executive news summary/sommaire des nouvelles nationales
N ATIONAL N EWS E XECUTIVE S UMMARY / S OMMAIRE DES NOUVELLES NATIONALES
ADM(PA) / SMA(AP)
November 10 2011 / le 10 novembre 2011
M INISTER / L E M INISTRE
DND Recognition of War of 1812 Battles: Comment
Donald E. Graves described the battle of Crysler’s Farm. He goes on to state: Inexplicably, DND refuses to recognize Canadian military heritage prior to the year 1855. The best that DND will offer in the way of commemorating the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers during the War of 1812 is a "commemorative banner" to be issued to militia units and lapel pins for members of the CF. To correct this situation, a group of historians and retired military personnel have mobilized. The group's website - warof1812. ca/heroes - contains the historical background and permits one to send an email to Defence Minister
Peter MacKay asking him to correct this historic wrong ( Ctz A4 ).
Naming of CCGS Pte Robertson
The first of the Canadian Coast Guard's new fleet of Hero-class ships will be named after Pte Peter
Robertson, who won the Victoria Cross for his actions at Passchendaele 94 years ago. The naming
announcement was made by Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield and Mr. MacKay (P. Lee: HCH A3 ; Staff:
A SSOCIATE M INISTER / M INISTRE ASSOCIÉ
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
CDS / CEM
War Art Exhibit
Coverage noted that CDS Gen Walt Natynczyk made an unscheduled stop to see a exhibit of war art at
Cartier Square Drill Hall. He s aid: “We want to capture the essence of what our men and women endure in all the unique places that we send them
CF O PERATIONS IN L IBYA / O PÉRATIONS DES FC EN L IBYE
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
C ANADA IN A FGHANISTAN / L E C ANADA EN A FGHANISTAN
Remembrance Day at Camp Eggers
Coverage profiled planned Remembrance Day events at Camp Eggers, in downtown Kabul (D. Lewis:
Building Capabilities of ANA
MGen Michael Day spoke about the capabilities building by the NATO forces of the Afghan National Army
Treatment of Afghan Veterans: Comment
Roy Clancy: A memorial service for MCpl Byron Greff was held in Edmonton. Although the nature of the
Afghanistan mission has changed, there will continue to be casualties. Those who served have done their
job. Now it's our job to serve their needs. As Remembrance Day approaches, let's hope our government
doesn't forget that ( ESun 15 ).
CF Counterinsurgency and Empowerment of Women: Comment
Geoffrey Johnston: Canadian Forces continue to play a vital role in the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. ISAF has been employing an increasingly effective counterinsurgency or COIN strategy to combat a stubborn Taliban insurgency. ISAF's counterinsurgency strategy is beginning to pay off. Central to Canada's COIN strategy is the gradual improvement of the lives of Afghan women and girls. Canada should help Afghanistan establish an all-female militia. Trained in personal combat and the use of light weapons, the women's unit could be deployed to protect schools or women's shelters. Such a unit would become a symbol of female empowerment and would represent another
move away from Taliban control ( KWS 5 ).
P ROCUREMENT / A PPROVISIONNEMENT
No related coverage. / Aucune couverture pertinente.
O THERS / A UTRES
DND and Government Spending
Coverage of government spending noted DND is expected to recover about $68,000 in fraudulent claims from its base in Halifax, but is writing off nearly $16,000 in “accountable advances” from Afghanistan and
Edmonton. It is also writing off more than $180,000 in equipment, including $5,381 in weapon and accessories that were stolen. DND is also reporting loss or damage to more than $1 million worth of computers, $300,000 worth of weapons and accessories and nearly $700,000 in loss or damage to
“military specific equipment” (L. Berthaume: Ctz A3
; M. De Souza: EJ A10 , FDG A7, WStar C1, VProv
A27).
Jour du Souvenir
L'Office national du film du Canada (ONF) mettra gratuitement en ligne, pour 24 heures seulement, un documentaire sur le Royal 22e Régiment en Afghanistan à l'occasion du jour du Souvenir, demain. Les images et les propos recueillis par le réalisateur Claude Guilmain, alors qu'il accompagnait les soldats de
Valcartier lors de leur mission en mars dernier, dévoilent la réalité de ces hommes et de ces femmes
déployés en sol afghan ( Sol 8 ).
Pascal Lacoste remis sur pied
Pascal Lacoste n'a mis que quatre heures pour se remettre d e sa grève de la faim et de la soif, entreprise samedi, et obtenir son congé de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis. C'est à son domicile que Le Soleil a joint, hier après-midi, le vétéran de l'armée canadienne. Il a suffi de le réhydrater par intraveineuse pour remettre sur pied celui qui attribue ses problèmes de santé à une exposition à l'uranium appauvri, lors de missions militaires en Bosnie, en 1995 et 1996. L'engagement pris par le ministre des Anciens Combattants,
Steven Blaney, a été accueilli favorablement. La députée néo-démocrate Annick Papillon, elle, s'est dite convaincue que le combat mené par Pascal Lacoste s'est soldé par «une très grande victoire», uniquement par l'admission du «ministre qu'il doit en faire plus, l'écouter et agir. [...] Il faut maintenant voir
ce qui sera fait par la suite» ( Sol 23 ).
Des vétérans pas convaincus
La promesse faite par le ministre des Anciens Combattants à Pascal Lacoste pour le convaincre de cesser sa grève de la faim laisse des collègues de M. Lacoste sceptiques. Un petit groupe d'anciens militaires, qui souffrent de diverses maladies depuis leurs déploiements à l'étranger, doute que le comité promis par le ministre Steven Blaney mène à quelque chose de concret. Louise Richard, une infirmière qu i a servi dans l'armée canadienne lors de la première guerre du Golfe, se plaint du traitement réservé à son dossier par le ministère des Anciens Combattants depuis des années. Elle réclame que ce comité
soit complètement indépendant du ministère ( AN 15 , Sol 23).
Procès sur le TCE
«Mon problème, explique le juge Bernard Godbout, c'est de déterminer si le TCE cause le cancer. Je ne cherche pas à gagner le prix Nobel, je veux juste rendre un jugement qui se tient.» Le juge Godbout entend le recours collectif des citoyens de Shannon, à propos de la contamination de la nappe souterraine par le trichloroéthylène (TCE). On en est maintenant à l'étape finale des plaidoiries. L’avocat des plaignants a soutenu qu'il n'est pas nécessaire d'identifier le TCE comme étant la seule cause du
cancer. La tâche s'annonce complexe, avoue le juge Godbout ( Sol 19 ).
Online Support for Vets Replaces Legions
Mondern vets say the best place to find support is Facebook. For the Afghanistan generation, computer based support is replacing the Royal Canadian Legion. VAC has tried to keep up with digital
communication (J. Murphy: KWS 11 , LFP B4, ESun 36).
Saskatchewan: Highway Renamed “Highway of Heroes”
The st retch of highway between 15 Wing Moose Jaw and Regina has been renamed the “Highway of
Remembrance Day: Comment
Winnipeg Free Press editorial: The military was enthusiastic about the deployment to Afghanistan because it wanted to shed the army's old image as blue-helmeted peacekeepers. On Remembrance Day, then, it's worth recalling that while wars may sometimes be justified, that doesn't mean they are always properly planned and executed. Politicians, and not just the generals, must also learn the lessons of war
Shaun Francis, founder of the True Patriot Love Foundation: The challenge that faces us each
Remembrance Day is to channel our grief into inspiration, to mourn the dead while also recognizing and
celebrating the sacrifices of the living ( NP A18 ).
Rod Allen, editor, Moncton Times & Transcript : Canada still needs soldiers. Tomorrow, with the rest of
Military Police Officer Court Martialled
Canadian military police officer Captain Marc Babineau has been fined and reprimanded for mailing home
14 firearm magazines and a rifle scope from Afghanistan. Coverage noted other soldiers who have been
court-martialled for similar acts (T. Ha: G&M A6 ).
War Experiences
Coverage compared the war experiences of WWII veteran Gus MacGillivray and Afghan veteran Mat
Ottawa Sun DND Insert
The Ottawa Sun included an insert with articles written by members of DND. Among the articles: the
burial of WWI soldier Pte Alexander Johnston (Cpl D. Newman: OSun G3 ); the North American
Technology Demonstration (J. Hunter: OSun G7
); Operation Switchback (Maj J.M. Mercier: OSun G9 ).
Section: News
Byline: Donald E. Graves
Outlet: Ottawa Citizen
Illustrations:
Image D.e. Graves / This painting of the Battle of Crysler's Farm shows British troops marching in a battle line. British soldiers and their Canadian allies defeated the American invasion forces in 1813.
Headline: The other 11th of November; In 1813 the Battle of Crysler's Farm, pitting 1,200
British and Canadianforces against 2,500 American invaders, forever changed Canadian history,
Donald E. Graves writes
Page: A4
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Source: Ottawa Citizen
On Remembrance Day, Canadians commemorate the valour of our soldiers who died in the First
World War and later conflicts. Such is the attention paid to the violent 20th century, that we sometimes forget the soldiers who served in earlier times.
This is particularly true of the War of 1812, in which anglophone and francophone Canadians fought alongside the British army and their aboriginal allies to preserve this nation against foreign invasion. Without their courage and sacrifice there would be no modern Canada because it would be part of the United States.
One of the most important victories was the battle of Crysler's Farm, on Nov. 11, 1813, near
Morrisburg. It was one of two victories - the other being the battle of Châteauguay, fought Oct.
26, 1813 - that defeated a double American offensive aimed at the capture of Montreal.
Before the battle, a small British and Canadian force of about 1,200 men under Lt.-Col. Joseph
Morrison had been shadowing a much larger American army of 7,000 in an armada of small boats on the St.
Lawrence River. On Nov. 10, the Americans turned on their pursuers, but darkness and rain ended the fighting.
During the night Morrison and his senior officers met in John Crysler's farmhouse to plan.
Morrison had received orders to withdraw to Kingston but he decided to disobey and continue to harass the invaders.
Dawn on Nov. 11, 1813 was overcast with a strong wind from the west. Shortly after first light, the outposts of the two armies began to skirmish. Lt. John Sewell of the 49th Foot, a native of
Quebec City, was toasting a piece of pork on his sword when his company commander shouted
"drop cooking" as "the enemy is advancing."
The firing soon died away but Morrison, taking no chances, deployed his men on ground he had chosen the day before. His flanks were protected on the right by the St. Lawrence and on the left by a patch of swampy woods. In front were cleared fields cut by gullies and ravines.
Morrison placed an advance force of Mohawk and Mississauga warriors, a small unit of
Canadian Provincial Light Dragoons and three companies of Voltigeurs Canadiens, a light infantry unit from Quebec, in the woods that separated the two armies. His main line, consisting of the British 49th and 89th Regiments of Foot, was to the west of the cleared area, while a smaller force of five British companies and two companies of Canadian Fencibles, another
Quebec unit, were stationed along the road that paralleled the river. Finally, the local Dundas militia were posted behind the regulars to evacuate casualties and supply ammunition. This done, they waited for six hours under an intermittent drizzle for the enemy to move.
In the American camp, both senior generals were sick on their boats in the river but both insisted on issuing countermanding orders that only confused their subordinates. In the early afternoon,
Brig.-Gen. John Boyd, a brave but not particularly bright man, assumed command and, receiving word that the British were advancing, decided to meet them with superior force. He ordered three infantry brigades with attached artillery and cavalry, about 2,500 men, to attack.
As the Americans moved west, they were fired on by Morrison's advance guard. .
A few minutes later, when blue-uniformed columns emerged on to the open fields, Sewell remembered that the Voltigeurs bolted out of the woods "like greyhounds."
Lt. Christopher Hagerman from Kingston remembered the enemy strength as being "very imposing" and a sergeant standing near Sewell blurted out that "there are too many, we shall all be slaughtered." Lt.-Col. John Harvey of the British army, a veteran of combat on three continents, thought the odds were so bad that "we had nothing to trust to but every Man doing his duty."
