Inspectors raided the offices of Frutti di Bosco, a little-known fruit trading company on the second floor of a tower block in downtown Santiago.

The files, company data and sales records they seized revealed a food trading racket that spanned three continents.

At its heart was a fraud centered on raspberries. Low-cost frozen berries grown in China were shipped to a packing plant in central Chile. Hundreds of tons of fruit were repackaged and rebranded by Frutti di Bosco as premium Chilean-grown organics, then shipped to consumers in Canadian cities including Vancouver and Montreal, according to documents prepared by Chilean Customs as part of its investigation. The agency calculated that at least $12 million worth of mislabeled raspberries were sent to Canada between 2014 and 2016.

Much of that product, the documents showed, came from Harbin Gaotai Food Co Ltd, a Chinese supplier. Canadian health authorities later linked berries from Harbin Gaotai to a 2017 norovirus outbreak in Quebec that sickened hundreds of people. Canadian authorities issued a recall on Harbin Gaotai berries coming directly to Canada from China dating back to July 2016.

What they didn’t realize is that Harbin Gaotai raspberries had also entered Canada through a backdoor during that period in the form of falsely labeled fruit shipped from Chile by Frutti di Bosco.

The scheme, pieced together for the first time by Reuters, lays bare the ease with which mislabeled, potentially risky products can be slipped past the world’s health and customs agencies, even as authorities across the globe scramble to ensure foods entering their countries are free of a new scourge – COVID-19.

Harbin Gaotai did not reply to requests to comment for this report.

Frutti di Bosco’s owner, Cesar Ramirez, who was convicted last year in Chile for falsifying export documents to facilitate the scheme, declined to speak with Reuters. His attorney declined to comment.

Reuters examined thousands of pages of legal filings, investigation documents and trade records obtained through freedom-of-information requests in Chile and Canada. Reuters also spoke to more than two dozen people with knowledge of the case, including the manager of a fruit-packing house that uncovered the deception.

Pulling off the fraud was relatively simple, the investigation revealed.

The Canada-Chile trade pact, which came into force in 1997, allows exporters to self-certify the provenance of their goods, trade experts said. The agreement allowed the mislabeled berries to enter Canada tariff-free, evading a 6% levy slapped on the same fruit imported directly from China, Chilean Customs documents show.

More lucrative still, conventional fruit represented as “organic” could fetch premium prices, piggybacking on Chile’s reputation for safety and quality. Documents certifying the fruit as organic were faked, customs inspectors found.

(For an interactive graphic on how the scam worked, click here.)

Chile kept it quiet

Chile’s export fruit industry, alerted by Customs to the whistleblower complaint in late 2016, immediately grasped the potential fallout for the $7 billion sector, according to correspondence obtained by Reuters under Chile’s Transparency Act.

The southern hemisphere nation stocks grocers in the United States, Canada and Europe with grapes, cherries, blueberries and raspberries in the northern winter. If word got out that Chile’s fruit was not what it purported to be – or worse still, if someone got sick – it could tarnish its hard-won image.

“This situation could generate serious problems for the food industry in our country,” Ronald Bown, head of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association, wrote in a Nov. 15, 2016 letter to Customs obtained by Reuters. He asked the agency to investigate the whistleblower’s allegations and warned of “the closing of markets” to Chilean fruit.

Bown confirmed writing the letter and repeated the same concerns when approached by Reuters on July 30.

Chile did not notify Canada that anything was amiss, however, according to Canadian officials. An alert failed to materialize even after Ramirez, Frutti di Bosco’s owner, alleged he had colluded with the buyer of the fruit – Montreal-based Alasko Foods Inc – to ship the illicit products to Canada, according to Chilean investigation records.

Canada’s food inspection agency said it is now investigating the matter after Reuters contacted authorities there for this story.

Alasko denied wrongdoing. The company is insolvent and entered into receivership last month, according to documents filed Sept. 10 in Quebec Superior Court by financial consultancy Raymond Chabot, Inc, the court-appointed receiver. Raymond Chabot declined to comment.

Alasko officials did not respond to requests for comment regarding the receivership.

The company’s promotional materials claim it is one of Canada’s leading purveyors of frozen fruit, with products sold in Costco and Sam’s Club. Costco declined to comment. Sam’s Club did not respond to a request for comment.

Ramirez told Chilean Customs investigators that Alasko ordered the repackaging of the Chinese berries “because it was more economical to do it in Chile,” to take advantage of the Chile-Canada free-trade deal, Customs records show. He made the same allegations in a civil lawsuit he filed in Chile´s capital Santiago in June 2019, claiming Alasko had “directly financed and supervised” the operation. Canada received 84% of Frutti di Bosco’s produce shipments, the Customs investigation found.

Ramirez last year pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of making false statements on export declarations. He received a $6,266 fine and a suspended 122-day jail sentence. Chilean Customs had recommended a maximum fine of $55.6 million.

His lawsuit seeks $26 million in damages from Alasko and Chilean businessman Mauricio Rebolledo. Ramirez claims in the suit he was duped into participating as a front man in the scam by Rebolledo, whom he alleges operated on behalf of Alasko.

Ramirez told Chilean Customs his firm paid sales commissions to a business tied to Rebolledo, according to investigators’ notes on the raid of Frutti di Bosco’s offices seen by Reuters. Customs did not mention Rebolledo in its final report about the investigation.

Prosecutors did not charge Rebolledo in the case.

In a written response to Reuters, Rebolledo said he was an independent fruit broker who had done business with both Frutti di Bosco and Alasko. He said he was not Alasko’s representative in Chile.

Rebolledo denied wrongdoing and said Ramirez’s allegations about his involvement in the illegal scheme were “false and tendentious.” Rebolledo said the civil suit was “unjustified” and an attempt by Ramirez to “confuse and hold others responsible” for his own misdeeds.

Alasko and Rebolledo have contested the suit, arguing it should be thrown out on grounds of inadequate evidence. The case is pending.

