The West Block – Episode 36, Season 13

THE WEST BLOCK
Episode 36, Season 13
Sunday, May 19, 2024

Host: Mercedes Stephenson

Guests:
Dominic Piché, RCMP National Close Protection Training Unit
Howard Sapers, Former Correctional Investigator of Canada

Location:
Ottawa Studio

Mercedes Stephenson: Secret transfers of some of Canada’s most notorious killers, warnings about prison riots, and questions about the conditions behind bars.

I’m Mercedes Stephenson. The West Block starts now.

We’re learning more details about the secretive transfer of one of Canada’s most brutal killers: Luka Magnotta. Why is the prison system so secretive and what is really going on inside? We’ll find out.

But first, the shooting of Slovakia’s prime minister highlights the increasing threat for politically charged violence worldwide.

As Ottawa scrambles to recruit more protective policing officers to keep politicians of all stripes safe, we go behind the scenes to find out what it takes to be on a VIP detail.

Politicians are targets for political violence. They always have been. But national security sources say that it’s getting much worse, with the threats becoming more common, more extreme and more difficult to defend against. And you’d only look at what happened in Slovakia last week, where the Slovak prime minister was shot to see evidence that the threat is real.

Here in Canada, you may have noticed that the prime minister, his cabinet and even leaders of the opposition have had protective policing officers around them that didn’t used to be there in those numbers or that frequency. It’s left the RCMP trying to quickly recruit and process specialized officers who could protect politicians and our democracy. The West Block got exclusive access to the RCMP training program to see what they