Canada

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/45880128

Here is the Canadian government's release.

The EU and Canada have concluded a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on the recognition of professional qualifications of architects. The MRA became binding on 18 December 2025 and is now in force. The MRA allows EU architects to obtain a Canadian architect’s license. It also allows Canadian architects to obtain a license in an EU Member State. To do so, they must meet certain qualification and experience-based criteria.

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The Canadian Armed Forces have modelled a hypothetical U.S. military invasion of Canada and the country’s potential response, which includes tactics similar to those employed against Russia and later U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, two senior government officials say.

It is believed to be the first time in a century that the Canadian Armed Forces have created a model of an American assault on this country, a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a partner with the U.S. in continental air defence.

A military model is a conceptual and theoretical framework, not a military plan, which is an actionable and step-by-step directive for executing operations.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the officials, who were not authorized to discuss the military’s thinking on this matter publicly. The officials, as well as a number of experts, say it is unlikely the Trump administration would order an invasion of Canada. Open this photo in gallery:

Canadian soldiers patrol the area around a NORAD satellite relay dome. The Canadian Armed Forces' model of a U.S. invasion is believed to be the first it has produced in a century.Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

The Globe reported this week that Canada is considering sending a small contingent of troops to Greenland to join a group of eight European countries that are holding military exercises as a show of solidarity for Denmark, of which the self-ruling island is a territory.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been challenging NATO allies with repeated calls for the U.S. to acquire Greenland and threats to impose tariffs on European countries who oppose the takeover. Those threats escalated after his attack on Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

Mr. Trump has also repeatedly mused about Canada becoming the 51st state. On the weekend, NBC reported Mr. Trump has been increasingly complaining to aides in recent weeks about Canada’s vulnerability to U.S. adversaries in the Arctic. Steve Bannon, the former Trump chief strategist who remains close to the President, said Canada is “rapidly changing” and becoming “hostile” to the United States.

The two senior government officials said military planners are modelling a U.S. invasion from the south, expecting American forces to overcome Canada’s strategic positions on land and at sea within a week and possibly as quickly as two days.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he’s concerned about the U.S. escalation over the future of Greenland and its sovereignty as President Donald Trump threatens tariffs.

The Canadian Press

Canada does not have the number of military personnel or the sophisticated equipment needed to fend off a conventional American attack, they said. So, the military envisions unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military or armed civilians would resort to ambushes, sabotage, drone warfare or hit-and-run tactics.

One of the officials said the model includes tactics used by the Afghan mujahedeen in their hit-and-run attacks on Russian soldiers during the 1979-1989 Soviet-Afghan War. These were the same tactics employed by the Taliban in their 20-year war against the U.S. and allied forces that included Canada. Many of the 158 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 were struck by improvised explosive devices or IEDs.

The aim of such tactics would be to impose mass casualties on U.S. occupying forces, the official said.

Canadian troops would engage in unconventional warfare, which includes ambushes, sabotage, raids, and hit-and-run tactics similar to what the mujahedeen and Taliban used in Afghanistan.Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

The modelling provides the keenest insight yet as to the level of threat assessment now being actively discussed by Canada with respect to the Trump administration.

One of the officials noted, however, that relations with the U.S. military remain positive and the two countries are working together on Canada’s participation in a new continental defence system, or “Golden Dome,” to defend against Russian or Chinese missiles.

The military has also run models on missile strikes from Russia or China on Canadian cities and critical infrastructure.

Military planners envision an American attack that would follow clear signs from the U.S. military that the two countries’ partnership in NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, was ending, and the U.S. was under new orders to take Canada by force.

Conscription has been ruled out for now, but the level of sacrifice that would be asked of Canadians remains a central topic, the officials said. General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, has already announced her intention to create a 400,000-plus-strong reserve force of volunteers. The officials said they could be armed or asked to provide disruptions if the U.S. becomes an occupying power.

A senior Defence Department official said Canada would have a maximum of three months to prepare for a land and sea invasion. The first indications that invasion orders had been sent would be expected to come from U.S. military warnings that Canada no longer has a shared skies policy with the United States, the source said.

This rupture in the joint defence agreement would likely see France or Britain, nuclear-weapon states, being called on to provide support and defence for Canada against the U.S.

The Globe is not identifying the senior defence official, who was not authorized to discuss Canadian war-modelling scenarios. Open this photo in gallery:

A Canadian soldier dismantles a drone during a training operation in the Northwest Territories. Drones and other weapons that could destroy American tanks could be employed to disrupt an invasion, according to Retired Major-General David Fraser.COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Retired major-general David Fraser, who commanded Canadian troops in Afghanistan alongside the United States, said Canada could also use drones and tank-killing weapons like the Ukrainians used against the Russians to blunt their invasion in February, 2022.