And that they certainly did. For the next two hours, well commanded and positioned British and
Canadian regulars, assisted by aboriginal allies, defeated a series of badly co-ordinated American attacks.
Sheltering in the cellars of nearby farmhouses, the local civilians could differentiate between the musketry of the two armies as the enemy firing was "irregular, a pop, pop, popping all the time" while the British and Canadian volleys came "all together and at regular intervals like tremendous rolls of thunder."
After about 90 minutes, the 49th Foot advanced against an American artillery piece whose gunners were trying to get it away to prevent capture. Sewell watched in horror as a squadron of the blue-coated horsemen suddenly charged directly at the open right flank of his regiment, but his commanding officer wheeled that flank back and the regiment fired a single devastating volley that killed or wounded 30 men and more horses.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the shooting tailed off as the Americans withdrew to their flotilla of boats.
Morrison's casualties were about 200, or about a sixth of his command, while Boyd's loss was about 400, or about 15 per cent of his force.
But the sacrifice had not been in vain. Morrison and his British and Canadian regulars, militia and aboriginal warriors had defeated the most serious American invasion of Canada during the
War of 1812. Their valour should be remembered, particularly on this important day when we commemorate the valour of Canadians in later and larger conflicts.
Donald E. Graves is an historian who specializes in the War of 1812. This article is based on his book, Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler's Farm.
COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS FOR THE WAR OF 1812
? ? The Friends of the Battle of Crysler's Farm will stage a large re-enactment of the battle in
2013 as part of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. See their website, cryslersfarm.com, for details.
? ? Other War of 1812 commemorative events are being planned in eastern Ontario by the St.
Lawrence War of 1812 Bicentennial Alliance, see their website at celebrate1812.ca.
? ? The Sheriff-Scott mural of the battle can be seen at the Discovery Centre at Upper Canada
Village, which will be open during the forthcoming "Alight at Night" evening program from
Dec. 2 to Dec. 7. This event will feature the village lit up, as well as a wagon ride, miniature train rides and carol singing.
For details on the event, see alightatnight.ca.
PETITION FOR BATTLE HONOURS FOR THOSE UNITS THAT PARTICIPATED
One might think that the important victory at Crysler's Farm and its counterpart at Châteauguay might have been marked by the award of Battle Honours to the military units that fought at these engagements. Unfortunately, this is not so.
Inexplicably, the Department of National Defence refuses to recognize Canadian military heritage prior to the year 1855. Since the 1920s, DND has refused all attempts by modern units to obtain Battle Honours won by their predecessors before that date.
Britain and the United States have granted Battle Honours or Battle Streamers respectively to units that fought in the War of 1812, but Canada refuses despite the recently stated wish of the federal government to honour "the links that many of our current militia regiments ... have to the
War of 1812." The best that DND will offer in the way of commemorating the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers during the War of 1812 is a "commemorative banner" to be issued to militia units and lapel pins for members of the Canadian Forces. What this banner looks like, nobody will say.
To correct this situation, a group of historians and retired military personnel have mobilized.
"Honour our 1812 Heroes" has the goal of securing Battle Honours for the modern Canadian regiments that perpetuate those units that served in 1812-1815. This would include the
Brockville Rifles and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders of Cornwall.
The group's website - warof1812. ca/heroes - contains the historical background and permits one to send an email to Peter MacKay, the Minister of National Defence, asking him to correct this historic wrong. The HOH group's slogan is: 'They Fought for You, Will You Fight for Them?'
Interested readers are asked to help this group by June 18, 2012, the official start of the
Bicentennial of the War of 1812 by writing to Mackay or advising their MP of their support for the group's objectives.
Remembrance Day should be about commemorating the valour and sacrifice of Canadian soldiers in all wars throughout our history and not just those of more recent date.
D.E. Graves
Section: NovaScotia
Byline: Pat Lee Staff Reporter
Outlet: The Chronicle-Herald
Illustrations:
Pte. Peter Robertson, a Victoria Cross recipient, died in the First World War.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay speaks at the unveiling of CCGS Private Robertson V.C. at the Halifax Shipyard in Halifax on Wednesday. This is the first of nine Hero-class ships being built for the Canadian Coast Guard. (AdrienVeczan / Staff)
Headline: Tribute to a hero; First of nine new coast guard vessels being built in Halifax to bear name of Victoria Cross recipient from Pictou Staff reporter Pat Lee tells his story of bravery
Page: A3
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
IN NOVEMBER 1917, Peter Robertson was like many young Canadian men of his era, in the thick of it on a battlefield in Europe, entangled in a bloody months-long campaign of the First
World War forever remembered as Passchendaele.
Also like many men of his era, the private from Pictou County lost his life in the war but not before engaging in many acts of bravery, including rushing ahead of his platoon to singlehandedly capture a German machine gun and turn it on his enemy combatants, who fled from his attack.
Later, he emerged from a trench to save two wounded Canadian snipers. He was killed while rescuing the second man.
For his heroism, the man who preferred to go by Pete received the Victoria Cross, presented to his grieving mother the following April.
Some 94 years after his death, Pte. Robertson was remembered again for his sacrifice in a ceremony to announce that the first of nine new Hero-class Canadian Coast Guard vessels being built at Halifax Shipyard will bear his name.
The announcement was made Wednesday by federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield and
Defence Minister Peter MacKay in the shadow of three mid-shore patrol vessels being built at the Irving-owned yard. MacKay noted that announcing the name -CCGS Pte. Robertson VC - was particularly apt leading up to Remembrance Day.
"The tribute that we're making here today is a very personal and a very meaningful act of remembrance," he said as members of Robertson's family and shipyard employees looked on.
The yard won the $194-million contract for the vessels in 2009.
On Wednesday, workers and managers were clearly still on a high from recently winning a $25billion deal to build the next generation of combat and non-combat ships for the navy.
The first coast guard ship is to be delivered next year and the final one in 2014.
In the audience Wednesday was Peggy Carlson of Victoria, B.C., a great-niece of Robertson's.
She said the family has always known of his wartime heroism, but it came as a shock when they learned a ship would carry his name.
"It was amazing. It didn't really sink in until I was sitting here today," she said after the ceremony.
Her son, Tim Kassner of Calgary, has taken a lot of interest in the family's history.
He said Robertson, who was a train engineer before the war and dubbed Singing Pete for his musical ways, seemed to be an average Joe who rose to the occasion.
"He was an ordinary guy who did extraordinary things," he said.
Robertson was born in Albion Mine, now Stellarton, in 1883 and later moved to Springhill.
Heroism seems to have run in the family.
His brother Danny, who was working in the Springhill mine at the age of 14 along with Peter, who was eight, was awarded a Gold Cross for saving the life of another boy during the 1891 explosion. Peter escaped unharmed.
As the story is told, Danny, who was severely burned, asked to walk up to his house when he was brought home on a sled so his mother would not be frightened.
The family later relocated to Medicine Hat, Alta., where there are many memorials to Peter
Robertson, including the Robertson Memorial Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, the
Robertson Swimming Pool and Robertson Way.
Section: National
Outlet: The Telegram (St. John's)
Headline: New Coast guard ship named after Victoria Cross winner
Page: A12
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Dateline: Halifax
Source: CP
The first of the Canadian Coast Guard's new fleet of Hero-class ships will be named after a soldier who won the Victoria Cross posthumously for his actions at Passchendaele 94 years ago.
The vessel CCGS Pte. Robertson VC is a mid-shore patrol ship being built at the Halifax
Shipyard. It will be delivered to the coast guard next year.
The naming announcement was made Wednesday at the Irving-owned shipyard by federal
Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield and Defence Minister Peter MacKay. Peter Robertson, from
Nova Scotia's Pictou County, single-handedly captured a German machine gun and turned it on his enemy combatants. He later emerged from a trench to save two wounded Canadian snipers but was killed while rescuing the second man.
Section: City
Byline: Peter Simpson
Outlet: Ottawa Citizen
Illustrations:
/ 'David Collier' by Scott Waters was among the works displayed Wednesday at the biennial
Canadian Forces Artists Program Exhibit at Cartier Drill Hall.
Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen / The exhibit alsof featured 'Northern Ranger' by artist Tony
Atsanilk, who is himself a Canadian Forces Ranger.
Headline: War art tells us much about the human condition
Page: B3
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Art illuminates, war eliminates. Art is the light of truths we should think about, war is the darkness of truths we would rather not think about - and they meet, sometimes uncomfortably, as war art.
War art can be profound reflection (Picasso's Guernica, his abstraction of one horrific night in the Spanish Civil War), or pure propaganda (Gros's portrait of Napoleon lightly touching a doomed patient in the plague house at Jaffa, as if to instil a divine cure).
War art is as much a part of the human condition as is war itself, so it endures over the millenniums. The link between war art ancient and current was demonstrated in a photograph in a brief exhibition at Ottawa's Cartier Square Drill Hall on Wednesday.
The photograph, by Calgary-based artist Dick Averns, includes the words, "In our mortal lives, the gods assign a proper time for each thing upon the good earth." They were written by Homer, who chronicled the Trojan War in The Iliad almost 3,000 years ago. Today they are tattooed on the forearm of a Canadian soldier at a military camp in the Sinai.
Canada first sent artists into battle during the First World War, though the most famous bit of art from that war came from a surgeon, John McCrae, who wrote In Flanders Fields before he, too, went to where the poppies grow. There was an art program during the Second World War from which emerged many works, including those by Alex Colville, that hang at the Canadian War
Museum. There were war art programs in the 1960s and 1990s and, for the past 10 years, the
Canadian Forces Artists Program. Most of the art on display Wednesday was from artists who went overseas or to the Canadian north in 2008 and 2009.
Poetry remains a part of Canada's war art effort, though barely. Victoria's Suzanne Steele was the first poet admitted into CFAP (how quickly one adopts acronyms when at a military function) and was sent to Afghanistan. "Doing time in cell-phone-Bible-land," she wrote. "I'll think of you, all of you/ 'til the Herc lands/ and most of you/ come marching home again."
Most of the artists came marching home with more tangible works in mind. Baffin Island sculptor Tony Atsanilk, an actual Canadian Forces Ranger who patrols our northern frontier, carved a ranger from soapstone, with ivory sword and harpoon in hand. Toronto photographer
Erin Riley also went to the far north and sent back aerial photos of the desolate, snow-covered expanse that must be patrolled in the name of sovereignty.
Saskatoon photographer Althea Thauberger was sent to Kandahar, and her work included a panoramic shot of female soldiers running, guns in hands, on the tarmac of Kandahar airport.
Curiously, the print of the photo in the exhibition was on letter-sized paper, far too small to make an impact.
A far different theatre of war is captured in B.C. artist John Horton's painting The Shadow, which shows Canadian warships sailing into the moonlit distance. War is built on such peaceful moments, each of them only an instant away from being shattered.
"We want to capture the essence of what our men and women endure in all the unique places that we send them," said Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk, who made an unscheduled visit to see the art. "Art really does provide that 360-degree mirror of the essence of what our people endure."
Email: psimpson@ ottawacitizen.com
Facebook, Google +: Peter Simpson
Twitter: bigbeatottawa
Blog: ottawacitizen.com/ bigbeat
Section: News
Lead: KABUL, Afghanistan -- The red Maple Leaf flutters casually in the crisp, cold morning breeze. Surrounded on all sides by dramatic snow-capped mountains, the scene could easily be
Banff or Whistler. It's only when you follow the flagpole down, and see the military vehicles parked nearby, that you realize you're in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Headline: Looking forward through the mirror AFGHANISTAN: FOR EVERY
CANADIANSOLDIER, THERE'S A STORY
Page: A7
Byline: DAVID LEWIS
Outlet: The London Free Press
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The red Maple Leaf flutters casually in the crisp, cold morning breeze.
Surrounded on all sides by dramatic snow-capped mountains, the scene could easily be Banff or
Whistler. It's only when you follow the flagpole down, and see the military vehicles parked nearby, that you realize you're in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The 920 members of the Canadian Forces contribution to the NATO training mission in
Afghanistan no doubt appreciate this weather more than some of the coalition soldiers from sunnier climates.
