Free Republic

Canada has ordered the deportation of the first woman US soldier to have sought asylum in the country to avoid being deployed to Iraq. Kimberly Rivera, a mother of three, had requested permission to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds but her appeal was rejected. She could face up to five years in prison when she returns to the US. Some 200 deserters from the US military are believed to have fled to Canada, some living incognito. Mrs Rivera served in Iraq in 2006 but deserted a year later after refusing to be redeployed. The War Resisters Supporters Campaign, who...

The first female U.S. Iraq war resister to seek refuge in Canada has been ordered to leave the country before the end of the month or face deportation. Kimberley Rivera, who served in Iraq in 2006 and fled to Canada in 2007 after refusing redeployment, was told this morning she has until Jan. 27 to return to the U.S., said Michelle Rubidoux of the War Resisters Support Campaign. "It's ridiculous," said Rubidoux, who accompanied Rivera to her hearing at the Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre on Airport Road. The decision will force Rivera to uproot her family – her husband Mario...

Tuesday January 6, 2009 Outspokenly Orthodox, Pro-life Archbishop Takes Over in Vancouver Diocese By Thaddeus M. BaklinskiVANCOUVER, January 6, 2008 (LifeSIteNews.com) - The Archdiocese of Vancouver has announced that Coadjutor Archbishop J. Michael Miller will assume pastoral responsibility for the archdiocese following the retirement of Archbishop Raymond Roussin.Archbishop Miller is well-known for his orthodoxy, including on the life and family issues, and is a specialist on the Papacy and on Catholic higher education, having served as the Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, which oversees norms for seminaries, Catholic universities and colleges, and Catholic schools. He served in...

Today I received a message from WBTA V.P. Daniel Doherty which should put the issue to rest. Doherty confirmed that the WBTA has received correspondence from Johnston in which he officially resigned his position.

Vancouver, with its snowboarders and kayak tours and great produce and Benetton ad-inspired hipster scene, can seem on the surface a little removed from “global issues”. Issues such as Israel’s bombing of Gaza these last few days. Not to mention the worldwide fury stirred by conflict in the Holy Land. But, for a primer on Vancouver’s connection to the “big picture”, you couldn’t beat this afternoon’s (December 29) pro-Palestinian protest on West Hastings Street. Palestinian flags were out in force. So were those of Israel, across the street at the small counter-demonstration. The rhetoric was exact, pungent, fierce, furious, and...

"Summary of Overnight Events, 03 January 2009"

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "A Federal Court judge ruled Friday that the final terrorism suspect being held in Canada on a national security certificate be released. Justice Richard Mosley ruled Hassan Almrei, who has been in custody since October 2001, can no longer justifiably be detained." SNIPPET: "Almrei, a Syrian, came to Canada in 1999 as a refugee claimant. He was arrested in Toronto in 2001 after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged he was part of a Sunni extremist network. He initially denied the allegations against him, but later explained he had taken part in paramilitary activities in Afghanistan...

Back then, the issues were the usual suspects: the flawed multi-cultural policy that has exposed gaps in our national security, forced English/French bilingualism, the national attitudes towards the West (Lesson One: stereotyping an Albertan on the CBC is comedy, stereotyping a French Quebecer is racism. Test to follow).....

Wow! I never knew spiders would hve these reactions.Link

Heads-up for all Steyn-o-philes here on FR.

It appears that the war in Iraq could be entering its final phase, at least if you listen to the buzz lately. To no one’s surprise, some on the loony left are already taking credit and celebrating victory. “It’s just like we won in Vietnam!” said one of my friends from the Other Side. Where do you begin when you are confronted with such delusional thinking?

There were 124 passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight 59 when it left the Netherlands. There were 125 when it landed in Boston. Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for Logan International Airport, says a woman went into labor and gave birth to an apparently healthy baby girl over the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday during the eight-hour flight from Amsterdam. Orlandella said a doctor and a paramedic who were on the flight assisted in the birth. He said the plane landed without incident about 10:30 a.m., and the mother and baby were immediately taken to Massachusetts General Hospital. Orlandella said he did not...

Canadians have made some mighty distinctive music, and CBC wants Barack Obama to know it. Starting next week, Canadians will collect some choice homegrown songs for the new president to groove to as he takes office Jan. 20. CBC Radio 2 is calling on the public to take care of business, tune-wise - to help select 49 songs from north of the 49th parallel that best represent the northern nation. "We believe that a country is defined by its artistic expression. If you wanted to know about Canada you just close your eyes and listen to our songs," said Denise...

Monday, December 29, 2008 Ottawa, Ontario – As a new year dawns, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you once again how much your exemplary dedication at headquarters, in units across Canada and on missions around the world, has earned you the admiration and gratitude of all Canadians. We recognize the pride, generosity and determination that guide you. We understand the ideal of justice and freedom that you carry within your hearts to build and maintain peace and stability wherever your sense of duty takes you. Your commitment to supporting humanitarian and reconstruction efforts is remarkable wherever...

