At 10:31 p.m. on Sept. 2, 1998, Nova Scotians felt their homes shake as Swissair flight 111 slammed into the waters off Peggy's Cove, killing all on board. There were 229 passengers and crew, including a Saudi Prince and a relative of the late Shah of Iran. In the cargo hold, a half a billion dollars worth of gold, diamonds and cash.
Early into the crash investigation, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada made a preliminary finding that the tragedy was the result of an accident. The TSB would ultimately point to a fire in the cockpit, likely sparked by an electrical fault. But there remained many unanswered questions and mysteries.
Years later, the crash remains one of Canada's greatest tragedies. Now new disturbing information from one of the crash investigators raises chilling questions about the official cause of the disaster.
On Friday, Sept. 16, at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT), the fifth estate investigates the crash of Flight 111 and reveals stunning allegations, meticulously documented by former RCMP officer -- Tom Juby -- the veteran crime scene investigator who suspects it might have been murder.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Embattled Conservative MP Bob Dechert should ask the federal ethics commissioner to review his relationship with a Chinese journalist, New Democrats say.
OTTAWA—Embattled Conservative MP Bob Dechert should ask the federal ethics commissioner to review his relationship with a Chinese journalist, New Democrats say.
If he doesn’t, they say they may appeal to Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson for an independent review of the controversy that has thrust the Mississauga-Erindale politician into the spotlight.
“There should be an inquiry because there are all these threads loosely hanging out there,” NDP Paul Dewar said Thursday.
“I think that would do him good stead . . . to ensure there are no question marks left on his reputation and his conduct,” Dewar said in an interview.
Dechert has gone quiet since admitting a week ago that he had sent “flirtatious” emails to Shi Rong, a Toronto-based reporter with the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
The Ottawa Citizen reported Thursday that Shi has left Toronto and returned to China on a “scheduled vacation.”
The emails were allegedly hacked from Shi’s personal account and forwarded to more than 200 of her contacts.
The revelation of the amorous emails is not only embarrassing for Dechert but a potential security headache as well.
Intelligence experts say that Xinhua journalists often double as intelligence agents, raising questions about Shi’s dealings with Dechert, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
“The key thing is to make sure that there was no security breach,” Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said.
He said this incident also drives home the need for cabinet ministers and the MPs tapped to be their helpers to be better educated about the “responsibilities and risks” that go with the posts.
“A lot of these folks come into office, regardless of political party, keen as mustard and green as grass,” Goodale said.
“They are actually vulnerable. If they are vulnerable, then the country is potentially vulnerable,” he said.
Historian Jack Granatstein said it’s too early to assess the impact of a “foolishly indiscreet” Dechert and his dealings with the journalist.
“We don’t know yet. Do we know that this woman is not an agent? That’s the key thing,” he said Thursday.
“We do know that Chinese journalists often are agents. The emails make her sound inept if she is a spy, but maybe the emails are fake, too. Who knows?” Granatstein said
A call to Dechert’s Mississauga office was not returned Thursday.
While the government has struck a dismissive tone publicly, Granatstein said he’s certain that, behind the scenes, security probes are underway to assess the ties between the pair.
“I cannot believe that something like this would be left unchecked,” he said.
Indeed, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Thursday that the Prime Minister’s Office had done its own investigation of Dechert.
“I understand that the Prime Minister’s Office has looked into this and there’s no indication that there’s anything untoward that has occurred here. I have no information or evidence to the contrary,” Toews said on CBC’s Power and Politics.
“I’m not involved in this investigation,” Toews added.
The PMO has stood by Dechert since the scandal broke, saying it has no evidence that the married Conservative MP, first elected in 2008, had engaged in “inappropriate” behaviour.
But since taking power in 2006, Harper’s style has been to resist political or public pressure to demote MPs or cabinet ministers who have slipped up. Instead, he has preferred to wait out the furor, using a cabinet shuffle down the road to make his move.
Dewar suspects Harper is following a similar “stubborn” strategy with Dechert, hoping the fuss “blows over.”
“No question, he’ll try to weather the storm,” Dewar said. “As a Prime Minister, he has to decide what is acceptable conduct and what is responsible.”
Dechert’s flirty emails promise to be in the spotlight again next week when Parliament returns and, with it, question period, when opposition MPs are expected to press the government for an explanation of Dechert’s relationship with the reporter.
If he doesn’t, they say they may appeal to Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson for an independent review of the controversy that has thrust the Mississauga-Erindale politician into the spotlight.
“There should be an inquiry because there are all these threads loosely hanging out there,” NDP Paul Dewar said Thursday.
“I think that would do him good stead . . . to ensure there are no question marks left on his reputation and his conduct,” Dewar said in an interview.
Dechert has gone quiet since admitting a week ago that he had sent “flirtatious” emails to Shi Rong, a Toronto-based reporter with the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
The Ottawa Citizen reported Thursday that Shi has left Toronto and returned to China on a “scheduled vacation.”
The emails were allegedly hacked from Shi’s personal account and forwarded to more than 200 of her contacts.
The revelation of the amorous emails is not only embarrassing for Dechert but a potential security headache as well.