The brisk, frosty morning inspires a road hockey game on the main thoroughfare of Camp
Eggers, located in downtown Kabul. The familiar clatter of hockey sticks is interrupted by the nostalgic call of "car." The nets are pulled aside and a convoy of armoured vehicles passes the small cluster of Gretzkys and Yzermans. The morning exercise is soon over and each player heads off to do their part in the NATO mission advising Afghan National Security Forces.
Lieut. Alexandre Guertin of Ste-Julie, Que., is the training scheduler for the Afghan National
Police. Navy Lieut. JoAnne Carter of Ottawa has an advisory role with the Afghan National
Civil Order Police. Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig MacFadgen of Dartmouth, N.S., advises senior non-commissioned officers in the ANP. The list goes on to include more than 900 individual stories.
Through early November, poppies will be worn on the desert camouflage uniforms of the
Canadian troops. They will gather on Remembrance Day to share an inexplicable bond with all those who have chosen to wear the uniform. Two minutes of silence will be followed by the sound of bagpipes drifting up toward the snow-capped mountains of the Hindu Kush. Across the country, wherever Canadians are serving -- in Kabul, in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and in Herat in western Afghanistan -- they will remember.
There is a walled protected corridor that leads into Camp Eggers. At one of the entryways into this corridor an Afghan guard has placed a large broken shard of a mirror. Its jagged angles look somewhat menacing as it sits propped on top the cement wall. Some of the reflective backing has flaked away and if you catch it at the right angle you can see where you're going, and where you've been.
Like that mirror, the Canadians on parade in Afghanistan on Remembrance Day will reflect on where Canada has been since Armistice Day in 1918. And like that mirror, Canadians here will provide a glimpse of where we are going.
Sub-Lieut. David Lewis, a Londoner, is a public affairs officer in Kabul for the NATO training mission.
Section: News
Lead: Stand tall Edmonton, Canada's soldiers are proud of your pride in them.
Headline: Be proud, Edmonton Support means so much to Canada's men and women in uniform: major-general
Page: 7
Byline: NICOLE BERGOT, EDMONTON SUN
Outlet: The Edmonton Sun
Illustrations:
photo of MASTER CPL. GREFF 'Sobering' DND handout photo The commander of Canada's contribution to theNATO training mission, Major-Gen. Michael Day, is seen at right. He is confident Afghans will be ready to take control by the time Canada's commitment to training its security forces ends in 2014.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Stand tall Edmonton, Canada's soldiers are proud of your pride in them.
"Edmonton is unbelievable in its support of its military people," says Maj.-Gen. Michael Day, deployed to Kabul, where he serves as the Commander of the Canadian Forces contribution to the NATO training mission in Afghanistan.
"I had a very sad occasion to go up to attend a funeral for one of our Patricias that passed away and the whole city turned out, the police, fire engines, and Edmontonians should be proud -- if we could get everybody to embrace and recognize the military the way that Edmonton does, that would be a wonderful thing."
Day joined the Canadian Forces in 1983 and was subsequently commissioned into the Princess
Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).
Early regimental duty in 3 PPCLI was followed by a posting to Toronto where he served with the
Toronto Scottish Regiment and Militia Distr ict Headquarters before returning in 990 to 3
PPCLI.
"Maybe because I'm a Patricia, I am so aware of what Edmonton does, because we have our first and third battalions there, our regimental headquarters there, and I commanded our second battalion in Winnipeg. Those cities that have a military presence -- have military families -- are just tremendous."
The vast majority of the 920 Canadians participating in the current NATO training mission in
Afghanistan are from Edmonton Garrison.
"I would say to Canadians, 'You should be so proud to see that young Canadian man and woman representing each and every one of us; the values they espouse, the friendly attitude they bring, the tireless work ethic.'
"Whenever I'm having a bad day, I go and talk to a young Canadian -- if Canadians saw what their military was doing here, not the organization, just the individuals, they'd be walking a little bit taller, feeling a bit prouder, smiling a little bit broader."
There will be a number of Remembrance Day ceremonies on Friday in Afghanistan, and they will be particularly poignant with the recent Afghan bombing death of Lacombe's Master Cpl.
Greff.
"It will be sombre. Greff himself would say to you, when you do a Remembrance Day here in
Afghanistan, it doesn't matter how recently or how distant our losses were, it's tremendously sobering."
Deployed on operations in the Balkans, Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle East,
Day notes a whole new generat ion of fallen veterans to remember.
"It's a changing of a guard," says Day, now on his eighth deployment. "Remembrance Day, not only should we thank our veterans who have gone before, from the Second World War, from
Korea, the different conflicts no matter where. I would hope that Canadians would stop for a moment and think about that 21-year-old private on his first tour over here and he's away from his family or that 32-year-old mother who left her kids at home because she wanted to serve."
And here in Canada, as it is in Afghanistan, remember to keep life in perspective.
"Most of my days are pretty good ... and what's a bad day? Is a bad day you had a bad brief, a bad meeting, or some-t hing didn't work exactly right? Here in Afghanistan, there's only one kind of bad day, when someone gets hurt or someone gets killed."
- - -
HOW THEY SERVE
* Operation Attention is the Canadian Forces contribution to the NATO Training Mission in
Afghanistan, or CCTM-A.
* CCTM-A consists of up to 950 Canadian Forces personnel who advise Afghan trainers and leaders at training institutions in Kabul, near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and at
Herat in western Afghanistan.
* 230 personnel serve as advisers at the Kabul Military Training Centre, where Afghan National
Army recruits are taught basic skills, like weapons handling, fieldcraft and literacy.
* 100 personnel serve at the Kabul-based Consolidated Fielding Centre, where battalion-sized units of the Afghan National Army conduct training and testing before being assigned to an
Afghan National Army Corps.
* 50 personnel are at Regional Military Training Centre (Capital) in Kabul; 40 are at RMTC
(North) in Mazar-e-Sharif; 15 are deployed to RMTC (West), in Herat.
Section: News
Lead: Hours before Remembrance Day services are held on the home-front Friday, Canadian troops in Afghanistan will be standing at attention -- a solid reminder of service and sacrifice.
Headline: Sombre thoughts from the field
Page: 24
Byline: THANE BURNETT
Outlet: The Calgary Sun
Illustrations:
photo by Maj. Glen Parent/Canadian Forces Remembrance Day holds new meaningfor many
Canadians with the losses from Afghanistan fresh in their minds.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Hours before Remembrance Day services are held on the home-front Friday, Canadian troops in
Afghanistan will be standing at attention -- a solid reminder of service and sacrifice.
Our soldiers still stationed in the unstable region will be marking the sombre day in different ways, depending on where they are in the country, says a senior Canadian commander, but he suggests their thoughts will carry familiar themes.
Col. Peter Dawe, deputy commander of the Canadian Contribution to the Training Mission in
Afghanistan, says some ceremonies will include short sermons from military chaplains, or a few passages from the Bible.
Buglers or pipers may be heard in some of the 14 camps, while at more remote sites: "It may be as few as a dozen Canadians with a smattering of coalition partners standing in a hollow square, bowing their heads in a moment of silence.
"There will be no dress uniforms, or drinks at the mess, but there will be time for reflection, for thoughts of lost friends and those brave Canadians who paved the way for the current generation on the battlefields of Frezenberg, San Fortunato, Kapyong and the Medak Pocket."
During all the moments of pause, there will be a familiar reading of In Flanders Fields.
Leading up to the day of reflection, Canadian soldiers training Afghan security officials have proudly worn poppies.
Which has meant explaining the symbol to the foreign fighters.
"As fellow-soldiers who are serving their country, I think they understand when it is explained and certainly appreciate ciate the sacrifice of Canadians ans through the 10 years of our commitment in Afghanistan," says Dawe, a 41-year-old father of two, who's originally from
Kingston, Ont.
A veteran of Bosnia and Cyprus, Dawe's family has strong ties to duty.
His father was a military engineer for 33 years and Dawe and his three brothers all served in the
Prin-cess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
The commander believes Canadians view Remembrance Day differently than before
Afghanistan.
He reasons the loss felt by communities when Canadians have fallen during this war has prompted a new appreciation for the cause.
"Remembrance Day should never be viewed as a celebration of militarism. Instead, it's an opportunity to pause and reflect on the sacrifices of Canadian military members and their families on our behalf," says the soldier.
And on the 11th minute of the 11th hour in Afghanistan, what will he be thinking of?
His mind will linger on the broad and the specific, including an Alberta-based Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan just last month.
"I'll be thinking of my family and of the countless brave Canadians who risked, and in many cases lost everything so that we may enjoy the privilege of living in the greatest country in the world," says the deputy commander.
"I will also reflect on our brother, Master Cpl. Byron Greff and his family and the unspeakable pain that they are enduring on our behalf."
Section: News
Lead: Suppress the enemy, uplift the ability of the Afghan security forces.
Headline: Afghans will 'get this done'
Page: 7
Byline: NICOLE BERGOT, EDMONTON SUN
Outlet: The Edmonton Sun
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Suppress the enemy, uplift the ability of the Afghan security forces.
Canadian Forces Maj.- Gen. Michael Day, now the Kabul-based Deputy Commanding General for Afghan National Security Force Development (including their army, police and air force) has done both.
TWO YEARS IN
Two years into a complex five-year NATO training mission, Canada has helped build the numbers and capabilities of the Afghan National Army and police force to a point where leaders like Day believe success of an independent Afghanistan is more attainable than not.
"We aspire to do two things: continue to suppress the ability of the insurgency and, concurrently, uplift the ability of the security forces."
The ANA now numbers 173,000 while the police force is at 139,000. The aim is to leave
Afghanistan in March 2014 with the army 195,000 strong, the police force around 157,000.
" ... if we continue on the path we're on, in terms of the physical growth and in terms of the progress we're making professionalizing the army and the police force, everybody should have every reason to believe that the Afghans are going to get this done."
Day was first deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
GIVE THEM A CHANCE
"There is a certain satisfaction, having been here before, having been involved in the counterinsurgency down south, and really trying to play a role on that side of the fence, to be given the chance not to break something up, but to be given the chance to give Afghans a chance to build their own future."
Section: Editorial/Opinion
Lead: The dapper veteran sitting at the table selling poppies fixed me with a smile as I approached.
Headline: A debt we must repay
Page: 15
Byline: ROY CLANCY
Outlet: The Edmonton Sun
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
The dapper veteran sitting at the table selling poppies fixed me with a smile as I approached.
Yet another poppy had fallen off my jacket, so I smiled back and sauntered over with a bill in my hand.
He was immaculately turned out in his pressed navy blue Legion blazer and beret.
The racks of gleaming hardware dangling from his chest almost overwhelmed his aging frame.
We chatted for a minute before he shook my hand and said: "Thanks for your contribution."
A little taken aback at the notion of this heavily decorated veteran thanking me for my too-paltry donation, I replied: "Thank you for your contribution."
He leaned over and smiled again. "I can't tell you how much that means," he said.
As I walked away, I couldn't help but reflect that there will never be enough we can say or do to repay these men and women who served their country.
Of the 650,000 who went off to the First World War, more than 68,000 gave their lives. More than a million served in the Second World War and 47,000 paid the ultimate price. Almost
27,000 served in Korea and 516 never came home. Since 1947, 1,700 more have given their lives.
Of 25,000 Canadian troops rotated through Afghanistan, 158 have been killed.
Although the "combat" phase of the mission has ended, Afghanistan continues to exact its toll.
A memorial service for the latest casualty, Master Cpl. Byron Greff, was held in Edmonton
Monday.
The 28-year-old, who was born in Lacombe, died when a suicide bomber attacked his UN peacekeeping convoy.
He leaves behind a wife, young son and newborn baby girl, for whom Remembrance Day will forever take on a personal meaning.
While most of us are painfully aware of the death toll in Afghanistan, it's not as widely known that for every soldier killed, 10 were injured.