Mr. Fraser said it is unthinkable that Canadian planners have had to draw up a U.S. invasion scenario. Whatever Mr. Trump does with Greenland and possibly Mexico would weigh into any Canadian scenario, he said.

But Canada can count on support from European countries, Britain, Japan, South Korea and other democratic nations.

“You know if you come after Canada, you are going to have the world coming after you, even more than Greenland. People do care about what happens to Canada, unlike Venezuela,” Mr. Fraser said. “You could actually see German ships and British planes in Canada to reinforce the country’s sovereignty.”

Mr. Fraser said Canada should immediately place more military assets in the North to claim its right to the region.

If the threat from the U.S. became serious, he said Canadian soldiers would be placed along the border even though there is no realistic possibility that Canada could defeat the U.S. militarily.

Insurgency tactics would be the best way to deal with U.S. invading forces, he said.

“There is a quantum difference between defending another land like Canadians did in Afghanistan versus defending Windsor, Ontario. You do not walk across that border because everybody is your enemy then,” Mr. Fraser added.

Retired lieutenant-general Mike Day, who headed Canadian Special Forces Command and served as chief strategic planner for the future of the Canadian Armed Forces, said it was “fanciful” to think the Americans would actually invade Canada.

But he acknowledged Canada’s armed forces could not stand up to the world’s biggest and most sophisticated military. He said, however, that the U.S. would have great difficulty occupying a country the size of Canada.

“We wouldn’t be able to withstand a conventional invasion. We would, for a limited period of time, be able to defend a very small civilian population, like the size of Kingston,” he said.

“Notwithstanding the size of the American military, however, they do not have the force structure to occupy, let alone control every major urban centre in Canada.”

“Their only hope would be a Russian-like drive to Kyiv and hope that works and the rest of country capitulates once they seize the seat of power in Ottawa,” he added. “Like Ukraine, it would inconceivable to me that we would give up if they seized our capital.”

Gaëlle Rivard Piché, executive director of the Conference of Defence Associations, said she did not see a situation where the U.S. would attack Canada. But she also said it’s crucial for Canada to significantly build up its defence capabilities.

“Clear signalling to our neighbour to the south that we want and we’re willing and able to rapidly be a credible ally that is capable of defending itself, ensuring our own national security, our national defence, will play a deterrence role towards a potential willingness by the United States to control some of Canada or to invade a portion of Canada,” she said.

An RCMP Blackhawk helicopter patrols at Roxham Road along the Canada-U.S. border. Experts say even if the U.S. does not invade, Canada must still strengthen its military presence near the border.Carlos Osorio/Reuters

University of Toronto political scientist Aisha Ahmad said Canada needs to drastically boost its homeland defence capabilities, regardless of the potential U.S. threat to the border.

“The better Canada can embrace this approach to homeland defence, the less likely all of these horrible scenarios that nobody wants will ever come to pass,” she said.

U.S. generals would be aware that Canadians would fight back against an invasion, using whatever tactics would be the most effective, she said.

“I do believe that there are intelligent generals south of our border who could very easily identify that risk environment.”

There are dozens of staffed military bases and facilities around the Arctic, and hundreds more that include radar installations and other support equipment.

The military buildup at the top of the world began in the Second World War, and then receded as the Cold War came to and end. But in the past ten years, with climate change accelerating and Russia waging war in Europe, the Arctic has been re-militarizing.

A huge amount of Arctic territory belongs to Canada, but its military presence pales in comparison to other Arctic nations. Here’s what the military picture looks like:

Canada

• There are currently eight staffed military sites in Canada’s Arctic, the largest of which is in Yellowknife.

Greenland

• There are only three military bases in the territory, the biggest of which is the U.S. Pituffik Space Base (formerly known as Thule Air Base).

The U.S.

• The only part of the U.S. that's in the Arctic is Alaska, and that’s where all ten of its domestic northern military facilities are.

Russia

• The biggest military player in the Arctic is definitely Russia. Currently there are estimated to be between 30 and 40 staffed military facilities in the country’s north.

The Calgary man accused of tunnelling into his upstairs neighbour’s apartment ran his own criminal trial Monday.

Ben Maize is charged with mischief, and break and enter.

In the summer of 2025, Maize and his neighbour Betty Golightly lived in the same condo building in the southwest community of Coach Hill.

