From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #91 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 Thursday, April 22 2004 Volume 07 : Number 091 In this issue: Ottawa plans $500m security fix: Wife-killer's term raised on appeal Threats taken seriously RIFLE SHOT KILLED MAN INSTANTLY Brinks bandit freed on parole: 17 hunters facing almost 100 charges Guite says no political influence in program ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:06:21 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Ottawa plans $500m security fix: PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2004.04.22 EDITION: National SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front BYLINE: Robert Fife SOURCE: National Post DATELINE: OTTAWA - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ottawa plans $500m security fix: Martin reacts to auditor-general's scathing critique: Emphasis on passport control, fingerprint checks and bureaucratic co-operation - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA - The Liberal government will spend $500-million on a new national security policy to close significant gaps in Canada's intelligence and security apparatus, senior officials say. The policy is to be presented to Cabinet today and unveiled next week. The officials say it will promise improvements to maritime security, passport control and Ottawa's fingerprinting program. "It will outline an overall framework in terms of national security and how to maintain and improve security. It will outline a number of new initiatives, building upon initiatives that have been taken [since September, 2001]," a senior official said yesterday. Insiders hope the policy announcement will be interpreted as a goodwill gesture to the security-conscious U.S. President, George W. Bush, whom Paul Martin is to meet in Washington on April 30. The security plan is also seen as an important vote-getter for the Liberals as the Prime Minister prepares to call a June election. A public opinion survey released yesterday shows a majority of Canadians want Ottawa to bolster its spending on fighting terrorism and shoring up defence. Officials say the policy will address major deficiencies in inter-agency co-operation recently identified by Sheila Fraser, the Auditor-General, such as out-of-date terrorist watch lists, backlogs in missing passports and chronic delays in the dissemination of crucial information to Canada's intelligence and counterterrorism agencies. Last month, Ms. Fraser concluded in a scathing report to Parliament that Canada's "LiveScan" digital fingerprint identification system, which cost $38.6-million, has been rendered virtually useless as the RCMP lacks the technology to process the information electronically. Ms. Fraser said the RCMP has to manually scan 3.3 million fingerprints against a growing backlog, including prints of refugees. She also found Transport Canada was routinely cut out of the security loop and its investigators did not have access to criminal databases and the RCMP's security intelligence. Officials say the government will provide money for technology to allow the RCMP to digitally process fingerprints to decrease the growing backlog and to swiftly handle new requests for fingerprint analysis. Transport Canada will also get access to the RCMP database. The $500-million is part of a $605-million security contingency reserve for the next five years of which $115-million will be spent this fiscal year to bolster the country's national security establishment, including improvements to maritime security. The navy and coast guard will get funds to improve their communications and inter-operability between various agencies and to allow more frequent maritime surveillance operations. Money will also be directed to the new Canadian Border Services Agency -- which encompasses customs and border security -- for new customs installations and security defences at border crossings. Officials say Anne McLellan, the Public Safety Minister, also wants to establish an integrated national security assessment centre that will provide intelligence information to the Prime Minister's new national security director, Robert Wright. The new policy is expected to address the backlog of more than 4,000 lost or stolen passports that have not been recorded by the RCMP. The Auditor-General found that it took 70 days before mislaid or stolen passports are logged. The government is expected to announce it will double-check the security clearances of 4,500 airport employees who the Auditor-General said have been granted security clearances even though they have "possible criminal associations." According to a public opinion survey conducted by POLLARA on behalf of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 55% of Canadians want Ottawa to boost spending on anti-terrorism and 54% favour an increased defence budget. The poll of 1,268 Canadians, conducted between March 29 