(Nikhil’s Assignment : Grade 12 : World Affairs)

Mercenaries are a very old concept which, like all warfare, has undergone a major transformation in the twenty first century. What were once merely violent individuals employed by states against each other have now integrated themselves into modern militaries. Their lack of professionalism, regulation and respect for the law makes them an incompetent fighting force, which present several threats to the very states which hire them.

The rules of war outlined by the Geneva Convention and the United Nations (UN) are supposed to be all encompassing, and yet has gaping holes in it for the use of mercenaries. The UN 1989 mercenary convention identifies mercenaries as people “motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain”[1], but are neither a national of a party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a party to the conflict.” Modern PMCs do fit this description and so are just twenty first century mercenaries, which are outlawed by the Geneva Convention, “A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war”[2]. While the convention illegalizes the use of mercenaries, the modern PMCs do not have to define themselves as such. This is because the primary employers of PMCs (Canada, Great Britain, USA, China) did not sign the UN convention, and so do not call their employees mercenaries. International law is also vague on the division of responsibilities of the employer to control their PMCs, which allows the PMCs to operate unchecked. The parties that “issue the contracts are barely capable of doing much in the way of monitoring, because army officers do not want to discipline private soldiers that aren’t part of its chain of command.”[3] This lack of mandatory control has given PMCs the confidence to operate unscrupulously like they did in Nisour Sqaure in 2007 (refer Appendix A), because there will be no oversight on them. There is also the issue of the rights of employees of PMCs operating in countries that did not hire them, such as American corporation Blackwater operations in Iraq. When Blackwater operatives abused women, and children and tortured civilians as part of counter-terrorism operations in Fallujah, the Iraqi people there killed four of them. This violent reaction has ” been the only justice the employees received for their crimes.” The actions of these Iraqis was also not, strictly speaking, illegal because the PMCs were not military personnel allied with the Iraqi government.

PMCs are supposed to replace real military personnel, but their lack of training and professionalism has made them a hindrance to the militaries they are supposed to support. The modern PMCs are desperate to keep overhead costs low, and so “sources and trains private military personnel from Latin America with minimal education and no military experience”[4] and ” these agents are paid as little as $1,000 per month”⁴. This lack of proper training makes the individual operatives unable to cope with the intricacies of the modern battlefield, and the low pay creates frustration and lack of motivation. There is also a lack of professionalism among PMCs, because they lack reverence for the cause and organisation they are serving with. This has led to a loss of cohesiveness amongst mercenaries, who have nothing to unite them except their paychecks. The fact is PMCs can do jobs like transportation and administration, but cannot replace actual military personnel.

PMCs pose a myriad of dangers to the states that employ them, making them the double edged swords of modern warfare. The financial motivations of these companies, along with their lack of infrastructure and lack of scruples are what make PMCs so poisonous to the countries today. The PMC is a corporation, and so is driven solely by a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders. Corporations like DynCorp make three billion dollars, paid mostly before their deployments. This guaranteed payment regardless of quality of work removes the need for self-discipline in DynCorp, this “earned the firm a trigger-happy reputation as its soldiers fought rebel groups in Columbia in the early 2000s.”[5] The other danger of PMCs is their lack of loyalty to a state or ideology, which has led to rogue PMCs conducting illegal operations abroad. There are several documented examples of mercenaries in Africa attempting government overthrows for unknown employers, one “group, led by Nick Du Toit and former SAS member Simon Mann, were planning a coup in Equatorial Guinea.”[6] (refer Appendix B) The greatest threat of PMCs are their ruthlessness when on deployment, which historically has led to several tragedies. When a crowd in Iraq(refer Appendix C) appeared to be getting agitated the PMCs used excessive violence to quiet them, and “Four Blackwater guards have been found guilty of killing 14 people and injuring 17 more in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square.”[7] This shows clear the ruthless, and inconsiderate nature of PMCs, and why they present such a problem for professional armies today.

PMCs also pose several latent dangers which, while not obvious now, have the potential to be even more devastating. The possible dangers of the continued use of mercenaries are PMCs making warfare deceptively easy, and lobbying for increased military operations. As of today 468 private contractors have died in Iraq.[8] Yet these deaths are never displayed on news networks or in newspapers, which allows states to wage wars without their citizens becoming concerned. Wars becoming easier will lead to more of them, and a disconnect between the population declaring war and the conflict itself. The second possibility is more alarming because of its inevitability, PMCs paying elected representatives to wage wars and thereby manufacture the need for PMC contracts. “The Defence Contractors, along with the PMCs, are one of the interests groups with powerful control over policy and decision making in the US Congress.”[9] This may lead to a cycle of incessant warfare, where PMCs use their wealth to lobby Congress and other governments to declare a war, and use the profits they generate from that war to lobby for more. The dangers are not obvious now, but evidence does suggest that the PMCs will make them a reality.