Great post NomadSoul but there are a few errors and misconceptions to clear up. We do have less ownership per capita vs. the US (about 1/3) but ownership for much the same reasons. While the idea of some sort of totalitarian government take over seems highly unlikely in Canada, I’m sure many thought the same thing in a post WWI Germany. It is prudent to note here too, that almost every country that has enacted civil disarmament, has gone on to systematically “cleanse” the portions of their populations most affected my the disarmament. Firearms registration has been widely rejected in...

This past Saturday morning, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared live on national television to give both himself and the voting public a rogering so intense that I was surprised it wasn’t censored as pornography. After holding out as arguably the last truly conservative world leader on the bailout issue, he announced just over $3 billion USD in “repayable loans” (I regretfully gave a friend one of those, once) for American auto makers. It’s $3 billion for General Motors, $1 billion for Chrysler and a credit line for Ford. The only thing missing from the announcement was the post-coital cigar....

A Canadian woman who went missing last week in a blizzard has been found alive, buried under almost a foot of snow for four days.   Freezing: Donna Molner is taken to hospital after four days in the snow  Donna Molnar, 55, set off from home in Ancaster, Ontario, on Friday but her car got stuck in a field of snow drifts.The vehicle was found a day later, abandoned by the side of a road.By this time, fears for her survival were mounting and it was not until Monday, when police officer Ray Lau was trudging through almost knee-high...

A Mississauga man’s photo of a bizarre “creek circle”—a round piece of ice, spinning, on the surface of a frozen creek — has become an Internet hit. Brook Tyler,a research director and amateur photographer,stumbled across the six-foot-wide circle on Saturday morning, as he strolled across Sheridan Creek in the Rattray Marsh Conservation area. “It was a perfectly round circle with about two inches of slush and water around the sides, and it was spinning,” he said. “I was so excited to see if I could capture the movement.” Mr. Tyler, 49, photographed the mysterious rotating disk, which he called a...

Mice may be responsible for a blaze that killed nearly 100 cats at an animal shelter near the Canadian city of Toronto, officials say. The fire at the humane society shelter in Oshawa also killed three dogs and some rats that were up for adoption. An initial report from the fire marshal says mice or rats chewing through electrical wires in the ceiling are likely to have sparked the blaze. Offers of help have been pouring in from animal lovers across Canada.

TORONTO — The federal and Ontario governments announced Saturday a bailout package of 4 billion Canadian dollars ($3.29 billion) for the Canadian subsidiaries of the Detroit Three automakers. The announcement follows a pledge Friday by President George W. Bush to offer $17.4 billion in emergency loans to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

A new pro-sovereignty left-wing party made its official entrance to the legislature yesterday and what an entrance it was for Québec solidaire's first and only elected member, Amir Khadir. Mr. Khadir resented having to pledge allegiance to the Queen, calling the tradition a "remnant of the archaic British monarchy," during his swearing-in as a member of the National Assembly. His loyalty, Mr. Khadir professed, rested exclusively with the people of Quebec and their quest for social justice and political independence. "Until Quebec becomes a modern and democratic republic, I have to pledge allegiance to the duly constituted authority, the Queen....

The world needs a new conservative leader. Almost unfathomably, its best hope is now a quiet, steely Canadian. And he’s currently teetering on the brink where every other conservative leader has folded. Only a couple of weeks ago, Canada’s Conservative government was headed for defeat because of its steadfast opposition to rewarding epic failures with cash prizes – more commonly known as “bailouts”. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper adjourned parliament a couple of weeks ago to preempt a political coup by opposition Liberals and their separatist and socialist comrades. They were upset that Harper slammed the Treasury’s till shut on...

“There is simply no other relationship like it.” With these words, the new commander of North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), USAF General Victor “Gene” Renuart, kicked off a media campaign in Ottawa in April to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the NORAD. “There are no two nations like Canada and the United States that have agreed to protect each other’s air space and sovereignty. When you consider the support that NORAD provides. and the threats in so many domains that it counters, it is a truly outstanding relationship.” May 12 marks the 50th anniversary of the most significant military...

A fire at an Oshawa shelter killed 200 animals, including 150 cats and dozens of bunnies, guinea pigs and hamsters, which were likely lulled to sleep by the smoke, and died after inhaling it. Animal workers looked on helplessly early today as flames licked up the Durham Humane Society headquarters (pictured above), located in an industrial plaza near Lake Ontario. Police officers and firefighters ran into the burning building and managed to carry out nine dogs, two cats and a rat, some of which were treated for smoke inhalation. As of yesterday afternoon, humane society workers had tallied the dead...

