Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 24, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A9 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2020 ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A 9NEWS I CANADA O TTAWA - The federal Liberal government has tapped a sailor to steer the Canadian Armed Forces, appointing Royal Canadian Navy commander Vice-Admiral Art McDonald as the next chief of the de- fence staff. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an- nounced McDonald's appointment dur- ing one of his regular COVID-19 up- dates on Wednesday, ending months of speculation about who would succeed Gen. Jonathan Vance as Canada's top military commander. "In his new role as chief, Vice-Ad- miral McDonald will oversee the work of the Canadian Armed Forces, includ- ing on vaccine rollout through Oper- ation Vector," Trudeau said in refer- ence to the military's role distributing COVID-19 vaccines across Canada. "I know that Vice-Admiral McDon- ald's leadership and expertise will be invaluable as the armed forces continue to work around the clock to keep Can- adians safe." A former frigate captain who over- saw part of Canada's humanitarian re- sponse to the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 before commanding the country's Pacific fleet, McDonald will be the first naval officer to serve as the permanent defence chief since 1993. A change of command ceremony is planned for Jan. 11, when McDonald will formally take over from Vance. Wednesday's announcement followed months of speculation around who would succeed Vance, who first an- nounced in July that he was planning to retire after more than five years at the helm. Much of the speculation had revolved around whether Trudeau would appoint Canada's first-ever female chief of the defence staff by tapping Lt.-Gen. Chris- tine Whitecross for the job. Not only was Whitecross the highest- ranking woman to have served in uni- form, she also led the military's early efforts to crack down on sexual miscon- duct in the ranks following the launch of Operation Honour in 2015. Trudeau also raised eyebrows when he declared in an interview last week that one of the next defence chief's top priorities would be to crack down on right-wing extremism, white suprem- acy and hate in the Armed Forces. Yet McDonald's appointment speaks to another looming challenge for the military and Liberal government: the ongoing effort to build a fleet of new warships for the Navy, and concerns the $56 billion set aside by Ottawa for those 15 ships won't be nearly enough. The parliamentary budget officer will release a report next month on the expected costs of those warships. There has been a great deal of handwringing inside the Department of National De- fence and some corners of government that the price will be billions higher. That would set off a fresh round of lobbying by defence companies - and add more pressure on the government - to abandon the project, which is sup- posed to see 15 Type-26 frigates built at Irving Shipyards in Halifax over the next 20 years, and go another route. It is also likely to force some tough discussions within the military and government about whether to throw more money at the project, which was originally budgeted at $24 billion when it was launched in 2011 - or dramatic- ally scale back the plan. While the government made no men- tion of the warship project as it an- nounced McDonald's appointment on Wednesday, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said the new defence chief will be responsible for continuing to imple- ment the Liberals' 2017 defence policy. That includes spending billions of dollars over the next 20 years on new equipment. Sajjan said in a statement that Mc- Donald will also "continue the work to transform the culture of the Canadian Armed Forces to ensure zero tolerance for sexual misconduct and harassment while eliminating hateful conduct and systemic racism from the organiza- tion." Trudeau and Sajjan also thanked Vance for his service, including his more than five years as chief of the defence staff, the longest-ever tenure for a Canadian military officer in that position. Vance took over as defence chief in July 2015 as the military was fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Middle East and struggling to deal with complaints about sexual mis- conduct at home. His first order was to establish Operation Honour. McDonald will be the first naval of- ficer to serve as the military's top commander since vice-admiral Larry Murray filled the position on an acting basis in 1996-97. The last sailor to hold the position on a permanent basis since Admiral John Rogers Anderson in 1993. - The Canadian Press Art McDonald tapped to steer Canadian military Navy commander new defence chief LEE BERTHIAUME ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Vice-Admiral Art McDonald will be Canada's next chief of the defence staff. McDonald is the first naval officer to serve as permanent chief since 1993. TORONTO - The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to weigh in on a ruling related to the defence of extreme intoxica- tion that had alarmed some women's groups. The court granted prosecutors in Ontario leave to appeal separate decisions in which two men had killed or injured close relatives. The men were initially convicted but the province's Court of Appeal set aside the guilty verdicts after finding part of the law unconstitutional. The impugned provision, enacted in 1995, bars an accused from using self-induced extreme intoxication as a defence. The two men, Thomas Chan and David Sullivan, were high on drugs they had taken voluntarily when they turned violent. One had eaten magic mushrooms; the other had tried to kill himself with an overdose of a prescription stop-smoking medication. Trial evidence was that both became psychotic