Antisemitism > Is Canada leading the western world? RCMP investigating Canadian IDF members for war crimes

 

The answer is 'no', Britain is leading the Western world, but Canada is pulling a close second.

Canada Launches War Crimes Investigation of Israeli-Canadian IDF Soldiers in Gaza War

Jun 4, 2025 8:30 am By Christine Douglass-Williams9 Comments

Canada is fast becoming one of the worst Western countries for its anti-Israel antagonism from the top, down to the lowest terrorist thug operating freely on its soil with little to no legal consequences.

Canada Launches War Crimes Probe Into

IDF Veterans With Dual Citizenship

i24News, June 3, 2025:

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has launched a criminal investigation into several Israeli-Canadian soldiers suspected of committing crimes against humanity during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, according to a report published Tuesday by the Toronto Star.

The probe—part of Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program (CAHWCP)—focuses on Canadian citizens who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), particularly during the Gaza conflict that erupted in 2023.

The investigation, which began in 2024, is being carried out in coordination with Canada’s Department of Justice, immigration authorities, and border services.

Unlike high-profile Canadian investigations into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine, which included public hotlines and dedicated websites, the current case has unfolded quietly. Authorities have not issued public statements or updates, though officials confirm that the process may include gathering evidence, international cooperation, and potential indictments on Canadian soil.

“The program’s aim is to ensure Canada does not become a safe haven for war criminals,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. “This includes both prosecuting those within Canada and sharing relevant evidence with other jurisdictions.”…

The targeting of the IDF by the Canadian government is a disturbing new twist that reeks of a double standard. In January, the Ottawa firm Insight Threat Intelligence revealed in an extensive report that the jihad terrorist threat to Canada “has rarely been higher,” yet no serious follow-up investigations have been reported. And since 2017, Canada’s Security Intelligence Service acknowledged that dozens of ISIS jihadis were walking free, yet authorities won’t charge them. Canada was focused on DEI, through which groups such as the Anti-Hate Network continued to bleed taxpayers of funds so as to drive their radical left agendas, even in schools, while targeting anyone as an “Islamophobe” who warned about Canada’s jihad problem. Yet Canada has ignored soaring antisemitism, and even worse, it is now exacerbating it by “quietly” going after IDF veterans engaged in a legitimate war.

Unlike high-profile Canadian investigations into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine, which included public hotlines and dedicated websites, the current case has unfolded quietly.

Sneakily is a more accurate word, and one should not make even the remotest comparison between Israel and Russia. Israel is fighting for its existence, and has been since its founding in 1948.

The issue of IDF recruitment in Canada isn’t a new one. In fact, it’s longstanding, but because of the highly publicized war in Gaza, which is causing unspeakable suffering, entirely the fault of Hamas, pro-Hamas enemies of Israel have become emboldened. They are using every means at their disposal to attack the Jewish state and those who support it. Less than three month ago, an anti-Israel website surfaced called Find IDF Soldiers. The organization behind it, called The Maple, claimed that it was not a doxxing website, because it compiled “publicly available information about individual Canadians,” yet The Maple actually does extensive research about individuals, makes this information readily available, and incites antagonism against Canadian veterans of the IDF with the intention of boosting the Palestinian “resistance.” The Find IDF Soldiers website states:

For the better part of the past century, some Jews in Canada have been travelling to Israel to fight alongside other Jewish Zionists from around the world.

At first, these Canadians, along with some non-Jewish ones, fought with Zionist militias to establish the State of Israel, which was done through the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land. In the decades since, at least hundreds of Jewish Canadians have willingly joined the Israeli military, and aided the state in its wars and occupation of neighbouring land.

Of course, there were no Palestinians in the Holy Land in 1948, there were Arabs who had recently moved into Palestine from across North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East. The Palestinian People were an invention by Yasser Arafat in the 1960s.

Canadian Jewish News reported that “groups of IDF veterans initially named on the website—most of whom are based in Canada, the U.S., or Israel—have been exploring legal avenues to respond to The Maple for publishing the project.” With the latest RCMP development, The Maple will be celebrating.

As pro-Hamas zeal grows, so do attacks of various kinds against the State of Israel and the Jewish community. The Newsmagine of the Islamic Movement, Crescent International has been working to incriminate those involved in IDF recruitment. It accuses Israel of “war crimes” committed “against Palestinians living under its military occupation,” without any mention of the zealous jihad in the region that sought to keep out Jews from emigrating to their homeland even before 1948.

Meanwhile, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (formerly CAIR-CAN) has “unveiled proposed legislation to reshape Canada’s stance on Palestine.” The legislation is called the “Nakba Bill.”

If it passes, the legislation could reorient Ottawa’s policy on the Middle East conflict with curbs on trade with Israel and its army recruitment activities in Canada, along with political recognition of Palestinian statehood. Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which helped draft the bill, hopes it effects go beyond Canada’s borders.