Frutti di Bosco continued shipping fruit, including raspberries labeled as Chilean, to Alasko through at least 2018, according to internal company shipping documents and export declarations viewed by Reuters.

Alasko said in a March 6 statement that it has always complied with all regulations on fruit imports and exports. It said it no longer does business with Frutti di Bosco and declined to comment specifically on that firm’s illicit activity.

“It is the responsibility of the growers and packers to have the proper food safety and organic certifications, and to provide the associated documentation” required for shipments to Canada, Alasko said in the email.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), however, said importers also play a key role in keeping consumers safe. The “onus is on importers of food into Canada to ensure that they source safe food from reliable suppliers and that the food meets all Canadian regulatory requirements,” the CFIA told Reuters in an email.

A Canadian government spokeswoman said her country’s Foreign Ministry, the CFIA and the Canada Border Services Agency had no records of the case or communication about it from the Chilean government.

Chilean trade expert Hugo Baierlein said the reported lack of communication was highly irregular. He said it would have been standard practice for Chilean officials to reach out in such circumstances. Baierlein served as director of foreign trade for SOFOFA, the Federation of Chilean Industry, an umbrella group that represents Chilean industry.

Chilean Customs would not say whether it had contacted Canada, and that any such communications would be confidential.

The economic relations arm of Chile´s Foreign Ministry declined to answer questions about whether Chile had informed Canada. The agency defended Chile’s handling of the case. “The administrative and judicial procedures operated fully,” a spokeswoman said.

Neither Chile´s Foreign or Customs ministries would comment on any new steps they have taken to deter cheating and ensure the integrity of the country’s produce exports.

‘So obvious’

Chilean Customs officials were alerted to something fishy in late 2016, when they received a letter from Fruticola Olmue, one of the country’s top fruit-packing plants, located in Chillan, 250 miles south of the capital.

Juan Sutil, the owner of a major Chilean food conglomerate and now head of Chile’s influential Chamber of Commerce and Production, had purchased Fruticola Olmue the previous year. An internal audit raised red flags about work the plant had done for Frutti di Bosco, according to a letter dated Oct. 24, 2016, seen by Reuters, which was signed by Fruticola Olmue General Manager Juan Miguel Ovalle.

Ovalle’s team found that the Fruticola Olmue plant had repackaged imported fruit into plastic bags labeled as Chilean organics, a practice that started under the facility’s previous owners in 2014 and was still happening when new management discovered it, according to documents in the Chilean Customs investigation.

Max Hassler, the former CEO of Fruticola Olmue and a current member of its board of directors, did not reply to a request for comment. He was not charged by prosecutors.

In the first seven months of 2016 alone, Fruticola Olmue appeared to have packed at least 400 tonnes of mislabeled fruit bound for Canada, enough to fill 25 shipping containers, its letter to Customs said.

“It was so obvious,” Ovalle, who no longer works for Fruticola Olmue, told Reuters. “All of (Frutti di Bosco’s) raw material was imported.”

Fruticola Olmue cut ties with Frutti di Bosco on Oct. 24, 2016, the same day it alerted Customs, according to a separate letter it sent to Frutti di Bosco and seen by Reuters. Fruticola Olmue told Reuters it no longer does business with Ramirez, Canadian frozen fruit firm Alasko, or Rebolledo, the fruit broker.

Searching Frutti di Bosco’s books, Customs inspectors found that between 2014 and 2016 the company had exported more than 3,600 tonnes of fruit and vegetables. The provenance of half that produce wasn’t clear, agency records show. Canada was by far the top export destination, but Frutti di Bosco also shipped to the United States, Kuwait, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In their final report to agency leaders, Customs inspectors recommended the investigation be expanded to determine the sources of all the company’s produce.

The investigation dossier provides no evidence of an expanded probe. Customs told Reuters it pursued all avenues and that no open questions remained.

The agency’s final report said Alasko was a major supplier of foreign-sourced fruit that Frutti di Bosco imported into Chile, as well as the top purchaser of Frutti di Bosco’s exports. Chilean Customs did not recommend criminal charges against Alasko.

It did, however, state in its final report that the “scope of this investigation goes beyond our national territory,” and that it appeared “Chinese and Canadian companies” had used Chile as a middleman to dodge tariffs.

Guillermo Gonzalez, head of ChileAlimentos, a trade group that represents Chile´s food industry, condemned the raspberry fraud, but called it an “isolated” incident.

Others aren’t so sure. Complex global supply chains mean law enforcement can’t keep up with players looking to game the system, according to Gary Ades, a U.S.-based food safety consultant.

A dragnet led by Europol and Interpol across 78 countries, including the United States and much of Europe, turned up 16,000 tonnes and 33 million liters of suspect food and drink in just five months in late 2018 and 2019. Consultants estimate food fraud costs the global industry billions of dollars annually.

Ades said the faux Chilean fruit caper would have been easy to pull off. “You just get it into a packing house, and you can’t tell where things are going,” he said. “It’s very, very difficult to trace.”

Illness in Canada

As Chile investigated Frutti di Bosco in early 2017, Canada saw an outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious stomach flu often triggered by food tainted with human feces. It ripped through convalescent homes and children’s daycare centers in Quebec between March and August of 2017, according to a report from Quebec’s Health Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. More than 700 people fell ill, the ministry said.

The culprit: Frozen raspberries imported from China, according to an investigation by Canada’s CFIA, the food inspection agency. The supplier: Harbin Gaotai, one of the major sources of raspberries repackaged in the Chilean export scam. Reuters obtained a copy of the CFIA report on the probe via Canada’s Access to Information Act.

Harbin Gaotai, based in Binzhou, China, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Its products have raised concerns elsewhere. The company since 2009 has been on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration watchlist after American authorities found raspberry shipments containing illegal pesticide residue.

In Canada, the outbreak prompted a recall of all raspberry products originating from Harbin Gaotai arriving in Canada between July 24, 2016 and July 26, 2017. The Canadian investigation identified Canada’s Alasko Foods as one of three importers of the tainted berries.

