From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V8 #514 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, October 19 2005 Volume 08 : Number 514 In this issue: BLUE LINE: Mounties work on Manitoba police shortage Re: Tory MP fights for minimum gun crime sentences Re: Liberals widen gap in poll Terror laws take high-level hit LORNE GUNTER'S BLOG [LETTER] Excuses don't cut it [COLUMN] Blame bad parents BC's Revolving Door Another Day in Court Justice system at risk, chiefs say Column: Guns are dangerous. [COLUMN] Top Chretien ally might get Martin off hook ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:57:12 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: BLUE LINE: Mounties work on Manitoba police shortage BLUE LINE - Canada's National Law Enforcement Magazine Mounties work on Manitoba police shortage http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/2005_new/13.pdf REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION Mark Reesor, Editor, Blue Line Magazine www.blueline.ca (905) 640-3048 (905) 640-7547 (fax) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:58:11 -0600 (CST) From: paul chicoine Subject: Re: Tory MP fights for minimum gun crime sentences > A Conservative MP wants mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes, but a > government lawyer says they wouldn't get past the Charter of Rights and > Freedoms What a lovely mess this is! The conduct of our legal system appears to no longer be in the hands of elected officials but in the hands of appointed judges. Another take on this is the unwillingness of an elected government to pass legislation to put the court in its place. Pretty odd. You have no charter rights as a gun owner but a rapist does! __________ Paul Chicoine Non Assumpsit Contract - All Rights Reserved - Without Prejudice ___________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:59:01 -0600 (CST) From: "mred" Subject: Re: Liberals widen gap in poll - ----- Original Message ----- > http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051019/POL > L19/Front/Idx > > Liberals widen gap in poll > > By BRIAN LAGHI > Wednesday, October 19, 2005 Page A1 > OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF > > The federal Liberals are creeping into range of a majority government as > the gap between them and the Conservatives widens to levels not seen since > well before the revelations of the Gomery commission. > > The results are found in a new poll that also shows a majority of > Canadians > believe the NDP should continue to prop up the government in the House of > Commons. Well that should give you an inkling at least ?? of the inteligence of the average voter ijn Kanada? ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:19:49 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Terror laws take high-level hit http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Arti cle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1129672214395&call_pageid=968332188774&col=96835011 6467 Terror laws take high-level hit Former minister changes his view THOMAS WALKOM Oct. 19, 2005. 01:00 AM Four years ago, fighting terror was government's top priority. Now, even a former defence minister acknowledges Ottawa went too far. Known as a military hawk during his time in the Commons, David Pratt now says Canada's post-9/11 anti-terror laws are so broadly - and so badly - written that they leave those working for the Red Cross and similar humanitarian agencies open to criminal prosecution for just doing their jobs. Even someone who simply donates money to a legitimate aid agency could be liable to 10 years in jail says the former Liberal MP, now special ambassador for the Canadian Red Cross. That's because Canada's anti-terror laws make it a crime to knowingly give aid that may end up benefiting anyone who might carry out or - or who might help someone who might carry out - a terrorist act. But the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations are required to be impartial when they hand out aid. Under the terms of its charter, the 96-year-old Canadian Red Cross cannot deny help to those in need just because it doesn't like their political views and methods, a responsibility that is buttressed by international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions. In these situations, Pratt told a Senate committee earlier this week, it is almost inevitable that some aid flows to people that the government of Canada may regard as terrorist supporters. In Afghanistan, he said, some of the $4.4 million spent last year by the Red Cross and the federal government's own Canadian International Development Agency may well have ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda supporters and others opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of that country. Indeed, some may end up in the hands of those attacking Canadian troops who are in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. operation. "What's key to us is to get aid to vulnerable people," Pratt said in a telephone interview from Ottawa yesterday. "And sometimes aid does get diverted. It's a fact of life in a conflict zone." Yet when such diversions occur, he said, the law as written makes the Red Cross, as well as its workers, donors and supporters, vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Pratt's submission Monday to a special Senate committee is part of a growing chorus of complaint about Canada's beefed up anti-terror legislation. Working outside the glare of media attention, the committee has heard from a host of individuals, lawyers, civil rights groups and community organizations that Canada's response to the terror attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001 was overly broad and ill considered. As part of this response, designed in large part to assure the U.S. government of President George W. Bush that Canada was pulling its weight, the government took aim at what it saw as bogus charities that raise money to fund terrorist organizations. Those who give money to such charities are now liable to prosecution under the criminal code. And the charities themselves may be deregistered. Ironically, Pratt himself was one of those backbench Liberals who happily voted for these laws. At the time, he was chair of the Commons defence committee and a strong supporter of closer military ties with the United States. When Paul Martin became prime minister in 2003, he appointed Pratt his defence minister, a post the Ottawa MP held until he lost his seat in the ensuing federal election. Now, however, Pratt says the anti-terror legislation he supported then was far too sweeping. "I don't think this is what was intended," he said. