A Podcast Called INTREPID – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this podcast, Stephanie sits down with Gerry Butts, vice chairman and a senior advisor at Eurasia Group, to talk about recent developments in Europe and what the war in Ukraine means for global stability. In particular, they discuss problems relating to energy, food and whether or not the West can stay united in what is increasingly becoming a protracted conflict.

Please note this podcast was recorded June 24, 2022.

Diplomacy goes well beyond diplomats – so what is the role of a defence attaché (or in the case of a Commonwealth country, defence advisor) anyway? In this episode Stephanie speaks with UK Brigadier General Doug Gibson about his role in Canada, UK-Canada defence cooperation, the 2021 UK Foreign Policy and Defence Review (linked below), NATO expansion and the war in Ukraine, declassification and prebunking in the information space and more!

Please note that this podcast was recorded on June 6 2022 and reflect events up to that date.

2021 UK Integrated Review of  Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/global-britain-in-a-competitive-age-the-integrated-review-of-security-defence-development-and-foreign-policy

This episode was recorded at 2pm on Friday February 11, 2022.

As the Convoy currently occupying Ottawa continues into third week, and its supporters attempt to spread the movement across major Canadian cities and ports of entry, is solving this crisis a problem of law or enforcement? Mike Nesbitt joins Stephanie through some of the proposed legal options. Is this terrorism? Sedition? Treason? Or is it … surprisingly… a lot of mischief? Do we actually need emergency powers to fix this?

Note: the podcast has already covered the use of emergency powers in prior episodes. See Ep 121 https://www.intrepidpodcast.com/podcast/2020/3/19/ep-120-an-emergency-podcast-on-emergency-law

You can also check out emergency law through this online chapter by Craig Forcese and Leah West: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3554318

There is also a short video available through Intrepid University: https://www.intrepidpodcast.com/university

**Note: This podcast was recorded before the news that GoFundMe shut downpayments to the Convoy organizers. As noted in the podcast, organizers have other options to raise funds. We'll look to update listeners on these developments sometimes next week.**

As we recorded this episode, the streets of Ottawa were occupied with trucks from a so-called “Freedom Convoy” that claims to be about mandates, but in reality has extremist origins. With non-stop honking, intimidation of those who seek to follow public health guidance and signs invoking conspiracy theories and hate groups, the residents of Ottawa overwhelmingly would like the this “Convoy” to leave. While the police do not seem to be able to do much, the “Truckers” are, at least in part, relying on a $10 million dollar war chest of money raised through GoFundMe, a crowdsourcing platform.

This raises all kinds of questions about how these activities are being financed. Is it okay for political movements, with ties to extremists, to raise funds in this way? Who is responsible for investigating the money raised? Will the funds even be dispersed? Is there a threat of clandestine foreign interference?

To discuss these issues and more, Stephanie sits down with Intrepid Podcast member Jessica Davis, President of Insight Threat Intelligence, and author of Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century (2021). This podcast was recorded on February 4, 2022. 

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Fatima Syed, journalist with The Narwal and host of The Backbench at Canadaland. They discuss covering ongoing violence against the Muslim community and the challenges in covering national security issues in Canada. Importantly, throughout the interview, Fatima discusses her approach to her work, and emphasizes the importance of having conversations across communities to better understand experiences of hate, but also build bridges with those who hold radically different views but are willing to engage. Please note this episode was recorded on December 15 2021

In this mini-episode, Stephanie hosts a quick chat with Phil Lagassé about Canada’s new governor general. They also reflect on the impact of having the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the role for so long (circling back to their discussion in Ep 152). Please note, this episode was recorded on 13 July 2021.

You can read some of Phil’s commentary on the new Governor General with these links:
https://policymagazine.ca/heavy-burdens-of-office-for-the-new-gg/
https://lagassep.com/2021/07/20/the-commissioner-vs-the-constitution/

Episode 152 can be listened to here: https://www.intrepidpodcast.com/podcast/2021/3/29/ep-152-her-majesty-in-right-of-pod-evaluating-the-pandemic-parliament

What was supposed to be a committee examining the relationship between Canada and China has turned into something of a constitutional crisis. Opposition MPs on the ad-hoc Canada-China Committee are demanding access to classified documents to find out the reasons two scientists were fired from the National Microbiology Lab. The entire affair has led to the trashing of one of Canada’s few national security transparency and oversight institutions, the shutting down of committees, government officials being publicly scolded and a cameo no one expected – Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act. 

There is a lot to unpack here. So Stephanie sits down with Leah West and Philippe Lagassé to discuss the matter, what went wrong, why everyone is to blame – and whether it’s all academic because and election is coming our way. 

Please note, this podcast was recorded on July 13, 2021. We did experience a few technical difficulties, so please excuse the recording!

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Jessica Davis and Michael Nesbitt to discuss recent developments in terrorism cases in Canada. First, in the wake of the tragic attack in London, Ontario, Crown Prosecutors have brought terrorism charges, possibly the first ever against an individual motivated by far-right extremism. What are the challenges in prosecuting this as a terrorism case? Next, they discuss an extremist travel case where one individual has pleaded guilty, but charges have been stayed against another. This leads the group to ask some hard questions about terrorism charges generally. Why are so few women charged with terrorism? Why are there so few terrorism financing and facilitation charges? And why don’t we know more about why charges are laid, dropped or stayed in these cases, leaving us with seemingly arbitrary decisions by the Crown? As with other areas of national security, more transparency is needed.

Check out Michael Nesbitt’s posts on terrorism charges in Canada on Intrepidpodcast.com

https://www.intrepidpodcast.com/blog/2021/6/15/counting-terrorism-charges-amp-prosecutions-in-canada-part-1-what-does-the-data-say

https://www.intrepidpodcast.com/blog/2021/6/24/counting-terrorism-charges-and-prosecutions-in-canada-part-2

Jessica Davis’ new substack on national security and illicit finance: https://insightintel.substack.com/subscribe

In the late spring of 2021, University of Toronto Press released Stand on Guard: Reassessing Threats to Canada’s National Security, by Stephanie Carvin. This episode features the introduction to the book which presents the evolving context in which threats to the security of Canada are manifesting and evolving. Carvin argues that rather than responding to national security threats with fear, Canadians need to responsibly widen their understanding and respond with empathy to best meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

You can read the Open Canada review of the book here: https://opencanada.org/book-review-stand-on-guard/

In this episode, Leah talks with Chris Parsons and Bill Robinson of Citizen Lab to discuss NSIRA’s latest review of CSE’s practice of sharing incidentally collected Canadian information with government agencies and the Review Body’s suggestion that CSIS hasn’t been frank with the Federal Court about what happens with the foreign intelligence CSE helps them collect.