Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts

Monday, 1 June 2015

CANSEC Ottawa Reports Since 2009

Since 2009 I have been reporting about protests against the largest military-industrial complex convention and show in North America, held annually in Ottawa called CANSEC, short for the CANadian defence and SECurity trade show.

"Canada's premier defence trade show" is hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), and held annually at the EY Centre, 4899 Uplands Drive in Ottawa, Ontario, one kilometer northeast of the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.

Don't confuse it with:
Short link to this page: bit.ly/StopCANSEC
Updates

2025 June 6 — Protesting the 2025 CANSEC Military Show

2023 May 31 — CANSEC 2023 — Protest Photos and News — 190 photos

2022 June 7 — 100s Protest Canada Weapons Show, CANSEC 2022

2020, 2021 — CANSEC cancelled due to COVID.

2020 January — World Beyond War Global Conference, Ottawa May 26-31, 2020

2020 January — Stop wars! Stop the killings! — A Poem for Our Times

2019 June 4 — Stop CANSEC 2019 : Peace Movement Determined to Shut Down CANSEC Arms Trade Show in Canada — 106 photos 

2019 May 15 — Mobilizations against arms shows can learn from each other, by Brent Patterson, Rabble.ca — Cited: 'Ottawa-area peace activist Koozma J. Tarasoff provides an enlightening and inspiring overview of these protests dating back to 2009 in this Spirit-Wrestlers blog post.'

 2018 May 30 — 'Music Against War' versus CANSEC

2017 May 31 — Anti-war, Pro-life Demonstration at Canada’s Largest Arms Show, EY Centre + 110 photos

2016 May 24-25 — Peace Protestors at CANSEC 2016, EY Centre + 132 photos — 8 protest locations in 3 days, 3 arrested

2015 May 30 — Protesting CANSEC Weapons Show as ‘Terrorism’, + 125 photos

2014 - 2012 — No CANSEC reports, rather I posted about 25 blogs against war. CANSEC moved to EY Centre near the Ottawa International Airport.

2011 June 16 — Anti-Military Show Rally in Ottawa, Lansdowne Park, June 1-2, 2011, + 142 photos

2010 June 11 — Military-Industrial Complex Show, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, June 1-3, 2010, + 37 photos

2010 May 14 — The Arms Show CANSEC 2010: Ideology and Usefulness in the 21st Century — Letter to Editor, Ottawa Citizen

2009 June 5 — Military-Industrial Complex Show, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa May 27-28, 2009, + 25 photos

1997 May 11 — Mother of All Air Shows! The National Capital Air Show in Ottawa, Canada, held on Mothers' Day, May 11, 1997, displaying militarism, violence and war technology as family fun and entertainment. Narrated by Marion Dewar, former Mayor of Ottawa (1978-1985).

1988 — The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) was founded to expose and oppose Canada's largest Arms Exhibition — ARMX

Also see my list of reports for the Ottawa Peace Festivals — Archive & History; and many reports about other peace events in Ottawa at Spirit-Wrestlers.com.
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Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Anti-War Rally in Ottawa about ISIS

How should Canada deal with the new Islamic State (ISIS)?
  1. Send the military to the Middle East to engage in more war?
  2. Negotiate a non-killing peace?
Our government is about to make a decision. Here's what my co-peacemakers are doing now.

Yesterday, 6 October 2014, while our government was holding hearings about going to war again, about 40 anti-war protestors were summoned to Parliament Hill. The Raging Grannies notified me by e-mail, so I went to participate. See 20 photos posted online.

DSC04628.JPG

The protestors were from both peace and environment groups — Project Plowshares, Nowar Paix, Hands off Syria & Iraq, Rojava YPG-YPJ (Kurds), a housing co-op, etc. I recognized about half of the people, but many faces were new to me. One fellow did not know about the Ottawa Peace Festival which just finished.

When I got home, I found that others sent e-mails of protest. Most are reacting spontaneously as independent individuals and clusters of peacemakers.
Two days ago Peggy Mason, President of Rideau Institute and former Canadian Disarmament Ambassador, wrote:
Yesterday I got an article from Paul Maillet, retired Canadian Air Force Colonel, founder of the Center for Ethics, an Accredited Peace Professional, and Co-Chair of the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Peace Initiative. Early this morning he posted 2 articles on his blog, Awakening the Peacemaker Within:
Today Tomas Mulcair, leader of the official Opposition in Canada's Parliament, sent this:
Tonight, Parliament will vote on Stephen Harper's desire to send Canadian soldiers to war in Iraq. However, there is no reason to believe that six months of bombing will succeed where more than ten years of occupation by the US military failed.