Private military companies are abundant today, with the industry worth over $100 billion a year. These companies have fully integrated themselves into the US military, and so have a great deal of control over when, where and why the US wages war. PMCs do reduce the costs of a deployment, so it is impossible for countries to ban their use, nor should they be banned as they serve a useful function. However the use of mercenaries must be strictly monitored, and regulated to ensure they obey the rules of engagement. It is only when these companies operate unchecked that illegal actions occur, and the UN, NATO, ICRC, and various watchdog groups must keep these “dogs of war” on a tight leash.

Footnotes

[1], Todd S. Milliard, Overcoming Post-Colonial Myopia a Call to Recognize and Regulate Private Military Companies. Diss. Judge Advocate General’s School, (United States Army Journal, 2003) 2014.

[2] Additions to Geneva Convention (ICRC, 2014).

[3] Rolf Uesseler, Servants of War: Private Military Corporations and the Profit of Conflict, trans. Jefferson Chase (Brooklyn, New York: Soft Skull Press, 2008) 146.

[4] Private Military Companies:Beyond Blackwater.(The Economist, 2013)

[5], Luke McKenna and Robert Johnson, A Look At The World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Armies (Business Insider)

[6] Adam Roberts, The Wonga Coup: The British Mercenary Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa (Egjustice.org, 2009)

[7] Meredith Clark, Blackwater Guards Found Guilty in Nissour Square Massacre (MSNBC ,2009)

[8] Private Military Companies: Beyond Blackwater. (The Economist, 2013)

[9] Mario Zorro, Defence Contractors and Private Military Contractors: Armourers, Mercenaries, and Politics (Mediums.com, 2011)

Works Cited

 “Additions to Geneva Convention.” Icrc.org. ICRC, 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Clark, Meredith. “Blackwater Guards Found Guilty in Nissour Square Massacre.” Msnbc.com. MSNBC, 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Isenberg, David. “Why Fighting Pirates Is Both Good and Bad for PSC.”The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.

Johnson, Luke McKenna and Robert. “A Look At The World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Armies.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 26 Feb. 2012. Web. 17 Sep. 2014.

Milliard, Todd S. Overcoming Post-colonial Myopia a Call to Recognize and Regulate Private Military Companies. Diss. Judge Advocate General’s School, United States Army, 2003. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

“Private Military Companies: Beyond Blackwater.” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Sep 2014.

Roberts, Adam. “The Wonga Coup: The British Mercenary Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa.” Egjustice.org. EG Justice, 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

Uesseler, Rolf, and Rolf Uesseler. Servants of War: Private Military Corporations and the Profit of Conflict. Brooklyn: Soft Skull, 2008. Print.

Zorro, Mario. “Defence Contractors and Private Military Contractors: Armourers, Mercenaries, and Politics.” Mediums.com. Mediums, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

While on our trip to Ottawa, the Canadian capital city with Guillaume Le Floch,  French exchange student, we wanted to get to the National War Museum. We could not find the way. So Nikhil and Guillaume approached two police officers to find the way. A chat ensued between the police officers and the two teens and they ended up snapping photos with them.

A few days later, on a long drive to visit a native aboriginal village, we wanted to stop at a coffee shop for a break. We did not spot one for a long time and hence I decided to pull off the road and search for one on the GPS. A police cruiser pulled up behind our car and an officer came to ask whether we needed any assistance. I rather sheepishly said that we were looking for a coffee shop to which the officer said that GPS will not help you as an outlet of Tim Hortons has recently opened and to reach there he advised us to turn back, drive 500 meters and turn right at the intersection. We thanked him and drove to the coffee shop for a much deserved break.

During the coffee break Guillaume said that he would never have asked a police officer in France for such an assistance. Modern police institution in France has remained an instrument of state, regardless of who happens to hold state power. During the Second World War (1940-45,) when France was occupied by Germany, the police became an instrument of suppression by the occupier. French police, from the time of the French Revolution to date have been used for handling various demonstrations by public and hence have an image of being unfriendly to the citizens. This has created a gap between the police and the people, especially the youth in France.

The first Canadian police officers recorded in the history books worked in Quebec City in 1651 and their duty was to act as night watchmen for the community. Today, policing in Canada is carried out at three levels: federal, provincial and municipal. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) operate at the federal level in all provinces and territories. At the provincial level, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Quebec Police and the Newfoundland Constabulary operate as provincial police services. Crime control and order maintenance are the primary role of police in which crime control activities occupy less than 25% of police time.

Community-based policing has gone a long way ahead in Canada and it involves a full partnership between the community and its police in identifying and reducing local crime. Crime prevention is the joint task of both the community and the police, and this joint effort is carried out within an interactive, cooperative and reciprocal relationship.

The increasingly multicultural nature of Canadian society is having an impact on Canadian policing. Complaints about the police by members of   visible minorities include over- policing of their communities, random stops and searches, discrimination in the use of police power, ‘blaming the victim’ when the victim is a member of a minority group and under-representation of minorities within police organisations. The governments at all levels have taken many initiatives that address police-minority relations.

