From the Toronto Star (Terrorism suspect is released on bail by Thulasi Srikanthan, September 27):
After more than a month in custody, Tamil Tiger suspect Piratheepan Nadarajah was released on nearly $750,000 bail yesterday.
[. . .]
Nadarajah, 30, of Brampton still faces extradition to the United States on terrorism charges. U.S. court documents allege he is a "scientist" and a technical expert who intentionally conspired to provide material support to the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE is listed as a terrorist group in the U.S. and Canada.
He was arrested Aug. 23 after a joint RCMP-FBI investigation, and is among 11 people in both countries arrested in the case.
American authorities allege Nadarajah attempted to travel across the Canada-U.S. border in the Niagara area on Aug. 18 with three other suspects. It's alleged they were on their way to buy weapons in Long Island, N.Y. The group told a Customs official they were travelling to a bachelor party. When their names were run through a government database, Nadarajah was turned back and he went home from the border by cab.
[. . .]
Read the whole story.
See also:
Ottawa finally bans Tamil Tigers
Human Rights Watch report: LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora
Report by former Canadian ambassador Martin Collacott: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
Combined population of Alberta and British Columbia now greater than Quebec's. What are the implications for national unity?
From the CBC (Combined Alberta, B.C. population now larger than Quebec's, September 27):
For the first time, the combined population of British Columbia and Alberta has surpassed the number of people living in Quebec, growth that could translate into more Western political influence.
A report released Wednesday by Statistics Canada estimates that B.C. and Alberta have 7,686,215 people between them. Quebec had slightly less, at 7,651,531.
[. . .]
Political observers believe the population growth in B.C. and Alberta may boost what many see as inadequate federal representation for the West.
A total of 64 members of Parliament are chosen from B.C.and Alberta, compared to Quebec's 75 seats.
Todd Hirsch, with the Canada West Foundation, predicted the West would eventually catch up.
[. . .]
In the 12-month period, 254,400 immigrants entered Canada — 9,800 more than the previous year. It's the highest number of immigrants to come to Canada since 2001/2002, says Statistics Canada.
More than half of those — 133,100 — chose to make Ontario home.
With 43,900 immigrants, British Columbia was the second most popular choice, surpassing Quebec for the first time in five years. Quebec was third with 42,000 immigrants.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
This story has implications for national unity. Quebec separatists have long warned Quebecers that their influence in Ottawa would diminish along with their percentage of the national population. This concern goes back to the days of Le Devoir founder Henri Bourassa. Bourassa, who though not a separatist was a nationalist, worried about Ukrainians and other central Europeans settling in the prairies while Quebecers migrated to the US where they were destined to assimilate. (There are more Americans of French-Canadian descent than there are French-speakers in Quebec. Chances are if you meet an American with a French name, he is descended from a French-Canadian.) During Quebec's 1980 sovereignty referendum, the separatist Parti Quebecois published charts showing Quebec's declining representation in the House of Commons. (See chapter 10 of The Making of the Mosaic: a history of Canadian immigration policy by Ninette Kelley and Michael Trebilcock.) When separatists lost a second referendumn in 1995, Parti Quebecois leader Jacques Parizeau attributed the loss to "money and ethnic votes."
See also:
French Canada and the Ukrainian Question 1908 – 1925
Canada: This Union Can’t Be Saved
For the first time, the combined population of British Columbia and Alberta has surpassed the number of people living in Quebec, growth that could translate into more Western political influence.
A report released Wednesday by Statistics Canada estimates that B.C. and Alberta have 7,686,215 people between them. Quebec had slightly less, at 7,651,531.
[. . .]
Political observers believe the population growth in B.C. and Alberta may boost what many see as inadequate federal representation for the West.
A total of 64 members of Parliament are chosen from B.C.and Alberta, compared to Quebec's 75 seats.
Todd Hirsch, with the Canada West Foundation, predicted the West would eventually catch up.
[. . .]
In the 12-month period, 254,400 immigrants entered Canada — 9,800 more than the previous year. It's the highest number of immigrants to come to Canada since 2001/2002, says Statistics Canada.
More than half of those — 133,100 — chose to make Ontario home.
With 43,900 immigrants, British Columbia was the second most popular choice, surpassing Quebec for the first time in five years. Quebec was third with 42,000 immigrants.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
This story has implications for national unity. Quebec separatists have long warned Quebecers that their influence in Ottawa would diminish along with their percentage of the national population. This concern goes back to the days of Le Devoir founder Henri Bourassa. Bourassa, who though not a separatist was a nationalist, worried about Ukrainians and other central Europeans settling in the prairies while Quebecers migrated to the US where they were destined to assimilate. (There are more Americans of French-Canadian descent than there are French-speakers in Quebec. Chances are if you meet an American with a French name, he is descended from a French-Canadian.) During Quebec's 1980 sovereignty referendum, the separatist Parti Quebecois published charts showing Quebec's declining representation in the House of Commons. (See chapter 10 of The Making of the Mosaic: a history of Canadian immigration policy by Ninette Kelley and Michael Trebilcock.) When separatists lost a second referendumn in 1995, Parti Quebecois leader Jacques Parizeau attributed the loss to "money and ethnic votes."
See also:
French Canada and the Ukrainian Question 1908 – 1925
Canada: This Union Can’t Be Saved
Immigration behind Canada's population growth. Third straight year of increased immigration
From the Globe and Mail (Immigration fuels Canadian growth: Statscan by Terry Weber, September 27):
Immigration continued to be the driving force behind Canada's growing population over the past 12 months, with the movement of people into Canada from other countries accounting for two-thirds of the growth during that period, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
The government agency's most recent tally of the Canadian population – which looked at the 12-month period ended July 1 – put the total at 32,623,500, up 324,00.
Over the 12 months, Canada took in 254,400 immigrants. That is 9,800 more than the year before and the highest level since 2001-2002 when 256,300 immigrants arrived on Canada's shores.
It was the third straight year of an annual increase in immigration.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
Statistics Canada: Canada's population as of July 1, 2006
Toronto is running out of space, but immigrants keep pouring in.
Michael Ignatieff wants to boost immigration to 350,000 a year
Immigration continued to be the driving force behind Canada's growing population over the past 12 months, with the movement of people into Canada from other countries accounting for two-thirds of the growth during that period, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
The government agency's most recent tally of the Canadian population – which looked at the 12-month period ended July 1 – put the total at 32,623,500, up 324,00.
Over the 12 months, Canada took in 254,400 immigrants. That is 9,800 more than the year before and the highest level since 2001-2002 when 256,300 immigrants arrived on Canada's shores.
It was the third straight year of an annual increase in immigration.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
Statistics Canada: Canada's population as of July 1, 2006
Toronto is running out of space, but immigrants keep pouring in.
Michael Ignatieff wants to boost immigration to 350,000 a year
Police in Ontario arrest biker gang members
From the CBC (Police arrest dozens of alleged biker gang members, September 28):
Dozens of alleged motorcycle gang members were rounded up in raids across Ontario in the early morning hours Thursday, police said.
About 500 officers arrested alleged members of the Hells Angels, Vagabonds and other associated biker gang members during raids in the Windsor, Niagara and Toronto areas, said Ontario Provincial Police Const. Sally Stewart.
The simultaneous raids culminated an 18-month investigation dubbed Project Tandem.
Stewart said the operation focused on the criminal activities of the Hells Angels, including trafficking of illegal substances and weapons, counseling to commit murder and criminal organization offences.
[. . .]
