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Perspectives

Does multiculturalism pose a national security threat to Canada?

That Canada is, and proudly so, a multicultural nation has been part of our identity for decades (since 1971 officially).  Nevertheless, Canadian belief that this policy is good for us has been falling of late (decreasing from 74% to 65% between June 2023 and July 2024 according to a Research Co. poll).  Still, two-thirds of […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Are Russian mercenaries Africa’s counter-terrorism saviours?

Episode 265 – It is best to look a gift Russian mercenary in the mouth Fighting terrorists is hard work. Many countries have sought alliances, both political and military, to pool resources to engage in this struggle. In some cases, allies have been kicked out, only to be replaced by brutal criminal gangs – a.k.a. […]

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Perspectives

Is the Prevention of Every Terrorist Attack a Realistic Goal?

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on February 20, 2025. In the aftermath of a violent attack, there are inevitably a number of things that happen. First and foremost, we collectively struggle to understand what exactly has happened, who was behind it, and what it means. Then we seek to assign immediate […]

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Perspectives

What Are the Implications of a Canadian ‘Link’ to the New Orleans Attack?

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on January 6, 2025. Those who toil in national security in Canada have one primary task: to keep our country safe from a plethora of threats. These range from garden-variety criminality (assaults, thefts, fraud, and acts of violence, all of which are tied to public safety […]

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Perspectives

New Orleans Attack Signifies That Groups Like ISIS and Al-Qaeda Are Still Very Much a Threat

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on January 6, 2025. For many around the world, the transition from one year to another is something to celebrate. We usually engage in reviews of the previous 365 days, make resolutions for the next, and party with our friends or attend events to ring in […]

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Perspectives

My Wish List for a Safe and Secure Canada in 2025

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on December 30, 2024. At the end of one year and the beginning of another it is customary to look back at what happened and speculate on what is to come. With that in mind, here is an overview of national security as we enter 2025, […]

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Perspectives

Buddhist terrorism? You’re kidding, right?

There are times when you work in the (counter) terrorism space that you come across a story and say: WTF? This is one of those times. In early January, a Sri Lankan court sentenced a hardline Buddhist monk named Galagodaatte Gnanasara to nine months in prison for insulting Islam and inciting religious hatred. The remarks […]

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Perspectives

At what price freedom of expression?

You do not have to go that far back in human history to have seen people burned at the stake, hung, drawn and quartered and otherwise treated very badly for having ‘blasphemed’ (although my favourite blasphemy scene is still from Monty Python’s Life of Brian where John Cleese plays a rabbi calling for the death […]

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Perspectives

Protecting National Security Takes More Than Just Adding a Group to the Terrorist List

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on December 3, 2024 In the post 9/11 period, a new tool was made available for the Canadian government in the ill-named “war on terrorism.” It is not as if we had not experienced terrorism before that fateful day (the FLQ crisis in 1970 and the […]

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Perspectives

What if there are no (easy) answers to terrorism?

One of the things you notice about kids, especially younger ones, is their proclivity to ask ‘why’. At times, this habit can get a little annoying as the little tots seem to question the reason behind just about everything. As a grandfather of a 3-yr old boy, I can attest to how many ‘whys’ come […]