One such initiative is the Youth Education Bureau of the police that works in partnership with the Health Department and the School Boards to create a positive and safe learning environment within the school system. The Officers of the Youth Education Bureau are responsible for initiating the SAFE (Schools Against Fearful Environments) programs in their individual schools. In this programme, the staff, parents and the police work together to ensure a safe environment at school and in the community. The programme ensures that the students are given a voice in their school. Any concerns raised is worked on through a focused plan of action. Each officer is assigned approximately 30 schools and they deliver various presentations and participate in special events hosted by their schools.

Project RAID (Reduce Abuse in Drugs,) is a seven-part drug education and awareness program delivered by a team of dedicated officers at all middle and high schools.  The police have established a Children’s Safety Village, which receives students on a fun educational trip in grades 1 to 5 to educate the students on road and personal safety.

The officers visit various schools and interact with the students. For Grades 1 and 2 they cover bullying, street proofing/ pedestrian safety and stranger awareness. For Grades 3, internet security is added to the above list. For Grades 4 and 5, introduction to dangers of drugs and tobacco is added. For Grades 6, 7 and 8, drug abuse prevention, youth crime, youth gangs are in addition to the above.

In addition the Neighbourhood Policing Officers work with the area high schools to maintain a presence with the youth. They work directly with teachers, parents and the community to ensure that the youth are on the right path to a great future.

There is a system of co-op placements with the police for students of Grade 12 as well as those in college or university. Co-op placements follow school semesters and are available for 15 weeks. To be eligible for the co-op placement program, students must be attending college or university and be enrolled in a co-op or work term program at their institution of learning.

Police and the Canadian Forces through Army Cadet Movement are long-time partners in developing the youth through the Cadet Organisation Police School (COPS.).The mandate of this programme is to develop the youth into leaders within the community. Many of these graduates have progressed to become active members of the Police, while others have succeeded in different areas of the community.

The interactions between students and the police have ensured that there exist a warm, welcoming and community-oriented relationship between the citizens and the police. The confidence built up through these programmes have ensured a high level of trust in the police.

It is common for people of all ages to seek police assistance in any eventuality, at times for routine route directions or even a help to change a flat tire. This is what every citizen of any country want their police to be.

Travelling to Europe and India from Canada, one faces the problem of carrying adapters, plugs, converters etc, all because Canada uses 110 Volt while Europe and India operate on 220 Volt. Thankfully nowadays most electronic and electrical equipment come suitably modified to work on both the voltages.

The complicated system of plugs and sockets followed in different countries add to the vows international travellers face. Why can’t they design a system like the Universal Serial Bus (USB) used in all modern gizmos to make life easier? The switch positions as whether ‘up’ or ‘down’ is the ‘on’ position adds to the confusion. Why can’t they employ a system like Double Pull Double Throw (DPDT) switches like the ones used in computers and modern digital equipment? Why is no standard followed world over for a basic necessity?

In 1882, Thomas Edison’s General Electric Company was distributing Direct Current (DC) electricity at 110 Volt in North America. Transmission losses and generation costs led to the development of Alternating Currents (AC). Nikola Tesla was the first to devise a system of AC electricity at 220 Volt.   Most modern electronic systems like computers and cell phones all use DC. The charging systems in all these use AC as it is easy to convert AC to DC.

The original reason behind the decision to use 110 Volt was that the carbon filaments Edison used in his light bulbs lasted far longer at this voltage. As technology improved, metal filaments became more readily available for light bulbs. One of Germany’s first electric utility companies decided to up the voltage to 220 Volt. In doing so they increased their overall distribution capacity and also reduced transmission losses.

Europe too began with 110 Volt, like North America today. It was deemed necessary to increase voltage to 220 Volt to get more power with less losses and voltage drop from the same copper wire diameter. At that time the North America also wanted to change, but because of the cost involved to replace all electric appliances, they decided not to.  At that time (1950s-60s), average North American household already had a fridge, washing-machine, dishwasher, etc, but not in Europe.

In order to understand the power transmission system better, a look into the Ontario Province’s (where I live in Canada) electric supply system will benefit.

In Canada, electric supply is called ‘Hydro.’ Much of the initial electricity was generated by hydro-electric power plants. So, the term Hydro-Electric was shortened to Hydro.

Ontario’s electricity supply has a diverse mix of sources – nuclear, hydro-electric, gas, coal, wind and, to a much smaller degree, solar, wood waste and biogas.   52% of our electrical power comes from nuclear generation, 23% from hydro-electric plants, 19% from gas, four percent from wind, one percent from coal and a very small amount from other sources.

The power plant produces three different phases of AC power simultaneously. There are four wires coming out of every power plant, the three phases plus a neutral or earth (ground) – common to all three phases.

The three-phase power leaves the generator and enters a transmission substation at the power plant. This substation uses large transformers to convert the generator’s voltage (which is at the thousands of Volt level) up to extremely high voltages for long-distance transmission on the transmission grid. Typical voltages for long distance transmission are in the range of 155,000 to 765,000 Volt in order to reduce transmission losses.