Some, who suffered traumatic and permanently debilitating wounds, survived only because of advanced medical techniques in the field.
Others came home with psychological injuries invisible to the naked eye, but nonetheless devastating.
Add in veterans from earlier wars with service-related disabilities and medical issues brought on by old age and the department charged with looking after Canada's 731,000 veterans has its hands full.
So, it is startling to learn Veterans Affairs plans to cut $226 million from its budget as part of a wave of austerity cuts.
Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney insists benefits to veterans, including new measures for the seriously wounded, won't be affected.
The National Council of Veterans Associations disagrees. It has written the PM asking him not to make cuts "on the backs" of veterans.
Federal veterans ombudsman Guy Parent warns against the cuts, given the complexity of the injuries, diagnosis and treatment of Afghan vets.
Both he and the veterans council want Canada to follow the lead of other allied countries and exempt veterans services and benefits from government-wide cutbacks.
Although the nature of the Afghanistan mission has changed, there will continue to be casualties.
Lt. Col. Markus Besemann, Canadian Forces head of rehabilitation medicine, put it succinctly in an interview with QMI Agency earlier this year: "Sometimes we save lives, but the cost of rebuilding those lives is tremendous, and I don't know if we have it within us to be able to deliver on the goods in terms of what we owe to that member."
Those who served have done their job. Now it's our job to serve their needs.
As Remembrance Day approaches, let's hope our government doesn't forget that.
Section: Editorial/Opinion
Lead: This Remembrance Day, Canadians will honour the sacrifices made by veterans to preserve peace, security and democracy. And we should spare a special thought for the brave 950
Canadian soldiers who continue to serve in Afghanistan, an active war zone.
Headline: Women key to ousting Taliban
Page: 5
Byline: GEOFFREY JOHNSTON
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Illustrations:
PHILIPPE-OLIVIER CONTANT QMI Agency Lt.-Col. St-Louis, right, commander of the 1er
Bataillon, Royal 22e Regiment Battle Group, looks as Canada's Commander in Kandahar, Brig.-
Gen. Dean Milner, signs papers during the transfer of authority ceremony of the Ma'sum Ghar forward operating base (FOB) and the Panjwa'i district, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in July.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
This Remembrance Day, Canadians will honour the sacrifices made by veterans to preserve peace, security and democracy. And we should spare a special thought for the brave 950
Canadian soldiers who continue to serve in Afghanistan, an active war zone.
Although Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan officially ended in July, Canadian Forces continue to play a vital role in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission.
ISAF has been employing an increasingly effective counterinsurgency or COIN strategy to combat a stubborn Taliban insurgency.
The goal of counterinsurgency is to undercut popular support for insurgents, thereby depriving them of resources and cover.
The Canadian Forces are currently executing Operation Attention, the second largest NATO training mission in Afghanistan, which is slated to end in 2014. Ottawa has allocated $99 million over three years for the training and mentoring of the Afghan national police and army.
The Canadian Forces main training operation is located behind the wire at Kabul. But Canadian troops there remain in harm's way.
For example, Master Cpl. Bryon Greff was tragically killed on Oct. 29 in a Taliban suicide attack in Kabul.
Canada also operates two satellite sites outside of the wire, including at the northern city of
Mazar-e-Sharif. Canadian trainers face mortal danger in the once peaceful city, the site of a
Taliban-led massacre of United Nations workers earlier this year.
But with great risk comes great reward. ISAF's counterinsurgency strategy is beginning to pay off.
According to a status report published by the Pentagon last month, after years of sharp increases, the number of Talibaninitiated attacks has begun to decline.
As ISAF and Afghan forces make security gains and the Taliban gets weaker, "insurgents have turned to asymmetric efforts to avoid direct engagement," states the Pentagon document entitled:
Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan.
The Taliban is instead resorting to "the increased use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), high-profile attacks, and assassinations of Afghan Government officials," according to the
Pentagon.
That means Canadian soldiers will continue to be targeted for terrorists attacks -- launched by the
Taliban from safe havens in Pakistan.
Central to Canada's COIN strategy is the gradual improvement of the lives of Afghan women and girls.
"Indicators regarding their health, education, economic well-being and human rights remain among the lowest in the world," according to the Government of Canada website.
For example, Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. For every
100,000 live births, 1,800 women die during childbirth.
By emphasizing maternal health assistance, Canada is demonstrating to Afghan women that democracy -- not Taliban tyranny -- is the key to a better future.
Under the Taliban, girls were prohibited from going to school. That policy has contributed to widespread female illiteracy in Afghanistan. Only 12.5 % of women can read compared to
39.3% of men, according to Government of Canada data.
But thanks to ISAF, approximately 2.2 million girls are enrolled in school today.
Despite Canada's focus on human rights, maternal health and education projects, Afghan society remains violent and misogynistic.
Discriminatory views and beliefs regarding the place of women and girls in Afghan society are the root cause of gender oppression, states a report published jointly last year by the United
Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
"Widespread harmful traditional practices -- child marriage, giving away girls for dispute resolution, forced isolation in the home, exchange marriage and 'honour' killings -- cause suffering, humiliation and marginalization for millions of Afghan women and girls," concludes the report entitled: Harmful Traditional Practices and Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan.
According to the joint UN report, some Islamic leaders justify the oppression of Afghan women and girls "by invoking their interpretation of Islam."
The oppression of Afghan females is inextricably linked to religious fundamentalism, which in turn fuels the Taliban. Break the Taliban's hold on women, and the insurgency will run out of gas.
The Pentagon agrees that gender issues have "a significant, yet often overlooked, impact" on counterinsurgency operations.
"In order to defeat the insurgency and build support for the (Afghan) Government," states the
Pentagon report, "COIN requires a critical mass of support, which cannot be reached without support for women."
That's why ISAF deploys Female Engagement Teams across Afghanistan to build trust with
Afghan women and recruit them for the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF).
"Female security forces," says the Pentagon, "can play a key role in creating credible and respected security forces."
Unfortunately, the Afghan Government is failing to reach its target numbers for female recruits.
The 2008 assassination of Afghanistan's top female police officer by the Taliban was a clear attack on the Afghan women's rights movement. And the shocking killing has probably discouraged many women from becoming police officers or soldiers.
Before she was gunned down on her way to work, Lt.-Col. Malalai Kakar was the deputy commander of the Kandahar City police department and the head of a unit specializing in crimes against women. In a public statement, Ron Hoffman, then Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, described the Lt.- Col. As "a beacon of hope for women in democratic and free Afghanistan."
By killing Kakar, the Taliban proved the theory that religious fundamentalists fear women who take up untraditional roles in society.
Understandably, Afghan women's groups feel threatened by the prospect of reintegrating Taliban fighters back into society.
The Pentagon reports that Afghan women fear that "former insurgents with a history of human rights and women's rights violation will be reinstated in society without punishment, or will assume position of power and influence, particularly in the ANSF."
Given that UN Security Council Resolution 1325 guarantees the full participation of women in
Afghan peace talks, Prime Minister Stephen Harper should insist that the Afghan government give women a seat at the table when drafting a peace agreement.
Moreover, Harper should insist that the Karzai government not grant immunity from prosecution to Taliban who have committed crimes against women or girls. Without that guarantee, Afghan women may be reluctant to contribute to the counterinsurgency.
In the meantime, Canada should help Afghanistan establish an all-female militia. Trained in personal combat and the use of light weapons, the women's unit could be deployed to protect schools or women's shelters.
Such a unit would become a symbol of female empowerment and would represent another move away from Taliban control.
Geoffrey P. Johnston is a local freelance journalist.
Section: News
Byline: Lee Berthiaume
Outlet: Ottawa Citizen
Illustrations:
Chris Wattie, Reuters / Bert Brown, a land development consultant and retired farmer, was nominated to be a senator-in-waiting by provincial election, and then appointed to a six-year term in the upper chamber by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in July 2007.
Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen / Scott Reid, Tory MP forLanark-Frontenac-Lennox and
Adington, had the lowest travel expenses at $2,440, followed by several other Ottawa-area MPs.
Headline: Only elected senator also priciest; Taxpayers hit for $331,000, records show
Page: A3
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Source: Postmedia News
Canada's only elected, sitting senator Bert Brown spent $331,000 on travel and other expenses in the last fiscal year, more than any of his colleagues in the Red Chamber, government documents show.
The Conservative senator from Alberta charged taxpayers nearly $180,000 in travel expenses and $151,000 for "research assistance, staff and other expenses," according to the government's annual record of public accounts.
Overall, the country's senators spent $7.2 million on trips and more than $13.2 million on research assistance, staff and other expenses between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.
A land development consultant and retired farmer, Brown was nominated to be a senator-inwaiting by provincial election, and then appointed to a six-year term in the upper chamber by
Prime Minister Stephen Harper in July 2007.
Brown could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
University of British Columbia senate expert Gerald Baier said the expense report does highlight the expectation an elected senate will cost taxpayers more. Baier noted, for example, that Brown maintains an office in Calgary to stay in touch with his constituents.
"Certainly a more legitimate senate is going to cost more because people will take the responsibility more seriously and they'll have to set up some kind of infrastructure in their communities," he said.
"But it's somewhat kind of ironic because he's the kind of guy who would've been 'Look at all these old senators at the trough spending all of our tax dollars,' and the perennial critic of the institution becomes the biggest spender."
The second-highest spending senator was Liberal Nick Sibbeston of the Northwest Territories, who cost taxpayers $321,000, including $175,000 in travel costs.
Conservative Sen. Judith Seidman of Quebec had the lowest expenses of all senators who sat through the entire fiscal year, at about $81,000 on travel and other expenses.
By way of comparison, Government Senate leader Marjory LeBreton spent $122,000 while
James Cowan, leader of the opposition in the Senate, stood at $269,000.
Taxpayers also covered for more than $32 million in travel expenses amassed by members of
Parliament.
Among the highest spenders in the House of Commons were Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq
($248,000) and Conservative MPs Lavar Payne ($245,000) and Jim Abbott ($227,000); Liberals
Michael Ignatieff ($240,000), Ujjal Dosanjh ($239,000) and Judy Foote ($227,000); and the late
NDP leader Jack Layton ($223,000).
These numbers do not include costs incurred from ministerial travel or trips related to committees or representing Canada abroad.
An official in Aglukkaq's office said the minister's Nunavut riding includes 25 communities that can only be accessed by air.
"It's a sheer matter of geography," spokesman Steve Outhouse said.
Payne also blamed the size of his 33,000-square-kilometre riding around Medicine Hat, Alta., as well as the fact he rarely spends weekends in Ottawa.
"When I travel home on Thursday or Friday, I have meetings with constituents or they have events they want me to attend to," he said. "To me, my priority is to meet with my constituents and to hear their concerns and issues."
Dosanjh, who was defeated during the last election, said he also travelled back to his Vancouverarea riding most weekends. However, he said because of back surgery in the 1970s and the frequency with which he flew, he could not fly economy.
"I take pride in saying that in the six or seven years I was a member of Parliament, I spent no more than five or six weekends in Ottawa," he said. "I was back every weekend to be with my constituents. That costs money."
Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Adington Conservative MP Scott Reid had the lowest travel expenses of all members of Parliament, at $2,440. He was followed by several other Ottawa-area
MPs: Marcel Proulx of Hull-Aylmer ($8,450), John Baird in Ottawa West-Nepean ($9,082) and
David McGuinty in Ottawa South ($10,675).
As much as having public accounts tally the total amount spent by members of Parliament and senators on travel and other expenses in any given year, more details are needed, said Gregory
Thomas, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
"It's not rocket science anymore to scan a receipt, put it on the Internet and folks go on and look at it," he said. "That's the level of disclosure we need."
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FINDS MANY WAYS TO LOSE MONEY
Fake overtime and expense claims, theft, fraud, vandalism and violent acts of nature add up to nearly $175 million in unexpected losses from the government's coffers discovered in the last fiscal year, records reveal.