The Chilean Customs investigation showed that Frutti di Bosco was shipping repackaged Chinese raspberries to Alasko in Canada until the end of 2016, which directly overlapped with the period of the Canadian recall.

Some of those Chinese berries were supplied by Harbin Gaotai and shipped to Chile via a middleman – New Zealand-based Directus South East Asia Ltd – according to international trade and ship cargo data viewed by Reuters.

Directus told Reuters it had shipped raspberries to Chile in 2016 but was “not aware of any fraud.” It said it had no relationship with Alasko or Frutti di Bosco beyond those shipments.

No one knows whether the Harbin Gaotai raspberries imported via Chile contributed to the Canadian norovirus outbreak. Canadian authorities, unaware at the time of the illicit triangulation, said they never knew to look.

($1 = 797.9 Chilean pesos)

– Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Santiago; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal.

The post How a Chilean raspberry scam dodged food safety controls from China to Canada appeared first on Country Guide.

Actually, it was only by chance that I learned of this break-in even that “quickly” as I do not check Twitter on a regular basis, nor is the poster someone who I receive notifications from. Thankfully, someone I am associated with on Twitter had retweeted the post.

This incident highlights two major frustrations of rural residents. First is the prevalence of crime in rural areas. The second is the perceived lack of response to rural crime.

The good news is that this summer, rural Albertans will be able to access the free Crowd Security app which will address both these concerns.

But those issues need to be addressed all across rural Canada. Are they valid?

There is no question rural crime is a major problem. On May 7, 2019, Statistics Canada released a report entitled: “Police-reported crime in rural and urban areas in the Canadian provinces, 2017” written by Samuel Perreault. Highlights of the report include:

• In 2017, the police-reported crime rate in rural areas (6,210 incidents per 100,000 population) was 23 per cent higher than the urban crime rate (5,051 incidents per 100,000 population).
• Higher crime rates in rural areas were marked in the Prairie provinces, where in 2017, rates in rural areas were 36 per cent to 42 per cent higher than in urban areas.
• Police services in mostly rural areas served 16 per cent of the population in the provinces in 2017, but reported 23 per cent of violent crimes, 17 per cent of property crimes, 27 per cent of Criminal Code traffic offences, and 23 per cent of other Criminal Code violations.
• The police-reported crime rate in Canada declined from 2009 to 2017. However, the decrease was larger in urban areas (down 19 per cent) than in rural areas (down 13 per cent). As with the crime rate, since 2009, the Crime Severity Index has decreased more in urban areas (down 19 per cent) than in rural areas (down seven per cent).

Ask any farmer about rural crime and they will likely be able to tell you about incidents that happened within their community. If you include misdemeanor activities such as mischief, trespass, dumping of garbage and hunting without permission, I doubt there is a farmer who has not been personally impacted by such activities at one time or another.

In fact, such minor activities have become so prevalent that many are simply not reported and therefore not accounted for in statistics and charts like those above. So, it seems likely that actual crime rates are even higher in rural areas.

Which brings up concern number two: the lack of response to rural crime. Is this concern real?

Well, in the two provinces showing the highest rural crime rates, both Alberta and Saskatchewan governments are attempting to address the issue. Just over a year ago, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced a $30 million, 15-point plan to address crime, which he said was hitting rural Alberta hardest. It increased fines, increased the number of prosecutors, and increased prison terms for repeat offenders.

Then, in his 2018 throne speech, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe promised to “continue work on improving police response times and visibility through the Protection and Response Team (PRT).”

Both Saskatchewan and Alberta have expanded the duties of conservation officers and highway patrol officers to address rural crimes and both have strengthened trespass laws. These are signs that rural crime has caught the attention of governments and law enforcement agencies. The problem is that most of these measures focus more on punishment than on prevention and response to crimes.

Alberta’s new Crowd Security APP

This is where the Crowd Security app comes in. The app is the brainchild of three individuals: Trent Kenyon, a former rural Alberta RCMP member and now a community peace officer in central Alberta; Blake Moser, president of the East 13 Rural Crime Watch Association; and Gary Zhang, a geographical information systems (GIS) expert.

At a meeting this past February, Kenyon shared Statistics Canada data showing that, in 2017, rural Alberta had a police-reported crime rate of 10,964 per 100,000 people. This was 38 per cent higher than in urban Alberta. He attributed this disparity primarily to opportunity. According to Kenyon, “people commit crimes because they think they can get away with it.”

Kenyon explained that criminals see rural Alberta as easy pickings. He pointed out that the increasing distances between farms and rural infrastructure means fewer potential witnesses. Expensive tools and equipment tend to be less secured. There tends to be long response times by police because of the large territory they have to patrol. And the large grid system of rural roads gives criminals lots of opportunity to escape capture even if police do arrive in time.

But the biggest problem may be that rural Canadians continue to have a trusting nature. These are the issues, Kenyon said, that must be addressed if rural crime is to be reduced.

The founders of Crowd Security looked at what crime prevention practices worked in the past. After all, many farmers grew up when doors were never locked and keys were left in vehicles. The difference they noted was that in the past there were many more farms and farmers knew all their neighbours. Rural residents knew all the vehicles driving the local roads and were quick to check out a strange vehicle in the neighbourhood, or at least notify their neighbours of its presence.

Today a farmer may not even know the names of people living on acreages next door or those who are renting old farm sites, and while the old party line telephone system could quickly alert the entire neighbourhood to a problem, today, in spite of instant global communications, you may not even be able to find out the phone number of the person down the road if all they have is a cell phone.

Now, however, most community residents have a smartphone or home computer which can easily link people geographically. And this is the basic premise behind Crowd Security. Individuals download the Crowd Security app and set their location as well as the area for which they want to be notified of any suspicious activity. Then, should they see anything suspicious, they simply upload a text message about that activity on their phone. They have the option of attaching pictures or video as well.

