A bill for independent oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency will not address “problematic behaviour” by management, employees have told the Commons public safety committee. The Agency is the only police force of its size in Canada without a civilian oversight board: “Make real change.”
My friend
who works as a server
at a banquet hall
tells me
about their training.
We are expected to work
in the background, she says,
allow patrons
to focus on their business.
We respond politely
to requests, questions,
but do not encourage
further discussions.
Friendly
but not familiar.
Patrons are not here for us.
Downtown Toronto
I look for a place
for lunch.
Across the street, Hooters.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
In 2001 Veterans Affairs Canada added 23 names to the nation’s First World War Book Of Remembrance preserved in the Peace Tower. The 23 were shot for cowardice and desertion. Ron Duhamel, then-veterans affairs minister, told the Commons: “People may lose control of their emotions, have a breakdown for reasons over which they have little control,” he said. “I wish to express my deep sorrow at their loss of life”.
But what if this is all wrong? What if the image of the frail and cowering soldier executed by sadistic military brass is a First War set piece that owes more to filmography than fact?
Historian Teresa Iacobelli challenges readers to review the evidence in Death or Deliverance, as fascinating a case as ever went to the jury. Iacobelli asserts that not only were military executions extremely rare, but that Canadians’ view of the incidents – including Veterans Affairs’ 2001 observance – is skewed by a Hollywood film.
Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 production Paths of Glory depicts the execution of three innocent French soldiers convicted on trumped-up charges of cowardice. One reviewer called the story “grotesque,” “appalling” and “nauseating”. Adolphe Menjou is particularly good as the sociopathic General Broulard. Paths of Glory was filmed in Germany and not screened in France for many years.
Iacobelli has seen the film, too. “Those soldiers of the First World War who stood before firing squads have been portrayed as shell-shocked boys who had run out of the courage to withstand the trying circumstances,” she writes. “But was this really the case? Was military justice unnecessarily severe, and can we typify those soldiers who deserted?”
It turns out, no. Iacobelli meticulously reviews all instances of execution in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and comes to a striking conclusion. Execution was rare, the overwhelming majority of deserters were briefly jailed and commanders were sensitive to the “reputation” of deserters.
Canadians were subject to military law under the 1881 Army Act. Espionage was punishable by death as well as drinking on duty, cowardice, desertion and throwing away your rifle in combat. If the penalty appears brutal to modern readers, Death or Deliverance notes Canadians at the time found execution an acceptable punishment. Forty-eight hangings took place in Canadian jails during the war years, more than twice the number who were shot by the army.
“It was common for shell shock to be viewed by military authorities as a threat akin to malingering or the more serious crime of desertion and cowardice,” Iacobelli writes. Yet 90 percent of death sentences were commuted. And even a 1918 federal report acknowledged that “men who had committed serious military offences because of exhaustion or their loss of courage or for other reasons” deserved a “chance to save their reputation”.
Canada was not alone. No Australian was executed. The U.S. had 23 by official count, including soldiers convicted of felonies like rape and murder. Germany had 48.
Death or Deliverance has no drum roll, no Adolphe Menjou character. It is much better. “Enduring myths of the war easily fed into myths of the courts martial themselves,” Iacobelli writes. “Is it not true that the historian’s role is to explain rather than to judge?”
By Holly Doan
Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts Martial in the Great War, by Teresa Iacobelli; University of British Columbia Press; 192 pages; ISBN 9780-7748-25689; $32.95
Liberal and New Democrat MPs last night saved David Johnston from a summons to testify on his dealings with the Trudeau Foundation. The Commons public accounts committee by a 6 to 4 vote adjourned debate on an order compelling Johnston to appear as a hostile witness: “It is like a subpoena from a lawyer. There are legal consequences.”
The chair of the Senate agriculture committee yesterday would not comment on an Italian junket so costly other senators expressed unease with the expense. Senator Robert Black (Ont.) submitted a $66,940 budget to lead a four-member farm delegation to Italy in July for a study of “soil conditions in Canada.”
Jody Thomas, national security advisor, yesterday said she was on holiday and never read a secret July 20, 2021 pre-election memo warning that Chinese agents had targeted a Conservative MP. Thomas testified at the House affairs committee the “integrity of my statements here” should not be questioned: “You want Canadians to believe that?”
A federal registry mandating disclosure of payments to all foreign agents “will provide us with very important tools,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said yesterday. Cabinet has yet to set any deadline for introduction of a bill: “Is there something that gives hesitance or pause?”
Cabinet is unsure of the scope of tobacco smuggling nationwide, according to a report to Parliament. Manufacturers have estimated bootleg cigarettes are worth billions in lost tax revenue: “This has been driven mainly by persistently high rates in Ontario estimated at 35 to 40 percent and a recent explosion in British Columbia where we estimate the rate has grown to 35 percent.”
The Commons yesterday voted 174 to 150 to fire David Johnston as cabinet’s “special rapporteur” on Chinese subterfuge. Johnston rejected the vote, saying he didn’t answer to MPs: “My mandate comes from the government.”
The Freedom Convoy was a “far-right extremist movement” that “terrorized” Ottawa, a Liberal-appointed senator said yesterday. Remarks by Senator Ratna Omidvar (Ont.) contradicted police evidence that Parliament Hill demonstrators were neither extremist nor violent: “What is the government doing to track this? Specifically, are you tracking how these extremists are influencing politicians in Canada?”
Passengers should not expect quicker airport screening with a 33 percent increase in mandatory security fees, says the National Airlines Council. Fees intended to cover security costs represent an annual profit for the Government of Canada, figures show: “I wish I could say these increases in fees would lead to better service.”
A Senate employee golf tournament that’s soliciting $400 corporate sponsorships complies with all ethics codes, managers said yesterday. The tournament is scheduled only days before a new Lobbyists’ Code comes into force that limits gifts to public office holders at $40: “The organizers are employees of Senate administration.”
The Federal Court has rejected a claim that Crown prosecutors have a constitutional right to run for public office. Courts and labour arbitrators have issued mixed rulings on whether the Public Service Employment Act restricts partisan activity by prosecutors: “I am not convinced.”
A Crown bank, Export Development Canada, yesterday disclosed it paid a consultant more than $208 million to manage a pandemic loan program. Legislators at the time were not told of payments to Accenture PLC that run to 2024: ‘The desire was to get this out as quickly as possible.’
Liberal and New Democrat MPs have opposed a budget amendment to cut the Governor General’s funding. Conservative MP Kelly Block (Carleton Trail-Eagle Creek, Sask.) sponsored the motion after accusing Rideau Hall of high living while Canadians turn to food banks: “The Governor General has shown a lack of respect for taxpayers.”