Golightly testified that she arrived home on Sept. 5 to find her apartment locked from the inside, then discovered holes in the drywall near her fireplace that appeared to lead to a tunnel to the unit below.

Public servants with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) who have been teleworking full-time for the past several years from cities such as Montreal are now being required to work in offices in the National Capital Region.

The workers were hired before or during the COVID-19 pandemic to work remotely, and some say they’re being forced to resign because they can't relocate.

"I’m angry," said one employee in French whose identity Radio-Canada agreed to protect because they fear reprisal from the employer.

Like others who spoke to Radio-Canada, the public servant said their family and personal circumstances make it difficult for them to move to the Ottawa-Gatineau region, nor can they commute there three or more times a week.

Opinion piece by Kyle Matthews is Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Global Security and McConnell Professor of Practice at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University.

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With Trump’s belligerent threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty and his doubling down on annexing Greenland, the rationale seems sensible: as the United States becomes more unreliable and unstable, perhaps Canada should embrace Beijing?

That impulse is understandable. It is also dangerous.

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In this unstable moment in history, Canada cannot afford to drift between discomfort with Washington and economic engagement with Beijing. We need a foreign and security policy grounded not in hedging between these giants, but in deliberate alignment with democratic partners.

The most urgent fault line runs through Ukraine. Russia’s invasion is not only about Ukraine’s survival; it is about whether borders can be changed by force and whether authoritarian powers can dismantle the rules-based order piece by piece. A Russian success would reverberate far beyond Europe. It would validate violence as an effective tool of statecraft. China is not only watching closely with an eye on Taiwan, it is also directly supporting Putin’s war of aggression.

Beijing’s trajectory is not ambiguous. It is expanding its nuclear arsenal, modernizing its military at extraordinary speed, weaponizing supply chains, and normalizing political warfare abroad. It threatens Taiwan daily. It menaces Japan, the Philippines and Australia. And it increasingly projects power into the Arctic that directly poses a threat to Canada.

For Canada, this is not abstract geopolitics. China has interfered in our elections. It has conducted transnational repression against communities on Canadian soil. It arbitrarily detained our citizens as leverage. The Canadian government recognizes that Beijing engages in pervasive economic espionage and cyber operations.

The key lesson is that Canada cannot respond to American instability by drifting toward authoritarian China.

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Beijing is not a neutral counterweight. It is a systemic challenger working to reshape global rules in ways fundamentally hostile to Canadian interests, democratic governance, and human rights—from the mass repression of Uyghurs and Tibetans to the normalization of hostage diplomacy, political interference, and digital authoritarianism abroad.

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Like our allies in Europe and Asia, Canada needs to stay focused and treat foreign interference, cyber operations, and transnational repression as core national-security threats. It also needs industrial and innovation strategies that reinforce allied supply chains rather than deepen authoritarian dependencies.

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The choice is not between Washington and Beijing. It is between a future shaped by authoritarian leverage and one sustained by democratic cooperation. In a world coming apart, Canada’s security will not come from reviving the language of “strategic partnership” with an authoritarian power.

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China doesn’t hold the solution for Canada’s economic issues and isn’t a trustworthy partner, Taiwan’s top representative to Ottawa said following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s tariff deal with Xi Jinping.

The Canadian and Chinese leaders reached an agreement last week to lower trade barriers and rebuild ties, a milestone reset after years of poor relations.

The deal will see Canada open its market to a small number of Chinese electric vehicles at a low tariff rate, while China will reduce its import taxes on canola, an important western Canadian crop. US President Donald Trump’s high tariffs have pushed Canada to urgently try to diversify its US-dominated export markets.

“If this trip to China is genuinely looking for an economic remedy for Canada, I don’t think you can find an answer in China,” Harry Ho-jen Tseng, Taiwan’s representative in Canada, said in an interview. “If this trip to China is trying to create political leverage of some sort, domestically or internationally, I don’t know — it’s another matter.”

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A free trade deal is “unachievable between Canada and China, simply because China is not a market economy,” with many restrictions on aspects of its own market, the former deputy foreign minister for Taiwan said.

“The contraction or the expansion of their market is actually a result of political calculation,” he said. “Those who come to buy from Canada will be from the state-owned enterprises. It is not the consumers,” meaning “the state can stop buying at any time.”

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The Canadian government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, published in late 2022 when Justin Trudeau was still prime minister, called China “an increasingly disruptive global power” that disregards international rules and norms. That document is a “very good road map,” Ho-jen Tseng said.