Intelligence experts say that Xinhua journalists often double as intelligence agents, raising questions about Shi’s dealings with Dechert, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
“The key thing is to make sure that there was no security breach,” Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said.
He said this incident also drives home the need for cabinet ministers and the MPs tapped to be their helpers to be better educated about the “responsibilities and risks” that go with the posts.
“A lot of these folks come into office, regardless of political party, keen as mustard and green as grass,” Goodale said.
“They are actually vulnerable. If they are vulnerable, then the country is potentially vulnerable,” he said.
Historian Jack Granatstein said it’s too early to assess the impact of a “foolishly indiscreet” Dechert and his dealings with the journalist.
“We don’t know yet. Do we know that this woman is not an agent? That’s the key thing,” he said Thursday.
“We do know that Chinese journalists often are agents. The emails make her sound inept if she is a spy, but maybe the emails are fake, too. Who knows?” Granatstein said
A call to Dechert’s Mississauga office was not returned Thursday.
While the government has struck a dismissive tone publicly, Granatstein said he’s certain that, behind the scenes, security probes are underway to assess the ties between the pair.
“I cannot believe that something like this would be left unchecked,” he said.
Indeed, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Thursday that the Prime Minister’s Office had done its own investigation of Dechert.
“I understand that the Prime Minister’s Office has looked into this and there’s no indication that there’s anything untoward that has occurred here. I have no information or evidence to the contrary,” Toews said on CBC’s Power and Politics.
“I’m not involved in this investigation,” Toews added.
The PMO has stood by Dechert since the scandal broke, saying it has no evidence that the married Conservative MP, first elected in 2008, had engaged in “inappropriate” behaviour.
But since taking power in 2006, Harper’s style has been to resist political or public pressure to demote MPs or cabinet ministers who have slipped up. Instead, he has preferred to wait out the furor, using a cabinet shuffle down the road to make his move.
Dewar suspects Harper is following a similar “stubborn” strategy with Dechert, hoping the fuss “blows over.”
“No question, he’ll try to weather the storm,” Dewar said. “As a Prime Minister, he has to decide what is acceptable conduct and what is responsible.”
Dechert’s flirty emails promise to be in the spotlight again next week when Parliament returns and, with it, question period, when opposition MPs are expected to press the government for an explanation of Dechert’s relationship with the reporter.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Old Fox’ more than friends in e-mail .
Bob Dechert calls “flirtatious” messages he sent to a journalist with China’s state media part of an innocent friendship but among the cache of leaked e-mails that brought this to light is an especially personal letter about an entanglement gone sour – one that raises more questions.
The Harper government treated this missive, written in Chinese, seriously enough that it went to the trouble of translating it while investigating what transpired between Mr. Dechert, 53, and Xinhua News Agency correspondent Shi Rong.
Mr. Dechert is a Conservative MP with special duties to assist the Minister of Foreign Affairs, while Ms. Shi is the Toronto correspondent for Xinhua, an organization that Western counter-intelligence agencies consider a tool of the Chinese state. Both are married.
The e-mail, titled “Old Fox,” was part of the same bundle of e-mails hacked from Ms. Shi’s inbox last week and sent without her consent to more than 240 business, academic and political contacts. She blames her husband for the leak.
Mr. Dechert is never mentioned by name in this note, a fact Tory government officials cite when defending their decision to stand by the MP.
This e-mail, however, appears to be counselling Ms. Shi on a relationship she’s having with an older man – something that was more than a friendship and is now on the rocks.
Dated June 26, 2010, it was purportedly sent to Ms. Shi by fellow Xinhua correspondent Qu Jing.
“About the old man, tune him out,” reads the e-mail from Ms. Qu, which then goes into a lengthy diatribe about how men treat their girlfriends as “clothes” that they can wear or discard as they see fit.
“About the sad tales you told me about him keeping you waiting for a long time, put it out of your mind. I have experienced the same,” Ms. Qu writes to Ms. Shi. “Sweep him into dust bin, he is not good enough for you.”
Members of the Harper government, which has refused to fire Mr. Dechert from his parliamentary secretary post, keep repeating that the MP has denied any “inappropriate behaviour” and that it has “no information to suggest otherwise.”
In e-mails that that Mr. Dechert has already admitted writing – and are widely circulated in the media – he professes his love for Ms. Shi and fawns over a picture of her.
The Mississauga Erindale MP did not respond to a request for an interview Tuesday and Ms. Shi has avoided answering media calls since the story broke.
University of Toronto political scientist Nelson Wiseman, who has been interviewed by Ms. Shi in the past, said he is surprised Mr. Dechert hasn’t been removed from his duties.
“It’s really bad judgment,” he said of Mr. Dechert’s conduct. “There’s no doubt Xinhua is strictly under the thumb of the Chinese authorities.”
Little is known about Ms. Shi. Mr. Wiseman said she told him she’d previously studied in England and was especially interested in the works of Oscar Wilde.
He said during past interviews he pressed Ms. Shi on how Xinhua works.
It is taken as a given by those who study China and its security apparatuses that correspondents sent abroad by the Xinhua newswire are agents of the state, and journalists only on the side.
“I explicitly asked her whether she belongs to the Communist Party,” Mr. Wiseman said.
“And she danced around it and said no.”