and April 4, also found Canadians are strong supporters of Canada's peacekeeping efforts around the world. The results are considered accurate to within 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. In her March report, Ms. Fraser painted a dismal picture of Canada's security establishment, in which agencies barely talk to each other, priorities are muddled and bureaucratic red tape is endemic. It was Ms. Fraser's first audit of the $7.7-billion of security measures Canada put in place in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She found "significant gaps and errors" that needed to be addressed urgently. The report cited 48-day delays in responding to "red notices" from Interpol, the international policing clearinghouse, and said Canadian watch lists are missing about 8% of wanted terrorists. Ms. Fraser also identified 16 active airport businesses with ties to bike gangs, organized crime and drug trafficking. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:07:37 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Wife-killer's term raised on appeal PUBLICATION: The Province DATE: 2004.04.22 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A18 BYLINE: Andy Ivens SOURCE: The Province ILLUSTRATION: Photo: (Robert) Cairns - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wife-killer's term raised on appeal - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Crofton man who killed his young wife -- a compulsive gambler who demanded he pay her $500 for sex -- had his four-year prison sentence for manslaughter increased to seven years yesterday. In a 2-1 decision, the B.C. Court of Appeal said seven years is more in line with sentences that have been given to other people who were provoked to kill their spouses. Robert Cairns, now 50, had recently married Patricia Cairns, 25, who had a gambling problem. Cairns testified they decided to go to Las Vegas in early 2002 for one last splurge and he made her promise not to gamble any more. They blew thousands of dollars and maxed out his credit cards, but then Patricia announced she did not intend to quit gambling. Cairns said he realized some time after midnight on April 22, 2002, that his marriage "was a joke." The couple fought. Cairns grabbed a hammer and hit Patricia in the head. He then found a belt from her child's bathrobe and strangled her. "Stop, you're killing me!" she pleaded as he took her life, Cairns later told a friend. Cairns tried to shoot himself, but his handgun wouldn't work. He bought a bottle of gasoline treatment and drank it in an effort to commit suicide but failed. Then he tried to drown himself and that failed, too. In the six months before Patricia's death, Cairns said, he blew his retirement savings of more than $75,000. In her dissenting opinion, Justice Anne Rowles wrote, ". . . from its verdict, the jury must have accepted Mr. Cairns' defence; namely, that his actions were provoked by Ms. Cairns' stated intention to continue gambling contrary to an agreement they had made and to charge Mr. Cairns $500 for each act of sexual intercourse." However, Justice Risa Levine, writing for the majority, said, ". . . the trial judge erred by overemphasizing the mitigating factor of Mr. Cairns' background and character and underemphasizing the aggravating factor of the circumstances, and therefore the moral culpability, of the offence." Justice Mary Newbury agreed. aivens@png.canwest.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:08:06 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Threats taken seriously PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald DATE: 2004.04.22 EDITION: Final SECTION: City & Region PAGE: B3 BYLINE: Sorcha McGinnis SOURCE: Calgary Herald - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Threats taken seriously - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canmore Collegiate High School students say death threats made against a teacher were a hoax, but many weren't taking chances so close to the anniversaries of shootings at Columbine and Taber. Half of the students at Canmore Collegiate opted to stay home from school Tuesday after an unsettling graffiti message -- saying a teacher would die that day -- was found in a public washroom. "It was definitely an empty threat," said Grade 12 student Addie Voyce, who chose not to attend classes on the fifth anniversary of the Columbine massacre, which claimed the lives of one teacher and 14 students, including the two shooters. "No one else was going to school, so I decided not to go either," he said. Voyce was among about 325 students who stayed away after letters were sent home to parents informing them of a threat. The graffiti, which included explicit images, was discovered March 31 in the public washroom at 7th Street and 10th Avenue in downtown Canmore. The message referred to "4/20," indicating at 4:20 p.m. on April 20 that the female teacher would die. The number surfaced