Every other user of the Crowd Security app who has requested notification of activity within the area in which the event is happening will be instantly notified. This gives your neighbours the opportunity to be aware that something is happening in the neighbourhood. If they note the same person or vehicle, they can then add to the original post, creating a time and event line of the suspicious activity.

As well, that second post is then forwarded to not only the first people notified but to all those residing in the vicinity of where the second post was made, effectively tracking that person or vehicle as it moves across the community or even the province. This process continues until there are no longer concerns about the person or vehicle. If at any point in time it becomes apparent that the police should be notified, any poster can forward the crowd-sourced information to police thereby providing not only all the crowd-sourced details and locations of the suspicious vehicle or person but also the contact information of the witnesses who have posted.

Let me give you another personal experience where the Crowd Security app may have helped. Two years ago, a vehicle was stolen about 20 km away from our home. We had no idea a vehicle was stolen in the community that morning. The vehicle owner called the police and gave a description of the stolen vehicle, the driver and the direction it went. But by that time police arrived, it was long gone.

Remember, there was no general notice to the community about the theft. However, a few hours after the theft, while a neighbour was filling his seed drill beside the road, a police officer stopped and asked if he had seen the vehicle. He had not. After the police left, the neighbour phoned me (I was seeding across the road) to tell me what happened and to be on the lookout for that vehicle.

As it turned out, later that evening, I found the vehicle abandoned on a nearby dead-end road. The thief had abandoned the vehicle and walked a mile to where he stole another vehicle to get away.

I wonder, if the first vehicle owner been on Crowd Security and sent out a notification about the first theft, could either I or my neighbour have seen the vehicle go by where we were seeding. If so, we could have updated the owner through Crowd Security on where the vehicle was spotted. This would have provided additional information to the police of where it was travelling.

Could we have prevented the second vehicle theft? Or could the police have been able to notify Crowd Security app users about the stolen vehicle, thereby not having to stop and tell individual farmers to be on the lookout?

Crowd sourcing can provide significantly more details of criminal activity to police. It can also reduce unnecessary calls to police. Instead of four or five different people calling police to report a suspicious van in the area, Crowd Security allows residents to share sightings of the van first and chat about what it is doing before calling police. It may turn out that one person on Crowd Security knows the van is associated with, for example, utility work going on in the area, thereby making any notification to police unnecessary.

While new to Canada, similar systems are in place elsewhere and have been proven to reduce crime. In Sacramento, California, a similar-type system has been in use for two years and the police department recently credited the app for reducing crime in the city by 24 per cent.

Some readers may equate Crowd Security to the system implemented in some areas of Saskatchewan by the RCMP and Rural Crime Watch Associations whereby police send out notifications of suspicious activities so the community can watch for a vehicle or person.

Instead, Crowd Security is the opposite of the Saskatchewan program. While Crowd Security does offer the ability for police to notify citizens, its real value is allowing citizens to notify each other and then the police, if and when police response is needed. It is the community policing the community.

What makes this crime fighting tool even more attractive is that it is free. There is no cost for the app. All that is required is your participation in looking out for yourself and your neighbours. If you see something suspicious, report it and that report is instantly shared with every other Crowd Security participant within a personalized geographic area.

Crowd Security is upgradeable for a fee for people looking for even more protection against crime. For a yearly fee you can use the app without ads. As well, there are purchasable add-ons like geo fencing to ensure trackable assets do not leave your property and the ability to tie the app to your home alarm system for remote monitoring of your premises.

Will this stop all rural crime? No, but it is one more tool farmers can utilize to protect their homes and property. It is not a substitute for marking property, locking doors, removing keys, alarm systems, surveillance cameras, driveway gates, participation in local rural crime watch associations, and even guard dogs. But it complements each of these options, and the more actions you take to lessen the opportunity for criminals to get away with a crime, the less crime there will be.

Crowd Security opportunities

While the Crowd Security team is focused on the rollout in Alberta this year, the app could be implemented anywhere there is interest from the public and police departments. The founders hope it will expand across Canada in the coming years as interest and investment in the technology grows. So, if you are looking for a ground level investment in the rural security business in another province, this may be of interest to you too.

Crowd Security currently will be rolled out for beta testing in Alberta in June with full service beginning in July. If you are interested in participating in fighting crime in your communities, additional information is available on the web at www.crowdsecurity.ca.

To summarize how Crowd Security operates, this is the process as described on the website:

• Download the app, and talk to your neighbours, co-workers, friends and get them to download the app. The more people sharing the information the easier it is to stop the trouble.
• Report an event using your smartphone or home computer. This could be a crime event happening to you or someone else (i.e. theft of your vehicle), or a suspicious activity event (i.e. vehicle wandering aimlessly around your neighbourhood).
• Report the event with pictures, video and/or text and our GPS technology will automatically pinpoint where it is happening and all users in your specified range will automatically be alerted in real time.
• Now, while police are enroute, concerned citizens in your area can safely help keep an eye on the event in progress and continue reporting new information which creates a trail of evidence for the police.

The team behind Crowd Security are currently looking for local partners across Alberta who are willing to introduce this app to their communities. Ideal candidates would be people already involved in electrical and/or security equipment installation.

The post Rural crime: There’s an app for that appeared first on Country Guide.

Unfortunately, as the internet has become increasingly indispensible, the frequency of cybercrimes has also risen.

The risks associated with phishing scams, malware and ransomware attacks are real, and small businesses can be at greater risk than ever because many cybercriminals know they are so vulnerable, says Jason Besner.

Besner is director of partnerships at the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, which leads the federal government’s response to cybersecurity, and he says cybercriminals are looking to gain access to data about customers, suppliers and employees, with a focus on banking and credit card information and payment systems.

Cybersecurity incidents don’t just affect data; these incidents can also result in reputational damage, productivity loss, intellectual property theft, operational disruptions and financial loss due to large recovery costs.

But the biggest risk of all is being unprepared, says Besner. Too often companies take steps to protect themselves only after they have been a victim of a cyber incident.