In total, the federal government says it will lose about $1.29 million worth of public money and
$1.39 million worth of assets or property discovered missing in the last year due to illegal or suspicious activity. It is also writing off about $17.89 million in losses due to accidents or acts of nature such as storms.
But the records show the government expects to recover about 90 per cent of the $175 million.
The RCMP is also writing off more than $2.3 million in damage from more than 1,000 accidents involving its vehicles. The records also show numerous cases of suspicious or illegal activity plaguing many departments across the government:
- Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has reported nearly $137 million in spending due to fraudulent employment insurance benefit claims, as well as nearly $1 million in fraudulent Canada Pension Plan Claims, but is expecting to recover all but about $29,000 of those losses;
-The Department of National Defence is expected to recover about $68,000 in fraudulent claims from its base in Halifax, but is writing off nearly $16,000 in "accountable advances" from
Afghanistan and Edmonton. It is also writing off more than $180,000 in equipment, including
$5,381 in weapons and accessories that were stolen.
The records show the department is also reporting loss or damage to more than $1 million worth of computers, $300,000 worth of weapons and accessories and nearly $700,000 in loss or damage to "military specific equipment";
- Public Safety agencies suffered more than $400,000 in losses due to damage caused by theft and vandalism, including about $50,000 in damage from disturbances by incarcerated prisoners
Mike De Souza , Postmedia News
Section: News
Byline: Mike De Souza
Outlet: Edmonton Journal
Headline: Theft, fraud, storms cost Ottawa millions; Federal government looks to recover 90 per cent of unexpected losses
Page: A10
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: Postmedia News
Fake overtime and expense claims, theft, fraud, vandalism and violent acts of nature add up to nearly $175 million dollars in unexpected losses from the federal government's coffers discovered in the last fiscal year, newly released accounting records have revealed.
The documents, tabled by the government last week in Parliament, reveal a recurring pattern of losses in each government department ranging from stolen petty cash, taxi vouchers and security uniforms to BlackBerrys and other government property.
In total, the federal government says it will lose about $1.29 million worth of public money and
$1.39 million worth of government assets or property discovered missing in the last year due to illegal or suspicious activity.
It is also writing off about $17.89 million in losses from the same year due to accidents or acts of nature such as storms.
But the records show that the government is recovering or expects to recover about 90 per cent of the $175 million in unexpected losses that were reported in the newly released records.
Accidents implicating government vehicles and lost equipment from a variety of government offices made up a substantial portion of losses that will not necessarily be recovered by the taxpayer.
Environment Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development and the RCMP were among the top government-funded organizations with multimillion-dollar losses.
Within the environment portfolio, Parks Canada suffered $9 million in losses due to storms and water damage, on top of about $190,000 in losses for the agency as well as Environment Canada for damage to vehicles from accidents.
The RCMP is also writing off more than $2.3 million in damages from more than 1,000 accidents implicating its fleet of vehicles.
The records also show numerous cases of suspicious or illegal activity plaguing many departments across the government:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has reported nearly $137 million in spending due to fraudulent employment insurance benefit claims, as well as nearly $1 million in fraudulent
Canada Pension Plan Claims, but is expecting to recover all but about $29,000 of those losses;
The Department of National Defence is expected to recover about $68,000 in fraudulent claims from its base in Halifax, but is writing off nearly $16,000 in "accountable advances" from
Afghanistan and Edmonton. It is also writing off more than $180,000 in equipment, including
$5,381 in weapons and accessories that were stolen. The records show that the department is also reporting loss or damage to more than $1 million worth of computers, $300,000 worth of weapons and accessories and nearly $700,000 in loss or damage to "military specific equipment";
Public Safety agencies suffered more than $400,000 in losses due to damage caused by theft and vandalism, including about $50,000 in damage from disturbances by incarcerated prisoners, as well as $252,000 in damage to RCMP buildings and properties. The Canada Border Services
Agency has lost about $7,000 in bank deposits and petty cash.
Section: Actualités
Byline: Marie-Pier Duplessis
Outlet: Le Soleil
Headline: Sur les traces des soldats canadiens
Page: 8
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
L'Office national du film du Canada (ONF) mettra gratuitement en ligne, pour 24 heures seulement, un documentaire sur le Royal 22e Régiment en Afghanistan à l'occasion du jour du Souvenir, demain. Les images et les propos recueillis par le réalisateur Claude Guilmain, alors qu'il accompagnait les soldats de
Valcartier lors de leur mission en mars dernier, dévoilent la réalité de ces hommes et de ces femmes déployés en sol afghan. «Les soldats interrogés du Royal 22e Régiment - tous francophones - se confient simplement, parlent d'eux et de leur travail, entre une mission de patrouille et les activités sur la base militaire», dévoile le synopsis du film. Par ailleurs, six capsules extraites du documentaire sont disponibles dès maintenant sur le site Web de l'ONF : www.onf.ca/22. sboivin@lesoleil.com
Section: Actualités
Byline: Michel Corbeil
Outlet: Le Soleil
Illustrations:
L'exsoldat Pascal Lacoste (au centre) a dégusté hier un macaroni à la viande avec ses cousins
Vincent et Simon.
Headline: L'ex-soldat Lacoste remis sur pied
Page: 23
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Pascal Lacoste n'a mis que quatre heures pour se rem ettre de sa grève de la faim et de la soif, entreprise samedi, et obtenir son congé de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis.
C'est à son domicile que Le Soleil a joint, hier après-midi, le vétéran de l'armée canadienne. Il a suffi de le réhydrater par intraveineuse pour remettre sur pied celui qui attribue ses problèmes de santé à une exposition à l'uranium appauvri, lors de missions militaires en Bosnie, en 1995 et 1996.
JeanFrançois Bec, lui aussi un ex-soldat, qui a conduit le même combat pendant 72 heures, a pu quitter l'hôpital un peu plus tard, a indiqué M. Lacoste. Celui-ci s'est dit «aussi heureux qu'hier [mardi]» lorsqu'il a mis fin à sa grève après avoir obtenu la promesse qu'un comité d'experts examinera la possibilité que l'uranium appauvri affecte la santé humaine.
Cette substance sert à fabriquer des obus ou encore à renforcer le blindage des chars. Les Forces armées canadiennes affirment toujours que l'armement et les véhicules blindés n'en contiennent pas et que les troupes du pays n'ont jamais été déployées dans les secteurs où des armées alliées l'ont utilisée.
Pascal Lacoste prétend le contraire. «Je ne peux pas me prononcer si je fais confiance ou pas» au groupe qui étudiera la question. «Mais je peux vous confirmer que nous aurons l'oeil ouvert.»
L 'engagement a été pris par le ministre des Anciens Combattants, Steven Blaney, député fédéral de
Lévis. «Le ministre a dit que ce serait un comité neutre. S'il y a lieu, nous challengerons la décision» du groupe. Il ignore s'il sera invité à siéger à ce groupe qui doit comprendre des vétérans.
Une «grande victoire»
La députée néo-démocrate Annick Papillon, elle, s'est dite convaincue que le combat mené par Pascal
Lacoste s'est soldé par «une très grande victoire», uniquement par l'admission du «ministre qu'il doit en faire plus, l'écouter et agir. [...] Il faut maintenant voir ce qui sera fait par la suite».
Aucune étude d'envergure n'établit que l'uranium appauvri provoque cancers et autres maladies. L'élue du Nouveau Parti démocratique «pense qu'il est fort plausible» que les problèmes de santé soient attribuables à cette substance qui est une des composantes dans l'armement des pays alliés au Canada.
Annick Papillon a insisté sur le fait que des tests conduits par un médecin ont démontré un niveau de r adioactivité dans l'organisme de M. Lacoste 61 fois plus élevé que la norme tolérée. «Il a alors obtenu pleinement le bénéfice du doute», a commenté la députée de Québec et critique dans le dossier des anciens combattants. mcorbeil@lesoleil.com
Section: Canada
Headline: Dossier Lacoste: le comité de Steven Blaney remis en question
Page: 15
Source: Presse Canadienne
Outlet: L'Acadie Nouvelle
Byline: Lina Dib
Illustrations:
Pascal Lacoste a cessé sa grève de la faim mardi après s'être entretenu avec le ministre Steven
Blaney.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Dateline: OTTAWA
La promesse faite par le ministre des Anciens Combattants à Pascal Lacoste pour le convaincre de cesser sa grève de la faim laisse des collègues de M. Lacoste sceptiques.
Un petit groupe d'anciens militaires, qui souffrent de diverses maladies depuis leurs déploiements à l'étranger, doute que le comité promis par le ministre Steven Blaney mène à quelque chose de concret.
Le ministre promettait mardi à M. Lacoste de mettre sur pied un comité aviseur qui se penchera sur l'impact de l'exposition de cet ancien soldat à de l'uranium appauvri. La promesse a convaincu M.
Lacoste de mettre fin à sa grève qui aura duré quatre jours. Il est ressorti de sa rencontre avec le ministre, à Lévis, satisfait.
Le ministre, lui, s'engageait à mettre sur pied ce comité dans les 30 prochains jours. Dans un communiqué, son bureau a spécifié que ce «comité aviseur sur la santé des vétérans» aura pour
«premier sujet d'étude» l'uranium appauvri.
Louise Richard, une infirmière qui a servi dans l'armée canadienne lors de la première guerre du Golfe, se plaint du traitement réservé à son dossier par le ministère des Anciens Combattants depuis des années.
Elle réclame que ce comité soit complètement indépendant du ministère.
«L'offre de M. Blaney, (...) je questionne la crédibilité de ce qu'il veut faire», a-t-elle dit, mercredi matin en conférence de presse. Pour que ce comité soit crédible, d'après elle, il «faudra vraiment que ça soit indépendant (du ministère) des Anciens Combattants pour assurer que les gens impliqués regagnent confiance (dans) ce département qui nous a ignorés.»
Georges Villeneuve, qui souffre aussi depuis une mission en B osnie, dit s'être battu avec le ministère des
Anciens Combattants depuis 20 ans et avoir vu défiler 14 ministres différents. Lui aussi se montre fort sceptique.
«M. Blaney est très bien intéressé à vouloir nous aider, mais jusqu'à quel point?» demande-t-il.
Tous deux réclament que Mme Richard puisse siéger au comité. Le bureau du ministre Blaney a refusé de répondre à leurs demandes.
Section: Actualités
Byline: Pierre Asselin
Outlet: Le Soleil
Headline: TCE : le juge expose son dilemme
Page: 19
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Comment un juge doitil trancher une question sur laquelle même les experts sont divisés? «Mon problème, explique le juge Bernard Godbout, c'est de déterminer si le TCE cause le cancer. Je ne cherche pas à gagner le prix Nobel, je veux juste rendre un jugement qui se tient.»
Le juge Godbout entend le recours collectif des citoyens de Shannon, à propos de la contamination de la nappe souterraine par le trichloroéthylène (TCE). On en est maintenant à l'étape finale des plaidoiries et
à plusieurs reprises, hier, le magistrat a sondé Me Simon Pelletier, qui représente le groupe de citoyens, sur le dilemme auquel il est confronté.
«Quel poids dois-je donner au consensus scientifique et aux experts individuels, sur le lien qui existe entre le TCE et le cancer?» L'avocat des citoyens concentre sa démonstration sur les deux zones les plus contaminées de la municipalité, soit le «Triangle rouge» et les logements familiaux de la base militaire de Valcartier. «Notre expert trouve 2,5 fois plus de cancers dans le triangle rouge que dans un secteur non contaminé», lui répond Me Pelletier.
L'avocat et le juge ont tous deux évoqué une décision de la Cour suprême, selon laquelle une d émonstration de «causalité» juridique ne requiert pas le même degré de certitude qu'une preuve scientifique.
Me Pelletier a par ailleurs soutenu qu'il n'est pas nécessaire d'identifier le TCE comme étant la seule cause du cancer. Jurisprudence à l'appui, il affirme que si le TCE a «contribué» à causer des maladies, c'est suffisant pour conclure à un dommage. «On demande au tribunal de déterminer la contribution du
TCE dans l'apparition des cancers. Pour nous, le TCE est le facteur déterminant du nombre plus élevé de cancers.»
