CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11

1. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 CENSUS PROTESTER AUDREY TOBIAS ACQUITTED OF NOT FILING FORM • Audrey Tobias, who faced jail time if she had been convicted, argued she didn't file her 2011 census because it is processed using software from Lockheed Martin. • Tobias said she would have been willing to go to jail. • “I would have done whatever was necessary,” she said. “Under no circumstances would I have paid a fine, which was a way of saying I was guilty.” • Tobias's lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, had argued that forcing her to complete the census would violate her freedoms of conscience and free expression. CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6

2. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 • Judge RamezKhawly noted that for a conviction both the act and intent of a crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, so he had to acquit Tobias. • The judge also described the Justice Department's decision to prosecute Tobias, a Second World War veteran, as a "PR disaster.“ • http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2411363045/ In 2011, StatsCan received 13 million completed census forms, a 98 per cent response rate. Overall, it referred 54 people for prosecution for failing to complete the mandatory census form CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6

3. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 INSIDE CANADA'S TOP-SECRET BILLION-DOLLAR SPY PALACE • While the Harper government is preaching government austerity, it is spending almost $1.2 billion on a new Ottawa headquarters for a little-known military spy agency. • It's the most expensive Canadian government building ever constructed. • When completed next year, the facility in suburban Ottawa will house the roughly 2,000 employees of the Communications Security Establishment Canada, a federal agency that spies mainly on foreigners by hacking into their computers, reading their email and intercepting their phone calls CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6

4. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 • CSEC officially estimates the complex will cost $880 million. But sources close to the project say it will be closer to $1.2 billion by the time all the associated costs are tallied. • Gregory Thomas heads the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, a watchdog organization that tracks government waste. The new CSEC headquarters will have more floor space than the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and its cost would build several big city hospitals. CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6

5. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 • Thomas points out it is the same Defence Department responsible for CSEC that bought the whole Nortel Networks campus, the biggest industrial complex in the country, for $208 million. • Every piece of material going into the construction of the building has to be inspected for possible spy bugs; every vehicle entering the site has to be searched. • All of the nearly 5,000 workers involved in the project have been cleared by security. • http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2411157238/?page=2 CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6

6. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 MalalaYousafzai: Taliban shooting made ‘millions of Malalas’ speak up • The Taliban’s attempt to silence MalalaYousafzai a year ago today only ended up encouraging millions of other girls to speak up for their rights, the young Pakistani activist says. • Malala, who was already an outspoken advocate for girls’ education, was critically injured on Oct. 9, 2012, when a gunman shot her while she was riding home on a school bus in the city of Mingora. • The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley. • http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malala-yousafzai-taliban-shooting-made-millions-of-malalas-speak-up-1.1929982 CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6

7. CURRENT EVENTS OCTOBER 11 • The young activist says she doesn’t recall the shooting itself — the story she recounts is based on what friends have told her. • Malala says two men in their 20s — she calls them “boys” — stopped the school vehicle and came on board • Since the attack, Malala has earned worldwide recognition for her work. She addressed the United Nations Youth Assembly and the organization declared July 12, her birthday, Malala Day. CURRENT EVENTS TERM ONE OCT 11 #6