Brown wants the bill to serve as “a blueprint for other Western countries that are looking at also reinforcing a rules-based order.” This upside-down bill smears Israel as it pushes the Palestinian “resistance” agenda from the River to the Sea, and it’s being done in the name of peace and human rights.

The Nakba Bill also calls for the Canadian government to “recognize the term ‘racism against Palestinians’ and recognize the state of Palestine,” and demands sanctions against Israel’s Otzma Yehudit party, “with their ties to Kahane Chai.”

The silence from human rights groups in Canada is deafening amid the disturbing trends unfolding against Israel and against Jews. The problem includes authorities such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. And recently, a Toronto Police Document accused Israel of ethnic cleansing. Toronto has the largest Jewish community in Canada and the fourth largest in the world after Israel, the US and France. There have been numerous incidences involving Toronto police, which has now been accused of two-tier policing:

• Only three months after October 7, Toronto police were discovered to be delivering coffee to pro-Hamas demonstrators as they blocked North America’s busiest highway overpass. According to a National Post report, one of the demonstrators stated: “The police are becoming our little messengers.” The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and called the neighborhood a “Zionist-infested area.”
• In November 2024, as antisemitism soared in Canada, with pro-Hamas thugs rampaging in Montreal and Toronto, police targeted Rebel Media founder Ezra Levant.
• In early April, Pro-Hamas agitators and jihad sympathizers unleashed a “night of rage” against Jews in Toronto and Montreal, while police were MIA.
• In mid-March, Toronto Police Muslim liaison officers “praised October 7 for a surge in Islam converts,” and suffered no consequences.
• Also in March, pro-Hamas Muslims disrupted Toronto’s busy Yonge and Bloor intersection with prayers over a loudspeaker, while Toronto Police didn’t disappoint with their two-tier policing.

Police stood by and did nothing, or rather, enabled the problematic crowd, later justifying the disruption as “fundamental rights protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” Then it emerged that Toronto police spent $14 million, mostly on anti-Israel rallies without permits. By this point, the Toronto police’s two-tier policing was glaring.

The latest revelations about Canada’s launch of a war crime investigation of Israeli-Canadian IDF soldiers is reportedly leading to fear of prosecution from dual citizens who volunteered with the IDF if they return home. Some Jewish community leaders say “a sense of unease is growing, with some describing an increasingly hostile political climate toward Israel and its supporters.”

Senator Leo Housakos recently spoke out about Canada’s soaring antisemitism and how “Jews are no longer safe.”

Jews have been relentlessly targeted in Canada by pro-Hamas sympathizers since October 7, 2023, after Israel was viciously attacked by Hamas, a group funded by Iran, which aims to obliterate the Jewish state. Now, jihad terror is allowed to proliferate in Canada, along with pro-Hamas activism, while the persecution of Jews mounts. Canada, along with many other Western nations, has preferred to look the other way, as authorities have found it more comfortable to believe that Islam is a religion of peace. It is a religion of conquest. The Palestinian “resistance” against Israel is rooted in Islamic doctrine, which is why the Jewish state was opposed from its founding. According to the Hamas Covenant:

The Islamic Resistance Movement: The Movement’s programme is Islam. From it, it draws its ideas, ways of thinking and understanding of the universe, life and man. It resorts to it for judgement in all its conduct, and it is inspired by it for guidance of its steps.

The Islamic Resistance Movement’s Relation With the Moslem Brotherhood Group:

Article Two:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine. Moslem Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterised by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all Islamic concepts of all aspects of life, culture, creed, politics, economics, education, society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and conversion to Islam.

Yet anti-Israel supporters and enablers of Hamas are multiplying rapidly and working toward the ultimate subjugation of all infidels.

And Canada seems to be doing their best to enable them.

If the investigation is fair and honest, which is a little unlikely, it will prove the IDF is not guilty of war crimes. So, this could be a good thing. 

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Canadian Convulsions > Inquiry into Trudeau's invoking Emergencies Act against Truckers - Have you ever heard so much BS?

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This report is from CBC which is Justin Trudeau's biggest fan. Despite criminal behaviour on a few occasions, embarrassing behaviour on a few other occasions, and very questionable decisions (like refusing to name the 11 MPs who were financed by China in the last elections), the CBC has never found any cause to criticize Trudeau. In fact, they very rarely even ask him real questions. I have a few questions which you will find in the report below.

Trudeau's national security adviser felt convoy protest posed

'a threat to democracy:' documents

This is CBC's headline and it is obvious that they are trying to justify Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act which his father, Pierre Trudeau, also used in 1970. "'How far will you go', Trudeau the senior was asked".  "Just watch me," he replied.

