Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) returns from Multinational Mine Warfare Exercise

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  August 13, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Canadian Space Agency Prepares for Busy Six Months of Industry Events

  The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is seemingly doing more industry events these past few years than in the past, and the next six months will see up six events scheduled. The upcoming events are: September 16 – 20: CSA 2019 Fall Industry days – Canadian industry stakeholders will have the opportunity to explore the Lunar Gateway Program and meet with international primes to discuss potential partnerships at CSA Headquarters in Saint-Hubert. QC. More information released coming soon. October 17 – 18: CSA International Industry Days – Canadian industry will have the opportunity to meet with representatives of German and Brazilian space industries, governments and military at CSA Headquarters in Saint-Hubert, QC. More information released coming soon. October 21 – 25: International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2019 – Satellite Canada Innovation Network Inc. (SatCan) is leading the Canada Pavilion at the 70th International Astronautical Congress 2019 being held in Washington, DC. Over 4,000 people are expected as the Americans put on a show for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon mission. February 2020: Investment Space 2020 – The inaugural InvestmentSpace event last February was very successful so the CSA is planning the next edition for February 2020. Exact dates and location TBC. The CSA is also planning possible delegations to Australia and Japan depending on industry interest. Australia: GEO Ministerial, 4-9 November 2019, Canberra Last year, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian Space Agency (ASA) that establishes a cooperative framework for joint activities, exchange of expertise, greater cooperation in the areas of research and development, academic exchange and industry collaboration. In line with the agreement, the CSA is considering a mission to Australia on the margins of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) Ministerial Summit and Industry Track (detailed information attached) in Canberra. This could take various forms, including 1) Outreach Program and 2) Booth where you can exhibit your products. In addition, GEO events may provide opportunities to network with potential Asian partners and with the Digital Africa Initiative. If there is enough interest, the CSA could work with Trade Commissioner Service in Australia to develop an outreach program, including meetings with Australia Space Agency senior officials and B2Bs with Australian companies. Expo space (Canada Booth) during GEO week could be arranged if there is enough interest from the Canadian space industry. For 2019 the GEO Secretariat is introducing a new Associate Member category designed to encourage industry's participation in GEO. Associate Members would be invited to participate in GEO Plenaries, thus providing insights into the data and information needs of the GEO community to potentially inform investments and gain access to market opportunities in the GEO member states. Canada's lead for GEO, Environment and Climate Change Canada, would have to provide Canadian companies with a Letter of Support to become an Associate Member (the CSA could facilitate this process). Would you be interested in participating in this mission? YES/NO Would you be interested in participating in a Canadian booth at the Expo? YES/NO Would you be interested in becoming a GEO Associate Member? YES/NO Japan: Option 1 – CSA-led Mission and attendance to DSEI, 18-19 November 2019, Chiba and Tokyo This potential mission could be co-organized between CSA and Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), and would include participation to the DSEI and access to Canadian Pavilion organized by CADSI . DSEI Japan would be an important defence event and will bring together participants from the global defence and security sector, as well as the Japanese defence community to explore partnerships, innovative projects and share knowledge. The CSA could work with Trade Commissioner Service Tokyo to develop an additional space-focused outreach program to include site visits and meetings with senior JAXA officials and Japanese industry sector organisations, on the margins of DSEI event. Would you be interested to participate in this mission? YES/NO Would you be interested to be part of CADSI Canadian Pavilion during DSEI event: YES/NO Japan: Option 2 – CSA-led Stand Alone Mission (end of January – early February 2020), Tokyo The CSA could develop a space-focused outreach program with the Trade Commissioner Service to include site visits and meetings with senior JAXA officials and Japanese industry sector organisations; the approximate duration of this mission would be 1 week. Would you be interested to participate in this mission? YES/NO If interested in the Australia or Japan opportunities, the CSA was looking for responses to these questions by last Friday emailed to asc.relationsindustrie-industryrelations.csa@canada.ca. As well they were asking you to include specific areas of interest (your interested in) to ensure that outreach programs and meetings with foreign government officials are relevant to your needs. http://spaceq.ca/canadian-space-agency-prepares-for-busy-six-month-of-industry-events/

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  March 12, 2019 | Local, Security

