Surrey Six murder trial: updates from the opening day

The trial of three men accused of gunning down six people in a Surrey high-rise in 2007 is scheduled to begin Monday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

Matthew James Johnson and Cody Rae Haevischer are charged with six counts of first-degree murder and Quang Vinh Thang (Michael) Le is facing one charge of first-degree murder. Two other men charged in the case, Jamie Kyle Bacon and Sophon Sek, will be tried separately at a later date.

The case dates back to Oct. 19, 2007, when six people were found dead in a 15th floor apartment of a Surrey high-rise in the 9800 block of East Whalley Ring Road.

An RCMP cruiser blocks the road leading to an apartment building in Surrey, B.C., on Oct. 20, 2007. Firefighters, who were first on the scene, initially thought they were responding to a deadly gas leak. When they arrived, they found the bodies of six men killed in a bloody massacre. (Richard Lam/The Canadian Press)

Firefighters, who were first on the scene, initially thought they were responding to a deadly gas leak, but when they arrived, they found the bodies of six men killed in a bloody massacre.

At the time, Metro Vancouver was in the grips of a violent gang war dominated by a deadly rivalry between the Red Scorpions and the UN gangs.

Four of the victims, Ryan Bartolomeo,19, brothers Michael Lal, 26, and Cory Lal, 21, and Edward Narong, 22, were described by police as having criminal lifestyles.

Two of the victims, Christopher Mohan, 22, and Ed Schellenberg, 55, were described as bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In April 2009, a man pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder for killing Mohan, Bartolomeo and Michael Lal, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the six slayings, and was sentenced to life in prison.

• Jamie Bacon has been charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Corey Lal and conspiracy to murder charges.
• Sophon Sek is facing a manslaughter charge.

In addition, four RCMP officers are facing charges, including breach of trust, obstruction of justice and fraud, dating back to their handling of the Surrey Six slayings.

B.C.'s criminal justice branch appointed Victoria lawyer Christopher Considine as a special prosecutor in the investigation of the officers.

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Former Edmonton cop Derek Huff blows whistle on brutality, corruption

A former cop with an exemplary record is going public about what he calls corruption in Edmonton police ranks, after he tried internally to expose what he believes is organized brutality, but got no results.

"I stood up for what's right, and I just got run out of the police service," said Derek Huff, 37. "I still can't even really believe it."

Huff is a 10-year-veteran who resigned in February, three years after he said he and his partner watched — stunned — as three plainclothes officers viciously beat a handcuffed man while he was down.

"They basically had their knees on his back and were just punching and kicking him just as hard as they could …six fists just pummelling this guy … I could hear him screaming," said Huff.

Former Edmonton police officer Derek Huff is going public about what he calls "corruption" in the force, after he tried to report police brutality internally and got no results. (CBC)

He reported what he saw — and his allegations are now being investigated — but he said until recently the alleged assault was kept quiet.

"I can still remember the sounds of the contact of the knuckles hitting his face… I've seen lots of arrests and I've never seen anything like that."

Huff said the main instigator was Constable Jack Redlick, now 30. Before joining the Edmonton Police Service, Redlick, who is six foot three inches tall, was a hockey defenceman who was notorious for his fights on ice.

The alleged victim, according to Huff, was Kasimierz Kozina, who was 29 at the time. Redlick and the other officers had targeted the suspected drug dealer in a sting.

Vicious beating reported

Huff said Kozina was much smaller than Redlick — and the attack was unprovoked.

"I compared it to the Rodney King beating," said Huff. "My first initial thought [was] that 'I want to get in this car and get out of here as fast as I can.' [My partner and I] were in shock."

Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said Huff's allegations are being taken seriously. (CBC)

Back at the downtown police station, Huff said he saw Kozina being taken away by ambulance.

"His face was a great big giant black ball … of blood and bruising," said Huff. "It looked like he had a gotten into a full head-on collision and smashed his head into a steering wheel."

Huff said he and his partner Mike Furman agonized over what to do. They felt they had two choices; "rat" on their fellow officers or — if Kozina complained — they might be forced to lie later, to protect their jobs, because they were there.

"We had a big decision to make," said Huff.

The next day, Huff said he and Furman told their sergeant what they'd seen. They were so scared, Huff said, they met their boss in a police cruiser and didn't put anything in writing.

In the meantime, Huff said Kozina needed surgery to repair his face. He never did file a complaint, though.

"If a pack of police officers handcuffed me and put me in the hospital and nothing happened, I'd be pretty scared of them," said Huff, who said nothing came of their report to their boss, either.

Coverup alleged

"[The sergeant] came back and said that he read all the reports that were submitted and as far as he's concerned it justifies the actions that Redlick and his partners took, and that Mike and I no longer need to be involved," he said.

"I couldn't' believe it. Even to this day I still can't believe it."

Huff suggested the other officers involved lied, by telling the sergeant Kozina attacked first.

"People stick to a story. They cover things up. They want to justify beating people up," said Huff. "I ran into corruption. Covering up evidence is corruption."

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He said he and his partner were then branded as "rats" and were mocked and shunned. Huff said it got so bad, when he and Furman called for backup on the street, no one came.

"I went from having a great career to being a rat — and it's almost like jail," said Huff. "If you're labelled a rat in the police service, you're done."

Go Public contacted Redlick for comment on all of this, but he didn't respond. We also asked to talk to Furman. A police spokesperson said neither officer is allowed to talk about this case because it hasn't been resolved.

Huff said the ostracizing became so unbearable, he couldn't function at work. He went to other supervisors and managers for help, but he said no one did anything about the root problem.

"Every time I tried to talk to superiors, they would minimize it — into me and my partner having a problem with these beat guys," said Huff. "And I kept saying, 'That's not the problem.'"

Complaint still unresolved

Two years after witnessing the alleged police brutality, Huff said he went to the deputy chief and revealed all, in a formal, written complaint. It was sent to the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which investigates police misconduct.

He also went on stress leave. The investigation into his complaint was completed six months ago, but he's still waiting to hear the outcome. In the meantime, Huff was ordered back to work in the same division. He quit instead.

Before joining the Edmonton Police Service, Jack Redlick, who is six foot three inches tall, was a hockey defenceman who was notorious for his fights on ice. (CBC)

"I gave up. I sacrificed my career. I stood up for what's right, and I just got run out of the police service. I thought there is nothing else I could do. I lost."

Since Huff initially reported the alleged beating, Redlick has been investigated for other violent police incidents.

In 2011, he shot and killed a 17-year-old aboriginal boy. Police who were there said the teen, Cyrus Green, had fled the scene of a robbery and was threatening them with a knife and a baseball bat.

Redlick shot the teen three times. The officer was cleared of wrongdoing, but the boy's mother is suing him.

'Street justice' carried on

Then, last year, Redlick picked up a man in his 50s and beat him up in a schoolyard. Redlick later admitted to that in a statement of fact agreed to during a disciplinary action.

The officer and his partner had arrested George Petropolous after his mother called to say he'd hit her during an argument.

Huff said he and his partner met with their supervisor in a police cruiser and told him how they witnessed Redlick and other fellow officers severely beat a man while he was handcuffed. (CBC)

Redlick rode in the back seat of the cruiser with Petropolous and then told his partner to pull in to a high school parking lot.

Redlick took the handcuffs off Petropolous and walked him to an area where they couldn't be seen. Petropolous said the officer then put him face down in the snow and punched him repeatedly — while holding his head.

"He knew what he was doing exactly. I could tell that this man is trained," said Petropolous, who said he was terrified.

"I was in a tremendous amount of pain — to the point that I couldn't breathe from the punches … there is something wrong with him."

Petropolous's lawyer said the allegations his client was arrested for turned out to be unfounded. The charges were stayed.

"But Redlick just shows up. No investigation. Just on basis of a complaint — decides to beat him up and administers street justice," said Tom Engel.

Petropolous filed a complaint against Redlick, alleging the officer told him he wasn't the first to get beaten up.

"He says, 'I've done it to other inmates before. I've taken them out of the car. Some of them wouldn't come out. They were crying and begging,'" said Petropolous.

At first, Redlick and his partner denied wrongdoing. Redlick then pleaded guilty to misconduct and was docked $15,000 pay. His partner now faces discipline for lying to protect him.

The file was sent to the Crown, but no charges were laid. However, an Edmonton police spokesperson said because of "other recent information" the Crown is now "re-examining the evidence."

Lawyer wants cop fired

The disciplinary decision on Redlick said he was suffering from "mental health issues." Because he had no previous disciplinary citations on his record, it stated, "This was clearly an isolated incident."

Petropolous's lawyer said that is outrageous, especially given what Huff reported years earlier. He can't understand why Redlick is still on the job.

George Petropolous said he suffered bruising and internal injuries after police officer Jack Redlick beat him up behind a local high school. (CBC)

"I've been told this guy has been doing this for a long time," said Engel, who has filed an appeal. "They have a cop who goes vigilante … if you don't fired for doing that, what do you get fired for?"

"There were so many people inside the organization that knew what Redlick was doing, they knew he was doing this to people, but yet they continue on," said Huff.

Rod Knecht has been Edmonton's police chief since 2011. He told Go Public he knew nothing about Huff's initial allegations until last year. He said he also wasn't aware of why Huff had resigned.

