Every terrorist attack anywhere on the globe attracts media attention. Every media is vying with each other to prove that they broke the news first and had the most daring and extensive coverage of the incidence. The terrorists on the other hand are very pleased about the coverage they get and the platform from where they can further spread terror in the name of their cause. The Television at your home or workplace has in effect become another gun in the terrorists’ hands to terrorise you out of your minds. The media reporters and anchors become the magazines and their utterances in the grab of informing the people become bullets. These invisible bullets actually pierces through your mind and terrorises.

To further complicate the definitions of a terrorist, the governments across the globe and the media confuses the people with the definitions of a ‘Freedom-Fighter’ and a ‘Terrorist’. Some of the media (with the tacit support of their governments) have been spreading the idea that one person’s ‘terrorist’ is another’s ‘freedom fighter’. This idea should never be accepted by the modern world. The recent bloodbath of innocent Kenyan college students on 02 April 2015, the uprising in Yemen, inhuman actions of IS; all must be classified as acts of terrorism and in no way ever graded as a freedom struggle.

Freedom fighters never segregate people based on their religion and slaughter them like animals; they never attack the school and college students and kill them so as to ensure that the future generations are uneducated and the terrorists can easily plant seeds of terrorism ideology in young minds; they do not take innocent hostages of children and women to terrorise the population, They do all these to ensure that the people under them remain slaves to them and will never question them. This slavery ensures that there is no freedom of thought or action and the best method most of these terrorist groups have adopted is to (mis)interpret the religious beliefs to justify their violent actions. It would be incorrect to blame it on any particular religion as most religions have gone through such upheavals in the past.

During the 09 January 2015 attack on Hyper Cacher, a Paris supermarket, two days after terrorists opened fire on the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, an employee of the supermarket hid six people, including a three-year-old child and a one-month-old baby, in the cold room freezer located at the basement of the store. Hearing shots, these shoppers fled downstairs to the storeroom where they huddled together in near freezing temperatures. Fearing they would not escape alive, they made what they believed would be their last calls to family to tell them they loved them.

Extraordinary pictures emerged in the days after the siege showing the hostages huddled together for warmth amid cardboard boxes of food inside the freezer. One woman is seen cradling her child, while in another image a hostage sends a text message to a loved one. One man with his young son had removed his jacket and wrapped him in it as they cowered in freezer for nearly five hours before the attacker was shot dead.

The families of these hostages have filed a lawsuit against French 24-hour news channel BFMTV, arguing that the live coverage revealed information that endangered their lives. The BFMTV and other networks revealed the location of the freezer where they took refuge. The families argued that had the gunman heard the reports, the hostages would have been in grave danger.

The live coverage by the French media in real time in such situations were tantamount to goading someone to commit a crime. This coverage would have helped the handlers of the attacker to direct the terrorist to the site of hiding of these six people as had happened during the Mumbai attacks of November 2008. One can well imagine the plight of these six people had the terrorist seen the live coverage on the French TV. In all possibility the supermarket might have been streaming live news in the store. The lawsuit charges media with endangering the lives of others by deliberately ignoring security protocols, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a €15,000 fine.

Such dastardly acts are used by the terrorists to seek psychological impact on the unsuspecting population. Psychological effects include fear, intimidation, insecurity, and also deprives faith in governmental institutions like police, intelligence, etc. To optimise psychological impact, terrorists need an audience to terrorise and the media unknowingly provide this readymade for the terrorist.

The terrorists are always in a win-win situation and they achieve a high value media profile, that too at a very low expense. It takes millions of dollars worth of publicity for the soft-drink giants to market their products and squeeze into the minds of its customer base; whereas, it took Al-Qaeda a few air tickets and the cost of training half a dozen terrorists in the basic operation of a commercial jetliner to become well known all over the world. The events that followed the live coverage of the 9/11 attacks infused fear in the minds of the world population, resulting in much stricter security checks, especially at the airports. This only helped to cause extra delay for the passengers and hiking the cost of infra-structure at the airports, which in turn showed up on the air tickets.