This high voltage power is transmitted from the generating station to the electric sub-stations using towers with three wires for the three phases. Many towers have extra wires running along the top of the towers. These are ground wires to attract lightning.

The electric sub-stations step down the voltage from transmission to distribution levels. The sub-station is equipped with transformers that step down transmission voltages to distribution voltages (usually 7,200 Volt.) It has a ‘bus’ that can split the distribution power in multiple directions. It has circuit breakers and switches so that the substation can be disconnected from the transmission grid or separate distribution lines can be disconnected from the substation when necessary.

The 7,200 Volt power is transmitted from the electric sub-stations by power lines to the transformers outside the homes. Modern sub-divisions have underground power supply systems. Outside four or five blocks of houses, the transformers are housed in green boxes. In rural areas and in thinly populated sub-divisions, the electric poles hold a transformer in white drums.

These transformers step down the power to two phases of 110 Volt. 110 Volt cannot be transmitted over long distances without acceptable losses. This calls for more transformers; nearly one per every four to five households. The 220 Volt system saves on the transformer costs.

There are two wires running out of the transformer and a ground wire running to the house. The two wires from the transformer each carry 110 Volt in two phases. This arrangement allows usage both 110 and 220-Volt (two-phases combined) for appliances like cooking ranges, dryers etc. 110 Volt system uses two phases with a phase difference of 180 degrees to create 220 Volt and the 220 Volt system uses three phases with a phase difference of 120 degrees to create 440 Volt for use with high power domestic and industrial equipment. As the 110 Volt system uses only two phases, the AC frequency is generally at 60 Hertz as compared to 50 Hertz in the 220 Volt system which uses three phases.

Customers in Ontario are billed based on the electricity consumed and the time it is consumed. It is achieved by using ‘smart meters’ which measures power usage based on three time-of-use periods:

• Off-peak – when energy demand is low and less expensive sources of electricity are used
• Mid-peak – when the cost of energy and demand are moderate
• On-peak – when demand is highest and more expensive forms of electricity production are used.

Comparison between 220 Volt over 110 Volt

• From the safety view-point, 110 Volt having lesser voltage results in lesser shock and thus less injuries or death due to electrocution.
• 220 Volt generate more heat across a particular fault, thus more vulnerable to fire accidents. Burnt-out sockets where a plug is loosely fitted is a testimony to it.
• 220 Volt circuits tend to use thinner gauge wire, thus saving copper/raw materials.
• 110 Volt systems use less costly plugs and connectors when compared to the 220 Volt systems.

Until the standardisation is achieved, electricity, plugs and sockets will all remain a troubling element for any international traveller.

In North America most of the cashiers at the banks or in the stores, hospital staff, pharmacy staff, airport staff – anyone and everyone who deals with customers you come across are standing and working. There is no chair or stool available to sit. It is perceived as a common courtesy to stand when the customer is also standing.

It is natural for human beings to stand in place and work. It is easier and faster to think from standing position. The tendency to procrastinate is reduced drastically while standing as there is hardly any note taking. When one stands up, one tends to believe that the task in front is much smaller. It is believed that Abraham Lincon, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed working standing up.

Today most offices in the Silicon Valley have gone in for stand-up desks. Stand-up desks are the latest trend in office furniture. Some believe it improves productivity while some claim that if you stand for three hours a day, it is the equivalent of running 10 marathons over the course of a year. Standing is believed to convey availability and courtesy while sitting in the presence of customers may be rude. Apparently, one gets the feeling that the staff are more efficient while standing, but there is no scientific proof for it. Many managers and supervisors feel that their staff are more efficient while standing and performing as they do not waste time to get up to greet the customers.

In North American schools/universities/colleges, the teachers always stand and deliver their lectures and in case one goes through the YouTube showing classes being conducted, there is no chair on the stage or near the blackboard.

In Europe and Asian countries the cashiers do sit and carry out their jobs. The major difference is that in North America, the cashier is expected to lift heavy stuff, ring the cash register and also bag the purchase. They have no help or assistance unlike their counterparts in Europe or Asia.

The associate who checks the passengers at the airline counter at the airport has to check-in the customer, tag the baggage and place them on the conveyor belt – all by themselves without assistance. At many airports now there are self check-in kiosks where the passengers do all these and drop in their baggage at the counter.

People who stand up and work appear to be healthier, smarter, happier and more efficient than those who sit and work. Compare a bus conductor to the bus driver; compare the cabin-crew of any airline to the flight crew; the list goes on. There are many real health challenges brought on by long days in a seated position, which is not what humans were designed to do. We squatted, to eat; we ran, to hunt for food; we stretched to reach for berries and nuts. Today most humans are tied on to their chairs, while at office or at homes, with hardly any movement.

In order to make life more comfortable in offices, there are ergonomically designed furniture, screens with adapters to position it at eye level, specially designed mouse to overcome repetitive strain injuries (RSI), etc. These result in sitting down for long periods of time at the work desk, mostly using only the brain and giving hardly any movement to the limbs. This leads to monotony, boredom, reduced social interaction among the staff, increase in body mass and blood pressure, high stress levels, etc.

