, police charged Col. Williams with 82 break-and-enters, including 34 in Ottawa and 46 in Tweed.
The whole affair caused deep unease at the Department of National Defence.
"How could we have missed this?" retired Air Force Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt asked on a recent CBC
documentary. "Is there something that we did or didn't do that could have given us a clue?"
Lt.-Gen. Watt, who promoted Col. Williams to commanding officer of CFB Trenton, described him as an
unusually calm and rational officer who could produce quality work under pressure.
He said everyone he's talked to in the military has agreed there was no clue to be found to Col. Williams'
dark side.
Back to Top
Section: Canada
Byline: Lee Greenberg
Outlet: National Post
Headline: Neighbours welcome intended guilty plea
Page: A8
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: TWEED, Ont.
Source: Postmedia News
TWEED, Ont. - Residents of the eastern Ontario communities haunted by Colonel Russell Williams
breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after word spread the former commander of CFB Trenton will plead
guilty to two sex slayings, two sexual assaults and a raft of break and enters.
"I think he's doing the right thing by pleading guilty," said Marvin Molloy, 62, outside a Tim Hortons in
Tweed. "He's going to save the country a whole pile of money and stuff like that there and also let the
family have a bit of closure instead of the whole dog-and-pony show that would have happened with a
full-fledged trial."
"It's a huge relief," said Tracey Acker, owner of a small restaurant and antique shop in nearby Brighton,
where murder victim Corporal Marie-France Comeau lived.
"Hearing the news really drives back home the feelings. It puts a pit in your stomach. It's disturbing.
Sickening."
The feelings of relief are tempered with a lingering bitterness.
Mr. Molloy said police never properly warned the community about the sexual predator.
"I find the police department extremely guilty of not telling us what was going on," he said. "That last girl
(27-year-old Jessica Lloyd) wouldn't have died if they had."
He is also angry they reportedly overlooked Col. Williams because of his stature in the community.
"They skipped over him because they said he's a colonel, he's pretty high up, he wouldn't be doing crap
like that. But we know different," he said. "They should have been looking at him sooner."
In the neighbourhood where Col. Williams lived in his cottage just outside Tweed, neighbour Larry Jones,
too, is angry. His life was turned upside down last fall when he became a suspect in two home invasions
and sexual assaults for which Col. Williams was later charged.
The two had been next-door neighbours since 2004 when Col. Williams and his wife purchased a
bungalow for $178,000 on Stoco Lake.
Back to Top
Section: News
Byline: Meghan Hurley
Outlet: The Ottawa Citizen
Illustrations:
lour Photo: Photo by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation / Col. Russell Williams leaves the Bellville
courthouse after Thursday's hearing. Williams, the former commander of CFB Trenton, agreed to plead
guilty to two charges of first-degree murder and two counts of sexual assault. His sentencing procedure
will begin Oct. 18 and isexpected to last four days.
Colour Photo: Marie-France Comeau
Colour Photo: Jessica Lloyd
Cpl. Marie-France
Comeau comfort one another after Col. Russell Williams pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges.
the Belleville courthouse Thursday.
Clifford, and Michael Edelson, arrive for the session.
Headline: End of painful saga in sight Col. Russell Williams to plead guilty to murder, sex charges
Page: A1 / Front
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: BELLEVILLE
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
Clutching a framed photograph of her murdered daughter Jessica, Roxanne Lloyd walked into a packed
courtroom Thursday.
Lloyd held the photograph close throughout the 15 minutes it took to set Oct. 18 as the date she will
finally hear the word "guilty" emerge from Col. Russell Williams' mouth.
Outside the stone courthouse, Jessica's older brother, Andy, said the picture was intended to take the
focus off the disgraced military man and remind people of his victims.
They include Jessica, who was 27, Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38 when she was murdered, and two
women from the Tweed, Ont., area who were victims of brutal sexual assaults.
Williams' decision to plead guilty means the end is in sight to the bitter saga involving the former
commander of CFB Trenton, once considered one of the elite officers of the Canadian Forces.
In August, the colonel had waived his right to a preliminary trial, setting the stage for Thursday's dramatic
events.
When Williams appeared in Courtroom No. 3 at 10 a.m., the victims' families were wiping away tears.
Some shook their heads as they caught their first glimpse of Williams.
Later, Andy Lloyd, 30, said he didn't really see Williams until he was already halfway to the prisoner's box.
"You see him and a shock factor comes through ... it was kind of a surreal feeling, seeing him walk across
the courtroom," he said on the front steps of the courthouse. "I was kind of glad to see he was staring at
his feet when he was walking."
Lloyd said he was aware in advance of Thursday's hearing that Williams would enter a guilty plea and
was relieved that the family won't have to suffer through a trial.
"If there is that much evidence, then why should it take two years to get something over with?" he asked.
"It's important because nobody wants to be off work. You can't live your normal life doing court dates
everyday."
Lloyd said that he, and several family members and friends, are working on victim impact statements to
be read during the sentencing hearing.
He said he will tell the judge that it was difficult to watch his sister's birthday pass by in May and said
Thanksgiving and Christmas will be hard on the family.
Lloyd wants the judge to know he has been off work since his sister died and has dealt with anxietyrelated sleep troubles.
"How much he actually hurt people, indirectly ... How much one action affected the whole community," he
said. "I'd like to see him get life in jail with no parole."
If Lloyd could talk to Williams, he said he would want to know why he chose Jessica.
"Why, why her? How did all this come about? There are so many questions everybody wants to ask him,"
he said.
"They say time heals wounds; well, it's time to start this healing once this is all done and I don't have 13
cameras looking at me."
The sentencing that begins Oct. 18 is expected to last four days. First-degree murder brings with it an
automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Williams is also expected to
have to repay the $12,000 a month he has received as salary from the Canadian Forces.
--Spectators and reporters were lined up before the sun rose Thursday to make sure they got a seat in
court. A second courtroom was opened on the first floor to deal with the overflow.
The crush of interest in the case, which has drawn international attention, prompted unusual security
measures. Surrounding the courthouse in Belleville was a green security fence, and access to the
building itself and the courtroom was strictly controlled. More than 10 police cars and SUVs were parked
and heavily armed tactical officers were patrolling the parking lot.
Before Williams' appearance, police handed out copies of the indictment against the colonel, but forced
reporters to give them back once the court realized an error had been made.
Police also handed out guidelines to reporters, which stated that all electronic devices had to be turned
off in the courtroom.
A Citizen reporter went before Judge Robert Scott to point out the use of mobile devices has been
permitted in previous cases. Scott said he was aware of that and said media lawyers can make their
submissions on the ban on Oct. 14.
"I'll keep an open mind one way or another," he said.
The court soon quieted and, in an almost funereal procession, the Lloyd family was escorted in just after
9:30 a.m. to their seats in the four reserved rows at the front of the court.
As the session began, they stared intently at the colonel, who was sombre and subdued, dressed in a
black suit, no longer in the blue uniform he had worn so proudly a year ago.
He had been brought into the court around 7:30 a.m. in a van with police officers lined up along the lane
leading to the prisoners' entrance.
Two heavily armed police officers kept watch through binoculars from the top of a building across the
street from the court.
In the court, Williams' handcuffs were removed and he sat in the prisoner's box flanked on either side by
police officers. Nearby sat the chief of police from Belleville, Cory McMullan, and the lead OPP
investigator in the case, Insp. Chris Nicholas.
Then Michael Edelson, the prominent Ottawa attorney, spoke to Williams, his client. The accused leaned
over and bowed his head as he replied.
Edelson then told the court that after reviewing thousands of pages of material, "the defence is now in a
position to advise the court how he will plead," he said. He will "enter into a guilty plea on all counts."
After Edelson told the court of Williams' intention to plead guilty, the crowd slowly trickled out. Some
family members left in a hurry, crossing the road to a parking lot. There, they held each other in embraces
before leaving.
--Williams was charged in February with the first-degree murders of two eastern Ontario women -- Cpl.
Marie France Comeau, 38, and 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd -- and the sexual assault of two other women
from the Tweed area.
In April, 82 additional charges were laid against Williams in relation to break-ins and lingerie thefts in the
Ontario communities of Belleville, Ottawa and Tweed.
Williams and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, are also facing a lawsuit launched by one of the alleged
sex assault victims.
In the statement of claim, the woman says she has battled severe depression and addiction since the
alleged attack. She also alleges Williams fraudulently transferred his Ottawa home to his wife to protect it
from legal action. The couple are contesting the legal action.
Williams was arrested in February after being pulled over in a road check. The distinctive tires in his SUV
were the key piece of evidence leading to his arrest.
The Citizen reported at the time that Williams had apparently confessed during a police interrogation at
Ottawa police headquarters on the weekend after his car was discovered.
The case hit home for residents of the Ottawa community of Orléans when it was revealed that a series of
break-ins involving the theft of women's underwear had happened during the time the colonel lived on a
quiet street. Similar break-ins had taken place in the Tweed area.
After interrogating Williams, police searched his home in Westboro, where they found hundreds of pairs
of underwear.
Williams has appeared in court by video half a dozen times from his segregated cell in the Quinte
detention centre.
Comeau, 38, was based at CFB Trenton and under Williams' command when she was killed. Lloyd
worked for a Napanee school-bus company and lived on Hwy. 37, which links Belleville and Tweed.
Comeau's badly beaten body was discovered at her home in Brighton, close to Trenton. Lloyd's body was
found in thick woods outside Tweed.
Both victims were asphyxiated.
The sexual-assault charges stem from home invasions in September 2009, near Williams' lakeside
cottage in Tweed.
The women were attacked, blindfolded and tied to chairs. Their clothing was cut off and they were
photographed. Both women were home alone, aside from an infant who slept through the first attack.
Both were able to struggle free and call police.
At the time, Williams was not questioned about either attack. Police focused on his neighbour, Larry
Jones, who finally had a cloud lifted from his name when Williams was arrested.
mhurley@ottawacitizen.com
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: He was a rising military star, with chiselled chin and strapping physique, a pilot to prime ministers
and commander of troops.