Catharine Tunney · 

CBC News · 

Posted: Nov 15, 2022 10:52 AM ET | 

Inquiry into use of Emergencies Act underway in Ottawa

The history-making Public Order Emergency Commission, which is reviewing the federal government's use of emergency powers last winter, is hearing testimony in Ottawa. The inquiry is expected to last six weeks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security and intelligence adviser believed that the convey protesters posed a "threat to democracy," according to a document tabled at the Emergencies Act inquiry.

The comments offer a glimpse of the advice cabinet was receiving as it invoked the Emergencies Act for the very first time in the legislation's history to end the convoy protests that blocked two trade corridors and gridlocked downtown Ottawa last winter.

In an email presented at the Public Order Emergency Commission Tuesday, Jody Thomas, Trudeau's national security intelligence adviser, writes that she's looking for a threat assessment.

No-one has actually heard of Jody Thomas before today. What are her credentials?

The email was sent just before noon on Feb. 14 - the day the government announced it was invoking the Emergencies Act and around the time the prime minister was briefing premiers.

The timing here is critical, and so is the content of what Trudeau was briefing the premiers. CBC didn't ask those questions. Was Trudeau looking for advice, or had he already made up his mind and was looking for justification?

"The characters involved. The weapons. The motivation. Clearly this isn't just COVID and is a threat to democracy and rule of law," wrote Thomas, whose title is often shortened to 'NSIA'.

"Could I get an assessment please … It's a very short fuse."

Workers use heavy equipment to remove temporary fencing and supplies from the Parliament Hill area

in Ottawa, Feb. 23, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

A few minutes later, Thomas wrote an email to senior government officials warning that "this is about a national threat to national interest and institutions.

"By people who do not care about or understand democracy. Who are preparing to be violent. Who are motivated by anti-government sentiment."

These are astonishing assumptions Thomas made in 'a few minutes.' How did she know what level of democratic literacy the truckers and their supporters possessed? Is her assumption based on the fact that the caravan started in Alberta? Are all Albertans incapable of understanding government?

How did she know that they were preparing to be violent? In the weeks-long protest, there were hardly any incidents of violence. No one challenged the police at any time.

She may be correct that the motivation was largely anti-government, but, on the other hand, the truckers went to Ottawa to talk to the government, not to overthrow them. No one from the government ever actually talked to the truckers except the Ottawa Police who had worked out an agreement with the truckers. That agreement was replaced by the Emergencies Act. The Ottawa Police Chief, Peter Sloly, resigned the very next day.

The motivation was to change some of the remarkably stupid policies that the government had enacted. 

CSIS didn't feel convoy protests constituted a national security threat under the law: documents

Proposed meeting between federal representatives, protesters was unlikely to work, public servant says

The request for a threat assessment made its way to the RCMP's Adriana Poloz, executive director of intelligence and international policing.

Her assessment said that ideologically motivated violent extremism "adherents" had been linked to the convoy. She pointed to a Three Percenters flag spotted on a truck taking part in the Ottawa protest and said that Diagolon members also attended that protest.

The Three Percenters are members of a listed terrorist entity in Canada. While members of the Diagolon online community claim the organization is satirical, the RCMP's assessment said prominent members have "espoused increasingly violent rhetoric opposing vaccine mandates."

The report also noted that the majority of protesters had been peaceful.

I don't know anyone who has ever heard of The Three Percenters or Diagolon, and I have my ear pretty close to the ground on things like this. But one flag, seen once, on one truck, does not a rebellion make.

RCMP questioned on chain of command

Commission lawyer Gordon Cameron raised the emails Tuesday as part of his questions to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Michael Duheme.

"How does it happen that when the NSIA wants a security threat [analysis], it doesn't go through one of you, but goes directly to somebody in an intelligence directorate that frankly none of us had seen before we saw this email?" he asked.

For the significance of this, let me relate a story that preceeded the Iraq war. Looking for a reason to invade Iraq, Dick Cheney called a CIA agent who was writing a report on Iraq. Cheney told her to include Weapons of Mass Destruction in her report. Credit the agent - she told Cheney that it was illegal for him to call her directly and told him to call her boss.

The report, God bless her, did not include any mention of WMDs, however, Cheney had the report rerouted directly to himself where he modified the report to include WMDs which then justified Americas attack on Iraq. 150,000 civilians were killed in that war. 

This was the work of Deep State, and it kept weapons inventories moving for 8 years. 

It's a well-known philosophy in the government that 'It's a lot easier to get forgiveness than permission'. I confess I have used that myself in my Public Service career.

Duheme said that while it isn't ideal, sometimes people in government reach out for information directly if they have a relationship with the person providing it.

Another astonishing statement! It hints very loudly, that Thomas had some relationship with Poloz. Does that mean that she knew Poloz would say exactly what Thomas wanted her to say? Remember the timing here - it took only a few minutes for Thomas to make up her mind, which would suggest that Poloz responded almost instantly.