Read the whole CBC article.
See also:
Biker gangs in Canada
Nathanson Centre of the Study of Organized Crime
Dozens of alleged motorcycle gang members were rounded up in raids across Ontario in the early morning hours Thursday, police said.
About 500 officers arrested alleged members of the Hells Angels, Vagabonds and other associated biker gang members during raids in the Windsor, Niagara and Toronto areas, said Ontario Provincial Police Const. Sally Stewart.
The simultaneous raids culminated an 18-month investigation dubbed Project Tandem.
Stewart said the operation focused on the criminal activities of the Hells Angels, including trafficking of illegal substances and weapons, counseling to commit murder and criminal organization offences.
[. . .]
Read the whole CBC article.
See also:
Biker gangs in Canada
Nathanson Centre of the Study of Organized Crime
Thursday, September 28, 2006
US Coast Guard plans to arm Great Lake boats with machine-guns
From the Canadian Press via the Toronto Star (U.S. arms Great Lakes boats, September 28):
The U.S. Coast Guard’s plans to arm boats on the Great Lakes with machine-guns — a measure that has drawn fire from Canadian residents — were sanctioned by Ottawa three years ago, officials from both countries confirmed today.
Earlier this year, the American coast guard started training exercises on the lakes with live .30-calibre machine-guns attached to several small boats.
The practice was temporarily suspended until November after complaints from residents and Canadian politicians, including Toronto Mayor David Miller who claimed the move violated a treaty signed after the War of 1812.
But the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard said it’s become necessary to protect the border that runs through the lakes, and he said the treaty no longer applies.
“There has been an agreement since 1814 that those types of weapons would not be used in the Great Lakes,” Admiral Thad Allen said today after three days of meetings with Canadian Coast Guard officials in Halifax.
[. . .]
Read the whole Canadian Press article.
See also:
US plans to install virtual fence along Canadian border
Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
The U.S. Coast Guard’s plans to arm boats on the Great Lakes with machine-guns — a measure that has drawn fire from Canadian residents — were sanctioned by Ottawa three years ago, officials from both countries confirmed today.
Earlier this year, the American coast guard started training exercises on the lakes with live .30-calibre machine-guns attached to several small boats.
The practice was temporarily suspended until November after complaints from residents and Canadian politicians, including Toronto Mayor David Miller who claimed the move violated a treaty signed after the War of 1812.
But the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard said it’s become necessary to protect the border that runs through the lakes, and he said the treaty no longer applies.
“There has been an agreement since 1814 that those types of weapons would not be used in the Great Lakes,” Admiral Thad Allen said today after three days of meetings with Canadian Coast Guard officials in Halifax.
[. . .]
Read the whole Canadian Press article.
See also:
US plans to install virtual fence along Canadian border
Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Developer resists provincial greenbelt plan
Roughly forty percent of the approximately 250,000 immigrants who come to Canada each year settle in the Greater Toronto Area, making urban sprawl a major problem in our region. (Sprawl is also a problem in British Columbia, Canada's second most popular destination for immigrants.) The provincial government has responded to sprawl by establishing a greenbelt around the city. This makes developers unhappy. At least one of them is fighting back. Canada has a low birthrate. The simplest way to control sprawl would be to reduce immigration levels.
From the Toronto Star (`If you push me around, I'll push back' by Laurie Monsebraaten, September 28):
At "almost" 5 ft., 8 in., Vaughan developer Silvio DeGasperis is not a large man. But the fast-talking, well-dressed Italian immigrant casts a large shadow in Greater Toronto.
Surveying more than two dozen subdivisions and scores of underground sewer and water projects from a helicopter, DeGasperis' pride is palpable. So is his determination.
"I'm a relatively small player," he says. "But if you push me around, I'll push back."
Pushing back is a polite way of characterizing the war he's been waging against the province since the fall of 2004, when Dalton McGuinty's Liberals slapped the greenbelt on 400 hectares of Pickering farmland DeGasperis wants to turn into more subdivisions.
DeGasperis, who maintains the greenbelt is based on political science and not on environmental science or economics, estimates he's spent $5 million in the battle, including two lawsuits, the second of which goes to Divisional Court this fall.
[. . .]
Read all of Laurie Monsebraaten's Star article.
See also:
Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration
From the Toronto Star (`If you push me around, I'll push back' by Laurie Monsebraaten, September 28):
At "almost" 5 ft., 8 in., Vaughan developer Silvio DeGasperis is not a large man. But the fast-talking, well-dressed Italian immigrant casts a large shadow in Greater Toronto.
Surveying more than two dozen subdivisions and scores of underground sewer and water projects from a helicopter, DeGasperis' pride is palpable. So is his determination.
"I'm a relatively small player," he says. "But if you push me around, I'll push back."
Pushing back is a polite way of characterizing the war he's been waging against the province since the fall of 2004, when Dalton McGuinty's Liberals slapped the greenbelt on 400 hectares of Pickering farmland DeGasperis wants to turn into more subdivisions.
DeGasperis, who maintains the greenbelt is based on political science and not on environmental science or economics, estimates he's spent $5 million in the battle, including two lawsuits, the second of which goes to Divisional Court this fall.
[. . .]
Read all of Laurie Monsebraaten's Star article.
See also:
Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration
Zaccardelli apologizes to Arar. All well and good. Now can we start addressing the problem of Muslim terrorists in Canada?
From the CBC (RCMP chief apologizes to Arar for 'terrible injustices', September 28):
RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli apologized to Maher Arar on Thursday and said he accepts all the recommendations of a report criticizing the RCMP's role in the Canadian's deportation to Syria, where he was tortured.
"Mr. Arar, I wish to take this opportunity to express publicly to you and to your wife and to your children how truly sorry I am for whatever part the actions of the RCMP may have contributed to the terrible injustices that you experienced and the pain that you and your family endured," Zaccardelli said.
The RCMP commissioner made the statement at the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security, which is looking at Justice Dennis O'Connor's report on the Arar case.
"I accept the recommendations of the report without exception," Zaccardelli told the committee.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
If the information available in the public domain is correct, Maher Arar is a victim who should be compensated. That said, I'm struck by the huge amount of media coverage given his plight compared to the relatively little press given Muslim terrorist Ahmed Ressam who tried to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 2000. Arar has become a household name in Canada, while I often meet people who have never heard of Ressam and who think concerns about Muslim terrorists operating in Canada stem from racism or paranoia. I would love someone to do a media study comparing the amount of coverage to the Arar affair compared to Ressam's terrorist plot.
I think the explanation for the discrepancy is this. Muslims are a non-Christian minority. Religious minority as victim fits the multicultural template while religious minority as terrorist doesn't. Muslim writers like the Star's Haroon Siddiqui constantly claim that Muslims are being stereotyped and unfairly blamed for the actions of a few renegades when in fact the opposite is true.
Journalists and public officials have gone out of their way to downplay any connection between Islam and terrorism. The media, in particular, have been quick to emphasize any incident perceived to be a violation of Muslim rights while downplaying the threat to national security posed by Muslim immigration. It is true that this summer's anti-terrorist sweep in Toronto got a huge amount of coverage but even then, police officials went out of their way to deny a link between Islam and terrorism.
See also:
Jihad denial in Toronto
Terrorism in Canada: "The public does not need calming. The public needs the truth." - Senator Colin Kenny
Report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
Canadian news articles about the anti-terror sweep in Toronto
RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli apologized to Maher Arar on Thursday and said he accepts all the recommendations of a report criticizing the RCMP's role in the Canadian's deportation to Syria, where he was tortured.