after Columbine, but also refers to a group of California students who used to meet for a joint after class at 4:20 p.m., sparking a deluge of 4:20 pot paraphernalia. The date also falls within days of the anniversary of the April 28, 1999, shooting of 17-year-old Jason Lang in Taber. Lang died after a 14-year-old boy entered W.R. Myers High School with a sawed-off rifle and began shooting. Canmore RCMP said the graffiti was the work of a group of former students. The group was interviewed, though no charges have been laid. "We were advised it's a prank," said Cpl. Jeff Gaillard. "We took precautions in the event it wasn't a prank." Police notified the school, which, in the days prior to classes starting up again after the district's two-week spring break, set a plan into motion. Brian Callaghan, superintendent of Canadian Rockies Public Schools, said students, staff, trustees and parents were briefed on the situation. "We took measures to tell parents that once they had assessed the situation, if they felt they didn't want their sons and daughters here, they were free to do so," said Callaghan. Tests were deferred and extra-curricular activities were cancelled Tuesday. Attendance was back to normal Wednesday. smcginnis@theherald.canwest.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:08:30 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: RIFLE SHOT KILLED MAN INSTANTLY PUBLICATION: The Winnipeg Sun DATE: 2004.04.22 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 14 BYLINE: BOB HOLLIDAY, STAFF REPORTER - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HUNTER TO LEARN FATE IN LUNDAR-AREA DEATH RIFLE SHOT KILLED MAN INSTANTLY - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A man accused of shooting another hunter in the head may learn his fate today. John Douglas Mark, 56, is charged with criminal negligence causing death for the Nov. 15, 2001, shooting of Arden Miller, 44. Miller was killed instantly by a bullet from a high-powered rifle. TRIAL BY JUDGE ALONE Mark has pleaded not guilty and had elected trial by judge alone. This morning, Justice Wallace Darichuk will hear closing statements and then may deliver his verdict. Yesterday, Darichuk allowed Mark's confession to police in January 2002 into evidence. Darichuk said he was satisfied Lundar RCMP advised Mark of his right to a lawyer and provided the proper cautioning. Called as a witness by defence lawyer Greg Brodsky, Cpl. Ken Amirault of the RCMP major crimes unit testified that Miller was wearing an orange-coloured hoodie sweater shirt and not a recommended orange fluorescent hunting vest. Asked if Miller would have been seen if he had been wearing a hunting vest, Amirault replied: "He would have been very visible." A previous witness, Ray Jeffery, 72, testified Mark fired the fatal shot around dusk from a roadway, about 225 metres from Miller, who was in a bushy area on family land near Lundar. Amirault told Brodsky that "with a scope there was no question (Mark) was shooting at a human. Without a scope, it would be difficult to tell what he'd shot." Under cross-examination by Crown Brian Wilford, Amirault admitted the hoodie's colour had deepened by the blood from the head wound. Asked if the hunter's creed is "never shoot until you're absolutely sure what your you're shooting at" is true? Amirault answered: "Correct." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:10:18 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Brinks bandit freed on parole: PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald DATE: 2004.04.22 EDITION: Final SECTION: City & Region PAGE: B1 / FRONT BYLINE: Jason van Rassel, with files from Emma Poole SOURCE: Calgary Herald DATELINE: REGINA ILLUSTRATION: Colour Photo: Calgary Herald Archive / City police releasedthis photo of Patrick Steven Ryan in 1998.; Colour Photo: Patrick Ryan - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brinks bandit freed on parole: Patrick Ryan insists he's 'a decent fellow' - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The National Parole Board closed the books on one of Calgary's most notorious criminal cases Wednesday by granting full parole to Patrick Ryan. The decision came six years after he and accomplice Darnell Bass sprayed a shopping mall with automatic gunfire in a robbery attempt gone awry. Ryan, 36, is free after serving less than half of an eight-year sentence behind bars for the commando-style ambush of two Brinks armoured car guards at Calgary's North Hill mall in March 1998 and the theft of $134,000 from an automated bank machine two months earlier. "I want people to know I'm a decent fellow who has made great strides in becoming a productive member of society," Ryan said following the decision by parole board members Murray Langgard and Terry Thompson. "I did something ridiculously crazy and terrible -- and I've been punished for it -- and I've taken steps in accounting for what I've