Chris Lewis served as a police officer for 36 years and ended up as the Commissioner of the OPP. Now he acts as a national security analyst on Canadian television.
Phil Gurski talks to him about his career and about ‘experts’ in the media.
If the ins and outs of terrorism, extremism, national security and public safety are of interest to you, subscribe to receive free content by former Canadian intelligence analyst and author Phil Gurski on these issues.
About my guest Chris Lewis
Chris D. Lewis became Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on August 1, 2010 assuming leadership of one of North America’s largest deployed police services. As Commissioner, he oversaw front-line policing, traffic and marine operations, emergency response and specialized and multijurisdictional investigations throughout the Province of Ontario, delivered through over 9,000 OPP personnel.
Since joining the OPP in 1978, Commissioner Lewis amassed a wealth of operational policing experience, particularly in front-line service delivery, various investigative disciplines and tactical operations.
About the host Phil Gurski
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Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.
From 1983 to 2001 he was employed as a senior multilingual analyst at Communications Security Establishment (CSE – Canada’s signals intelligence agency), specialising in the Middle East.
The Peaceable Kingdom?
A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the Present
While Canada has not been menaced by terrorism like some countries it is not immune. A new book on terrorism in that land over the past 150 years – The Peaceable Kingdom: A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the present – is now out!
Listen to more episodes:
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Are we defining terrorism too narrowly…or too broadly?
Episode 259 – Has terrorism as a concept run its course? Of all the UK counter-terrorism initiatives, the ‘early detection’ efforts (known…
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Is Canada serious about Arctic security in the face of Chinese and Russian threats?
Episode 258 – Canada needs to step up its far north game We in the Great White North proudly describe ourselves as…
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Why don’t most ‘radicals’ go on to commit terrorism?
Episode 257 – How to tell non-violent ‘radicals’ from the violent ones The field of ‘radicalisation’ studies has been growing quickly, especially…