"Obviously if the good cop goes and the bad cop stays, that's not a good thing," said Knecht. "Could things have been done differently? Absolutely."

When he came on as chief, Knecht promised to protect whistleblowers. He's now promising to take Huff's allegations seriously.

'We'll deal with it': police chief

"Obviously it's intolerable behaviour. We don't accept that as tolerable behaviour at all. An officer committing a criminal act — or act against the Police Act — we won't tolerate that in this organization and we'll deal with it."

Despite what's happened, Huff said he still loves being a cop and wants his job back once this is resolved.

"I did absolutely nothing wrong," said Huff. "All I've ever wanted since day one was the truth — and it's finally coming out."

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Canadians in Egypt jailed for another 45 days

Canadians John Greyson and Tarek Loubani, jailed in Egypt since their Aug. 16 arrest, have had their imprisonment extended for another 45 days, according to a friend who spoke with the pair's lawyers in Egypt.

The two men are on the 13th day of a hunger strike in Tora prison, south of Cairo.

Justin Podur, who has been posting updates on his blog, told CBC News he had received information from Greyson and Loubani's lawyers in Cairo about the extension.

Cecilia Greyson, John's sister, said their lawyers told her that everyone arrested on Aug. 16 during the violent protests have had their imprisonment extended for the same amount of time.

'Canada continues to press for a timely and positive resolution to this situation and, in the absence of confirmation of the charges, once again calls for their release.'-Lynne Yelich, Canada's Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular)

She said the lawyers have launched an appeal to free the men, with a decision possible next week.

"John and Tarek were simply witnesses on August 16th to a very bloody series of demonstrations where Tarek was trying to do emergency medical care simply because he was there and people needed a doctor at that point," Greyson told CBC News on Sunday.

"I don't know why the Egyptian government continues to press this case. It seems ludicrous from our standpoint."

Greyson is urging the prime minister to step in.

On Sunday afternoon, Lynne Yelich, Canada's Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular) issued a statement saying she was "disappointed" to learn that the two men would remain in custody.

"Canada continues to press for a timely and positive resolution to this situation and, in the absence of confirmation of the charges, once again calls for their release," said the release.

"Minister Baird and I have been in close contact with Egyptian officials on multiple occasions, and our embassy in Cairo continues to meet with senior Egyptian government officials regularly on this case. The well-being of Dr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson is our top priority. We continue to receive consular access and are in regular contact with the Canadians' lawyer and families."

Day of arrest details posted

The news comes a day after Podur posted what Greyson and Loubani say is their full account of the day of their arrest.

Loubani, an emergency room doctor from London, Ont., and Greyson, a Toronto filmmaker and university professor, had been intending to make their way to the Gaza Strip last month when they were arrested. They both have family in the Maritimes — Greyson's sister lives in Halifax and Loubani has family in both Halifax and Bathurst, N.B.

In their statement, the two say they were stuck in Cairo and had decided to visit a protest in Ramses Square, five blocks from their hotel.

Within moments of arriving at the demonstration, they say chaos ensued, with wounded people being carried out of the square and gunshots ringing out. According to the statement, Loubani began helping the injured, at one point performing CPR, while Greyson filmed the scene. They say they witnessed the deaths of at least 50 people.

'Slapped, beaten, ridiculed'

Afterward, the pair say they were having trouble getting out of the police cordon and back to their hotel, asking for help at a checkpoint.

"That's when we were: arrested, searched, caged, questioned, interrogated, videotaped with a 'Syrian terrorist', slapped, beaten, ridiculed, hot-boxed, refused phone calls, stripped, shaved bald, accused of being foreign mercenaries. Was it our Canadian passports, or the footage of Tarek performing CPR, or our ice cream wrappers that set them off? They screamed 'Canadian' as they kicked and hit us. John had a precisely etched bootprint bruise on his back for a week."

'We believe it is now past due for the Prime Minister to call the Egyptian Prime Minister directly and highlight how damaging to Canada-Egypt relations this whole episode has been.'- Mohammed Loubani, brother ofTarek

According to Tarek's brother, Mohammed, Canadian consular staff documented the pair's injuries but told the families of the two not to publicly reveal the two men had been beaten.

"They were worried that the Egyptian authorities might cut our access off to Tarek and John if we publicized their mistreatment," he told CBC News.

Mohammed is also pressing the federal government to take the issue to a higher level.

"We believe it is now past due for the Prime Minister to call the Egyptian Prime Minister directly and highlight how damaging to Canada-Egypt relations this whole episode has been," he said in an email.

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Kenya mall attack: Toronto-born teen undergoes surgery

The hospital treating a Toronto-born teen injured in last week's deadly attack at a Nairobi shopping mall is expected to release new information Monday about her condition.

Fardosa Abdi, 17, is being treated at Sunnybrook Hospital after arriving in Toronto on Sunday afternoon.

She was wounded along with her 16-year-old sister, Dheeman,  when gunmen from the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab stormed the Westgate mall in Nairobi.

Abdi suffered serious injuries to her legs and torso when a grenade detonated near her and her sister. Dheeman suffered a broken finger.

CBC's Trevor Dunn was at the hospital Monday.

"I just got off the phone with a spokesperson for the hospital, and right now there's no update on Abdi's condition," he  reported.

"I'm told that she underwent surgery yesterday, and right now the spokesperson is just trying to get ahold of the surgical team that did that work and will try to provide us with an update on her condition.

"All we know is that Abdi is here in hospital and that friends and family are with her."

Both girls were born in Toronto but moved to Kenya a few years ago.

The four-day mall siege, which included the collapse of part of the mall, left 67 people dead, including two Canadians. The Red Cross says 59 people remain missing, though the government puts that number at zero.

Kenyans have become increasingly frustrated over the government's unwillingness to share information about the attack, reports say. Almost no details have been released about what happened after the first hours of the siege.

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Public umbilical cord blood bank launches in Ottawa

A newborn baby boy's umbilical cord blood is collected to try to cure his sister of leukemia in Beijing in 2005. Canada is the only G8 country without a national cord blood bank, Canadian Blood Services says. ( China Photos/Getty)

Canada's first ever public blood bank for umbilical cord blood is set to begin taking donations today at an Ottawa hospital.

Canadian Blood Services says its bank will let the public donate instead of discard umbilical cords, which are a rich source of desperately needed stem cells.

It says some 1,000 Canadians are currently waiting for life-saving stem cell transplants to treat diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or aplastic anemia.

The group says Canada is the only G8 nation that doesn't have a national public cord blood bank.

It says once the bank is fully up and running healthy pregnant women 18 years or older will be able to donate at collection hospitals in Ottawa, Brampton, Ont., Edmonton and Vancouver.

Similar private banks already operate, but CReATe Cord Blood Bank founder Dr. Clifford Librach says the launch of the public bank taking donations for use in non-family patients will spread the word about umbilical cord donations.

"It increases awareness for patients who may not have been aware of this whole process or their options."

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Autistic girl turned away by B.C. dentist

The parents of a girl with autism have filed a human rights complaint against a Chilliwack, B.C., dentist after they were told not to return to the clinic.

Sophia Filiatrault, 12, was considered untreatable by the dental office because she could not sit still and refused to open her mouth.

Paulette Weismiller, Sophia's mother, said she originally felt lucky to find Dr. Yoon Jai Choi, whose practice and staff specialize in high anxiety cases. 

But when she returned for follow-up visits, there was a problem.

"Sophia was nervous being in there, because she was in pain and she doesn't like anyone in her mouth, anyways," Weismiller said.

An employee of the clinic, "looked at me and just says, 'I can't do this, the answer is no,'" Weismiller recalled. 

"I said, 'What do you mean? You're done?' And she said 'yeah.'"

After this visit ended badly, the dental office wrote a note saying the girl should not be booked again.

The College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. says Choi has a right to dismiss a patient.

"In order for there to be a good clinical relationship, there has to be a good relationship between the patient and the dentist," said Jerome Marburg, registrar at the college.

"And sometimes, through no fault of either parties, that relationship cannot be established."

But one autism organization says that policy is outdated.

"Everyone has to be more aware of children with autism," said Katy Harandi, spokeswoman for the Canucks Autism Network, noting that one in 88 children now have some form of the neurological disorder.

"It's growing very fast. As a doctor or dentist, you will be seeing more cases of children with autism in your office."

Choi declined an on-camera interview, but told CBC News he has other patients with autism whom he's had no problems treating. He says a severe case like Sophia's would be better treated either with sedation or by a specialist.

But Sophia's father says that's unreasonable.

"We don't want Sophia to go unconscious every six months for a cleaning for the rest of her life," said Bernard Filiatrault. "We want her to get used to going to a dentist and getting her teeth cleaned."

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is looking into the complaint. A decision on whether to go to a hearing has not yet been made.

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Lunenburg, N.S., blaze was accidental, fire marshal says

The fire that badly damaged a 100-year-old building on the historic waterfront in Lunenburg, N.S., started accidentally, the fire marshal says.

The blaze ignited around 7 p.m. on Friday and crews from 15 stations battled it for 11 hours. The fire was extinguished by 6:30 a.m. The building's roof was destroyed and the inside was badly damaged, but its four walls and two floors remain standing. 