Headline: Killer colonel to fall on his sword Will plead guilty to murdering two women, attacking two
others
Page: 4
Byline: MICHELE MANDEL
Outlet: The Ottawa Sun
Illustrations:
Edelson, second from right, addresses Justice Robert Scott. 2.photo of MARIE-FRANCE COMEAU Flight
attendant 3. photo of JESSICA LLOYD "Happy person" 4. photo by LUKE HENDRY,QMI AGENCY Andy
Lloyd, whose sister, Jessica, was slain by Russ Williams, talks to the media outside a Belleville
courthouse.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: BELLEVILLE
He was a rising military star, with chiselled chin and strapping physique, a pilot to prime ministers and
commander of troops.
In his many public appearances and photo ops, Col. Russell Williams most closely resembled a stiff
Dudley Do-Right of those old Mountie cartoons.
But we now know the commander of Canada's largest Air Force base, in Trenton, was also a military
monster who will plead guilty to killing two women and sexually assaulting two more, a voyeuristic
predator who seemed well on his way to becoming a serial killer.
He appeared in court Thursday prepared to admit to his evil alter ego.
Looking gaunt and pale, his black suit hanging loosely on his thin frame and his bowed head still shorn in
military style, the handcuffed prisoner instructed his lawyer to inform the judge of his intention to formally
plead guilty to all counts when he next appears Oct. 18.
In the packed, 153-seat courtroom, relatives of his victims quietly wept while Roxanne Lloyd clutched a
framed portrait of her slain daughter.
Media from outlets across the country arrived three hours earlier to get a seat and catch their first glimpse
of Williams since his shocking arrest last February.
Watching from the jury box were Belleville Police Chief Cory McMullan and OPP Det.-Insp. Chris
Nicholas, who led the investigation.
Lining the room were at least a dozen police officers.
Williams looked at none of them. Instead, he gazed at the floor, relieved it seemed that this double life is
finally done.
The indictment against him is long and astonishing: his lawyer, Michael Edelson, told Superior Court
Justice Robert Scott that Williams will plead guilty to the first-degree murders of his subordinate, flight
attendant Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 37, and a stranger, Jessica Lloyd, 27.
He'll also admit to the forcible confinement and sexual assault of two Tweed women who lived near his
lakeside cottage, as well as an incredible 82 counts of breaking and entering as he slipped into homes
from Ottawa to Tweed starting in the fall of 2007, with many of them his neighbours on Cozy Cove Lane.
He's slated to admit to a secret life of crime, which escalated slowly.
The decorated colonel won't contest charges that, when not impressing his superiors by day, he broke
into residences near his Ottawa home and Tweed cottage, meticulously covering his tracks as he stole
lingerie to add to his trophy collection, sometimes hitting two different locations in just one night and
sometimes returning to the same home as many as nine times.
By September '09, his underwear fetish is alleged to have taken a sudden, violent turn. Two women living
alone were awakened by an intruder who blindfolded and bound them, sexually assaulted them and
forced them to pose naked. But neither was raped.
One of the victims, her name sealed under a publication ban, has launched a $2.4-million civil suit for the
"horrific and reprehensible" assault.
The other, Laurie Massicotte, a mother of three, asked the court Thursday to lift the ban on her identity.
Two months after the women's frightening ordeals, the indictment accuses Williams of graduating to
murder.
Comeau was found slain in her Brighton home on Nov. 25, 2009.
Lloyd's body was discovered Feb. 8 of this year in the woods outside Tweed.
Both women had been beaten and asphyxiated.
No doubt there would have been further victims if diligent police work hadn't stopped their killer literally in
his tracks.
Last February, Williams was pulled over at a police roadblock on Hwy. 37 near his Tweed cottage as they
searched all vehicles for a certain kind of tire tread found in the snow near the home of Lloyd, who had
vanished about 10 days before.
When his Nissan Pathfinder matched the distinctive tire track, he was secretly placed under surveillance.
Hours after he was brought in for questioning, the cocky commander was placed under arrest.
Eight months later, he seems a beaten and resigned man. Williams has agreed not to fight the 88
charges against him, sparing the murder victims' families the anguish of living through several years of
court proceedings.
Lloyd's brother stepped out into the sunshine of a beautiful fall day to talk to the crush of media about his
sister and the man who'll plead guilty to killing her.
"She could walk into a room at a party and everybody would notice her," Andy Lloyd said proudly. "She
was a very happy, outgoing, friendly person. Everybody loved her."
He said it's a relief to know an end is now in sight.
"It will be good to get it over with and get back to normal."
But, of course, it'll never be normal again. It's just the two of them now-his mother and himself -and each
holiday, each birthday is another aching reminder of what was stolen from them.
"Every special occasion isn't the same," he said.
Ironically, his late father was a military man and Lloyd grew up on a base near Ottawa. So he holds no
grudge against the Armed Forces, only the mystery man who rose so quickly through their ranks.
A child of divorce, Williams moved to Toronto from Chalk River with his mother and stepfather, and
eventually attended the elite Upper Canada College, where his only distinction anyone can recall was his
talent for the trumpet.
He'd go on to do a degree in economics and political science at the University of Toronto's Scarborough
campus -Paul Bernardo's alma mater and the site of many unsolved sexual assaults.
After joining the Canadian Forces in 1987, he was posted and promoted throughout Canada as he gained
a reputation as reserved and strictly by-the-book.
During the '90s, Williams piloted a Challenger jet and ferried the Queen and other dignitaries on domestic
and overseas trips, often with Comeau as his flight attendant.
In July 2009, Williams took charge of Canada's largest airbase. At the pinnacle of his career, his alleged
crime spree began just two months later.
Jessica Lloyd's brother is working on his victim impact statement for next week's sentencing hearing.
With guilty pleas to two counts of first-degree murder, Williams' fate is pretty well assured: The former
commander faces at least the next 25 years behind bars.
That'll offer little relief, though, to Lloyd's family. They want something much more elusive from the
enigma that is Col. Russ Williams.
"Why?" her brother asked outside the courtroom. "Why her? How did this all come about? There are so
many questions."
And still so few answers to be had.
Read Mandel Wednesday through Saturday. michele.mandel@sunmedia.c aor 416-947-2231
--TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Sept. 17, 2009
A Tweed, Ont., woman is sexually assaulted in her home.
Sept. 30 Another Tweedarea woman is sexually assaulted in her home.
Oct. 29 Authorities search the home of Larry Jones in Tweed, a neighbour of Colonel Russell Williams,
looking for computer equipment and specific lingerie items, among other things. Jones is later cleared as
a suspect.
Nov. 25 Cpl. Marie-France Comeau is found dead in her Brighton, Ont., home. The death is ruled a
homicide.
Jan. 28, 2010 Jessica Lloyd, 27, is last seen alive. Her last communication is a text message to a family
friend at 10:36 p.m. She is reported missing when she fails to show up for work at Tri-Board Student
Transportation Services in Napanee, Ont., the next day. Lloyd's family tells police it is out of character for
her to be out of contact.
Jan. 30 Police scour the Belleville, Ont., area over the next few days and appeal to the public for help.
More than 34,000 friends, family and strangers join a Facebook group dedicated to finding Lloyd.
Feb. 4 OPP and Belleville police set up a road block on Hwy. 37 near Belleville, and stop and question
motorists. Col. Russell Williams, 46, comes to the attention of the police during the roadblock because of
a distinctive tire tread on his SUV.
Feb. 7 Russell Williams is arrested in connection with the deaths of Lloyd and Comeau. He is also
charged with two sexual assaults that happened in Tweed in September.
Feb. 8 Police discover the body of Lloyd off Cary Road near Tweed.
Mid-February
OPP forensic officers search Williams' homes in Tweed and Ottawa for 'hidden keepsakes', recovering
stolen lingerie.
Feb. 18 Russell Williams is remanded into custody on murder and sexual assault charges after a brief
appearance in a Belleville court via video link from the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee. He is
represented by Michael Edelson, a prominent Ottawabased defence lawyer.
April 3 Williams tries to kill himself by stuffing cardboard from a toilet paper roll down his throat. He uses
mustard to write a suicide note on the wall of his cell, saying that his feelings were too much to bear.
Williams is placed on suicide watch.
April 7 Off suicide watch, Williams goes on a hunger strike.
April 29
Williams is charged with 82 break-and-enters -46 in Tweed and two in Belleville, along with the 34 in
Ottawa.
May 6 A $2.45-million lawsuit is launched against Williams and his wife by one of his alleged victims,
claiming she has suffered severe depression and addiction since the alleged attack. It also alleges that
Williams fraudulently transferred his Ottawa home to his wife to protect it from legal action.
August 26 Williams waives his right to a preliminary hearing to evaluate.
Oct. 7 Williams appears in a Belleville court for the first time in person, where his lawyer tell the courtroom
his client intends to plead guilty to the murder charges. His next court date is Oct. 18, when a sentencing
hearing is expected to be set and Williams' pleas are to be formally entered.
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: An apology from Col. Russell Williams wouldn't matter to Andy Lloyd.
Headline: Family seeking killing motive
Page: 28
Byline: W. BRICE MCVICAR, QMI AGENCY
Outlet: The Calgary Sun
Illustrations:
Williams, talks to the media outside a Belleville, Ont., courthouse.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: BELLEVILLE, Ont.
An apology from Col. Russell Williams wouldn't matter to Andy Lloyd.
But the brother of slain Belleville woman Jessica Lloyd would like to hear the man accused of murdering
his sister explain why he did it.
Lloyd said he has a number of questions he'd like to pose to the former commander of CFB Trenton.
And he'd like to see his sister's killer locked up for life, wihtout a chance for parole.
"I'm not looking for an apology. Honestly, it's not going to hold its weight in anything. We're not looking for
an apology from him, we'd just like to hear the truth and what happened," he said.
Thursday marked the first time Lloyd had seen Williams in person since he was arrested and charged
with the murders of his sister and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau.
Lloyd said it was surreal to sit in a court of justice and look at Williams.
"It was obviously different and, obviously, kind of a shock factor comes through," he said. "He looked just
like he did in the pictures. I was kind of glad to see he was staring at his feet when he was walking. What
does that usually mean when somebody's slouching in their seat and staring? I don't know if it looked like
guilt or whatever but ..."
Lloyd said his mother, Roxanne, held a framed photograph of Jessica on her lap throughout the
proceedings.
He lauded the community for its support, adding: "The police have been fantastic, too," he said.
"I can't say anything but good things about both the OPP and the Belleville police."
Williams' decision to enter a guilty plea Oct. 18 will allow the victims' families to more quickly return to
their lives, he said.
His sister's absence is being felt keenly, he said.
