A story that caught my eye yesterday was on the topic of foreign fighters who may return now that ISIS/Daesh has fallen. More particularly was the notion that the US, UK and France have all made it policy to try and target and kill their own home-grown fighters rather than risk them returning to their own countries. Canada, however, came out explicitly yesterday to state that we aren’t doing the same because we don’t engage in death squads. And yes, we’re taking the issue seriously, and our security forces are on alert, and so on. While it may be astonishing to hear, it’s also not unsurprising considering that this is a government that is committed to the Charter, and extrajudicial killings would seem to be a gross violation thereof.

https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/931666192405688325

The problem? Some of the responses.

Raise your hand if you feel safer after listening to #Trudeau's Public Safety Minister here… #RalphGoodale also signed #OmarKhadr's apology & paid the confessed terrorist $10,500,000 in secret #TrudeauKhadrDeal. https://t.co/15I5h3zFgK

— Sen. Denise Batters (@denisebatters) November 18, 2017

While I have a great deal of respect for the good senator, I’m a bit troubled by the sentiments expressed because the implicit message is that governments should feel free to violate the Charter with impunity, with either extrajudicial killings, or processes that violate the Charter and our other international obligations against torture, as with the reference to Omar Khadr. And worse, the kinds of responses to that tweet are pretty disturbing in their own right.

Aside from the fact that any of these targeted killings would be outside of the rule of law, Stephanie Carvin also points out that this kind of policy would be a false certainty, particularly when it comes to verification. I would also add that it would seem to me that it keeps the focus elsewhere than on home soil, where radicalisation still happens to one extent or another, and I do think there is likely a sense that “Hey, we’ve killed them over there,” then we don’t think about how they were radicalised at home in the first place, and we don’t put in the time and resources toward solving that issue. Nevertheless, that our government follows the rule of law shouldn’t be a news story, but in this day and age, it would seem to be.

https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/931602804094808064

https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/931673504793083906

Good reads:

• The Americans released more NAFTA negotiation points yesterday, which won’t go far. Meanwhile, the 12 states that will suffer most without NAFTA all voted Trump.
• Our Iraq mission is shaking up again, with the final surveillance plane coming home and more combat engineers being deployed to train in dismantling bombs.
• Ralph Goodale announced $327 million over five years to combat gangs and gun violence.
• Russian “fake news” is targeting our troops in Latvia as part of the NATO mission.
• Public sector union PIPSC is threatening to flood the government with grievances unless Phoenix is fixed quickly. I’m really not sure how that’s helpful.
• A more commonly used assisted suicide drug will now be available in Canada, which could make assisted death faster.
• Here is some evaluation of our latest peacekeeping pledge, and how it might affect our bid for that seat on the Security Council.
• That former Wynne staffer working in Mélanie Joly’s office was copied on some emails! Another reach to prove collusion with the failed Meilleur appointment.
• New inspections were being done on the Centre Block this week in advance of the renovations due to begin next year to assess its deterioration.
• One of the first court challenges of Quebec’s face-covering law is now underway, with a woman seeking to have the law temporarily suspended.
• Martin Patriquin has a long read about far-right anti-Muslim group La Meute in Quebec, and how far their reach may (or may not) extend.
• Susan Delacourt looks at the amount of foreign travel that Justin Trudeau is undertaking, and wonders whether it’s all worth it.
• My weekend column wonders if there isn’t value that can be derived from the government’s mandate tracker, as flawed a product as it is.

Odds and ends:

Paul Quassa has been chosen as the new premier of Nunavut.

Here’s a roundup of how various provinces plan to deal with legal cannabis.

After weeks of consternation, Mélanie Joly says the Holocaust memorial will remain open over winter, but doesn’t say who will remove the snow.