"The Office of the Fire Marshal is looking into the electrical [system]," said spokeswoman Chrissy Matheson. 

Lunenburg Fire Chief Darren Romkey said he thought the building could be salvaged. No people were inside, he added. 

As the blaze roared on Friday night, locals feared it would spread along the many wooden buildings on the waterfront. The crews were able to contain the fire to one building.  

The fire marshal was expected to visit the site on Saturday to investigate the cause. 

The building is owned by Waterfront Development, a provincial crown corporation that oversees waterfronts in Bedford, Dartmouth, Halifax and Lunenburg. 

The building has a business tenant with an office and storage.

Lunenburg was established in 1753 and the downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

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Canadians jailed in Egypt describe arrest, detention

Two Canadians on a hunger strike in an Egyptian prison have released a statement demanding to be set free and explaining what they were doing and what they saw the day they were arrested in Cairo on Aug. 16.

A close friend, Justin Podur, posted the full statement on his blog, revealing what Loubani and Greyson say is a full account of that day.

"We want all the facts to come out," Podur told CBC News. "Nothing they did was illegal by any sane legal system."

The pair, now on the 12th day of their hunger strike, have spent six weeks in Cairo's Tora prison. 

In the statement they recount the first 30 days of their detainment with "no phone calls, little to no exercise, sharing a 3m x 10m cell with 36 other political prisoners, sleeping like sardines on concrete with the cockroaches; sharing a single tap of earthy Nile water."

Loubani, an emergency room doctor from London, Ont., and Greyson, a Toronto filmmaker and university professor, had been intending to make their way to Gaza last month when they were arrested.  They both have family in the Maritimes — Greyson's sister lives in Halifax and Loubani has family in both Halifax and Bathurst, N.B.

On his blog, Podur said he released the statement in light of a Toronto Star article which suggested that Egyptian authorities may soon announce charges against the two men.

'They  are in an unsafe situation in this prison. There are instabilities in the country. We take it hour by hour...We are certainly not at ease, at any point, in this scenario."- Cecelia Greyson, sister of John

"Canadian embassy officials were led to believe, last week, they were going to be released. We got a positive report from them," said Podur.  "This now goes from a prosecutor to trial. What kind of trial are they going to get under emergency law?"

Canada's foreign minister, John Baird, tweeted Saturday that he had a "good meeting" with Egypt's foreign minister and appreciated the "high-level engagement" during his talks.

Meanwhile, Béatrice Fénelon from Foreign Affairs issued an official statement that "Canada continues to press at all levels, including directly with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, for a timely and positive resolution to this situation and in the absence of confirmation of the charges continues to call for the release of Dr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson."

Cecilia Greyson, John's sister, told CBC News she's "very disappointed" about news that charges may be laid.

"This may be an opportunity for the prime minister to make overtures to his counterpart in Egypt because this process ... has really gotten out of hand," she said.

Greyson said the families will not stop worrying until the pair are released.

"They  are in an unsafe situation in this prison," she said.  "There are instabilities in the country. We take it hour by hour ... We are certainly not at ease, at any point, in this scenario."

Egyptian prosecutors have accused Loubani and Greyson of "participating with members of the Muslim Brotherhood" in an attack on a police station that day.

Loubani and Greyson say they were stuck in Cairo that day because it was difficult to cross into Gaza, and so decided to visit a protest in Ramses Square, five blocks from their hotel.

Within moments, they say chaos ensued, with wounded people being carried out of the square and shots ringing out. According to the statement, Loubani began helping the injured, at one point performing CPR, while Greyson filmed the scene.

"The wounded and dying never stopped coming. Between us, we saw over fifty Egyptians die: students, workers, professionals, professors, all shapes, all ages, unarmed."

'[We were] arrested, searched, caged, questioned, interrogated, videotaped with a 'Syrian terrorist', slapped, beaten, ridiculed, hot-boxed, refused phone calls, stripped, shaved bald, accused of being foreign mercenaries.'- John Greyson and Tarek Loubani

The pair say they were having trouble getting out of the police cordon and back to their hotel, asking for help at a checkpoint.

"That's when we were: arrested, searched, caged, questioned, interrogated, videotaped with a 'Syrian terrorist', slapped, beaten, ridiculed, hot-boxed, refused phone calls, stripped, shaved bald, accused of being foreign mercenaries. Was it our Canadian passports, or the footage of Tarek performing CPR, or our ice cream wrappers that set them off? They screamed 'Canadian' as they kicked and hit us. John had a precisely etched bootprint bruise on his back for a week."

"They yelled out 'Canadian' as if it was a slur," said Podur. "This is beyond disrespect for Tarek and John and their families. This is disrespect towards the whole country."

The two were arrested along with hundreds of others that day – during violent clashes between members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who were demonstrating against the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and police in Cairo's Ramses Square.

Foreign Affairs officials have said they believe Loubani and Greyson were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when they were detained.

About 115,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the release of the two men.

The end of the statement reveals Loubani and Greyson are now in a new cell, which they share with six others.

"We're still sleeping on concrete with the cockroaches, and still share a single tap of Nile water, but now we get (almost) daily exercise and showers."

They are pleading to have their "day in a real court with the real evidence."

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Ontario's youth unemployment among worst in Canada

Young people in Ontario — especially Toronto — are among the least employed in the country, according to a new report that shows the province's unemployment rate is higher than the national average.

The report, released Friday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, shows that for those under 24 years of age, joblessness is more common in Ontario than anywhere in Canada, aside from Atlantic Canada.

The report analyzed employment data from Statistics Canada over the past five years following the global economic crisis.

"The big story is that five years after the Great Recession, youth remain largely shut out of Ontario's slow economic recovery,"  Sean Geobey wrote in the report, The Young and the Jobless.

This year, the unemployment rate for Ontario youth between the ages of 15 and 24 was between 16 and 17.1 per cent, while the Canadian average was between 13.5 and 14.5 per cent.

Some of Ontario's worst youth unemployment rates

Windsor 24.7 per cent

London 20.3 per cent

Toronto 18.1 per cent

Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 13.8 per cent

Hamilton 13.2  per cent

Windsor, Oshawa, Brantford and London were the most noted unemployment hotspots with 20 per cent of youth without paying jobs — rates similar to those in the European Union.

Toronto's youth unemployment rate was 18.1 per cent, according to the report.

The city's employment rate is 43.5 per cent. The city also topped the list as the area that has the largest gap between youth and adult employment in the province at 21.9 per cent — the highest it has ever been.

Ontario's youth unemployment rates rival some of its U.S. neighbours like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

The report says that the serious case of joblessness is not just the byproduct of the 2008 global economic crisis, and that there is no clear evidence the trends will cease in the near future.

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Memorial honours 11 police, peace officers across Canada

Two Ottawa men killed in the line of duty over the past year are among 11 police and peace officers remembered today at the Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial on Parliament Hill.

Since 1998, the last Sunday of every September is Police and Peace Officers' National Memorial Day, as proclaimed by the federal government.

This year, there are 11 police and peace officers remembered, including eight who died within the past 14 months:

• Const. Steve Dery, 27, of Ottawa: Kativik Regional Police Force officer was shot and killed on March 2, 2013 while responding to a domestic dispute in Kuujjuaq, Que.
• Const. Adrian Oliver, 28, of Ottawa: RCMP officer in Surrey, B.C., died after a crash between his unmarked police cruiser and a transport truck.
• Const. Jennifer Kovach, 26, of Guelph, Ont.: Guelph police officer was responding to a call for help from another officer when she crashed into a bus and died.
• Howard Lavers, 57, of Port Saunders, N.L.: Wildlife officer drowned after his snowmobile broke through the ice on Eastern Bluey Pond, near Blue Mountain, N.L.
• Const. Donovan Lagrange, 33, of Saint-Jérôme, Que.: Quebec provincial police officer succumbed to injuries sustained when he was struck by a vehicle on Highway 640, near Bois-de-Filion, Que.
• Const. Katia Hadouchi, 23, of Laval, Que.:  Quebec provincial police officer was responding to a domestic violence call when she lost control of her patrol car in Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Que. She later died.
• Rod Lazenby, 62, of High River, Alta.: Retired RCMP officer-turned-peace officer was allegedly killed in an ambush while working in High River.
• Const. Derek Pineo, 38, of Nipawin, Sask.: Saskatchewan Mountie died after his police vehicle crashed into a moose. 

The memorial on Sunday also remembers three officers who died in past years but were never previously honoured: Canada Customs officer Frederick Harris, Special Constable Indian Peter of the former Dominion Police Force of Canada and John Rutledge, an Ontario prison guard.

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Conservatives' long view on debt — and smaller government

The Conservative Party of Canada has launched a new fundraising drive that amounts to saying, "Give us money so we can protect you from the government."

It's an odd angle coming from the governing party until you consider this: the Conservatives want smaller government — and after a financial crisis and a recession, they are in a position now to do that.

Their strategy has been to constrain the government's future costs for services on which Canadians rely on a nearly daily basis: health care, education, social services — programs that also happen to be very expensive.

Because of moves in the last two years by Ottawa in those areas, the Parliamentary Budget Officer says the federal government is on track to be debt free by 2044.

Let's think about that for a moment. At that rate, Canadians who took out 40-year mortgages when the Conservative government relaxed the rules in 2007 will still be paying off their houses after the country moves into the black.