Many people are unable to resist news coverage of terrorist attacks. As horrific as they are to watch on television and read about in newspapers and magazines, many still find it nearly impossible to turn away. It is difficult to know why the information is so hard to resist. Some say that people are hoping for information because they are fearful of future attacks and want to be prepared; others say that people are watching and reading in an effort to digest and process the event; still others say the media is intentionally creating seductive and addictive images almost like those seen in an action movie.

The way out now is for the media to impose self-regulation about coverage of terrorist attacks in future. It would be prudent to limit or even completely blackout coverage of terrorist acts. In the post event coverage, the media must make all out efforts to ensure that they do not mention the name of the individuals and organisations responsible for the act and also not to give out the goals and intentions of these organisations. The methodology suggested is to choke the terrorists the ‘oxygen’ the media provides.

Clearly the media plays a critical role in the aftermath of a disaster. The media provides needed information, makes announcements, and gives instructions regarding services that are available to victims and their families. They are a resource for the community and can provide a source of hope. However, too much trauma-related television viewing may have a negative impact on everyone.

Marina and Nidhi, our daughter, decided to fly off to Las Vegas for the Spring Break. Our son Nikhil had his hands full for the spring break with his re-certification programme for the Lifeguard, CPR and First Aid, scheduled during the week. Further, both Nikhil and I never enjoyed the idea of throwing a few bucks at the gambling table, always sure that one is going to lose all of it. I drove Marina and Nidhi to the Toronto Airport by 5 AM and behold – there was hardly any space to even pull up the car on to the kerb at the departure terminal.

The schools in Ontario close down for a week, beginning the second Monday of March. This week is called the March Break or the Spring Break. It is called the Spring Break as it often marks the beginning of the Spring. Modern spring break owes its origin to a New York swim coach who moved his team to the warm Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the 1930s. looking for a warm place to keep his swimmers in shape over the winter. The concept took off in the 1960s with the release of the movie ‘Where the Boys Are’ and marketed using the phrase ‘Spring Break’. The subject movie was about a group of college students from the US Midwest letting loose in Fort Lauderdale.

Spring break is now one of the most popular travel times in Canada and the US with all the airports jam-packed and the Staff at the border crossings over worked. It is the time of year to shed layers of impermeable outerwear in favour of shorts, T-shirts, and sandals.

The March break is an important week for our family as Nidhi, Nikhil and I – all of us have our birthdays during the week. With the children grown up, they seem to have lost the enthusiasm to celebrate their birthdays. They just do not feel like wasting the money as they say. Please refer my blog https://rejinces.net/2014/07/18/how-did-you-manage-it/

The March break coincides with the thawing of the snow. The grass is now visible and the streams and rivers are flowing faster with the water from the melting snow. The city’s crews are busy cleaning up the parks and the walkways, collecting all the plastic that laid buried under the winter snow. They were also seen repairing the fences, the swings and playing equipment in the parks; setting up the benches and the tables, clearing the flower beds for the springing up of the tulips and daffodils.

March break also marks the beginning of the construction season. In Canada we have four seasons – winter, severe winter, winter and the followed by a six month long construction season. March break marks the beginning of the deployment of roads and bridges maintenance crew, shutting down some parts of the road, closing down a few lanes on the highways; all resulting in the vehicles either slowing down or taking a diversion.   Construction of new buildings commence at this time and most of the high-rise buildings have maintenance hanging down on steel ropes, carrying out repairs, cleaning or painting the outer side-walls or the glass windows.

The logic behind having a school break in March always eluded me. The new semester begins in February and logically in case a break is to be given, it got to be in April or May as it would mark the mid-term.

March break also marks the start of the cycling season. The cycles, all stored during the winters makes their appearances on the streets and cycling paths. The number of joggers and walkers also shows a marked increase. Most people, restricted indoors due to the snow and the cold winter now set out to enjoy and welcome the spring. The households become busy with the spring-cleaning of their front and back yards, often with the children helping their parents, to clear the yards of dead plants and shrubs.

