Pat Boucher

@patboucher

Humanitarian - Québec #archaeology #art #genealogy #music #nature #politics #science #sports #universe #retired🧓 You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. Desiderata

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Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 13

@mark-carney.bsky.social Please end the Safe Third Country Agreement with the USA. The USA isn't a safe third country for refugees. Visible minorities, especially those with tattoos should avoid travel to the US. Please amend Canada's advisories for travel to the USA to reflect that reality.

1. If ICE stops or intimidates you, do not precipitously flee

ICE is only supposed to detain people upon “reasonable suspicion” that a person has committed or is about to commit a violation of immigration laws. But in September, the far-right justices on the Supreme Court held in an “emergency” ruling for Trump that ICE can detain people based on factors like race, ethnicity, or speaking Spanish or English with an accent. So it makes sense, if you believe you are being detained, to ask the agent, “Am I being detained?” If the answer is “no,” calmly leave.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 13

"I tried to stop." Last words of latest ICE victim, 26 year old husband & father. 🕊️ May he rest in peace. 🕊️ www.idahostatejournal.com/news/nationa...

"I'm not mad at you." Last words of Renee Good

"Are you okay?" Last words of Alex Pretti

"They're killing me." Last words of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 13

I was aware there'd been anti-Zionists in Israel in the past, but before today, I'd never heard of Matzpen. All older in the film, but seemingly, they hadn't lost their optimism. That optimism must be disappearing, as Israel expands its genocidal machine across the ME. 3/4 youtu.be/zfrQ0-vw1oI?...

In 1997, after years of stories and newspaper items, I decided, as a student at Tel Aviv University, to write a seminar on Matzpen. At the end of that year the Hebrew University held a conference to mark 35 years since the organization was formed. I went there to document the conference with a camcorder, and found myself launched into a journey to follow people and ideas that until then I didn’t know much about. I made the film because I met Israelis, most of them native-born, whose personality, their command of Hebrew, their abilities and connections, could have taken them to any position they might have wanted in Israeli society – but their values and their courage to stick to them and act accordingly put them on a collision course with the whole society in which they grew up. To me, younger than them by 30-40 years, born when Matzpen was already starting to break up, it was a great privilege to know these people, to thank them, and above all to recall the ideas for which they fought. Eran Torbiner.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 13

Matzpen were optimists & just like the Israelis, Palestinians & those who support them living in Israel today, who dare to speak out, they were threatened, harassed & beaten, for being anti-Zionists. 2/4 matzpen.org/english/abou...

On 8 June 1967, three days after Israel started its war against Egypt, a joint Arab–Israeli statement, signed by representatives of the Democratic Palestinian Front and Matzpen, was published in the London Times. The statement, which had been written before the outbreak of the war, specified the conditions for a desirable resolution of the conflict: the de-Zionization of Israel; return to Israel’s territory of those Palestinian refugees who wish to do so; Israeli acceptance of a Palestinian state if the Palestinians wish to set one up, and readiness to make territorial concessions in its favour. The new, non-Zionist Israel would aspire for integration of Israelis and Palestinians in a supra-national socialist federal state that would be part of a political and economic unification of the entire Middle East.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 13

www.britannica.com/biography/He...

While her cells thrived, Henrietta declined. By September the cancer had spread throughout her body, and early the following month Henrietta died. However, the HeLa cells, famed for their longevity, continued to thrive in culture long after Henrietta’s death. HeLa became a ubiquitous study material, contributing to the development of drugs for numerous ailments, including polio, Parkinson disease, and leukemia. In spite of this, until the 1970s Henrietta’s role was unknown even to her family. In the 21st century Henrietta’s case was an important component in the debate surrounding informed consent from patients for the extraction and use of cells in research. In 2013 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted the Lacks family control over how data on the HeLa cell genome would be used (the genome of a HeLa cell line had been sequenced in full earlier that year). Two members of the Lacks family formed part of the NIH’s HeLa Genome Data Access working group, which reviewed researchers’ applications for access to the HeLa sequence information.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 13

NB - Posted for the Dispatch recap only, not the 2 linked videos, which I haven't watched, mainly because I'm fed up with the futility of pipelines & ditto with many of Carney's policies... Dispatch from the Front Lines: Sour grapes from south of the border open.substack.com/pub/theline/...

