From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #880 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 Friday, November 2 2007 Volume 10 : Number 880 In this issue: Convicted Windsor cop killer gets 25 years- National Post Saudis with B.C. ties accused of financing bin Laden- Nat'l Post Police say they will return Taser video soon- The Vancouver Sun Police can ignore accused's right to silence: top court- Ottawa Re: Dewat question ... terrorists get rights in canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:08:51 -0600 From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Convicted Windsor cop killer gets 25 years- National Post Convicted Windsor cop killer gets 25 years http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=ae10b94d-2fb1-40f6-9916-22313701189f&k=83730 Image & Caption Convicted cop killer Nikkolas Brennan, is escorted from Windsor's Superior Court after being sentenced to 25 years in jail. Brennan , who shot Windsor Constable John Atkinson to death May 5, 2006, was given the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. Tyler Brownbridge/The Windsor Star Trevor Wilhelm, CanWest News Service Published: Friday, November 02, 2007 WINDSOR, Ont. -- A widow's anger mixed with the confused sorrow of her children Friday as they each told convicted police killer Nikkolas Brennan how his murder of Const. John Atkinson changed their lives. Following victim impact statements, a judge gave Brennan the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years for the first degree murder of Const. Atkinson. During her statement, Const. Atkinson's wife Shelley sat in the witness stand and stared Brennan in the eye. She trembled as she spoke. "How do you sleep at night knowing you have changed our lives forever?" she asked. "We didn't ask for this. We wanted to grow old together. We wanted to be the loving family we were. We wanted all of that and you changed it and I will never forgive you for that. No sentence in the world will be acceptable for Mitchell, no punishment will fit the crime for Nicole, and no amount of justice could possibly be served now that I am without my best friend." A first degree-murder verdict means the jury believed Brennan knew Const. Atkinson was a police officer when he shot him in the face on May 5, 2006, outside a Windsor convenience store. The sentence includes a lifetime weapons prohibition and giving a DNA sample. After 15 years, Brennan can apply for an earlier parole. Brennan also got a one-year sentence for the use of a handgun in the commission of an indictable offence and a year for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Both sentences, which stemmed from Const. Atkinson's murder, will be served concurrently. Const. Atkinson was gunned down when he confronted Brennan and an accomplice in a drug deal. In addition, Brennan got a concurrent 90-day sentence Friday for a robbery from 2005, when he punched a man in the face and kicked him repeatedly in the head and ribs when he fell down, before stealing his cellphones. Before sentencing, assistant Crown attorney Walter Costa read statements from Const. Atkinson's parents Richard and Charmaine and his brother Michael. Const. Atkinson's young children, Mitchell and Nicole, gave video statements. Nicole, whose seventh birthday party was planned for the day Const. Atkinson died, held up a picture she made of her playing with her dad. "I was really sad what happened," she said. "I miss my dad. I miss him hugging me and touching me. I miss my dad so much because he's the best in the whole wide world. My dad was No. 1 for me. On my birthday I was crying into pieces. I loved him so much." She said she says three Hail Mary prayers for her dad everyday. Mitchell said his father always played with him, took him fishing and to his grandparents' house to go swimming. "I miss him a lot and I love him a lot," said Mitchell. Shelley said the life she had, the life her children had, is gone. She said her late husband will never see Mitchell's football games, take him fishing, watch him graduate or see him get married. The widow told Brennan he stole Const. Atkinson's chance to see Nicole sing in the choir, meet her first boyfriend, watch her fall in love and walk her down the aisle. "We will never go to bed together, wake up together or make love again," she said. "We will never have our late-night chats, cuddles on the couch, no more I love you's when he walked in the door or I love you's when he walked out. No more kisses that lasted forever. Even our simple silence that spoke a thousand words is gone. And I'll never hear him say with pride 'that's my girl.' But with pride I can still say 'that's my guy.' It's all gone. You Nikkolas Brennan took that away from us." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:52:57 -0600 From: Dave Jordan Subject: Saudis with B.C. ties accused of financing bin Laden- Nat'l Post MOUNTIES AID SWISS PROBE http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=cd061091-62ec-4b57-b4b0-4240c003e931&p=1 Image: Map of Gang Ranch *About 150k South of Prince George, BC.[-DRGJ] Saudis with B.C. ties accused of financing bin Laden Stewart Bell, National Post; National Post Published: Friday, November 02, 2007 Canada and Switzerland have been co-operating on a terrorism financing investigation of a Saudi businessman accused of funding Osama bin Laden, the National Post has learned. The two countries have been working together for more than a year on a probe of Yasin Al Kadi, who once had business holdings in Vancouver and whose assets are frozen in Canada under anti-terrorism legislation. They began co-operating on the case last summer when Swiss authorities asked the Department of Justice for a copy of the RCMP's files on a second Saudi businessman who lives part-time in B.C. The Mounties recently delivered their dossier to the Swiss judge in charge of the case. A Justice Department spokesman would not comment, but an RCMP counterterrorism officer confirmed he had been assisting Swiss authorities. "We are working with the Swiss in relation to a variety of issues around that," said Inspector Lloyd Plante of the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team at RCMP E Division in B.C. The investigation is one of several that, six years after the 9/11 attacks, are attempting to unravel the global web of charities and companies that bankrolled bin Laden as he built the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Reached at her office in Switzerland, Judge Marie-Antonella Bino confirmed she was investigating Mr. Kadi and that she had requested help from Canadian authorities. "We are working on the case together with the Canadian police," she said. "I'm in charge of a proceeding against Mr. Kadi and I'm trying to find any connection he could have had with some other people who [have] some terrorism suspicions hanging [over them]. "That's why I was wondering what the Canadian authorities were doing in their procedure and I've just received some days ago the Canadian file and I haven't had time to go through it yet but I will do it." On June 23, 2006, Judge Bino formally asked Canada for the results of an RCMP investigation into Ibrahim Afandi, owner of the Gang Ranch in B.C. Mr. Afandi is also a former director of the International Islamic Relief Organization, a Saudi charity whose assets have been frozen by Canada for their alleged links to terror financing. Judge Bino's letter to the Justice Department said she needed the RCMP's file in order to assess "links and/or interesting similarities between some financial set-ups performed by Mr. Yasin Al Kadi and Mr. Ibrahim Afandi." Mr. Kadi has been fighting allegations he is a financier of terrorism since the mid-1990s. His assets were frozen by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada in October, 2001. The U.S. Treasury said he had been a director of the Saudi-based Muwafaq Foundation, which it alleges was an al-Qaeda financial front. But Mr. Kadi has consistently denied ever funding terrorism or bin Laden. "I have never been associated to this guy in any way and never sent him any money," he said after his assets were frozen. Judge Bino's inquiry may well settle the matter. In an interview, she told the Post her investigation is both "for" and "against" Mr. Kadi, meaning it could result in criminal charges but also exoneration. "That's what he wants the most and that's why I'm looking for evidence, for connections with other proceedings which are not only in Canada. I have some other connections with other authorities in Europe and in America, too," she said. "The Canadian police sent me the information I was asking for and they co-operated fully at the time and maybe we will go on co-operating together, I don't know yet. It's a question I have to examine with my police officer." The Anti-Terrorism Act makes it illegal to provide financial support to terrorism but the law is not retroactive, so it cannot be used to prosecute those who may have bankrolled terrorists before the act came into force in December, 2001. Canada has not yet convicted anyone of terrorist financing -- an issue that was raised during the Air India inquiry. Last week, the federal agency that tracks money laundering said it detected more than $200-million in financial transactions last year that it suspected were linked to terrorism or other security threats. sbell@nationalpost.com - --- THE YASIN KADI INVESTIGATION IN BRIEF Oct. 12, 2001 The U.S., U.K. and Canada freeze Mr. Kadi's assets. The U.S. Treasury says his former charity is "an al-Qaeda front." Oct. 15, 2001 Kadi's lawyers complain about designation. Oct. 25, 2001 The Office of Attorney-General of Switzerland opens investigation into Mr. Kadi because several 9/11 victims were Swiss. May 30, 2002 Investigators travel to