Being proactive will save you time, money and a great deal of stress, agrees Steve Brown, manager of cybersecurity practice at BDO Canada LLP in Toronto. “The cost of resolution is much more than prevention,” he says.

Country Guide reached out to Besner and Brown for tips on how to protect your business from cybercriminals.

Assign at least one person to be responsible for your business’s cybersecurity, says Besner. Ensure the person understands the breadth of their responsibility and stays up-to-date with emerging cyberthreats.

Ensure all employees understand the importance of cybersecurity and are trained to use the internet safely and to recognize potential threats, says Besner.
It’s essential to have policies and procedures in place for safe use of email and the internet, says Brown. In the event of a cyberincident, everyone needs to know who to contact and what steps to take to minimize damage.

One of the most common threats is phishing, the use of deceptive emails to trick individuals into disclosing information or to trick people into downloading malicious software (malware) onto their computers, says Brown. Employees need “to take the extra minute to verify the source of an email,” he says. “Too often we are working on autopilot.”

Increasingly common, smishing is a form of phishing using text messages.

Whaling, says Besner, is a type of phishing where an employee with authority to issue large payments receives a message, which appears to be legitimate, urging them to direct funds to an account controlled by a cybercriminal, resulting in major financial losses.

Brown also warns against using free WIFI at coffee shops or elsewhere. “Bad actors can jump on that,” he says. “There’s a high risk of being intercepted. They can get usernames and passwords… they can get everything.” Instead, he recommends using your cell phone’s Hot Spot.

Doing an end-to-end cybersecurity threat risk assessment of all internet-connected devices will pinpoint any weaknesses in your system, says Besner. Some of the less obvious weak spots include:

• When possible, software should be set to update automatically so that all security fixes are up to date. When that’s not possible, manual updates should be scheduled regularly.
• Older versions of software that are no longer getting security patches from the developer are a potential risk, says Brown.
• Point-of-sale terminals and other internet-connected devices with operating systems are often overlooked, says Besner. “These devices are often not thought of as something to update and keep secure because they don’t look like computers,” he says. According to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, “by targeting out-of-date IT systems, cyberthreat actors can install malware that steals customer information, interferes with business operations, makes fraudulent purchases, manipulates pricing and causes other forms of disruption.”
• The security of any device should be considered before connecting it to the internet, continues Besner. All default usernames and passwords should be changed from the factory settings.
• A password policy should be part of your overall cybersecurity plan, says Brown. These are rules around how passwords are created and changed. (See “TIPS” below for more information on creating strong passwords.)
• Ransomware attacks that prevent you from using your computers until you pay a ransom are becoming increasingly common, says Brown. Having up-to-date backups in multiple locations can assist with data recovery.

When it comes to cybersecurity, putting the effort into securing your system through employee training, assessing your vulnerabilities and following best management practices will save you time, money and headaches.

Resources

The federal government’s Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has many free resources to help businesses and individuals protect themselves from cyberthreats.

These include a 46-page guide, Cybersafe Guide for Small and Medium Businesses which has a “Cyber Security Status Self-Assessment.”

TIPS for small and medium businesses*

Implementing anti-malware software and a firewall is a great first step toward strengthening your business’s cyber security. Malicious software (malware) is any software created and distributed to cause harm or steal information. Malware exists for desktop computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets.

Always be suspicious of phone calls, emails or other communications from an unknown source. Before providing personal information to anyone, verify that they are a trusted source.

Only visit legitimate and trusted websites while using business computers or working with business information. Hovering your cursor over a link will display the actual destination URL. Try this before clicking on a link. When in doubt, copy and paste the URL into a search engine to identify the site without visiting it.

Never remove or disable security safeguards put in place on business networks and computers (such as anti-virus software).

Implement a site-rating tool as an extension to the browser on user computers. This will help identify safe websites.

Illegally copied software is not supported by developers, which means your business cannot expect any sort of technical support if you experience problems.

Clear your browsing history or cache after online banking and shopping.

If a website or browser asks to keep you signed in, unclick that option and take the time to re-enter your password each time.

(* from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security)

The post How to protect yourself online appeared first on Country Guide.

I catch her on the phone one evening after work. She is calm and thoughtful, pausing as she answers my questions. I wonder if she learned that carefulness by testifying in court.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll call her Jane Smith. That’s not her real name, but publishing her true identity, or even identifying which rural community she calls home could put her at risk. Because although Jane Smith might not fit the stereotype, she is a domestic abuse survivor. And it took her over seven years to walk.

What does Jane wish that people in rural communities would learn about domestic violence?

“People should know it probably happens more often than they think,” she says.

Jo-Anne Dusel is all too aware of how prevalent domestic violence can be in farm country. Dusel worked at a shelter in Moose Jaw for 20 years before taking the helm of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan (PATHS). Saskatchewan currently tops the provinces for per-capita rates of domestic violence, Dusel points out.

“We have some work to do here,” she says.

Part of that work is making sure everyone — including employers, colleagues, friends, and neighbours — recognizes the signs of an abusive relationship. Marks and bruises are red flags. Calling in sick frequently is another, says Dusel.

And an abuser’s tendency to isolate the victim is a big flashing neon sign. If someone stops coming to town, or answering the phone, or if her partner takes over the phone conversation, speaking for her, “those are warning signs that are especially dangerous in a rural area,” says Dusel.

Jane’s ex (Larry Jones — also not his real name) started cutting her off from her friends shortly after they got together.

“If I was friends with any ex-boyfriends, he would just tell me straight out that he did not want me to talk to them at all,” she says. Jones’ rationale was that it would be healthier for their relationship, she adds.

But it didn’t end there. He started in on her other male friends, so she felt she had no choice but to end those friendships too. “Shortly after the male friends left my life, then he would start on the female friends.” He listened to her phone conversations and talked into them. He combed through her phone records, questioning her about them. “And the questions would turn into fights.”