And I said ‘Well, hold it, how can you work for them without being a member?’ So she said she was just very good [at her job], as if her other qualities had made up for that.”
He said he didn’t give this much credence.
Xinhua colleagues of Ms. Shi described her as a “naive” rookie foreign correspondent and denied that the newswire’s reporters engage in espionage.
A long-time Xinhua correspondent, retired after 40 years with the newswire and two postings abroad, said he and his colleagues were too busy trying to appease editors in Beijing to do espionage on the side. He said demands on correspondents are even higher since Xinhua – like media companies worldwide – expanded operations in recent years to include broadcast and online media..
The Harper government treated this missive, written in Chinese, seriously enough that it went to the trouble of translating it while investigating what transpired between Mr. Dechert, 53, and Xinhua News Agency correspondent Shi Rong.
Mr. Dechert is a Conservative MP with special duties to assist the Minister of Foreign Affairs, while Ms. Shi is the Toronto correspondent for Xinhua, an organization that Western counter-intelligence agencies consider a tool of the Chinese state. Both are married.
The e-mail, titled “Old Fox,” was part of the same bundle of e-mails hacked from Ms. Shi’s inbox last week and sent without her consent to more than 240 business, academic and political contacts. She blames her husband for the leak.
Mr. Dechert is never mentioned by name in this note, a fact Tory government officials cite when defending their decision to stand by the MP.
This e-mail, however, appears to be counselling Ms. Shi on a relationship she’s having with an older man – something that was more than a friendship and is now on the rocks.
Dated June 26, 2010, it was purportedly sent to Ms. Shi by fellow Xinhua correspondent Qu Jing.
“About the old man, tune him out,” reads the e-mail from Ms. Qu, which then goes into a lengthy diatribe about how men treat their girlfriends as “clothes” that they can wear or discard as they see fit.
“About the sad tales you told me about him keeping you waiting for a long time, put it out of your mind. I have experienced the same,” Ms. Qu writes to Ms. Shi. “Sweep him into dust bin, he is not good enough for you.”
Members of the Harper government, which has refused to fire Mr. Dechert from his parliamentary secretary post, keep repeating that the MP has denied any “inappropriate behaviour” and that it has “no information to suggest otherwise.”
In e-mails that that Mr. Dechert has already admitted writing – and are widely circulated in the media – he professes his love for Ms. Shi and fawns over a picture of her.
The Mississauga Erindale MP did not respond to a request for an interview Tuesday and Ms. Shi has avoided answering media calls since the story broke.
University of Toronto political scientist Nelson Wiseman, who has been interviewed by Ms. Shi in the past, said he is surprised Mr. Dechert hasn’t been removed from his duties.
“It’s really bad judgment,” he said of Mr. Dechert’s conduct. “There’s no doubt Xinhua is strictly under the thumb of the Chinese authorities.”
Little is known about Ms. Shi. Mr. Wiseman said she told him she’d previously studied in England and was especially interested in the works of Oscar Wilde.
He said during past interviews he pressed Ms. Shi on how Xinhua works.
It is taken as a given by those who study China and its security apparatuses that correspondents sent abroad by the Xinhua newswire are agents of the state, and journalists only on the side.
“I explicitly asked her whether she belongs to the Communist Party,” Mr. Wiseman said.
“And she danced around it and said no.”
And I said ‘Well, hold it, how can you work for them without being a member?’ So she said she was just very good [at her job], as if her other qualities had made up for that.”
He said he didn’t give this much credence.
Xinhua colleagues of Ms. Shi described her as a “naive” rookie foreign correspondent and denied that the newswire’s reporters engage in espionage.
A long-time Xinhua correspondent, retired after 40 years with the newswire and two postings abroad, said he and his colleagues were too busy trying to appease editors in Beijing to do espionage on the side. He said demands on correspondents are even higher since Xinhua – like media companies worldwide – expanded operations in recent years to include broadcast and online media..
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Baird ducks questions
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Tuesday that he has already commented on the flirtatious emails his parliamentary secretary Bob Dechert sent to a Chinese journalist and that he has nothing to add.
Baird was asked about Dechert by reporters on Parliament Hill following an update on Libya. The foreign affairs minister was asked to explain how the government can be sure that national security wasn't compromised by Dechert's relationship with Shi Rong, a journalist working in Toronto for China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua.
Baird's response was that he's already made a statement on the matter but he didn't acknowledge the security concerns that have been raised by some analysts who say Xinhua is tied to China's intelligence agencies and by opposition party critics who accuse Dechert of exercising poor judgment.
“The government has spoken to this, Mr. Dechert has spoken to this, I have spoken to this, I have nothing really additional,” Baird said. To other questions on Dechert, Baird said he's known the MP a long time and trusts him, and that he had nothing to say about Dechert accompanying Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a trip to China in 2009. Then the foreign affairs minister quickly ended the news conference and took no more questions.
Dechert, who is married, confirmed last Friday that he sent flirtatious emails to Shi, and apologized for "any harm caused to anyone by this situation.” Over the weekend, Baird called the attention to the story "ridiculous" and described Dechert as a "mild-mannered" man.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday that Dechert "denied any inappropriate behaviour. We have no information to suggest otherwise."