La tâche s'annonce complexe, avoue le juge Godbout. «Ce n'est pas comme un cas de faute médicale, où on s'appuie sur les experts pour déterminer s'il y a faute ou non. Ici, la faute se situe ailleurs, et c'est le lien de causalité entre le TCE et le cancer qui fait l'objet des opinions scientifiques. Il y a une différence entre dire que le TCE cause le cancer et dire qu'on ne peut pas exclure le TCE comme pouvant causer le cancer... Je dois m'appuyer sur un consensus scientifique assez fort.» Le consensus se retrouve dans le récent rapport de l'Agence de protection de l'environnement américaine (EPA), qui classe désormais le
TCE comme cancérigène, plaide Me Pelletier, mais on ne doit pas ignorer non plus les avis d'experts qui estiment que le produit chimique peut causer des dommages à un grand nombre d'organes qui ne sont pas nécessairement identifiés par l'EPA, comme le cancer du cerveau. passelin@lesoleil.com
Section: News
Lead: OTTAWA -- Modern vets say the best place to find someone who can talk you in off the ledge at 3 a.m. is Facebook.
Headline: Facebook replacing legions MILITARY: Younger Vets Looking Online For Support
Page: 11
Byline: JESSICA MURPHY, PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
Outlet: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Illustrations:
LARISSA BARLOW QMI Agency files Afghanistan war veteran ShaunArntsen marches in last year's Remembrance Day parade in Banff, Alta. The retired corporal is one of many new veterans who don't "identify" with the Royal Canadian Legion and are seeking support from fellow veterans on Facebook.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
OTTAWA -- Modern vets say the best place to find someone who can talk you in off the ledge at
3 a.m. is Facebook.
"You can't sleep because you're trying to deal with the nightmares -- what do you do?" said retired corporal Shaun Arntsen.
"You go on Facebook like every other 26-year-old."
For the Afghanistan generation, the pale glow of computer screens has filled the void left by the former heavy hitters of veteran's advocacy, analog organizations left in the dust of the digital revolution.
Online is where soldiers posted overseas connect with family and former colleagues.
It's where the Royal Canadian Legion's scrappy and outspoken grassroots counterparts have set up camp.
It's where Arntsen first heard a colleague he'd soldiered with in Afghanistan -- Cpl. Byron Greff -
- died in a suicide blast in Kabul last month.
And if your neighbours trig-g ere d your post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with an impromptu backyard fireworks display, well, there's another ex-soldier awake somewhere with a laptop and a cooler head who can talk you down.
"Now you've got healing for operational stress injuries immediately," said the 35-year-old thirdgeneration soldier.
Facebook also offers an emotional buffer for ex-army tough guys uncomfortable with admitting they're still haunted with the ghosts of war.
Meanwhile, membership at the legion has been dropping steadily for more than 15 years -- and the organization is only now mulling whether to launch a social media strategy.
The legion's failure to recruit freshly battle-scarred vets like Arntsen is top of mind for national spokesman Bob Butt -- in part because with dwindling membership comes dwindling influence.
"The stronger the membership we have, the more force we have in government circles," Butt conceded.
Ex-servicemen and women from Canada's decade-long war in Afghanistan make up a tiny percentage of the population compared to the surviving soldiers who flooded home when the
Second World War ended, argued Butt.
So in a bid to shore up its membership numbers, the legion opened its doors to civilians, leaving ex-soldiers like Arntsen fresh from conflicts overseas with little in common with those occupying branch bar stools.
"The Afghanistan generation doesn't identify with dart leagues, meat draws and Canasta tickets," he argued.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, however, has been more web savvy.
"This is really where things are moving at lightning speed," said Peter Yendall, the department's talkative and cheerful communications director.
Publishing information on federal services on Facebook and through Twitter is just the first move in the department's grand plan to reach out to its clients online.
"Then the next step is to increase the engagement, to have more conversations on what the needs are, meeting those needs and opening up that dialogue," he said.
Whether Veterans Affairs and organizations like the legion can move fast enough to catch up with modern vets now home from Afghanistan and transitioning to civilian life remains to be seen.
But guys like Arntsen have a good head start.
The online community already pulled him away from his post-service struggle with PTSD and cocaine where traditional help fell through.
"I walked down a road where the outcome could have been very bad," he admitted.
"But there are guys online right now. If I was having an issue, I'd be talking to them for sure." jessica.murphy@sunmedia.ca
© 2011 Sun Media Corporation
Section: News
Byline: Will Chabun
Outlet: The Leader-Post (Regina)
Illustrations:
Don Healy, Leader-Post / Soldiers stand at attention Wednesday during a dedication ceremony for the Saskatchewan Highway of Heroes, at the weigh scales on the Trans-Canada Highway between Moose Jaw and Regina. That section of the national highway has been named
"Saskatchewan's Highway of Heroes" as a permanent tribute to CanadianForces personnel from
Saskatchewan who have lost their lives in service to their country.
Headline: Highway of heroes
Page: A1 / Front
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Source: Leader-Post
Maybe, mused Donna Kadash, her cousin was high above the Trans-Canada Highway between
Regina and Moose Jaw on Wednesday afternoon, watching what was going on - with all the other angels.
And, in her words, "enjoying every minute of it."
Corp. James Hayward Arnal could not be there himself.
An infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the young
Winnipegger was killed by an insurgent's improvised explosive device as he was on a night patrol in Afghanistan's Panjwaii district in July 2008.
It was such sacrifice, in wartime and peacetime military operations, and also in training, that inspired the province of Saskatchewan to dedicate the stretch of highway between its biggest military base, 15 Wing Moose Jaw, and its capital city as the "Highway of Heroes".
"It's very emotional," said Kadash, struggling to hold back tears as she stood at a provincial government weigh scale just west of her hometown of Regina, where the first "Highway of
Heroes" sign was unveiled by Premier Brad Wall. "To have this in Saskatchewan means a lot to me and to my family."
Naming highways in Saskatchewan is not new. Eastwest Highway 16 is "The Yellowhead" and
Highway 2 between Prince Albert and Moose Jaw was named "The Veterans Memorial
Highway" in 2005. Highway 11 salutes Metis leader Louis Riel and Highway 13 is "The Redcoat
Trail", in honour of the 1874 March West of the North-West Mounted Police.
The idea of the "Highway of Heroes" was advanced by the government's military liasion, MLA
D.F. "Yogi" Huyghebaert, who heard the idea from a friend.
Before entering politics, Huyghebaert was a member of the Canadian Forces. He flew jet fighters and led the Canadian Forces Snowbirds air demonstration team, losing many close friends along the way.
It was to remember all fallen Canadian military personnel - wherever and whenever they served, and however they died - that the province dedicated this approximately 90-kilometre stretch of highway.
"This dedication is another gesture of graditude for their dedication and sacrifice," he told several hundred serving military personnel, veterans, and guests - including the families of fallen soldiers.
"I've talked to a few of the families that were present at the creremony; it means just as much to them - or more - than it does to us," said Brig. General Paul Wynnyk, commander of the
Canadian Army's Land Force Western Area, one of four generals at Wedneday's ceremony.
Wynnyk also asked that Canadians remember that though this country's combat commitment in
Afghanistan has ended, there still are 950 Canadians - one of whom recently was killed - training that country's army and police.
Premier Brad Wall also acknowleged the families of fallen soldiers, adding that the "Highway of
Heroes" is a symbol of the "gratitude and inrequited love" this province has for Canada's fallen warriors.
Saskatchewanians "will not ever forget the great sacrifices of the ones you love."
Added Col. Marc Bigaouette, the wing commander at 15 Wing Moose Jaw and a man who recently served in Afghanistan, losing two men in a helicopter crash: "There are several thousand signs that I shall see in travelling across the country; this is the one that will mean the most of all to me." wchabun@leaderpost.com
Section: none
Outlet: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Headline: Making sense of war -
Page: A14
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
All wars are controversial, even when there's a consensus that they were worth the cost in blood and treasure. In Canada after the Second World War, for example, there were inquiries and recriminations over the disasters at Hong Kong and Dieppe, and much later, over the bombing campaign against Germany and the treatment of minorities, particularly Japanese Canadians.
After the Great War, bitter questions were asked about a decision to order Canadian troops into combat on the last day of the conflict, resulting in pointless casualties. In both wars, there were questions about the quality of political and military leadership.
Some of these criticisms were met with the refrain that old wounds are best forgotten. But
Remembrance Day is not a time to forget. It is, among other things, a time to try to make sense out of what happened in the past.
This Remembrance Day -- 11/11/11 -- marks the first time in 10 years that Canadians are not engaged in combat in Afghanistan, or, as was frequently the case, struggling to determine our proper role in the country, or whether we should have been there in the first place.
Canadian troops will remain in the country for another two years as trainers and mentors, but there has been no discussion about what role, if any, Canada might play after 2014. And there has been virtually no serious attempt to understand the last 10 years. It's almost, as one commentator observed, like "the war never really happened."
Indeed, Canadians seem overwhelmingly relieved that it is over, even though they barely showed any interest in the conflict when it was on. The apathy can be traced to the fact that Canadians were not asked to pay a price for the war, unless they were related to the roughly 160 Canadians, mainly soldiers, killed in the conflict, along with thousands of others who were injured, either physically or mentally.
The politicians also did a poor job at explaining the war to Canadians. It was barely raised during the last several elections and political leaders avoided the subject as much as possible.
A new study, however, the first since Canadian combat operations ended, sheds new light on the conflict. In What Canada Should Learn from Afghanistan, historians Jack Granatstein and David
Bercuson praise the military's ability to adapt and improvise under difficult conditions, but they are critical of politicians and bureaucrats, who they say failed to provide clear policy priorities during the war, fuelling the general confusion in the country about the purpose of the effort.
The historians also say Canada decided to deploy troops to Kandahar, the most dangerous place in Afghanistan, apparently to garner influence in Washington and NATO headquarters on the future course of the war, but in the end neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations cared much about what Canada thought. Worse, the political and bureaucratic leaders did not fully appreciate the strength of the insurgency in Kandahar and they took on the commitment without
ensuring support from other NATO countries, leaving Canada alone to police the entire Afghan province. Ultimately, everyone in the Canadian military-political establishment was "shocked" at the difficulty of the mission, the authors say. They also question whether anyone in government attempted to form a complete picture of the task.
The military was enthusiastic about the deployment because it wanted to shed the army's old image as blue-helmeted peackeepers. As retired general Rick Hillier said at the time, "We're the
Canadian Forces. We kill people."
Despite the missteps, Granatstein and Bercuson say the war was just and Canada was right to participate.
On Remembrance Day, then, it's worth recalling that while wars may sometimes be justified, that doesn't mean they are always properly planned and executed.
Politicians, and not just the generals, must also learn the lessons of war.
Section: Issues & Ideas
Byline: S Haun Francis
Outlet: National Post
Headline: Turning grief into inspiration
Page: A18
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Source: Special to The National Post
Last Friday, I was in Halifax for the True Patriot Love dinner honoring our military families.
Approximately 900 people attended the event at the Cunard Centre to recognize the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. We were raising money to help military families - to help pay for an amputee's rehab sessions or develop a community centre for military families. To purchase specially equipped vehicles that would allow disabled vets to continue to drive - and to pay for veterans' kids to go to camp. It was the first time so many Maritimers had assembled to benefit the families of CFB Halifax, Canada's largest military base by posted personnel.
The highlight, for me, was the story of Shaun Fevens. In 2007, he was a 24-year-old corporal in
Afghanistan, just one mission away from a bout of rest and relaxation in Kandahar City. He was riding with six other combat troopers in the back of a light armoured vehicle on its way to escort supplies into Helmand province as part of Operation Achilles when the roadside bomb blew
Fevens out of the tank. He came to a short distance away. The other six members of his crew were slumped in the back of the vehicle. They didn't make it.