“Work was a little bit of a reprieve because I had support. They could see what was happening,” Jane says. But Jones would call her on her cell and work phone, sometimes 50 times a day, she says. If she was out meeting a client, he would drive down Main Street, find her, and come into the client’s place. Or phone the client. It was the same story when she met a client at her office.

“The front desk would tell him that I was with a client. And then he’d walk through the front door, and sit in my office and wait for me until I was done.” He kept showing up at her office even after he was told he wasn’t welcome, she says.

The stalking and control left her feeling naked, “like there was not a stitch of me left or anything personal or anything private left. He really had taken away everything, mentally and physically.”

Employers need to make sure employees can talk about abuse without feeling ashamed or worrying about being fired, says Dr. Wendee Kubik, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.

Considering that Kubik grew up in Esterhazy and taught for years at the University of Regina, it’s apt that much of her research focuses on farm women.

Kubik also advises that it’s important to be understanding if an abused employee doesn’t come to work on a particular day. And employers can connect employees with resources, keeping in mind it’s the employee’s decision to leave or seek help.

Dusel encourages employers to keep an eye out for signs of abuse as well. They should ask if the employee is okay, rather than making assumptions, she says. And both Dusel and Kubik say workplaces should have a safety plan to protect the abused employee and others in the workplace.

For example, if the abused employee is at the front desk, it may be best to move her elsewhere until the situation is resolved, says Dusel. Or if she is working in the back, the receptionist needs to know about the situation, as well as any protection orders, and be sure not to give out information about the abused employee’s schedule or whereabouts.

The receptionist should also be prepared if the abuser storms in and demands to speak to his current or former partner. “There’s a certain way of responding that’s calm and rational and respectful to the person, because you don’t want to increase their agitation,” says Dusel. “But it really, really helps to think those things out in advance.”

Workplaces can get training to help them deal with domestic violence. PATHS is offering free seminars on preventing and responding to domestic violence at work, Dusel says, and will also do in-house training for workplaces.

It’s also vital that employers and co-workers know that the most dangerous phase is while a victim is leaving, and after she’s left.

Jane Smith knows this all too well. “It wasn’t physical until the very, very end.” As his control unravelled, he became very unpredictable, she says.

As her relationship neared its end, Jane researched where she could find help from her office. But Jones discovered who she’d called and emailed, and confronted her about it. To this day, Jane doesn’t know how he found out.

They changed the locks and installed a security system at her office. “The girls at work were scared that he’d be outside when they left.”

When it comes to domestic violence, many people ask why the victim didn’t leave, or why she didn’t leave earlier. But leaving is easier said than done, especially in rural areas. For one thing, more people have access to guns, heightening the danger. “And that prevents women from leaving. And sometimes it is safer to stay,” says Dusel.

People in remote areas also have less access to resources such as counsellors and emergency shelters, says Dusel. There are shelters in some smaller and mid-sized communities, she says. “But the location is less likely to be hidden. More people will know where it is. You’re more likely to run into people you know in that community. So there’s less of that sense of confidentiality.”

A couple of years ago Kubik ran a focus group at Kamsack, Sask., focused on domestic violence. Social workers, RCMP officers, and others on the front lines of the issue comprised the group. The area includes First Nations reserves, and lack of access to a car, or not having a driver’s licence, were problems. Other barriers included lack of affordable housing, not enough resources to treat addictions, victims not having access to a phone, lack of mental health services, and programs that don’t work well together. The general area includes many different cultures, and the focus group said racism was also a problem, Kubik adds.

The victim may also fear that the abuser will either harm or neglect pets and livestock, Dusel and Kubik say. Jane experienced that fear first hand. “There were threats made towards the animals,” she says. Her friends and family contacted the RCMP because they were worried about her. But she didn’t want to endanger herself or her animals by talking to police while she was still living with him.

Things get even harder if there are children involved. In rural areas, leaving an abusive relationship often means leaving town. Kids are cut off from friends, cousins, and the rest of their support network as the family moves to an urban emergency shelter or another town. It’s not like changing schools in the city, Kubik says.

If a farm is on the line, splitting up those assets is going to be complex and take time. It’s also very visceral, Dusel says, especially if the farm has been in the family for generations. The emotion involved in breaking up that legacy adds to the risk of leaving. And an asset-rich farm family may be cash poor, Dusel adds, making it harder for the person leaving to survive financially.

Women who marry farmers usually move onto their husbands’ farms, Kubik says. That means moving into his community, where people already see him a particular way, and see the wife as a kind of outsider. That can lead to victim blaming, she adds.

Support systems vital

Anyone who’s lived in a rural community has probably attended a fundraising dance for a family that lost their home to a fire, faced a health emergency, or suffered an unexpected tragedy. So why can’t tight-knit communities be an asset for domestic abuse victims, too?

Kubik hasn’t seen that happen personally, but says it’s possible. “If both of them are from the same community, she’s likely to have some supports.”

Neighbours can play an important role, especially if a victim is isolated on a farm. “Let the person know, at a safe time, when they’re alone, that you’ve recognized that something’s going on, you care about them, and you’re willing to support them no matter what they do,” says Dusel. But that talk needs to be kept confidential. It’s especially dangerous if the abuser hears his partner is about to leave, she adds.

And it’s not just adult victims who benefit from community support. Research has established that children who grow up witnessing domestic violence are more likely to become either perpetrators or victims, Dusel says, as they repeat what they’ve learned.

But some of those kids do break the abuse cycle as they step into adulthood. “It’s often linked to having at least one really good support person in their lives who shows them there’s a different way,” says Dusel.

That person could be the other parent, an aunt or uncle, a teacher, a coach, or any number of other adults who interact with children. Often these kids consciously choose not to repeat the abuse in order to spare their future families from the trauma they suffered as children, Dusel adds.

Jane knows how important it is to have people in your corner. Unless you have an incredibly strong support system, it can seem impossible to get out of that relationship, she says. Her partner became so controlling that even keeping a diary proved dangerous because he read it. A new, unhealthy, normal had taken over her life, she says.