done and getting the help that I needed and it's time for me to move on." Since being transferred to Regina's Oskana Centre on day parole in February 2003, Ryan has busied himself with part-time university classes, volunteer work, chores on his sister's farm and helping his elderly mother. Ryan said he plans to work toward a teaching certificate in adult education when classes resume in the fall, and will spend much of the next few months in the Qu'Appelle Valley northeast of Regina helping his sister and brother-in-law. "We'll be farming all summer," he said. Adding he was "a little stunned" by his new-found freedom, Ryan spent Wednesday afternoon in "low-key" celebrations with family members and supporters who attended his hearing, including two Catholic priests. It was a muted ending for a case that stunned a city with its unprecedented violence and court testimony that hinted at international intrigue and anti-government conspiracy and even included a little titillation. The crime spree began in January 1998 when Ryan, a former Brinks technician, used codes and keys supplied to him by then-girlfriend and Brinks employee Heather Hedger to steal $134,000 from a bank machine at a northeast Calgary CIBC branch. Ryan gave Hedger $4,800 for breast enhancement surgery. The courts rewarded her role in the crime with an 18-month conditional sentence. Ryan had become reacquainted with his childhood friend Bass, a soldier embittered by the disbanding of the Canadian Airborne Regiment following its scandal-plagued peacekeeping tour in Somalia. Bass told him he was part of an underground "brotherhood" of soldiers. Ryan, who described himself as suicidal over his inability to establish a career, said he was all too willing to embark on an even grander crime. "We decided we both had enough and we were both going to get our own . . . and do crime," he said Wednesday. Armed with assault rifles, tear gas and ammunition Bass obtained from co-conspirators in the military, the pair waited inside the closed North Hill CIBC branch for a pair of Brinks guards on a late-night "money run." Their plan went awry when guards Paul Bisson and Bred Weber arrived sooner than expected, triggering a gun battle that saw about 90 shots fired before Ryan and Bass fled empty-handed. Bass, 37, was arrested at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa near Ottawa in July 1998 and returned to Calgary. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery in November 1998 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was the Crown's key witness at Ryan's trial in 2000 before being granted parole in 2001. He lives in Calgary. Ryan evaded capture until 1998, when he was caught by French authorities getting off a ferry from England. The trial judge, Queen's Bench Justice Peter Martin, accepted Ryan's testimony that he and Bass never intended to harm Bisson and Weber, but previous parole board panels had trouble accepting Ryan's version of events. Martin also concluded the "brotherhood" Bass referred to was likely not a real criminal organization, but parole board members repeatedly asked Ryan about anti-government activities during a previous hearing last September. Six-month trips to South Africa in 1994 and 1997 also raised suspicions about Ryan's past, but they also provided him with a key element of his successful parole bid. A Correctional Service of Canada psychologist who assessed Ryan prior to Wednesday's hearing concluded that side-effects from an anti-malaria drug he took during both trips contributed to his criminal behaviour. It was a precedent-setting acknowledgment of his claim that the drug, Lariam, caused what Ryan called a "Jekyll and Hyde" transformation. Bass was given Lariam while serving in Somalia, where other Airborne members beat 16-year-old Shidane Arone, a Somali teen who had snuck into their camp, to death. Ryan told Bass that he thought Lariam was responsible for their paranoia and mood swings, but said his friend dismissed the concern. While the parole board didn't object to the Lariam evidence, Thompson and Langgard seemed most impressed by Ryan's lengthy explanation of his criminal behaviour. Ryan spoke uninterrupted for almost 20 minutes, detailing the planning and motive behind his actions. "You talked quickly and it flowed. At the last hearing, every word was measured," Thompson said. Bisson, one of the Brinks guards involved in the spectacular gun battle, said Wednesday he tries not to think about Ryan and does not care what happens to him. "It's no big deal to me. It doesn't matter what I think," said Bisson, who still lives in Calgary. A former military officer, Bisson said although he avoided being hit by 87 bullets during the heist, he rarely thinks back to that day. "People still ask me about it, so that's kind of weird," he said, adding thinking about Ryan and Bass is "a waste of my time." The judge sentenced Ryan to eight years in prison, and that's what he should have served, Bisson said. Ryan did attempt to make amends with Bisson in the form of a letter full of apologies. "(Ryan) said he was sorry," said Bisson, adding he doubts the letter's sincerity. "I was born at night, not last night." jvanrassel@theherald.canwest.