"Mr. Arar, I wish to take this opportunity to express publicly to you and to your wife and to your children how truly sorry I am for whatever part the actions of the RCMP may have contributed to the terrible injustices that you experienced and the pain that you and your family endured," Zaccardelli said.
The RCMP commissioner made the statement at the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security, which is looking at Justice Dennis O'Connor's report on the Arar case.
"I accept the recommendations of the report without exception," Zaccardelli told the committee.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
If the information available in the public domain is correct, Maher Arar is a victim who should be compensated. That said, I'm struck by the huge amount of media coverage given his plight compared to the relatively little press given Muslim terrorist Ahmed Ressam who tried to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 2000. Arar has become a household name in Canada, while I often meet people who have never heard of Ressam and who think concerns about Muslim terrorists operating in Canada stem from racism or paranoia. I would love someone to do a media study comparing the amount of coverage to the Arar affair compared to Ressam's terrorist plot.
I think the explanation for the discrepancy is this. Muslims are a non-Christian minority. Religious minority as victim fits the multicultural template while religious minority as terrorist doesn't. Muslim writers like the Star's Haroon Siddiqui constantly claim that Muslims are being stereotyped and unfairly blamed for the actions of a few renegades when in fact the opposite is true.
Journalists and public officials have gone out of their way to downplay any connection between Islam and terrorism. The media, in particular, have been quick to emphasize any incident perceived to be a violation of Muslim rights while downplaying the threat to national security posed by Muslim immigration. It is true that this summer's anti-terrorist sweep in Toronto got a huge amount of coverage but even then, police officials went out of their way to deny a link between Islam and terrorism.
See also:
Jihad denial in Toronto
Terrorism in Canada: "The public does not need calming. The public needs the truth." - Senator Colin Kenny
Report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
Canadian news articles about the anti-terror sweep in Toronto
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Somalis claim discrimination. Security guard company says the real problem is drugs
From the Toronto Star (Residents allege harassment by Surya Bhattacharya, September 27):
Sons cannot visit families. Mothers can't pick up their children from daycare. And the disabled have been banned from their relatives' homes.
Some Somali-Canadians who live in three Dixon Rd. high-rises, also known as Little Mogadishu, complain they are being harassed by a security company that is issuing tickets to residents, banning them from some buildings for up to three years — with a warning that showing up again will get them arrested for trespassing.
While some claim the trouble results from a misunderstanding of how Somalis mingle socially, others blame outright discrimination.
[. . .]
Intelligarde's president, Ross McLeod, said his firm was hired to deal with a drug-trafficking problem in the buildings.
McLeod claims that large amounts of khat (or qat), an amphetimine-like stimulant popular in the Middle East and East Africa, are being bought and sold within the buildings. Legal in some countries but listed as a controlled substance in Canada since 1998, khat is typically chewed or made into a tea. It is a traditional part of social gatherings in the Somali community.
"The issue there is the place was used as a ... sale point for this drug, and even running a business out of a condo unit is contrary to all the declarations of the bylaws, and certainly selling an illegal drug is even more so," McLeod said.
[. . .]
Some non-Somali residents welcome the security company's vigilance, including one man who said he had been jostled by men in the corridors.
[. . .]
Read the all of Surya Bhattacharya's Star article.
I don't know about you, but I find it troubling that Toronto would even have a neighbourhood called Little Mogadishu. The last thing Toronto needs is the violence and chaos of the Somali civil war.
See also:
Another day, another refugee rapist. Today's knife-wielding advertisement for immigration reform hails from Somalia.
Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates
Rival Somali and Jamaican girl gangs connected to seizure of .44 Magnum at Thistletown Collegiate
Toronto Somalis want Ottawa to intervene in their former homeland
Sons cannot visit families. Mothers can't pick up their children from daycare. And the disabled have been banned from their relatives' homes.
Some Somali-Canadians who live in three Dixon Rd. high-rises, also known as Little Mogadishu, complain they are being harassed by a security company that is issuing tickets to residents, banning them from some buildings for up to three years — with a warning that showing up again will get them arrested for trespassing.
While some claim the trouble results from a misunderstanding of how Somalis mingle socially, others blame outright discrimination.
[. . .]
Intelligarde's president, Ross McLeod, said his firm was hired to deal with a drug-trafficking problem in the buildings.
McLeod claims that large amounts of khat (or qat), an amphetimine-like stimulant popular in the Middle East and East Africa, are being bought and sold within the buildings. Legal in some countries but listed as a controlled substance in Canada since 1998, khat is typically chewed or made into a tea. It is a traditional part of social gatherings in the Somali community.
"The issue there is the place was used as a ... sale point for this drug, and even running a business out of a condo unit is contrary to all the declarations of the bylaws, and certainly selling an illegal drug is even more so," McLeod said.
[. . .]
Some non-Somali residents welcome the security company's vigilance, including one man who said he had been jostled by men in the corridors.
[. . .]
Read the all of Surya Bhattacharya's Star article.
I don't know about you, but I find it troubling that Toronto would even have a neighbourhood called Little Mogadishu. The last thing Toronto needs is the violence and chaos of the Somali civil war.
See also:
Another day, another refugee rapist. Today's knife-wielding advertisement for immigration reform hails from Somalia.
Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates
Rival Somali and Jamaican girl gangs connected to seizure of .44 Magnum at Thistletown Collegiate
Toronto Somalis want Ottawa to intervene in their former homeland
Edward S. Rubenstein: Immigration causing income inequality in the US.
Vdare's chief number-cruncher Edward S. Rubenstein has written an article Canadians might want to read: It’s Official: Immigration Causing Income Inequality. Even though he's writing about the US, the situation up here is similar.
Rubenstein writes:
GDP continues to grow, the stock market flirts with record highs, and workers produce more per hour than ever before. Yet polls show that most Americans disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the economy.
Republican political consultant Frank Luntz explains the apparent conundrum thusly: “Some people who aren’t partisans say, ‘Yes, the economy’s pretty good, so why are people so agitated and anxious?’ The answer is they don’t feel it in their paychecks.” [Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity, By Steven Greenhouse And David Leonhardt, New York Times, August 28, 2006]
Mr. Luntz is 80 percent right. The richest 20 percent of American households—and only the richest 20 percent—have enjoyed higher real incomes during the Bush expansion. Everyone else has lost ground; the lowest 20 percent has actually lost a full 1.8 percent. (For details, click here: Table 1).
[. . .]
Read all of Rubenstein's Vdare article. More of his articles can be found in the archive. You can also visit his website.
Rubenstein is describing conditions in the US, but immigration-induced poverty is also a problem in Canada. Two Saturdays ago, the Toronto Star published a long article describing the plight of the working poor: Ask Why: Two jobs, almost invisible. This is the same Toronto Star that prints sob stories defending illegal immigrants. It looks like they don't see the connection between immigration and low wages. The Star recommends increasing the minimum wage, but what good does that do if employers can hire illegals willing to work for less? How do I know there is a link between poverty and immigration in Toronto? I know, because a year ago Star columnist James Travers wrote two columns describing independent studies and the government's own research that said so. Yet our political leaders, both Conservative and Liberal, prattle on about increasing immigration. Our media, if you can believe it, are sometimes worse. One Globe and Mail columnist, Doug Saunders, says Canada needs a million poor African immigrants. Only rarely does a sensible person get space in a newspaper. One of the few intelligent media commentaries on immigration is this article by Daniel Stoffman: The consequences of unchecked immigration
See also:
Miracles do happen. Immigration realism at the Toronto Star. Columnist lambastes Volpe's politically-motivated plan to increase immigration levels.