Albania. Interviews and documents "strongly suggest a relationship between Kadi and known terror supporters." May 12, 2004 U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control refuses to take Mr. Kadi off list of designated terrorists. June 2, 2004 FBI reports Mr. Kadi had visited one of Osama bin Laden's guest houses in Sudan. Mr. Kadi says not so. Dec. 24, 2004 Turkey dismisses proceedings against Mr. Kadi, saying he had no relation with al-Qaeda. July 29, 2005 Swiss examining judge Marie-Antonella Bino opens probe into Mr. Kadi. Sept. 19, 2005 U.S. Treasury calls Mr. Kadi "an active supporter of, and fundraiser for" Abdul Latif Saleh, founder of an Albanian jihadist group. June 23, 2006 Judge Bino asks Canada for RCMP files on Ibrahim Afandi. Oct. 29, 2007 Judge Bino confirms receipt of Canadian dossier. Sources: Summary prepared by Kadi's lawyers for Swiss inquiry, U.S. Treasury, Canada Gazette © National Post 2007 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:10:07 -0600 From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Police say they will return Taser video soon- The Vancouver Sun Police say they will return Taser video soon http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=f8f83d21-8883-45b7-81c0-b8e0b766507d&p=1 Image Paul Pritchard describes what he saw at the airport. Debra Brash, CanWest News Service Mounties planned to shock victim before he was confronted, man who shot footage says Jonathan Fowlie and Chantal Eustace, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, November 02, 2007 The public could soon see and hear exactly what happened when police confronted Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who died at Vancouver International Airport after being shocked by a police Taser. Despite repeated earlier refusals to return a series of privately shot videos of the event, police said on Thursday they are now prepared to give the controversial footage back in "the days to come." "We have hung on to that video a little bit longer than we initially had anticipated," RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr, a spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said Thursday afternoon. On Tuesday, Carr had said in an interview that police planned to keep the video until they felt its release would no longer compromise the investigation. At that point, he said, they would likely turn it over to the coroner for the purposes of an inquiry. "If we are criticized for doing that, we are prepared to take that criticism," he said then. Carr's announcement Thursday came just hours after the man who shot high-quality videos of the incident told a packed Victoria press conference that the police officer who shocked Dziekanski planned to Taser the Polish immigrant before he even arrived on the scene. "As they [three police officers] ran in, I heard one of the officers say, 'Can I Taser him?' or 'Should I Taser him' before they actually got to Mr. Dziekanski," said Paul Pritchard, a 25-year-old Victoria man who shot the video while on his way home from China to be with his ailing father. "As soon as they crossed through the doors, within five seconds they kind of flushed him behind the desk and right away they Tasered him," Pritchard added. Pritchard said he gave the videos to police right after the incident on the understanding they would be returned within 48 hours. He said police have held onto the videos ever since, telling him he may not see the footage again for up to 21/2 years. On Thursday morning, and before police made their announcement, Pritchard said he was planning to appear in court today in an effort to get the videos back. It is unclear whether that proceeding will continue. He also went into great detail about the events surrounding Dziekanski's death. Pritchard said officers did not try any obvious life-saving measures after Dziekanski fell to the ground, but instead called paramedics and stood idle as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. "Nothing was really happening. There was no movement," he said, adding an officer called out "code red" not long after Dziekanski went still, and that paramedics did not arrive for another five to eight minutes after that point. He said that when paramedics did arrive, they began immediately doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Dziekanski. "The fact the medics right away went into CPR leads me to believe that maybe they [the police] could have been doing something before that," he said. Pritchard asked why it took so long for help to arrive in the first place. He said he watched for 25 minutes while Dziekanski became increasingly agitated and other passengers called security for help. "There was nobody there to help . . . It went on for so long before anybody showed up," he said. "If security was there, this wouldn't have happened." Pritchard said that before anyone arrived, people at the