"It's been pretty hard this year. I've had my birthday and my mom's had her birthday and Jessica's
birthday has already rolled through and every special occasion like that just isn't the same and it won't be
the same," he said.
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: Canada
Byline: Colin Perkel
Outlet: The Chronicle-Herald
Illustrations:
court appearance. Williams was a rising star in the military before being charged in February with firstdegree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 37. (Steve Russell /
Toronto Star)
Headline: Two murders, two sex assaults, 82 break-ins Colonel to plead guilty; Lawyer for ex-CFB
Trenton boss says plea will come Oct. 18
Page: B1
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: The Canadian Press
BELLEVILLE, Ont. - A former rising star in the Canadian military plans to plead guilty to two murders and
86 other charges, a development Thursday that left one victim's family desperate for answers from Col.
Russell Williams.
Williams intends to plead guilty Oct. 18 to two counts of first-degree murder, two sexual assaults and
scores of break and enters, his lawyer told Ontario Superior Court.
Dressed in a dark suit and a rumpled, white open-collar shirt, Williams hung his head low through the
proceedings and showed little emotion.
The military was rocked to its core in February when Williams - then commander of CFB Trenton - was
charged in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38.
Then in April, Williams was hit with 82 break-and-enter charges, some of which involved lingerie.
Lloyd's brother said he doesn't want an apology, just the truth.
"Why, why her? How did all this come about? There are so many questions everybody wants to ask,"
Andy Lloyd said outside court.
"I think everybody would like to hear him explain what happened. I'm not looking for an apology. It's not
going to hold its weight in anything."
Like many others, Lloyd said he was initially "shocked" that someone in Williams' position of respect and
trust had been implicated in his sister's murder.
His mom, Roxanne Lloyd, was in court clutching a photo of her slain daughter.
It was to remind people "that there are victims in this case," Andy Lloyd said.
In addition to the murder and break and enter charges, Williams, 47, faces two counts of sexual assault
and two of forcible confinement. "It is his intention on the next court date . . . to enter a plea of guilty on all
counts," lawyer Michael Edelson told Justice Robert Scott.
The Oct. 18 guilty plea will be immediately followed by a sentencing hearing at which victim impact
statements will be presented to the court. The hearing is expected to last several days.
A spokesman for CFB Trenton declined to comment on Thursday's developments, and the Department of
National Defence also said it would not comment.
On the base Williams once commanded, most military members refused to speak.
"I'm glad he did (indicate he'll plead guilty)," said one as he walked by.
Comeau was found dead in her home in Brighton, Ont., last November. She was a flight attendant at CFB
Trenton and served aboard the same military VIP flights Williams piloted for much of the 1990s, ferrying
the Governor General, the prime minister and other dignitaries on domestic and overseas trips.
Court documents show Williams is alleged to have burglarized Comeau's home 10 days before she was
found dead on Nov. 25. The information does not specify what was allegedly stolen.
Lloyd was found dumped on a dirt road in nearby Tweed, where Williams also lived. She worked in
Napanee, Ont., co-ordinating school bus schedules.
Area residents expressed sympathy for Williams' victims, but said their faith in the military and community
was unshaken.
Beverley Yeotes, of Belleville, who has a cottage in Tweed, called Williams a "con" who fooled everyone.
"I feel he loves power even more than his powerful job," Yeotes said, adding she wasn't shocked by the
admission of guilt.
"What else could he do?"
Another woman, who would not give her name, called it "upsetting" that an intelligent man who had been
so successful could do what he is accused of doing.
Before his arrest, police had been looking for a suspect in two home invasions near Williams' house in
eastern Ontario in which women were tied up and sexually assaulted. Police initially focused on one
neighbourhood resident.
Some of the break and enter charges centre around the Ottawa neighbourhood where Williams once
lived.
A man whose house was among those burglarized said he and his wife came home one day to find family
pictures on their bed and the underwear drawers of his wife and daughters left open.
One of Williams' alleged sex assault victims has also launched a $2.45-million lawsuit against Williams
and his wife, Mary-Elizabeth Harriman.
The 21-year-old woman, identified only as Jane Doe, claims the "horrific and reprehensible" alleged
sexual attack has left her fearful and suicidal.
The civil suit allegations have not been proven in court.
'I think everybody would like to hear him explain what happened. I'm not looking for an apology.'
Brother of victim
Back to Top
Section: News
Headline: A COLONEL'S CRIMES: EXCLUSIVE - WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT COL. RUSSELL
WILLIAMS; He stalked women, lurked in their homes, amassed stolen sex toys, hundreds of panties,
before graduating to sex assault and murder Distinctive tire treads gave investigators their first big break
Page: A1
Byline: Jim Rankin and Sandro Contenta Toronto Star
Outlet: Toronto Star
Illustrations:
guilty to fetish crimes, sex assault and murder. Court sketch of Russell Williams in Belleville court to face
murder charges via video link from Quinte Detention Centre last February. Two break-ins at Anne
Marsan-Cook's farmhouse on the outskirts of Belleville were among 82 to which Russell Williams will
plead guilty. STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR alex tavshunsky ILLUSTRATION Jim Rankin/Toronto
Star
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Col. Russell Williams, the man in charge of Canada's biggest air force base, pulled his Nissan Pathfinder
to the side of Hwy. 37, obeying police who had set up a checkpoint.
It resembled a RIDE stop, but had another purpose. Police were looking to find a match for distinctive tire
treads left in the snow near the home of Jessica Lloyd, who lived along that stretch of highway, north of
Belleville.
Lloyd, an attractive 27-year-old who worked at a bus company, hadn't been seen for a week. Police
suspected her disappearance might be connected to two strange sexual assaults in Tweed, a sleepy
village north of the checkpoint.
What they didn't yet know was that Lloyd was dead - taken from her home to a cottage on Cosy Cove
Lane in nearby Tweed, kept alive for a day and sexually assaulted before being killed, the Star has
learned. Police also didn't know that her murder was connected to another one, committed two months
earlier in Brighton. Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, a 38-year-old air force flight attendant at CFB Trenton,
had been beaten, tied up, sexually assaulted and asphyxiated in her home.
It was Thursday, Feb. 4, when the officer sauntered over to the driver's side window of Williams'
Pathfinder. The colonel identified himself as commander of the Trenton base. A second officer,
meanwhile, studied the vehicle. Then the colonel was waved through.
"The officer who was talking to him didn't suspect him because of who he was," says an informed source
who asked to remain anonymous.
But there was a problem, as investigators were soon to discover. His was the only vehicle to pass through
the checkpoint that had tire treads and wheelbase measurements that matched those from a field near
Lloyd's home.
In an instant, investigators saw connections to crimes that had baffled police: A two-year spree of fetish
home burglaries in Ottawa, where Williams had a home, and in Tweed, where he had a cottage, and the
murder of Comeau, who worked at Williams' base.
"Everything lit up," the source said.
In a Belleville courtroom Thursday morning, Williams' lawyer said the colonel will plead guilty to killing two
women, sexually assaulting two others and to a string of fetish break and enters and thefts.
Williams, 47, was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Comeau and Lloyd.
Defence lawyer Michael Edelson told the court Williams will enter guilty pleas to the murder charges, as
well as 82 break-and-enter charges, two charges of sexual assault and two of confinement.
The colonel walked into court with his hands cuffed in front of him, dressed in a black suit and white shirt,
open at the neck and without a tie. He sat in the court, showing no emotion, for about 10 minutes before
the 15-minute hearing began. The third-floor courtroom was packed, with separate sections of the gallery
reserved for media and family of the victims. He arrived and left under heavy guard.
He will return to court on Oct. 18 for a sentencing hearing, during which the pleas will be formally entered.
After the tire check in February, police started watching Williams. Three days later, the colonel was in
Ottawa when police there asked him to come to the station for a chat.
"I'll be right there," he told them.
The colonel had made mistakes, and he was about to make a couple more, perhaps out of arrogance and
a growing feeling of invincibility.
He drove to the police station in his Nissan, not bothering to change the tires. And on his feet were boots
that police would later determine had treads that matched a partial print left in Comeau's blood in her
basement.
Sitting across from investigators, the colonel had no idea teams of officers were raiding his Ottawa home
and Tweed cottage, uncovering piles of damning evidence. Police at the scenes were feeding back
details of what they'd found, in real time, to Williams' interrogators.
"There are very few search warrants that produce that level of evidence," said the source. "They had a lot
of stuff they could feed back to the interviewer and say, 'Okay, now we know this.' "
Among the evidence: hundreds of pairs of women's underwear and other lingerie. Also stolen were
photographs of the women and in at least one incident, sex toys.
In September 2007, Monique Murdoch's cottage in Tweed, 200 kilometres west of Ottawa, was broken
into. It would be the first of 82 fetish break and enters - several of them attempted - in Tweed, Ottawa,
Belleville and Brighton.
Murdoch's next-door neighbour was Williams. In 2004, Williams and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman,
had bought the cottage at 62 Cosy Cove Lane, a quaint cottage-country road where people rarely locked
their doors.
"They were always walking hand in hand," says Murdoch, who has a year-round cottage. "I think he really
loved his wife."
The Murdochs and Williams and Harriman played cards and went ice fishing. Williams, who played the
trumpet in high school, struck up a special relationship with Murdoch's son, who was learning guitar.
Murdoch's home would be broken into two more times.
The burglar was a stalker. He broke into another Tweed house on a street connected by a path to Cosy
Cove nine times. By May 2008, 22 fetish burglaries had hit Tweed. That month, they started hitting
Ottawa.
In October, on Halloween, Ottawa police issued a press release warning residents of the suburb of
Orleans that someone was breaking into homes and making off with panties. Fifteen fetish burglaries had
occurred by then, all in the neighbourhood where Williams and his wife had a house. At the time, Williams
was the Ottawa-based project director of Airlift Capability Projects, Strategic and Tactical. Harriman was
associate executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Some of the burglaries went undetected, the victims unaware someone had crept into their homes and
made off with a trophy. Later, however, it would become clear that the burglar was keeping track.
There was no reason for police to connect the Tweed and Ottawa fetish sprees. At any given time, in a
city the size of Ottawa, it is not uncommon for several lingerie burglars to be operating at the same time.
Initially, police had not been too concerned. The Orleans burglar was careful to ensure no one was home
when he struck, and very few fetish burglars graduate to sexual assault.
