Canadian regiment assumes King's Guard duties amid timing and political considerations
CTV's Richard Berthelsen breaks down why a Canadian regiment is taking on the King's Guard role now, and whether politics played a part.
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CBC
20 minutes ago
- CBC
1 year after Trump assassination attempt, changes at U.S. Secret Service but questions remain
In many ways, the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign stop was a perfect storm of failings coming together that allowed 20-year-old Michael Thomas Crooks to climb on top of a nearby building and take eight shots at the once and future U.S. president. One attendee was killed, two others wounded and a bullet grazed Trump's ear before a U.S. Secret Service counter-sniper opened fire on Crooks and killed him. That day jolted an already chaotic race for the White House and solidified Trump's iconic status in his party and beyond. It also became a turning point for the agency tasked with protecting the president. As more details emerged about what went wrong, questions multiplied: What happened to the Secret Service's planning? Why was a rooftop with a clear line of sight to Trump left unguarded? What motivated the shooter? Another incident in September where a gunman camped in the shrubbery outside one of Trump's golf courses before being spotted and shot at by a Secret Service agent also raised questions about the agency's performance. A year after Butler, multiple investigations have detailed the breakdowns that day. Under a new leader hired by Trump, the agency has been pushing to address those problems but key questions remain. "This was a wake-up call for the Secret Service," said retired supervisory agent Bobby McDonald, who's now a criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Here's a look at what went wrong, what's been done to address problems and questions still unanswered. How did he get on that roof? Who was talking to whom? All the investigations zeroed in on a few specific problems. The building in Butler, Pa., with a clear sight line to the stage where the president was speaking only 135 metres away was left unguarded. Crooks eventually boosted himself up there and fired eight shots with an AR-style rifle. The Secret Service's investigation into its own agency's conduct said that it wasn't that the line-of-sight risks weren't known about ahead of time. It was that multiple personnel assessed them as "acceptable." Supervisors had expected large pieces of farm equipment would be situated to block the view from the building. Those ultimately weren't placed, and staffers who visited the site before the rally didn't tell their supervisors that the line-of-sight concerns hadn't been addressed, the report said. Another glaring problem: fragmented communications between the Secret Service and the local law enforcement that the agency regularly relies on to secure events. Instead of having one unified command post with representatives from every agency providing security in the same room, there were two command posts at the rally. One investigation described a "chaotic mixture" of radio, cellphone, text and email used to communicate that day. 'Ensure such an event can never be repeated' The Secret Service issued a report Thursday about what it has done to address problems laid bare at Butler. "Since President Trump appointed me as director of the United States Secret Service, I have kept my experience on July 13 top of mind, and the agency has taken many steps to ensure such an event can never be repeated in the future," said Sean Curran, whom Trump tasked with leading the agency. Curran was one of the agents standing next to Trump as he was hustled off the stage after the shooting. The agency said it had implemented 21 of the 46 recommendations made by Congressional oversight bodies. The rest were in progress or not up to the agency to implement. WATCH | What went wrong in Butler: 'Preventable': How the Secret Service failed to protect Trump | About That 10 months ago Duration 13:47 How was a gunman able to come so close to assassinating former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.? Andrew Chang breaks down a new report published by a bipartisan U.S. Senate committee that found the Secret Service's lack of organization and technical planning failed to keep Trump safe. Some of what they've done involves new equipment and a greater emphasis on addressing threats from above. They've created a new aviation division to oversee aerial operations like drones. The agency said it has two armoured ATVs for use on golf courses and is producing another three. And they're purchasing mobile command vehicles that will be pre-positioned around the country. But much of what the agency says it has done is about changing policies and procedures to address those July 13 lapses — things like revising their manual to "advance procedures and communication practices" when it comes to co-ordinating with local law enforcement or clarifying who's responsible for events where protectees are appearing. They've updated their procedures about documenting line-of-sight concerns and how those concerns are going to be addressed. So far it doesn't appear that anyone has been or will be fired, although the agency's director at the time, Kim Cheatle, swiftly resigned. The agency said Thursday that six staffers have been disciplined with suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days without pay; the six were placed on restricted duty or nonoperational positions. Their identities and positions were not released. What we still don't know In many ways, Crooks and his motivations are still a mystery. He was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper and did not leave much information about why he did what he did. Investigators say they believe he acted alone and they didn't find any threatening comments or ideological positions on social media that shed light on his thinking. And while it's clear what went wrong in Butler, questions linger about how things that were so clearly problematic — like that open roof — weren't addressed ahead of time. Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent who is now a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said that without being able to read the interviews with the agents involved in the Butler planning it's hard to know exactly why they did what they did. A year later, he still struggles with how so many things went wrong. "I can't understand how many errors were made on that site that day," he said. "If they agreed to leave that roof unoccupied, I can't ... understand it for the life of me." The widow of Corey Comperatore, who died during the Butler assassination attempt, echoed some of that sentiment during an interview with Fox News this week. "Why was that such a failure? Why weren't they paying attention? Why did they think that that roof didn't need [to be] covered? I want to sit down and talk to them," Helen Comperatore said. Cangelosi said he still questions whether the agency asked for additional personnel to cover a busy election year and if they did, whether those requests were granted. He thinks the Secret Service needs better pay to retain agents tempted to leave the agency for other federal government jobs. McDonald said he suspects part of the problem ahead of the Butler rally was that the Secret Service might have had a hard time understanding that the type of protection Trump needed wasn't the same as for other former presidents. He said it "boggles the mind" how Crooks was able to get on that roof and said that "communication" and "complacency" are the two issues that he thinks really went wrong in Butler. But he also said that he feels the agency is moving in the right direction. "A lot of good people doing a lot good work there," he said, "and I hope they continue to move in the right direction."