“It is really tough to be able to come out of that cloud and see the whole picture,” says Jane.

The realization that she had to leave wasn’t like a “slap in the face.” But little things started to nudge her out of the cloud. If she was home alone, her heart would race with fear when he pulled into the driveway and his truck’s headlights illuminated the yard. As time went on, he kept breaking his promises to get help, and she got fed up. She felt like she’d given him an honest shot at changing, she says.

One day, while still in the relationship, she went to the local RCMP detachment after work. She parked her vehicle at a different business and walked to the detachment so Jones wouldn’t see her vehicle there. Shaking in fear, she rang the buzzer. No one answered, so she left. Later she realized the RCMP’s office closed at 5 p.m.

But while she was leaving Jones, there was an altercation, she says, and the RCMP got involved. “And at that point, I didn’t have a choice but to give a statement.”

Jane says she wasn’t thinking about fixing the relationship or having charges laid as she gave her statement. It was an emotional process, but a relief to let the truth out, she says. Then the prosecutor decided to lay charges.

“And what followed was really disappointing. Really, really disappointing.”

Smith says no one prepped her to testify. A victim’s services worker told her someone would be in court to support her, but she wasn’t told what the defense was likely to ask or how they would make her feel. “They basically said just go in there and tell your story.”

In court, the defense painted her as emotionally unstable, or someone who was “straight-out lying,” she says, to sow reasonable doubt. It had been about a year since she left, she says, and she’d regained some of her confidence. But she thinks that confidence went against her, as she didn’t look like a stereotypical victim.

“Domestic violence is so complicated and the people in it change when they’re out. And it’s so hard to prove unless you have a bruise on your face.”

Her ex and his defence presented the judge with their own story. “And there was my story and there was his story, and there was no proof.” The Crown did call other witnesses to back up her story. “And the defense tore them apart.”

Asked whether legal options have improved for victims of domestic abuse, Dusel says it’s a work in progress. “It’s not ideal. I think people are trying.”

In 2003, Ontario set up a domestic homicide death review committee, which looks for risk factors, patterns, and common themes in domestic homicides. The committee also looks for who knew about the abuse and could have intervened. That process has spawned targeted programs, such as Make It Our Business.

Saskatchewan recently started reviewing domestic homicides as well. The province also has domestic violence courts in Saskatoon, Regina, and North Battleford. Eligible abusers can plead guilty and go through treatment rather than the regular court system. A reduced sentence is contingent on meeting treatment requirements.

Dusel thinks those courts could change the attitudes that ultimately lead to domestic violence and homicide. She says there’s growing recognition that to prevent future abuse, abusers need help.

As for Jane, she’s been out of that relationship for three years now. She’s still dealing with him in the courts, and she says he’s still trying to manipulate her life as much as he can.

“But it’s a hundred times better being away from him.”

What if an employee is abused on the farm, or at home

What is a farmer’s legal responsibility if one of their employees is suffering abuse? Or what if a family member is abused, or is an abuser?

Domestic violence can threaten the safety of the abused employee as well as others in the workplace.

All employers need to provide a safe working space, says Dr. Wendee Kubik. If, for example, an employee reports sexual harassment from someone else in the workplace, the business owner must take steps to make the workplace safe, she says. “And if they don’t do that, they are liable.”

Provincial codes vary, but in Saskatchewan, for instance, all employers must develop a harassment policy to protect workers from harassment. That includes harassment from other employees, supervisors, customers, and patients. And it also includes harassment outside of regular working hours, such as at conferences or work socials.

Employers can find information about how to respond to domestic violence, training opportunities, and prevention plans at makeitourbusiness.ca.

If an employer, or any other adult, knows or suspects a child is being abused or neglected, they are also legally obligated to report to police or a child welfare agency.

How should farmers or other employers deal with a worker they know to be abusive? Assuming none of the situations above apply, they could look to the Canadian Football League (CFL) for inspiration. The CFL worked with the Ending Violence Association of Canada to develop a domestic violence policy. That policy covers players, coaches, and other employees.

The league doesn’t act as criminal investigators, but instead allows experts to intervene. It offers counselling to abusers when it’s deemed helpful, and provides referrals and support to victims. If there is a clear and documented case of violence or violation of a protection order, the CFL will impose sanctions. But the policy’s focus isn’t on being punitive — instead it aims to assess and reduce risk, mitigate harm, and promote positive change.

For more information, visit cfl.ca.

The culture of violence

It’s a very fine line between what society finds acceptable and what’s inappropriate in a relationship, says Jane Smith. She cites the romance novel 50 Shades of Grey as an example of the hairline dividing the sexy and romantic, and the controlling and inappropriate.

At first, her relationship with Larry Jones straddled that line, she says. Was he acting out of love and concern, she wondered. Her previous relationships had been unsuccessful, so perhaps he was right — perhaps this was a better way to do things, she thought. Then the lines became blurred, and she didn’t immediately realize that the relationship was unhealthy, she says.

Both Wendee Kubik and Jo-Anne Dusel see a need for a culture shift to address domestic violence. Kubik says young boys need to be educated on how to treat girls and women, but she thinks this has improved in the last few years, with media and Internet campaigns.

Tolerance of other forms of abuse, from sexual harassment to stalking, feed the problem, says Dusel. The bottom line is that it’s an attitude that says women are less than men. And so-called “locker room talk” about groping women is no laughing matter, Dusel says.

“We do recognize the vast majority of men aren’t abusive. But they don’t know how to interrupt or stop or even respond to the men who are abusive,” says Dusel.

Jackson Katz is an author and lecturer who focuses on gender, race, and violence. During a 2012 Ted Talk, he argued that violence against women is not a “woman’s issue” or “battle of the sexes.”

“What about all the young men and boys who have been traumatized by adult men’s violence?” asks Katz.

Katz sees this as a leadership issue. The responsibility to take a stand shouldn’t fall on boys or young men. It should fall to adult men with power, he says.

You can view Katz’s Ted Talk at ted.com.