Watch my speech on Youtube.com to hear more about why the NDP cannot financially support this combat mission. And, help to spread my message by:
  1. Sharing this email with your friends and family
  2. Posting a link to my speech on social media
Mr. Harper has failed to answer the most basic questions on why Canada is signing-on to this war, such as:
  • What are this mission's objectives and how do we define success?
  • What rules of engagement are in place to avoid civilian causalities?
  • How much will this mission cost?
  • How many years are we willing to be embroiled in Iraq?
  • How can we effectively contain ISIS without deploying substantial ground forces or expanding into Syria?
  • What is our exit strategy?
  • Do we have a plan to take care of our veterans after we leave Iraq?
Canada needs effective leadership. New Democrats think that we should be using every diplomatic, humanitarian and financial resource to respond to the human tragedy unfolding on the ground, and helping to strengthen the political institutions and security capabilities that Iraq and Syria need to achieve lasting peace.

Canada rushing to war is not the answer.
Today I got an update from Paul Maillet:

I have been blitzing MPs and the PM with emails yesterday and today. I  visited 4 of them including Dewar. I  have been on Global TV, CTV Powerplay, and featured in CBC.
Do something say something feel something.  I have said about all I can. ... and all is now dumped on my blog site: PaulMailletPeacemaker.wordpress.com/

Feel free to link to your blog sites if you wish, or use whatever you wish.

In peace, Paul Maillet
Email: pmaillet@magma.ca
Tel: 613.841.9216   Cell: 613.866.2503

More …

October 12, 2014
October 13, 2014
October 16, 2014
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Monday, 16 June 2014

Ottawa Screening of 'The Change Agents'

On June 3rd, 80 people attended a screening of the movie The Change Agents (2012) in Ottawa, Ontario.

This full length movie (~90 minutes) produced by the secondary school in Nelson, B.C., uses 6 archival news photos of Freedomites to introduce fictional characters who protest against environmental pollution. Nudity and burning is shown, and bombing is joked about.

L to R: Elizabeth May (MP leader of the Green Party), Robyn
Sheppard (Writer/Director), Cathy Orlando (National Manager,
Canada's Citizen Climate Lobby), Sarah Miller Hayward (Producer),
and Alex Atamanenko (MP for BC Southern Interior)

The event was supported by Canada's Citizen Climate Lobby (CCCL) and coordinated by MP Alex Atamanenko and his office, to lobby Parliament during Environment Week. Most of the audience, including myself, were climate activists from Ontario, 8 were Parliamentarians (17 had RSVP'd), and 4 who made the movie (2 actors, a producer, and the writer/director) came from Nelson, B.C.

Atamanenko represents the riding (electoral district) were the movie was made. In October 2011, he visited the school during production and announced it to Parliament.

From about 70 volunteer amateur actors recruited from the Nelson area to make the movie, 2 attended.

English actors for Deda and Ruby.
Mike Coons (who played grandfather, deda) told me that he served briefly in the military before becoming a carpenter and plumber in Nelson; and he worked closely with local Doukhobor workers on the Kootenay River dam projects. Lucy Carver Brennan (Ruby) was in Grade 6 in Nelson when she auditioned.

Though the production notes showed 4 actors with Russian surnames, 3 appeared in the movie and only one had a speaking role. Ryan Hayward (played by Dylan Zaitsoff) is the main antagonist who verbally abuses and harasses the star character, Carly Dutoff, a fictional descendant of Freedomites (played by Susannah Rebar). The notes also show 4 characters with Russian surnames, all played by English actors.

The movie opened in Nelson on February 2nd, 2013, was shown at the USCC Doukhobor Brilliant Cultural Center (Feb 16th, 2013) and a few places in North America and Europe. The film has been translated into several languages and is online in Spanish.

A co-producer and now owner of the movie, Sarah Miller Hayward told me that she had film experience in Hollywood and Toronto before coming to Nelson, BC. Next, she and Jo Ann Lowell (Executive Producer) are going to Toronto to seek support to promote the film to a larger audience. Many participants hope the movie will boost their careers.

