On November 11, the emergency call came in to Lacolle, Quebec.  The local volunteer fire department was desperately needed to assist in putting out a fire across the border in nearby Rouses Point, New York.  The six firemen from Lacolle piled into their fire engine and raced for the border, siren sounding and lights flashing.  Hands across the border, in accord with a long-standing mutual aid agreement worked out by small communities along the frontier.

During a U.S. Court of Appeals hearing on November 9, Maher Arar's lawyer David Cole, from the Center for Constitutional Rights, sought to re-start a suit to recover damages for Arar's extraordinary rendition to Syria, where he was tortured.  A lawyer for former Attorney General John Ashcroft charged that Arar had "unequivocal membership in al-Qaeda."  That did not go over well with the court.

After a row in Parliament, Canada reached a new agreement in May with Afghanistan to permit Canada to monitor captured fighters turned over to Afghan authorities.  On November 14, Canadian officials reported on the seventh complaint by prisoners since the agreement was signed.

Israeli Minister of Public Security, Ari Dichter and Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, have been developing a cooperative approach to terrorism and related issues, involving exchange of information, technology, and operations.  The Israeli Ministry web site reported on these developments, but Day's office was caught off guard by the revelation, at first calling the Israeli report "inaccurate." 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Canadian Daniel Bellemare, former chief of Canada's Federal Prosecution Service, to head the investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri.  He will only begin his work some time next year, however.

Omar Khadr's trial at Guantanamo is on again.  He is accused of being an illegal enemy combatant, having been involved in a firefight in Afghanistan while serving with al-Qaeda fighters when he was 15.  He is now 21, still held at Guantanamo.
At the trial, Khadr's lawyer Lt. Commander William Kuebler asked the judge what he understood to be al-Qaeda's purpose.  The judge responded that it was to spread Islam.