To break away from such a dreaded lethargy, identify opportunities throughout your day to walk. Even a long stroll through the office gardens will help you shed a few calories and clear your mind. Try to take a phone call standing up; you can sit down if you need to take notes or write. Going from standing to sitting and then standing again will help keep you active and burn additional calories. Deliberately take a short break every hour to walk around the office and back to your desk. Clean and organise the office before leaving each day – never leave it to others to clean it for you. More than relaxing your muscles and brains at the end of the day, this will be result in a clutter free office the next morning.

Standing is a natural human posture and by itself poses no particular health hazard. However, working in a standing position on a regular basis can cause sore feet, swelling of the legs, varicose veins, general muscular fatigue, low back pain, stiffness in the neck and shoulders, and other health problems. The use of well-designed anti-fatigue matting can play a huge part in injury prevention, the reduction of standing worker fatigue, and increased productivity.

Taking care of the feet is the most important aspect for all those standing for prolonged periods at work (equally applies for those who sit for prolonged periods). Always remember that your feet can only be as comfortable as the footwear permits. Some tips for selecting the apt footwear are:-

• Wear shoes that do not change the shape of your foot.
• Ensure that the shoes have a firm grip for the heel. If the back of the shoe is too wide or too soft, the shoe will slip, causing instability and soreness.
• Find shoes that allow freedom to move your toes. Pain and fatigue result if shoes are too narrow or too shallow.
• Ensure that shoes have arch supports. Lack of arch support causes flattening of the foot.
• Wear shoes with lace-up fastenings. Tighten the lace firmly to prevent the foot from slipping inside the footwear.
• Use padding under the tongue if you suffer from tenderness over the bones at the top of the foot.
• Use a shock-absorbing cushioned insole when working on metal or cement floors.
• Never wear flat shoes and always ensure that the heels always less than 5 cm (2 inches).
• Always buy new shoes in the evening; that is when your feet are in the most swollen state.

Whether standing up and performing the tasks is better than sitting down and doing it or not, customers feel that a person who is standing is more approachable and effective.  In Canada, the only person whom I have seen sitting and working is the bus/ taxi/ truck driver.  If they had a way, they would have made her/him standup too.

The word Halloween means hallowed evening or holy evening. It is believed to be of Scottish Christian origin, dating back to mid Eighteenth Century. Halloween falls on 31 October, the evening prior to the Christian All Saints Day, on 01 November.

With regard to the evil spirits, on Halloween day, barns and homes were blessed to protect people and cattle from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the evil spirits. In the 19th century, in parts of England, Christian families gathered on hills on the night of Halloween. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him in a circle, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. The idea of Halloween as the Devil’s holiday has been propagated by the modern day Christian Evangelists. They lecture their followers that scary costumes, huge fires and talk of dead spirits are the marks of the Devil and the Satan.

Halloween came to North America with the influx of Scottish and Irish settlers by early Nineteenth Century. It was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and by the first decade of the Twentieth Century it was being celebrated all over North America by people of all social, racial and religious backgrounds.

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go out in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, Trick or treat? The word Trick refers to threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no Treat is given.

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Nowadays costumes come in the form superheroes like Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Captain America, GI Joe, etc. On Halloween day one can see most people – students, teachers, office goers, staff at the malls and the restaurants – all wearing some costume. Some offices and business houses have a particular theme for that year and everyone is expected to dress based on the theme.  It is thought that the colours, orange and black, became Halloween colors because orange is associated with harvests (Halloween marks the end of harvest) and black is associated with death.

The most common decoration is the Jack-O-Lanterns which originated in Ireland where children carved out potatoes or turnips and lighted them from the inside with candles. Its origin can be traced back to an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack” who invited the Devil to have a drink with him and then didn’t want to pay for his drink. He tricked the Devil and drove him off by carving a cross on to a turnip and illuminating it with a lighted candle. In North America, pumpkins were cheaper and more readily available than turnips, thus carving them and making them into Jack-O-Lanterns lit by a candle inside became a North American Halloween tradition. More than 50% of the pumpkin grown in Canada gets converted into Jack-O-Lanterns to end up in landfills.

Some associate Halloween with vampires. The percentage of North Americans who believe in the existence of vampires is at a dangerously high today. Legend has it that vampires feed on human blood, and once bitten, the victim also becomes a vampire and starts feasting on the blood of others. This supposedly accounts for an exponential increase of these widely feared creatures.  The vampires are said to have come into existence from the turn of the Seventeenth Century. If one vampire would have bit a human a month, and that person and the original vampire would have bit two the next month, and so on, by the turn of the eighteenth century, the entire world population would have been bitten by a vampire.

Whether Halloween is a devil’s holiday or not, the children really have a lot of fun and enjoy the evening going for Trick or Treat; the adults enjoy accompanying the children and also treating them at their homes.  People of all ages do have a lot of fun dressing up in the most grotesque way and they do not ever associate the Devil or Satan with what they do.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee – goes the final line of the Canadian National Anthem. Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons along with Constable Samearn Son and the entire security machinery that saved the day for Canada highlighting the essence of the national anthem. They protected the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament when gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau opened fire in the parliament building.

