[PHOTO] Casa do Alentejo, 1130 Dupont Street

The Casa do Alentejo (1130 Dupont Street), just north and east of the intersection of north-south Dufferin Street with and east-west Dupont, is a community centre for Portuguese Canadians taking its name from the mainland Portuguese region of Alentejo. This February 2012 article noting the centre's celebrating its 29th anniversary--30th this year--makes for interesting reading.



This plaque, dating from the 24th of October, 1999, commemorates a visit by the Portuguese consul-general in Toronto to this Portuguese community centre.



This graffiti, located on the east side of the Casa do Alentejo (1130 Dupont Street), just north and east of the intersection of north-south Dufferin Street with and east-west Dupont, was apparently commissioned by the building's owners. This photo was taken in October 2010, but the graffiti remains.



See this YouTube interview dating from 2008.

[LINK] "Canadian navy spy sentenced to 20 years for selling secrets to Russia"

The story of Jeffrey Delisle, a Canadian naval officer who pled guilty in October to selling Canadian secrets to the Russian governent has come to an end, as reported by the Canadian Press' Carolyn Auld (via the National Post).

Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, the Halifax navy intelligence officer who sold secrets to Russia, has been given a 20-year prison sentence.

But the judge presiding over the case says Delisle will serve 18 years and five months behind bars because of time he has already served.

Provincial court Judge Patrick Curran said Friday that Delisle “coldly and rationally” offered his services to Russia.

[. . .]

Delisle, 41, was arrested in January 2012 and became the first person to be charged under the Security of Information Act. That law was passed following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

[. . .]

In an agreed statement of facts, Delisle admitted that his treachery began when he walked into the Russian embassy in Ottawa in July 2007 and offered his services for money.

For years, he funnelled classified information to the Russians for monthly payments of about $3,000.

The naval threat assessment analyst said he used floppy discs and memory sticks to smuggle information out of Halifax’s HMCS Trinity, the military all-source intelligence centre on the East Coast.

He then took the information home and copied it into an email address that he shared with his Russian agent so he never had to send the email.

But he came under suspicion after returning in September 2011 from a trip to Brazil, where he met a Russian agent named Victor who told him that he would become a “pigeon” or liaison for all Russian agents in Canada.

Alarms were raised within the Canada Border Services Agency because he had no tan, little awareness of the tourist sites in Rio de Janeiro, three prepaid credit cards, thousands of dollars in U.S. currency and a handwritten note with an email address, the court heard.

Authorities intercepted two messages in January 2012 that Delisle tried to pass on to the Russians, and he was arrested shortly later.

[LINK] "Brazeau situation ‘terrible … appalling,’ Stephen Harper says"

The Postmedia article summing up the situation of Patrick Brazeau, recently-appointed Conservative senator who was arrested yesterday and today faces charges of domestic violence and sexual assault, might amount to something more than sordid criminal allegations. (The Wikipedia biography neatly summarizes Brazeau's various controversies.) I doubt it, though: it looks like the Conservative Party has cut him off thoroughly.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives distanced themselves Friday from Sen. Patrick Brazeau, after Brazeau was released on $1,000 bail, facing charges of assault and sexual assault.

The 38-year old senator from Quebec made a brief court appearance Friday morning after spending the night in a Gatineau jail.

“Obviously the situation with Sen. Brazeau is terrible,” Harper said at a news conference about criminal justice legislation in Burnaby, B.C. “It is extremely appalling, disappointing, we all feel very let down.”

[. . .]

Charges against the controversial senator could trigger a Senate process that could see him suspended from Canada’s upper chamber as early as Tuesday – while still being paid a senator’s annual base salary of $132,300.

[. . .]

“The Conservatives appointed him knowing full-well that he had numerous sexual harassment complaints against him and he was not paying child support for his son,” said Francoise Boivin, NDP MP for Gatineau, inside the House of Commons. “Why did he (Prime Minister Stephen Harper) wait so long before expelling him from the Conservative caucus?”

Brazeau, an aboriginal senator, has been an outspoken critic of many First Nations leaders, and of the Idle No More protest movement.

But he has also been under Senate investigation, along with other senators, over allegations that he may have misused $21,000 in housing allowances. He has maintained his innocence.

In an earlier interview, he told Postmedia News, “I knew I was going to be a target from day one. I was appointed at the age of 34, a very young senator, the third youngest in Canadian history. That fact alone and the fact that perhaps that I’m also – and I hate to say this – perhaps the fact that I’m also aboriginal” (would make him a target).

[. . .]

He also said at the time: “Everything negative that has been said about me since my appointment has never been proven. I still look forward to the day that, regardless of the allegations that swarm out there by different media sources or any other individuals or groups, that they actually provide the truth and the facts to back up their allegations.”