But police did have their eye on a suspect. For months, they conducted sporadic surveillance on a man
who had been charged with sex offences in the past. He lived close to the middle-class suburb that was
being raided. They called him in for questioning.
One night, as officers from the surveillance team watched him, another panty raid went down. They knew
then they had the wrong guy.
On July 15, 2009, Williams was named commander of the Trenton base. "We're going to have a number
of exciting milestones to witness as we go along," he told his staff that day. By then, his neighbours in
Tweed and Ottawa had been burglarized 58 times.
At 1 a.m. on Sept. 17, a man broke into the home of a Tweed woman. She was alone with her 8-week-old
daughter. He blindfolded her, tied her up, took explicit pictures, and sexually assaulted her over a twohour period. But he did not attempt penetration.
Police were puzzled by the lack of penetration. They wondered if the attacker had a medical condition, a
sexual dysfunction or simply "stage fright."
"It was novel," said the source close to the investigation. "We don't see many where the guy goes in and
does not try to penetrate."
Investigators did not connect this attack with the comparatively harmless break and enters. They had no
idea that a rare form of criminal escalation had taken place. The burglar had moved up to sexual assault.
And he was arrogant. Two times in the week after the sexual assault, he broke into the victim's home and
presumably stole more "trophies."
Then he stalked another victim. On Sept. 24 and Sept. 26 he broke into a Tweed neighbour's home to
steal her underwear. He returned four days later and she became his second sexual assault victim. He
blindfolded her. He didn't attempt intercourse this time, either. But he took pictures.
This attacker now had the undivided attention of the police. He seemed to know the layout of the houses
and went after attractive women.
On Oct. 1, the Ontario Provincial Police issued its first press release on the home invasion attacks. Later
that month, they searched a cottage belonging to Larry Jones, Williams' affable next door neighbour.
They were looking for bras, underwear, cameras and pornographic pictures.
Jones, who calls himself the Mayor of Cosy Cove, was taken to the station and interrogated for nearly
four hours. "They searched everything and didn't find a thing - nothing," he told the Star. "I told them they
had the wrong house and the wrong guy to begin with. Of course, they wouldn't believe me."
Jones was eventually sent home. The burglaries continued.
In Brighton, a small community west of the Trenton base, the home of Marie-France Comeau was
burglarized on Nov. 16. She wasn't home at the time.
That same day, Anne Marsan-Cook, a music teacher and artist who lives on Highway 37 some 40
kilometres to the east, discovered her farmhouse had been broken into. It was Marsan-Cook's 48th
birthday and she had come home to change clothes for a party that night. She found an open drawer in
her bedroom. Her sex toys - dildos, she calls them - were gone.
Unsure what to do, she called a neighbour over to the house and the two discussed whether they should
call the police. They decided missing "dildos" would become a big joke down at the station, and not to
bother. Still, they toured the house and locked every door and it was decided Marsan-Cook would sleep
at the neighbour's house that night.
The next morning, Marsan-Cook discovered all of her underwear - expensive French lacy items - was
now gone. But it was a chilling message, typed in large font on an open Word document on her computer
screen, that caused her to scream.
"Go ahead, phone the police. I'll tell the judge you're really big dildoes (sic)."
The burglar, the message indicated, had been in the house when she came home to change her clothes
and had listened in on her discussion with the neighbour.
Marsan-Cook reported the break-in to Belleville police, who sent a team to the farmhouse. There wasn't
much evidence to collect. Police found half of a fingerprint that could be of interest. The police didn't seem
to know anything about the events that had been going on in Tweed, a short drive north of the farmhouse
- in OPP territory.
"As soon as I knew it was somebody pretty weird, it was a frightening thing," says Marsan-Cook. "I knew
somebody was out for me. It was very personal."
Only later would Marsan-Cook discover the burglar had also been in her house a day earlier. A week
later, the burglar would become a killer.
On Nov. 24, the burglar came calling at Comeau's home. This time, she was there. Two days later, her
ex-boyfriend called police. They arrived to find her dead in her bed, her naked body almost completely
covered by a duvet.
It appeared she'd put up a fight and been badly beaten. She had bruises on her arms, legs and head.
There were remnants of tape on her face, suggesting her nose and mouth had been covered. There were
also wide ligature marks on her wrists, made perhaps by a rope at least a half-inch wide.
In the basement, investigators discovered a T-shirt and a towel, knotted up, near a vertical support beam.
Her blood was on the floor, leading investigators to believe that she had been tied to the pole for an
"appreciable" period of time. She was penetrated with something. No semen was found. It appeared she
had died by asphyxiation.
The killer slipped into the house through a backyard window, and cleaned up before he left. The tape was
gone. The restraints were gone. There was, however, the partial boot print in her blood.
Suspicion immediately fell on her ex-boyfriend. He was a pilot and had access to the home. While
Comeau was on flights, he'd been renovating her bathroom. But they weren't getting along. Comeau had
accused him of snooping through her belongings.
The ex-boyfriend was brought in for a polygraph, and passed.
A second military man from the Trenton base was also a suspect. He lived close to Comeau. He was
known to be awkward around women and to say inappropriate things. He was eventually cleared.
There was no reason, said the source close to the investigation, to connect this crime, some 70
kilometres away from Tweed, with a string of fetish break-ins and two bizarre home invasion sex assaults.
The day after Comeau was killed - and a day before her body was found - Williams was at the Trenton
base, mugging for cameras in a "jail and bail" charity event. He was photographed smiling with handcuffs,
"charged" with being "too young to be a Wing Commander."
The commander received an email early on Nov. 26 from staff informing him that Comeau appeared to be
the victim of a suspicious death. The two had flown on a mission together to Germany earlier in the
month. He didn't attend her funeral but did write a letter of condolence to her family.
Jessica Lloyd wasn't one to show up late for work. She'd sent a text late the night before, Jan. 28, saying
she'd made it home. And then, nothing.
Col. Williams, meanwhile, was as busy as ever. Tasked with coordinating resupply missions to Haiti and
Afghanistan, and support for the Olympics, he spoke with a reporter from the Winnipeg Free Press. In a
Jan. 30 article, he said his personnel got off on the challenges. "This is what keeps everyone going," he
said.
"It's what carries us through the fatigue."
Lloyd's disappearance resulted in the OPP and Belleville Police Service working together.
"Very early on, when we sat down with (OPP lead detective) Chris Nicholas, we said, 'Patches are out the
window, jurisdictions too, we're working together - we want to get Jessica back,' " Belleville police Chief
Cory McMullan told the Star's Jesse McLean.
At some point, the joint investigation got itself a name: Project Hatfield. The OPP names its cases after
communities in England, which just happens to be the country where Williams was born.
Until the roadblock, however, the colonel was on no one's radar.
And had it not been for the vigilance of a civilian, the tire treads might never have been discovered.
Lyle Barker, a 51-year-old handyman, told the Star he was driving along Highway 37 early the morning of
Lloyd's disappearance and noticed an SUV parked in the middle of a field. It seemed out of place. When
news spread that Lloyd was missing, Barker reported the vehicle sighting to police. Officers reportedly
found nicely preserved tread marks on the property. The field was next to Lloyd's house.
Barker believes his information may have stopped a serial killer. "Who'da thought?" says Barker. "Just got
lucky, I guess."
Whether Williams knew why he had been called in to chat with Ottawa police is unclear. As with the
military motto for 8 Wing - in omnia paratus - Williams, at least in the early stages of nearly six hours of
questioning, seemed "prepared for all things."
He did not "fold like a deck of cards," says the source. But as information on the evidence being gleaned
from the search warrants came in and was put to Williams, he realized he'd been caught.
He confessed, and the next day led police to Lloyd's body, dumped on a country road, which happened to
be very near a hunt camp used by Williams' neighbour, Larry Jones. Investigators believe Williams kept
Lloyd alive for at least a day, taking her to his Tweed cottage, where she was sexually assaulted,
photographed and killed.
"I think both those girls were killed to eliminate witnesses," says the informed source.
Back to Top
Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD and TIMOTHY APPLEBY
Headline: The case against the colonel: He took videos of the crimes
Page: A1
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Former CFB Trenton Commander Colonel Russell Williams videoed part of the two murders and two
bizarre sexual assaults he will formally plead guilty to later this month, The Globe and Mail has learned.
The videos, confirmed by multiple sources, have never been disclosed publicly before and are the most
shocking element of an overwhelming range of evidence against the decorated pilot.
The 47-year-old, hands balled in neat fists at his sides as though he were still on military parade,
appeared briefly in Superior Court in this small eastern Ontario city just down the highway from the air
base on Thursday.
To a room packed with media and relatives of some of Col. Williams' victims, his lawyer Michael Edelson
dramatically announced that after reviewing thousands of pages of evidence with his client, he ``was now
in a position'' to indicate Col. Williams will enter ``a plea of guilty on all counts'' at his next court date.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the asphyxiation-torture deaths of 38-year-old
Corporal Marie-France Comeau, a Trenton air attendant who was under his command, and 27-year-old
Jessica Lloyd, who worked for a school-bus company in nearby Napanee; two counts each of sexual
assault and forcible confinement in connection with two bizarre attacks in the area last fall, and a total of
82 residential break-ins involving the theft or attempted theft of women's lingerie and intimate apparel.
But the career air force officer confessed eight months earlier, on Sunday, Feb. 7, shortly after arriving as
requested at the Elgin Street offices of the Ontario Provincial Police - wearing, according to one source,
the same boots he wore when he abducted Ms. Lloyd.
At the same time that Col. Williams was sitting down for a police interview, other officers were executing
search warrants at the two homes he shared with his long-time wife, Mary-Elizabeth Harriman - a cottage
in the small village of Tweed north of Trenton where the sex assault victims lived, and a newly built house
in the trendy Westboro area of Ottawa.
It was in the garage of the Westboro home that police found the hundreds of pieces of women's
underclothing - catalogued and concealed in the rafters - which led to 82 more charges, break-ins or
attempted break-ins, which were laid against Col. Williams this spring.
In the end on that Sunday in Ottawa, he gave detectives a nine-hour videoed statement, about six hours
of it a crisp confession, and said then that he would waive a preliminary hearing, as he later did, and go
directly to Superior Court and plead guilty.
His first order of business, however, was to take detectives to the body of Ms. Lloyd, who disappeared
shortly after texting a friend she was home safe and had still not been found. She left behind her purse,
cellphone and her car, so police knew to be worried.