On Wednesday, October 22, 2014, after shooting Corporal Cirillo at the National War Memorial, Zehaf-Bibeau got into his car and made a U-turn in the direction of Parliament Hill, just a few hundred metres away. He abandoned the car outside the East Gate and commandeered one of those vehicles, which he drove right up to the front steps of parliament building with several RCMP vehicles in pursuit.

Zehaf-Bibeau engaged in a brief exchange of gunfire with House guards as he entered Centre Block. Inside the Centre Block, Const. Samearn Son, a 10-year veteran of the Commons security team, tried to stop him. Son immediately noticed the long rifle in Zehaf-Bibeau’s hand. and although he was unarmed, lunged at the shooter, grabbed the gun and pulled it toward the floor, screaming “Gun! Gun! Gun!”

That alerted the plainclothes officers inside the building, who carry weapons. During the ensuing struggle, Son was shot in the foot. He was taken to hospital later in the day, and released that night, but with a permanent souvenir — the bullet will stay in his foot, sources say, as it would do more damage to remove it.

Zehaf-Bibeau continued up the stairs, but by that time, the officers inside had been alerted by Son’s cries. The shooter went down the hall, at which point Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers shot him.

Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons, routinely carries the ceremonial mace into the House as a symbol of authority. The kings of England and later the speakers of the House of Commons had sergeants-at-arms carrying large maces to protect them.

Vickers richly deserved the prolonged standing ovation he received in the House of Commons on 23 October, and the thanks of a long procession of MPs thereafter. Vickers issued a statement saying he was touched by the attention but gave full credit to the whole remarkable security team, which demonstrated professionalism and courage.

To Canadians he is being hailed as a hero. Despite the incident, Vickers was back at work first thing this morning as MPs returned to Parliament. Vickers, 58 years old, served the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for 29 years and on retirement he became the sergeant-at-arms in 2006. In his RCMP career, he rose up the ranks from a constable to chief superintendent.

The image above showing flags flying at half-mast as a sign of respect for the fallen soldier, was taken in front of the McDonald’s outlet across the street from our home on 23 October 2014. Both the Canadian national flag and the McDonald’s flags are at half-mast. This brings out the real national character of the Canadians and exemplifies their regard for their soldiers.

There was a special reinstatement ceremony of the Sentry Program at the National War Memorial on 24 October. Two soldiers took their posts as sentries on either side of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the first time since Cirillo was shot in the same location on 22 October.   The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and he greeted the soldiers alongside General Tom Lawson, Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff. Among those he greeted were the five passersby who tried to save Cirillo’s life after he had been shot.

On 24 October 2014 afternoon, as Corporal Nathan Cirillo made his final journey home from Ottawa, thousands of Canadians lined the roads and highway overpasses from Ottawa to Hamilton, Ontario, to pay respect to the fallen young soldier.

As the hearse carrying Cirillo’s remains travelled along the Highway of Heroes, a stretch of Highway 401 named in honour of all the soldiers who laid down their lives.

Onlookers waved Canadian flags and clapped.

The crowds included veterans, police officers, firefighters, military families and those who wanted to pay their respects. Some sang ‘O Canada’ as the hearse passed by.

On all the overpasses, the fire fighters had raised the Canadian national flag atop the ladders of the fire trucks.

For more than 500 kilometers, other vehicles respectfully kept their distance from the motorcade or pulled over until the hearse was out of sight.

There were no police to enforce any traffic control, the self-disciplined Canadians demonstrated the apt way to pay respect to a fallen soldier.

When the procession arrived at the Hamilton funeral home around 8 PM, the large crowd that had been waiting outside for hours softly sang the national anthem and applauded.

This demonstration of national pride and respect for a fallen soldier comes naturally to the Canadians. Canada does not have conscription and majority of the Canadians have not served with the military. The major contributor is the fact that Canadian military history forms a major part of the Canadian history curriculum from primary to high school level. The children learn about the heroics of Canadians in the first and the second World Wars and the role played by Canadians in various peace keeping missions across the world. It was Lester Bowles Pearson, former Canadian Prime Minister who is credited as the father of  United Nations Peace keeping when he suggested that the United Nations station a peacekeeping force in the Suez Canal during the crisis in July 1957.

To become a Canadian citizen one must pass the Canadian Citizenship Test which covers a major portion on the Canadian military history. This ensures that the naturalised citizens are well aware of the sacrifices and achievements of the Canadian soldiers.

Why can’s the Indian UPSC, various state PSCs, entrance examinations, bank staff and officers examination – all include at least 5% questions from  Indian Military History?

On the occasion of the Remembrance Day on November 11, the school children discuss about their relatives who served the military – both the past and the present. In all the schools and in many public places, ceremonies are conducted to honour the veterans and the serving soldiers. Above all, during the week running to the Remembrance Day, all Canadians wear a Red Poppy as a mark of respect to the soldiers.