Ottawa and Ontario reach immigration agreement: Ontario to receive $920 million over the next five years
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
The Toronto Star's shameless (and shameful) campaign on behalf of illegal immigrants
Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages
Economists On Immigration: What's The Matter?
Rubenstein writes:
GDP continues to grow, the stock market flirts with record highs, and workers produce more per hour than ever before. Yet polls show that most Americans disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the economy.
Republican political consultant Frank Luntz explains the apparent conundrum thusly: “Some people who aren’t partisans say, ‘Yes, the economy’s pretty good, so why are people so agitated and anxious?’ The answer is they don’t feel it in their paychecks.” [Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity, By Steven Greenhouse And David Leonhardt, New York Times, August 28, 2006]
Mr. Luntz is 80 percent right. The richest 20 percent of American households—and only the richest 20 percent—have enjoyed higher real incomes during the Bush expansion. Everyone else has lost ground; the lowest 20 percent has actually lost a full 1.8 percent. (For details, click here: Table 1).
[. . .]
Read all of Rubenstein's Vdare article. More of his articles can be found in the archive. You can also visit his website.
Rubenstein is describing conditions in the US, but immigration-induced poverty is also a problem in Canada. Two Saturdays ago, the Toronto Star published a long article describing the plight of the working poor: Ask Why: Two jobs, almost invisible. This is the same Toronto Star that prints sob stories defending illegal immigrants. It looks like they don't see the connection between immigration and low wages. The Star recommends increasing the minimum wage, but what good does that do if employers can hire illegals willing to work for less? How do I know there is a link between poverty and immigration in Toronto? I know, because a year ago Star columnist James Travers wrote two columns describing independent studies and the government's own research that said so. Yet our political leaders, both Conservative and Liberal, prattle on about increasing immigration. Our media, if you can believe it, are sometimes worse. One Globe and Mail columnist, Doug Saunders, says Canada needs a million poor African immigrants. Only rarely does a sensible person get space in a newspaper. One of the few intelligent media commentaries on immigration is this article by Daniel Stoffman: The consequences of unchecked immigration
See also:
Miracles do happen. Immigration realism at the Toronto Star. Columnist lambastes Volpe's politically-motivated plan to increase immigration levels.
Ottawa and Ontario reach immigration agreement: Ontario to receive $920 million over the next five years
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
The Toronto Star's shameless (and shameful) campaign on behalf of illegal immigrants
Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages
Economists On Immigration: What's The Matter?
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Italians migrate to the suburbs. The Mafia follows.
From the Toronto Star (Mobsters settle in the burbs by Peter Edwards, September 25):
In the 1960s and 1970s, Michele (Mike the Baker) Racco dished out ice cream to customers and underworld advice to mobsters from his bakery/ice cream shop at the corner of Nairn Ave. and St. Clair Ave. W. in Toronto.
When Racco died of cancer in 1980, he was escorted to his grave at Mount Hope Cemetery by a virtual who's who of the southern Ontario underworld, including heroin traffickers, extortionists and old Mafia don Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, who was believed to have the ear of a rival in his wallet.
That was the last of the great downtown Mafia funerals, says author Antonio Nicaso, who has written several books on organized crime.
"I think Mike Racco was the last big downtown mobster in traditional organized crime," Nicaso says.
Shortly afterwards, the Great Mafia Migration to the Greater Toronto Area began, as dozens of criminals as well as tens of thousands of law-abiding Ontario residents with Italian heritage moved into new subdivisions outside Toronto's crowded downtown.
Nicaso and Ron Sandelli, former head of intelligence for Toronto police, say it's natural that mobsters were included in the explosion of growth in York Region over the past two decades.
In that time, the population of Vaughan, which includes the community of Woodbridge, shot up from 65,060 in 1986 to 244,462 today, according to Statistics Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Peter Edwards' Star article.
Mafia fugitives from Italy living in Toronto area. Police chief says Canadian immigration slow to react.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Michele (Mike the Baker) Racco dished out ice cream to customers and underworld advice to mobsters from his bakery/ice cream shop at the corner of Nairn Ave. and St. Clair Ave. W. in Toronto.
When Racco died of cancer in 1980, he was escorted to his grave at Mount Hope Cemetery by a virtual who's who of the southern Ontario underworld, including heroin traffickers, extortionists and old Mafia don Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, who was believed to have the ear of a rival in his wallet.
That was the last of the great downtown Mafia funerals, says author Antonio Nicaso, who has written several books on organized crime.
"I think Mike Racco was the last big downtown mobster in traditional organized crime," Nicaso says.
Shortly afterwards, the Great Mafia Migration to the Greater Toronto Area began, as dozens of criminals as well as tens of thousands of law-abiding Ontario residents with Italian heritage moved into new subdivisions outside Toronto's crowded downtown.
Nicaso and Ron Sandelli, former head of intelligence for Toronto police, say it's natural that mobsters were included in the explosion of growth in York Region over the past two decades.
In that time, the population of Vaughan, which includes the community of Woodbridge, shot up from 65,060 in 1986 to 244,462 today, according to Statistics Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Peter Edwards' Star article.
Mafia fugitives from Italy living in Toronto area. Police chief says Canadian immigration slow to react.
Pair arrested in machete killing - it must be one of those multicultural things
From the Toronto Star (Pair arrested in machete killing by Tamara Cherry, September 26):
A young man and woman have been arrested after a 25-year-old Toronto man was hacked to death Sept. 17 in the city’s northeast end.
Emergency crews responding to Huntsmill Blvd., near Steeles Ave. E. and Warden Ave., nine days ago found Piratheep Tharmakulasingam lying on the grass with obvious trauma to his head and body. He was later pronounced dead in hospital.
Tharmakulasingam, who was going through a marital separation, had been walking home from his girlfriend’s home after arguing with her around 10 a.m. when the attack happened, his 23-year-old brother, Suren, said last week. He was chased down the street by a car before the driver got out and attacked him with a machete, police said.
This morning, police raided a Hamilton residence where they arrested 19-year-old Sujan Abeyewardene and charged him with first-degree murder. Abeyewardene and Tharmakulasingam were known to each other through a mutual friend but had never met, Homicide detective Bill Vieira said this morning.
[. . .]
Read all of Tamara Cherry's Star article.
Banning guns wouldn't solve anything. People would just use machetes. I seem to come across a lot of stories about people being hacked with machetes. It must be that marvellous cultural diversity I keep hearing about: different languages, different foods, different clothes, different lethal weapons. Judging by the names, I'd say the people in this story are Tamils. At any rate, they aren't any of those boring British Protestants who used to make Toronto such a dull place. Three cheers for multiculturalism!
See also:
Man killed with machete after being run down
Vancouver Sun: Machete-wielding gang chops off 15-year-old's hand
A young man and woman have been arrested after a 25-year-old Toronto man was hacked to death Sept. 17 in the city’s northeast end.
Emergency crews responding to Huntsmill Blvd., near Steeles Ave. E. and Warden Ave., nine days ago found Piratheep Tharmakulasingam lying on the grass with obvious trauma to his head and body. He was later pronounced dead in hospital.
Tharmakulasingam, who was going through a marital separation, had been walking home from his girlfriend’s home after arguing with her around 10 a.m. when the attack happened, his 23-year-old brother, Suren, said last week. He was chased down the street by a car before the driver got out and attacked him with a machete, police said.