Cameron pointed out that the NSIA was advising government on whether to use extraordinary emergency powers 

"This was a very time-pressured situation. It might be understandable that corners were cut or direct contact was used," said Cameron.

"Were you alert to the fact this was a threat assessment going from your people to the Privy Council Office in connection with the invocation of the Emergencies Act?"

Duheme said he wasn't sure if he was briefed beforehand and said it's possible Poloz's response to Thomas relied on assessments the RCMP had written already.

Answers that lack a great deal of confidence.

Brendan Miller, a lawyer for some convoy organizers, asked Rob Stewart, the deputy minister of the federal Public Safety department during the protests, about the advice the federal cabinet was getting about the convoy at the time.

Miller showed Stewart a document that showed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) didn't believe the self-styled Freedom Convoy constituted a threat to national security, according to the definition in its enabling law.

CSIS didn't see convoy as a threat: docs

The document, a summary of an interview CSIS Director David Vigneault gave the commission, showed the intelligence agency had concerns about invoking the Emergencies Act.

"[Vigneault] felt an obligation to clearly convey the service's position that there did not exist a threat to the security of Canada as defined by the service's legal mandate," said the document.

Stewart said the government would have a broader interpretation of what constitutes a national security threat.

And yet, did the government's broader definition actually fall within CSIS's more narrow definition?

Jody Thomas, national security and intelligence advisor to the prime minister, arrives at the west block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

"The cabinet is making that decision and their interpretation of the law is what governs here," said Stewart.

"And their decision was, evidently, the threshold was met."

"You have the RCMP, you have CSIS, you have the entire intelligence apparatus in the federal government and none of them said that this threshold was met, did they?" Miller asked Stewart.

"They weren't asked," Stewart said.

OMG!  You can't be serious! The RCMP, CSIS, Ottawa Police, were not asked, but the advice of one obscure woman who appears to have talked very briefly to a friend as accepted carte blanche. That, in itself, should be enough to dump Trudeau.

The Public Order Emergency Commission is assessing whether the federal government met the legal threshold to invoke the Emergencies Act to clear Ottawa of protesters last winter.

Under the Emergencies Act, a public order emergency "arises from threats to the security of Canada that are so serious as to be a national emergency." 

The act refers to CSIS's definition of threats, including serious violence against persons or property, espionage, foreign interference or an intent to overthrow the government by violence.

Unlike the 1970 October 'crisis', there were no murders, no kidnappings, no bombs exploding and no government was ever in danger of being overthrown.

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mike Duheme looks on as Commissioner Brenda Lucki responds to a question as they appear as witnesses at the Public Order Emergency Commission, Tuesday, November 15, 2022 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited issues with police enforcement when he announced his decision.

"It is now clear that there are serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law," he told a news conference. 

Ottawa Police Chief Sloly said the situation was under control. 

Under the Emergencies Act, a national emergency is "an urgent, temporary and critical situation that seriously endangers the health and safety of Canadians that cannot be effectively dealt with by the provinces or territories."

"It must be a situation that cannot be effectively dealt with by any other law of Canada."

Lucki and Duheme said they quickly became worried that the Ottawa police did not have a plan to end the convoy protest that occupied the capital last winter.

The pair also sat for an interview with commission lawyers in September. A summary of that conversation was entered into evidence Tuesday. 

During that interview, Lucki said the RCMP became concerned during the week of Jan. 31 —  the week after the first weekend of protest — that the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) did not have an overall operational plan to end the occupation of Ottawa.

But they did have a plan to manage the occupation, a plan that was trashed by the Emergencies Act.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki details concerns with Ottawa Police Service resources during the convoy protests as she testifies at the Emergencies Act Inquiry.

Both Mounties said they needed to see a plan before committing more resources to Ottawa as similar anti-COVID-19 restrictions protests began to sprout in Western Canada and at the Windsor, Ont., border crossing. 

Duheme told the commission lawyers that he joined a call with Ottawa officers on Jan. 31, where OPS indicated it wanted to launch an aggressive enforcement operation from Feb. 3-6.

"Duheme said he felt that OPS lacked the resources to conduct these operations and had neither the resources nor the plans to sustain them over the long term," said the interview summary.

"Lucki became concerned that OPS lacked a plan to use the RCMP and OPP resources that were then assisting OPS."

Lucki and Duheme said they never saw an overall operational plan prepared by the Ottawa police.

"It was not clear to them whether OPS lacked such a plan or was unwilling to share it with the RCMP," said their interview summary.

Wouldn''t you think they should know the answer to that?

Lucki also said it would have been inappropriate for her to interfere in Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly's planning and intelligence assessment processes.

It has been my contention right from the time Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act that his response was like that of a frightened little boy. This happens when a control freak loses control.