Cpl. Fevens was in rough shape himself. One shinbone poked through his skin. His other ankle was shattered. It was the bleeding that had him most worried. Fevens had taken an advanced first-aid course, and despite his injuries, despite the deaths of his company members, he had the presence of mind to tell the first infantryman who got to him what to do. Stop the bleeding, he said. His first-aid knowledge saved his life. That was pretty impressive.
Nearly as impressive is what the corporal did two days later, when he woke up at a military hospital in Germany. He woke up and there was his boss. Not his CO, but his ultimate commanding officer: Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier. Fevens asked him: Would it still be possible to stay in the service? To make it through his career goal, officer training? Hillier said he'd make sure Fevens got the opportunity.
Today, Fevens is Second Lieutenant Shaun Fevens, an officer in Army Intelligence. You would never know that only four-anda-half years ago he almost lost everything on a dusty desert road. I spent some time talking with him in Halifax. Turns out we have a family connection. Just like everyone who comes from Nova Scotia, it seems.
Feven's quiet confidence, as well as the unassuming, distinguished way he serves his country, reminded me of my classmates from the U.S. Naval Academy, where I attended as a rare
Canadian among future American Navy and Marine Corps officers. I also played rugby for the academy, and I recently saw many of my classmates at a reunion marking the 20th year since the hiring of Navy Rugby's head coach, Mike Flanagan. We formed a sea of 140 blue blazers and
khakis, all former Navy and Marine Corps officers, some former SEALs, TOPGUN pilots and warship Commanders, all of us catching up on the past two decades.
When we sat down for dinner, there came a special moment. Up rose one of the current coaches, a Navy officer named Pat O'Mahoney. He asked us to charge our glasses, and stand, and then he began to toast the former team members who were no longer with us. To Lt. Col. Kevin Shea, a former Navy rugby coach killed by a rocket attack in Iraq. To Major Jeremy Graczyk, who survived several years of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to die on his few weeks of leave at the age of 33 in a skydiving accident in Switzerland. Ten more names the coach read, for a total of 12 who had been taken from us. Almost an entire rugby team. The room was silent by the end.
It was 140 shipmates in blazers and khakis trying to hold it together as they remembered the friends who hadn't made it.
And then Coach Flanagan took the podium. A big, Irish-American man from Baltimore. A
Vietnam vet who works with kids with learning problems when he isn't coaching the Navy rugby squad.
"Listen," he said. "You know the risks when you put on your nation's uniform. We are not here to mourn your teammates. We are here to celebrate them. They inspire us to do better. And we will never forget them." Coach Flanagan's words changed the room's mood. We channeled our remembrance from something maudlin into an inspired celebration of life and sacrifice.
A similar sentiment existed at the Halifax event for the True Patriot Love Foundation - and, I hope, the same sentiment will reign tonight at our Toronto event.
The same challenge faces us each Remembrance Day: To channel our grief into inspiration, to mourn the dead while also recognizing and celebrating the sacrifices of the living.
National Post
Shaun Francis is the founder of the True Patriot Love Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the well-being of Canadian military families.
Section: Opinion
Headline: Trip to Kandahar with letters from N.B. was proud moment
Page: D7
Outlet: Times & Transcript (Moncton)
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
I've always got a few books on the go, but the one drawing most of my attention in recent days is the first book of the 'Century Trilogy' by Ken Follett, with whom many habitual readers will be familiar as the author of such great historical novels as Pillars of the Earth.
In this one, Fall of Giants, we dive right into the living conditions of western Europe, high and low, to set us up for the beginning of the First World War.
I've been familiar since I was a high school student with the factual building blocks leading up to
The Great War, but this is the first time in many years that I've been reminded of them and I find myself arrested, wonderstruck, by its root causes.
European politics of the era were still heavily influenced - in some countries dominated - by the nobility and it is a strange and unsettling thing to see how a conflict starts among rulers who are all part of one big family, who call themselves 'cousin Willy' and 'cousin Nicky' (as the Kaiser
Wilhelm of Germany and Tsar Nicholas of Russia actually did, before the war) and of how family squabbles and rivalries can work toward a conflict that drags millions of people to a grisly death.
Obviously a lot of other things were going on in the world at the time than stupid, vainglorious bitching and back-biting among the royals.
Though Europe did not seem to quite realize it yet, the United States had already taken its place as a new world power, Germany was rising fast, England, France and Russia were fearful of that rising and all of them were locked in struggle with nations like Japan as most of the world's people struggled under all those imperialistic rivalries.
The assassination on June 28, 1914 of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (of the most ancient and noble Hapsburg clan) was merely the spark - and even then there followed an entire month of frantic diplomacy struggling vainly against machismo politicking to avert the crisis - but the second shot in anger was finally fired on July 28.
Most of the nobles and many parliamentarians believed at the time that it was all very unfortunate but expected it would be over in a few weeks or at best months. The War to End All
Wars ended as you all know on Nov. 11, 1918. Millions were dead, billions - or accounting for inflation in today's currency trillions of dollars worth of the world's raw materials were spent and the world was changed forever; at least in some ways.
It is strange to think today that in just a little more than two years the world will be marking the
100th anniversary of the start of the Great War. Strange indeed is it even now to think how much
(though some might argue how little) the world has changed.
I've been doing this kind of work for more than 30 years, the kind of work that often brings some of my colleagues close to danger and in some cases even in direct acquaintance with capture, torture and death, but only once in all that time have I ever been up close to a war.
That was three years ago when this newspaper sent me to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan with a big bundle of 'letters from home,' penned by our readers to the hundreds of New Brunswickers serving over there as soldiers and support staff as part of the NATO alliance, which at the time included 41 nations.
Never a more poignant hour have I spent in my life than the Remembrance Day ceremony I witnessed at the cenotaph in the Canadian compound at KAF, with the guns of conflict competing in the distance with the skirl of our own highland war-pipes.
It was a proud moment, but a terrible one too. I met some New Brunswickers over there that day, moms and dads of our soldiers, killed by invisible strangers, using North American made cell phones to trigger bombs buried under strange roads, traveled by people who for all anyone knew might clean KAF toilets inside the wire by day and work among those invisible killers by night.
Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung was released by the Taliban the day I left Afghanistan, unharmed after weeks living in conditions quite a bit less amenable than what I'd had. I reflected on that as I made my way from KAF to Dubai to Frankfurt and Toronto and finally home in blessed, peaceful Moncton. And since then I've thought often about how the world has changed, and how conflict, though so very different now, is still a part of our life as the world struggles over those same resources spent so wantonly a century ago.
Sad it is, but necessary still that we arm ourselves in Canada with warships and fighter planes as the planet warms and opens the Canadian arctic, which since the last ice age 10,000 years ago has guarded one of the world's last remaining treasure chest of minerals and oil.
Canada still needs soldiers. Tomorrow, with the rest of you, I salute them, together with all those who have risked or sacrificed their lives before them.
? City Views appears daily, written by various members of our staff. Rod Allen is an assistant managing editor with The Times &Transcript. His column appears every Thursday.
Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: TU THANH HA
Headline: Military police officer fined for mailing weapons home
Page: A6
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
A Canadian military police officer has been fined and reprimanded for mailing home 14 firearm magazines and a rifle scope from Afghanistan, the latest of several soldiers to be court-martialed for sending home prohibited weapons from the Central Asian combat theatre.
Captain Marc Babineau pleaded guilty to one count of committing an act prejudicial to good order and discipline. The court ordered a stay of proceedings to an accusation of unauthorized importing that he also faced.
``Because of your trade as a military police, the Canadian Forces and the public at large had higher-than-average expectations of you,'' the military judge, Lieutenant-Colonel Louis-Vincent
D'Auteuil, said in a Sept. 30 ruling.
The maximum penalty Capt. Babineau could have received was a dishonourable discharge but he was given a reprimand and fined $2,000 because he co-operated with the investigation.
The court heard that Capt. Babineau purchased the 14 firearm magazines at a Post Exchange in
Afghanistan in November, 2010 because his Canadian Forces-issued equipment wasn't working properly.
He decided not to use the magazines, however, because of concerns that he could discharge his firearm accidentally. Unable to return the magazines to the store, he decided to mail them to his wife at home, court heard.
As an MP, Capt. Babineau should have known that he was contravening Standing Order 108 of the Canadian military task force in Afghanistan, which prohibits soldiers from acquiring guns, ammunitions and other artifacts or trophies of war, the ruling said.
``These are clearly prohibited items and I think this is something that ought to stick in your mind and that of other military police and other military members,'' Lt.-Col. D'Auteuil said.
Capt. Babineau is only identified in the ruling as ``M. Babineau'' but Major Dale MacEachern, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, confirmed his identity.
Other soldiers have been court-martialled for similar behaviour in the last two years.
* In April, 2010, Corporal S.M. Faucher of the Royal 22nd Regiment, received a 10-day jail sentence and a $2,000 fine for trying to send home a functioning AK-47 assault rifle, two magazines and two functioning Russian-made pistols.
The guns were discovered by a clerk at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar City who thought the parcel wasn't properly packed and tried to rewrap it.
* In March of this year, Sergeant M.C. Harris was fined $1,000 after he tried to ship an AK-74 rifle, two magazines and an RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade firing tube to his residence in
Welland, Ont.
The weapons had been welded shut to make them inoperable. They were intercepted by Canada
Border Services Agency officers who conducted X-ray examinations of incoming mail from
Afghanistan.
* In May, Sergeant Randy Olive, a reservist with the 49th Field Artillery Regiment, was fined
$1,500 after he mailed two AK-74 assault rifles, one AK-47, and three 30-round magazines to his residence in Sault Ste Marie, Ont. He had rendered the rifles inoperable and said he intended to use them to decorate the regimental mess.
Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: ADRIAN MORROW
Headline: Two veterans, two very different conflicts - but the same sense of camaraderie
Page: A14
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
Gus MacGillivray spent four years on Canadian and British ships in the North Atlantic during the Second World War, hunting submarines and fighting off the navy of one of the world's most powerful militaries. Mat Belear served two tours of duty in the desert of Afghanistan, trying to push back the Taliban's guerrilla army and give the Afghans a fighting chance at establishing a democratic government.
The experiences of these two men illustrate just how much warfare has changed over the decades and the extent to which the notion of veteranhood is being steadily redefined.
But when they met for the first time, at the Amherstview Legion near Kingston, they had a lot of things in common. Both spoke fondly of the camaraderie in the military and the public outpourings of support back home. Both made observations about the importance of vigilance on the front lines, and of grace under pressure. And both have survived combat most Canadians can scarcely fathom: Mr. MacGillivray in a naval battle off the coast of Norway; Mr. Belear in
Operation Medusa, during which he was wounded by shrapnel in a rocket attack.
One spent 32 years in the military, stoking engines on minesweepers and battleships in the
Second World War and doing a tour of duty in Korea; one was an infantryman with the Royal
Canadian Regiment. Both are veterans.
Facing danger
Gus MacGillivray: My first ship was a minesweeper, the Milltown. Her main armaments were depth charges. And she was commissioned to do convoy duty in what was called the ``triangle run.'' They would form merchant ships in harbours, like Halifax, 50 to 100 ships, and then those ships would move in a convoy and they'd be escorted by destroyers, corvettes or minesweepers.
Our trips usually were about six to eight days, and then we'd would turn over the convoy to the mid-ocean escort. I did that until Milltown went in for refit.
I was selected to go to the British navy ... I was assigned to the Duke of York, which was the flagship of the home fleet in Scapa Flow. The fleet would leave Scapa and then escort the convoys to Murmansk, Russia. They were afraid that the Tirpitz [a legendary German battleship] could come out of Norway and devastate the convoy; the Duke of York's job was to keep her bottled up. We had two battleships, about three or four cruisers and 20 destroyers. I remember my first trip, we encountered a convoy of about 12 merchants coming out of Norway and they were escorted with about four destroyers, I believe, and we engaged them. It only took an hour or an hour and a half, and we sunk all ships. We were near the coast, so the shore batteries were firing out at us.