scene called security at least twice, and two people left the area to try to find someone who could help. He said some women also tried to get a translator on an airport phone, but couldn't because the phone was broken. Pritchard said it took at least 25 minutes for security to arrive, and then another minute after that for police to come. The Vancouver Airport Authority did not return calls on Thursday to answer why it took so long for security to arrive or why the phone was broken. Asked about Pritchard's description of events, Carr refused comment, saying he was not prepared to go into any details about what is an ongoing investigation. "I'm here today to talk about this video," he said. "I'm not talking anything about the investigation so if there's a question that brings me to the investigation, I'm not here to talk about that. The investigation is still underway and that will be disclosed through the inquest in the coming months." Carr said he expects Pritchard will release the video to the media as soon as he is able. He added, however, that doing so is likely to upset Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski. "She is beside herself. This has been extremely traumatic for her and this is what, are we 10 or 15 days later? And it's going to be dredged up again," he said. "Probably, I can pretty much imagine the clips that are going to be shown if it's given, and I think it's terrible," he added. Pritchard has said the video includes sounds of "zapping" and "electric pulses" on it, as well as images of Dziekanski struggling to get away from the Taser before falling to the ground. He said he stopped filming after he realized Dziekanski had stopped moving -- a moment he said shocked a number of people watching. "All of our stomachs just kind of went sick," he said. Pritchard added he is determined to let the public see the video so the full story can get out, but he said he would speak with Cisowski before making any final decisions. "I will first talk to Mr. Dziekanski's family and their lawyer to make sure it is okay and then just get it out to the media," he said. "I want the public to see this." jfowlie@png.canwest.com ceustace@png.canwest.com - - - - WITNESS'S STORY An approximate timeline of events as related by Paul Pritchard, who videotaped the Taser death of Robert Dziekanski. 0 - 25 mins: Paul Pritchard wakes up from a nap while waiting at the airport to see a confused Dziekanski banging on the glass of the international arrivals area. People try to help Dziekanski. Security is called at least twice. A man lets Dziekanski into the secured part of the arrivals area. Once he gets inside, Dziekanski is agitated, and is picking up items like keyboards and chairs, but is not throwing them. 25 mins: Security guards arrive and wait at the door. Dziekanski throws an item -- possibly a computer or keyboard -- for the first time. 26 mins: Three RCMP officers arrive, one asking if he should use a Taser. Another officer answers, "Yes." The officers approach Dziekanski and almost immediately Taser him. After a brief struggle on the ground, Dziekanski goes motionless. One officer yells "code red" and leaves the room. The other two officers wait beside Dziekanski, but do not administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or first aid. 31 - 34 mins: Paramedics arrive, immediately rip off Dziekanski's shirt and start CPR. © The Vancouver Sun 2007 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:32:02 -0600 From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Police can ignore accused's right to silence: top court- Ottawa Police can ignore accused's right to silence: top court http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=60e09aac-c097-4730-b243-2b0a5e1ebbe1&p=1 'Things are going to get worse for people in custody,' lawyer says Richard Foot, The Ottawa Citizen; Police have the right to continue interrogating criminal suspects, even after suspects have asserted their constitutional right to silence and refused to answer questions, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday. Published: Friday, November 02, 2007 The decision fortifies police investigative powers across the country, and upholds the conviction of a British Columbia man who killed an innocent bystander when he fired his gun into a crowd outside a strip club in Surrey, B.C., in 2002. One prominent defence lawyer predicts the ruling will embolden police and contribute to Canada's poor record of wrongful convictions. "Things are going to get worse for people in custody," says Frank Addario, president of the Ontario-based Criminal Lawyers' Association. "We have a short memory in this country of how wrongful convictions are constructed. Coercive police tactics are part of the problem, and the court should be drawing a line in the sand, not tolerating them." However, yesterday's decision was not unanimous. Four of the nine