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Ho-jen Tseng also said it was “totally unnecessary” that Canadian lawmakers from Carney’s Liberal Party cut short a trip to Taiwan last week to avoid overlapping with Carney’s visit to Beijing.

Parliamentary visits to Taiwan have been a normal practice for years and are the best way for Canadian lawmakers to understand the island nation’s challenges, the diplomat said. Canada should also sign a trade cooperation framework agreement it has drafted with Taiwan “as early as possible,” he said.

Police are reanimating years-old injunctions to threaten activists, casting a chill over protests and free speech

Thaioronióhte Dan David, a renowned Kanien’kehá:ka journalist who helped establish the news department of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, has died.

His sister Marie David said he died Jan. 12 after a long struggle with cancer. He was 73.

Pugliese said David helped found APTN News in 2000 — then called InVision News — to transform the way Indigenous stories are told. He witnessed news reports of his own community of Kanehsatà:ke, in southwestern Quebec, being distorted by mainstream media during the siege of Kanehsatà:ke, commonly referred to as the Oka Crisis, in the summer of 1990.

"Some of his family were involved in the land protection there at the time when the army came in. And there was Dan, with all the sources and all the connections, and he wasn't allowed to report on it because he was considered biased," Pugliese said.

Soon after, David was asked by his boss and mentor at CBC to help launch the South African Broadcasting Corporation in post-apartheid South Africa.

"In South Africa, he was working with journalists from all walks of life, including those who had been on opposite sides of the apartheid years. He was very affected by that," Pindera said.

That experience gave him the tools and knowledge to establish APTN's news department.

An independent police watchdog says it is investigating the death of a man shot and killed by RCMP responding to a domestic disturbance in Neqotkuk First Nation in northwestern New Brunswick early Sunday evening.

Investigators are now in the community, formerly known as Tobique, about 180 kilometres northwest of Fredericton, the Serious Incident Response Team said Monday afternoon.

Neqotkuk First Nation Chief Ross Perley and council have identified the victim as community member Bronson Paul — "a son, father, brother, partner, nephew and so much more."

"We understand that our community members are angry, confused, scared and shocked. We share that sentiment," they said in a news release on social media late Sunday night, about an hour after the watchdog agency, known as SIRT, announced the fatal "police-involved shooting."

If it is clear where you are, you'll probably have nice northern lights tonight across all of Canada.

If you're a licensed gun owner and own the gun legally demand a jury trial. The Crown will tell you that you can't have one but you can. They have no hope of empanelling a jury that will convict someone for returning fire while they are under fire as long as they are licensed and own the gun legally.

Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney's deal with China on electric vehicles has hurt Ontarians and the two have not spoken since.

Ford says he was disappointed Carney did not give him a heads-up about a potential deal before the prime minister's trip to China last week.

Carney struck a deal with China last week to allow up to 49,000 electric vehicles to receive a vastly reduced tariff rate of 6.1 per cent as they come into Canada in exchange for dropping tariffs on Canadian canola and some seafood.

Ford and Carney became fast friends after the latter's win to become prime minister in the spring.

The Supreme Court of Canada is hearing arguments today on a Quebec case that could have far-reaching implications on policing across Canada.

Quebec’s attorney general is set to argue against a lower court decision that invalidated random police traffic stops, finding that they led to racial profiling and violated Quebecers’ rights.

Joseph-Christopher Luamba, the young man at the origin of this case, was pulled over by police nearly a dozen times without reason in the 18 months after he got his driver’s licence.

He told Quebec Superior Court in 2022 that when he sees a police cruiser, he gets ready to pull over.

Luamba, who is Black, said he believes he was racially profiled during the traffic stops — none of which resulted in a ticket.

"I was frustrated," he told the court back then. "Why was I stopped? I followed the rules. I didn't commit any infractions."

An Ontario woman who regularly shared her experiences as a sexual assault survivor at police training courses says she’s ending her relationship with the Ontario Police College and is raising concerns about what she and several experts say are harmful biases among some officers and a lack of accountability from the college.

It comes after she received anonymous comments from two officers last year that she says left her feeling "mortified" and "humiliated."

For several years, she has volunteered her time by speaking at training organized by the college for sexual assault investigators. CBC News is protecting her identity because she is a sexual assault survivor.

Experts say the comments, which include calling her “damaged,” accusing her of being too critical of police and presuming a mental illness diagnosis, are not only hurtful but also show a concerning bias that could affect the integrity of sexual assault investigations.

The woman wants to know if those officers are working as sexual assault investigators, but more than four months after taking her concerns to the college, she still has no answers.