Dechert, who was appointed parliamentary secretary for Foreign Affairs in May, said he met Shi while doing interviews for Chinese-language media and she became a friend. He said the emails, sent in April 2010, were nothing more than a flirtation but the relationship has raised questions given Shi’s employer.
NDP MP Peter Julian, meeting with his party's caucus in Quebec City, called it a spectacular lapse in judgment and inappropriate on a professional level. He added he's confident Dechert will "make the right decision." Paul Dewar, the NDP's Foreign Affairs critic, called for Dechert's resignation Monday.
A Canadian-based Chinese-language newspaper is reporting that Shi will be leaving Toronto, if she hasn't already.
Emails sent in 2010
At the time the emails were sent, Dechert had just been made parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice.
In one email sent about midnight on April 17, 2010, Dechert thanked Shi for sending a photo of herself from seven years earlier. "You are so beautiful. I really like the picture of you by the water with your cheeks puffed. That look is so cute, I love it when you do that. Now, I miss you even more."
In another 2010 email, Dechert tells Shi to watch CPAC because he will smile for her as he stands to vote in the House of Commons that night. She replies that she will watch for him.
The correspondence was revealed last week in a mass email sent from Shi's account. Dechert said her account was hacked as part of a domestic dispute.
Dechert also serves on the Canada China Legislative Association, a parliamentary forum established in 1998 that "promotes the exchange of information between Canadian parliamentarians and representatives of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in order to encourage better understanding and closer ties between the two countries."
Tom Flanagan, a former advisor to Harper, said MPs should be warned about Xinhua. "Everybody who works for the Chinese news agency is basically a member of their intelligence agency. And this should have been explained to ministers when they got their jobs, that you can't deal with reporters, Chinese reporters, as you might with a Western reporter," Flanagan said during an appearance on CBC's Power & Politics with Evan Solomon on Monday.
"So it is more serious than just a simple flirty letter, or middle-aged silliness on the part of an aging guy," said Flanagan, a political scientist at the University of Calgary. "I'm not saying he should resign, but I don't know whether the briefings were inadequate."
A former senior intelligence official with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Tuesday that Harper should be asking for Dechert's resignation and that the RCMP should do an investigation to determine the extent of his relationship with Shi and if she made any demands for information from him.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya said the reputation of Shi's news agency is well-known. "This particular news agency is well-known, well-documented as being part of the Chinese intelligence service. Every journalist is considered as an intelligence officer when they are posted abroad and all the Western agencies usually keep track of what these people are doing because we know their affiliation,” he told CBC News.
Juneau-Katsuya said he thinks Dechert probably didn't understand the seriousness of who he was dealing with, and that the connection between him and Shi should be considered a security risk.
Liberal Senator Jim Munson, a former journalist who worked in China and now serves with Dechert on the executive of the Canada-China Legislative Association, told CBC News the incident shows "poor judgment" and that Dechert should have known better.
"If you're talking to anyone [at Xinhua] it should have raised a flag that you are talking to the mouthpiece of the [Chinese] government, and it should be obvious that any kind of relationship could lead you to a place you don't want to be," said Munson.
Munson said he takes Dechert at his word that the relationship was limited to flirtatious emails, but still questions their appropriateness.
"As a parliamentary secretary why would he be involved with her in the first place? That's not the kind of mistake he should make as an adult," he said.
Munson said he would leave questions about Dechert's future to elected officials, but added, "It would be more honourable and less embarrassing for the government if he were to consider stepping out of the [parliamentary secretary] position."
Dechert's Conservative colleague on the China committee, MP Michael Chong, disagrees and called the controversy "much ado about nothing," adding it might be the case of an innocent mistake that media coverage is blowing out of proportion.
"Other people's sex lives aren't anybody's business," Chong said.
Baird was asked about Dechert by reporters on Parliament Hill following an update on Libya. The foreign affairs minister was asked to explain how the government can be sure that national security wasn't compromised by Dechert's relationship with Shi Rong, a journalist working in Toronto for China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua.
Baird's response was that he's already made a statement on the matter but he didn't acknowledge the security concerns that have been raised by some analysts who say Xinhua is tied to China's intelligence agencies and by opposition party critics who accuse Dechert of exercising poor judgment.
“The government has spoken to this, Mr. Dechert has spoken to this, I have spoken to this, I have nothing really additional,” Baird said. To other questions on Dechert, Baird said he's known the MP a long time and trusts him, and that he had nothing to say about Dechert accompanying Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a trip to China in 2009. Then the foreign affairs minister quickly ended the news conference and took no more questions.
Dechert, who is married, confirmed last Friday that he sent flirtatious emails to Shi, and apologized for "any harm caused to anyone by this situation.” Over the weekend, Baird called the attention to the story "ridiculous" and described Dechert as a "mild-mannered" man.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday that Dechert "denied any inappropriate behaviour. We have no information to suggest otherwise."
Dechert, who was appointed parliamentary secretary for Foreign Affairs in May, said he met Shi while doing interviews for Chinese-language media and she became a friend. He said the emails, sent in April 2010, were nothing more than a flirtation but the relationship has raised questions given Shi’s employer.