At the heart of all of this is a sense amongst Americans that Canadians who defend their country on routine nationalist grounds are, in some profound but inexplicable sense, being silly. And that sense is a thoroughly bipartisan temperament, as common amongst the most progressive Democrats as it is amongst diehard MAGA Republicans, the only difference being that the Democrats expect to be thanked for their sympathy while washing their hands of any responsibility for what is coming out of D.C.

That “all other countries are a joke” narcissism has always been a part of the American psyche, but it has now reached such a state of pathology that it is not clear any of them can see how the rest of the world sees America right now: a country that starts a fight and then sues you for hitting back; that threatens to annex you, and then sends a letter asking why you’re being so cold. Meanwhile, VQA sales at the LCBO are up 44 per cent on the year, and Canadians are discovering they quite like their own wine.

Look again at the Persian Gulf. Given how thoroughly Iran has outplayed Trump at every turn over the last couple of months, what U.S. ally can take for granted that America would do any better if facing a much more militarily powerful opponent, such as Russia or China? The desperation among American officials to get to some kind of ceasefire with Iran — and good Lord, it was desperate — is a very clear signal to U.S. allies across the world that America’s pain tolerance has probably never been lower. And its willingness, bordering on eagerness, to override the strategic interests and wishes of its allies to get itself out of any military confrontation is something that every enemy of America, and we hope every ally of America, has noticed.

Iran is lighting up the Strait of Hormuz and hitting U.S. bases and allies throughout the region, and Trump is fuming about Greenland while his secretary of defense continues to be upset when he sees sailors with beards.

These are not serious people. But these are very serious times, and the sooner we all figure out that the absolute best-case scenario for any U.S. ally is that America would come to its defence symbolically and inconsistently, if it showed up at all, the better off those allies may be.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 12

"The Senate is anticipated to vote on advancing its version of the NDAA including the Deadly Merger proposal on Tuesday, July 14. We have a critical window of opportunity right now to pressure lawmakers to block the bill." actionnetwork.org/events/block...

Emergency Phonebank

Stop the deadly U.S. - Israel Military Merger

Fund care not killing

Monday, July 13 @ 7PM ET

Sponsors: Adalah Justice Project - DSA - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 12

"Mark Carney’s government did the genuinely hard thing this week. It moved real money toward Canadian capacity at a speed the system is not built for. The easy part is still undone: saying, in the language of law, why it is allowed to." advocatedaily.com/canadian-def...

The National Security Exception used to be a scalpel. Invoke it, justify it, exclude only what the security interest required. That changed in June 2019, when Ottawa amended the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Procurement Inquiry Regulations with no public consultation. Under the amended rules, once an NSE is “properly invoked,” the Tribunal is required to dismiss a supplier’s complaint. “Properly invoked” means only that an assistant deputy minister signed a letter before the contract was awarded. The CITT can check whether the paperwork exists. It cannot ask whether the exclusion was justified, or whether the rest of the procurement was run fairly.

The Canadian Global Affairs Institute called this the “because we said so” problem, and the name is exact. Then December 2024 made it worse. Amendments to the Government Contracts Regulations stripped away much of the documentation and public-interest justification that used to accompany a sole-source award under an NSE. On the current reading, the invocation letter can now stand as its own rationale. The only recourse left to a shut-out bidder is judicial review in Federal Court: slow, expensive, and deferential to the government by design. The Procurement Ombudsman has already warned that this trades away the fairness, openness, and transparency the whole edifice was built to guarantee.