This morning, police raided a Hamilton residence where they arrested 19-year-old Sujan Abeyewardene and charged him with first-degree murder. Abeyewardene and Tharmakulasingam were known to each other through a mutual friend but had never met, Homicide detective Bill Vieira said this morning.
[. . .]
Read all of Tamara Cherry's Star article.
Banning guns wouldn't solve anything. People would just use machetes. I seem to come across a lot of stories about people being hacked with machetes. It must be that marvellous cultural diversity I keep hearing about: different languages, different foods, different clothes, different lethal weapons. Judging by the names, I'd say the people in this story are Tamils. At any rate, they aren't any of those boring British Protestants who used to make Toronto such a dull place. Three cheers for multiculturalism!
See also:
Man killed with machete after being run down
Vancouver Sun: Machete-wielding gang chops off 15-year-old's hand
Monday, September 25, 2006
High school social justice course must include animal rights - activist says
From the Vancouver Sun (Activist wants animal rights taught in B.C. schools by Janet Steffenhagen, September 25):
A new Grade 12 course on social justice must include animal rights because oppression and exploitation affect more than just humans, an animal activist told an exclusive meeting of educators and social-justice experts recently.
Lesley Fox of the Vancouver Humane Society told the group that "speciesism" is a prejudice like racism and sexism and deserves inclusion in the ground-breaking Social Justice 12 course.
The course is being developed as part of a deal the provincial government signed last spring with gay activists Murray and Peter Corren to settle a human-rights complaint.
Speciesism is a relatively new term that Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, says involves assigning values or rights to beings on the basis of their species. An example, according to Fox, is the special status given to dogs and cats in North America but not to cows, pigs and chickens.
"We aren't trying to make [Social Justice 12] into an animal-rights course," Fox explained Sunday. "[But] it is my opinion that if we are going to discuss social justice concepts such as oppression and exploitation, animals should be included."
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
I can see it now: affirmative action quotas for chimpanzees and gorillas. Don't laugh. This is Canada, remember. We're on the cutting edge of lunacy.
If, as Peter Brimelow brilliantly stated, the modern definition of "racist" is "someone who is winning an argument with a liberal" the correct definition of "speciesist" must be "someone who is winning an argument with a nut."
A new Grade 12 course on social justice must include animal rights because oppression and exploitation affect more than just humans, an animal activist told an exclusive meeting of educators and social-justice experts recently.
Lesley Fox of the Vancouver Humane Society told the group that "speciesism" is a prejudice like racism and sexism and deserves inclusion in the ground-breaking Social Justice 12 course.
The course is being developed as part of a deal the provincial government signed last spring with gay activists Murray and Peter Corren to settle a human-rights complaint.
Speciesism is a relatively new term that Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, says involves assigning values or rights to beings on the basis of their species. An example, according to Fox, is the special status given to dogs and cats in North America but not to cows, pigs and chickens.
"We aren't trying to make [Social Justice 12] into an animal-rights course," Fox explained Sunday. "[But] it is my opinion that if we are going to discuss social justice concepts such as oppression and exploitation, animals should be included."
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
I can see it now: affirmative action quotas for chimpanzees and gorillas. Don't laugh. This is Canada, remember. We're on the cutting edge of lunacy.
If, as Peter Brimelow brilliantly stated, the modern definition of "racist" is "someone who is winning an argument with a liberal" the correct definition of "speciesist" must be "someone who is winning an argument with a nut."
US army deserter who sought refugee status will go home voluntarily
From the Toronto Sun (Deserter heads back to U.S. for 'closure' by Natalie Pona, September 25):
Though army deserter Darrell Anderson is going home to face American authorities, his surrender doesn't mean he's abandoning his fight against the war in Iraq, he says.
"To go back and do my prison sentence would just give me freedom," Anderson said yesterday. "I just want to get in my uniform, go to trial and stand there and tell them I won't participate in their war."
Anderson, 24, is slated to return to the U.S. next Saturday. He sought refugee status in Canada two years ago after he was wounded during a seven-month stint in Iraq.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
Even though I think the invasion of Iraq was a colossal mistake, I don't want to see American army deserters claiming refugee status in Canada. They're not refugees. They're not fleeing persecution. They're fleeing their obligations. I realize that's easy for me to say since I'm not the one who has to go to Iraq. I do feel sorry for them because I wouldn't want to risk my life over there, but what did they expect would happen when they VOLUNTEERED? Sure, a lot of recruits never see combat, but I would think the risk is obvious. American citizens have every right to oppose the war, but once you put on a uniform you don't get to pick and choose your assignments.
Though army deserter Darrell Anderson is going home to face American authorities, his surrender doesn't mean he's abandoning his fight against the war in Iraq, he says.
"To go back and do my prison sentence would just give me freedom," Anderson said yesterday. "I just want to get in my uniform, go to trial and stand there and tell them I won't participate in their war."
Anderson, 24, is slated to return to the U.S. next Saturday. He sought refugee status in Canada two years ago after he was wounded during a seven-month stint in Iraq.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
Even though I think the invasion of Iraq was a colossal mistake, I don't want to see American army deserters claiming refugee status in Canada. They're not refugees. They're not fleeing persecution. They're fleeing their obligations. I realize that's easy for me to say since I'm not the one who has to go to Iraq. I do feel sorry for them because I wouldn't want to risk my life over there, but what did they expect would happen when they VOLUNTEERED? Sure, a lot of recruits never see combat, but I would think the risk is obvious. American citizens have every right to oppose the war, but once you put on a uniform you don't get to pick and choose your assignments.
"We're disgusted with the hookers, pimps and crackheads"
From the Toronto Sun (March for a safer city by Jonathan Jenkins, September 25):
A small but ardent band of west-end residents marched defiantly through their neighbourhood with police yesterday in a show of solidarity against petty street crime blighting the area.
"I'm tired of cleaning up condoms I haven't had the pleasure of using myself," said accountant Alec Wright, a member of the Dupont Improvement Group: Improving Neighbourhoods, or DIG IN.
"We're disgusted with the hookers, pimps and crackheads."
The Junction-area march, which had about 50 people -- including the commanders of both 11 and 14 Toronto Police divisions, local city Councillor Adam Giambrone and mayoral challenger Jane Pitfield -- left from Campbell Park and wound around the Dupont and Lansdowne Aves. area.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
Toronto is in decline - Sun columnist
Another Sun columnist is disillusioned with Toronto
A small but ardent band of west-end residents marched defiantly through their neighbourhood with police yesterday in a show of solidarity against petty street crime blighting the area.
"I'm tired of cleaning up condoms I haven't had the pleasure of using myself," said accountant Alec Wright, a member of the Dupont Improvement Group: Improving Neighbourhoods, or DIG IN.
"We're disgusted with the hookers, pimps and crackheads."
The Junction-area march, which had about 50 people -- including the commanders of both 11 and 14 Toronto Police divisions, local city Councillor Adam Giambrone and mayoral challenger Jane Pitfield -- left from Campbell Park and wound around the Dupont and Lansdowne Aves. area.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
Toronto is in decline - Sun columnist
Another Sun columnist is disillusioned with Toronto
Gang shootout at Regent Park
From the Toronto Sun (Gang shootout at Regent Park by Chris Doucette, September 25):
An apparent gunbattle between rival gangs left some Regent Park residents feeling uneasy last night.
