I have noticed that whenever I first come on to the site, I get a little note accross the top of the page which says:
" To help protect your security Internet Explorer has blocked this website from displaying content with Security Certificate errors. Click here for options."
I'm sure it is not something of grave importance. Perhaps you may be unaware of this. Cheers
Two soldiers from Quebec were airlifted to hospital Monday after taking part in a “live-fire” training exercise near CFB Wainwright.
The Department of National Defence says the pair were immediately evacuated and then sent to an Edmonton hospital. Both are now listed in stable condition.
“The investigation into the accident is still ongoing,” said DND spokeswoman Capt. Lena Angell.
Angell said the soldiers, who are from CFB Valcartier, Quebec, were on foot during the mishap, but any further details about the incident were being withheld by Canada’s military.
The soldiers’ families have been notified, but their identities have not been released.
More than 3,500 soldiers are training in Wainwright – roughly 205 km southeast of Edmonton – who are taking part of an exercise dubbed “Reflexe Rapide.”
Angell says the exercise is one of the last steps in preparing troops for their fall deployment in Afghanistan.
NATO keeps asking for more troops for Afghan mission; Ottawa keeps saying: No.
August 22, 2010 - 20:40
Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Canada turned down a direct plea from NATO to send more troops into southern Afghanistan in the run-up to last year's Afghan presidential election, federal documents say.
It was among the most specific requests Ottawa has received over the years and provides a keen illustration of the pitfalls the Conservative government faces both at home and abroad as it slowly untangles the country from the costly war.
Continued Below
A briefing note prepared for Defence Minister Peter MacKay showed that both NATO and the U.S. expected Canada to ante up the extra troops needed to secure Kandahar from an anticipated wave of Taliban violence prior to the vote.
The plea was turned down cold.
There was a hint of exasperation in the comments category of the note, suggesting that the allies seem oblivious to both the strain that four years of fighting has placed on Canada's small army and the bruising political debate that has battered the minority government.
"The U.S. and NATO had hoped that Canada, as one of the lead nations in (Regional Command) South, would generate the required supplementary forces for south," said the Jan. 23, 2009 briefing document.
"It will be important to communicate to allies — and perhaps the Canadian public — that Canada is already contributing significant military resources to the region where the threat of election-related violence is the highest. While the CF will review and assess future NATO requests for supplementary election forces, allies should understand that Canada is already contributing to the maximum extent possible."
Last winter, NATO asked for more military trainers and Canada sent 90 soldiers. But it was underlined — once again — that they go home when the rest of the army leaves next July.
That the requests keep coming even though Ottawa has formally signalled its withdrawal plans speaks volumes, not only about allied perceptions of the country's military capacity, but the international expectations built up by the Conservative government's tough-sounding rhetoric of not cutting and running.
Douglas Bland, of Queens University's defence management studies centre, said the Afghan mission may be over next year, but the perception that Canada can be counted on to carry the heavy load will likely remain for years to come.
The briefing note urged MacKay to turn the tables on NATO allies and press those already in Afghanistan to remove restrictions that prevent them from fighting in the south.
MacKay, in a recent interview, conceded NATO had come to expect a lot of Canada because the country has "contributed so mightily" to the campaign.
"I would argue that we've done more than most for a military of our size," he said. "Without opening up the whole issue of burden-sharing, I do think we have to continually remind, in some cases, many who follow the mission closely Canada that has been and remains a major contributor to the mission in Afghanistan."
What MacKay didn't address was how you ratchet back those expectations at a time when the U.S. is consumed with Afghanistan and redoubling efforts to batter the Taliban into submission.
Bland said it's up to the government to say 'no' more forcefully.
The fact Canada cannot — or is unwilling — to produce even a few hundred extra soldiers at such critical junctures as the election and the planned offensive in Kandahar mystifies some NATO commanders in Kabul.
NATO sources in Kabul said U.S. commanders in particular don't understand how their northern neighbour could have produced over 4,000 troops for peacekeeping in the Balkans in the 1990s — a time of budget restraint — and yet claim the well is dry while fighting a war. They question Canada's short rotation system of six-month deployments and nearly year-long training programs for each battle group.
The Canadian army did examine the request for extra soldiers for the 2009 Afghan election and developed two options. One involved overlapping the tours of incoming and outgoing battle groups, which would have temporarily doubled the number of soldiers on the ground.
The second option was censored in the documents, but ultimately both suggestions were rejected.
Bland said he doesn't see much lasting political damage with NATO, but said the United States is another matter.
"The American military officers can be pretty aggressive and not understand our politics because they don't understand our country and method of government," Bland said.
"They have their own expectations of what we would be able to do and if they were running our Armed Forces they would do it differently. We used to get that all the time from the Brits. They tell us exactly the same kind of crap, but that's what you get when you're small nation."
Ran across some photos of Operation Nanook 2010. The SGT on Polar Bear watch should have one of those .303's.
Quote
Operation NANOOK is one of three major recurring sovereignty operations conducted annually by the Canadian Forces (CF) in Canada's Arctic.
Planned and directed by Joint Task Force North (JTFN) the whole-of-government operation highlights interoperability, command and control, and cooperation with interdepartmental and intergovernmental partners in the North.
Operation NANOOK 10 takes place in Canada's Eastern and High Arctic area from August 6 to 26 and includes two major exercises, Exercise NATSIQ, a sovereignty and presence patrolling exercise of military resources, and Exercise TALLURUTIIT a whole-of -government exercise that focuses on environmental containment and remediation resulting from a simulated fuel spill..Operation NANOOK 10, as a combined, joint and integrated operation engages personnel and resources (ships and aircraft) from: the Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army, Canada's Air Force and CF Special Forces; other federal government departments to include Public Safety, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Coast Guard (central and Arctic region), Transport Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Parks Canada, the Government of Nunavut; the municipal communities of Resolute Bay, Pond Inlet, Grise Fjord, Iqaluit and Arctic Bay; and internationally the US Navy's 2nd Fleet, the US Coast Guard and the Royal Danish Navy.
