Home PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-039

Daily Brief

The PSEPC Daily Brief is a compilation of summaries of publicly available and PSEPC information concerning critical infrastructure protection and emergency management.

DOB06-039 - 24 February 2006

News

Service New Brunswick office closed due to suspicious package
On February 23, the RCMP Atlantic region Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear (CBRN) team responded to the Service New Brunswick (SNB) office in Perth-Andover to investigate a package containing a white powder received in the office. Two buildings were closed including the SNB and Canada Post. Three persons were quarantined and hospitalized for precautions; however, authorities established later in the day that no threat to public safety or security was present and that the offices were reopened.
(Source: RCMP, cnews, 23 February 2006)
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PSEPC Geomatics provides a map (219 kb) of the affected areas.

Service New Brunswick is the provincial government's chief provider of front-line services to the public.

Blizzard warnings for Newfoundland and Labrador
On February 24, Environment Canada issued blizzard warnings for parts of Newfoundland and Labrador. Strong northwest winds gusting up to 120 km/h are expected to develop over those regions until February 26.
(Source: Environment Canada, 24 February 2006)
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Environment Canada issues public weather warnings across the country.

Quebec and Ontario monitoring serious pig disease
On February 23, according to canada.com, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Chuck Stahl announced that the department is monitoring a serious illness, post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome or PMWS, which has killed hundreds of thousands of pigs in Quebec. It has also shown up in Ontario. The Minister indicated that provincial governments are monitoring the illness, and are trying to discover the impact of the problem and whether it's getting worse. Canada.com states that the illness does not present any risk to humans.
(Source: canada.com, calgarysun.com, 23 February 2006)
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In brief

Three new cases of H5N1 found in birds in German states
On February 24, the German Agriculture Ministry announced that three wild ducks tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Two of birds were found in the northwestern state of Schleswig-Holstein and the third bird was found in the southwestern state of Baden Wuerttemberg.
(Source: Reuters AlertNet, 24 February 2006)
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More H5N1 cases found in birds in Egypt
On February 23, the Egyptian government announced that the H5N1 avian influenza virus was now found in 14 of the country’s 26 provinces. New cases have now spread to provinces in the south and west of Egypt.

Cases of the virus were found in birds in Beheira, on the west side of the Nile, and in the southern town of Luxor in the Nile Valley.
(Source: Reuters AlertNet, 23 February 2006)
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The Public Health Agency of Canada provides information on avian influenza.

Cyber risk assessment

Over the course of the past 24 hours, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) has not detected any significant new threats or vulnerabilities. No significant incidents with the potential to affect critical infrastructure have been reported. Accordingly, based on the information available to CCIRC, the cyber risk facing Canadian critical infrastructure is assessed as low. Personnel responsible for information, systems and network security should continue to apply appropriate security precautions and monitor their systems.

Recent cyber alerts and advisories issued by CCIRC can be viewed under “Recent analytical releases” at www.psepc.gc.ca/ccirc.

See also...

• The Weather Office
• FAC - Travel Updates

Note to readers

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) collects information related to cyber and physical threats to, and incidents involving, Canadian critical infrastructure. This allows us to monitor and analyze threats and to issue alerts, advisories and other information products.

Any suspected criminal activity should be reported to local law enforcement organizations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) National Operations Centre (NOC) provides a 24/7 service to receive such reports or to redirect callers to local law enforcement organizations. The NOC can be reached at (613) 993-4460. National security concerns should be reported to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) at (613) 993-9620.

Links to sites not under the control of the Government of Canada (GoC) are provided solely for the convenience of users. The GoC is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The GoC does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

Some hyperlinks in the PSEPC Daily Brief direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act. Users should be aware that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.