NDP MP Peter Julian, meeting with his party's caucus in Quebec City, called it a spectacular lapse in judgment and inappropriate on a professional level. He added he's confident Dechert will "make the right decision." Paul Dewar, the NDP's Foreign Affairs critic, called for Dechert's resignation Monday.
A Canadian-based Chinese-language newspaper is reporting that Shi will be leaving Toronto, if she hasn't already.
Emails sent in 2010
At the time the emails were sent, Dechert had just been made parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice.
In one email sent about midnight on April 17, 2010, Dechert thanked Shi for sending a photo of herself from seven years earlier. "You are so beautiful. I really like the picture of you by the water with your cheeks puffed. That look is so cute, I love it when you do that. Now, I miss you even more."
In another 2010 email, Dechert tells Shi to watch CPAC because he will smile for her as he stands to vote in the House of Commons that night. She replies that she will watch for him.
The correspondence was revealed last week in a mass email sent from Shi's account. Dechert said her account was hacked as part of a domestic dispute.
Dechert also serves on the Canada China Legislative Association, a parliamentary forum established in 1998 that "promotes the exchange of information between Canadian parliamentarians and representatives of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in order to encourage better understanding and closer ties between the two countries."
Tom Flanagan, a former advisor to Harper, said MPs should be warned about Xinhua. "Everybody who works for the Chinese news agency is basically a member of their intelligence agency. And this should have been explained to ministers when they got their jobs, that you can't deal with reporters, Chinese reporters, as you might with a Western reporter," Flanagan said during an appearance on CBC's Power & Politics with Evan Solomon on Monday.
"So it is more serious than just a simple flirty letter, or middle-aged silliness on the part of an aging guy," said Flanagan, a political scientist at the University of Calgary. "I'm not saying he should resign, but I don't know whether the briefings were inadequate."
A former senior intelligence official with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Tuesday that Harper should be asking for Dechert's resignation and that the RCMP should do an investigation to determine the extent of his relationship with Shi and if she made any demands for information from him.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya said the reputation of Shi's news agency is well-known. "This particular news agency is well-known, well-documented as being part of the Chinese intelligence service. Every journalist is considered as an intelligence officer when they are posted abroad and all the Western agencies usually keep track of what these people are doing because we know their affiliation,” he told CBC News.
Juneau-Katsuya said he thinks Dechert probably didn't understand the seriousness of who he was dealing with, and that the connection between him and Shi should be considered a security risk.
Liberal Senator Jim Munson, a former journalist who worked in China and now serves with Dechert on the executive of the Canada-China Legislative Association, told CBC News the incident shows "poor judgment" and that Dechert should have known better.
"If you're talking to anyone [at Xinhua] it should have raised a flag that you are talking to the mouthpiece of the [Chinese] government, and it should be obvious that any kind of relationship could lead you to a place you don't want to be," said Munson.
Munson said he takes Dechert at his word that the relationship was limited to flirtatious emails, but still questions their appropriateness.
"As a parliamentary secretary why would he be involved with her in the first place? That's not the kind of mistake he should make as an adult," he said.
Munson said he would leave questions about Dechert's future to elected officials, but added, "It would be more honourable and less embarrassing for the government if he were to consider stepping out of the [parliamentary secretary] position."
Dechert's Conservative colleague on the China committee, MP Michael Chong, disagrees and called the controversy "much ado about nothing," adding it might be the case of an innocent mistake that media coverage is blowing out of proportion.
"Other people's sex lives aren't anybody's business," Chong said.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Minister for Children and the Elderly Maria Larsson will travel to New York today to chair the fourth session of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Swedish delegation consists of representatives of the Riksdag, government ministries and agencies and disability interest groups.
Maria Larsson to chair UN Conference of States Parties
Minister for Children and the Elderly Maria Larsson will travel to New York today to chair the fourth session of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Swedish delegation consists of representatives of the Riksdag, government ministries and agencies and disability interest groups.
Sweden was one of the driving forces at the inception of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and high hopes are being pinned on Sweden in future work.
"We want to be at the vanguard of global developments to ensure that people with disabilities are afforded equal rights. It is important that as many countries as possible ratify the Convention and that the rights contained in it also have an impact in those countries," says Ms Larsson.
Sweden, which is a world leader in assistive technology, wants to inspire other countries and contribute its experiences.
Sweden is also organising two seminars during the Conference of States Parties:
- The Swedish Institute of Assistive Technology on the theme of rights and welfare for older people with disabilities in which welfare technology plays an important role;
- The Swedish Agency for Disability Policy Coordination on the theme of increased knowledge and changing attitudes to people with disabilities on the labour market.
Minister for Children and the Elderly Maria Larsson will travel to New York today to chair the fourth session of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Swedish delegation consists of representatives of the Riksdag, government ministries and agencies and disability interest groups.
Sweden was one of the driving forces at the inception of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and high hopes are being pinned on Sweden in future work.
"We want to be at the vanguard of global developments to ensure that people with disabilities are afforded equal rights. It is important that as many countries as possible ratify the Convention and that the rights contained in it also have an impact in those countries," says Ms Larsson.
Sweden, which is a world leader in assistive technology, wants to inspire other countries and contribute its experiences.