Canadian Convulsions > Trudeau is unable to handle people who disagree with him; RCMP sound worse than truckers

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Trudeau’s party takes hit in poll

Conservative Party of Canada overtakes Liberals, gains 10 percentage points,

in latest polling

FILE PHOTO © Dave Chan / AFP

New polling figures show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has been overtaken by the Conservatives amid waning support among Canadians for Covid-19 vaccine and mask mandates, and against the backdrop of a major crackdown on the trucker-led protests.

The poll, conducted by Mainstreet Research, showed that voter support for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has increased by 10 percentage points in the past month. The CPC would be the leading vote-getter if an election were held today, garnering 36% of ballots, compared with 28% for the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), the survey found.

And the CPC doesn't have a leader right now!

The polling was conducted last week, starting two days after Trudeau invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act. That move suspended civil liberties to quash the Freedom Convoy protests and take such actions as freezing the bank accounts of demonstrators without court orders, increasing police powers, and subjecting fundraising platforms to laws normally applied to money launderers and terrorist financiers. The survey was completed before footage from Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, showed protesters apparently being trampled by police-mounted horses, dispersed with tear gas, and pummeled with rifle butts.

Just 36% of Canadians still support Covid-19 restrictions, compared with 55% who favor ending all government pandemic measures, the Mainstreet poll showed. As recently as two months ago, 56% of Canadians said they would support another round of Covid-19 lockdowns. About 39% of respondents to the latest survey said they strongly oppose Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, while 38% strongly support the move.

A Maru Public Opinion poll released earlier this month showed that just 16% of Canadians would vote for Trudeau based on his actions during the first two weeks of the Freedom Convoy trucker protests. Nearly half of respondents said they believed he was “not up to the job of being prime minister.”

In my humble opinion, his reaction to the trucker convoy was like that of a frightened little boy. His complete inability to communicate with people who don't maintain his far-left ideals is beginning to catch up with him. However, there are still too many people who think he is Mr. Wonderful, even while he tears Canada apart and puts us into a debt from which we can never emerge.

On a separate topic, the Mainstreet survey showed relatively strong support, especially among LPC voters, for sending Canadian troops to Ukraine if Russia invades the country. More than 48% of respondents, including 58% of Liberal voters, said they favor sending Canadian forces to fight Russian invaders, while 38% said they oppose such a military deployment.

Madness! Thanks to our far-left national media in Canada.

An Economist/YouGov poll released earlier this month showed that only 13% of Americans believe it would be a “good idea” to send US troops to tangle with Russian forces in Ukraine.

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Police probe leaked messages where officers reportedly celebrated brutality

Purportedly leaked messages show Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers describe trampling of demonstrators as “awesome”

A tactical police officer stands on the base of a street advertisement as police move in to clear downtown Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2022 © Getty Images / Justin Tang

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Sunday that it is “looking into” leaked messages apparently from an officers’ chat group, in which members appear to cheer on the trampling of Freedom Convoy demonstrators in Ottawa, and declared it “time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground.” 

“The RCMP is aware of the material circulating on social media pertaining to a chat group that includes some of its members, and we can confirm that we are looking into the matter,” read a statement from the force. “This material is not representative of those who have committed themselves to serving Canadians with integrity and professionalism.”

A federal police force, the RCMP were brought in to assist Ottawa Police officers in clearing the Freedom Convoy protest that had occupied much of downtown Ottawa for the past three weeks. The crackdown was a brutal one, and as city and federal officers arrested nearly 200 people since Friday and seized 76 vehicles, video footage emerged showing baton beatings, attacks with projectile weapons, and a mounted cavalry charge into a crowd of demonstrators.

According to screenshots posted online on Saturday, RCMP officers cheered on this crackdown. The screenshots, purportedly taken from the force’s ‘Musical Ride’ group chat, showed a member named ‘Marca’ saying “just watched the horse video – that is awesome” and adding “we should practice that manoeuvre.”

Another member named ‘Andrew Nixon’ posted a picture of himself holding a pint of beer, telling his fellow officers “Don't kick all of them out until next week’s group gets our turn,” and saying that it was “time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground.” 

The screenshots were posted on Twitter, and heavily publicized by Canada’s Rebel News, a right-wing outlet whose reporter said she was earlier shot with a non-lethal weapon at close range by an officer.

These attitudes and actions are much more like the descriptions Trudeau spoke of when describing the truckers and their supporters. But these are OK with Trudeau because they work for him, The Hypocrite and Chief!

The police crackdown came after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act last week. As well as empowering police to clear the streets, the act permits the government to freeze bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets belonging to protest participants and donors. 

Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell declared the protest “over” on Saturday. However, Bell warned on Friday that his department would continue to hunt down those who had been involved in the protests and punish them financially. “If you are involved in this protest, we will actively look to identify you and follow up with financial sanctions and criminal charges,” he threatened. 