Toronto Police say bullets started flying shortly after 6:30 p.m. when two young men encountered two other young men -- all believed to be gang members -- at River and Dundas Sts. and opened fire on each other.
[. . .]
Police do not believe anybody was injured.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
See also:
Map showing gang activity in Toronto
Toronto Star article paints a frightening picture of gang life in this city
8 arrested in Jane Creba shooting death
Black gangs terrorize Toronto neighbourhood
East York brawl was gang-related
An apparent gunbattle between rival gangs left some Regent Park residents feeling uneasy last night.
Toronto Police say bullets started flying shortly after 6:30 p.m. when two young men encountered two other young men -- all believed to be gang members -- at River and Dundas Sts. and opened fire on each other.
[. . .]
Police do not believe anybody was injured.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
See also:
Map showing gang activity in Toronto
Toronto Star article paints a frightening picture of gang life in this city
8 arrested in Jane Creba shooting death
Black gangs terrorize Toronto neighbourhood
East York brawl was gang-related
Hugo Chavez - book promoter. The key to literary success . . .
is to get a deranged Latin American dictator to read your book.
Pat Buchanan writes on Vdare:
The Venezuelan president began his address by holding up a copy of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. Ever since, it has soared on Amazon.com.
Pat Buchanan writes on Vdare:
The Venezuelan president began his address by holding up a copy of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. Ever since, it has soared on Amazon.com.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Serbs and Croats fight at Toronto soccer stadium
The World Cup may be over but the soccer violence continues.
I saw a brief news report this evening that there were fights today between Serb and Croat soccer fans. I don't have the details. I'll try to find out more tomorrow.
For the record, this is hardly the first time. When I was a teenager I saw fights break out between Serbs and Croats at local soccer matches. This was in the seventies long before most of the world even knew these two ethnic groups existed. Back then they were all Yugoslavs, but that didn't stop them from hating each other. My east European background is one of the reasons I don't think multiculturalism is so wonderful. Eastern and southern Europe have a long history of dazzlingly diverse populations slaughtering each other.
See also:
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
I saw a brief news report this evening that there were fights today between Serb and Croat soccer fans. I don't have the details. I'll try to find out more tomorrow.
For the record, this is hardly the first time. When I was a teenager I saw fights break out between Serbs and Croats at local soccer matches. This was in the seventies long before most of the world even knew these two ethnic groups existed. Back then they were all Yugoslavs, but that didn't stop them from hating each other. My east European background is one of the reasons I don't think multiculturalism is so wonderful. Eastern and southern Europe have a long history of dazzlingly diverse populations slaughtering each other.
See also:
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Toronto is running out of space, but immigrants keep pouring in. Enough already! It's time to end this madness
Sunday's Toronto Star has an article that describes how a shortage of land has contributed to a condo boom in this city. Population growth is changing our town forever. While a certain amount of change is inevitable, I see little good and much bad in the almost complete transformation I've witnessed in my lifetime. Immigration-fueled growth is great for developers and real estate agents, but not so great for our quality of life.
From the Toronto Star (Toronto's growing sky high by Christian Controneo, September 24):
The only thing missing from this space-age city is ... space.
`
From Scarborough in the east to Etobicoke in the west, between the upper fringes of North York and Lake Ontario to the south, the city is officially tapped out.
"All land has something on it," says Eric Pedersen, a program manager at Toronto's urban planning department. "We don't have any `green field' left."
The new mission? To boldly grow where we've already gone before.
"What we're talking about now is intensification."
In cities around the world, the terms may change — smart cities, New Urbanism, compact cities — but the idea is the same: turn strip malls, parking lots and one- or two-storey buildings into places where ever more people can live, work and play.
Build upward, instead of outward. Cue the condominium.
"Basically all that we're doing is building condos right now," Pedersen says. "That's what the market is saturated with."
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
Canada like the United States has an immigration myth. The media and civic leaders tell us we are a "nation of immigrants" and dismiss any criticism of immigration as a betrayal of our heritage. One part of the immigration myth is the idea of Canada as a land of wide-open spaces waiting to be filled. Sometimes when I talk to friends about immigration, they can't believe I want to restrict it when we have all this empty territory.
Like many myths, the belief that Canada has room for more immigrants is based on actual facts that have been misinterpreted. Canada really is a large country and most of it is uninhabited. However, the vast majority of immigrants settle in the three largest cities: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Canada may be vast and empty but the GTA isn't. Here it's crowded.
The City of Toronto is running out of space. The only way to squeeze more people into a fixed amount of land is to build upwards. Population growth fueled by immigration means more skyscrapers. Urban planners call this intensification and try to convince residents it's good for them. Not surprisingly, local communities often disagree. Neighbourhoods battle fiercely to keep tall buildings out. In many cases, it's a losing battle.
As long newcomers keep pouring in, skyscrapers will go up despite local opposition. If local activists want to control development in their communities, they should be fighting for a moratorium on immigration.
Despite the false claim that Canada needs immigrants to compensate for an aging population, our country could thrive without a single one. Immigration is not a force of nature. It is a political choice and like any public policy it can be changed. We can stop all immigration if we want to.
See also:
Immigration and new skyscrapers: population growth is transforming Toronto, but not for the better
The impact of population growth on local neighbourhoods
Bevilacqua proposes doubling immigration levels. Candidate has "an expansionist view of Canada."
Commute times getting longer - transportation infrastructure strained by population growth
Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Urban sprawl and disappearing farmland in British Columbia
Immigration won't solve the problems caused by an aging population
From the Toronto Star (Toronto's growing sky high by Christian Controneo, September 24):
The only thing missing from this space-age city is ... space.
`
From Scarborough in the east to Etobicoke in the west, between the upper fringes of North York and Lake Ontario to the south, the city is officially tapped out.
"All land has something on it," says Eric Pedersen, a program manager at Toronto's urban planning department. "We don't have any `green field' left."
The new mission? To boldly grow where we've already gone before.
"What we're talking about now is intensification."
In cities around the world, the terms may change — smart cities, New Urbanism, compact cities — but the idea is the same: turn strip malls, parking lots and one- or two-storey buildings into places where ever more people can live, work and play.
Build upward, instead of outward. Cue the condominium.
"Basically all that we're doing is building condos right now," Pedersen says. "That's what the market is saturated with."
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
Canada like the United States has an immigration myth. The media and civic leaders tell us we are a "nation of immigrants" and dismiss any criticism of immigration as a betrayal of our heritage. One part of the immigration myth is the idea of Canada as a land of wide-open spaces waiting to be filled. Sometimes when I talk to friends about immigration, they can't believe I want to restrict it when we have all this empty territory.
Like many myths, the belief that Canada has room for more immigrants is based on actual facts that have been misinterpreted. Canada really is a large country and most of it is uninhabited. However, the vast majority of immigrants settle in the three largest cities: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Canada may be vast and empty but the GTA isn't. Here it's crowded.
The City of Toronto is running out of space. The only way to squeeze more people into a fixed amount of land is to build upwards. Population growth fueled by immigration means more skyscrapers. Urban planners call this intensification and try to convince residents it's good for them. Not surprisingly, local communities often disagree. Neighbourhoods battle fiercely to keep tall buildings out. In many cases, it's a losing battle.
As long newcomers keep pouring in, skyscrapers will go up despite local opposition. If local activists want to control development in their communities, they should be fighting for a moratorium on immigration.
Despite the false claim that Canada needs immigrants to compensate for an aging population, our country could thrive without a single one. Immigration is not a force of nature. It is a political choice and like any public policy it can be changed. We can stop all immigration if we want to.
