Contraband tobacco bill sets mandatory minimum sentences

New 50-officer RCMP anti-contraband force fulfils 2011 Conservative campaign pledge

Tobacco store in Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory.

CBC News, Mar 5, 2013

The Harper government has introduced legislation to set mandatory minimum prison sentences for trafficking contraband tobacco.

A new 50-officer RCMP anti-contraband force is also being created to target illegal tobacco sales.

Petro-state politics prompts CSIS to spy on citizens at alarming rate, FOIs reveal

Mike Chisholm and Jenny Uechi, Feb 25th, 2013

Police videotaping anti-Olympic protesters in Vancouver, 2008.

Environmental activist Rod Marining knows the feel of steel handcuffs on his wrists.

As co-founder of Greenpeace International, he sailed aboard Greenpeace ships campaigning against French atmospheric nuclear testing in French Polynesia, Japanese whaling in the Pacific and was thrown in jail for demonstrating against mahogany lumber imports to Europe.

“I am considered a national security risk,” he said, noting that the RCMP keeps a file on him, for his eco-warrior activities on the high seas.

But these days, activists can get on the security radar for a whole lot less: according to a Guardian report on documents released under freedom of information laws, the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) are increasingly blurring the line between real terrorists and average citizens who organize petitions, attend protests and express dissent. 

Assembly of First Nations, RCMP co-operated on 2007 ‘Day of Action’

By Tim Groves and Martin Lukacs, The Star (Toronto), Fri Feb 15 2013

The Assembly of First Nations worked closely with the Mounties and provincial police to exchange information about protests and develop common stances before a national aboriginal day of action in the summer of 2007, according to RCMP documents.

The revelations are likely to provoke anger among Idle No More protesters and provide ammunition to aboriginal critics who have argued the AFN’s relationship with the federal government has become too cosy, with few gains to show for it.

The Economics of Insurgency

Thoughts on Idle No More & Critical Infrastructure

Six Nations, 2006.

by Shiri Pasternak, The Media Coop, January 14, 2013

News reports are ablaze with reports of looming Indigenous blockades and economic disruption. As the Idle No More movement explodes into a new territory of political action, it bears to amplify the incredible economic leverage of First Nations today, and how frightened the government and industry are of their capacity to wield it.

Peaceful Protests Profit from History of Militant Resistance

by Zig Zag, Warrior Publications, January 12, 2013

Warrior at Oka, 1990, standing on top of abandoned & over turned police car.

“Unbelievable how chicken the police are to remove these people from blocking the railway. If it was anybody but natives they would have been arrested a week ago.”

Letter posted by Gerry, Jan 2, 2013, “First Nation blockade in Sarnia coming down,” Canadian Press, Jan 2, 2013

Any time there is a significant Native blockade or occupation, there are demands for its immediate removal by angry citizens. During Oka, 1990, and Six Nations 2006, for example, mobs of non-Natives rallied and sometimes rioted demanding that the military intervene to end the disputes.

Investigation urged after Native man disabled in RCMP custody

CBC News, Nov 2, 2012

Robert Wright in New Westminster hospital after brutal assault by RCMP in Terrace, BC, April 2012.

The BC Civil Liberties Association and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs are demanding a special prosecutor investigate why charges were not laid when a Terrace man was permanently disabled in RCMP custody.

The BCCLA says Robert Wright, 47, was taken into custody by Terrace RCMP in apparent good health, after his wife called police out of concern for his safety on Apr. 21.

Canada’s Spy Groups Divulge Secret Intelligence to Energy Companies

Documents raise fears that info on environmentalists, Indigenous groups and more shared with industry at biannual, secret-level, briefings.

Police conducting video surveillance of anti-2010 Olympics protest, Vancouver 2008.

by Tim Groves, The Dominion, October 10, 2012

TORONTO—The Canadian government has been orchestrating briefings that provide energy companies with classified intelligence from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP and other agencies, raising concerns that federal officials are spying on environmentalists and First Nations in order to provide information to the businesses they criticize.

RCMP reacts to exposure of its surveillance of BC Indigenous protest

by Martin Lukacs, Vancouver Media Coop, May 11, 2012

Blog posts are the work of individual contributors, reflecting their thoughts, opinions and research.

In response to our Toronto Star article exposing a police unit that monitored Indigenous protest in BC, the  RCMP issued a letter — see below — to “First Nations Leaders and Communities”.

They call the article “irresponsible,” “sensationalist” and “not correct.”

Sounds to me like damage control, but let’s assess their concerns.

Police Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool‏

by Eric Lichtblau , New York Times , April 1, 2012

Cell phones can be used by police as tracking and audio surveillance devices.

Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show.
The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of “surveillance fees” to police departments to determine a suspect’s location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations.

CSIS calls surprise work visits a ‘legitimate investigative strategy’

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail, Sunday, Mar. 04, 2012

Canada’s spy agency considers surprise workplace visits to be a “legitimate investigative strategy” despite persistent public concerns about the practice, a newly disclosed policy memo says.

The memo surfaced recently further to a complaint lodged by an Ottawa woman who took exception to being visited by Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers at her office.
The previously secret document shows that CSIS makes it a point to suddenly turn up at people’s offices in order to intimidate them, said Paul Champ, the woman’s lawyer.