That car is still parked in her driveway.
``He was cool as a cucumber,'' said one source who has seen the lengthy interview told The Globe. ``It
was, `Here's what I did, and here's how.' It was efficient, detailed, a business proposition that needed to
be resolved.''
He wanted, Col. Williams said then, to do his ``duty'' by not prolonging things for either his wife or the
military community he'd joined 23 years before.
Another driving reason not to go to trial, one police source said, is that there would be ``a lot of stuff that
comes in,'' much of it pornography - including fetish videos - that Col. Williams wanted to prevent being
made public.
He will enter his plea on Oct. 18 as a formal sentencing hearing begins.
While the sentence itself is automatic - life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years - the hearing
is expected to last several days and will involve prosecution and defence lawyers submitting what's called
``an agreed statement of facts'' and the reading of victim-impact statements.
Ironically, much of the prosecution case was assembled as a result of Col. Williams' own meticulous
record-and-souvenir keeping.
The Globe has learned that in addition to the videos - he recorded large portions of both murders and the
two sexual assaults where, in ordeals which lasted hours, the two victims were blindfolded, tied to chairs
and crudely posed - Col. Williams also kept spreadsheets on his computer noting details of his crimes.
He is believed to have kept Ms. Lloyd, whose mother Roxanne carried a framed picture of her into the
courtroom, prisoner for as long as three days before killing her, an eerie echo of convicted serial killer
Paul Bernardo, who with his then-wife Karla Homolka kidnapped schoolgirl Kristin French and kept her at
their rented home for days before killing her.
Both Ms. Comeau and Ms. Lloyd were also sexually assaulted, The Globe has learned; with both women,
Col. Williams wore condoms.
As one source close to the investigation said, the notion that Col. Williams in any way wanted to get
caught is ``bullshit ... if people wanted to get caught, we'd have a lineup at the door of all the police
stations.''
On Feb. 4, after finding unusual tire tracks left in the snow behind Ms. Lloyd's house, police set up a
version of the familiar RIDE spot check along rural Highway 37, which runs north from Highway 401 at
Belleville to Tweed.
Col. Williams happened to get caught in that roadside check - not in the BMW people most often saw him
drive, but in his Pathfinder.
If it was a one-two fluke that he was stopped in that vehicle, his local reputation was so sterling he still
almost got away with it.
``They were looking for a type of car, with these types of tires, and that was the only combination they
were looking for,'' the source told The Globe.
Orders were that anyone who came through the roadblock was to be immediately put under surveillance.
But the officer who stopped Col. Williams didn't act right away, because he was wowed by the fact ``he's
a colonel at the base.''
Although the plea was predictable, it's timing was anyone's guess, because of the last-minute nature of
lawyerly brinksmanship.
Late last month, the base commander was transported to an Ottawa psychiatric unit to determine if he
was fit for trial. Were he to have been found unfit, the court proceedings could have gone on hold
indefinitely. The lawyers are also said to be debating how much evidence ought to be made public later
this month.
During his stay at the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Col. Williams sometimes displayed erratic
behaviour - he wrote letters in code which prison officials struggled to decipher, he was on hunger strike
for a time and once tried to kill himself by stuffing a packed cardboard toilet roll down his throat. He had
jammed the lock on his cell door, but prison guards were able to force their way in and save him.
Andy Lloyd, Ms. Lloyd's 30-year-old brother, spoke briefly outside court for his extended family. He said
his mother had brought her daughter's picture to court to demonstrate ``that this is not all about him [Col.
Williams]...'' While Mr. Lloyd said the family was grateful and relieved there will be no trial, he said ``I don't
think I'm going to thank him for anything.''
As if to demonstrate the gap between the local citizenry and the notorious Col. Williams, Mr. Lloyd was
also full of praise for the kindness shown his family by townsfolk, local police and OPP.
******
WILLIAMS
Here are some of the key pieces of physical evidence that contributed to Colonel Russell William's
decision to plead guilty.
THE VIDEOS
Like Paul Bernardo, he videoed much of the suffering he inflicted on his two murder victims, sources say.
Police seized that material, and had the case gone to trial, it would likely have been aired in court.
THE TIRE TRACK
In a snowy field behind Jessica Lloyd's rural home on the outskirts of Belleville was a highly distinctive tire
track that matched the tires on Col. William's Nissan Pathfinder, pulled over in a police spot check six
days after she vanished.
THE BOOT TRACK
A boot track was also found nearby, matching that of a pair of boots he owned. When Col. Williams was
summoned by the OPP for the interrogation in which he confessed, he had on the same footwear.
THE FETISH TROPHIES
In the garage rafters of the colonel's Ottawa home, police armed with a search warrant found hundreds of
items of stolen lingerie, plus bathing suits and shoes, carefully stored in boxes and catalogued.
THE SPREADSHEETS
Along with his ``trophies,'' Col. Williams kept careful track of which houses he had burgled, on what dates,
and what he had stolen. The information was carefully recorded on spreadsheets he created, also seized
by police.
PORNOGRAPHY
Police also seized a cache of pornography videos that Col. Williams owned, depicting bondage.
Timothy Appleby
Back to Top
Section: News
Byline: Andrew Duffy
Outlet: Edmonton Journal
Illustrations:
Headline: 'How could we have missed this?'; Past week a double-shocker for military as trials take place
Page: A3
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: Postmedia News
It has been a week like none other for the men and women who wear Canada's military uniform.
On Tuesday, Robert Semrau, a blue-eyed, rock-jawed infantry captain, was demoted and dismissed for
shooting a wounded Taliban insurgent.
Semrau was the first Canadian ever to stand trial for a battlefield death that was, by two sworn accounts,
a mercy killing.
Then, following on Thursday, Russell Williams, a colonel who once commanded the country's largest
airbase, announced through his lawyer he will plead guilty to two decidedly merciless acts: the sexual
assault and murder of two young women.
Both cases sent shock waves through the milit ar y, not least because they involved command officers.
These were men hand-pic ked to lead soldiers.
More than any other organization, the military takes leadership seriously. Leadership there confers the
ability to command those of subordinate rank; it is the vehicle through which perilous and complex
missions are accomplished, sometimes at the cost of life or limb.
Which is why mistakes -- particularly of the kind embodied by Williams -- cause deep unease at the
Department of National Defence.
How could someone so cruel, depraved and criminal be promoted to the senior ranks of the Canadian
military? How could a psychopath be placed in a position of command?
"How could we have missed this?" retired Air Force Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt asked on a recent CBC
documentary. "Is there something that we did or didn't do that could have given us a clue?" Watt, who
promoted Williams to commanding officer of CFB Trenton, described him as an unusually calm and
rational officer who could produce quality work under pressure. Watt said everyone he's talked to has
agreed there was no clue to be found to Williams' dark side.
Others contend the military did not look hard enough. "You don't become a Col. Williams overnight,"
retired Canadian Forces Col. Michel Drapeau said in an interview. "He would have had to give signals
along the way: his secretaries, his female subordinates ... somebody must have been left wondering
about him."
Drapeau, a University of Ottawa law professor, called Thursday for a thorough review of Williams' rise in
the Canadian Forces. It's important, he said, to understand whether that process was flawed, whether it
overlooked any evidence of Williams' unsuitability for command.
"The military is trying not to see a problem. That has been their approach so far and I say it's wrong."
Prospective military officers, Drapeau said, do not undergo psychological testing of any kind. He believes
that should change. At the very least, a psychologist or sociologist should be added to the military panels
that interview those being promoted into command positions.
Williams, 47, joined the military in 1987 and enjoyed an ascendant career. He piloted government jets
carrying politicians and foreign dignitaries, and once commanded Camp Mirage, a Canadian Forces
logistics base in the Middle East.
Professor Alan Okros, deputy chair of command, leadership and management at Canadian Forces
College where officers are trained, said research suggests it is difficult for any organization to identify a
psychopath in its ranks.
Back to Top
Section: News
Byline: Leonard Stern
Outlet: The Ottawa Citizen
Headline: Colonel's veneer of normalcy adds to disturbing nature of case
Page: A1 / Front
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
The criminal case of Col. Russell Williams all but concluded Thursday with the news he won't contest the
charges against him. Yet despite the dénouement of the legal drama, other questions -- unanswerable
ones, mostly -- will remain.
There will be no courtroom suspense. Defence lawyer Michael Edelson announced that on Oct. 18, his
client will plead guilty to two counts of murder and two of sexual assault.
Until his arrest earlier this year, Williams was a trusted military pilot and commander, who was rapidly
ascending to the top echelons of the Canadian Forces.
The unanswerable question is: How did he become a killer? Was Williams born with an undetected
defect? And how could there be such a jarring disparity between a man's public face (committed
husband, loyal patriot, natural leader) and his private one (sexual predator)?
The story of Russell Williams is sensational, which is why it will be told and retold for many years in books
and probably scripts. It is the stuff of crime thrillers, right down to the clever forensic techniques that
police reportedly used to identify him as the one who was killing and sexually assaulting women in
Eastern Ontario.
Yet in the end, despite all the scrutiny and retelling, despite all the psychological speculation and
analysis, there might never be a satisfactory explanation for why Williams became who he became.
There is a scene in one of Thomas Harris's books in which the famous (fictional) serial killer Hannibal
Lecter dismisses those who attempt to understand him. "Nothing happened to me," he says. "I
happened." There could be a certain amount of wisdom in those words. Every now and then, it seems,
nature spits out a mistake.
As unsettling as the Williams murders are, however, it's worth remembering that our communities are by
and large safe and that, usually, appearances and reality are more closely aligned. Neighbours and
colleagues who appear to be nice people usually are nice people.
The veneer of normalcy that Williams was able to wear mustn't cause us to distrust our instincts. But that
doesn't make this bizarre case any less disquieting. As Ottawa sex therapist Sue McGarvie writes on
today's Arguments page (see A15), even professional clinicians who study sex offenders can have
nightmares.
Almost as much attention has focused on Williams' wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, as on Williams
himself. Her ordeal struck a nerve. She discovered that the man she knew and loved was not the man he
appeared to be. This touches a wider, shared insecurity, and it goes back a long way.
The inarticulate fear we have that the people closest to us and to whom we are most vulnerable could
secretly be a threat is expressed in popular culture through stories and films about demon possession,
invasions of body snatchers, zombies and the like. Often in these movies, the dramatic tension comes
from the fact that the audience knows the score, but the trusting wife or girlfriend doesn't. That's why
we're fascinated by Mary Elizabeth Harriman.
