23 juin 2020 | Local, Sécurité
By Jolson Lim and Victoria Gibson. Published on Jun 22, 2020 1:49pm
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The RCMP is planning to add up to two new “Counter Assault Tactical Vehicles” to its arsenal, worrying critics who say it is a waste of taxpayer money and represents a growing militarization in policing in Canada.
The vehicles the RCMP plans to buy are “light-weight high mobility” armoured vehicles to be operated “primarily in urban areas,” according to procurement documents. The vehicles are to “discretely blend into public settings, and provide protection against small arms while remaining highly maneuverable.”
A request for industry feedback was published in late April. A contract is scheduled to be awarded in February 2021 with final delivery for summer 2023.
The purchase would add to the RCMP's stock of armoured vehicles that include 18 “Tactical Armoured Vehicles” owned since 2012 and two Cougar vehicles donated by the Department of National Defence in 2010.
These vehicles are intended to shield police officers in so-called “critical incidents,” such as armed standoffs, hostage takings and search and rescue missions.
The purchase of armoured vehicles by police in Canada has come under increasing scrutiny in wake of new protests over anti-Black racism and police violence. Halifax city council recently cancelled the purchase of an armoured tactical vehicle for its municipal police and re-allocated the $368,000 it planned to spend to the city's diversity office and for anti-racism initiatives.
Critics questioned the RCMP's plans to purchase the new vehicles.
“It shows police and politicians are failing to listen to what Canadians are saying about defunding police,” said Kevin Walby, associate professor at the University of Winnipeg's department of criminal justice.
“Each time the RCMP or other police agencies do something like buy more technology, it simply provides further evidence that police are archaic institutions that are non-responsive to real public needs and calls for justice.”
NDP MP Matthew Green said the planned purchases should be scrapped.
“It speaks to the shift away in our law enforcement, from keeping the peace as peace officers, to an extension of a paramilitary,” he said. “It's a bleeding of responsibilities between the military industrial complex and local policing.”
The existing fleet includes 18 vehicles delivered by Navistar Defence Canada in 2012 and manufactured in Mississippi. The contract was worth $15.2 million, with the cost to buy each vehicle more than $800,000.
The vehicles are essentially armoured personnel carriers refitted for civilian police. Similar vehicles were used in the Afghanistan conflict by the British military, Navistar said in 2012.
The RCMP was unable to confirm the possession of such vehicles prior to deadline last Friday. Earlier last week, when asked by iPolitics for a list of all armoured, tactical and “military-style” vehicles, a spokesperson cited “operational and security reasons” in refusing to disclose the items. iPolitics had initially asked on June 4 for a list of all RCMP vehicles excluding core vehicles such as sedans, SUVs, ATVs and motorbikes.
In 2014, the National Post reported that the RCMP's policy requires armoured vehicles to be used by emergency response team members only during critical incidents and not for crowd control. The vehicles can protect against bullets and explosives and carry a full tactical squad. They include gun ports, sentry hatches and a protected observation station.
Walby, who has researched tactical teams in Canadian policing, said armoured vehicles are primarily used by police in active shooter situations and for serving high-risk warrants, but he does not believe there are enough circumstances to justify having them.
“I would raise questions about the actual utility of them. I would raise questions about whether or not tactical members even think they are useful compared to the other fleet of vehicles that they have,” he said.
However, Mary Ann Campbell, a clinical psychologist who conducts psychological assessments of tactical team members for Saint John, N.B. police, said the vehicles are needed to protect police in special circumstances.
“It's not used for crowd control. It's not driven around as part of patrol services either. It's really used for the tactical team,” she said.
Campbell said there are “many factors that come into play” when weighing whether armoured vehicles should be used by civilian law enforcement and are representative of police militarization. Ultimately, she sees them as a “tool” for police that must be handled with care.
“The fact is, weapons and things like armoured vehicles are a part of how officers do their work,” she said. “If there's trust in the police force, there's trust in how they use this equipment — and not abuse it.”
Five RCMP armoured vehicles were deployed during the 2014 Moncton shooting that left three Mounties dead. The vehicles were also on scene during the 2014 Parliament Hill shooting. In May, an armoured vehicle was used in a drug-related search in Selkirk, Man., an operation that led to the arrest of two people and the seizure of one sawed-off shotgun, ammunition and drugs.
On June 15, an RCMP armoured vehicle and tactical team were deployed in response to a “mental health call” in Alberta Beach, Alta.
The vehicles can also sometimes be found in local parades and public events. Many local law enforcement in Canada own armoured vehicles. In one case, in Saint John, a private company donated an armoured vehicle to municipal police.
Pamela Palmater, a Mi'kmaq lawyer, Ryerson University professor and activist, said money that goes to buying and operating such vehicles is better spent on initiatives to fight poverty, support mental health and ensure clean drinking water for First Nation communities.
“We've really got to look at what are the issues here, and do we need tanks to resolve them,” she said.
Palmater added that it's often Indigenous peoples who face militarized responses from the RCMP, ones that may involve the deployment of heavily armed officers, helicopters and drones. She cited the January protests on Wet'suwet'en territory as an example.
Green said “over-investments in the militarization of police come at the expense of our ability to invest in the social determinants of health and the basic quality of life for people living in Canada.”
Sent a series of questions last week, including why more armoured vehicles were needed by the RCMP, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair declined to comment, instead directing iPolitics to the agency stating such questions were operational in nature.
With files from Kirsten Smith
13 mai 2022 | Local, Aérospatial, Terrestre
Anand told a conference hosted by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute that the government is taking "a full and comprehensive look" at ballistic missile defence.