Sweden is also organising two seminars during the Conference of States Parties:
- The Swedish Institute of Assistive Technology on the theme of rights and welfare for older people with disabilities in which welfare technology plays an important role;
- The Swedish Agency for Disability Policy Coordination on the theme of increased knowledge and changing attitudes to people with disabilities on the labour market.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Yakovlev Yak-42 Accidents and incidentsAs of 7 September 2011, nine Yak-42 fatal accidents occurred with total of 591 casualties.
Accidents and incidentsAs of 7 September 2011, nine Yak-42 fatal accidents occurred with total of 591 casualties.
Date Aircraft registration Location Fatalities Brief description
Jun 28, 1982 СССР-42529 near Mazyr, south central Belarus 132/132 Flight Leningrad-Kiev, damage to stabilizer due to mechanical deterioration, diving and disintegrating in mid-air. All Yak-42 flights were suspended until the design error was fixed.
Sep 14, 1990 СССР-42351 Koltsovo, southeast of Yekaterinburg 4/128 Flight Volgograd-Sverdlovsk, crew error on final approach.
Jul 31, 1992 B-2755 Nanjing, west of Shanghai 108/126 Crashed on take-off due to mechanical failure. (see China General Aviation Flight 7552)
Nov 21, 1993 RA-42390 near Ohrid, southwestern Macedonia 115/116 Flight Geneva-Skopje, which had diverted to Ohrid, crashed into a mountain in difficult weather conditions, near Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia.
Dec 17, 1997 UR-42334 Mount Pieria, southwest of Thessaloniki 70/70 Flight Odessa-Saloniki, crew error on going around, crashed into a mountain. (see Aerosvit Flight 241)
Dec 25, 1999 CU-T1285 Bejuma, west of Caracas 22/22 Havana, Cuba - Valencia, Venezuela the aircraft impacted a hill on approach. (see Cubana de Aviación Flight 310 )
May 26, 2003 UR-42352 near Trabzon, north-eastern Turkey 75/75 Flight Bishkek-Trabzon-Saragosa, crashed into a mountain on the final approach in fog.
Sep 7, 2011 RA-42434 near Yaroslavl, 250 km northeast of Moscow 43/45 Yak-Service flight en route to Minsk from Yaroslavl carrying the KHL Russian hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Collided with an antenna mast shortly after taking off from Tunoshna Airport and crashed, killing 43 people[4] (see Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash)
Date Aircraft registration Location Fatalities Brief description
Jun 28, 1982 СССР-42529 near Mazyr, south central Belarus 132/132 Flight Leningrad-Kiev, damage to stabilizer due to mechanical deterioration, diving and disintegrating in mid-air. All Yak-42 flights were suspended until the design error was fixed.
Sep 14, 1990 СССР-42351 Koltsovo, southeast of Yekaterinburg 4/128 Flight Volgograd-Sverdlovsk, crew error on final approach.
Jul 31, 1992 B-2755 Nanjing, west of Shanghai 108/126 Crashed on take-off due to mechanical failure. (see China General Aviation Flight 7552)
Nov 21, 1993 RA-42390 near Ohrid, southwestern Macedonia 115/116 Flight Geneva-Skopje, which had diverted to Ohrid, crashed into a mountain in difficult weather conditions, near Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia.
Dec 17, 1997 UR-42334 Mount Pieria, southwest of Thessaloniki 70/70 Flight Odessa-Saloniki, crew error on going around, crashed into a mountain. (see Aerosvit Flight 241)
Dec 25, 1999 CU-T1285 Bejuma, west of Caracas 22/22 Havana, Cuba - Valencia, Venezuela the aircraft impacted a hill on approach. (see Cubana de Aviación Flight 310 )
May 26, 2003 UR-42352 near Trabzon, north-eastern Turkey 75/75 Flight Bishkek-Trabzon-Saragosa, crashed into a mountain on the final approach in fog.
Sep 7, 2011 RA-42434 near Yaroslavl, 250 km northeast of Moscow 43/45 Yak-Service flight en route to Minsk from Yaroslavl carrying the KHL Russian hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Collided with an antenna mast shortly after taking off from Tunoshna Airport and crashed, killing 43 people[4] (see Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash)
Saturday, September 10, 2011
More than a dozen Canadians have told the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office in Toronto within the past year that they were blocked from entering the United States after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
More than a dozen Canadians have told the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office in Toronto within the past year that they were blocked from entering the United States after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Lois Kamenitz, 65, of Toronto contacted the office last fall, after U.S. customs officials at Pearson International Airport prevented her from boarding a flight to Los Angeles on the basis of her suicide attempt four years earlier.
“I was really perturbed,” Kamenitz says. “I couldn’t figure out what he meant. And then it dawned on me that he was referring to the 911 call my partner made when I attempted suicide.”
Kamenitz says she asked the officer how he had obtained her medical records.
A document completed by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer says that at a secondary inspection at Pearson airport in Toronto, it was ascertained that Lois Kamenitz had 'attempted suicide in 2006,' and a medical clearance would be required for a further attempt to enter the United States. That was the only thing I could think of,” she says. “But he said, no, he didn’t have my medical records but he did have a contact note from the police that [they] had attended my home.”