Read those two changes together against this week’s announcements and the shape of the risk becomes clear. Ottawa is moving billions through procurements that can be lawfully shielded from independent review, and it is not saying which shield it is using. Is the vehicle carve-out resting on trade-agreement non-coverage, on an invoked NSE, or on an economic-benefit rationale? Each has different consequences for the firms left outside. The government has not said, because nothing forces it to.

This is where the legal gap collides with the sales pitch. The entire case for buying Canadian, the case I have made in these pages before and elsewhere, is that Canadian systems are auditable, sit under Canadian law, and answer to Canadian oversight. Sovereignty is effective control plus a domestic legal forum. A procurement regime that reaches the right outcome through an opaque, discretion-heavy, unreviewable process hollows out that exact argument. You cannot market rule-of-law sovereignty to allied buyers while running your own acquisitions on trust-us.

It also betrays the firms the policy claims to champion. Domestic preference sounds like a tailwind for Canadian small and medium suppliers, but Canadian defence procurement rewards incumbents in practice: the ones with cleared staff, standing ADM relationships, and lobbyists on retainer. The five-person Canadian company the strategy holds up as its beneficiary is precisely the one that cannot fund a Federal Court judicial review when it is quietly passed over. Remove reviewability and “buy Canadian” degrades into “buy the usual Canadians.”

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 12

No doubt the erratic behaviour of the US contributed to decisions made re: Canada's future defence procurements. This integration proposal reinforces those decisions. Sanders Says 'We Must' Strip Section on US-Israeli Military Integration From Pentagon Budget www.commondreams.org/news/sanders...

Responding to the proposed Sections 219 and 622, Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, recently said in a statement that “Congress must act to block these Israel‑first bills that would force a deeper US and Israel military and intelligence merger, a merger that will weaken independent American oversight, compromise US national interests, and pull the country into foreign conflicts without democratic consent.”

“The American people did not elect Congress to merge our military infrastructure, intelligence systems, defense technologies, artificial intelligence capabilities, cyber operations, and regional security architecture with a foreign government accused of genocide, apartheid, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, torture, starvation policies, and the unlawful targeting of civilians,” he continued.

“Instead of demanding accountability... Congress is seeking to reward the Israeli government with even deeper access to American military capabilities, technologies, intelligence resources, and strategic infrastructure,” McCaw added. “The American people deserve a foreign policy that serves American interests and American values, not legislation that places the priorities of a foreign government above American sovereignty, accountability, and self-government.”

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 12

Congress may be trying to quietly integrate US & Israeli militaries, but Israel is triumphantly shouting it out for the whole world to recoil from, knowing the implications for the expansion of Israel's bloodthirsty genocide across the ME, are not only at hand, but are hand in hand with the US.

JINSA - 50th Anniversary

About Us - Policy - Programs - Events

Our Mission:

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) is dedicated to advancing U.S. national security interests in the Middle East, of which a critical pillar is a robust U.S.-Israel security relationship. JINSA believes that Israel is the most capable and critical U.S. security partner in the 21st century and that a strong America is the best guarantor of Western civilization.

JINSA advances its mission by conducting both educational programs that build ties among American, Israeli and other Middle Eastern partner military leaders, along with in-depth research and actionable recommendations to influence U.S. policy.

JINSA is a non-partisan, 501c(3) organization.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 11

@liberalca.bsky.social I didn't vote for murder & genocide. Veering off the path as a peacekeeping nation, Canada is instead becoming deeper & deeper enmeshed with despots, who routinely flaunt the international rule of law, including International humanitarian law (IHL). rabble.ca/politics/can...

Hosted by the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, the war games include Israel, a rogue state currently committing genocide in Gaza, invading Lebanon, and illegally attacked Iran.

The Liberal government has dispatched two Canadian frigates, HMCS Ottawa and HMCS Regina, the sole functioning Canadian submarine – HMCS Corner Brook, the supply ship Asterix, a CP-140 Aurora patrol aircraft, two Cyclone maritime helicopters and 800 military personnel to participate in the war games organized by an ever more aggressive United States.