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:10:33 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: 17 hunters facing almost 100 charges PUBLICATION: Montreal Gazette DATE: 2004.04.22 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A7 COLUMN: Fast Track SOURCE: CP - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hunters in court - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A group of 17 hunters is facing almost 100 charges for illegal hunting in Notre Dame du Lac, 75 kilometres north of Ottawa - back in 2001. Crown prosecutor Louis-Phillipe Roy said undercover conservation officers who were watching the group found a number of infractions, including hunting without valid permits, possession of illegal game meat and exceeding their kill limit. Fines could reach as high as $11,000 each. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:31:41 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Guite says no political influence in program http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1082635125813_6///?hub=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1082635125813_6///?hub= Guite says no political influence in program CTV.ca News Staff Chuck Guite, the retired public servant who managed the federal sponsorship program, denied any money was missing and called Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report misleading and inaccurate. Guite also denied there was any political influence in the decisions made in awarding contracts. However, he said there was absolutely political input. "I want to make it very clear... the PMO, minister [Alfonso] Gagliano, minister [David] Dingwall, never suggested the name or got involved in the agency selection process," Guite said. "Did the PMO and ministers provide input and decisions with respect to specific events that were sponsored and the allocation to specific firms? Absolutely." Guite is before the Commons public accounts committee investigating $100 million in misspending in the program, as detailed in Fraser's February report. She said senior civil servants "broke just about every rule in the book." The paper trail Guite defended himself against allegations of wrongdoing by saying that if anyone has made an oversight, it's the Auditor General. He said when he was there, from 1996 to 1999, every file had a contract, an affidavit and confirmation that a product had been delivered. Guite said Fraser's conclusion -- that invoices were missing from some sponsorship files -- was "impossible, absolutely impossible." "All I can say to her is, 'You find out where the files went, but they were there originally.' " John Williams, the committee chairman, speaking after the morning of testimony, told CTV's Mike Duffy that this is the first time anyone said documents were kept in files, rather than a computer database as previously suggested. "Everybody says there were no documents, including the Auditor General, including some employees -- some subordinates who worked directly for him," Williams said. "So his credibility is in question." Meeting with Gagliano The question of meetings with Gagliano also came up today. Contradicting earlier testimony from Gagliano, Guite said the two met at least once a month. "I would meet with Mr. Gagliano probably every month," Guite said, adding he may have met with the minister's office more regularly. During testimony earlier this year, former public works minister Gagliano told the committee he only met with Guite a few times a year. But Guite's former assistant, Huguette Tremblay, and a former Gagliano staffer, Isabelle Roy, later contradicted that, saying the two men met frequently. "I wouldn't say once a week, but it was regular," Guite said. At the start of the hearing, Guite took Williams to task for saying he was thumbing his nose at the committee. "I have never thumbed my nose at Parliament, never mind Canadians," Guite said. He also said that allegations made about him in Canada affected him and his family while on vacation at a trailer park in Arizona. Guite said people would drive past their trailer and shout obscenities. Eighteen months ago, Guite's testimony to the same committee was held in camera. At that time, he made no apologies for the way the program was being run. "Every rule in the book was not broken," he said. Canada was "basically at war trying to save the country," he explained. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #91 ********************************* Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:moderator@hitchen.org 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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