Stanley Stylianos, program manager at the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, says his organization has heard more than a dozen stories similar to Kamenitz’s.
The office has also received phone calls from numerous Canadians who have not yet had encounters with U.S. customs officers, but are worried that their own mental health histories may cause security delays while travelling south of the border for business or family trips.
'This is an issue'
“We get calls from people who have concerns about being stopped because they know this is an issue,” Stylianos says.
So far, the RCMP hasn’t provided the office with clear answers about how or why police records of non-violent mental health incidents are passed across the border.
Brad Benson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says medical records aren't shared between countries. However, "if you have an arrest record, Canada would share that with us," he says.
If a police encounter includes information about mental health, Benson says front-line officers can use it.
"Mental illness is actually under our law as a reason that you may not get admitted," he says. "The issue is always going to be: could someone be a danger to someone [else]?"
According to diplomatic cables released earlier this year by WikiLeaks, any information entered into the national Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database is accessible to American authorities.
Local police officers take notes whenever they apprehend an individual or respond to a 911 call, and some of this information is then entered into the CPIC database, says Stylianos. He says that occasionally this can include non-violent mental health incidents in which police are involved.
In Kamenitz’s case, this could explain how U.S. officials had a record of the police response to the 911 call her partner made in 2006, after Kamenitz took an overdose of pills.
RCMP Insp. Denis St. Pierre says information on CPIC not only contains a person's criminal record, but also outstanding warrants, missing persons reports and information about stolen property, along with information regarding persons of interest in ongoing cases. It also can contain individuals' history of mental illness, including suicide attempts.
The database contains anything that could alert authorities to a potential threat to public safety and security, and all CPIC information is available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, St. Pierre says. There are a few exceptions, including information regarding young offenders, which is not available to American authorities.
“If a person is a danger to themselves and the police are dealing with that person in another jurisdiction … it's valuable information, knowing that perhaps this person may harm themselves," St. Pierre says.
9.6 million records
According to an RCMP website, the CPIC database stores 9.6 million records in its investigative databanks.
The RCMP and U.S. law enforcement agencies provide reciprocal direct access to each other’s criminal databases in order to stem the flow of narcotics and criminal dealings into North America, according to the WikiLeaks cable.
When asked about the sharing of police information for security purposes, Kamenitz says the government is “obviously not considering what the impact of that can be and how much that can alter a person’s life.”
Stanley Stylianos, program manager for the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, says Canadians should be outraged that people’s mental health information is shared across the border. Sarah Bridge/CBC“Police may have attended my home,” says Kamenitz, “but it was not for a criminal matter; it was a medical emergency.”
Kamenitz notes that suicide isn’t a criminal offence in either country.
“It speaks to the myth we still hold,” Kamenitz says, “that people with a mental illness are violent criminals.”
At less than five feet tall, with a debilitating form of arthritis that makes it impossible for her to complete daily tasks like cooking and dressing without assistance, Kamenitz says she is hardly a threat to U.S. Homeland Security.
'I am not a criminal'
“I’ve been battling not only anxiety and depression but also chronic pain since my teen years,” Kamenitz explains. “I am not a criminal.”
Kamenitz was eventually allowed to board a plane to Los Angeles, four days after missing her initial flight. But in order to do so, she had to submit her medical records to the U.S. and get clearance from a Homeland Security-approved doctor in Toronto, who charged her $250 for the service.
Benson says the response from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers in Kamenitz's case was fairly typical. "Now that the note from her doctor is on her records," he says, "I wouldn't expect her to have any more problems."
Included in the Homeland Security forms Kamenitz was required to fill out were questions about whether she had a history of substance abuse and whether she had diseases, such as AIDS or tuberculosis.
“These are private and personal medical records that I’m now handing over to a foreign government,” she says.
After years of private therapy and help from doctors at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Kamenitz says the border incident felt unjust.
“It was discrediting all the efforts that [I had] made to recover.”
Stylianos says Canadians should be outraged that people’s mental health information is shared across the border.
“It is an intensely private matter for many individuals,” he says.
'You can't control it'
Stylianos says his organization is lobbying for this information not to be included in the CPIC database or shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of a routine border screening process.
“Once that information gets into the American system, you can’t control it,” he says.
According to the same diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, which included data from 2004 and 2005, Americans believed that despite the open database sharing, “Canada’s strict privacy laws” have limited the timely exchange of information between the two nations.
In the 10 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the two countries have struggled to come to an agreement on how best to police the border.
The administrations of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama are in talks over a perimeter security deal that would include further cross-border intelligence-sharing as part of a joint border security strategy.
In an Aug. 29 news conference in Toronto, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters that the privacy rights of Canadians remain top-of-mind during discussions about cross-border law enforcement programs.
“Our sovereignty cannot and will not be compromised,” he said.
Lois Kamenitz, 65, of Toronto contacted the office last fall, after U.S. customs officials at Pearson International Airport prevented her from boarding a flight to Los Angeles on the basis of her suicide attempt four years earlier.
“I was really perturbed,” Kamenitz says. “I couldn’t figure out what he meant. And then it dawned on me that he was referring to the 911 call my partner made when I attempted suicide.”