justices argued instead that a suspect's right to silence is a "constitutional promise that must be kept," and police must cease their questioning once the right has been claimed. At the centre of the case is the killing of Rick Lof, a 30-year-old Canadian who lived in Hawaii. Mr. Lof was in Canada to celebrate a friend's birthday on April 5, 2002, when he was randomly struck in the head by one of five bullets fired into the entrance of a strip club by Jagrup Singh, then a 28-year-old truck driver. Mr. Singh fired shots into the bar after he and two others had been thrown out of the club. Mr. Singh was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years. He appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, insisting that a key piece of evidence -- an admission to police that he was the person in a videotape image recorded at the bar on the night of the shooting -- had been improperly obtained. Upon his arrest, Mr. Singh was advised of his Charter rights and allowed to speak to a lawyer. He repeatedly told police that he did not want to talk about the incident, and asserted his right to silence 18 times. In spite of this, the interrogator continued to question the detainee, in what the trial judge described as an "effort to get Singh to confess, no matter what." During these sessions, Mr. Singh identified himself as the man in the videotape, a piece of evidence that contributed to his conviction. The Supreme Court found the trial judge was correct in allowing the admission to be shown to the jury, because even though Mr. Singh had asserted his right to silence, the interrogation was not so aggressive that Mr. Singh was intimidated or browbeaten into identifying himself as the man in the video. The law giving an accused the right to remain silent does not mean "that a person has the right not to be spoken to by state authorities," says the majority ruling, written by Justice Louise Charron. Judge Charron dismissed a request from Mr. Singh's lawyer to impose a rule requiring police to stop interrogating detained suspects the moment they assert their right to silence, and only to begin questioning again after the suspect has signed a waiver. That "proposition ignores the state interest in the effective investigation of crime," writes Judge Charron. "Provided that the detainee's rights are adequately protected, including the freedom to choose whether to speak or not, it is in society's interest that the police attempt to tap this valuable source (of information)." The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Morris Fish, takes the opposite view: "I am troubled by Justice Charron's suggestion that the ability of the police to investigate crime in Canada would be unduly impaired by the effective exercise of the pre-trial right to silence," Judge Fish writes. © The Ottawa Citizen 2007 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 14:50:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Vladyslav Strashko Subject: Re: Dewat question ... It will become a total junk... http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/online-en_ligne/form-assistance/PDFs/1023_e.pdf Rob Sciuk wrote: Can anyone point to the Canadian regulations pertaining to Dewat/Deregistration of a restricted firearm? The piece in question is a rimfire revolver of some description, and I've yet to set eyes upon it, so I am unsure of age/make/action/value/condition. I'm also opposed to the idea on principal, but have been requested to come up with the info ... The question arises primarily owing to the piece being a keepsake for a widow who is not licensed, but my concern is that the Dewat process will render a likely junky revolver into an even more junky and ugly keepsake, and cost money to do so. It would be nice if the f/a could still open/close go click or something, but I'm suspecting that regulatory anal retension going back to the Liberal years will prevent anything resembling a keepsake from being generated -- I'm from the gov't -- I'm here to "help". Thanks for any pointers ... Rob Sciuk I support these organizations: www.nfa.ca www.cdnshootingsports.org www.conservative.ca Support Organized Crime - Vote Liberal ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:18:59 -0400 From: "ross" Subject: terrorists get rights in canada Why is it Al quadea trained terorists Mohamed Jabara get his rights upheld in our courts , yet we a firearms owners get no rights, have 17 areas of our charter rights truncated. What do you have to be in canada to get charter rights.... a terrorist!!!!!???? Nothing like being a second class citizen who has committed no crime, and gets fewer rights than a convicted terrorists. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #880 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:d.jordan@sasktel.net 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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