and went on a rampage. Chan, a high school student, stabbed and killed his father and badly injured his father's partner. Sullivan came to believe his mother was an alien and stabbed her. Both men claimed they had no control over what they did - a state called automatism. However, their defence of "non- mental disorder automatism" ran afoul of the ban on arguing self-induced extreme intoxication. The federal government barred the intoxication defence 25 years ago amid a backlash over a court ruling that recognized drunkenness could be raised in a sexual assault case. In quashing their convictions and finding the law unconstitu- tional, the Appeal Court said it would be wrong to punish some- one for something they had no control over. "(The law) enables the conviction of individuals for acts they do not will," the Appeal Court said. While such cases are rare, and successfully raising an intoxi- cation defence difficult, critics argued the Appeal Court ruling had undermined a measure aimed at protecting women from sexual violence. Megan Stephens, executive director with the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, said her group was pleased the Su- preme Court will hear the case. "We are hopeful that the appeal will provide the court with the opportunity to provide some necessary clarification on how to balance constitutional rights that are equally deserv- ing of protection - both those of the accused as well as those who are disproportionately subjected to intoxicated violence," Stephens said. Both federal and Ontario New Democrats had urged an ap- peal. Prosecutors sought leave to challenge the ruling before the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the two cases as a single appeal. It's not known when that might happen. - The Canadian Press Top court agrees to hear extreme intoxication case COLIN PERKEL TORONTO - The family of an internation- ally prominent Pakistani dissident urged a thorough investigation into her death, saying Wednesday they were having difficulty ac- cepting a police conclusion she killed herself. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Sameer Mehrab was careful to say the family had no evidence his sister, Karima Mehrab, was in fact the victim of foul play, but said they found it unlikely the Toronto resident would have drowned herself in the frigid wat- ers of Lake Ontario. "Police are saying it's like a textbook sui- cide," he said. "We are not suggesting any- thing but we want to be open to other possi- bilities due to the threats she was receiving." Online posts showed hundreds of people rallying in the Pakistani region of Balo- chistan on Wednesday to protest what they saw as Karima Mehrab's killing. They urged a fair investigation into the death. Toronto police have offered few details publicly about what happened to Mehrab, 37, widely known as Karima Baloch, who fled Pakistan for Canada in 2015. She had been an activist on behalf of the often violent quest for Baloch separatism and continued her activism from Canada. Pak- istan's military and government have stead- fastly denied any rights abuses in the Baloch region. While police said they were aware of the concerns around Mehrab's death, they had found no evidence of foul play after her body was pulled from the lake on Monday. "The Toronto Police Service is aware of heightened community and media interest surrounding a missing person investigation," the force said in a statement on Wednesday. "The circumstances have been investi- gated and officers have determined this to be a non-criminal death and no foul play is suspected." Mehrab's brother, however, said the family has had little success in getting investigators to delve into the threats he said his sister and her husband had received. In one such threat, a person warned her husband that she would get a "Christmas gift" she would never for- get, her family said. "We actually tried to tell the police every time they call us that this is the history, but they refuse to be convinced because, accord- ing to them, they don't have any evidence (of foul play)," Sameer Mehrab said. From what the family has learned, Karima Mehrab was anxious about an economic exam she was to write as a first-year student at the University of Toronto. Her doctor had pre- scribed mild medication to help her sleep, her brother said. The doctor saw no sign of severe depression, her family said he told them. Mehrab left home alone on Sunday, her family said. Transit records and surveillance video show she made her way to the Toronto Islands, a favourite place for her to clear her head, her brother said. Police found no indi- cation anyone was with her, he said they told the family. "Her being alone is not evidence that she was not harmed," her brother said. Lateef Johar, a close friend, said Mehrab's belongings were found on the island. Those close to Mehrab said she was a strong person for whom life was improving, and she would never have killed herself. She left no note or gave any indication she was planning self-harm, her brother said. Sameer Mehrab, himself a refugee who now lives in Toronto, worked for years in the Middle East with another Pakistani dis- sident and exile, Sajid Hussain, editor in chief of the Balochistan Times. Hussain was found drowned in a river earlier this year in Sweden. Authorities said there was no indica- tion of foul play but couldn't rule it out defin- itively. The Canadian government expressed its condolences on Karima Mehrab's death Tuesday but refused further comment. - The Canadian Press Dissident's family urges probe into death COLIN PERKEL THE CANADIAN PRESS Pakistani activist Karima Mehrab's family is urging a deeper investigation into her death. Mehrab fled Pakistan for Canada in 2015, and had been an activist on behalf of the quest for Baloch separatism. A_09_Dec-24-20_FP_01.indd A9 2020-12-23 7:45 PM ;