That's with no further cuts or tax increases.

Before debt hawks get too excited, however, the PBO has not factored in some very expensive promises the Conservatives have made — including income splitting and pension splitting.

Making such moves, using up the breathing room it has built, would make it very difficult for future governments to launch new programs without resorting to the politically toxic move of raising taxes.

Regardless of whether the Conservative government decides to pay off its credit cards or spend the windfall, a report the PBO released Thursday says the fiscal good fortunes are attributable almost entirely to one thing.

Much to the chagrin of provinces, the federal government unilaterally announced in 2011 that the growth of future health and social transfers to the provinces would be tied to economic growth.

This ensures Ottawa's obligations, as a percentage of the economy, are buffered against shocks. In the words of the PBO, they are "sustainable."

National debt still climbing

Of course, health care costs don't grow in line with economic growth. In fact, some experts argue the opposite is true.

The aging population, the higher expense of technological advances in health care, the unpredictability of pandemics or disasters — Ottawa has largely shielded itself from all of it.

Not so the provinces.

If no changes are made, the PBO estimates the combined debt of provincial, local and aboriginal governments is at the foot of a steep, dangerous slope.

 Debt-to-GDP ratio — arguably the most important indicator of debt to monitor — could hit 359.9% in 75 years.

 It's a serious problem with a simple solution, according to the federal government: raise taxes. Not federal, taxes, of course, but provincial.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty argues his government has cut taxes across the board for all Canadians. "This, in turn, creates tax room that provinces and territories can consider filling for their specific needs and purposes."

Flaherty said that to a business audience in 2008, two years after cutting taxes and boosting equalization and transfer payments to the provinces, and the message to the other members of the Confederation was clear: you want jurisdiction, take responsibility.

"Governments need to be accountable to Canadians for their taxing and spending decisions," he continued. "That clarity of roles and responsibilities is essential by ensuring that Canadians can hold governments accountable for their actions."

Flaherty was setting the table for today's argument: if Canadians are unhappy with the state of health care, blame the provinces, because it is not a federal responsibility (except for aboriginal communities and veterans).

It's similar to what the government did with the GST.

Room for HST

The undoubtedly popular (and populist) move to cut the tax by two-points had a severe impact on federal coffers, but would be very difficult politically to undo.

It also allowed provinces "room" to adopt the HST, which meant billions in extra revenue for them.

It is only recently, in the new age of austerity, that the appropriate restraints are being made at the federal level to pay for the tax cut.

To pay for the next round of "goodies" for voters, the government has made the cuts already and will "slay the surplus" later.

It's all in line with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's stated purpose of focusing on "core responsibilities," such as national defence, foreign affairs and the economy.

And if Conservative fundraising tactics now are a rehearsal for the next election, one campaign theme could be protecting Canadians' tax cuts from those federal bureaucrats that would see the government take on too much else.

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For many Canadian doctors, managing pain is 'not a high priority'

This week on The Sunday Edition

Michael's Essay: Atheists should stop behaving like persecuted outsiders.

Understanding pain

Dr. Fernando Cervero is working to change the way we think about and treat pain. He's a professor of anesthesia and the director of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill University in Montreal. He's also president of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Documentary: Figures in Flight

We meet a group of convicted murderers, drug dealers and sex offenders, who have spent many decades behind bars. Now... they are learning to dance.

Tackling public pensions

Demographics are threatening public pensions, and two provinces are tackling the problem head on. Michael talks with Alberta's finance minister, Doug Horner, and with the chair of New Brunswick's Pension Task Force, Sue Rowland.

Rebecca Solnit

Rebecca Solnit's new book is called The Faraway Nearby. She's wise and insightful, passionate and compassionate. Among other things, she talks to Michael about what her mother's descent into Alzheimer's taught her about letting go. 

Craig's Retreat

What's it like to live like a monk? Craig Desson reports from his 10-day silent meditation retreat -- waking at 4 a.m. and not reading, writing, speaking or eating after noon.

The headlines are full of breakthroughs heralding new treatments and cures for a host of debilitating and lethal diseases and conditions. 

But for the millions of Canadians who suffer from chronic pain, relief - let alone a cure - is still elusive. 

According to the Canadian Pain Society, one in five Canadians suffers from chronic pain. Yet treatment has not been a priority in our health care system; instead, people who complain of chronic pain are all too often derided as whiners. 

They say doctors are incredulous that their pain - which might have no apparent cause - could possibly be that bad. Or else they're just counselled to grin and bear it.

That nonchalance reflects an attitude in western cultures, where pain is largely considered a sign of virtue and a test of character, says Dr. Fernando Cervero, director of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill University.

Attitudes slowly changing

But Dr. Cervero notes that social attitudes are changing. Patients and their advocates are demanding better and more timely treatment for chronic pain. But the medical establishment has not kept pace with those changes. For example, veterinary students receive much more training in pain management than medical students.

The societal change in attitudes toward pain "has not completely permeated all the way to the medical schools," Dr. Cervero told The Sunday Edition's Michael Enright. "In a curriculum that is getting more and more busy with more and more discoveries in medicine – and we all have to fight for time in the medical curriculum – pain is not a high priority."

Dr. Cervero, who will be speaking at an international symposium on pain at McGill University on Oct. 3, says more must be done to make the relief of pain, especially for chronic pain sufferers, a top priority in Canadian health care.

"It's not right for people to suffer unnecessarily," he said.

You can hear Michael Enright's full conversation with Dr. Fernando Cervero on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition on Radio One this Sunday, just after the 9 a.m. news.

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Canada 'skeptical' of Iran despite historic talk with U.S.

It will take more than a long-distance phone call, even a historic one, to thaw diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird indicated in an interview with CBC Radio's The House.

U.S. President Barack Obama's spoke by phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday, marking the first time leaders from the U.S. and Iran have spoken in over 30 years.

When asked about the phone call, Baird told host Evan Solomon he welcomed the change in tone but that Canada remained "skeptical."

Baird conceded that "good talk is better than bad talk" but quickly pointed out that, "we haven't seen any movement yet" despite Obama's show of optimism following Friday's rare phone call.

Obama said, following his meeting with Rouhani, that he believed the U.S. and Iran can reach a comprehensive solution over the latter's nuclear program.

"We think actions will speak louder than words," Baird said.

The minister outlined three areas where Canada would like to see "real movement" on the part of Iran, namely:

• Its nuclear program.
• Its support of terrorism.
• Its "atrocious" human rights record.

"We hope they can become compliant with the United Nations Security Council sanctions on its nuclear programs and take some real steps back from the brink."

Rouhani announced, ahead of his visit to the UN, the release of almost 80 political prisoners, including a Canadian,

When asked about the good-will gesture, Baird said "we appreciate the release of these political prisoners," but quickly added that they "should never have been in jail in the first place."

"We are not going to pop the champagne just yet," Baird said.

The minister also expressed worry over rewarding the new Iranian president prematurely.

"I am concerned that there is a little bit too much enthusiasm as a result of the different tone. And what we hope is, the world won't take the pressure off the regime to make the substantive changes that are needed."

"The stakes are so high, we have to stay focused on what actions they take," Baird said.

Baird also said Canada would like to see Iran allow women to run for the office in the next election. "In order for an election to be legitimate you can't disqualify 51 per cent of the population."

"I hope my skepticism is wrong," Baird concluded.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed similar skepticism in Ottawa on Tuesday. "I certainly would not fault President Obama and our allies for trying," to improve relations with Tehran, said Harper. "But my sincere advice would be, when it comes to the government of Iran, that we should carefully monitor deeds far more than words."

Harper added that he has no plans to restore Canada's diplomatic presence in Tehran.

Last year, Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled 18 Iranian diplomats from its embassy in Ottawa, including the chargé d'affaires.

Baird will be in New York on Monday to represent Canada at the UN General Assembly, where he is scheduled to address all member states.

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Ottawa bus crash: Investigators re-enact collision

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board and from Ottawa police's collision unit are at the site of a fatal bus crash that shook the nation's capital 10 days ago.

On Sept. 18, at 8:48 a.m. ET, an OC Transpo double-decker bus travelling Route 76 north from Barrhaven to downtown Ottawa crossed a level rail crossing and struck Via Rail passenger train 51 travelling west.

In the resulting collision the front end of the bus sheared off, six people were killed and more than 30 people were injured.

It was an incident that shook the community of Barrhaven, the city of Ottawa and prompted the TSB investigation that is expected to take months to complete.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada were re-enacting a fatal bus-train crash in south Ottawa on Saturday morning. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

TSB investigators were on site running double-decker buses through the railway crossing at 8:48 a.m. ET Saturday to learn more about factors that could have contributed to the crash.

The CBC's Ashley Burke said investigators are examining the driver's perception including the visibility of the train, any sound or visual cues, as well as the sight lines from the road and any environmental factors.

Ottawa police also said they would be at the crash site conducting a parallel investigation near the intersection of Fallowfield Road and Woodroffe Avenue, until 2 p.m. ET Saturday. OC Transpo said Routes 94 and 95 would be detoured until 2 p.m. between Fallowfield and West Hunt Club roads due to the investigation.

