Northern Gateway Pipeline Will Destroy BC Ecology

A new report from Simon Fraser University claims there is at least a 90 percent probability of an oil tanker spill if the Enbridge plan for the Northern Gateway pipeline goes ahead.  Read entire article here.  

S7 - Freedoms for Safety

Just as Harper's conservatives began to debate Bill S7, The Combating Terrorism Act, on Monday afternoon,  news broke out that two people had been arrested for conspiring to derail a VIA Rail train in the Greater Toronto Area.  This serves as fresh justification for the controversial, unknown bill S7and now, having passed the House of Commons on Wednesday night, it is Canada's next step in adopting a more draconian stance against terrorism.  The bill allows for "preventative detention" and "investigative hearings", techniques that waive constitutional rights in order to fight the state's definition of terror.  By empowering the government to point out what is terrorism and what is not, we forfeit our legally protected liberties and freedoms. Laws that grant authorities rights that bypass our constitutional rights to not be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned pose a much greater risk than the notion of true terrorism.  Haven't we learned anything after watching America's never ending "War on Terror?" 

For more on Bill S7 and the the VIA Rail terror plot, check out these articles:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/24/pol-anti-terror-bill-s7-vote.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/04/24/via-train-terror-plot.html

Drone Deployment in Canada

Drones - the word itself evokes disturbing imagery from terminator movies and sci-fi novels.  Yet the use of pilot-less aircraft has been around since the post World War I era and has recently ramped up with the introduction of the MQ-1 Predator in 1995.  Be that as it may, one would expect to find defense and police drones in only the most militarized nations out there, namely the US, right?  Well think again.

With several police departments in Canada already employing drones for surveillance, the Canadian Government has recently been looking to even further loosen the regulations surrounding unmanned aerial vehicles (A).  Experts in the industry say that if Transport Canada is successful at changing policy and removing the current restrictions on drone use, you could be seeing UAV’s  on reconnaissance missions in a neighborhood near you within the next year or two.   Lauded for their breadth of applications and technological frontierism, the Canadian drone movement has seen a groundswell of support over the last years from policing departments as well as the Canadian Armed Forces.  The RCMP has fully embraced the use of drones - RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Domoney stated for media that, “It’s starting to catch on more and more. Eventually, I think you’ll see [drones] in almost all the provinces” (B).  Last year, the RCMP’s F Division, which is spearheading the use of UAV’s in Canadian police forces, posted it’s intention to procure 3 Qube drones for $270,000.  Not only are the drones absurdly expensive, but they are also “extremely invasive” as Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner, Ann Cavoukian warned in a report on drone use in Canada last year.  Transport Canada currently requires the commercial and governmental use of UAV's to be detailed in an official document; however, the primary intent of this submission is safety - not privacy.  Cavoukian warns that the imminent use of drones in Canadian policing departments for constant surveillance will require “special use restrictions and regulatory measures” in order to avoid a complete erosion of civil privacy.  Despite her admonitions, the current direction in Canada is towards relaxing UAV regulations instead of tightening them.  

It would seem much of the media and publications focused on UAV technology flaunt their use and potential.  Take for instance this TED talk by Vijay Kumar on aerial drone collaboration (D).    Much of the political discourse on this topic is focused on potential applications as well as safety for police and defense forces.  All the while, the risk of abuse and harm get overlooked.  Few news sources question the efficacy and ethics of current military drone usage.  In President Obama’s first term, hundreds of innocent children were murdered in Pakistan and Yemen through his drone assassination campaign.  The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that in Pakistan alone, 891 civilians have been killed by U.S. drones since 2004 (E).  Nevertheless, their integration into Western civilization has been not only steadfast but praised by both the media and masses.  Am I going to be the only person out there who is terrified if a drone hones in on me from above to ensure that I am acting lawfully?  

(A)  

http://www.infowars.com/no-surprise-canada-looks-to-loosen-restrictions-on-drones/

(B) http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/27/not-just-for-modern-warfare-rcmp-to-expand-use-of-drone-mini-helicopters/

(C) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/08/28/calgary-drones-southern-alberta.html#

(E)

http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html

(F) http://www.infowars.com/here-are-all-the-children-murdered-by-drone-strikes-at-the-hands-of-obama/

Related: Canadian Forces ramp up drone use

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/03/25/canadas_air_force_eyes_drones_for_maritime_and_arctic_patrols.html