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:50:00 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: LORNE GUNTER'S BLOG http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/comment/blog/gunter.html?p NATIONAL POST LORNE GUNTER'S BLOG (1) SUBJECT: Maybe the Libs will listen to police chiefs on this one, too - Nah (2) SUBJECT: Other interesting stats on Canadian vs. American crime rates (3) SUBJECT: American murder rate lower than I said (and the implications of this for Canada's self-image) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:27:00 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [LETTER] Excuses don't cut it http://winnipegsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/10/19/1268229.html Excuses don't cut it Re: Gang solutions offered (Sun Staff, Oct. 18). I have two teenagers and a lot of debt that I must work long hours to pay off. If I can raise my kids and manage to keep them from becoming idiot gang members, then what is stopping the people Wade Kojo Williams is referring to? As far as I can tell, many immigrants are given substantial amounts of time and money from our government to allow them to take care of themselves. How does that in any way equate with their kids becoming bad seeds? They are being given a chance at education and a much higher standard of living and they repay their new communities by selling crack and meth and resorting to intimidation. A lot of people migrate here and make something great out of their lives; the excuses presented by Wade Kojo Williams just don't cut it when stacked up against all the success stories. David Thompson Winnipeg (Unconditional condemnation of criminal gang activity is what we should be hearing from our community leaders.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:23:20 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [COLUMN] Blame bad parents http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2005/10/19/1268282. html Blame bad parents By TOM BRODBECK Wed, October 19, 2005 There are few things I hate more than when people try to attribute criminal activity to poverty, racism, immigration or the hardships of single parenting. Some were at it again over the past week after the gang shooting of innocent bystander Phil Haiart. Immigration was blamed. Poverty in the area was blamed. I had one single parent tell me the hardships of single parenting were to blame. Wade Kojo Williams, president of the Black History Month Celebration Committee, even went as far as blaming the busy schedules of newly arrived immigrants to Canada and the struggles they face repaying transportation costs. "And what happens when they're out (working) for 18 hours a day?" Williams told reporters during a meeting Monday at the Manitoba Legislature. "Their kids are left at home, left to their own devices and they're easily lured into gangs." Please. That's the biggest copout I've ever heard. And it's an insult to newly arrived immigrants who take great pride in raising their children in a disciplined, compassionate and caring manner. Are you going to tell me that because you can't speak English or you're new to the country that your kids are more prone to living with less supervision than anyone else? That's crap. Failing to supervise your children, including knowing where they're playing, hanging out etc., has nothing to do with language or immigration. It has everything to do with lousy parenting. And it has nothing to do with poverty, either. This country -- especially Winnipeg -- was built by immigrants, many of whom came to Canada with nothing more than the shirts on their backs. There are many, many low-income families and single mothers and fathers out there who are responsible, caring parents who play an active role in their children's lives. They put their kids first and don't allow them to get drawn into the criminal element, as much as any parent can. Good parenting doesn't cost money. And it's not the exclusive domain of any race, religion or gender. Immigrants, regardless of their challenges adjusting to new cultures, aren't less likely to be good parents compared with anyone else. Easier to blame gov't In today's society, we're reluctant to hold parents accountable for their children's behaviour. We prefer to cite red herrings like poverty, immigration and racism instead. It's easier to just blame government or "society." Just like Mr. Williams, who suggests that if government gave immigrants a break on repaying their transportation costs, their kids may be less likely to join gangs. Right. What he and others should be promoting is responsible parenting -- being there for your kids, knowing where they are, knowing their friends and knowing their friends' parents. It's about paying attention to your children's behaviour and responding to changes in it, such as falling school grades. It's the shortcomings in those areas, in parenting, that help fuel gang recruitment and ultimately gang violence. That's the front end. The back end of the problem is a lax, misguided legal system that doesn't hold criminals accountable for their actions. We need to tackle the problem of gang violence from both ends -- parenting and the legal system. We should leave irrelevant factors such as immigration and poverty out of it. Tom Brodbeck is the Sun's city columnist. He can be reached by e-mail at: tbrodbeck@wpgsun.com. Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@wpgsun.com. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:23:34 -0600 (CST) From: "Todd Birch" Subject: BC's Revolving Door Since moving to an interior location, I've been too busy to read or = comment on some of the recent postings. Yesterday I caught a news cast (Global TV) that said Vancouver led the = country in property crimes. The reason? BC's revolving door policy = following conviction and the fact that other provinces will not collect = their pond scum property criminals unless there is violence involved. So BC (Vancouver in particular) has become the Mecca for property = criminals of all kinds. Friends of mine in an upscale area of Surrey recently suffered breakins = two days apart. There was obvious collusion as to accessibility and = location of articles. Yes, the house was wired leading to speculation = that it was an "inside" job planned by someone who had been in the house = socially. More recently, their utility trailer was stolen from the driveway. Yes, = it was chained to a steel post. The couple are under extreme stress as a = result of the insurance hassles but regard it as "normal" and part of = the cost of lower mainland living. It is a gun-owning household, but no guns were lost as they were very = well secured. For that they are thankful as it would have added = considerably to their woes had their guns been taken. Stolen cars are regularly dumped on the street awaiting pick up but = residents are smart enough not to report suspicious activity to police = for fear of retaliation. None of them will use the Sky Train out of = fear, but that was before they armed the guards. And they thought I was nuts moving deeper into the interior. TB ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:27:52 -0600 (CST) From: Edward Hudson Subject: Another Day in Court Another Day in Court Jack Wilson & I made another appearance in Saskatoon provincial court this morning regarding the matter of the Canadian Firearms Center's 18 March 2005 demand that I surrender the four registered .22 rifles which I own: "A review of our files reveals that you no longer have a valid firearms licence as required under the Firearms Act. Pursuant to Section 13 of the Firearms Act, you are not eligible to hold a registration certificate for a firearm unless you hold a licence authorizing you to possess that kind of firearm. "If you choose not to refer this matter to a provincial court judge, you have one day from the receipt of this notice to surrender you firearms and registration certificates ... ." This was our third court appearance for this case. Today the federal crown prosecutor finally acknowledged that the constitutional argument which we made in Craik, SK, two weeks ago should apply to this case as well. Therefore the judge set consideration of this case over until after the judge in Craik rules on our Common Law Right to own firearms without a licence. In total, we have three active firearms cases before the courts: (1) the one described above, (2) the confiscation case in Craik, and (3) a second confiscation case in Humboldt, SK. We have made a total of twelve court appearances over past two years concerning these three case, not counting five court appearances for two inactive cases regarding two confiscated firearms in Biggar and Wilkie, SK. Our costs so far are six interrupted duck hunts, four confiscated shotguns, 100 rounds of confiscated shotgun ammunition, thirty-four hundred kilometers in travel, and 17 half-days invested in court. This weekend we will once again publicly demonstrate our determination to own firearms without a licence with a skeet shoot near Brooks, Alberta. Sincerely, Eduardo Secretary CUFOA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:59:46 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Justice system at risk, chiefs say http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Arti cle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1129629768945&call_pageid=968256289824&col=96834221 2737 Justice system at risk, chiefs say Ontario association calls for stricter sentencing, more resources CANADIAN PRESS Oct. 18, 2005. 05:07 PM More police officers are spending time in court rather than chasing down bad guys while some paroled murderers and sex offenders get passes to amusement parks, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police charged today. Lengthy court delays, soaring costs and lax prison sentences are making a mockery of the justice system, association president and York Region police Chief Armand La Barge said as he announced a new committee to work with government and community leaders to make the system more effective. La Barge listed a raft of complaints he said clogged the system and kept officers from doing their jobs - among them a critical lack of justices of the peace, overbooked courts "and a growing insensitivity towards victims of crime." "Those are the type of situations that really do make a mockery of the criminal justice system," La Barge said. "Truth in sentencing, meaningful and enforceable rights for victims of crime, a full review of our parole system and elimination of the red tape and bureaucracy that is strangling our criminal justice system and costing our taxpayers millions of dollars may well turn the tide of crime." Owen Sound police Chief Tom Kaye said he knows of cases where federal parolees get passes to local theme parks. "The system is just flat broken," said an exasperated Kaye. "If you go out to (Canada's) Wonderland and you ran into somebody who had already victimized you . . . what would you tell the victim?" Holly Knowles of Corrections Canada said federal parolees are occasionally allowed to visit popular vacation sites such as amusement parks or casinos, but just who is granted permission is tightly screened. Permits are only issued in cases where a visit would not violate parole conditions. Sex offenders banned from being around children, for instance, would not be allowed to visit Wonderland, nor would a murderer ordered to abstain from alcohol be allowed to visit Oktoberfest celebrations. "If a travel application could elevate an offender's risk it won't be authorized," Knowles said from Kingston, adding that some recreational activities are considered "pro-social" or family gatherings. Still, prison sentences remain far from adequate, said La Barge, noting it' s not uncommon for operators of sophisticated marijuana grow-ops to be sentenced to house arrest or a nine-month conditional sentence. The average sentence in the U.S. for running a grow-op is seven years, added Kaye. "It's no wonder we have the grow-op problem and not the States and we've become the biggest (marijuana) exporter down there," he said. La Barge blamed frequent court