The community centres run by the city offers day long activities for children to include swimming, skating, archery, fencing and various coaching classes for tennis, basket ball, soccer etc. There are many outdoor activities conducted for kids during the week like trekking, bird watching, cycling tours, etc. The city and various other youth organisations conduct full day and half day outdoor camps for the kids during the week aimed at learning motor and social skills, improve creativity through play, arts and cultural activities, develop intellectual capacities and concepts through play and many other life skills and above all build greater self esteem and improve their quality of life and health.

The police also utilises the March break to improve the awareness in children and pedestrians with a week-long pedestrian safety campaign called ‘March Break-March Safe.’ The event aims at increasing safety awareness in children during March Break as there are more children and youth walking around on city streets and the police want to make sure everyone stays safe. During the week the Police Officers would be focussing on drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who commit violations that could jeopardize the safety of other pedestrians.

The many museums and libraries offer special programmes for the youth and the young and also many family-friendly activities all week. The Canadian War Museum at Ottawa offers opportunity for children to play strategy board games against opponents. The Ontario science Museum offers kids (age 5-12) an opportunity to carry out exciting science experiments and enjoy exclusive access to the exhibit halls and the speciality is that no parents are allowed to accompany the kids.

When you drive on the roads in the residential areas and find children playing hockey on the roads the entire day, believe it, its March Break and the Spring is here and the warm Summer is not far away.

On 04 March, after an appointment with the Cardiologist in downtown Toronto, I was driving back home. The roads were slippery due to the freezing rain we had the previous day and thus the traffic was moving slow. The traffic light I came upon was not functional and the traffic was further slowed down. After a kilometer, I found the road blocked by a police cruiser and at a distance I could see two fire tenders putting out the flames on the poles that housed the transformers. I took a diversion and then pulled up on the drive-through of the coffee shop, to be welcomed with a bold sign – ‘CLOSED – Due to power failure’.

The transformer fire in the area kindled my brain cells to write about it. As if to vent the vengeance caused by the transformer fires, snarling traffic and the aborted coffee mission, on reaching home,  I decided to research the cause of the fire (which made my day awful).  Thus this article was born.

On 03 March 2015, thousands of homes in Toronto were without power until 04 March evening, after a major power outage struck the city amid a blast of winter weather. The power outage was the result of over 50 electric poles housing transformers catching fire. Pole fires generally occur once every couple of weeks in a normal winter.

What caused this sudden outburst of pole fires now? Toronto area had temperatures of around minus 10 degrees Celsius for a fortnight without any precipitation; either in the form of snow or rain. The temperature on 03 March rose to zero degrees Celsius and there was freezing rain in the afternoon. During a freezing rain, raindrops become super-cooled while passing through sub-freezing layers of air. These drops freezes on impact with any surface they encounter. The resulting ice, called glaze, accumulates to a thickness of several centimeters.

Salt is spread on the roads to melt off the snow in sub-zero temperatures. The salt crystals are powdered under the tyres of the vehicles. This salt dust rises up and gets deposited on the vehicles, poles, pavements, road-signs, etc. This salt had built up on the joints on the transformer terminals throughout the extremely cold winter fortnight. As there was no rain or snow to rinse salt off the power lines, they accumulated, especially at the joints and corroded the insulation.

Once the freezing rain hit these salt covered joints, the salt dissolved in the water, making it a good electric conductor, but the ice ensured that it got stuck to the terminal. Thus the distance between the transformer terminals and the ‘earth’ reduced. This resulted in discharges of electricity (arcing), powerful enough to set the oil-filled transformers on fire.  Normally, the air outside the solid insulator provides additional insulation.

The power outage caused the subway services to be suspended in some areas. The traffic lights in some areas did not function and a few shopping malls, restaurants and businesses closed down until the power was restored by 04 March.

The Winter of January-February 2014 brought with it the polar vortex, where in the cold winds from the North pole swept through Canada. This resulted in heavy snow and temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Snow and ice weighed on power lines or snapped tree branches, which took transmission cables down with them, causing many power outages.