Resources

Looking for more information and resources to deal with abuse in your community or workplace?

Ontario’s Neighbours, Friends and Family program has information on everything from safety planning to talking to both victims and abusers (see neighboursfriendsandfamilies.ca). Business owners can learn how to recognize and deal with domestic violence in the workplace at makeitourbusiness.ca. Saskatchewan employers interested in Make it Our Business training can contact Jo-Anne Dusel of PATHS at paths@sasktel.net or 306-522-3515.

Resources are available in every province. In Saskatchewan, visit abuse.sk.211.ca for a listing of legal resources, FAQs, and more. A map of, and contact information for, shelters across Canada is available at sheltersafe.ca.

Some animal shelters are now working with social service agencies to keep pets safe when their owners leave abusive relationships. Check with your local animal shelters or provincial SPCA for more information.

Dr. Wendee Kubik and Jo-Anne Dusel were part of a research team looking at domestic violence in rural and northern regions of the Prairies and the North West Territories. For more information visit www2.uregina.ca/ipv/index.html.

The post Rural distress appeared first on Country Guide.

Domestic violence is far too prevalent. Just in the last five years, more than one million people in Canada have reported being either physically or sexually assaulted by their partner or spouse. Again, let’s pause for a moment to let it sink in… more than one million.

This is a problem that affects all of us. The RCMP estimates the direct cost to Canadian society from injuries and chronic health problems caused by abuse at $1 billion per year, but that doesn’t factor in the social cost of adults and children who are traumatized by the violence and the depression, anxiety, poor physical health, substance abuse and suicide that it causes.

While we’d like to think this is an urban problem, and that it isn’t happening in farm families or in our rural communities, that’s not the reality.

“Domestic violence knows no limits… it transcends socio-demographic boundaries,” says Lana Wells, Brenda Strafford chair in domestic violence in the faculty of social work at the University of Calgary. Wells heads up SHIFT, The Project to End Domestic Violence, which focuses on preventing domestic violence by working in partnership with government, communities, organizations and citizens.

According to the RCMP, domestic violence affects people of all ages, rich and poor, and from every cultural and educational background. (Most domestic violence is inflicted on women by men although there are cases of men becoming victims.)

Rural society likes to think of itself as more wholesome and innocent, but it is not immune.

Sadly, when it comes to supporting domestic violence victims, rural residents can be at a disadvantage, according to Andrea Silverstone, executive director of PEER Support Services for Abused Women (PSSAW) in Calgary. “Rural communities often are not able to provide specialized domestic violence services,” Silverstone says. “Any services that may be available in rural communities are often limited and oversubscribed.”

The first steps

“Domestic violence is a complex, pervasive, costly, yet preventable problem,” says Wells.

Stress, gender inequality and exposure to domestic violence as a child all increase the risk.

Wells says men who witnessed their fathers inflicting violence on their mothers are at higher risk of becoming perpetrators and harming their own spouses and partners.

Alcohol can also exacerbate the problem.

Yet there are also factors that can reduce the risk that an individual will become abusive, including resiliency and good relationship skills.

According to the RCMP, domestic violence has been declining, which in itself is proof that relationship abuse can be stopped. It also says that changing attitudes, services for victims, treatment programs for violent men, stronger laws and pro-arrest policies are making a difference.

Now, governments and community organizations are training their resources on primary prevention instead of crisis intervention.

After an extensive review of the existing research literature, Wells and her associates have identified several strategies that will address the root causes.

One of these strategies is to involve men and boys in promoting gender equality and ending violence. By focusing on equipping men and boys with the knowledge, skills and capacities to engage in healthy relationships, domestic abuse can be stopped before it starts.

The research backs a multi-pronged approach that engages men as role models in working with other men and boys to promote positive masculinity and as violence disruptors.

The research also shows that increased positive father involvement is also associated with lower levels of family conflict and violence, and increases the likelihood that children will grow up in an emotionally and physically safe environment.

It also turns out that men’s emotional well-being is improved when they spend more time caring for their children. As well, boys who have nurturing fathers are less likely to use violence against female partners, but men can also be positive role models in the lives of young boys.

Mechanisms to increase positive male parenting can include progressive parental leave policies for men, social media campaigns to change norms and behaviours, and educational and networking programs to support fathers.

To reach out to men and boys, it’s necessary to go to where they congregate, says Wells. “We need to go where they work, play, learn, worship and socialize. We need to infuse content in these settings to develop the skills that support gender equality, that build healthy relationship skills, that teach and reinforce positive and healthy masculinities and that disrupt and stop violence.”

Adolescence is a time when values and norms around gender equality are forged. Healthy relationship skills can be taught as the Fourth R (Relationship) as part of the Grade 7 to 9 school curriculum. “By promoting respectful relationships and gender equality, and by building competencies in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making with young boys and girls, dating violence can be stopped,” says Wells.

“We all need to work to prevent violence to build a society where abuse of power is not tolerated,” the RCMP website says. “By seeing intimate partner violence and abuse for what it is — a crime — we can all take responsibility and work together as a community to stop the violence.”

Translating research into action

Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat

With funding from the Canadian Women’s Foundation, SHIFT worked with the Alberta communities Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat to support local service providers and community leaders in adopting strategies to prevent domestic violence.

Those working in education, health care, and community agencies were invited to participate in a series of workshops where the latest research findings on domestic violence prevention were presented, followed by a discussion of how this knowledge could best be integrated into the local community.

Over a period of eight months, the program delivered six full-day sessions. In an evaluation six months after the completion of the project, participants said the project had benefitted their individual learning, helped them to connect with others working in their community and had been translated into strategies for prevention of domestic violence in their community, particularly school-based healthy relationship programming.

Check these services

National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233 | 1-800-787-3224 (TTY)

Shift: Project to End Domestic Violence
University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work

Canadian Women’s Foundation
Stats, information on promoting healthy relationships and grants for community programs

Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child
Resources for Healthy Parenting

The post Preventing domestic violence appeared first on Country Guide.