We tend to focus on creeping sharia in the U.S. but Canada is not exempt from the grand jihad as this article from earlier this year indicates. With porous borders and chatter of a North American Union we should hope Canada is taking the threat seriously. David Harris. The enemy within If terrorism suspect Momin Khawaja, now on trial in Ottawa, is as guilty as Crown prosecutors say, it’ll be time to settle an important question: Was Mr. Khawaja a “Naji man”? Amid trial allegations, court details and defence objections, significant questions arise about Mr. Khawaja’s status as a consultant...

They seem to go by faster and faster, don’t they? It’s the Christmas season and with it comes the final chapter on yet another spin around the calendar. As you take a break from the shopping maul…er, mall, grab a nog take five. Here are the 2008 Year end rant bouquets:

Pictures of the new currency that will supposedly replace the US dollar have appeared on the Russian Internet. The United States is reportedly working on the new currency, the amero, which will be common for the USA, Mexico and Canada. The unstable financial situation in the world, the collapsing oil prices and the growing foreign debt of the United States may eventually crush the US dollar as the world’s major currency. Needless to say that the US authorities reject the rumors and promise to keep the dollar afloat. Amero notes have no portraits of US presidents on them and resemble...

In what could be more than just an astute political move, the upstart Wildrose Alliance party has come out as supporting the idea of taking the idea of Alberta separation to the people via a provincial referendum.

Fired worker kills CEO at Christmas party Published: Dec. 13, 2008 at 9:20 PM VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A just-fired employee of a Canadian health products company crashed the office Christmas party in Vancouver, killing the chief executive officer, police said. Vancouver police identified the victim of the Friday night shooting at the TallGrass Distributors Ltd. Christmas party as Benjamin Banky, 40, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Police said Eric Allen Kirkpatrick, 61, surrendered after two hours of negotiations with police and was charged Saturday with first-degree murder, the CBC reported.

Once thought of as a fringe movement populated mostly by the far rightwing and the over 50 crowd, those Albertans who now publicly support the idea of independence in the face of yet another Eastern hijacking of national power – and an unmistakable rejection of Albertan and Western Canadian values – are from every background, race, religion, and financial spectrum.

Bomb scare clears John Deere Posted By TRIBUNE STAFF ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A bomb scare sent workers home yesterday at John Deere Welland Works. According to a police press release, at about 5:30 a. m. an unknown male made a phone call to the plant on Canal Bank Road. He said a bomb would go off in the plant but provided few details." ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Police are seeking public assistance in finding the person who made the call. Anyone with information is urged to contact Smith at 905-688-4111 ext. 3345."

Prosecutors have expanded their investigation of prominent New York attorney Marc Dreier, uncovering hundreds of millions more of missing funds in what they characterize as an "extraordinary" fraud played out over two years. A federal magistrate judge ordered Dreier to remain behind bars Thursday, denying bail because of the "enormous risk of flight." Dreier was arrested in New York Sunday evening and has been charged with fraud in an alleged brazen scheme to bilk sophisticated hedge funds.Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Streeter said in court Thursday the loss from the alleged fraud is $380 million, well more than the $113 million...

U.S. cities are racing to fix security vulnerabilities revealed by the devastating terror attacks in Mumbai, and many hotels remain “sitting ducks,” experts tell Newsmax.

After a series of dire new warnings about possible terrorist threats—capped by a government commission's report that terrorists are likely to stage a biological or nuclear attack somewhere in the world during the next five years—some experts are urging officials "to retire the fear card," as California Rep. Jane Harman puts it. Former Sen. Bob Graham (R) joins with Sen. Jim Talent and others of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism for a press conference. More News Farrell: Spread the Wealth for Our National Education Carmakers Return, Seeking $34 Billion Erbe: Auto Execs...

Toledo, Ohio native Zak Reed is tired of being stopped and detained at the Canadian border every time he tries to drive home. "I don't feel very welcome in my home at all," Reed tells CBS News. "In fact, I feel like I am not wanted in my country any more." Last month, for the ninth time in the past year, Reed was held in custody during a routine border crossing across Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, en route to Toledo, about an hour from there. The procedure has become a familiar drill for Reed. "They swipe the passport, they double take...

Aqsa Parvez, strangled to death by her father for not wearing a hijab, is dishonored in death as she was dishonored in life.

The Detroit Three automakers are seeking a total of $6.8 billion in loans and credit lines from Ottawa and Ontario, saying they need some of that money before the end of the year as they struggle with a worsening economy. While only Ford Canada officially released its dollar figures today, The Canadian Press has learned that Chrysler Canada asked for $1.6 billion in emergency loans, while General Motors is seeking $2.4 billion in repayable loans. GM is also seeking $800 million immediately to get through their liquidity problems, a source said. Ford Canada said it was seeking a $2-billion standby...