14 novembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial
MIRABEL, Québec, 13 novembre 2018 – L3 MAS a aujourd'hui annoncé l'obtention de deux contrats à titre de fournisseur de soutien en service pour le compte d'exploitants de flottes d'avions F/A-18 internationaux. RUAG Aviation a récemment accordé à L3 MAS un contrat de modification préventive de la structure des ailes centrales, à des emplacements jugés à priorité élevée, sur les avions F/A-18 des Forces aériennes suisses (FAS). Ces modifications s'inscrivent dans le programme de remise en état structurale (SRP2) des F/A-18 et font partie de la stratégie visant à s'assurer que la flotte d'avions atteigne en toute sécurité sa durée de vie prévue. L3 MAS a aussi été choisie par l'entreprise Vertex Aerospace LLC, dont le siège social est au Mississippi, afin de réaliser des modifications et des réparations de troisième échelon sur trois avions F/A-18 de la NASA basés au centre de recherche Armstrong Flight Research Center (ARFC) de la Edwards Air Force Base, en Californie. L3 MAS effectuera tous les travaux sur les avions dans ses installations de Mirabel. « Nous sommes ravis de continuer à développer nos relations avec RUAG Aviation, le plus important fournisseur des FAS, et de compter la NASA (par l'intermédiaire de Vertex Aerospace LLC) parmi nos nombreux clients internationaux exploitants des flottes de F/A-18. Ces contrats constituent une preuve indéniable de la confiance que témoigne la communauté internationale de F/A-18 envers L3 MAS en tant que Centre d'excellence en avions de chasse », a affirmé Jacques Comtois, vice-président et directeur général de L3 MAS. « Notre entreprise bénéficie de compétences uniques et éprouvées, d'outils ainsi que d'un personnel expérimenté qui nous permettent d'offrir des services de classe mondiale et une valeur ajoutée aux exploitants d'avions de chasse. » L3 MAS est un chef de file mondial dans le développement et la mise en oeuvre de solutions structurales pour les F/A-18, ayant déjà exécuté des programmes structuraux majeurs pour l'Aviation royale canadienne et la Royal Australian Air Force, et assistant d'autres opérateurs dont les FAS, la Finnish Air Force, la US Navy et la NASA. À propos de L3 MAS L3 MAS, une division du segment d'affaires L3 ISR Systems, est le plus important intégrateur canadien de soutien en service (SES). L3 MAS offre des solutions innovatrices et intégrées qui couvrent l'éventail complet des activités de SES, notamment la gestion de flotte et la planification de la maintenance annuelle et son optimisation, la gestion du cycle de vie du matériel (GCVM), le soutien logistique intégré, les environnements d'information électroniques, l'ingénierie de systèmes, la gestion du matériel, la gestion de la configuration, les publications et la gestion de données. De plus, L3 MAS est reconnue pour ses activités de conception, de prototypage, de fabrication, de réparation et révision et de certification de composants aéronautiques. Le siège social de l'entreprise est situé à Mirabel, au Québec. Plus de 800 personnes sont employées dans les divers centres d'exploitation à travers le Canada. Pour en apprendre davantage sur L3 MAS, visitez le site Internet de l'entreprise au www.L3T.com/mas. À propos de L3 Technologies L3 Technologies est un chef de file novateur et agile qui fournit des systèmes globaux de RSR et des systèmes de communication en réseau et d'électronique destinés aux clients des secteurs militaire, de la sécurité intérieure et de l'aviation commerciale. L3, dont le siège social se trouve à New York, compte environ 31 000 employés à travers le monde et conçoit des technologies de défense et des solutions commerciales avancées en matière de formation des pilotes, de sécurité aérienne, de vision nocturne et d'EO/IR, d'armes, de systèmes maritimes et d'espace. L'entreprise a enregistré des ventes de 9,6 milliards de dollars en 2017. Pour en apprendre davantage sur L3, visitez le site Internet de l'entreprise au www.L3T.com. https://www.aeromontreal.ca/L3MAS-remporte-contrats-internationaux-F18.html
12 juin 2018 | Local, Terrestre
Rheinmetall Canada has unveiled a newly named Mission Master Cargo unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), which is a new version of the Multi-Mission UGV that was first revealed at IDEX in February 2017. The platform is designed for direct support of dismounted troops and is available in a cargo and casualty evacuation version, and a surveillance and reconnaissance version. The new UGV was revealed during Eurosatory 2018 in Paris, and Rheinmetall Canada spoke to Jane's prior to the event. Modules can be swapped in and out as required, so the UGV can fulfil mission sets including logistics support; weaponised; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear and explosives (CBRNE); and communications relay. “The end user can buy either a surveillance module, CBRN module or fire suppression module and clip it onto the vehicle itself with no modification required. The software can integrate and interact with any of those mission modules that are already embedded into every single UGV,” Alain Tremblay, vice-president of business development for Rheinmetall Canada, told Jane's. In the weaponised role, the platform is fitted with a remote weapon station featuring a 12.7 mm machine gun. Live fire testing was done at the end of 2017 on a military base in Canada to trial how the UGV could lock onto a target, the target then be confirmed by operators, and the platform fire by itself up to a range of 800 m. Tremblay noted that any type of remote weapon station, regardless of the manufacturer, can be fitted to the platform. “The open architecture of the software allows anything to be mounted, even a Russian type missile which has a different architecture system to the western world,” he said. “Early next year we are going to be starting to work on a medium calibre 20 mm remote weapon station for the same platform which is actually not that difficult to do. http://www.janes.com/article/80789/eurosatory-2018-rheinmetall-canada-unveils-production-ready-mission-master-cargo-unmanned-ground-vehicle