CTV News
29 minutes ago
- CTV News
‘Pornography is a problem': Smith defends new rules for Alberta school libraries
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a press conference in Edmonton, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson Alberta's premier says 'pornography is a problem for young adults' in remarks defending her government's move to remove sexually explicit content from school library shelves this fall. Danielle Smith was responding to criticism received via text on her provincewide phone-in radio program on Saturday that a lack of education funding and overcrowded classrooms were more important issues than library content. Smith replied it's important the province make sure young children are exposed to age-appropriate material, and that they're 'not exposed to pornographic images early.' On Thursday, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said sexually explicit content must be gone from school library shelves as of Oct. 1, but noted the move is not about book banning. The new policy stems from an announcement Nicolaides made in May after he said four inappropriate coming-of-age graphic novels were found in school libraries in Edmonton and Calgary. Smith encouraged people to go online themselves and view explicit images from the books, telling listeners they'll be scratching their heads wondering how they got into elementary schools in the first place. 'If I am not permitted to describe to you the kind of images that seven-year-olds are seeing because it would offend your audience, then we shouldn't be showing them to seven-year-olds,' Smith said. 'So yeah, I think it's important that we make sure that young children are exposed to age-appropriate material only and that they're not exposed to pornographic images early.' On the question of priorities, Smith said her government is holding consultations with the public and teachers about other issues in schools, such as violence in the classroom. 'That is the biggest issue that we've been hearing from teachers, that in some situations, violent students are making life unsafe for our teachers,' Smith said. The novels in question are written by American authors: 'Gender Queer' by Maia Kobabe, 'Fun Home' by Alison Bechdel, 'Blankets' by Craig Thompson and 'Flamer' by Mike Curato. When Nicolaides announced plans for new rules back in May, Smith posted on social media that 'parents are right to be upset.' As part of the announcement Thursday, Nicolaides issued a list of specific sex acts that can't be explicitly described in library books alongside new rules for what students can read. No students will be allowed to access what the government calls explicit sexual content, including detailed depictions of masturbation, sexual penetration or sexual physical contact. By Jan. 1, new school board policies must be in place dictating how books are selected and reviewed. An online government survey before Thursday's announcement found that the majority of respondents across demographics don't support the government setting new standards for school library books. Alberta Teachers' Association president Jason Schilling said in a statement the new rules will add to teachers' workload, politicize a 'non-issue' and target vulnerable students. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2025.
CBC
35 minutes ago
- CBC
Former B.C. MLA pens children's book about gender-based violence
A couple of years after going public with her own story of abuse, former B.C. MLA Katrina Chen has penned a children's book addressing domestic violence. In 2022, Chen revealed she'd suffered from gender-based violence multiple times through the course of her life, and has since spoken publicly about the need to destigmatize this type of abuse. But since she went public about her experience, Chen said little has changed. "I think there have been a lot of conversations and reports," she told CBC's The Early Edition. "I think it's time that we move on from the conversations and take concrete actions." Having left politics in 2024, Chen now uses her voice and her name to advocate for support for domestic violence victims. This spring, she released her book, A Stronger Home. "I'm a big believer in breaking systemic inequities at an early age," she said."It's critical that we start from a young age to break the cycle of violence, to have a better understanding for our children to understand what's happening at home for prevention, and also for better understanding as a community as a whole to support survivors and their children to go through this very challenging journey." Gender-based violence 'normalized' According to the federal government, 80 per cent of people who had experienced intimate partner violence did not report it to police. About 44 per cent of women and girls over 15 who had been in an intimate relationship reported experiencing some form of abuse during the course of their lives, since age 15. A recent independent report commissioned by the province found gender-based violence has been "normalized" in B.C. "This is the longest human rights violation in human history. Gender-based violence touches way too many people," Chen said. In A Stronger Home, Chen and co-author Elaine Su liken abusers to storms — unpredictable, sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, but always lurking. "It's morning now. Everything is quiet. But we know the storm is still close by," the book reads. The story follows a boy and his mother, hiding from one such storm, looking for safer, stronger homes. "It's a more thoughtful way for children to understand the challenges and the trauma and the violence that's happening at home," Chen said. In the author's note, she mentions that her characters are "lucky." "I hate to say the word lucky, but [it is] compared to many other women who have to go from shelter to shelter to be able to support themselves economically," Chen said. For many, the consequences of gender-based violence can be fatal. On July 4, a Kelowna, B.C., woman was killed in what police described as a "highly visible and tragic event," and her family says she and the man involved had a pattern of domestic violence. Chen said she hopes the book educates young readers about gender-based violence, but also encourages change from lawmakers. "It's a conversation I think our society has to have."