Police also said Woodroffe would be closed for periods of time between Fallowfield and Slack roads as they conducted their own investigation.

This past week, five of the six crash victims were laid to rest:

• Michael Bleakney, 57, a civil servant.
• Karen Krzyzewski, 53, a civil servant.
• Rob More, 35, who worked at IBM.
• Kyle Nash, 21, a university student.
• Connor Boyd, 21, a university student.

The memorial service for the bus driver, 45-year-old Dave Woodard, is being held this Wednesday, Oct. 2.

This past week, Ottawa police said they had possible new information about the crash after a man passed along amateur video of the crash, which will be added to evidence being gathered.

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Lunenburg fire guts 100-year-old building

Police say they're not treating as suspicious a fire that badly damaged a 100-year-old building on the historic waterfront in Lunenburg, N.S.

The blaze started around 7 p.m. on Friday and crews from 15 stations battled it for 11 hours. The fire was extinguished by 6:30 a.m. The building's roof is gone and the inside is badly damaged, but its four walls and two floors remain standing. 

Lunenburg Fire Chief Darren Romkey said he thought the building could be salvaged. It was vacant, he added, and no people were inside.

Romkey said the fire might have started in a large garbage bin outside the building.

As the blaze roared Friday night, locals feared it would spread along the many wooden buildings on the waterfront. The crews were able to contain the fire to one building.  

The fire marshal will be on the scene Saturday to investigate the cause. 

Lunenburg was established in 1753 and the downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

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Rehtaeh Parsons hospital review gets more time

The province has appointed an independent expert to review the practices at a Halifax hospital in the wake of allegations that the hospital strip-searched Rehtaeh Parsons, who was receiving treatment for suicidal thoughts a year before her death. (Facebook)

An independent expert appointed by the Nova Scotia government to review mental health programs and policies at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax in the aftermath of the Rehtaeh Parsons case needs more time to complete her report.

The province says the report by child and adolescent psychiatrist Jana Davidson is expected to be finished late next month, about a month later than it was initially due to be completed.

Davidson, an expert from British Columbia, was appointed after an earlier report into the case raised concerns about the hospital.

She has also been asked to examine procedures within the Capital District Health Authority and make recommendations to address gaps in treatment and counselling services for young people who are suicidal.

Another report commissioned by the province into the Halifax school board's handling of the case called for an independent review of the IWK.

The report said Parsons was admitted to the hospital in March 2012, about five months after the 17-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and became suicidal.

Her family alleges she was sexually assaulted by four boys and a digital photograph of the incident was passed around her school.

She died in April after she was taken off life-support following an attempted suicide.

Glenn Canning, Rehtaeh's father, has said he would like Davidson's study to directly address his daughter's care in the hospital, which lasted about five weeks, because he doesn't believe she received the help she needed.

Canning told CBC News that Rehtaeh said she'd been strip-searched by two male workers who were looking for a razor.

The hospital said that in extreme circumstances clothing is removed from patients who are at a severely high risk of using their clothing to harm themselves, but later issued a statement saying the teen "was not stripped nor strip-searched by two men while in our care."

Davidson, who is the psychiatrist-in-chief of children's programs at the Children's and Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, has said she will not read the specifics of what happened in the case or interview people who treated her.

At the time of her appointment this summer, Davidson said her focus will be more generally on treatment and counselling services for young people and their families when there is a risk of suicide.

Kevin McNamara, deputy minister of Health and Wellness, has said there are legal restrictions preventing reviewers from looking at specific patient cases — even if a single case provokes the review.

The review was estimated to cost about $15,000.

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Is the anti-bullying message getting through?

Despite all the high profile media campaigns, government programs and school initiatives launched to address youth bullying, tragic stories continue to emerge about teenagers continuing to suffer.

This week, the mother of 15-year-old Saskatchewan teen Todd Loik, said her son —​ just like Rehtaeh Parsons, Amanda Todd, Jamie Hubley and Mitchell Wilson — killed himself after years of being tormented by his schoolmates.

It was yet another story where bullying looks to have played some role in the suicide of a young teen. But despite the attention governments and school boards are devoting  to developing an anti-bullying strategy, questions remain about how effective is the message, and is it reaching its target audience?

"I guess it's not effective enough if young people are being tormented," said Debra Pepler, a York University psychology professor who helped establish PREVNet — Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network. 

The issue, however, has certainly gotten its fair share of media attention.

Celebrities have taken part in multimedia anti-bullying campaigns, like the It Gets Better pledge that reached out to gay, lesbian, transgender and other bullied teens. And schools and provinces have also launched initiatives. 

Ontario passed the Accepting Schools Act last year, while B.C. announced its 10-point Expect Respect And a Safe Education (ERASE) bullying strategy. And this year,  Nova Scotia implemented its new Cyber-Safety Act, aimed at protecting victims and holding bullies responsible.

Meanwhile, in June, the prime minister's wife Laureen Harper joined then heritage minister James Moore and Ottawa city councillor Allan Hubley, whose son killed himself after being bullied, to announce $250,000 in funding for the training of 2,400 young people to deliver anti-bullying workshops in their communities and to reach out to others.

Shelley Hymel, a professor in the faculty of education at the University of British Columbia, noted that the issue has become a worldwide concern, and that in some countries progress has been made. Schools that have instituted anti-bullying policies have shown a 20 per cent reduction in the behaviour, she said.

However, she added, "I think the reductions we're talking about, although in the right direction, they're still pretty darn small. Twenty per cent, that means there's 80 per cent still going on. And there are a lot of schools who don't have this as a priority," she told CBC News. "So I think there's still a lot of work to do."

Hymel added that attitudes are evolving for the better on how to approach the problem. Schools and researchers are now taking a much broader view of the issue, and changing many long-held assumptions that include,  for example, that bullying is only carried on by socially incompetent kids.

Rehtaeh Parsons,17, died in April following a suicide attempt. Her family said she had been tormented at school for over a year by lewd comments and photos taken of her, and texted to her classmates. (Facebook)

"One of the big approaches that's happening, and this is kind of worldwide, is getting at peer observers," she said, adding that two or three kids witness every incident.

"We're trying to get kids to move from bystanders to 'upstanders.' Getting the kids involved,  you're trying to change the climate of the school, to where the culture basically says 'this is not OK.'"

Hymel said they've been collecting bullying-related data at B.C schools over the last four years. 

At one school, where the issue became a priority among staff, they initially saw no reductions in bullying.

"But now after four years we're seeing real significant reductions in kids' reports of bullying and victimization. So it takes a long time to change the culture of a school," she said.

Tracy Vaillancourt, Canada Research Chair in children's mental health and violence prevention at the University of Ottawa, cautioned that the media is creating a perception of a bullying crisis that really isn't there, and that research suggests bullying is no worse than it has ever been.

She also said it may still be too soon to measure the effectiveness of some of the recent anti-bullying strategies.

But some of the problems with current programs, she said, is this one-size-fits-all type of mentality. Every school will get the same anti-bullying program without taking into consideration the different demographics and culture of the facility.

"I think what happens is that we have these policy programs that worked in one school, and then we try to roll them out to other schools and they don't work."

There's also more to dealing with bullying than just addressing the problem at school, Pepler said.

"We've put it at the door of the school and said you solve it. And it's not a school problem. It's a problem at home, it's a problem at school, it's a problem with peer groups, it's a problem in the community, it's a problem everywhere we aggregate children and youth.

It's not a problem that schools can solve on their own."

Too often, people are looking for a simple fix or single program that fixes all, Hymel said.

"And the one thing we figured out in 40 years of research in this area is that there's no simple solution and there's no single reason why kids bully.

"There's lots of reason why kids bully and we have to treat each one differently."

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Tuition debt carried by many parents to help kids

Many Canadian parents pay a hefty portion of students' tuition fees, even if it means sacrificing their financial stability, to help their children avoid a post-graduation life burdened by tens of thousands of dollars of student debt.

Ross Campbell, a 56-year-old financial planner, and his wife knew they wanted to help their two daughters graduate university without the girls owing a cent.

"That was sort of a focus of ours," Campbell explains, "because we hear a lot of the horror stories that some students have $40,000, $50,000 in debt."

Average Canadian student debt load statistics vary depending on who does the math and how they do it. Lower estimates, which add debt-free graduates into the equation, hover around $14,500. Higher estimates, which focus only on debt-saddled graduates, add an extra $10,000 to the total.

'We hear a lot of the horror stories that some students have $40,000, $50,000 in debt'- Ross Campbell, financial planner

The Campbells started putting aside money for each of their daughters the month they were born, joining the roughly half of Canadian moms and dads who open up their wallets during for their children's studies. An annual Bank of Montreal student survey found 44 per cent of students rely — at least in part — on their folks' generosity. While the 2012 Canadian University Survey Consortium, which surveys more than 15,000 students, found nearly 60 per cent of parents contribute some funds towards university costs.

Postponed retirement, lines of credit

Not all of these well-intentioned parents can afford to do so.

The Campbells were lucky, says Ross, because his daughters were not in university simultaneously, but pursued their degrees consecutively over a span of eight years.

Their RESPs covered tuition and books, but the Campbells paid for residence —  later rent — and living expenses out of their monthly budget, setting them back almost $1,000 each month.