Corporal Nathan Cirillo’s made his final journey home on 24 October, 18 days before the Memorial Day – 11 November.  During the Memorial Week, Canadians wear the ‘Red Poppy’ as a mark of respect to fallen soldiers.  Can you spot anyone in the images above not wearing a Red Poppy?

To read as to ‘Why we wear a red Poppy?’ please click here.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) called the ‘Mounties’, adorn hats made from the muskrat fur as part of their winter uniform. The hat keeps them warm in the extreme cold winters of Canada, especially when operating outdoors and also during ceremonial occasions and parades. Each RCMP winter hat requires pelts from at least three muskrats and each year approximately 3,000 hats are issued to officers.

The animal-rights activists in Canada have been clamouring for discontinuance of the muskrat hats by the RCMP. They wanted only those officers who work in the extreme cold would be allowed to wear fur hats that had pelts supplied by humane trapping methods. For others, hat with a synthetic and/or natural alternative was recommended.

The RCMP accepted the proposal and tested a tuque made of synthetic material that works well in normal winter conditions, and decided to supply the new hats to cadets as early as the fall of 2014. The Mounties said their time-honoured muskrat hat would continue to be issued to officers working in extreme cold, stressing that the force and its garment suppliers comply with an international agreement on humane trapping standards.

To kill muskrats, leg-hold or Conibear or traps are often used. The ‘Stop Loss’ leg-hold trap was created specifically for muskrats. This trap has an extra metal spring which slams onto the muskrats body, pinning it away from its trapped limb. This prevents the muskrats from chewing off their own limb, which many will do in an effort to escape. Muskrats are caught in body-gripping traps can leave them exposed to the elements and predators, and prone to dehydration, starvation and self-inflicted injuries before they die. Often, trapped muskrats drown. Drowning muskrats are conscious and experience all of the pain and distress associated with drowning. These deaths are deemed inhumane and unacceptable by the animal-right activists.

If the animals undergo sufferings when trapped, what about the crabs and lobsters trapped using a similar method?   What about the fish in the nets or on the hook? Don’t they also undergo a similar suffering? The fur trade supporters often ask these questions.

The fur trade is vital to the economy of many remote rural communities in Canada. These communities who often have few other economic options. Majority of Canada’s fur cultivation actually takes place on factory farms where hundreds of thousands of mink and fox are kept in tiny cages and slaughtered for their skin. There are close to 70,000 trappers in Canada who harvest muskrats and other animals. Many are the aboriginal trappers who use the trapped animals for food and bait as well as the pelt.

Muskrats reproduce at a prodigious rate and would cause problems if not culled regularly as a sustainable approach. These animals are abundant and plentiful in the Canadian environment and need to be trapped to protect the ecosystems and also the fur trade.

Canada’s fur trade contributes more than $800 million annually to the Canadian economy. Canada’s most important fur markets are China, Russia and the Ukraine, Europe (Italy, Germany, UK, Greece, France, Spain), Turkey and Korea. The Canadian fur trade directly employs 70,000 Canadians. Full and part time employment in various fur trade sectors is additional to spin off employment in the supply and services sector, including feed and equipment suppliers, veterinary and research services, by product production, marketers, business services, transport, crafts and design sectors.

Fur trade has been one of Canada’s oldest and most historically significant industries. Nearly four hundred years from its start, the commercial fur trade continues to use a plentiful sustainable Canadian resource in a responsible manner and is an important contributor to Canada’s economy and ecology. The development of the fur trade had exploded in the seventeenth century once the fashion demands of Europe had acquired an insatiable desire for felt hats made from the short hairs of the Beaver. The fur trade had formed an important part of the early economies of both the English and French colonies.

The initial system was based upon some Aboriginal groups trying to control the trade by playing the middleman between the European settlers and other Aboriginal groups. This developed into a system where the colonists began to travel to the hinterland to trade directly with the native groups and eventually the French Coureurs des Bois began to lay their own trap lines and would travel thousands of miles each year by canoe.

The English decided upon a different approach when they claimed the Hudson Bay and all of the lands that had waters which flowed into the Bay. This system fell under a private company – The Hudson Bay Company (HBC) – which was granted it’s charter by King Charles II in 1670. The HBC constructed trading posts called forts, factories or houses at the mouths of rivers, along the western shore of the Hudson Bay and initially relied on the natives travelling down the rivers to trade their furs. As sources and the quality of the furs began to deteriorate, the Bay men used the natives to help them explore and establish new forts further and further away from the Hudson Bay.

The expansion of these two fur trading systems inevitably brought them into contact and conflict. There were only so many furs and the question became who was going to secure and dominate the trade. It is an interesting fact that the furs from Canada were usually considered to be more desirable due to the colder winters and hence the greater development of the fur to keep the animals warm.