A freezing rain storm on March 2, 2007, resulted in a layer of ice several centimetres thick forming on the side of the 533-metre-tall CN tower and other downtown buildings. The sun thawed the ice, and winds of up to 90 km/h blew some of it away from these structures. There were fears that cars and windows of nearby buildings would be smashed by large chunks of ice. In response, police closed all the streets surrounding the CN tower. There were a few other cases of falling ice chunks reported in Toronto from the towers and high-rise buildings.

The modern buildings and towers are high-performance structures with double or triple-pane windows to reduce heat loss. The windowpane material is an efficient insulator. This results in no loss or transfer of heat to the outer side of the windowpanes causing the outer surface to be much cooler in comparison to the warmer inner surface. This causes accumulation of snow on these windowpanes. In the older buildings with less-efficient windows, enough heat escapes through the glass to melt the snow on contact. Further, protruding sun shades, end up creating ledges for snow and ice to accumulate.

Many suggestions were mooted to solve the ice-chunk problem of CN Tower – from manually chipping off to using laser or magnification of light to targeted problem areas to melt off the ice. The most practical one appears to be the one developed by Victor Petrenko, a professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. It is a thin film that uses an electric pulse to melt ice and snow in less than a second. It can be applied to any surface, including concrete and glass..   The pulse melts a thin layer of ice right as it meets the surface, forcing the ice to slide off.

The invention is already being used on the cables of the Uddevalla Bridge in Sweden, where built-up ice kept crashing down on vehicles in winter. The problem was solved by wrapping the bridge’s cables with a special stainless steel foil, which is heated with a short pulse of electricity. A transparent electrically conductive film is also being used in Russia to de-ice a huge glass dome over a mall.

The frequency of watermain breaks is greater in the winter months. The watermains are buried at about 10 feet below ground surface (much below the freezing level) to prevent the water from freezing. Low temperatures cause soil to freeze and expand, creating frost loading or force applied on the watermain. Prolonged periods of cold weather will result in an increase in the number of watermain breaks. Leaving a tap slightly open for a very thin stream of water and Insulating pipes that are outside or exposed to an uninsulated wall with foam pipe covers are some suggested methods to prevent watermain breaks. Opening kitchen, bathroom and laundry cabinet doors to allow warm air to circulate around the plumbing will also help.

Environment Canada has said that February 2015 that Toronto experienced, was the first in 75 years in which the temperature did not get above the freezing mark.

Always remember that winter is only temporary and think ahead a few months, the warmth of the Spring is on its way.

Canada’s proposed anti-terrorism bill C51 passed its second reading on Monday, 23 Feb 2015 with a vote 176-87 in favour of its omnibus legislation. The act would empower law enforcing agencies to arrest somebody if they think a terrorist act ‘may be carried out’ and place them in preventive detention up to seven days. The bill recommends maximum sentence of five years in prison for any act that may promote terrorism. It further permits security officials to go online and challenge the communications sent to those suspected of becoming radicalized.

This new legislation would make it easier for police to detain suspected terrorists before they can harm Canadians. It would also assist national security agencies in preventing non-citizens who pose a threat from entering and remaining in Canada. This law would give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) the ability to intervene against specific terror plots. This new legislation would provide the courts with the authority to order the takedown of terrorist propaganda – to interfere with terrorists’ efforts to radicalize and recruit others. This legislation would also enable the sharing of information related to national security, across federal departments and agencies, to ensure that authorities can better identify those with terrorist links and intentions. It would also stop them from travelling by air for terrorism purposes.

The terrorists attacks of 9/11 changed the way the world viewed terrorism. The first major terrorists act Canada witnessed was the devastating tragedy of the Air India bombing by the Sikh terrorists that killed 329 people, most of them Canadians.

In Canada, the definition of terrorist activity includes an act or omission undertaken, inside or outside Canada, for a political, religious or ideological purpose that is intended to intimidate the public with respect to its security, including its economic security, or to compel a person, government or organization (whether inside or outside Canada) from doing or refraining from doing any act, and that intentionally causes one of a number of specified forms of serious harm.