Returning to Canada
Mat Belear: The first tour was great. I got to come home with everyone I went over there with. I landed in Trenton, which is just down the road from my hometown. My girlfriend, who's my wife now, and my parents were there, and I got to see them for a bit before we hopped on a bus and went up to Petawawa. The second tour was different. I got injured, so I was repatriated back to Canada. It was a different homecoming; I think it was a bit surreal at the time. It was hectic for a little bit. I had to have a few operations. At that point, Canada was well aware of what was going on in Afghanistan. We'd lost quite a few people. At the same time, it was encouraging, the people attending the repatriation ceremonies and even how far they'd come. I remember the first couple that I went to, there were maybe 20 or 30 people, and now there are hundreds that show up.
The memory that stands out the most for me is when I got home from my second tour, standing in the airplane and seeing my family waiting for me. I think they were still a little horrified at what happened and happy to see me standing there. They wanted to put me on this sky-chair to lower me down to the ground, but I was insistent on walking off the plane even though I had a hole in my leg. I didn't want my family to see me all bandaged up or in pain, so I walked down. I paid for it later on. Just walking through and seeing them all and my girlfriend and having a big family hug. That's probably the thing I remember the most.
Having experiences most Canadians don't
Mat Belear: I look at people like Mr. MacGillivray and my grandfather, and those people are veterans. It still hasn't sunk in yet, exactly, what we've gone through in this generation. It's been at times difficult; I definitely miss the camaraderie that I had when I was in the military. And also the physical changes that I've had to go through. But I'm happy to say that I did what I did and I was a part of that. I think, as the years go by, I'll probably start to become comfortable with the term ``veteran,'' more so than I am right now.
Gus MacGillivray: I was quite amazed that after having spent so much time at sea, in so much action, and so many ships having been sunk, I came back fine. And that was a plus. I just can't envisage that I escaped that. When you have several thousand tonnes of metal floating on a violent sea and then somebody shooting at you, you wonder: Are you going to come back? Mind you, on a ship, you were so busy sometimes, particularly in action, that you didn't have time to think. When you get rounds dropping, you were a bit nervous, but you had to move.
Remembrance
Mat Belear: Remembrance Day for me was always a special time. I thought about my grandfather and what he did in World War II as part of the Hasty Peas [the Hastings and Prince
Edward Regiment]. And now, for me, when I sit there during the Remembrance Day ceremonies, not only do I think about my grandfather, but I think about friends that were injured alongside me. Or guys from my unit that were killed over there and their families. I'm happy to be able to take a part in it, but at the same time, it's a little bit more difficult now.
Gus MacGillivray: When I was in school, it had been 20 years since World War I, which was supposed to have been the war to end all wars. And then all of a sudden, 25 years later or so, we are involved in another, where most of the industrial countries of the world are at war again. I
think we will never be free of war. I think human nature is such that, situations occur politically that require people to put a stop to what's happening and then we wind up with a war.
Do you ever miss war?
Mat Belear: Over time, the mind kind of plays tricks on you, and you tend to forget the bad times and think about the good times that we had over there. Just being able to say that I was a part of it. The conversations with people in your platoon and your section, the lifelong friendships that you make from the military. Those are the moments that I'll cherish forever.
Gus MacGillivray: It was an experience that I would not want to miss. I think if I had to do it over again, I probably would ... My experience in war was four and a half years. My experience in Korea, including the buildup, totalled about a year and a half. My whole career, in both the navy and the army, was 32 years. And it was the time after the war, where I was serving with
NATO and the Canadian Army, that I really enjoyed being part of it. And I would not have wanted to do anything else. When I graduated as an engineer in 1951, there was big money to be made if you went with a company. In the service, the pay was miserable but the life was good, we behaved like a family, we looked after one another. I would do it all over again.
*****
THE SERIES
Reshaping Remembrance
To mark Remembrance Day, the first after the end of Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan,
The Globe and Mail has begun a conversation about how Canadians remember - a series of stories, fragments, photographs and documents submitted by veterans and their families. In print and online, they speak to the enduring, and evolving, nature of collective and personal memories.
We invite you to listen, and to join in.
Section: News
Lead: First World War Canadian soldier Private Alexander Johnston, killed in battle over 93 years ago, has finally been honoured with a military funeral on Oct. 25. Under the cold, rainy skies of northern France, overlooking the actual battlefield where he died, the remains of Pte
Johnston were buried in the Cantimpré Canadian Cemetery, Sailly-lez-Cambrai. His relatives from Canada and Scotland, who had not known eachother, were reunited for the ceremony.
Headline: At last, soldier laid to rest
Page: G3
Byline: CPL DIANE NEUMAN, CFSU(O) IMAGING SERVICES
Outlet: The Ottawa Sun
Illustrations:
CPLdianeneuman, cfsu(o)imag ingservices/servic ed'imageriedel'usfc (O) Cpl Ann Gregory of
Ottawa plays the Last Post during a military funeral for her great grand uncle, Pte Alexander
Johnston. Le Cpl Ann Gregory d'Ottawa interprète la dernière sonnerie lors des funérailles militairespour son arrière grand oncle, le Sdt Alexander Johnston.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
First World War Canadian soldier Private Alexander Johnston, killed in battle over 93 years ago, has finally been honoured with a military funeral on Oct. 25. Under the cold, rainy skies of northern France, overlooking the actual battlefield where he died, the remains of Pte Johnston were buried in the Cantimpré Canadian Cemetery, Sailly-lez-Cambrai. His relatives from Canada and Scotland, who had not known each other, were reunited for the ceremony.
Johnston's closest living relative, grand nephew Mr. Don Gregory, a retired Royal Canadian Air
Force pilot from Ottawa, made the trip with his son David and daughter Ann, who is a member of the Governor General's Foot Guards. "It's an emotional day, not only because of my greatuncle but also because finding him has brought us all together. The genealogist found us and got us together, and it's been just great," he said.
What made the event even more unique was that Cpl Ann Gregory was asked to play the trumpet during her great grand uncle's burial. While she has played the Last Post many times, this occasion was a career highlight.
"These pieces are always special and touch people. I am honoured to play them to pay respects for a fallen soldier,
* Pte Johnston was born in Coatbridge, Scotland in 1885. He immigrated to Hamilton, Ontario in his late 20s and worked as a boilermaker. He was conscripted and joined the Canadian
Expeditionary Force on January 5, 1918. In September of that year, Pte Johnston was taken with the 78th Battalion (Winnipeg Grenadiers) into the field during the First World War.
* In the last 100 days of the war, during the Battle of the Canal du Nord, the 78th Battalion was tasked with taking the villages of Sailly and Raillencourt. The battalion came under heavy fire, and Pte Johnston went missing and was presumed dead. He was added to the list of over 11,000
Canadian soldiers missing in action from the First World War. Pte Johnston was 33 years old.
but especially for one who is family," Cpl Gregory said. "It releases emotions and helps the families move on."
Towards the end of the First World War, Pte Johnson fought in the Battle of the Canal du Nord, during which he went missing and was presumed dead. His remains were eventually discovered during construction of a nearby factory in 2008. Collar dogs were also found and identified to be those of the 78th Battalion (Winnipeg Grenadiers).
Realizing it was a Canadian soldier, French authorities notified the Canadian Forces Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH) Ottawa of the discovery in February 2009. Using military records and genealogical research, the search was narrowed to two soldiers. DNA testing with samples provided by Mr. Don Gregory then enabled the remains to be identified as those of Pte
Johnston.
"How we treat our war dead is extremely reflective of our society. Giving them the dignity of a name and a burial is the least we can do to repay the huge debt we owe them all," noted Laurel
Clegg, Casualty ID Co-ordinator at the DHH.
The family is grateful that Pte Johnston has a final resting place with his comrades and that his relatives were included in the ceremony. "It's incredible; all the work that they put into identifying him and then doing the right thing, doing a proper service," said Mr. Gregory.
Although 93 years have passed since his death, Pte Johnston received a more formal burial than most of his comrades did at that time. Knowing this, Cpl Gregory commented on the timing of the occasion, "I felt like I was playing not only for him but also for the others who had fallen and those whose remains have yet to be found."
Section: News
Lead: The 2011 North American Technology Demonstration (NATD), a three-day technology demonstration, hosted jointly by the Department of National Defence and the United States
Department of Defence's Non-Lethal Weapons Program, took place in the National Capital
Region from Oct. 25 to 27.
Headline: Non-lethal weapons showcased World leaders in defence and security gather for 2011
North American TechnologyDemonstration
Page: G7
Byline: JOSÉE HUNTER, ADM(PA)
Outlet: The Ottawa Sun
Illustrations:
Cpl Anthony La violette, CFSU(O) Imag ing Services / Services d'imagerie de l'usfc(o) The latest non-lethal technologies were showcased at the Connaught Ranges as part of the 2011
North American Technology Demonstration. Les dernières technologies non létales ont été présentés au Polygone de Connaught dans le cadre de la démonstration technologique nordaméricaine.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
The 2011 North American Technology Demonstration (NATD), a three-day technology demonstration, hosted jointly by the Department of National Defence and the United States
Department of Defence's Non-Lethal Weapons Program, took place in the National Capital
Region from Oct. 25 to 27.
The occasion brought together approximately one thousand of the world's leaders in defence and security, and attracted military and civilian members from more than 30 different countries.
The event consisted of NATO working group meetings, a static display and conference program at the Ottawa Convention Centre. It also included a table exhibit and dynamic demonstration at the Connaught Ranges featuring short dramatizations to help illustrate how various non-lethal technologies can be applied to practical operational settings.
The non-lethal capabilities showcased included pyrotechnics, blunt force weapons, irritants, irritant delivery systems, energy weapons, loudhailers, lights, lasers, personnel dispersion systems, personnel restraining systems, vehicle arresting systems, combination platforms and control systems.
COUNTER-TERRORISM
The 2011 NATD gave industry the opportunity to inform participants from NATO, and other nations on the availability, development, effects and potential uses of various non-lethal capabilities in counter-terrorism situations.
It also promoted technological developments related to non-lethal capabilities through the sharing of requirements with participating companies.
For more information, please visit the 2011 NATD website at www.2011natd.ca.For background information on Canada's involve-m ent in the 2011 NATD, please see the Backgrounder at http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Backgrounder_ENG_1026.pdf.
Section: News
Lead: "I wish all Canadians back home could feel the warm recognition for our col-leagues' sacrifice that remains so strong after more than 65 years," said LCol Claude Many, a Canadian
Military Engineer with the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE).
Headline: Belgian battle recalled
Page: G9
Byline: MAJ JM MERCIER, VCDS GP -FORMATION EUROPE
Outlet: The Ottawa Sun
Illustrations:
Maj JM Mercier, vcds gp -formation europe/gp vcemd -formation me rcier Canadian
Delegation of military members, spouses and children are shown at the Canada-Poland Second
World War museum. La délégation canadienne, formée de membres militaires, conjoint(e)s et enfants, devant le musée de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale canadien-polonais.
Date: Thursday 10 November 2011
"I wish all Canadians back home could feel the warm recognition for our col-leagues' sacrifice that remains so strong after more than 65 years," said LCol Claude Many, a Canadian Military
Engineer with the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE).
On Sept 10, a mixed delegation of 40 military members, spouses and children took a 32-km march organized by the Belgium-Canada Association to remember Operation SWITCHBACK, which liberated Northern Belgium from Nazi occupation in 1944.
The week-end series of commemorative events started with a visit on Friday to a private museum in honour of Canadian and Polish soldiers.
The owner, Gilbert Van Landschoot, explained its background: "My father, freed by Canadians of 1 Cdn Army and Polish soldiers, devoted his life to be thankful and to recognize their sacrifice. On his last breath, he made me promise to perpetuate our family recognition to our liberators. I opened a museum in 1995 and my family and I steadily kept improving it ever since".
To learn more about the Canada-Poland museum and the Association Bel gium-Canada, visit the following websites: www.canadamuseum. be and www.belgiumcanada.net.
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