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Canadian Intelligence Eh!

Why does the government of Canada ignore some types of violence?

You would think the targeting of hundreds of Canadian churches for political reasons would warrant a tougher response. Alas you would be wrong.

Episode 227 – The anger over First Nations treatment in Canada has led to acts of violence no one seems to care about

That Canada has treated its original inhabitants – what we in the Great White North call the ‘First Nations’ – horribly in the past is not at question. Whether it is the placement of children in ‘residential schools’ or the removal of land rights, there is a lot not to be proud of. Still, even if we do acknowledge these actions, that does not mean that all the information swirling about is true: ‘mass graves’ at the aforementioned schools is a very good example. Furthermore, the rumours of such interments had led to violence on a grand scale, one that no one, especially the current government, wants to acknowledge and call it what it is: terrorism. Borealis talks with journalist Terry Glavin on this and other issues related to national security.

About my guest

Terry Glavin is a Canadian journalist and author who focuses on a wide range of regional and global topics from natural history and anthropology to current politics.

The year of the graves: How the world’s media got it wrong on residential school graves | National Post

Selley: Welcome to Canada, where police see truth as a threat | National Post

Canadian Intelligence Eh

In a world of multiple voices and opinions it can be very hard to know where to turn.  One choice is to look to those who actually worked in counter-terrorism in the national security world. 

In these half-hour podcasts, 30-year Canadian intelligence veteran Phil Gurski is joined by a fascinating array of individuals with something meaningful to say about these issues as they provide insight into what they mean and what we need to do about them.

About Phil Gurski

Phil 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. He also served as senior special advisor in the National Security Directorate at Public Safety Canada from 2013, focusing on community outreach and training on radicalisation to violence, until his retirement from the civil service in May 2015, and as consultant for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Terrorism Section (PATS) from May to October 2015.

He was the Director of Security and Intelligence at the SecDev Group from June 2018 to July 2019 and the Director of the National Security Programme at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute from 2020-2022. He has also taught on national security issues at George Brown College, the University of Ottawa and Georgian College. Mr. Gurski has presented on violent Islamist-inspired and other forms of terrorism and radicalisation across Canada and around the world and is actively sought by Canadian and international media on national security and intelligence issues. He has written hundreds of op-eds on these matters for several Canadian media since 2016

He writes at www.borealisthreatandrisk.com.

He is the author of The Threat from Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West (Rowman and Littlefield 2015) Western Foreign Fighters: The Threat to Homeland and International Security (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), The Lesser Jihads: Taking the Islamist fight to the world (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), An end to the ‘War on Terrorism (Rowman and Littlefield 2018), When Religion Kills: How Extremist Justify Violence Through Faith (Lynne Rienner 2019) and The Peaceable Kingdom? A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the present (self-published: 2021, republished by Double Dagger in 2022). He regularly blogs and podcasts (Canadian Intelligence Eh!), and tweets (@borealissaves) on terrorism and intelligence matters.

By Phil Gurski

Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism.

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