Just a few days after signing a historic agreement that will see a Canadian company build a massive pipeline to flow natural gas from Alaska to Alberta, Gov. Sarah Palin says she is working to strengthen relations with Canada, and Barack Obama should too. Palin, who recently lost her vice-presidential bid on a shared ticket with presidential candidate John McCain, spoke to CTV's Canada AM from Fairbanks, Alaska, just after signing the deal with TransCanada pipeline. She granted the company US$500 million to plan the pipeline, with construction set to begin in 2011. She suggested the contract is an example...

Canada AM: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Featuring video from ctv.ca - Tuesday, December 9, 2008 Former Republican vice-presidential candidate discusses the process of bringing the Trans Canada-Alaska Pipeline to fruition http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081209.wvpalin_canadaam1209/VideoStory/International/home?pid=RTGAM.20081209.wpalin1209

And now for a world government By Gideon Rachman Published: December 8 2008 19:13 | Last updated: December 8 2008 19:13 I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible. A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already...

President-elect Obama has talked about engaging terrorists sponsor nations like Syria and Iran. Governor Palin has a different suggestion "Engage" Canada. The former Vice Presidential candidate points to her recent agreement with Canada to build the Trans Canada pipeline, as an example of how the two countries can work together to make the US more energy independent. Read the interview below:

Carleton University is in Ottawa, Canada. At Carleton the students participate in the annul Shinearama fundraiser. This is an annual fundraising event involving students from 65 colleges and universities across Canada. Carleton has been involved for 25 of the 50 years of the Shinearama; but no longer. The Shinearama, you see, has been raising money for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. That's not good, at least insofar as the Carleton University Student's Association is concerned. The student association was told that Cystic Fibrosis only affects white people. This meant that the disease was not inclusive enough. So ... Carleton University...

Just a few days after signing a historic agreement that will see a Canadian company build a massive pipeline to flow natural gas from Alaska to Alberta, Gov. Sarah Palin says she is working to strengthen relations with Canada, and Barack Obama should too.

FARGO, N.D. – After two failed tries, an unmanned aircraft expected to be the first to patrol the northern U.S. border completed a flight from Arizona to North Dakota. U.S Customs and Border Protection officials said the Predator B drone touched down Saturday at the Grand Forks Air Force Base after a six-hour flight from Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, Ariz.

On Oct. 14 Stephen Harper won re-election as Canada's prime minister. In most modern liberal democracies that would be interpreted as a voter preference for Mr. Harper's leadership to continue. But soon after election day, Canada's hard-left New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois Party began plotting to overthrow the PM in Parliament. And last week, with the help of the Liberal Party, they tried to schedule a vote of no-confidence to carry out their plan. A demonstrator in Vancouver, Dec. 6. Mr. Harper fought back by appealing to the governor general for permission to suspend Parliament until Jan....

This story is just outrageous as the obviously politically correct Canadian government cannot even bring themselves to condemn the act of Saudi Arabia not allowing Jews or anyone who has traveled through Israel to enter their country.

TORONTO — The Toronto Star is quoting senior Liberal Party sources as saying it is now a forgone conclusion that Stephane Dion will resign as Liberal leader before Christmas. In a report Sunday, the newspaper says it is likely Dion will come under irresistible pressure to step down at the Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday.

The Pentagon has begun a massive building operation to construct new barracks and facilities in Afghanistan for 20,000 extra US troops that will pour into the country early next year. The surge of additional forces, to combat the perilous and rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, comes amid growing tensions between the US and Britain over the possible deployment of extra UK troops - and the performance of British soldiers already there. There are 8,100 British troops in Afghanistan, mostly deployed in the southern Helmand province, where the Taleban insurgency has been the most fierce and effective. The US has...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin, along with two of her commissioners, met Friday in Fairbanks to sign TransCanada's license to construct a natural gas pipeline.The signing happened Friday morning at the Morris Thompson Visitor's Center.Friday also marked the two-year anniversary since Palin and her administration met in Fairbanks to kick off meetings with all of the parties interested in commercializing North Slope gas."This is a historic day for Alaska and for the North American continent when you consider the impacts this project will have on this part of our world," Palin said.Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin and Revenue Commissioner...

When dozens of white sturgeon began washing up dead on the banks of British Columbia's Fraser River in the mid-1990s, some feared that North America's largest freshwater fish could be headed toward extinction. Once plentiful in the river, the sturgeon population had dropped below 40,000, and scientists were unable to explain the die-offs of mostly female fish. That's when an alliance of government agencies, environmentalists, aboriginal groups, and commercial and recreational fishers came together to save the sturgeon, spurring a robust recovery of the lower Fraser River population.