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metronews.ca WEEKEND, October 12-14, 2012
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Toews says naval-spy scandal hasn’t hurt Canada’s reputation Working with allies. The ease with which Delisle passed secrets to the Russians has prompted a review of security measures The federal public safety minister says Canada remains tight with its intelligence allies despite a naval-spy scandal that is said to have done “irreparable damage” to the country’s interests. Vic Toews said Thursday he doesn’t believe Canada’s reputation with its closest collaborators has been hurt at all by navy Sub-Lt. Jeffery Paul Delisle’s actions. Toews noted he continues to work closely with Janet Napolitano, the U.S. Homeland Security secretary, and Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general. “They have never expres sed anything other than a commitment to working with us in the future,” Toews said
American urging
Quoted
Preventing further leaks to China
“Delisle’s unauthorized disclosure to the Russians since 2007 has caused severe and irreparable damage to Canadian interests” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews
at a Calgary news conference. “This has certainly not in any way hampered our very robust exchange of information.” Delisle, a 41-year-old intelligence officer with the Royal Canadian Navy, pleaded guilty Wednesday to passing military secrets to Russia. He transferred sensitive information onto a thumb drive from a secure location before passing it to a Russian operative. How that could happen so easily at a highly protected facility has prompted a review of security measures that were in place at the time, Toews said. “That’s something I believe that the Department of
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews addresses the media in Calgary on Thursday. Jeff McIntosh/the Canadian press
National Defence is doing. We are very aware of the case and together with our allies are reviewing the procedures that were in place to protect the security of that information,” said Toews.
“Given the extensive sharing of information that occurs between the Five Eyes community — Great Britain, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia — our agencies are always concerned
when there is any compromise of security and we work very closely together.” Toews wouldn’t get into the specifics and would not comment on Delisle’s guilty plea. The Canadian Press
Vic Toews said the government is also aware that the head of the U.S. Intelligence Committee is urging Canadian companies not to do business with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei as a matter of national security. A U.S. report earlier this week urged companies to avoid doing business with Huawei and ZTE and said regulators should prevent them from buying U.S. companies. It also said government computer systems should not include components from them because they might pose an espionage risk. The Canadian Press
Judges speak out on Pussy Riot decision The Russian judges who ruled to keep two of the three Pussy Riot band members behind bars took the unusual step of publicly defending their decision, saying Thursday that it was made independently and without pressure. A panel of three judges at the Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld a lower-court ruling to send Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina to prison for two years, but they released Yekaterina Samutsevich after giving her a suspended sentence. Pussy Riot staged an impromptu performance at Moscow’s main cathedral in February in protest against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy for openly supporting his rule. The three women were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, but they insist that their protest was political in nature and not an attack on religion. The case has caused controversy in Russia and been widely condemned in the West, which may have prompted the judges to
At a glance
A brief look at the three Pussy Riot members involved in the decision: • Nadezhda Tolokon
nikova, 22, is a philosophy student at Moscow State University, and a member of Voina, a performance-art group. Her husband, Pyotr Verzilov, is a dual RussianCanadian citizen and she is eligible for residency in Canada. She has a four-year-old daughter.
Judge Larisa Polyakova speaks with the media in Moscow Thursday. Sergey Ponomarev/the associated press
speak out. The presiding judge said the appeals court deemed it necessary for Tolokonnikova and Alekhina to remain incarcerated. “The court has considered all the circumstances of the case and the level of danger to society and ruled that their correction is possible only in isolation from society,” judge Larisa Polyakova said. The Associated Press
• Yekaterina Samut
sevich, 30, is a computer programmer who helped develop a nuclear attack submarine for Russia’s navy. She was arrested in 2010 for releasing cockroaches in a Moscow courthouse.
• Maria Alekhina, 24, is a
student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow who also volunteers at Moscow’s Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. She has a five-year-old son.
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