“Canada Expands Indo-Pacific Presence with Major Contribution and Leadership Role at RIMPAC 2026,” boasted the Canadian Defence Review (CDR) in the runup to the war exercises.

This at a time when most Canadians see the US as the main threat to global peace.

US dominance in the war games comes from its massive military presence in the Pacific. A small portion is deployed at RIMPAC, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, a guided-missile cruiser – USS Chosin, four US destroyers, and two submarines including the USS Charlotte.

During the Israeli/US illegal war on Iran, the Charlotte gained notoriety when it torpedoed and sank an Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka. The IRIS Dena, reportedly unarmed at the time, had been participating in joint naval exercises hosted by India at the time. Over 100 of its crew perished in the unprovoked attack.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

From a Canadian AI operations management company: Huge red flag, who would compromise their data to the US, knowing it would be shared with Israel & / or, whoever the highest bidder is? Does anything prevent a Canadian centre from being sold to a foreign entity? qudatacentres.com/blog/are-the...

Data Sovereignty and Jurisdictional Control

Storing data in Canada is not the same as having Canadian sovereignty over that data. As the Government of Canada's own white paper on the subject states, as long as a cloud or infrastructure provider operating in Canada is subject to the laws of a foreign country, Canada cannot claim full sovereignty over the data held there.

This is the CLOUD Act problem in plain language. The U.S. Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act empowers American authorities to compel U.S.-incorporated companies to provide access to data they control, regardless of where that data is physically stored.

When a senior Microsoft executive was asked under oath before the French Senate in June 2025 whether he could guarantee that data stored in French infrastructure would not be transmitted to American authorities, the answer was no. The same legal reality applies to Canadian data held on U.S.-owned infrastructure.

For Canadian enterprises in financial services, healthcare, and government, this is not a theoretical risk. It is a procurement constraint that is becoming harder to route around as regulatory expectations tighten.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

It's unfortunate that Elizabeth May is often given short shrift, because quite often she's right on the mark. NB - this bill was fast tracked & was an omnibus bill, tactics Harper used & was justifiably vilified for. Will @mark-carney.bsky.social be as well? www.greenparty.ca/en/news/bill...

May noted that while the amendments represent meaningful progress, the Green Party maintains that the exemption power itself remains fundamentally flawed and should be removed from the bill.

“These are real improvements, and they happened because Canadians pushed for them. But the Green Party’s position has not changed. The very notion of exempting individuals and corporations from the application of Canadian law is offensive and should be deleted from this bill entirely,” said May. “Red Tape Reduction should never allow reductions in the protection of health and the environment.”

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

Old news, but worth remembering for when Parliament resumes. You have to have eyes in the back of your head, to have a glimmer of hope of knowing what @liberalca.bsky.social will do, if the opposition isn't on their toes. www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

Buried on page 300 of a more than 600-page long budget implementation bill is a constitutional abomination. Part 5, Division 5 of this bill introduces draconian powers that allow federal ministers to exempt any individual, company or government (including its own federal departments) from the application of any federal law or regulation. No legislation is safe, except the Criminal Code. Not our labour standards. Not our health and safety regulations. Not laws that uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty. Not environmental protection laws. And not even laws that protect our security and privacy.

These “Henry the VIII” powers — which refer to the ability of the executive (here, ministers) to unilaterally change an act of Parliament — are an affront to the separation of powers: the constitutional architecture that ensures a system where Parliament makes laws, the executive implements them, and the courts interpret them. This balance is a hallmark of a thriving Canadian democracy and one that will define how we as a country resist a troubling trend of democratic decline that we observe around the world.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

And so it goes... open.substack.com/pub/theline/...

Canada is already building quantum-safe hardware security module technology — the physical devices that generate, store, and protect critical quantum-safe roots of trust and cryptographic keys. It’s ready now, certified and has put our country at the forefront of the quantum security race. That advantage exists because of knowledge built up at the Communications Security Establishment, and because Canadian engineers committed to solving this problem before the market demanded it.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatement...

