South China Morning Post: Canada installs Chinese underwater monitoring devices next to US nuclear submarine base. While the eyes of the world have been on the strategic tussle between Beijing and Washington in the South China Sea, Chinese scientists, with the help of the Canadian authorities, have succeeded in positioning four monitoring devices in waters just 300km (186 miles) off the United States’ Pacific coast. The instruments, which use hi-tech sensors to monitor the underwater environment, are connected to the Ocean Network Canada (ONC), a grid of marine observatories stretching from the northeast Pacific to the Arctic. While the network is operated by the University of Victoria in British Columbia, its four new additions are the property of the Sanya Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE), a unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which also developed and built them. The devices were placed on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge by a vessel owned by the Canadian Coast Guard on June 27.
Russia Today: Sale must go on: Trudeau sticks to $12bn arms deal with Saudis despite Khashoggi killing. Canada’s PM says it is “very difficult” to drop the US$12 billion (Can$15 billion) deal on arms sales to Riyadh. It comes despite mounting allegations that the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was “pre-planned.” The murder of the self-exiled writer which Turkey says was planned beforehand “is something that is extremely preoccupying to Canadians, to Canada and to many of our allies around the world” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged. However, even on the heels of the latest tough accusations from Ankara, the North American country is not mulling to halt arms deliveries to the Saudi Kingdom. Should Canada terminate the deal, massive penalties will follow immediately, taking a toll on taxpayers. It is estimated that Ottawa would lose around US$800 million (Can$1 billion).
Sputnik News: Canadian fighter jets shadow Russian Su-27 over Black Sea – Ottawa. Canadian fighter jets stationed in Romania have intercepted a Russian military aircraft that was approaching NATO airspace over the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry said in Ottawa, The Canadian Press reported. A pair of CF-18s was scrambled on Thursday after a Russian Su-27 fighter jet was spotted flying close to the border of Romania, where five NATO fighter planes and 135 military personnel are currently stationed. According to the Defense Ministry’s statement, the Canadian pilots shadowed the Russian Su-27 until it left the area. The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the incident, but in the past it has repeatedly stated that all flights by Russian military aircraft are made fully in line with international law.
Jamaica Observer: Mexico may be next to legalise marijuana, says incoming FM. Mexico “absolutely” could follow Canada’s lead in legalising marijuana as a way to reduce violence generated by a war on drugs that “doesn’t work,” its incoming foreign minister said Tuesday. Marcelo Ebrard, who will become foreign minister when Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office December 1, said he discussed Ottawa’s experience Monday with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. Asked whether Mexico might follow Canada’s example, Ebrard told reporters, “Sure, absolutely.” “We think it is a very interesting option in the short term for Mexico,” he said. “We think there are two options: the Canadian model or the Uruguay model.”
Daily Star.co.uk: Gang of masked men with sledgehammers storm Canadian embassy building. The gang of 10 smashed the entrance window with the weapons and rushed the building. They then splashed red and black paint onto the facade before fleeing the scene when a security guard called police. It is reported no arrests have been made at this stage. An anarchist collective Rouvikonas, the Greek word for Rubicon, has claimed responsibility for the attack, reports ekathimerini.com. According to the group, it was carried out in response to the activities of a Canadian mining company in northern Greece. CCTV footage showed the group of attackers had their faces covered and parked their motorbikes at a supermarket around 150 metres away.
VICE: Neo-Nazis want Canadian military training. After a series in the Toronto Star on the growing national threat of right-wing extremism – garnering an admission from the Canadian military that neo-Nazis are indeed in uniform – Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan acknowledged the department is taking the issue seriously. “I trust in the Canadian Armed Forces leadership and the chain of command all the way through to make sure everybody does their part. That’s how the military functions,” he said. Even in the midst of a recent VICE investigation exposing the alleged identity of a Canadian reservist as a member of the neo-Nazi terror group Atomwaffen Division, the government still has no concrete plan to tackle the issue of far-right radicals in its ranks, comprehensively.
Washington Post: Thousands of Canada’s indigenous children died in church-run boarding schools. Where are they buried? From 1883 to 1998, nearly 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly separated from their families and send to the government-funded, church-run boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them. Once there, they were frequently neglected and abused. What happened at the schools was akin to “cultural genocide”, concluded a 2015 report from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It also found that at least 3,200 students died over those 115 years. In 2015, Prime Minister Trudeau promised to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. Six of them deal specifically with creating a register of the missing children and mapping their graves. But nearly three years later, some say that a lack of resources and missing documents is inhibiting progress. By Amanda Coletta.
Al Jazeera: Cannabis shops do a roaring trade on their first day in Canada. Hugo Senecal wanted to be the first. That’s why he got in line at 3:45am to buy recreational cannabis – legally. “It’s a symbolic move. Cannabis is legal here in Canada, so I wanted to be the first one to make the first legal purchase in Montreal – and I think I’m going to be the one,” said Senecal, 39, who has a medical marijuana license. On October 17, Canada became the second and largest country in the world to legalise cannabis for recreational purposes. Uruguay was the first. Canada’s move came after months of preparations and legislative wrangling.