The first priority of the Government is to protect Canada and the safety and security of Canadians at home and abroad. Building Resilience Against Terrorism. Canada is not immune from terrorism. A number of international and domestic extremist groups are active in Canada—some engage in terrorist activity in Canada, or support terrorism beyond Canada’s borders. Some have worked to manipulate or coerce members of Canadian society into advancing extremist causes hostile to Canada’s peace, order and good government.

Today violent Islamist extremism is the leading threat to Canada’s national security. Several Islamist extremist groups have declared Canada as one of their targets. This includes Al Qaida affiliates and ISIS from abroad to homegrown Islamist extremists posing a threat of violence within Canada.
Threats are also posed by Canadians who support violent conflicts abroad, or by foreigners in Canada interested in using Canada for refuge, financing, recruitment or other forms of support. Canada has listed under the Criminal Code more than 40 terrorist entities that are considered a threat, having either knowingly engaged in or facilitated international terrorism. These entities include the Liberation Tigers of Thamizh Eelam (LTTE), the Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA), the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Hamas and Hizballah.

The Canadian laws have been shaped by a deep attachment to democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and pluralism. Canada is an open-minded multi-cultural society which rejects intolerance and violent extremism. Security and laws coded to ensure security of the country will depend upon a respect for these values. When these are compromised, the safety and survival of every citizen would come under threat.

Extremism has many sources – from individuals to a diverse range of groups, who either actively participate in or who support violent extremist activities. Hence there is a need for identifying and isolating such individuals and groups. To achieve this, building partnerships with groups and individuals in Canadian communities must be the first step. This would facilitate in a better understanding of the communities and foster much better confidence in the security agencies. It would facilitate in implementing preventative and intervention methods to stop the process of radicalization leading to violence.

To succeed, the Government’s counter-terrorism efforts cannot be limited to operations to contain these groups or individuals involved in terrorist activities. They must also be reinforced by preventive measures, aimed at keeping vulnerable individuals from being drawn into terrorism. These measures call for a focus on individual motivations, and other factors contributing to recruitment into terrorist activities.

To effectively counter violent extremism, a culture of openness must exist between citizens and government. This will require the Government to share knowledge with Canadians about the nature of the terrorist threat. This would ensure better understanding of the need for these actions and develop better and effective responses. Every citizen has a responsibility to act—a responsibility to work with Government and security personnel, and a responsibility to build strong and supportive local communities. Only when these tasks are shared will a truly resilient Canada be achieved.

Capturing of biometric data, such as fingerprints and photographs, in the visa issuing process will accurately verify the identity and travel documents of foreign nationals who enter Canada. This will enhance the integrity of existing immigration programs by preventing criminals from entering Canada and facilitating the processing of legitimate applicants.

It will never be possible to stop all terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, Canadians can expect that their Government will take every reasonable step to prevent individuals from turning to terrorism, to detect terrorists and their activities, to deny terrorists the means and opportunities to attack and, when attacks do occur, to respond expertly, rapidly and proportionately.

The terrorist threat has evolved over the years, and Canada now faces ever more decentralized and diverse threats. This indicates that Canada’s Strategy must be adaptable and forward-looking—not just to react to emerging threats but to identify and understand emerging trends.

In a landmark judgement, nine member bench of Supreme Court of Canada on 06 Feb 2015, voted unanimously to allow doctor-assisted death for patients suffering ‘grievous and irremediable medical conditions.’ The bench observed that the prohibition on physician-assisted dying infringes on the right to life, liberty and security of the person in a manner that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. The court suspended its ruling for 12 months to give the Canadian government, medical regulatory bodies and the provinces a chance to draft new laws and policies around assisted dying. It said doctors have the ability to address whether an individual is capable of consent, and said the intolerable suffering can be physical or psychological. In its direct effect on how Canadians are permitted by their government to die (or live); this ruling will always stand out as one of the most remarkable one by the Supreme Court of Canada.

