Saskatchewan approves carbine rifles for front-line police

C8 carbine made by Colt Canada.

Change in regulations will apply to municipal, First Nations forces

CBC News, July 16, 2015

The Saskatchewan government has cleared regular officers in municipal police departments to use carbine rifles.

However, front-line officers will have have to go through a training course before they can use the high-powered, semi-automatic rifles.

Telecoms Offer to Build Surveillance Tools into Networks

Nevertheless, gov’t still feels the need to legislate interception, docs show.

After years of failed bills, public debate and considerable controversy, lawful access legislation received royal assent last week. Public Safety Minister Peter MacKay’s Bill C-13 lumped together measures designed to combat cyberbullying with a series of new warrants to enhance police investigative powers, generating criticism from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, civil liberties groups and some prominent victims’ rights advocates. They argued that the government should have created cyberbullying safeguards without sacrificing privacy.

RCMP tracked movements of Indigenous activist from ‘extremist’ group: documents

Jorge Barrera, APTN National News, Oct 17, 2014
The RCMP closely monitored the movements of an Indigenous environmental activist as it tightened surveillance around possible protests in northern British Columbia targeting the energy firm behind the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, according to “confidential” documents obtained by APTN National News.

Documents from the RCMP’s Suspicious Incidents Report (SIR) database show police closely monitored the movements of a member of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) during the summer of 2010 in northern British Columbia. According to the documents, the RCMP considers IEN an “extremist” group and a trip by an IEN member to a direct action camp in July of that year created a flurry of database activity involving RCMP officers with the force’s national security operations in B.C. and Ottawa.  [* The IEN is an Indigenous non-governmental organization (NGO) more similar to Greenpeace than an actual resistance group].

RCMP watchdog reviews police handling of shale gas protests

Colonial terrorism: RCMP Tactical Armoured Vehicle lurks in the background behind “Tactical Troop” riot cops, Oct 17, 2013.

Dozens of anti-shale gas protesters were arrested during months of protests in Kent County

CBC News, Posted: Oct 14, 2014

The independent Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP is investigating complaints about police conduct during the shale gas protests in Kent County.

Commission staff members are in New Brunswick as a part of the watchdog agency’s investigation, which was prompted following the violent clashes between the RCMP and anti-shale gas protesters in eastern New Brunswick last year.

Federal agency seeks to widen surveillance beyond Idle No More to any demonstrators in Canada

Police videotaping anti-Olympic protesters in Vancouver, 2008.

David Pugliese, National Post/Postmedia News | June 5, 2014

The federal government is expanding its surveillance of public activities to include all known demonstrations across the country, a move that collects information even on the most mundane of protests by Canadians.
The email requesting such information was sent out Tuesday by the Government Operations Centre in Ottawa to all federal departments.
“The Government Operations Centre is seeking your assistance in compiling a comprehensive listing of all known demonstrations which will occur either in your geographical area or that may touch on your mandate,” noted the email, leaked to the Citizen.

“We will compile this information and make this information available to our partners unless of course, this information is not to be shared and not available on open sources. In the case of the latter, this information will only be used by the GOC for our Situational Awareness.”
The Government Operations Centre or GOC is supposed to provide strategic-level coordination on behalf of the federal government “in response to an emerging or occurring event affecting the national interest.”

Pentagon Bracing For Public Dissent Over Climate And Energy Shocks

US National Guard soldiers patrol the streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 2005.

By Nafeez Ahmed, The Guardian, May 29th, 2014

Top secret US National Security Agency (NSA) documents disclosed by the Guardian have shocked the world with revelations of a comprehensive US-based surveillance system with direct access to Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants. New Zealand court records suggest that data harvested by the NSA’s Prism system has been fed into the Five Eyes intelligence alliance whose members also include the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

But why have Western security agencies developed such an unprecedented capacity to spy on their own domestic populations? Since the 2008 economic crash, security agencies have increasingly spied on political activists, especially environmental groups, on behalf of corporate interests. This activity is linked to the last decade of US defence planning, which has been increasingly concerned by the risk of civil unrest at home triggered by catastrophic events linked to climate change, energy shocks or economic crisis – or all three.

FBI building biometric database containing face-scans of millions of Americans

There are millions of entries for non-criminal reasons as well as many from unexplained sources.

Police State USA, April 18, 2014

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been developing a gigantic database containing biometric information on a significant portion of the United States.  The human identifiers contained in this database — photos, fingerprints, facial signatures, iris scans, palm prints, birthmarks, voice recognition, DNA — are not only taken from people who have been arrested, they are also being collected from millions of Americans who have not been charged with any crime.

Chile: Terror case collapses as ‘activist’ witness admits being informant

Police informant Raul Castro testifying in court in August 2013.

Mapuche men acquitted of arson to seek official redress, after being detained for two years as minors under anti-terrorism law.

By Joel Keep, Santiago Times, Feb 17th, 2014

Defense lawyers for two indigenous men say they are canvassing options for potential legal action against the Chilean state, after their clients were cleared of terrorism allegations as the testimony of a self-declared police informer was ruled unreliable last week.

Cherokee Nation Marshals Get Armoured Vehicle for “Search & Rescues”

Lt. Mike Roach stands by a military-donated Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, which now sits in front of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service lot.

Cherokee Nation Release, Indian Country Today, Feb 18, 2014

Cherokee Nation marshals recently secured a military grade vehicle to assist in searches, rescues and other emergency situations involving Cherokee citizens. The 15-ton Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle was part of a program donating excess military equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies.

Civil liberties watchdog concerned RCMP has informants in B.C. anti-pipeline groups

by Travis Lupick, The Georgia Straight, Feb 8, 2014

A number of environmental and First Nations groups have said they want to know whether or not the RCMP has placed informants or undercover agents inside Idle No More and other anti-pipeline movements.