On July 8, The Black Alliance for Peace called for the remaining teams in the World Cup to withdraw from the tournament to reject the lawlessness and impunity of the U.S. in its renewed active warfare against Iran as well as the ongoing, illegal, and barbaric acts of genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. On July 9, the Anti-Fascist Football Coalition (AFFC), composed of 35 international organizations, joined
the call with fervor.

The AFFC is clear: The U.S. is the greatest violator of human rights on the planet. The reignited war on Iran is one atrocity among the dozens of war crimes the U.S. is waging globally. We cannot and will not normalize genocide and state violence by allowing the World Cup to uphold “business as usual.”

“The renewal of hostilities against Iran, the persistence of Israel’s U.S.-backed bombardment of Lebanon during the so-called ceasefire, and Israel’s assassination of Mohammed Fawaz al-Wahidi moments before the Egypt-Argentina match are reasons enough for the remaining nations to withdraw from the tournament,” said Julio López Torres, of Diaspora Pa’lante Collective.

“Add to this, the violence being carried out by the Trump regime in the United States. In Houston, just three days after hosting a World Cup match, ICE agents murdered Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. In a city that hosted seven World Cup matches, including two knockout games, a man was executed for going to work. A country that still has colonial possessions, like the colonization of my country of Puerto Rico (which is used as a launching ground to wage war on the Caribbean
and Latin America), was never worthy of hosting the beautiful game.”

Orlando Mateo, of Compas de la Diaspora, stated, “It is a disgrace that the imperialist, carceral-genocidal machine called the United States has been allowed to host the World Cup in the first place, given their role in the Gaza Holocaust. However, the recent aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as escalations in the domestic war against the immigrant proletariat – by way of increased deportation, inhumane conditions at detention centers, and cancellation of TPS for 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians – plus the U.S. just hosted Israel for the World Baseball Classic! - all of that should prompt any free, conscious person, federation, state or fútbol player to retire from the rest of this sham tournament. Anything less than that is complicity.”

The Anti-Fascist Football Coalition calls on organizations and individuals to collectively resist and fight back - to join in this call for concrete solidarity from the international community against the U.S. agenda for global domination at the ongoing expense of human life. The AFFC continues its commitment to Boycott the World Cup and Boycott the U.S., forcefully rejecting the ongoing devaluation of non-white life displayed by the U.S., FIFA, and its corporate ruling class partners.

Join hundreds of organizations and individuals endorsing the Campaign for further coordinated action in our struggle for People(s)-Centered Human Rights: bit.ly/EndorseNow

crest of the Anti-Fascist Football Coalition

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

Trudeau: accept being ostracized by the Indian gov't., for identifying them as conceivably having links to the assassination of a Canadian citizen. Carney: Pursuit of a free-trade deal with India, during an RCMP investigation, undermining the Canadian allegations. open.substack.com/pub/wesleywa...

One Indian media source reports that the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a press release suggesting that a high-level committee set up by the Modi government to respond to the US indictment against Yadav had recommended “legal action against an [unnamed] individual.” Indian media sources speculated the unnamed individual was Yadav. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs claimed that Yadav was “no longer an employee of the Government of India.” [xiii]

Whatever the truth of these matters, an intrepid Indian journalist found that they didn’t sit well in Yadav’s home village in the Punjab, where his family is well established. Villagers remember him as a good cricket player, a quiet college student, and a patriotic soldier. Villagers warned that Yadav’s arrest would spark a “revolt.” [xiv]

The Canadian government has refused to say anything further about intelligence on the Indian government’s involvement in the 2023 Nijjar murder. This is hardly surprising as an RCMP active investigation is underway, and the Carney government is trying to pursue a free-trade deal with India. But it will provide fodder for speculation about the strength of the Canadian allegations, or convince some that the Canadian government wants to forget an incident that would return relations with India to the deep-freeze. [xv]

If Canadian government and law enforcement lips are sealed, at least for now, having Yadav go away seems to suit the Indian government. In the world of covert operations, it’s called “plausible deniability.”