Aug 15, 2010 Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada Soldiers of the Arctic Response Company Group prepare to fire the .303 Lee Enfield rifle during range day in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, for Operation Nanook 10 on 15 Aug 2010.
Aug 15, 2010 Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada Star Marualik, a Ranger with 1 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, coaches a soldier from the Arctic Response Company Group's 2 Platoon during range day in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, for Operation Nanook 10 on 15 Aug 2010.
14 August 2010 Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada 2 Platoon of the Arctic Response Company Group patrols during survival training held in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, for Operation Nanook 10 on 14 Aug 2010.
14 August 2010,Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada,Corporal Warner from 3 Platoon arrives to the overnight survival training site via CH-146 Griffon Helicopter during Operation NANOOK 10.
14 August 2010,Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada,Master Corporal Christopher Banks, 3 Platoon, stands on polar bear watch on a hill overlooking the camp during overnight survival training.
13 August 2010,Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada,Sergeant Robert Roper, Second In Command of 3 Platoon, stands on polar bear watch while troops practice survival training skills for Operation NANOOK.
13 August 2010,Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada,The Canadian Rangers teach members of 3 Platoon how to make fox traps out of rocks. By forming the rocks in a circle with a wide base growing narrower at the top the fox is able to crawl in to get the bait but once inside is trapped.
Reservists' job security deserves and gets protection
by Gabriel Granatstein
The late Winston Churchill is reported to have first coined the phrase "twice a citizen" as a measure of the value of military reservists who served the national interest in both civilian and military capacities. In a reflection of that praise, the Quebec government enacted legislation last year which, for the first time, required employers to give military reservists job protection similar to that of an employee who leaves on maternity or sick leave. Similar legislation has been passed throughout the rest of Canada.
Being a reservist myself, this legislation is near and dear to my heart. I've been a reservist for seven years and have served both full and part-time. I still serve as a reservist with the Judge Advocate General Branch (legal) of the military. Military service has been an invaluable experience for me and I love being able to practice law at a firm like Ogilvy Renault LLP and still continue to serve my country. While my own firm has always been very supportive and encouraging of my parallel military career, this new legislation helps protect those reservists whose employers are perhaps less supportive than mine and, at the same time, sensitizes all employers to the rights and obligations of reservists and the corresponding benefits that they can offer their employers.
Before discussing the new legislation, it is important to first consider the roles and obligations of reservists in the Canadian Forces. First of all, reservists generally receive the same training as their regular force (full-time) counterparts. They wear the uniform, earn the same rank and often serve side-by-side with the regular forces. However, unlike regular force service members, they do not sign full-time multi-year or indefinite contracts that require them to be moved around the country and be deployed at the government's will. Reservists can work part-time or full-time, when and where they choose. In exchange for this flexibility, reservists are not guaranteed full-time employment and receive a slightly lesser salary. However, many reservists work full-time. For example, in my seven years as a reservist, I spent about three years working full-time. I did a tour in Bosnia as a peacekeeper in a mixed regular force and reserve unit. That contract lasted about 10 months and because it was for an operational tour, I was entitled to all of the benefits of being in the regular force. The tour, like all operational deployments for reservists, was optional. I also worked full-time in a headquarters in Quebec, worked as a recruiting officer and taught basic training in Manitoba. I volunteered for all of those positions.
Indeed, unlike our American counterparts, Canadian Forces reservists cannot be compelled to serve on operational tours without an Order In Council signed by the Governor General of Canada acting under the advisement of the federal cabinet. This has not happened since the Second World War and is not likely to happen anytime soon. Given this situation, there has not been any form of job protection legislation for reservists as it has been their choice to leave on a deployment. However, Canada's involvement in Afghanistan has resulted in an increased use of reservists and there has been a push to enact job protection legislation across all jurisdictions. Indeed, given that labour relations are generally the responsibility of the provinces, all provinces have enacted a similar form of job protection legislation.
In Québec, that legislation took the form of last year's amendments to the Labour Standards Act ("Act"). The amendments provide that any employee who is subject to the Act and has 12 months of uninterrupted service with an employer is entitled to take off up to 18 months to participate in a qualifying Canadian Forces operation. Also, any employee subject to the Act, regardless of their length of service with an employer, is entitled to take up to 15 days off to take part in annual military training. Of course, employers are entitled to both written notice of the requested leave and documents justifying that their absence is for valid military purposes and do not have to pay these employees during their absence. On their return from this service, reservists are generally entitled to return to the same position, without penalty.
I would encourage employers not to see these absences in anything but a positive light. When on operations and undergoing training, Canadian Forces soldiers gain valuable transferrable skills. Soldiers of all ranks learn leadership, project management, attention to detail, how to work under stress, and many other valuable life and work-related skills. Many employers have recognized the value in employing reservists and have dedicated policies providing more generous benefits for their reservists. From my experience, some employers even offer to "top-up" the difference between the salary a reservist will earn overseas and what they would have otherwise have earned at home. If reservists are, as Winston Churchill said, "twice the citizen"- so are employers who support their reservists.
Gabriel Granatstein, a lawyer at Ogilvy Renault LLP, practices labour and employment law in the province of Québec and can be reached at ggranatstein@ogilvyrenault.com.
Just thought you should know the rest of the combat troops leave today, turn your TV's to the news (MSNBC for me, they have a reporter on one of the Strykers). They're calling it "The Last Patrol".