Kamenitz says she asked the officer how he had obtained her medical records.
A document completed by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer says that at a secondary inspection at Pearson airport in Toronto, it was ascertained that Lois Kamenitz had 'attempted suicide in 2006,' and a medical clearance would be required for a further attempt to enter the United States. That was the only thing I could think of,” she says. “But he said, no, he didn’t have my medical records but he did have a contact note from the police that [they] had attended my home.”
Stanley Stylianos, program manager at the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, says his organization has heard more than a dozen stories similar to Kamenitz’s.
The office has also received phone calls from numerous Canadians who have not yet had encounters with U.S. customs officers, but are worried that their own mental health histories may cause security delays while travelling south of the border for business or family trips.
'This is an issue'
“We get calls from people who have concerns about being stopped because they know this is an issue,” Stylianos says.
So far, the RCMP hasn’t provided the office with clear answers about how or why police records of non-violent mental health incidents are passed across the border.
Brad Benson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says medical records aren't shared between countries. However, "if you have an arrest record, Canada would share that with us," he says.
If a police encounter includes information about mental health, Benson says front-line officers can use it.
"Mental illness is actually under our law as a reason that you may not get admitted," he says. "The issue is always going to be: could someone be a danger to someone [else]?"
According to diplomatic cables released earlier this year by WikiLeaks, any information entered into the national Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database is accessible to American authorities.
Local police officers take notes whenever they apprehend an individual or respond to a 911 call, and some of this information is then entered into the CPIC database, says Stylianos. He says that occasionally this can include non-violent mental health incidents in which police are involved.
In Kamenitz’s case, this could explain how U.S. officials had a record of the police response to the 911 call her partner made in 2006, after Kamenitz took an overdose of pills.
RCMP Insp. Denis St. Pierre says information on CPIC not only contains a person's criminal record, but also outstanding warrants, missing persons reports and information about stolen property, along with information regarding persons of interest in ongoing cases. It also can contain individuals' history of mental illness, including suicide attempts.
The database contains anything that could alert authorities to a potential threat to public safety and security, and all CPIC information is available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, St. Pierre says. There are a few exceptions, including information regarding young offenders, which is not available to American authorities.
“If a person is a danger to themselves and the police are dealing with that person in another jurisdiction … it's valuable information, knowing that perhaps this person may harm themselves," St. Pierre says.
9.6 million records
According to an RCMP website, the CPIC database stores 9.6 million records in its investigative databanks.
The RCMP and U.S. law enforcement agencies provide reciprocal direct access to each other’s criminal databases in order to stem the flow of narcotics and criminal dealings into North America, according to the WikiLeaks cable.
When asked about the sharing of police information for security purposes, Kamenitz says the government is “obviously not considering what the impact of that can be and how much that can alter a person’s life.”
Stanley Stylianos, program manager for the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, says Canadians should be outraged that people’s mental health information is shared across the border. Sarah Bridge/CBC“Police may have attended my home,” says Kamenitz, “but it was not for a criminal matter; it was a medical emergency.”
Kamenitz notes that suicide isn’t a criminal offence in either country.
“It speaks to the myth we still hold,” Kamenitz says, “that people with a mental illness are violent criminals.”
At less than five feet tall, with a debilitating form of arthritis that makes it impossible for her to complete daily tasks like cooking and dressing without assistance, Kamenitz says she is hardly a threat to U.S. Homeland Security.
'I am not a criminal'
“I’ve been battling not only anxiety and depression but also chronic pain since my teen years,” Kamenitz explains. “I am not a criminal.”
Kamenitz was eventually allowed to board a plane to Los Angeles, four days after missing her initial flight. But in order to do so, she had to submit her medical records to the U.S. and get clearance from a Homeland Security-approved doctor in Toronto, who charged her $250 for the service.
Benson says the response from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers in Kamenitz's case was fairly typical. "Now that the note from her doctor is on her records," he says, "I wouldn't expect her to have any more problems."
Included in the Homeland Security forms Kamenitz was required to fill out were questions about whether she had a history of substance abuse and whether she had diseases, such as AIDS or tuberculosis.
“These are private and personal medical records that I’m now handing over to a foreign government,” she says.
After years of private therapy and help from doctors at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Kamenitz says the border incident felt unjust.
“It was discrediting all the efforts that [I had] made to recover.”
Stylianos says Canadians should be outraged that people’s mental health information is shared across the border.
“It is an intensely private matter for many individuals,” he says.
'You can't control it'
Stylianos says his organization is lobbying for this information not to be included in the CPIC database or shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of a routine border screening process.
“Once that information gets into the American system, you can’t control it,” he says.
According to the same diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, which included data from 2004 and 2005, Americans believed that despite the open database sharing, “Canada’s strict privacy laws” have limited the timely exchange of information between the two nations.
In the 10 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the two countries have struggled to come to an agreement on how best to police the border.
The administrations of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama are in talks over a perimeter security deal that would include further cross-border intelligence-sharing as part of a joint border security strategy.
In an Aug. 29 news conference in Toronto, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters that the privacy rights of Canadians remain top-of-mind during discussions about cross-border law enforcement programs.
“Our sovereignty cannot and will not be compromised,” he said.
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