Prior to the screening, I presented my comments (excerpt):
BUT, as a Doukhobor historian, the movie immediately troubled and shocked me. The opening scene shows sensational archival news footage of nudity and burnings by a small group of Freedomites, which is a breakaway faction from the Doukhobors. Their actions are not the same as the Doukhobors, resulting in confusion and discrimination.
Freedomites terrorized Canadian society expressing their displeasure with government. Doukhobors have never supported their extremist actions, and have greatly suffered whenever they were and are falsely presented as Freedomites.
Robyn Sheppard, writer/director
I presented a copy of Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living to Robyn Sheppard, writer/director, who did not know that the small number of sensationalized Freedomites were not Doukhobors. She apologized for any misconceptions due to her script. She said her main intent was to highlight the urgency and importance of the environmental issues to world health.

She grew up in the Toronto area, but 18 years ago moved to the West Kootenays where she taught drama at the Mount Sentinnel High School in the Slocan Valley near Nelson, British Columbia, and met many local Doukhobor students.

When asked if she will correct the mistakes, Producer Hayward said that she would 'have a look at it.'

More

Koozma J. Tarasoff. 'The Sons of Freedom — a Flashback to 1956: Origins, problems, misconceptions, and relationship to Doukhobors.' — Updated reprint of "The 'Sons of Freedom'," The Inquirer (Vol. 3, No. 5, June 1956: 9-13).

Canada's Citizens Climate Lobby. The Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy group that trains and supports volunteers to engage elected officials and the media for generating the political will to find solutions for climate change. There are 170 CCL chapters in North America covering over 40 ridings in Canada and more than half the congressional districts in the USA.

Spirit-Wrestlers Blog: Selling Freedomites as Doukhobors is False Advertising

Error in the 'Change Agents' movie end credits — "An Angel Flew at Midnight", United in Song (2009 album), Performed by: The Victoria Doukhobor Group, should say "Performed by: The Victoria Island Doukhobor Community Association (VIDCA), with the Vision of Peace Youth Choir, Castlegar, B.C."
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Monday, 12 December 2011

Book Review:
A Troubled Personality Revealed

Nerys Parry, Man & Other Natural Disasters (Winnipeg, Manitoba: Enfield and Wizenty, an imprint of Great Plains Publications, 2011), 214 pp. ISBN 9878-1-926531-12-0. $29.95.

Updated 15 May 2022. 

On November 10, I became alarmed after reading a local news item (now offline) announcing that Doukhobors were mentioned in a new book. Was another award-winning author slandering the Doukhobors? Here's what I read about the book signing event. 

'Man and Other Natural Disasters delves into turbulent acts in Canada's past. The Sons of Freedom, an offshoot of the Doukhobors protested against government interference with mass nudity, arson and explosives. That past terrorism is analogous to what's happening now in many parts of the world. Nerys spent many hours reading the actual diaries of the Sons of Freedom. She was surprised how closely the situation happening in Bountiful B.C. mirrors what happened decades ago.

'Man and Other Natural Disasters is a thoughtful and frightening novel on what happens when extremism takes over a religion or belief system.

'Nerys was a finalist for the 2011 Colophon Prize and tied for seventh out of more than 130 books in the Giller Prize Reader's Choir Award contest....'

I bought the book and read it before the bookstore signing event. 

Reviewer Koozma J. Tarasoff (right) exchanged books with author Nerys Parry (left)

I had to read the book and meet Nerys Parry to discuss why I thought the news announcement was misleading, in two ways:
  1. Those Sons of Freedom who burnt, bombed and went naked distanced themselves from the main Doukhobor Movement, and therefore they excluded themselves from it. The word 'Doukhobor' does not belong here and therefore should not be used in association with the zealots. When used, it is a case of exploitation and slander against a peaceful group.

  2. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church) — polygamist Mormons in Bountiful, BC — have no connection to the Sons of Freedom nor to the Doukhobors. Why make reference to Bountiful here which is currently in the news — unless its purpose is to draw on some kind of sensationalism to sell books. Publicists should stop the crass capitalistic practise of maligning and exploiting another group with the intent of selling a product and gaining a financial interest.
Upon meeting the author and further studying her book, my worries passed. She led me to further research in which I found that mental illness played a major role in sabotaging Doukhobor history.

The fictitious main character, Simon Peters, is presented as a creative bookbinder in the basement of the Calgary Public Library. The story involves the tragedy of his family from natural and man-made causes.Towards the end it turns out that Simon is really Seymon, an extreme zealot from the interior of British Columbia whose family was involved in a series of disasters in the form of terrorism. The Seymon character was largely inspired by diaries that the author found in the Library and Archives Canada for Fred N. Davidoff 1944-1970 (MG 31 H26) (MIKAN 102610). Davidoff was born 1924 in the Cowley area of Alberta.