obligations for siphoning scarce resources and staff from police forces across the province. Suspects are remanded an average of nine to 13 times before standing trial, with each of those appearances demanding police security. In La Barge's region of York, court obligations cost him six per cent of his budget - between $8 million and $9 million a year. Kaye said almost 10 per cent of his budget goes towards paying for court duties. "We, in some cases, have got more police officers tied up sitting in courthouses than we do out driving around in our communities and the cost of doing all of this has just come to the point where it's unacceptable," he said. Attorney General Michael Bryant said forthcoming legislation would streamline the system by changing the way justices of the peace are appointed and dedicating justices to traffic court offences. "We're making those changes; we're doing it in co-operation with (the police chiefs)," Bryant said. Chiefs also warned the province against considering a transfer of Ontario's parole system to the federal government. Ontario has said it wants to get rid of redundancy by offloading its parole system to Ottawa. Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter said today that the issue was still being examined and no decisions had yet been made. The new committee, chaired by Kaye, is made up of 10 police chiefs throughout the province and one member each from the RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:03:47 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: Column: Guns are dangerous. TOWNHALL.COM The doomsday provision By John Stossel, Co-anchor, 20/20 Oct 19, 2005 Guns are dangerous. But myths are dangerous, too. Myths about guns are very dangerous, because they lead to bad laws. And bad laws kill people. http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/JohnStossel/2005/10/19/171896.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:35:58 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [COLUMN] Top Chretien ally might get Martin off hook http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Arti cle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1129630480941&call_pageid=968256290204&col=96835011 6795 Top Chrétien ally might get Martin off hook CHANTAL HÉBERT Oct. 19, 2005. 01:00 AM There are times when the silence of the dog that fails to bark in the night is more deafening than the echo of a smoking gun. It seems this is one of them. In the eyes of the outside world, Stéphane Dion - his testimony is expected to be pivotal to the soon-to-be-released conclusions of Justice John Gomery - was not one of the star witnesses of the sponsorship commission. His half-day appearance in front of Gomery last January made few headlines. It was promptly eclipsed by the theatrics of past and present prime ministers and, later, by the tawdry conflicting tales of those who lined their pockets at taxpayer expense. As coincidence would have it, Dion was called to the witness bar on the ninth anniversary of his swearing-in as Jean Chrétien's handpicked choice to steer Canada through the post-referendum minefield. In hindsight, it is this status as Chrétien's point man in Quebec that makes his words jump off the thousands of pages of transcripts Gomery has been poring over. After the referendum, no file was more crucial to Chrétien's fortunes than Dion's unity portfolio. As a result, the minister enjoyed a remarkably close relationship with the former prime minister. Dion testified that Chrétien and his powerful chief-of-staff Jean Pelletier were never more than a phone call away. In matters of unity, only the prime minister could overrule him. Yet, despite their frequent exchanges, Dion said they never had a single conversation about the sponsorship program; he found out about its existence over the course of his ministerial travels in Quebec. No one, he added, had ever told him the sponsorship initiative was specifically designed with Quebec, rather than all of Canada, in mind. To this day, he remains unconvinced that such a program should have had a crucial part in a serious post-referendum strategy. Dion was not the only Chrétien minister to testify under oath that he was not party to the sponsorship program. But he was the one whose exclusion from the loop was the most significant. Despite Chrétien's characterization of the program as a key piece of the federal unity puzzle, he turned to the minister responsible for the Liberal party's affairs in Quebece to supervise it, rather than to the one in charge of national unity. From start to finish, Dion was a Chrétien loyalist, instructing his staff at one point to stay out of the leadership wars or risk dismissal. If Chrétien kept such a staunch supporter out of the sponsorship loop, he would hardly have involved Martin, a rival whose reservations about his unity approach were widely known and whose popularity in Quebec grated with him. From the perspective of the sponsorship commission, Dion is more than someone who happened to have a front row seat on the unity strategy of the government and still managed to miss part of the main event. If Gomery is going to believe anyone in his quest for the facts in the affair, it is more likely to be someone with a straight-arrow reputation like Dion than any of the cast of characters who testified to bending the rules. Any conclusion based on Dion's testimony would also be that much harder for Chrétien to counter, should he want to challenge Gomery's findings. Of all of his recruits, the former prime minister was always particularly proud of Dion, a rare Quebec intellectual who was willing to put his reputation on the line for federalism. Martin, on the other hand, had so little time for his predecessor's protege that he left him out of his first cabinet. It is ironic, to say the least, that Dion's testimony may now doom Chrétien's efforts to portray himself and his palace guard as mere victims of the sponsorship scandal while it gets Martin off the hook. Chantal Hébert is a national affairs writer whose column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. chebert@thestar.ca ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V8 #514 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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