In the United States, the case of B.T.K. was one of those that provoked more interest in the family and
friends of the killer than in the actual victims. "B.T.K." -- for bind, torture, kill -- was the moniker adopted
by a serial killer who terrorized residents of Wichita, Kansas, for 30 years. He was finally arrested in 2005
and turned out to be a 60-year-old city worker named Dennis Rader -- scout leader, father, president of
his Lutheran church council.
Rader killed at least 10 people, in brutal fashion, and no one had a clue. The police would later admit the
investigation was stymied all those years because they were operating on the assumption that the killer
would be a known sex offender. It never occurred to the good people of Wichita that someone capable of
such deliberate sadism could be, well, one of them -- that he could be ordinary.
It is the ordinariness of bad people that frightens us most. That's what Hannah Arendt meant by the
banality of evil when she watched the trial of Nazi bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann. We want to believe that
somehow these people are marked, and that we can therefore avoid them.
After Rader's arrest, his church pastor, stunned and disoriented, told the media that he couldn't remember
a single conversation with Rader that wasn't completely unremarkable. "That's what I've realized," said
the pastor. "There is nothing to remember, nothing that would make it all make sense."
Leonard Stern is the Citizen's editorial pages editor. E-mail: lstern@ottawacitizen.com
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: Bureaucrats could lose their jobs for circulating a veteran's confidential medical files, the veterans
affairs minister said Thursday.
Headline: 'ultimate betrayal' Use of veteran's personal medical information troubles privacy commish
Page: 30
Byline: LAURA PAYTON
Outlet: The Toronto Sun
Illustrations:
Parliament Hill to talk about how his medical files were handled after he became a critic of the veterans
affairs ministry.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: OTTAWA
Bureaucrats could lose their jobs for circulating a veteran's confidential medical files, the veterans affairs
minister said Thursday.
Jean-Pierre Blackburn says he's still deciding what to do with officials who accessed the personal files-including psychiatric and pension information -- of a veteran who's spoken out frequently against the
department.
"They may be fired," Blackburn said. "We will have more sanctions. They will be more severe."
After several requests under the federal Access to Information Act, veteran Sean Bruyea discovered that
more than 600 different Veterans Affairs Canada officials accessed his file 4,131 times over 10 years.
The bureaucrats went as far as briefing Greg Thompson, a former veterans affairs minister, on Bruyea's
psychiatric records, and allowing media relations officials access to the medical information.
The briefings started just before Bruyea held a press conference about the new veterans' charter in 2006.
Bruyea complained last year to Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, who released her
recommendations Thursday.
Stoddart said the breaches are very troubling and her office is launching a full audit of the department.
Bruyea served in the Canadian Forces from 1982 to 1996, including during the Gulf War. He's been
fighting for veterans' rights since 2005 and is a frequent critic of the department.
Blackburn said the privacy commissioner's office didn't name anyone in the report, but Bruyea is suing
three bureaucrats, along with the government, for the breaches. He's asking for $400,000 in damages.
"This was the ultimate betrayal for me, a soldier who became injured in Canada's name," Bruyea said
with his wife, Carolina, standing behind him.
Bruyea said he depends on the department for his pension and to cover his medical care for posttraumatic stress disorder.
'CONSTANT TERROR'
"We lived ... in constant terror as to what veterans affairs was going to do next," he said.
He complained to the Prime Minister's Office in 2006.
Paul Champ, Bruyea's lawyer, said the officials were clearly trying to discredit Bruyea as a public
advocate -- a move he called offensive.
"They're trading in stereotypes. They're suggesting that Canadians who might have psychological injuries
somehow don't have opinions or views, that their opinions or views don't matter or should be given less
value," he said.
Blackburn said the department is reviewing how it handles personal information and will make changes
immediately on sharing data.
He refused to apologize to Bruyea because of the lawsuit.
laura.payton@sunmedia.ca
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: Canada
Byline: Murray Brewster
Outlet: The Chronicle-Herald
Illustrations:
ce on Parliament Hill on Thursday. (Adrian
Wyld / CP)
Headline: Feds promise to eliminate future breaches of privacy
Page: B1
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - The Conservative government is promising swift action after what it admits was an
"embarrassing" breach of privacy involving a military veteran who was an outspoken critic.
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says the Veterans Affairs Department broke the law by failing to
protect the personal information of retired intelligence officer Sean Bruyea.
Stoddart released the findings Thursday of her year-long investigation into a complaint from Bruyea,
whose medical and financial information ended up in briefing notes to a federal cabinet minister.
"What we found in this case was alarming," Stoddart said in a statement.
"The veteran's sensitive medical and personal information was shared - seemingly with no controls among departmental officials who had no legitimate need to see it. This personal information
subsequently made its way into a ministerial briefing note about the veteran's advocacy activities. This
was entirely inappropriate."
Bruyea called Stoddart's findings a vindication and said the privacy violations are "morally disgusting to all
Canadians."
The department's actions violated the federal Privacy Act, which says individual information must only be
shared within government on a need-to-know basis.
Bruyea's medical information, including diagnosis, symptoms and prognosis, were included in a 2006
briefing note to former veterans minister Greg Thompson.
"What happened is serious and we will immediately take action - in fact, I can tell you that's already
begun," said Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn. "I think it's actually quite embarrassing."
Blackburn said his department has hired a privacy expert to help implement Stoddart's recommendations.
Officials have begun reviewing the department's use of private information and penalties for breaking the
rules. New practices will be "immediately implemented in conformity with strict principles - in other words,
on a need-to-know basis," Blackburn said.
"I would like to reiterate to our veterans that no violation of their privacy will be tolerated."
The investigation found officials from different branches of Veterans Affairs, including program policy,
communications and media relations, were involved in discussing and contributing to the briefing notes
and also had full access to them.
Stoddart's investigation also found the department sent large volumes of Bruyea's medical information to
a veterans' hospital without his consent.
She's told Veterans Affairs to institute better protections and controls for the handling of information and
to ensure that information is shared only on a need-to-know basis, among other things.
The commissioner can only make recommendations and has no enforcement power, nor is she able to
levy penalties for violating the Privacy Act.
Bruyea launched a legal suit against the federal government in early September. He's asking for
$100,000 in compensation.
He said bureaucrats wanted to use his medical records - particularly his psychiatric reports - to smear
him, to "falsely portray me and my advocacy to help other veterans as merely a manifestation of an
unstable mind."
Back to Top
Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: BILL CURRY
Headline: Ex-soldier's case sparks privacy audit
Page: A7
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
bcurry@globeandmail.com
Canada's Privacy Commissioner is launching a wide-ranging audit of Veterans Affairs after an
investigation by her office found an alarming breach of a Gulf War veteran's privacy rights.
But Jennifer Stoddart says she will never be able to point fingers, nor can she say whether the
department's top bureaucrats are deliberately using private mental-health records to discredit vets who
speak out against the government.
That's because her mandate does not allow her to consider the motive of public servants who break
privacy laws. Further, the rules allow fines only against people in the private sector, not government
officials.
Ms. Stoddart said she has urged the government to update Canada's Privacy Act for years, to no avail.
``There's no Privacy Act reform on the books at the moment,'' she told The Globe and Mail. ``I really have
no position on the motives. I just note that it is highly inappropriate to have somebody's sensitive medical
information in a briefing note to a minister on a policy issue that that person is putting to the minister.''
Ms. Stoddart made the comments after releasing the findings of her office's investigation of a complaint
made by Gulf War veteran Sean Bruyea. Using privacy laws, Mr. Bruyea obtained nearly 14,000 pages of
government documents that related to him.
The documents show that shortly after Mr. Bruyea started criticizing the department in 2005 over a new
Veterans Charter that changed the compensation package for wounded vets, bureaucrats began widely
sharing his mental-health records. Mr. Bruyea expressed concern with the content of notes to Liberal
Veterans Affairs minister Albina Guarnieri written in 2005 and then notes to Conservative Veterans Affairs
minister Greg Thompson in 2006. Both were being lobbied by Mr. Bruyea. However the Commissioner's
report expresses concern only with the notes to Mr. Thompson.
In one 2006 e-mail, an executive director at Veterans Affairs wrote to his colleagues to claim Mr. Bruyea
was spreading misinformation to the public. ``Folks, it's time to take the gloves off here,'' Darragh Mogan
said. Now retired, Mr. Mogan insists his e-mail was meant to urge a public defence of the department's
policies, not an attack on Mr. Bruyea's privacy.
The commissioner's report concluded that Mr. Bruyea's complaint was well-founded and that officials did
in fact breach the Privacy Act. She is recommending that Veterans Affairs immediately improve its privacy
policies and provide training to employees about how to handle private information.
``It is completely unacceptable that rules are being broken in this manner,'' Prime Minister Stephen
Harper said Thursday in Winnipeg, pledging to tackle the issue. Documents obtained by Mr. Bruyea show
he raised his concerns with Mr. Harper's office, and senior political staff hosted a meeting in September,
2006 to discuss Mr. Bruyea's allegations of harassment.
Retired colonel Michel Drapeau - who now manages access and privacy requests for private clients appeared at a news conference Thursday with Mr. Bruyea to say the government is not taking this issue
seriously enough.
He also said he was underwhelmed by the commissioner's report. He called the commissioner's
recommendations - which the government accepted - ``facile'' and ``banal.'' Having read Mr. Bruyea's
documents, Mr. Drapeau said the situation is far more serious.
``I've never seen anything like this,'' he said. ``It's outrageous. It's scandalous. It's over the top.''
Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said the commissioner's findings are ``embarrassing'' for
the government. His department plans to bring a privacy expert from inside the government's Treasury
Board to offer advice.
******
SEAN BRUYEA
9 / umber of years Sean Bruyea's documents were viewed by government workers.
16 / Privacy complaints against Veterans Affairs since 2004.
14,000 / Pages in government files released to Sean Bruyea as part of his Privacy Act request.
857 / People who saw the contents of Mr. Bruyea's file. The majority worked at Veterans Affairs. Many of
the others were Liberal and Conservative political staffers to whom the information was forwarded.
******
THINNING RANKS
749,500 / Canada's total veteran population.
218,599 / Total number of Veterans Affairs clients receiving benefits. (Includes vets and surviving
spouses.)