Around the year 2000, the author Nerys Parry first developed the Simon character, but the manuscript lay dormant for some time. In 2005-2006, Nerys and a colleague worked on a story about the effects of chemical, biological and radiological experiments in the Canadian Forces Base at Suffield, Alberta on the veterans who were used as human testers during the World War II period. When blacked out materials from RCMP records hindered the full development of the Suffield story, Nerys discovered an adjacent Davidoff File in the Archives as being a wonderful fit for Simon. The Simon story was further developed and the publisher preferred the new version. Perhaps Canada going into Afghanistan had something to do with the decision, even though the last veterans of Suffield were quickly dying out? 

I examined all 3 boxes of Fred N. Davidoff 's archives (fonds) and learned that Davidoff was worse than I had previously known. I knew that Simma Holt's Terror in the Name of God: the Story of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors (1964) was based on information that Fred Davidoff had given to this Vancouver Sun reporter. He is mentioned 20 times in her book and featured in the chapter: 'Autobiography of a Fanatic' (page 217+). Within several years, Davidoff flip-flopped his fabricated views in order to gain parole from nine years in jail.

The result of all of this was that the Doukhobors as a whole were blackballed by Simma Holt and by her main informant Fred Davidoff with the false claim of nudity, bombings and burnings. These acts were real, but they were perpetrated by individuals who closely sided with zealotry and a few with terrorism. These acts were contrary to Doukhobor beliefs, and were not performed by independent nor community Doukhobors.

From his archived diaries, letters, and accounts by others, I learned that Fred N. Davidoff's behaviour was that of a classic psychopath, mostly ignored in Holt's book. He was an extreme fanatic, a con artist who fabricated much of what he said about the Doukhobor name and thereby misled Canadian reporters. He was mentally unstable, was an informant to the police, was one who could not be trusted, and people feared him. He was a person with a vivid imagination of himself. Most damning of all was that he had a habit of slandering many innocent Doukhobor people with terrorism.

In my response to seeking justice and truth, it has taken me and several of my friends some fifty years to try to correct the misinformed damage that has been done by the team Simma and Fred. In a real sense, both Holt and Davidoff hijacked the Doukhobor identity.

In the conclusion of her book Man and Other Natural Disasters, Nerys Parry states: 'I would like to clarify that Simon/Seymon and his family are fictional characters, and any similarity with living or dead persons is coincidental....'

Whenever possible, Nerys stuck to some of the known facts that occurred during the turmoil in the 1950s and 1960 — such as the Polatka (tents) affair in the Kootenays in 1953, the New Denver institution for kids of zealots from 1953 to 1959 (surrounded by a high chain-link fence), the RCMP infamous Special D. (Doukhobor) Squad, and the death of Harry Kootnikoff in 1962 while making a pocket watch bomb. All this Nerys admits in her Notes and Acknowledgements.

Obviously Nerys enjoys straddling the divide between science and fiction. This is real talent — and she is very good at it. In fact, the large part of the book on Simon Peters was so congruent that I believed him to be a bookbinder in Calgary, Alberta and that his parents were ranchers. When Simon has a complete mental breakdown and becomes Seymon in the office of a British Columbia psychiatrist, this is sudden transformation. At the end, when this split personality goes back to Calgary, as the reader, I am not sure who this real character is. Is he from Alberta or from British Columbia? Is he a passionate bookbinder or an unpredictable person? Is he a gentle pacifist or a dangerous terrorist?

To her credit as a skilled writer, Nerys Parry has minimised stereotyping the Doukhobors by avoiding the use of the name. (I found only two times the word was used in 214 pages, and one was in the title of a book.) Instead, Nerys has carefully used terms such as Sons of Freedom, Svobodniki, and Freedomites. Not Doukhobors. Yet, with much negative association with the past, when zealots and authors (such as Simma Holt) have hijacked the Doukhobors identity, it becomes difficult to dissociate one from the other. It is similar to the stigma that Muslims today receive from terrorists (who are not real Muslims).

Separating fact from fiction is a very delicate process even for a sensitive and innovative young writer such as Nerys Parry. She has done very well in this book. She has raised the bar for future writers to be very sensitive when straddling science with fiction. The book is worth a read.
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