Ross will work as a financial planner a few years longer than he originally intended, and would have had to postpone retirement by another two years if he had funded his elder daughter's masters degree.

The Campbells are typical of Canadian parents with children younger than 25, suggests a recent CIBC survey. About a third of parents will delay retirement because of costs related to paying for their children's university education.

The same study revealed about a third of parents will take on personal debt to help their kids avoid having to do so.

Norah-Jean Perkin and Richard Aniol partially funded tuition and living costs for their three kids.

Paying about $200,000 for over a decade of education between the trio meant the couple had to take on "a lot more debt" on a credit line, says Perkin. They gave up owning a second car and slashed their entertainment budget.

'A huge leg up,' for graduates

Still, both couples say their financial sacrifices were worth it for their kids to graduate without five-figure debt loads, giving them a natural advantage post-graduation.

"I feel like I have a huge leg up," said Leslie Campbell, 23, who graduated debt-free from Trent University in 2012. "I think I would be in a very different mindset if I had a lot of undergrad loans."

Her father, Ross, says he and his wife wanted to give their daughters the flexibility to take "a bit of time to find the type of career that they want to go into" rather than be forced into settling for work because they are locked into large monthly loan payments.

'I think I would be in a very different mindset if I had a lot of undergrad loans.'—  Leslie Campbell, 2012 university graduate

Leslie, who readily admits she is lucky to hold a bachelors degree without debt, has been flexing her adventurous muscles and testing out various career paths since graduation. She participated in the federal government's French language explore program, studying French in Quebec for five weeks. She saved some money while working at a summer camp and travelled across Canada. The list of experiences Leslie has been able to fund because she's not worried about student loan payments goes on.

Debt delays post-grad lives

Of the 1,000 respondents:Student debt heavily impacts how graduates make important life decisions, a recent study by American Student Assistance, a private American non-profit organization, found.

• Sixty-three per cent said their debt delayed their ability to purchase large items, like cars.
• Almost three-quarters said they had to put off saving for retirement or making other investments.
• About a third said debt impacted their career choices.
• Two-thirds at least somewhat agreed that the need to pay student debt hampered them from furthering their career.
• Almost a fifth said their debt delayed them from moving out of a family member's home.

Theresa Aniol's parents funded her first four years at Toronto's York University, but she acquired a student loan to pay for her fifth year. The 25-year-old says she decided to do so partially out of guilt and partially because she yearned to be more independent.

She graduated owing about $8,000 — after grant deductions — and says, "realizing now, having to pay it back and what that means in terms of how I can go about my life now," is definitely stressful.

Her parents, who ended up with more loans than she did after her and her siblings' educations, afforded Theresa "a lot of flexibility and choice," she says.

"It didn't take long at school to realize how special and important that was."

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Drug-sniffing dog searches OK on 'reasonable' grounds

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that police can deploy drug-detecting sniffer dogs for warrant-less searches against suspects, but only with "reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts" of criminality.

The decisions mean that the Supreme Court agrees that the existing threshold should remain in place with regard to reasonable suspicion for police to conduct random public searches of people with drug-sniffing dogs.

Legal experts had been monitoring two decisions today regarding the use of drug-sniffing dogs, believing it would clarify what constitutes "reasonable suspicion" for when the animals can be called forth. The outcomes would decide whether police in both cases had breached the two men's charter rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

In a ruling today for one of the men, Benjamin MacKenzie, the Supreme Court stated: "The deployment of a dog trained to detect illegal drugs using its sense of smell is a search that may be carried out without prior judicial authorization where the police have a reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts that evidence of an offence will be discovered."

In 2006, MacKenzie was found with 14 kilograms of marijuana in his car trunk. But he was searched only after police pulled him over for driving just two kilometres an hour over the posted speed limit and deciding his eyes looked red. An initial police search came up with nothing before they brought in the sniffer dogs.

A year earlier, Nova Scotian Mandeep Chehil's cash purchase of a one-way ticket raised RCMP officers' eyebrows. Chehil was travelling alone when he landed in Halifax from Vancouver. In B.C., Mounties let their dogs search him and then found to have three kilograms of cocaine in his suitcase.

Lower courts acquitted both men, reasoning that police did not have reasonable suspicion when the law enforcement officials set their dogs upon MacKenzie and Chehil for a sniff search. However, their acquittals were later overturned by appellate courts.

The Supreme Court decided today to dismiss both men's appeals.

CBC's Alison Crawford, reporting from Ottawa, said the rulings were not likely to please civil liberties groups.

"They had argued that this threshold allows police to catch up a lot of innocent people in those searches," she said.

"But they did have a small victory today at court because the Supreme Court of Canada rejected an application from the Attorney General of Ontario."

That application had argued that people should have no expectation of privacy in an airport setting. The Supreme Court of Canada begged to differ, saying there was "no compelling reason" as to why that should be so, saying the public should at least have a small expectation of privacy when flying.

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Info czar warns against government's new obstructive tactics

Suzanne Legault, Canada's Information Commissioner, told civil servants this week that she is worried about new tactics and delays that threaten the public's right to information. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Canada's information watchdog is rebuking federal officials for dubious new tactics to thwart the freedom-of-information law.

In a closed-door session with dozens of bureaucrats Thursday, Suzanne Legault cited a series of novel measures she says are damaging an already tottering system.

"I am seeing signs of a system in crisis, where departments are unable to fulfil even their most basic obligations under the act," Legault told the group.

As an example, she cited a directive in April this year from the Treasury Board warning bureaucrats to steer clear of ministers' offices when looking for documents to respond to an access-to-information request.

The Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling in May 2011 largely protecting documents in a minister's office, but Legault says the new directive goes much further.

"This new component is not found in the Supreme Court of Canada's decision," she said. "In my view, it is potentially damaging to requesters' rights."

The directive imposes strict conditions under which documents can even be requested from a minister's office, and allows political staff members to make a final decision about whether the information is relevant to a request.

Legault drew on other examples of departments that do not bother to retrieve and examine documents before claiming they are exempt or excluded from the Access to Information Act.

She cited another case in which National Defence claimed a 1,110-day extension under the Act, and only produced the documents a few weeks before her Oct. 8 court challenge of the extension is to be heard in Federal Court.

"This type of case is not rare," Legault said.

Her remarks came during the annual Right to Know Week, a global event promoting government transparency. Related Ottawa-based conferences and meetings have been open, but Thursday's session at Library and Archives Canada was closed to the public and media.

A copy of Legault's speaking notes was obtained by The Canadian Press.

The speech noted that the number of complaints to her office is up by 35 per cent in the first five months of 2013-2014 compared with the same period last year, to almost 1,000. There has also been a 34 per cent increase in complaints where a department has responded with "no record exists."

The Access to Information Act came into force in 1983, and now attracts well over 30,000 requests each year. Although originally envisioned as a tool for citizens to hold governments accountable, the Act now is mostly used by businesses and lawyers to further commercial or client interests.

Canada, once a global leader in freedom-of-information, now is regarded as a laggard, with a badly outdated and poorly administered law born in the pre-internet era.

This fall, Legault is set to table a potentially damaging report on political interference at the Public Works Department. The inquiry stems from an incident in 2009 when a political aide to the Public Works minister ordered documents withheld from The Canadian Press, which had requested them.

The aide, Sebastien Togneri, later resigned and was the subject of a scathing report by Legault, who ruled he had no legal authority to prevent disclosure. The RCMP reviewed the case and declined to lay charges.

Legault is also expected to table a broad report this fall on reform to the Access to Information Act.

She indicated in her private remarks Thursday that she will recommend stronger penalties under the law, and that the Act should cover Parliament, ministers' offices and courts administration.

Legault also said she should be given order-making powers. Currently, her office relies largely on moral suasion and the courts.

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Canadian population surpasses 35 million

Canada's population has surpassed 35 million over the past year, a 1.2 per cent increase with growth generally higher in the western provinces, according to Statistics Canada.

The information is contained in the agency's population estimates released Thursday morning.

Canada's population is estimated at 35,158,300, an increase of 404,000 over the last year.

The 1.2 per cent increase is the same as the previous year's and similar to the annual growth in the country over the last three decades. 

"Except for the period between 1986 and 1990 [when it was higher], the population growth rate has shown little variation in 30 years, ranging from 0.8 per cent to 1.2 per cent," the report said.

Growth in the last year exceeded the national level in Alberta (up 3.4 per cent), Nunavut (2.5 per cent) and Saskatchewan (1.9 per cent).

Statistics Canada said the growth in Alberta was due to record levels of international migration and people arriving from other provinces. 

Meanwhile, population growth in the last year was lower in the Atlantic provinces, with Nova Scotia's population declining by half a per cent.

In the Atlantic provinces, the lower growth was due to a combination of out-migration and a low ratio of births to deaths, the agency said.

The population numbers come just a few weeks after the release of final data from the National Household Survey.

That survey revealed that the median family income in Canada is $76,000 — generally higher in the west than the east — while the median individual income is just $27,600.

The richest 10 per cent of individuals are making more than $80,400. And the very rich — the 272,600 individuals who make up the top one per cent — are all making more than $191,100.

The NHS also showed that second-generation immigrants are making far more money than the national median. And ethnic groups that are well-established in Canada, such as Japanese immigrants, are also well above the median.As for the other end of the spectrum, the bottom 10 per cent of income earners tend to live in cities, especially Montreal.