It is pertinent to note that the Honourable Supreme Court had used the term ‘physician-assisted death’ and has not used the term ‘physician-assisted suicide’. This could be because suicide is a criminal offence and so is aiding or abetting a person to commit suicide.

Currently eight jurisdictions permit some form of assisted dying – Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Colombia. The process of legalization began in 1994, when Oregon, as a result of a citizens’ initiative, altered its laws to permit medical aid in dying for a person suffering from a terminal disease. Colombia followed in 1997. The Dutch Parliament established a regulatory regime for assisted dying in 2002; Belgium quickly adopted a similar regime, with Luxembourg joining in 2009. Together, these regimes have produced a body of evidence about the practical and legal workings of physician-assisted death and the efficacy of safeguards for the vulnerable.

Many governments and societies base their laws regarding criminality of suicide and homicide based on a belief that human life is God gifted and no human has the right to take it away. It is a dichotomy that the most countries that legislate a death penalty does not provide for any form of form of assisted dying. It is a crime in these jurisdictions to assist another person in ending her own life. As a result, people who are grievously and irremediably ill cannot seek a physician’s assistance in dying and may be condemned to a life of severe and intolerable suffering. A person facing this prospect has two cruel options; either she can take her own life prematurely, often by violent or dangerous means, or she can suffer until she dies from natural causes. In all the jurisdictions that allow some form of form of assisted dying, the death penalty is not in vogue.

In Canada it all begun with the Rodriguez vs British Columbia case of 1993 and in the judgement, the court upheld the blanket prohibition on assisted suicide by a slim majority. The court ruled that the state’s purpose of banning assisted suicide was legitimate – to protect the sanctity of life. Ms Sue Rodriguez suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and she requested for the right to a physician’s help in ending her life. She in an affidavit said that feared she would suffocate and die struggling for air. She died of an infection in late 2012.

Despite the Court’s decision in Rodriguez case, the debate over physician‑assisted dying continued. Between 1991 and 2010, the Canadian Parliament and its committees debated on six private member’s bills seeking to decriminalize assisted suicide, but none was passed. While opponents to legalization emphasized the inadequacy of safeguards and the potential to devalue human life, a vocal minority spoke in favour of reform, highlighting the importance of dignity and autonomy and the limits of palliative care in addressing suffering. The majority expressed concerns about the risk of abuse under a permissive regime and the need for respect for life. A minority supported an exemption to the prohibition in a given exceptional circumstances.

In case of Ms Lee Carter, she took her mother Kathleen, 89, to Switzerland in 2010 for a doctor-assisted death because of a degenerative spinal condition. Kathleen said in an affidavit she did not wish to live ‘as an ironing board,’ flat on her back, unable even to read a newspaper. Ms Lee Carter said that, after her mother’s death that the entire family were elated as Kathleen got what she wanted. The case of Kathleen led to the court’s decision, which indicates that Canadians have a choice to die with dignity in their own country, surrounded by friends and family.

The timing of the judgement is considered politically explosive. It raises the very real possibility that doctor-assisted suicide could become an issue in the October federal election. The Conservatives led by the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, clearly oppose doctor-assisted suicide. Federal lawyers had argued unsuccessfully that totally banning assisted suicide shows that all lives are valued and worthy of protection. They also argued that such a ban would protect the vulnerable from being subtly encouraged to end their lives.

The Supreme Court has placed a 12-month delay on the ruling’s effect. Parliament has a year to draft a new law. If that does not happen, the decision takes over, and would allow for physician-assisted death. With the federal elections taking place in October 2015, formation of the new government after the election, all indicate that there is hardly any time with the parliament to pass any legislation. Politically too, the ruling dispensation would never like to touch such a subject during an election year, for obvious reasons.

The Canadian Supreme Court by this ruling has clearly defined the distinction between ‘right to life’ and ‘duty to live’. The ruling is a statement that the current law against doctor-assisted death breaches rights in Section 7 of the Charter of the Canadian Constitution, which protect life, liberty and the security of the person.

(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.

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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.

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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.