54 / Average age of Canadian Forces vets. (These are also known as modern-day vets, which excludes
Second World War and Korean War vets.)
1,700 / Number of traditional war veterans (Second World War and Korean War) who die each month.
87 / Average age of Second World War vets.
Back to Top
Section: News
Headline: Vet's privacy breach 'alarming'; Watchdog slams Ottawa's misuse of confidential data
Page: A4
Byline: Richard J. Brennan Toronto Star
Outlet: Toronto Star
Illustrations:
Thursday. Chris Wattie/REUTERS
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is scrambling to contain an ever-widening "scandal" in
which officials deliberately tried to ruin the reputation of outspoken military veterans.
Privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart confirmed Thursday there was an "alarming" breach of Operation
Desert Storm veteran Sean Bruyea's personal records and recommended Ottawa take immediate steps
to stop the mishandling of sensitive documents.
"This personal information subsequently made its way into a ministerial briefing note about the veteran's
advocacy activities. This was entirely inappropriate," Stoddart said after releasing the results of her yearlong investigation into Bruyea's complaint.
Bruyea said Stoddart's report is further evidence he's been the victim of a deliberate smear campaign by
a department not pleased with his public criticism. Because of what she found, Stoddart has also
launched an audit of the department's handling of veterans' personal information.
Harper told a news conference in Winnipeg that it was "completely unacceptable" for bureaucrats to
release veterans' private information and simply won't be tolerated.
"Our veterans are people who have put their lives on the line for this country and it is completely
unacceptable that rules are being broken in this manner," the Prime Minister said, adding all
recommendations will be implemented.
At Veterans Affairs, the punishment for sharing a person's private information is a loss of five days' pay,
but Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn told MPs the guilty parties could be fired.
Bruyea, who suffers from post-traumatic stress, told reporters there was an "unconscionable" plot inside
the department to discredit him - others are coming forward with similar complaints - after he appeared at
a news conference criticizing financial support for veterans.
"These breaches of privacy and the bureaucrats' misuse of my confidential information began within days
of a news conference I and other veterans held on May 10, 2005, to oppose the lump sum payment and
the associate so-called new veterans' charter," he said.
"My credibility with senior Veterans Affairs bureaucrats and politicians was destroyed."
An emotional Bruyea said he and his wife have been "harmed" and "humiliated" by the breach of privacy
and are seeking a total of $400,000 in damages, including $300,000 from three bureaucrats who were
involved in drafting and circulating the briefing notes.
Bruyea said thousand of pages of government documents obtained through Access to Information show
the campaign to discredit him started under the previous Liberal government and continued under the
Conservative government with respective ministers aware of what was going on.
"The 14,000 pages . . . show a clear intention of bureaucrats to unabashedly use and distort my medical
information, particularly my psychiatric medical reports, to falsely portray me and my advocacy to help
other veterans as merely a manifestation of an unstable mind," he said.
Bruyea found 850 employees at Veterans Affairs accessed his medical and financial records, and the
government allowed his personal medical and psychological information to be inserted into briefing notes
to high-ranking bureaucrats and government ministers.
One of the notes, prepared in March 2006, was to brief then Conservative Veterans Affairs minister Greg
Thompson on the complainant's participation in a Parliament Hill news conference where he was critical
of the Department's handling of veterans' issues.
"This was the ultimate betrayal for me, a soldier who became injured in Canada's name," Bruyea told the
news conference.
"Please make no mistake about this, it is the negligence of senior management and our federal
government which has forced this to become a national scandal."
Bruyea called on Harper and past Veteran's Affairs ministers to apologize and to call a full inquiry into the
treatment of veterans, while thanking Canadians for their support. Blackburn refused to apologize.
As result of what happened at Veterans Affairs, critics called for a government-wide probe into privacy
issues and the access to and dissemination of personal information.
Paul Champ, renowned human rights lawyer, said what the government did to his client was "despicable."
Retired Colonel Michel Drapeau, an expert in privacy and access laws, said the contraventions of
Bruyea's privacy rights was "scandalous," adding that he found Stoddart's report underwhelming.
Patricia Varga, Dominion President, Royal Canadian Legion, said, "We expect that Minister Blackburn will
take the necessary administrative and disciplinary actions necessary to ensure the protection of personal
information now and in the future."
Back to Top
Section: News
Lead: He never led entire armies into battle or stormed a machine-gun nest single-handed. He wasn't a
general or a national hero.
Headline: Base building named after fallen captain
Page: 6
Byline: MICHAEL LEA, THE WHIG-STANDARD
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Illustrations:
-Standard Capt. Matthew Dawe's widow Tara, centre, their son Lucas,
andMatthew's mother Reine listen to the speakers during during a ceremony at CFB Kingston Thursday
morning as a building was named in the deceased captain's honour.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
He never led entire armies into battle or stormed a machine-gun nest single-handed. He wasn't a general
or a national hero.
He was an army captain who did what his country and his conscience expected him to do.
Today, Capt. Matthew Dawe, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2007, is in an illustrious fraternity of having
a military building named for him.
In a ceremony Thursday at CFB Kingston, a new, 97-room residence for troops coming to the base for
training was dedicated in his honour, the first time a member of the Canadian Forces killed in Afghanistan
has been so recognized.
Naming structures on military bases after generals and long-dead heroes is nothing new, but naming a
building after a captain definitely is, said his father, Peter Dawe, himself a retired colonel.
"He was a junior officer, a young person, as opposed to a crusty, old general with a million medals," said
Dawe.
"Matt had one medal, one campaign. Every private soldier, every rank, should be grateful (for) this sort of
a gesture."
Dawe said the ceremony was "an emotional piledriver to have to go through," but he believed it was
worthwhile to have the country recognize a soldier in such a manner.
"The fact that you can go into combat, be killed, and have the prospect of people remembering you and
not just putting you in a hole and putting a headstone on it is incredible," he said.
"It means so much for the survivors, for the family. It's a legacy, and people will be asking 50 years from
now who this guy was and what (did he do)."
Capt. Dawe was a private in the Princess of Wales Own Regiment and a graduate of Royal Military
College. He was posted to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, as a
platoon commander.
He died on July 4, 2007, while serving in Afghanistan during Operation Luger, an engagement he planned
and named after his son Lucas.
Dawe's vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device that also killed five other soldiers and an
Afghan interpreter.
Thursday it had been three years, three months and three days since Dawe's death.
"We will never forget that day or the horrible emotions associated with it," Peter Dawe said. "One can say
we are coping as well as anyone can under the circumstances."
He said his son's death, along with the deaths of the 151 other Canadians in Afghanistan, "has vaulted
Canada into the forefront of world opinion, a position we have not enjoyed for many years."
"So, too, has our military reputation been restored, and in my view, the average Canadian's awareness of
things military and the need for Canada to do the right thing is at a level not seen in decades."
Col. Spike Hazleton was base commander at CFB Kingston when Capt. Dawe was killed. Hazleton said it
was a base-wide initiative to honour a soldier from the immediate Kingston region.
"We will always remember this act of respect and kindness," Peter Dawe said, "and we will always be
grateful to the many who assisted in making this event come to fruition."
He said he will bring his grandson Lucas back to the Dawe building regularly "so he can see what his dad
means to Canada."
Maj.-Gen. David Fraser, commander of 1st Canadian Division, spoke during yesterday's ceremony of his
relationship with Capt. Dawe.
"Nothing can describe the shock and sadness the day I learned about the death of Capt. Matthew Dawe,"
he told an audience that included Royal Military College cadets and soldiers from Dawe's unit.
"As a Patricia, I knew him. As a senior officer, I respected him. We lost in Matthew a great Patricia, a
great soldier and a great officer," the general said.
"His enthusiasm for his job was matched by the enormous potential he had already displayed as a young
officer in the PPCLI."
"From this tragic event we can hopefully find some measure of solace knowing that Matthew's name will
live on in this building as we remember him. All who pass through here will learn of his courage and
dedication."
Base commander Col. Rick Fawcett said he had never met Capt. Dawe but was aware of his reputation
"as an outstanding leader, a gifted athlete, a dedicated family man, a compassionate warrior."
"For this reason, the dedication of this building in Matthew's honour is obvious."
Fawcett said the building would be home to young men and women in the Canadian Forces who would
follow Dawe into harm's way and may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice.
"And they will be making that sacrifice, like Matthew did, fighting for something they believe in."
He believes the young men and women who live in the building would relate better to a young soldier like
Capt. Dawe than they would leaders of campaigns.
"It is my hope that each day (they) pass through the lobby of this building they will be inspired by the story
of Matthew Dawe and they will strive to emulate his leadership and his compassion."
mlea@thewhig.com
© 2010 Sun Media Corporation
Back to Top
Section: Actualités
Byline: Martin, Stéphanie
Outlet: La Presse
Headline: Une publicité de la Fédération des femmes jugée offensante par des mères de soldats
Page: A25
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Source: Le Soleil
Les mères de soldats offensées par la vidéo antimilitaire diffusée sur l'internet se trompent de cible,
estime la présidente de la Fédération des femmes du Québec, Alexa Conradi, qui croit que ce sont les
forces armées canadiennes qui sont à blâmer.
Malgré la controverse, la Fédération des femmes du Québec et sa présidente ont choisi de garder la
capsule en ligne. La vidéo présentait une mère disant: "Avoir su qu'en donnant la vie, j'allais fournir de la
chair à canon, je n'aurais peut-être pas eu d'enfants." Elle visait à dénoncer le recrutement dans les
écoles. Cela avait choqué une mère de Loretteville, Céline Lizotte, dont le fils soldat a perdu la vie en
Afghanistan. "Je le prends comme une attaque personnelle", avait confié au Soleil Mme Lizotte.
Alexa Conradi était à Québec, hier, pour participer à une manifestation menée devant le parlement par la
Marche mondiale des femmes (MMF), dont elle est aussi porte-parole. Elle se dit sensible au désarroi
des mères qui vivent cette situation. "Nous sommes vraiment désolées de la souffrance que ça a pu
donner à des femmes qui ont perdu leurs enfants. Ce qu'on veut dire par contre, c'est que c'est à l'armée
canadienne qu'il faut demander des comptes. C'est l'armée canadienne qui est en train de faire ce
recrutement (dans les écoles) en ce moment. C'est elle qui entraîne ce problème, ce ne sont pas les
mères elles-mêmes. Nous ne voulions pas viser les mères."