Estimated pop. growth, 2012 to 2013

	% change
Newfoundland and Labrador	0.0
Prince Edward Island	0.0
Nova Scotia	–0.5
New Brunswick	–0.1
Quebec	0.9
Ontario	0.9
Manitoba	1.2
Saskatchewan	1.9
Alberta	3.4
British Colombia	0.8
Yukon	1.2
Northwest Territories	–0.2
Nunavut	2.5

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Why Stephen Harper has no time for the UN: Chris Hall

You could see just that hint of the smile Stephen Harper reserves for questions he doesn't agree with, as he waited out one such query during a media session this week with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Why, the reporter wondered, would Harper not attend the opening of the UN General Assembly as other Canadian prime ministers have done?

The smile disappeared as Harper dispatched the question. What he said can be summed up something like this: other prime ministers didn't attend regularly, and he has better things to do while in New York this week to promote Canada's economic agenda and his own foreign policy priorities.

What are those things?

On Wednesday, the prime minister attended a panel discussion on the UN's maternal and child health initiative, which he co-chairs. It's now a $20-billion fund, and, more importantly for the prime minister, it's had a demonstrable impact on reducing the death rate among mothers, newborns and children in the developing world.

He plans to follow that up on Thursday by chatting with a well-heeled gathering of the Canadian American Business Council. That has become a regular gig for this prime minister, taking questions about his government's economic record, pushing his own prescription of how the world must continue to eschew protectionism and tax increases.

He leaves debating the wisdom of not attending the UN's annual opening to others who, it just so happens, are more than happy to oblige.

Canada's waning influence?

In fact, questioning Harper's views of the UN is becoming as much a regular event as the prime minister's streak of missing its annual opening session, even though he's been in New York at the same time for the last two years.

Academics, retired diplomats and the opposition parties insist he's making a huge mistake by, at best, ignoring the UN, or at worst, denigrating its role and importance in a world increasingly fractured by civil war, terrorism and inequality.

Carolyn McAskie is part of a group of very accomplished foreign policy experts who released a booklet this week entitled "The United Nations and Canada: What Canada has done and should be doing at the United Nations.''

A former assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping at the UN from 2006-2008 and career diplomat, McAskie insists the Harper government misrepresents what the UN does.

"If there are problems, and there are always problems, then we as a member state have a responsibility to fix it, '' she said at a news conference.

"We walk out of meetings because North Korea is in the chair. The reason you go to these meetings is so that you can engage all 193 states.

"You go, you play the game. If you're not at the table, you don't have a voice.''

Others who contributed to the booklet accused Harper of pouting ever since Canada failed to win one of the rotating seats on the Security Council in 2010; of contributing just 56 of the 83,000 UN peacekeepers deployed around the world; and of being a laggard in paying Canada's fees to UN agencies.

This country, they say, is losing influence where it counts the most.

''Canada couldn't get elected dogcatcher at the United Nations today,'' said Ian Smillie, an academic, author and former aid worker, and another contributor to the booklet.

Not exactly a boycott

It all adds up to some pretty damning stuff. Except for one thing.

Harper is unmoved, and generally uninterested in what the critics have to say about his approach to the UN.

A busy week of diplomacy for Canada's prime minster. On Tuesday, he entertained Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Ottawa. (Sean Kilpatrick / Canadian Press)

​

John Baird, once again, will represent Canada before the General Assembly, where he is scheduled to speak first thing Monday morning.

It's not an ideal slot, coming several days into the session. And nearly a week after U.S. President Barack Obama served his own notice — that the UN's credibility is at stake if it refuses to hold Syria accountable for using chemical weapons.

"If we cannot agree even on this," the president said in his speech, "then it will show the United Nations is incapable of enforcing the most basic of international laws."

Harper maintains a similarly dim view of the UN's effectiveness. The only real difference is that he doesn't bother to lecture the world from inside the assembly hall.

For the record, the prime minister has gone twice. His maternal health initiative is partnered with the UN's World Health Organization. On Wednesday, Baird acted as co-host for a new UN program to end the practice of child and forced marriages.

Plus, Harper will still rub shoulders with like-minded world leaders in New York.

But when it comes right down to it, Harper clearly prefers Bill and Melinda Gates (whose foundation is a key contributor to Harper's initiative to improve the health of women and children in the developing world) and North America's business elites to the leaders of countries that don't share his democratic values.

In other words, his disinterest in speaking to the General Assembly is deliberate.

Conservatives are irritated by the UN's bloated bureaucracy, its perceived bias against Israel and willingness, for example, to allow states such as North Korea, Cuba and Iran membership on the UN Human Rights Council.

Harper believes other multilateral agencies accomplish far more, and provide Canada with a much greater influence over world affairs.

He sees the G8 group of leading Western industrialized nations plus Russia as the right forum for dealing with issues of global security and peace. (His maternal and child health initiative came out of the 2010 G8 summit in Huntsville, where the prime minister committed $1.1 billion to the cause.)

He considers the G20, which includes the emerging economic powers such as India, Brazil, China and South Africa, as the world's pre-eminent economic forum, and looks at Canada's participation in other multilateral gatherings, specifically the Francophonie and Commonwealth, as historic alliances to be tolerated if not respected.

So don't expect Harper to change his approach to the United Nations.

It's simply not on his list of places where things get done. 

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Revenue Canada corruption feared over $400K cheque to Mafia

The Canada Revenue Agency issued a rebate cheque for nearly $400,000 to a top Quebec Mafia figure even though he owed the tax department $1.5 million at the time, heightening concerns of possible infiltration of the agency by organized crime.

Details about the payment to former Sicilian mob boss Nicolo Rizzuto were unearthed during a three-year investigation by journalists at Radio-Canada, CBC's French-language sister network, into allegations of corruption at the tax agency's Montreal office, which the RCMP have been probing since 2008.

The $381,737.46 cheque was made out to "Nick Rizzuto" and addressed to his house on Antoine Berthelet Avenue in north-end Montreal, a street known as "Mafia row" because it was home to several major players in the city's Sicilian mob.

The cheque is labelled "income tax refund" and is dated Sept. 13, 2007. Rizzuto was in jail then, having been arrested the year prior and charged with extortion, bookmaking and drug smuggling as part of the biggest police crackdown on the Italian Mafia in Canadian history.

Court records show that at the time, he also owed the tax department $1.55 million, which the Canada Revenue Agency tried to collect by getting a tax lien on his home.

Surveillance footage from a massive police anti-mafia operation in the early 2000s shows mob boss Nicolo Rizzuto stuffing cash he received from a construction entrepreneur into his socks. (Charbonneau Commission)

The veteran CRA auditor who first discovered the anomaly said he can't understand how a big rebate cheque to someone who had such a huge tax bill — and who was a known Mafia figure — could have gotten past internal controls without inside help.

"That name there was all over the headlines after the arrests. I mean, look, we're not talking about Joe Blow here," Jean-Pierre Paquette, who retired from the revenue agency in 2009, told the Radio-Canada investigative program Enquête.

"There are checks in place. There are approvals that are required during the whole process," he added. "It's left me rather perplexed about the validity of that kind of rebate or that kind of move by the agency."

Got a news tip?

If you have more information on this topic, or other news tips you'd like CBC to investigate, please e-mail us.

Paquette, who spent 35 years with the CRA's anti-organized-crime unit, said after he learned about the cheque, he went to Rizzuto's home to persuade the family to return it. Rizzuto's daughter handed it back to him in the kitchen.

Noël Carisse, assistant director of media relations at CRA, said:  "It would be highly irresponsible to suggest that there was anything inappropriate, illicit or nefarious in CRA's dealings with this specific taxpayer. Any suggestion that CRA did not devote the proper resources or attention to this situation is unequivocally false."

Rizzuto, whose son is former Montreal Mafia godfather Vito Rizzuto, pleaded guilty to gangsterism charges in 2008 and was sentenced to time served. Two years later, he was charged with tax evasion for failing to declare income on $5.2 million in Swiss accounts and again pleaded guilty, paying $209,000 in fines.

He was shot dead at his home by a sniper in November 2010 at the age of 86.

Corruption alleged inside CRA

The cheque to Rizzuto is the latest in a series of troubling revelations about the Canada Revenue Agency's Montreal tax office, which the RCMP began investigating for possible corruption in 2008 at the agency's own request.

Evidence has emerged that some revenue agency officials in Montreal might have received tens of thousands of dollars in cash and other benefits, including a trip to a Montreal Canadiens game, from people and businesses they were auditing.

Watch

CBC News will broadcast more details today from the Enquête investigation into allegations of corruption within the Canada Revenue Agency.

There are also allegations some CRA agents tried to extort restaurateurs whose taxes they were assessing.

One of the businessmen alleged to have bribed auditors, Francesco Bruno, is a construction executive with ties to the Rizzutos.

So far, the CRA has fired nine employees. Six of them have been charged by the RCMP with crimes ranging from breach of trust to tax fraud to extortion.

The RCMP says the total amount of taxes avoided through the corrupt schemes could total in the tens of millions of dollars.