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

"This theoretical pipeline would be planned and built by the federally owned Trans Mountain Corp., with Pembina Pipeline Corp. taking a 10 per cent stake in construction. Oh, and it would cost between $35 billion and $44 billion (mostly in taxpayer money)." thenarwhal.ca/three-pipeli...

Canadians are still broadly supportive of climate action and renewable energy, but they’re also more supportive of pipelines now than they have been for at least the last decade. What do you make of that contradiction?

As political scientists, we’ve long known that public opinion can largely be shaped by our political elites. I’m not surprised when I hear things from our prime minister and minister of natural resources around the need to build more pipelines, that there is this slippage or confusion that this is going to reduce our reliance in any way on the U.S. If you’re not following this closely, then that sounds great, if you’re being told this is what we need to keep Canada prosperous and strong.

But as someone who has studied pipelines for over 10 years, those are promises new pipelines will not be able to deliver on. I think the public has largely forgotten the cost and divisiveness about Energy East, about Northern Gateway, about Trans Mountain. Unless you’re directly affected and witnessing and experiencing the impacts of these projects, those costs to you, those environmental risks are not salient. It has long been difficult for folks to make that connection when we’re told this is necessary for our economy, and when the economic benefits are as overstated as they often are.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 10

So respecting the rules-based international order, most importantly including International humanitarian law (IHL), is no longer a Canadian value. That explains why making money takes precedence over ending a genocide, something western powers are prone to do. open.substack.com/pub/paulwell...

There are downsides. One needs no civil-rights monitor more sophisticated than the government’s own standing travel advisory for Saudi Arabia, which warns of lengthy jail terms for simply “liking” tweets that are seen to mock the Saudi regime.

Why come? Carney’s answer was a little longer than Willie Sutton’s. “Engagement is not endorsement,” he said. “So engaging with a country doesn’t mean that we agree with everything that the country is doing. In fact, I can’t think of a country on the planet that we agree with everything that they do… We don’t even agree with everything that’s happening in Canada.”

Second, Carney mentioned the need to diversify Canada’s investments and partnerships, having become “over-reliant” on the US. Third, the need to improve relationships with influential regional players on files important to Canada. In the Middle East, those include Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

“That doesn't mean that they have the key to unlock things. But not being engaged? Not talking to them? I’m the first prime minister to come here in 25 years. I was the first prime minister to speak to President Erdoğan in over a decade — speak to him.” (The last PM to visit Jeddah was Jean Chrétien, and he got lousy reviews, though mainly for gaffes he committed before he got to Saudi Arabia.)

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 9

When a centre is planned for an area designated industrial, then people will only find out about it when it's too late to do anything about it. Maybe worth finding out what the process is, for changing the designation of agricultural land, to industrial. www.sturgeoncounty.ca/building-dev...

Data Centre Development
Sturgeon County is taking a planned and responsible approach to data centre development – focusing on the right locations, clear rules, and long-term benefits to residents.

There is a strong interest in building data centres in Alberta.

Many companies applied for access to electricity through the provincial system
Not all projects can move forward right away due to limited grid capacity
Some projects may proceed later or use their own power sources

At the early stage:

Project details are confidential
Once a formal permit is approved, information becomes public

Why can’t the County share details about every project?

Early-stage projects are often confidential for business reasons, such as land negotiations or competition. Before a final investment decision is made:

Companies may use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
The County must follow provincial privacy rules

Depending on the project, there may be public notices, hearings, or regulatory comment periods where residents can participate. Details become public once all approvals are in place, and the investment has been announced.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 8

What a sad indictment of Canadian law which is meant to protect us, but instead can lead to an innocent individual being tried, convicted & imprisoned by any foreign court. @liberalca.bsky.social has the power to change our Extradition Act. www.justiceforhassandiab.org/about

On June 6, 2011, Justice Robert Maranger of the Ontario Superior Court committed Dr. Diab for extradition to France. His decision was based on deeply flawed and widely criticized handwriting analysis that compared Dr. Diab’s handwriting to five block-lettered words on a hotel registration card from 1980. Justice Maranger described the handwriting analysis as “convoluted,” “very confusing,” and based on “conclusions that are suspect.” He further noted that France had presented “a weak case” and that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely.” However, under Canada’s Extradition Act—with its limited protections—he had no choice but to order Dr. Diab’s extradition.

