Latest news with #KingstonWhig-Standard
Ottawa Citizen
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
'Fear and gratitude': Iconic photo captures Canada's role in a forgotten war
Article content Many years later, in 1994, a Korean War exhibit at the Canadian War Museum would bring to light the minor controversy over the soldier's identity. Article content Pte. Herbert Norris of Kingston, Ont., was also a signaller in Charles Company in Korea, and had been giving talks about the war and identifying himself as subject of The Face of War. This came to wide attention through media coverage of the exhibit, including the museum's presentation of a framed print to Norris at a gala. Faced with a growing scandal, the museum looked more closely into it, and based on evidence from archives, police facial recognition experts, and the confirmation of both Tomelin and the person who processed the film, concluded they had made a mistake. The Face of War was Matthews. Article content It left Norris feeling disrespected, he would later tell the Kingston Whig-Standard. He was not the only Korea veteran to feel this way. Even during the war, when U.S. President Harry Truman called it a 'police action,' rather than a war that had not been formally declared, many veterans of Korea felt their contributions were inadequately respected. Article content Article content Article content Korea was an unpopular war, and Sayle said it was a main reason the Democrats lost the 1952 U.S. election. It was especially worrying to Canada, though in a slightly different way, Sayle said. Article content The Korean War was 'exceptionally significant' in international relations, Sayle said. It transformed European security. It led to the deployment of Canadian and American forces in Europe with NATO, anticipating conflict with the Soviet Union. Article content 'The actual continental commitment begins because of the attack in Korea,' Sayle said. Article content So Canadians were alarmed to see American forces bombing defenceless villages in Korea, and came to wonder whether they would also fight that way if hot war came again to Europe. The concern reached the cabinet level, and Sayle shared a declassified message from Canada's minister of national defence to his American counterparts, warning of the 'magnificent ammunition' for enemy propaganda and the risk to military morale posed by using heavy artillery and large bombers against villages; by naming missions things like 'Operation Killer;' and by using racist slurs for South Koreans, the same ones that would later be notorious among American soldiers in Vietnam. Article content Article content There is a valid argument to be made that Canada was fighting to protect South Korea, Sayle said, but the way the conflict played out 'robs the war of any satisfying heroic narrative, especially because it ends in armistice rather than true peace. There's no closure for the public. There's no celebration, no Victory in Korea day,' Sayle said. Article content Over the following years, as Korea slipped from immediate memory into modern history, there was another shooting war in Southeast Asia that coloured its remembrance. Korea was in that sense 'in the shadow of Vietnam,' Sayle said. Article content In the 1980s and 1990s, when there was an 'explosion of memory' of the Second World War, as Sayle puts it, this sharpened the contrast with Korea, leaving its veterans sometimes overlooked, out of the Remembrance Day spotlight. Article content 'Just because of the historical nature and context I think we can understand why it was forgotten, but that doesn't excuse the forgetting of these veterans and their experiences,' Sayle said. As this photo illustrates and reminds, any individual soldier's experience of war is 'indivisible,' Sayle said.