While a number of Canadian provinces have relaxed their Covid-19 restrictions since the protest began, Trudeau’s nationwide vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers – the rule that sparked the demonstration in the first place – remains in force.

This Week's Global Terrorist Attacks / Stories - 20:17 > Nova Scotia; UK-2; Germany; Afghanistan

Gunman killed 16 people in rampage in N.S.;

deadliest such attack in Canada

I spent two years in my mid-teens living in Bible Hill and going to school just a few miles from Portapique.

It's such a quiet, peaceful place along the north shore of Minas Basin; or, at least, it was.

Andrea Jerrett
CTV Contact

HALIFAX -- Police say at least 16 people, including an RCMP officer, have been killed in a mass shooting incident in Nova Scotia, making it the worst mass shooting in Canadian history.

The suspect is also dead following the incident.

RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki confirmed the number to CTV News Sunday evening. “Today is a devastating day for Nova Scotia and it will remain etched in the minds of many for years to come,” said commanding RCMP officer Lee Bergman.

“What has unfolded overnight and into this morning is incomprehensible and many families are experiencing the loss of a loved one.”

Police confirmed that Const. Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year veteran of the Nova Scotia RCMP, died Sunday morning while responding to the active shooter incident.

"Heidi answered the call of duty and lost her life while protecting those she served," said Bergman. "Two children have lost their mother and a husband has lost his wife. Parents have lost their daughter and countless others lost an incredible friend and colleague."

A male RCMP officer was also taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. His identity has not been released. "He and his family will be supported and we will be alongside him as he begins his road to recovery," said Bergman.

Several people found dead at Portapique home

Chief Supt. Chris Leather said police first responded to a firearms complaint at a residence in Portapique, N.S. late Saturday evening after receiving several 911 calls. When officers arrived, Leather said they found “several casualties” inside and outside of the home.

“This was a very quickly evolving situation and a chaotic scene,” said Leather, the criminal operations officer for Nova Scotia RCMP.

Officers secured the area in Portapique and started searching for the suspect, but they were unable to locate him. Leather said the search for the suspect led to several sites in the area, including structures that were on fire.

“The search continued overnight and into the morning,” said Leather. “This morning we actively sought out the suspect through muliple communities throughout Nova Scotia.”

Police provided updates on Twitter overnight and into Sunday morning as they tracked the suspect across the province. Police confirmed that they were responding to an “active shooter situation,” and asked residents to remain in their homes with their doors locked.

Investigators first released the suspect’s identity before 9 a.m. Sunday. They said 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman was considered armed and dangerous and warned that he should not be approached.

Suspect travelled in vehicle resembling RCMP cruiser

Police said that, at one point, the suspect was driving what appeared to be an RCMP vehicle and wearing an RCMP uniform -- though he was not an RCMP officer.

Leather said the fact that Wortman had an RCMP uniform and a vehicle resembling a police cruiser indicates that the incident may have been planned. “That’s an important element of the investigation,” said Leather. “The fact that this individual had a police car and a uniform at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being a random act.”

They later said he was driving a silver Chevrolet Tracker.

Police continued to track Wortman across the province, warning the public about sightings in Glenholme, Debert, Brookfield and Milford.

Victims were ‘scattered across the province’

Leather said the investigation involves “multiple crime scenes” and that there are victims “scattered across the province. There are several locations across the province where persons have been killed,” said Leather.

He said one person is believed to be responsible for the killings. “He alone moved across the northern part of the province and committed, it would appear, several homicides,” said Leather.

He didn’t specify where the crime scenes are located, saying the investigation is in the early stages. He also said it’s possible police could learn about additional crime scenes and victims in the coming days.

“Some of these crime scenes we’ve not even begun to process … it is an ongoing investigation that could reveal additional details in the coming days,” said Leather. “The investigation continues into areas that we’ve not yet explored across the province.”

In Shubenacadie, N.S., there were several burned-out vehicles, which appeared to be police cruisers, along the highway. Witnesses also reported hearing between seven and 10 gunshots.

“I hear the shots and I look out and … there’s a guy running back and forth up beside the, what looks to be a police vehicle,” recalled one witness at the scene. “Then after a short bit I saw fire.”

Leather confirmed that Wortman did exchange gunfire with police at one point during the chase, but wouldn’t say where.

Suspect shot and killed in Enfield

Officers eventually tracked Wortman to the Irving gas station and Big Stop restaurant in Enfield, N.S., where he was shot and killed late Sunday morning.

Leather wouldn’t confirm that Wortman was shot by police, but he did say “officers were involved in terminating the threat.” He also confirmed that Nova Scotia’s Serious Incident Response Team -- which investigates serious incidents involving police -- is investigating the man’s death.

‘Oh my God, lock the doors, he’s here!'