A mysterious $381,737 tax-rebate cheque issued by the Canada Revenue Agency to Quebec crime boss Nicolo Rizzuto is stoking concerns about possible corruption at the agency. (CBC)

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Loblaws marketing guru Dave Nichol dies

(Retrontario/YouTube)

Dave Nichol, the popular pitchman for the Loblaws grocery store chain in Canada, has died at age 73.

The Chatham, Ont., native appeared in television ads for Loblaws in the 1980s and '90s, pitching products for the President's Choice and No Name brands.

Many of the products Nichol is responsible for remain popular, including the Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie.

In the early '80s, Nichol also introduced the Insider's Report, a flyer telling stories of the products his brands bring to consumers.

A statement from Loblaw Companies Limited praised Nichol as an innovative marketer who left a lasting mark on the company.

"We are deeply saddened and our thoughts and prayers go out to Dave's family," said chairman Galen G. Weston.

"Dave's passion for food and his vision helped to transform the way Canadians eat, and he has left a tremendous legacy that endures in the company today.  He will be missed by all who had the opportunity to work with him and benefit from his guidance and friendship."

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Heather Conway plans to take CBC 'to the next level'

Heather Conway has been formally appointed as the CBC's next executive vice-president of English-language services, a position that puts her in charge of media products in what she calls "the most important cultural institution in the country."

'You have to engage people. You have to be meaningful, and that's our challenge.'- Heather Conway, CBC's new executive vice-president of English-language

"I have butterflies; I think they're good butterflies," Conway told CBC's Suhana Meharchand. "I'm very, very excited to be here. I'm just thrilled.

"I think the CBC is the most important cultural institution in the country."

Conway said Canadians come to the CBC for a national perspective on world and local events, and that she wakes up regularly listening to CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

"It's the place where Canadians come to tell Canadian stories. It's where the Canadian point of view around the news and how we look at the world all happens," she said.

Conway joins the public broadcaster's senior executive team after a tenure at the Art Gallery of Ontario, where she was chief business officer overseeing human resources, digital services, marketing, and corporate and public affairs, among other operations.

As head of CBC/Radio-Canada's English-language services, she will be in charge of television, radio and online properties, including:

• CBC Radio One.
• CBC Radio 2.
• CBC Television.
• CBC News Network.
• CBC.ca.
• Documentary and digital operations.

Amid budget cuts at the public broadcaster, Conway said ensuring the content comes first will be particularly important for managing on-air and digital products.

"When you're in a public-sector organization and in particular a cultural one, employees and management alike are mission-driven, right? You're not here for the money; you're here because you care about public broadcasting and you believe in it, and I believe in that," she said.

On audience engagement, Conway said viewers, listeners and readers are attracted to content that's meaningful to them.

"You have to engage people. You have to be meaningful, and that's our challenge," she said. "And I actually think the CBC does a pretty good job of that. And you've got to keep doing that and take it to a new level."

Under Conway's tenure at the art gallery, it achieved its highest membership levels and saw attendance rise by 20 per cent.

Conway has also held top executive and consulting positions in the private sector, working with TD Bank Financial Group, Hill & Knowlton and The Neville Group.

She spent six years as executive vice-president at Alliance Atlantis, responsible for strategic marketing, publicity and on-air creative plans for 13 Canadian cable specialty channels.

Conway is currently a member of the boards of directors of IGM Financial and American Express Canada. In 2001, she was named as one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40.

In a memo explaining why Conway got the job, CBC's president and CEO Hubert Lacroix said he was looking for a leader with a particular set of attributes.

"A person with a business focus to decision-making, and a reputation of nurturing and developing teams," he wrote. "A person who is as comfortable in a corporate boardroom as she is on the newsroom floor. And a person who has delivered results in a wide variety of circumstances."

Conway, who joins the CBC in December, replaces Kirstine Stewart, who left in April to become the head of Twitter Canada.

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Toronto's Hamid Ghassemi-Shall freed in Iran from death row

The wife of Iranian-Canadian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, who was on death row in Tehran, says her husband has been released.

Antonella Mega, left, says her husband, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, has been released from an Iranian jail. (Handout)

Antonella Mega's husband had been in an Iranian prison since he was arrested in 2008 and charged with espionage.

He was sentenced to death in 2009 and an Iranian court later rejected an appeal.

Ghassemi-Shall emigrated from Iran after that country's 1979 revolution.

The Toronto shoe salesman had made several trips back to visit family without incident before his arrest in 2008.

Mega said Monday night that she had spoken with her husband following his release but did not know when he would be leaving Iran.

"I spoke to him very briefly and he is just happy that he is released," Mega said.

A Canadian government official issued only brief comments on the news of the man's release.

"We are aware of reports that a Canadian imprisoned in Iran has been released," said Adria Minsky, a spokeswoman for Lynne Yelich, minister of state for consular affairs. "While we are relieved by this development, for privacy reasons, we cannot comment further at this time.
 

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BlackBerry takeover offer buys company time

A takeover is necessary to give battered BlackBerry the time it needs to get itself back in order, company watchers say.

On Monday, BlackBerry said a consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. had signed a letter of intent to buy the company for $9 US a share in a deal valued at $4.7 billion US. 

The news came just days after BlackBerry announced it would take a non-cash loss in the second quarter of $930 million to $960 million, mainly due to its large inventory of unsold devices. The company said at the time that it sold only 3.7 million smartphones in the second quarter, and was cutting 4,500 jobs.

BlackBerry employees prepare the launch event for the company's new smartphones in London in January 2013. The company recently announced it was cutting 4,500 jobs. (Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press)

​If the Fairfax bid is succesful BlackBerry, which went public in 1997, would disappear from stock markets. But it would gain time to fix its business away from the public scrutiny that comes with quarterly results and coverage by analysts, and the media.

"Taking it private [is] the only way to save anything," said Iain Grant of technology research and strategy firm SeaBoard Group.

"Otherwise just continue circling the drain — every quarter losses continue, confidence evaporates, no magic [equals] no value," Grant said in an email to CBC News.

Peter Misek, managing director at investment bank Jefferies in New York City, said the letter of intent "is a bit of a relief."

​"It kind of sets the bar below BlackBerry, stabilizes the business and allows them potentially to keep going," he told CBC's Lang & O'Leary Exchange.

Fairfax Financial, which is led by Prem Watsa, already owns about 10 per cent of BlackBerry. Watsa served on the BlackBerry board from January 2012 until August 2013, when he stepped down citing a potential conflict of interest.

Ian Sprott, assistant professor at the Sprott School of Business, said he is leaning toward viewing this as a new beginning for BlackBerry.

"Prem Watsa and Fairfax are really sharp operators," Spott said on Power and Politics with Evan Solomon

"If anybody can do it, I think they can," he added.

It's not immediately clear what Fairfax might have in mind for the Waterloo, Ont.-based firm, including what parts of the business might be kept and what might be discarded.

Independent technology analyst Carmi Levy said the Fairfax consortium "stands a better chance than most of keeping the bulk of the BlackBerry's assets together instead of selling them off for parts."

"As the largest BlackBerry shareholder … Fairfax was buying more shares when everyone else was heading for the exits: a clear sign that the holding company values and appreciates the company it wants to acquire," Levy said. "Fairfax has traditionally not been a buy-and-break-up holding company, anyway, instead choosing to identify and invest in value."

Misek said BlackBerry should focus on its services business.

"Job number one is shut down as much of the handset business as possible. Refocus, retool on services. Make sure you're the number one mobile device management provider, cloud provider for Android and iPhone and mobile devices globally," he said.

Levy called the company's handset division an "albatross around the rest of the company's neck."

BlackBerry's software, services, global secure network and related encryption technology, and its intellectual property stockpile are "highly desirable assets that could be worth more than the sum of their parts as long as they are retained as a cohesive unit," he said.

"It may be difficult to see the value of BlackBerry's remaining superstar-level assets simply because we've been conditioned by years of negative headlines," he told CBC News.

"But those headlines focused on one consumer-facing aspect of the business. The other profitable units toiled away in anonymity while investors focused on the fading consumer handset operation."

BlackBerry's fortunes over the years have been well-documented.

​Started in 1984, Research in Motion, as the company was formerly called, launched its first BlackBerry device in 1999. 

By 2007, the same year Apple unveiled its iPhone, Research in Motion had 10 million customers, and a $67-billion market capitalization — the highest on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

RIM's share price topped out in 2008 at $149.90, but has been decimated since then.

Misek says 2009 was the point when things went wrong for BlackBerry.

"The iPhone had been out for two years. BlackBerry had come up with its response and felt that its existing operations system was OK, that consumers did not want to surf internet on their mobile devices, that they did not want all these apps because the BlackBerry OS could not handle that." 

"That was a grave mistake," he said.

At $9 US a share, the Fairfax-led group could buy BlackBerry at a significant discount even to last week's share price. On Sept. 20, after BlackBerry issued its earnings warning, its share tumbled 16 per cent to $9.08.

On Monday, BlackBerry shares were unchanged.

The Fairfax consortium has six weeks to carry out its due diligence, during which time BlackBerry can solicit or negotiate other bids.

Reaction on stock market to the takeover bid was tepid, perhaps suggesting the market doesn't expect another bid to emerge. Some analysts have suggested Monday's bid is the only way shareholders are going to get a solution to their problems.

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