Toronto Sun
04-06-2025
- General
- Toronto Sun
Woman testifies alleged Kingston predator sexually abused her in washroom
Michael Haaima is on trial facing 98 charges for alleged incidents dating back to 2007 through to his arrest in 2022 An alleged victim of accused sexual predator Michael Haaima testified in Ontario Superior Court in Kingston on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Photo by Gare Joyce/Kingston Whig-Standard. Warning: The following story deals with sexual violence and sexual assault and may be triggering or disturbing to some. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A woman testified on Tuesday her former weed dealer and roommate sexually assaulted her while she was sitting on a toilet and then raped her in his bedroom while his friend was passed out beside them and a roomful of people partied downstairs. 'I kept saying, 'No, stop it,' but I think it fuelled his fire,' the woman told the court in a controlled and at times hushed voice. She was testifying from another courthouse while her sleeping newborn was strapped to her in a carrier. The woman was the third witness called by the Crown to testify in Ontario Superior Court in Kingston where alleged sexual predator Michael Haaima is on trial, facing 98 charges for incidents dating back to 2007 through to his arrest in 2022. Among the charges against the 40-year-old tech worker are more than 30 counts of sexual assault, including several involving weapons or choking. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In its opening, the Crown stated that 28 women are expected to testify at the trial, which is expected to stretch into the fall. Madame Justice Robyn Ryan Bell is presiding over the trial without a jury. Dressed in a beige jacket, a gaunt Haaima looked on dispassionately from the dock and didn't react during the witness' testimony. Only when the judge left the courtroom during breaks did Haaima doff his jack, roll up his sleeves to reveal tattoos stretching the length of his arms to his wrists and consult with his lawyer. The third woman called by the Crown to testify at the trial, the witness told the court Tuesday that she became Haaima's roommate out of necessity when she was 20 years old in March 2007 — she said she had been living out of her Pontiac Sunbird 'for at least two nights' with her friend and her friend's sister when they drove to Haaima's house on Selkirk Street to buy marijuana. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The three girls had been kicked out of a house in the west end of Kingston after the sisters' father became angered by their late-night partying. When they told Haaima of their plight, he told them he was looking for roommates — that his previous roommate was moving out. 'He seemed like a nice, reasonable guy (who was going to) help us when we needed help,' the woman told the court on Tuesday. She testified that she didn't know Haaima, who had sold drugs to her friend and previously had sex with her. The friend, a Kingston resident, testified on Monday that her sexual encounter with Haaima had turned violent, involving hitting and choking, but she hadn't shared any details of her experience. Under questioning from assistant Crown Holly Chiavetti, the witness on Tuesday told the court that she was initially attracted to Haaima, remembering him as 'a pretty boy (with) piercings' and 'well-kept.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'He went through (the three of) us like we were notches on his bedpost,' she said ruefully. The witness told the court on Tuesday she and her friend were watching television on Haaima's bed shortly after they moved in and he forced himself on them, first putting his hands down her pajama pants and penetrated her with his hands without consent. 'I told him it's not my style — not with my best friend there,' she testified. 'It was inappropriate. I wasn't comfortable. He rolled over and moved on to (my friend).' According to her testimony about an incident a few weeks later, Haaima called her for a ride home from a west-end bar. She said Haaima was inebriated and abusive toward her when she arrived and at one point while in the bar exposed himself and grabbed her neck, forcing her face toward his groin, demanding oral sex. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. She told the court she drove Haaima and his friend back to the house on Selkirk Street and went upstairs to use the bathroom. She said that Haaima and his friend came into the bathroom and the two of them touched her sexually while she was sitting on the toilet. The other man seemed to be going along only at Haaima's urging and soon left the two of them alone. The witness said she jumped up on the bathroom vanity to get away from Haaima, but that he sexually violated her there. 'He penetrated me multiple times,' she said. According to her testimony, Haaima then picked her up and carried her into his bedroom, throwing her down on the bed beside his friend who had passed out. She said Haaima then raped her without using a condom. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I was lost, scared and just wanted to get out,' she testified. 'I said, 'No. Stop.' I wondered why a roomful of people downstairs couldn't hear me.' The witness said on Tuesday that she didn't file a police report in 2007 nor at any point after. 'I question myself about that,' she said. According to her testimony, Haaima later focused on a 15-year-old girl who worked with her at a fast-food outlet. 'He lost interest in (the three of us) after that,' the witness said. 'We brought up (our issues) with (the 15-year-old) a couple of times but she didn't understand our concerns with the age difference.' One of the charges against Haaima is for sexual exploitation, which is tied to his alleged involvement with the 15-year-old. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Haaima's lawyer, Natasha Calvinho, objected to the witness testifying while holding the baby, calling it 'not appropriate' and 'highly possibly distracting.' In turn, the Crown argued that the witness would be more distracted if she had to hand over the newborn to a police officer who was the only person accompanying her to the courthouse for her remote testimony. Madame Justice Bell allowed the witness to testify with breaks to attend to the baby when necessary. Occasionally, the witness started to sob as she recounted events as she remembered them, but didn't ask to pause the questioning from assistant Crown Chiavetti. The trial continues Wednesday when the witness is scheduled to return to the stand for questioning from Haaima's lawyer. The identities of whom are shielded by a publication ban. A joint investigation between the Ontario Provincial Police and Kingston Police, dubbed 'Project Shamrock,' began in January 2022, when Kingston Police were made aware of an individual luring victims through social media platforms. Haaima was arrested on April 6, 2022. gjoyce@ Columnists Celebrity Columnists Crime World