A truck driver from Ontario told CTV News he had stopped at the Irving for a shower and breakfast when he heard an employee shouting.

“She goes, ‘Oh my God, lock the doors, he’s here! And I peek out of the window and I saw some RCMP vehicles and there was four or five uniforms with guns,” said Tom Nurani.

Witnesses told CTV News they saw RCMP vehicles on scene, heard multiple gunshots, and saw a body on the ground.

“All I could hear was gunshots and my wife, I thought I was going to call 911, because she was going into panic, it scared her so bad,” said Glen Hines, who was driving by the Irving when he saw the Emergency Response Team arrive.

“There was multiple, like probably between five or 10 (gunshots). It was steady,” recalled Deon Wells, who lives nearby.

The RCMP had blocked off Highway 102 at Exit 5A and there was a large police presence at the Big Stop all day Sunday. The area surrounding the restaurant and gas station was cordoned off with police tape.

UPDATE: The terrorist was responsible for 22 known murders over 16 crime scenes. It ended when the suspect pulled into a gas station in a stolen car, whose owner he murdered, and there happened to be an RCMP K9 officer in an unmarked vehicle there also filling up. The officer and the suspect recognized each other about the same time and as the terrorist went for his gun the officer shot him.

There were mistakes made by police, unfortunately, by not raising a general alarm, that might well have cost lives. However, Canadian police are not trained for such insane acts of violence. The fact that there were so many crime scenes involving shootings, fires, and the terrorist was driving an RCMP car and wearing an RCMP uniform, is unprecedented in Canada and possibly, the world. No-one trains for such insanity.

Gunman opens fire at Manchester funeral before being stabbed, as hundreds defy Covid-19 lockdown

Armed police were scrambled after a gunman opened fire at a funeral in Manchester, England, attended by hundreds of mourners despite Covid-19 social distancing orders. The attacker was reportedly stabbed by some of the crowd.

The shocking incident took place at Gorton Cemetery on Thursday, where family and friends were paying their last respects to 38 year-old Clive Pinnock, killed in a recent driving collision. The funeral was interrupted by a man firing shots, with witnesses saying he was then slashed with a knife, resulting in severe face lacerations, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Eyewitness footage of the funeral shared on social media showed a large group of mourners gathered in the cemetery, purportedly taken just before the gunman began peppering shots at the crowd.

Armed police were called to the scene, and swooped in to disarm the gunman - and protect him in turn from his attackers. There were no reports of any injuries to the other attendees.

Local reports say it's understood that three shots were fired, with the gunman taken to hospital for treatment.

Greater Manchester Police later released a statement on the incident saying: "Shortly before 7pm on Thursday, police attended Gorton Cemetery on Woodland Avenue, Gorton, following a report of a firearms discharge. A man aged 34 was found to have suffered knife wounds and was taken to hospital.”

Officers are continuing to investigate the incident, but no arrests have been confirmed by the force.

No motive for the shooting has been suggested. Was he just trying to disperse the crowd? 

2nd Iraqi man goes on trial in Germany

accused of genocide in Iraq

By Clyde Hughes

Yazidi ethnic mourners cry in front of pictures of victims, during the fifth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide by the Islamic
State in Iraq on Aug. 3, 2019. The trial of one Iraqi man on charges connected with genocide started Friday in Germany.
Photo by Gailan Haji/EPA-EFE

April 24 (UPI) -- An Iraqi man went on trial in Germany Friday on charges of genocide in Iraq as an accused member of the Islamic State.

The man, identified as Taha al-Jumailly, has been charged in a Frankfurt court for taking part in a genocide against the Yazidi people in northern Iraq.

It is the second such case this week being tried in Germany connected with crimes of humanity charges where the incident happened somewhere else in the world. On Thursday, another German court heard the trial of a former Syrian military officer and his subordinate accused of war crimes against anti-government forces in 2011 and 2012.

Al-Jumailly is accused of chaining a 5-year-old girl and her mother in the sun as temperatures soared to 122 degrees. The child died and the mother sustain serious burns.

Al-Jumailly's wife, Jennifer Wenisch, of Germany, has been on trial at a court in Munich since April 2019 for the death of the child. Prosecutors said the girl died of thirst in Fallujah in 2015.

Is that what she left Germany for and went to Iraq? Is that the better world she was fighting for? How pathetic!

Authorities said al-Jumailly's treatment of the woman and the girl was unrelenting after the couple purchased the two as slaves.

"They were not allowed to leave the house unaccompanied," Frankfurt chief prosecutor Anna Zadeck said in court."He forced them to wear a full veil and did not accept the child's name because it was the name of the infidel. Both were regularly beaten. The woman has suffered pain in her shoulder ever since. The child once had to stay in bed for four days after being beaten."