Action: Write to the Canadian Minister of Justice, Mr. Sean Fraser

Send a letter to the Minister of Justice, Mr. Sean Fraser, to urge him to refuse any future extradition request and to put an end – once and for all – to this ongoing miscarriage of justice.

In addition to Minister Sean Fraser, copies of your letter will automatically be sent to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand, as well as your own MP.

Letter is available at: https://iclmg.ca/support-diab

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 8

Graph showing the results of a Canadian poll conducted by The Maple:

Question: What do you think of the government's flip flop on the Nakba exhibit?

Results:

It was political cowardice - 21%
Even if I disagree, we need to defend museum independence - 19%
Shows power of pro-Israel lobby - 40%
Shows double standard toward Palestinians - 17%
Others - 3%

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 8

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 7

The proposed change to the Labour Code, could classify electricians & other professions as essential, at the discretion of the newly created supply chain tribunal, effectively ending any strike. And I imagine the permanent tribunal will be loyal to the gov't. laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/L-2...

Maintenance of activities

87.4 (1) During a strike or lockout not prohibited by this Part, the employer, the trade union and the employees in the bargaining unit must continue the supply of services, operation of facilities or production of goods to the extent necessary to prevent an immediate and serious danger to the safety or health of the public.

Marginal note:Agreement

(2) An employer and a trade union must, no later than 15 days after the day on which notice to bargain collectively has been given, enter into an agreement with respect to compliance with subsection (1) that sets out

(a) the supply of services, operation of facilities or production of goods that they consider necessary to continue in the event of a strike or a lockout; and

(b) the manner and extent to which the employer, the trade union and the employees in the bargaining unit must continue that supply, operation and production, including the approximate number of those employees that, in the opinion of the employer and the trade union, would be required for that purpose.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 6

These biannual Combined Digital Leadership Summits are normally so low key, that they're rarely mentioned in MSM. A search of New Zealand's Defence Force website came up empty. The only reference I could find to one of the summits held in New Zealand in 2025: www.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploa...

Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa
New Zealand Defence Force

Search - Combined Digital Leadership Summit May 2025

Filter results by category:
All pages - Documents - News & stories

Sort: Relevance

No matching results found.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 5

On the back window of a car: Baby on Board sticker next to a small piece of wood on which a small baby doll has been attached; word bubble from the baby, "8647".

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 4

How our CAF being anywhere near the IDF, let alone taking instructions from them, can be construed as, reinforcing "Canada’s role as a committed partner to the peace process" is blatant hypocrisy. Genocidal Israel is the very antithesis of peace. www.readthemaple.com/rcmp-can-app...

In an emailed statement regarding the briefing documents, DND spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin told The Maple: “The focus of the conference was military operations, including in the areas of counter-terrorism, responding to asymmetric threats, and the integration of intelligence into operational planning.”

“The CAF regularly receives information from foreign militaries on a broad range of operational contexts, and the CAF attendance at this conference alongside allies and partners reinforced Canada’s role as a committed partner to the peace process.”

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 4

1 - I sincerely hope that this project is refused, otherwise, not only will it be built at all Canadian taxpayers' expense, but some will pay the ultimate price for Carney's choice of country over planet. We don't need another oil pipeline. thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026...

Obviously, the significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions from increased production in the oilsands and liquified natural gas pumped from B.C. is going to have an impact on a rapidly heating world.

But clearly the prime minister concluded that if the two most urgent tasks at this moment in history are saving the country and saving the planet, his priority must be saving the country.

Pat Boucher@patboucher· Jul 4

www.romeodallaire.com/biographyhtt...