La ministre de la Condition féminine, Christine St-Pierre, a aussi réagi hier à la diffusion de la capsule et
à la controverse qu'elle a soulevée. "Je donne un appui inconditionnel aux militaires, aux hommes et aux
femmes qui donnent leur vie en Afghanistan pour la démocratie. J'ai beaucoup de respect pour eux et,
pour moi, ils ne sont pas de la chair à canon", a-t-elle indiqué au Soleil.
Par ailleurs, à quelques jours de la Marche mondiale des femmes, qui aura lieu du 12 au 17 octobre, les
militantes ont voulu hier presser le gouvernement d'agir et de répondre aux demandes formulées le 5
mars dernier. "Il y a un effritement de l'égalité en ce moment. Les conditions de travail des femmes sont
de plus en plus précaires. Et le gouvernement remet en question l'équité salariale en abolissant la
Commission sur l'équité salariale", a indiqué la présidente. Elle s'attaque aussi aux publicités sexistes qui
"envahissent l'espace public" ainsi qu'au recrutement militaire dans les écoles.
La ministre St-Pierre a rencontré hier après-midi les représentantes du mouvement des femmes pour
discuter des revendications du groupe. Christine St-Pierre a indiqué au Soleil avant la rencontre qu'elle
défendrait le bilan de son plan d'action 2007-2010 en condition féminine. L'augmentation du salaire
minimum, l'aide à la procréation assistée, les actions pour l'accès des femmes chefs de famille
monoparentale à bas revenu au logement social sont des exemples de bons coups du gouvernement, at-elle énuméré.
Les réponses de la ministre n'ont cependant pas satisfait les membres de la MMF, qui affirment n'avoir
reçu "aucune réponse concrète". "La ministre ne répond pas aux demandes de la Marche mondiale des
femmes. Elle se cache derrière une commission parlementaire qui aura lieu dans plusieurs mois", a dit
Alexa Conradi par voie de communiqué en fin de journée.
Back to Top
Section: Actualités
Byline: Amiot, Marie-Andrée
Outlet: La Presse
Illustrations:
 Russell Williams, ex-commandant en chef de la base militaire de Trenton, plaidera coupable à des
accusations de meurtre prémédité, d'agressions sexuelles et d'introductions par effraction.
Headline: Le colonel Williams plaidera coupable
Page: A25
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
L'ex-commandant en chef de la base militaire de Trenton plaidera coupable au 88 chefs d'accusation
déposés contre lui, dont deux de meurtres prémédité, a indiqué hier son avocat.
Au moins une douzaine de voitures remplies d'agents armés accompagnaient hier Russell Williams, au
palais de justice de Belleville en Ontario.
L'ancienne étoile montante des forces armées est accusée du meurtre prémédité de Jessica Lloyd, 27
ans, et de la caporale Marie-France Comeau, 37 ans. Des accusations d'agressions sexuelles et
d'introduction par effraction pèsent aussi sur lui. Williams sera de retour en cour le 18 octobre.
Le corps de Mme Comeau a été trouvé dans sa résidence de Brighton en Ontario en novembre 2009.
Elle était agente de bord à la base militaire de Trenton et travaillait dans les avions destinés aux
dignitaires pilotés par Russell Williams durant les années 90. Le gouverneur général, le premier ministre
et d'autres dignitaires faisaient partie de la clientèle.
Les documents de la cour indiquent que Williams, 46 ans, est soupçonné d'avoir cambriolé le domicile de
Mme Comeau une dizaine de jours avant qu'elle ne soit trouvée morte le 25 novembre. Les documents
n'indiquent pas la nature des objets volés.
Le corps de Mme Lloyd a été découvert à Tweed, en Ontario, le 8 février, abandonné le long d'un chemin
de terre deux semaines après qu'on eut remarqué son absence à son travail dans le transport scolaire à
Napanee, toujours en Ontario.
Williams aurait également dérobé à deux reprises des objets d'une femme de Tweed qu'il aurait
auparavant agressée sexuellement. Dans un troisième cas, les documents indiquent qu'il aurait volé une
autre femme deux fois avant de l'agresser le 30 septembre.
Certains vols par effraction auraient été commis dans des quartiers d'Ottawa, non loin de son lieu de
résidence à une certaine époque. Un homme, dont la maison avait été vandalisée, a affirmé qu'il a trouvé
des photos de famille sur son lit et les tiroirs de lingerie féminine de sa femme et de ses filles ouverts et
vides.
Une des présumées victimes a intenté une poursuite de 2,45 millions contre le colonel Williams et sa
femme Mary-Elizabeth Harriman. La jeune femme de 21 ans affirme que les actes sexuels dont elle
aurait été victime sont "horribles et répréhensibles". Ces dernières allégations n'ont pas encore été
prouvées en cour et Williams n'a pas encore répondu à cette poursuite.
L'arrestation du militaire et la gravité des accusations portées contre lui ont fait beaucoup de bruit partout
au pays l'hiver dernier. Les collègues du militaire, qui comptait jusque-là 23 années de service sans
tache, l'ont souvent décrit comme un homme d'une excellence remarquable. Il aurait mené une double
vie depuis plusieurs années.
Avant son arrestation, les policiers recherchaient un suspect pour deux braquages de domicile près de sa
résidence au cours desquels des femmes avaient été ligotées et agressées sexuellement.
Les policiers soupçonnaient alors un résidant du même quartier.
Lors de comparutions antérieures par vidéoconférence, Russell Williams a renoncé à son enquête
préliminaire.
Il est passible de la prison à vie.
Back to Top
Section: Politique
Headline: La commissaire à la vie privée blâme le gouvernement
Page: A17
Outlet: La Presse
Byline: Beauchemin, Malorie
Illustrations:
 Le vétéran Sean Bruyea a tenu une conférence de presse sur la colline parlementaire hier. Sa femme
et lui se sont sentis "humiliés, vulnérables et impuissants" dans toute cette affaire.
Date: Friday 08 October 2010
Dateline: OTTAWA
Le ministère des Anciens Combattants a enfreint la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels
dans la manipulation du dossier du vétéran Sean Bruyea, a conclu hier la commissaire à la protection de
la vie privée, Jennifer Stoddart.
Mme Stoddart avait ouvert une enquête en juillet 2009, après que le retraité des Forces canadiennes eut
appris, en consultant son propre dossier, que des informations médicales et financières hautement
personnelles le concernant s'étaient retrouvées en 2006 dans des notes de synthèse remises à l'ancien
ministre des Anciens Combattants, Greg Thompson.
M. Bruyea est un ardent défenseur des droits des anciens combattants et critique ouvertement les
politiques du gouvernement fédéral en la matière. Il estime que les fonctionnaires du Ministère se sont
servis des informations largement diffusées, notamment sur sa santé psychologique, pour miner sa
crédibilité.
"Ce que nous avons constaté dans le cadre de cette affaire est alarmant, a souligné la commissaire dans
un communiqué. Les renseignements personnels ont été inclus dans une note d'information ministérielle
sur les activités de défense des droits de l'ancien combattant. Un tel usage est complètement
inapproprié."
Mme Stoddart recommande au Ministère d'améliorer les pratiques et politiques de gestion des
renseignements personnels, de s'assurer que seuls les fonctionnaires qui ont vraiment besoin de savoir
ces informations y aient accès et de fournir aux employés la formation nécessaire pour éviter qu'une telle
situation ne se reproduise.
"Grave et inacceptable"
A la lumière des conclusions inquiétantes de son enquête, la commissaire a entrepris une vérification
dans l'ensemble du Ministère pour évaluer comment sont gérés les renseignements personnels des
vétérans.
L'actuel ministre des Anciens Combattants, Jean-Pierre Blackburn, a rapidement réagi en s'engageant à
mettre en oeuvre "immédiatement" les quatre recommandations formulées par la commissaire.
"Ce qui s'est passé est grave et inacceptable et nous allons agir sans délai", a-t-il assuré en point de
presse.
Le dossier est très embarrassant pour un gouvernement conservateur qui, d'une part, se présente
comme le grand défenseur du travail des soldats canadiens et qui, d'autre part, se veut le garant de la
protection de la vie privée, ayant éliminé le questionnaire long du recensement sous prétexte qu'il
s'agissait d'une intrusion dans la vie des gens.
Le ministre Blackburn a promis des sanctions, pouvant aller jusqu'au congédiement, contre les
fonctionnaires qui se sont rendus coupables d'une telle violation de la vie privée. Mais il a toutefois refusé
de présenter des excuses à M. Bruyea, qui se trouvait dans la salle lors du point de presse, arguant qu'il
ne peut commenter un cas spécifique qui est devant les tribunaux.
Le retraité des forces armées canadiennes poursuit le gouvernement fédéral et trois employés du
ministère des Anciens Combattants pour 400 000$ en dommages et intérêts.
Les larmes aux yeux, M. Bruyea a raconté comment sa femme et lui ont vécu un véritable cauchemar
pendant les cinq dernières années.
"Ces violations de ma vie privée nous ont causé souffrance et préjudice et nous ont fait nous sentir
humiliés, vulnérables et impuissants, a raconté l'ex-militaire. Pour moi qui ai été blessé en me battant au
nom du Canada, il s'agit de la pire des trahisons."
Le rapport de la commissaire constitue selon lui le premier pas vers une réforme complète des pratiques
de gestion des renseignements personnels dans l'ensemble de l'appareil gouvernemental.
L'avocat et ancien militaire Michel Drapeau, spécialiste de la protection de la vie privée, a jugé que la
commissaire Stoddart n'était pas allée assez loin dans sa condamnation du gouvernement, compte tenu
de la gravité de la violation commise.
"Je n'ai jamais rien vu de tel, a lancé M. Drapeau. C'est scandaleux, c'est choquant et ça dépasse
l'imagination."
Le NPD a sommé le gouvernement de Stephen Harper de déclencher une enquête publique pour vérifier
si de telles violations de la vie privée se produisent dans d'autres ministères.
"Le ministre dit qu'il va changer les choses. On sait déjà ce qu'il va faire: congédier deux ou trois
employés pour calmer les critiques, a estimé le chef néo-démocrate, Jack Layton. Ce n'est pas assez. On
doit s'excuser. On demande au gouvernement de le faire et de laisser les autorités indépendantes
enquêter."
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