15 novembre 2018 | Local, Sécurité
Kathleen Harris · CBC News
The federal government will spend nearly $90 million to build and repair police stations in First Nation and Inuit communities.
The money is meant to address "pressing needs" in policing infrastructure by repairing, renovating or replacing facilities, many of them in remote or fly-in communities. The program, which is cost-shared with the provinces and territories, will help ensure policing infrastructure complies with current building, policing facility and health and safety standards.
The first two-year phase of the $88.6 million program will fund communities in need of urgent repairs, while a second phase will fund projects based on merit. The funding will roll out over seven years.
The federal government will launch a bidding process to assess First Nation and Inuit police service facilities, which will help guide the selection of phase two infrastructure projects.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the First Nations Policing Program serves about 400,000 people in 450 communities through "culturally relevant" policing.
"Building on our government's major investments in new officers, salaries and equipment, we are making new investments in policing facilities so officers can do their jobs properly and keep their communities safe," he said in a statement.
The money announced today comes on top of the $291 million over five years Goodale announced earlier this year for First Nations policing operations. That announcement came after years of complaints and legal challenges from Indigenous police forces that claim they've been chronically underfunded.
At the time, Goodale said the figure nearly triples the basic amount earmarked in 2017, representing the largest federal financial commitment since 1991.
The money will go toward improving salaries, hiring new officers and buying new equipment. Some underfunded forces had been struggling to replace expired bulletproof vests and update officer training.
Kent Elson, a lawyer who has acted in cases involving policing in Indigenous communities, said the new funding represents "good progress" but doesn't go far enough to fix widespread problems. He said the funding ought to follow an essential service model based on need.
"If a police station is unsafe, then you have to replace it," he said. "You can't just put it on a waiting list and say, 'Sorry we're maxed out this year.'
"People have died and more would die if the stations are not adequate."
Elson said conditions have improved since a deadly fire at an isolated northern Ontario reserve's police station in 2006, but the inequities remain "stark."
Ricardo Wesley, 22, and James Goodwin, 20, burned to death on Jan. 8, 2006, while being held for public intoxication at the Kashechewan First Nation police detachment.
The RCMP has a special pilot program to address gaps in policing, including Indigenous communities, but a recent evaluation of that program found that it is not focused on its mandate.
The Community Constable pilot program currently has 19 armed, uniformed peace officers with local knowledge of the communities they serve, including their languages, cultures and geography.
While the program's mandate was to prevent crime through community engagement, the evaluation found that most of the constables weren't clear on the mandate, and participated in more enforcement activities than prevention activities.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Tania Vaughan said community constables are meant to enhance, not replace, existing RCMP services in a community.
"At this time, the community constable program remains a pilot program, and no final decision on its future has been made," she said in an email. "The purpose of the evaluation was to provide senior management with a neutral, timely and evidence-based assessment of the pilot program to help inform decision-making on its permanency. The RCMP is now better informed in order to enhance the CC Program, and make changes to it that will better serve our communities."
Vaughan said the RCMP is responding to the evaluation by responding to questions and concerns from the community constables and developing a clearly defined program mandate. It will also better track performance information and formalize the governance structure, roles and responsibilities.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/first-nations-policing-infrastructure-1.4566311
23 juin 2022 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Ottawa va investir 4,9 milliards de dollars sur six ans pour moderniser et pour augmenter les capacités de défense continentale du Commandement de la défense aérospatiale de l'Amérique du Nord (NORAD), géré conjointement avec les États-Unis, a annoncé lundi la ministre de la Défense Anita Anand. «
3 août 2020 | Local, Aérospatial
FORT WORTH, Texas, July 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 30, the U.S government submitted the Request for Proposal (RFP) response for the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) built F-35 to Canada in support of their Future Fighter Capability Project. Canada has been a valued partner since the inception of the Joint Strike Fighter competition. Canadian industry plays an integral role in the global F-35 supply chain and has gained significant technical expertise over the past 15-plus year involvement in the F-35 production. "We are extremely proud of our longstanding partnership with Canada, which has played a key role in the F-35's development," said Greg Ulmer, F-35 Program executive vice president. "The 5th Generation F-35 would transform the Royal Canadian Air Force fleet and deliver the capabilities necessary to safeguard Canadian skies. The F-35's unique mix of stealth and sensor technology will enable the Royal Canadian Air Force to modernize their contribution to NORAD operations, ensure Arctic sovereignty and meet increasingly sophisticated global threats." The program will continue to bring manufacturing and production opportunities to Canada, with an estimated 150,000 jobs supported over the life of the program. The F-35 program connects Canadian industry to a global supply chain supporting a growing fleet that will deliver more than 3,200 aircraft and delivers sustainment well past 2060. To date, the F-35 operates from 24 bases worldwide. More than 1,040 pilots and over 9,340 maintainers are trained. Nine nations operate the F-35 from their home soil and six services have employed F-35s in combat operations. For additional information, visit www.f35.com. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 110,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. SOURCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2020-07-31-F-35-Proposal-to-Canada-Submitted
15 mars 2021 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
The Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering's Global Capability Programs Office scans for vendors in foreign countries that have innovative technologies that speak to: The US Department of Defense's Technology Modernization Priorities, including: AI; Biotechnology; Autonomy; Cyber; Directed Energy; FNC3 (Fully Networked Command, Control, and Communications); Microelectronics; Quantum Science; Hypersonics; Space; 5G; Readiness and Joint Lethality in Contested Environments; Technologies satisfying urgent operational needs on a relevant fielding schedule; and/or Technologies that provide significant life cycle savings. Interested vendors may send their product data sheets and an FCT template to Colonel Stephen MacDonald, Defence Cooperation Attaché at the Embassy of Canada to the United States, at Stephen.MacDonald7@forces.gc.ca NLT 30 April 2021. A blank FCT template and an example of an FCT template are attached. Colonel MacDonald will compile the data sheets and FCT templates, and will forward them to the Global Capabilities Program Office. The Global Capabilities Program Office will then disseminate the vendor product data sheets and the FCT templates to the U.S. Armed Services and Agencies to gauge their interest. The Global Capabilities Program Office will inform Colonel MacDonald of the technologies that have peaked the interest of the U.S armed services and agencies. The vendors of these technologies will be asked to prepare a 20-minute presentation (including questions and answers) on their innovative technologies. We are aiming to schedule the presentations for the last week of May. The plan for the presentations will be announced under separate cover. Following the presentations, U.S. armed services and agencies will contact vendors if they continue to have an interest in their technologies. At that point, the discussions will take place directly between the U.S. armed services/agencies and vendors. An information session from the Global Capabilities Program Office and U.S. Armed Service representatives may be held near the end of April, and is pending confirmation. The intent of the information session will be to provide an overview of the FCT program/process and the needs of U.S. armed services and agencies. Details of the information session will be announced under separate correspondence. In the meantime, a presentation on the FCT program can be found here. Questions may be addressed to Colonel Stephen MacDonald, Defence Cooperation Attaché, at Stephen.MacDonald7@forces.gc.ca and Mr. Bobby Tate, Trade Commissioner, Defence and Security, at robert.tate@international.gc.ca.