See also:
Immigration and new skyscrapers: population growth is transforming Toronto, but not for the better
The impact of population growth on local neighbourhoods
Bevilacqua proposes doubling immigration levels. Candidate has "an expansionist view of Canada."
Commute times getting longer - transportation infrastructure strained by population growth
Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Urban sprawl and disappearing farmland in British Columbia
Immigration won't solve the problems caused by an aging population
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Truer words have never been spoken. Heather Mallick is always out of her depth. The woman's just not that bright.
Heather Mallick writes on the CBC website: For I am an atheist and I am out of my depth. Truer words have never been spoken. If you've had the misfortune of reading any of Mallick's Globe and Mail columns, you'll know she's always out of her depth. The woman's just not that bright.
Don't believe me? Look at her discussion of papal infallibility. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Catholic teaching knows that infallibility only applies to statements made ex cathedra. Second, the Pope didn't apologize for his remarks about Islam. He merely expressed regret at the negative reaction they caused. Mallick dismisses the Pope's discussion of Islam as "silly" and "ill-considered". Has she read the text of the Pope's lecture at the University of Regensburg? Would she have understood it if she had? The text can be read here: Faith, Reason and the University - Memories and Reflections
Don't believe me? Look at her discussion of papal infallibility. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Catholic teaching knows that infallibility only applies to statements made ex cathedra. Second, the Pope didn't apologize for his remarks about Islam. He merely expressed regret at the negative reaction they caused. Mallick dismisses the Pope's discussion of Islam as "silly" and "ill-considered". Has she read the text of the Pope's lecture at the University of Regensburg? Would she have understood it if she had? The text can be read here: Faith, Reason and the University - Memories and Reflections
Conservative MP links Montreal shooting to intolerance of immigrants in Quebec. Jan Wong said it first.
Jan Wong started it.
From the Montreal Gazette (Second Tory says Quebec intolerant of immigrants by Elizabeth Thompson, September 23):
A second Quebec Conservative MP accused Quebecers of being intolerant toward immigrants yesterday, just as the first one publicly retracted controversial comments linking intolerance of immigrants to the Dawson College shooting.
Luc Harvey, Conservative MP for the Quebec City riding of Louis Hebert, distanced himself from his colleague Daniel Petit who linked intolerance to the tragedy but said it's true that immigrants are discriminated against in Quebec City.
Quebec City has been so intolerant that the families of two members of Parliament from the Quebec City region changed their family name in order to be accepted, he said.
"There are two MPs from the Quebec City region whose family names weren't Quebecois and they had to change their names ... there are two MPs from the Quebec region whose names aren't their real family names."
Mr. Harvey declined to name the two MPs.
[. . .]
Read all of the Montreal Gazette article.
See also:
The Montreal shootings - what can you say?
Liberals want Tory MP expelled over comments on shooting
Comments in Dawson article should have been cut: Globe editor
From the Montreal Gazette (Second Tory says Quebec intolerant of immigrants by Elizabeth Thompson, September 23):
A second Quebec Conservative MP accused Quebecers of being intolerant toward immigrants yesterday, just as the first one publicly retracted controversial comments linking intolerance of immigrants to the Dawson College shooting.
Luc Harvey, Conservative MP for the Quebec City riding of Louis Hebert, distanced himself from his colleague Daniel Petit who linked intolerance to the tragedy but said it's true that immigrants are discriminated against in Quebec City.
Quebec City has been so intolerant that the families of two members of Parliament from the Quebec City region changed their family name in order to be accepted, he said.
"There are two MPs from the Quebec City region whose family names weren't Quebecois and they had to change their names ... there are two MPs from the Quebec region whose names aren't their real family names."
Mr. Harvey declined to name the two MPs.
[. . .]
Read all of the Montreal Gazette article.
See also:
The Montreal shootings - what can you say?
Liberals want Tory MP expelled over comments on shooting
Comments in Dawson article should have been cut: Globe editor
Theocracy, theocracy, theocracy
Theocracy, theocracy, theocracy
This is a paranoid moment in American politics. A host of conspiracies haunt our national imagination, and apparent incompetence is assumed to be the consequence of a dark design: President Bush knew about the attacks of September 11 in advance, or else the Israelis did; the Straussians took us to war in Iraq, unless the oil companies did; the federal government let the levees break in New Orleans, unless it dynamited them itself.
Perhaps the strangest of these strange stories, though, is the notion that twenty-first-century America is slouching toward theocracy. This is an old paranoia: Back in 1952, the science-fiction libertarian Robert Heinlein’s Revolt in 2100 envisioned a religious tyranny toppled by a Freemason-led rebellion; in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale imagined America as a Christian-fascist “Republic of Gilead,” with its capital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its public executions staged in Harvard Yard. But the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era, reaching a fever pitch in the weeks after the 2004 election, when a host of commentators seized on polls suggesting that “moral values” had pushed the president over the top—and found in that data point a harbinger of Gilead.
[. . .]
The neocons took the US to war. That's not conspiracy thinking. It's fact. Look it up in your Funk and Wagnalls.
This is a paranoid moment in American politics. A host of conspiracies haunt our national imagination, and apparent incompetence is assumed to be the consequence of a dark design: President Bush knew about the attacks of September 11 in advance, or else the Israelis did; the Straussians took us to war in Iraq, unless the oil companies did; the federal government let the levees break in New Orleans, unless it dynamited them itself.
Perhaps the strangest of these strange stories, though, is the notion that twenty-first-century America is slouching toward theocracy. This is an old paranoia: Back in 1952, the science-fiction libertarian Robert Heinlein’s Revolt in 2100 envisioned a religious tyranny toppled by a Freemason-led rebellion; in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale imagined America as a Christian-fascist “Republic of Gilead,” with its capital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its public executions staged in Harvard Yard. But the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era, reaching a fever pitch in the weeks after the 2004 election, when a host of commentators seized on polls suggesting that “moral values” had pushed the president over the top—and found in that data point a harbinger of Gilead.
[. . .]
The neocons took the US to war. That's not conspiracy thinking. It's fact. Look it up in your Funk and Wagnalls.
A new revelation from the Almighty - bottled water is a sin
From the Globe and Mail (The religious war on bottled water by Martin Mittelstaedt, September 23):
Bottled water has never gone down smoothly with many environmentalists, who view it as an extravagantly wasteful way of quenching a thirst, but the product is facing criticism from an unexpected source -- religious groups.
Some churches in Canada have started to urge congregants to boycott bottled water, citing ethical, theological and social justice reasons. Bottled water, they argue, is morally tainted and should be avoided.
In British Columbia, for instance, the First United Church in Kelowna no longer wants bottled water on the premises. "We are starting to make the church building a bottled-water-free zone," said Sandi Evans, one of the 350 congregants.
The St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottawa used to sell bottled water at its fundraising events, but stopped this year. "We're not doing that any more," congregant Heidi Geraets said.
And last month, the United Church passed a motion urging its nearly one million Canadian adherents to leave bottled water on the store shelves, unless alternative sources of safe water aren't available.
[. . .]
Read all of Martin Mittelstaedt's article
First they came for the smokers and we said nothing. Now it's the water-drinkers and we still say nothing. Who will be left to protest when they come for us?
People complain about Christian conservatives because they oppose abortion and "gay marriage". When the "religious right" takes a stand on a public issue the media and left-wing politicians scream "Separation of church and state!", but when the "religious left" tries to influence our lives by touting government social programs or environmental legislation, they are praised for promoting "social justice". Talk about double standards.