The Canadian government on 30 September 2014 has ordered the Mounties to reverse the plan, even though the force has already ordered 10,000 tuques to replace the muskrat hats. The political angle to the decision is that Minister Leona Aqlukkaq, who heads the Environment ministry, also hails from the fur-trapping northern territory of Nunavut. She would always love to keep her electorate happy.

Hazel McCallion the Mayor of Mississauga, I saw her the first time when she gave the graduation address to the students when our daughter Nidhi graduated from high school in 2009. She came driving her Chevrolet Malibu car bearing the licence plate ‘MAYOR1’. The graduation address was inspiring, motivating and would make any listener think. She peppered her address with wit and humour and made everyone laugh too. Immediately after delivering the address, she dashed off to the next high school in the city to address that school’s graduates. This proved that her nickname of ‘Hurricane’ Hazel suited her to the tee.

Hazel McCallion, has won every mayoral election contested in Mississauga since 1978. She is the longest serving mayor in Canada and has kept the city debt-free since her first term of office. McCallion began her political career in 1968 on the Streetsville municipality which she served as Chairman of the Planning Board, Deputy Reeve, Reeve and then Mayor of Streetsville. In 1974, Streesville got incorporated into the City of Mississauga.

In her first mayoral election in 1978 she narrowly defeated the incumbent mayor. In 1979 she came into world news when a public health and safety crisis occurred during the 1979 Mississauga train derailment. A train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in a heavily populated area of Mississauga. A large explosion and fire ensued as hazardous chemicals spilled. McCallion, along with the Police and other governmental authorities, oversaw an orderly and peaceful evacuation of the entire city of 200,000 residents. Despite having sprained her ankle, she continued to hold press conferences and update briefings. There were no deaths or serious injuries during the week-long emergency.

Her reputation has hinged on her financial acumen and political pragmatism, with her no-nonsense style endearing her to constituents and alienating some opponents. In 1991 she became the first mayor to submit their city’s budget to public scrutiny.

Mayor McCallion is well known for her love of hockey. She played for a professional women’s team while attending school in Montreal. One of her friends and a hockey commentator Don Cherry, who joked during her 87th birthday that while 98 per cent of the city voted for her, he was looking for the remaining 2 per cent that didn’t. She never campaigned for the elections, she never put up posters, she never delivered any elections speeches, but she always got over 90% of the votes.

Mayor McCallion was born in Port Daniel of Quebec on February 14, 1921 and educated in Quebec City and Montreal. She then began her career in Montreal with Canadian Kellogg, an engineering and contracting firm, and was transferred to Toronto in 1942 to help set up the local office. Mayor McCallion remained with the company for 19 years. In 1967 she decided to leave the corporate world and devote her career to politics.

Hazel was married to Sam McCallion on September 29, 1951. Sam passed away in 1997. Hazel’s in-laws on her marriage to Sam gifted a piece of land in the village of Streetsville. She still resides in Streetsville and believes that one got to have a life filled with purpose and meaning and living her life in a Christian-like manner helped to motivate her and keep her energized. She does everything around the house herself like cleaning, grocery shopping, gardening, etc. She likes to be self sufficient and thinks that housework and gardening are great forms of exercise and keep her humble.

Her principles are grounded in the belief that a city should be run like a business; thus, she encourages the business model of governance. Her family’s business background, her education, and her prior career in a corporation prepared her to approach government with this model.

Hazel’s Hope, a campaign to fund health care for children afflicted with AIDS and HIV in southern Africa is her charity initiative. Hazel became the poster girl for longevity and good health for Trillium Health Centre. On her 90th birthday, Dr. Barbara Clive, a geriatrician, marvelled at Hazel’s good health: “At 90 her gait is perfect, her speech is totally sharp and she has the drive to still run this city. She’s the poster child for seniors”.

In December 2014, Mayor McCallion will step-down and people of the city are feeling ‘bad’ about it. What an amazing woman, who has given her life to our great city. She is never going to be replaced, she is Mississauga. What an inspiration for all women and for those of a certain age, that they aren’t done yet and can still live happy very productive active lives. To the generations coming up behind, to work hard and make a name for oneself and make a difference.

After delivering her annual State of the City speech, her last as mayor, on September 23, 2014 Mayor McCallion had some advice for anyone who wanted to fill her coveted seat in Mississauga: “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. You have got to be honest with people. You can’t make promises when you haven’t got a hope to fulfil them”.

Hazel McCallion was appointed as special adviser to the principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga.  She is engaged in her passion project is to develop a course to teach people how to participate in public office.

Hazel McCallion has been such an amazing Mayor to the wonderful city of Mississauga, and no one will ever be able to live up to her amazing work . The people of Mississauga are grateful to have had such a strong and caring women take care of our beautiful city. Now she has left some big shoes to fill and in all honesty, there will simply never be another Mayor that can make the people of Mississauga feel the way the people feel for Hazel. Every now and then a person comes around and truly leaves a legacy, you Hazel have done more for the city than most world leaders have done in their lifetime.

Thank you Hazel for all your hard work, commitment and dedication to make Mississauga the place it is today.