The Islamic State kidnapped the woman and her child in 2014 after the militant group raided the Sinjar region of Iraq, and they were sold numerous times after that on the regime's slave market.

April 23 (UPI) -- A former Syrian military officer and a subordinate stood trial for war crimes in Germany on Thursday.

Former Col. Anwar Raslan is accused of complicity in fostering torture and inhumane conditions that resulted in the deaths of dozens of anti-government activists in 2011 and 2012. Prosecutors said at least 4,000 were tortured.

Subordinate Eyad al-Gharib is charged with aiding and abetting in crimes against humanity.

Their trial began Thursday in the High Regional Court in Koblenz. The pair were living in Germany as refugees when they were arrested a year ago.

Although the purported crimes occurred outside of Germany, prosecutors are trying them there under a principle known as "universal jurisdiction."

"It is a good first step, an important step, but it is not going to be sufficient to fulfill the demands for justice of the Syrian people," said Mohammed Al Abdallah, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Syrian Justice and Accountability Center.

Raslan defected in 2012, less than a year into Syrian's civil war and joined forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's regime two years later. Some legal experts say the trial could discourage other Syrian troops and al-Assad supporters from doing the same, and keep them from providing information that could lead to future war crimes trials.

The trial is expected to last as long as three years.


"The overriding message to all members of the regime in Syria and all over the world is that you can't be safe," said Stefanie Bock, director of the International Research and Documentation Center for War CrimesTrials at Germany's University of Marburg.

At least 13 dead in Taliban attack on Afghan outpost

By Clyde Hughes

An Afghan police officer stands guard in Kabul, Afghanistan. File Photo by Jawad Jalali/EPA-EFE

April 24 (UPI) -- Afghan authorities said Friday more than a dozen pro-government militia members were killed during a Taliban attack on an outpost in Badghis province.

Badghis police security officer Shir Aqa Alokozai said the militant group assaulted Public Uprising forces and took control of the outpost near Qala-e-Naw, located in northwest Afghanistan about 70 miles northeast of Herat and 350 miles west of Kabul.

At least 13 members of the militia died in the attack and 10 are reported missing.

Public Uprising forces, with support from Afghan government security agencies, help provide additional security and protection for remote villages and districts around Afghanistan.

The Badghis province has been one of the main regions for fighting between government forces and the Taliban, which has increased attacks over the past week with incursions in 13 provinces that killed at least 100 security forces.

Afghan Parliament on Wednesday called on the Taliban to observe a cease-fire during the holy month of Ramadan, which started Thursday.

Attacks by the insurgent group have disrupted a peace deal signed in February between U.S. and Taliban negotiators, which called for further intra-Afghan talks between group leaders and government in Kabul.

Badghis Prov, AFG

Two IS supporters jailed for sending money to fighters in Iraq

JACOB JARVIS 
The Evening Standard

Two supporters of the so-called Islamic State group have been handed substantial jail sentences after sending money to help fighters in Iraq.

Ayub Nurhussein, 29, and Said Mohammed, 30, admitted funding terrorism by transferring £2,700 in three installments.

The money was sent via Denmark between April and July last year.

Chicken shop delivery worker Nurhussein, of Urlwin Road, south-west London, also pleaded guilty to four charges of having terrorist bomb-making manuals as well as three of sharing grisly IS propaganda by WhatsApp to his landlord.

He was handed an extended sentence of 13 years – nine and a half years in prison with a further three and a half-years on extended licence – for possessing the terror documents.

He was also jailed for seven years and three months for terror funding and four years and six months for the dissemination charges. All the sentences will run concurrently.

Mohammed, from Longsight, Manchester, whose contact in Iraq was said to be connected with the IS hierarchy, was jailed for five years and three months.

The Old Bailey heard that both defendants were Eritreans who had sought asylum in Britain.

Prosecutor Alistair Richardson said the defendants became “deeply radical” and had supported IS in whatever ways they could.

He said: “They wished to travel to Islamic State territory to join them. From the United Kingdom, the two of them, together, offered their support financially.

“They arranged for the provision of, and provided funds for, their Mujahideen, or fighter, brothers, who remained in Iraq fighting for that organisation.”

The pair hatched a plan to send money, after Mohammed’s contact in Iraq, named only as Wassim, urged him to help raise funds from “brothers from abroad” to support IS efforts. Mr Richardson said Wassim arranged for a go-between in Denmark to enable money to be sent to IS with “no problems”.

Sentencing on Friday, Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said: “Based on all the material I have seen, I conclude that both men have deeply held radicalised beliefs and that they were and possibly still are committed to the cause of the proscribed organisation Islamic State.

“It is quite clear that both men were wholehearted supporters of this terrorist cause and that both wished the funds to go to support the fighters of that organisation.”

So, why make their sentences concurrent. They should be held behind bars until they renounce Islam, as should all radicalized Muslims.