  Port of Montreal busier than ever, creating opportunities for smugglers

  Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press On a crisp day in early March, Tony Boemi looks out on the stacked shipping containers that stretch into the horizon of the 26 kilometre-long Port of Montreal. "We've been going up tremendously," the port authority vice-president says. Traffic at Canada's second-largest port rose nine per cent in 2018 to the equivalent of more than 1.6 million 20-foot containers for the fifth straight year of record volumes, prompting concerns the docks will be overloaded by 2022. Vancouver and Halifax, the largest and third-largest ports, respectively, also saw record container traffic last year. "I'd be lying if I said we weren't struggling with managing the sudden surge," Boemi says. Driving the boom is Canadian demand for clothing, appliances and other consumer products made in Asia, as well as a new free trade agreement with Europe. However, the surge in traffic comes with a downside: The additional containers present an opportunity for criminals to capitalize on limited law enforcement resources and hide more contraband among the legitimate goods. Bud Garrick, an investigator with Presidia Security Consulting and former deputy director-general of the RCMP's criminal intelligence service, said imported drugs and exported stolen cars constitute the biggest smuggling problem, with authorities nabbing only a small fraction of the spoils. "Marine ports are an attractive environment for individuals with ill means and mind to smuggle things into Canada," he said. "The amount of cargo -- shipping containers -- that moves in and out of ports is phenomenal...It's a magnitude problem." The criminal allure of ports is simple. Airports are under too much scrutiny, and air freight is costly. Overland smuggling does occur, but on a smaller scale. "Trying to intercept smuggled cargo at a port is expensive and disruptive, and you'll never have enough resources to catch most things through random screening," Peter Hall, an associate professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University, said in an email. "Mostly 1/8the CBSA 3/8 focus on screening for terrorist and bio-hazards." A 2015 federal auditor general's report found that the Canada Border Services Agency "did not fully have the necessary authorities, information, practices and controls to implement its enforcement priorities and prevent the export of goods that contravene Canada's export laws." Just like legitimate trade, black market port activity works both ways. Incoming ships bring drugs such as cocaine and heroin, while outbound ships contain a growing number of stolen vehicles. "The most prolific is actually in Alberta," said Henry Tso, vice-president of investigative services at the Insurance Bureau of Canada. "A lot of the cars are being shipped from Alberta to various ports in Canada, mainly Vancouver." More than 25,000 vehicles were stolen in Alberta in 2018, part of a 50 per cent increase over the past five years that stems in part from overseas demand for high-end pickup trucks and SUVs. The thefts, which recent cases have linked to criminal organizations in West Africa, northern Europe, the Middle East and China, rely on human as well as technological flaws. "Certain docks, there are some you know are run by organized crime. Even in Quebec, like the Montreal ports, one terminal is clean, the other one is not clean," said Tso. "The major issue is corruption," said Anthony Nicaso, who has authored more than two-dozen books on organized crime. "There is no political will to fight organized crime," he said, "probably because money does not stink, so who cares -- money is money." Back at the Montreal port, Boemi estimates the CBSA thoroughly inspects about three per cent of containers that roll through the port. The CBSA declined to give statistics, but noted that screening devices such as gamma-ray detectors -- which sense radioactive material -- scan each container. "The CBSA requires marine carriers to electronically transmit marine cargo data to the Agency 24 hours prior to the loading of cargo at a foreign port. This requirement allows the CBSA to effectively identify threats to Canada's health, safety and security and take actions prior to cargo and conveyances leaving foreign ports," the CBSA said in an email. A Canadian Senate report from 2006 found that 15 per cent of stevedores and more than two-thirds of checkers who worked at the Montreal port had criminal records, along with more than half of the workers at an outside company contracted to pick up waste and maintain ships at the docks. In an effort to boost security, the Port of Montreal now requires that truckers with Transport Canada security clearance have their fingerprints scanned upon entry. The port and CBSA have signed on for a trial run of blockchain technology that aims to better secure and streamline freight shipping. Jean-Pierre Fortin, president of the Customs and Immigration Union representing some 10,500 CBSA employees, is not satisfied. "With stolen cars, with drugs, with guns, we need to increase our capacity to monitor this properly," he said. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/port-of-montreal-busier-than-ever-creating-opportunities-for-smugglers-1.4330014

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  June 2, 2024 | Local, Naval

  Lockheed Martin Canada Awards L3HARRIS the Integrated Communications System Contract

  Lockheed Martin Canada has awarded L3Harris Technologies the Integrated Communications System for the Canadian Surface Combatant of the Royal Canadian Navy, aimed at bolstering their operational efficacy and security on maritime missions.