Bottled water has never gone down smoothly with many environmentalists, who view it as an extravagantly wasteful way of quenching a thirst, but the product is facing criticism from an unexpected source -- religious groups.
Some churches in Canada have started to urge congregants to boycott bottled water, citing ethical, theological and social justice reasons. Bottled water, they argue, is morally tainted and should be avoided.
In British Columbia, for instance, the First United Church in Kelowna no longer wants bottled water on the premises. "We are starting to make the church building a bottled-water-free zone," said Sandi Evans, one of the 350 congregants.
The St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottawa used to sell bottled water at its fundraising events, but stopped this year. "We're not doing that any more," congregant Heidi Geraets said.
And last month, the United Church passed a motion urging its nearly one million Canadian adherents to leave bottled water on the store shelves, unless alternative sources of safe water aren't available.
[. . .]
Read all of Martin Mittelstaedt's article
First they came for the smokers and we said nothing. Now it's the water-drinkers and we still say nothing. Who will be left to protest when they come for us?
People complain about Christian conservatives because they oppose abortion and "gay marriage". When the "religious right" takes a stand on a public issue the media and left-wing politicians scream "Separation of church and state!", but when the "religious left" tries to influence our lives by touting government social programs or environmental legislation, they are praised for promoting "social justice". Talk about double standards.
US border card will be unveiled soon
From CanWest News (Border card to be unveiled soon, U.S. ambassador says, by Lisa Schmidt, September 23):
Canadians will soon get a look at the new passport alternative accepted under U.S. travel security rules slated to take effect in 2008, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said Friday.
David Wilkins said he expects U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release information and rules surrounding the so-called travel "pass card" in the next couple of weeks.
"Once they come out, hopefully that will alleviate some of the anxiety," the ambassador said after speaking on a safety and security panel at the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alta.
The U.S. has been working on details for a travel document that would pass as an alternative to a passport under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to create a more secure border.
The measures take effect in 2007 for air travel and in 2008 for those crossing on land.
[. . .]
Read all of the CanWest News article.
See also:
Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Toronto anti-terror sweep
Secure Border Initiative - US Homeland Security plans to install 'virtual fence' along Canada-US border
US House of Representatives votes to consider building security fence along Canadian border
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Canadians will soon get a look at the new passport alternative accepted under U.S. travel security rules slated to take effect in 2008, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said Friday.
David Wilkins said he expects U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release information and rules surrounding the so-called travel "pass card" in the next couple of weeks.
"Once they come out, hopefully that will alleviate some of the anxiety," the ambassador said after speaking on a safety and security panel at the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alta.
The U.S. has been working on details for a travel document that would pass as an alternative to a passport under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to create a more secure border.
The measures take effect in 2007 for air travel and in 2008 for those crossing on land.
[. . .]
Read all of the CanWest News article.
See also:
Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Toronto anti-terror sweep
Secure Border Initiative - US Homeland Security plans to install 'virtual fence' along Canada-US border
US House of Representatives votes to consider building security fence along Canadian border
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Canadian bank wants immigrant business
From the Toronto Star (CIBC aims to capture business of newcomers by Tara Perkins, September 23):
New immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area will be a key target market for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as it opens or expands 70 branches across the country in the next five years.
"Although we have the second-largest number of branches in the Greater Toronto Area, it is still the area of greatest opportunity, given its large and growing proportion of new immigrants and economic wealth," said Sonia Baxendale, senior executive vice-president of CIBC Retail Markets.
CIBC already has about 220 branches in the Greater Toronto Area.
Forty of the 70 new or improved branches will be in Ontario, and all will be in high-growth, high-potential markets, Baxendale told analysts during a conference call yesterday.
The bank is also investing in Alberta, where high economic-growth rates are expected to continue; and in British Columbia, which has high immigration and a growing retiree population, Baxendale said.
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
Immigration is a good deal for some businesses, because they get more customers and cheap labour. Best of all the social and economic costs are passed on to the taxpayer. Sweet.
See also:
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
New immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area will be a key target market for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as it opens or expands 70 branches across the country in the next five years.
"Although we have the second-largest number of branches in the Greater Toronto Area, it is still the area of greatest opportunity, given its large and growing proportion of new immigrants and economic wealth," said Sonia Baxendale, senior executive vice-president of CIBC Retail Markets.
CIBC already has about 220 branches in the Greater Toronto Area.
Forty of the 70 new or improved branches will be in Ontario, and all will be in high-growth, high-potential markets, Baxendale told analysts during a conference call yesterday.
The bank is also investing in Alberta, where high economic-growth rates are expected to continue; and in British Columbia, which has high immigration and a growing retiree population, Baxendale said.
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
Immigration is a good deal for some businesses, because they get more customers and cheap labour. Best of all the social and economic costs are passed on to the taxpayer. Sweet.
See also:
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Friday, September 22, 2006
Ryerson blogger silenced by feminists and lesbians
Canada is becoming a very scary place.
Finnish-Canadian blogger Ilkka Kokkarinen has quit, publicly denouncing himself and trashing his archives in the process.
Read the professor's farewell message.
See also:
Sensitivity training in Academia
CS instructor in need of sensitivity training: Chair
Political correctness defined
Jane Elliot - "diversity expert"
Finnish-Canadian blogger Ilkka Kokkarinen has quit, publicly denouncing himself and trashing his archives in the process.
Read the professor's farewell message.
See also:
Sensitivity training in Academia
CS instructor in need of sensitivity training: Chair
Political correctness defined
Jane Elliot - "diversity expert"
Secure Border Initiative - US Homeland Security plans to install 'virtual fence' along Canada-US border
From CanWest News Service (High-tech watchtowers in works for U.S-Canada border by Sheldon Alberts, September 22):
Sections of the Canada-U.S. border in British Columbia and southwestern Ontario - areas deemed most vulnerable to drug smuggling and terrorist infiltrations - are likely the first locations where American authorities will deploy a ''virtual fence'' of high-tech monitoring equipment to stop illegal crossings, Homeland Security officials said Thursday.
Detailing plans for an array of sensors, infrared cameras, watchtowers, and drones that will eventually stretch across America's entire 8,890-kilometre border with Canada, U.S. authorities said their goal is to have the world's longest undefended border under surveillance within three to six years.
''We are looking at making it just that, making it a guarded border,'' U.S. Border Patrol chief David Aguilar told reporters.
His comments followed a Department of Homeland Security announcement that Chicago-based Boeing Corp. had been awarded an initial $67-million contract to begin work on the project, known as the Secure Border Initiative.
Starting with a 45-kilometre section of the U.S.-Mexico border south of Tucson, Ariz., the project will expand along both the Canadian and Mexican boundaries based on evaluations of the threat posed by illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and terrorists.
''What we are looking to build is a virtual fence, a 21st-century virtual fence,'' said Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff.
[. . .]
Read all of the CanWest News article.
See also:
Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Drug tunnel under Canada-US border
Secure Border Initiative a Big Lie
Fact Sheet: Secure Border Initiative
DHS Announces SBINET Contract Award to Boeing
US House of Representatives votes to consider building security fence along Canadian border
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Sections of the Canada-U.S. border in British Columbia and southwestern Ontario - areas deemed most vulnerable to drug smuggling and terrorist infiltrations - are likely the first locations where American authorities will deploy a ''virtual fence'' of high-tech monitoring equipment to stop illegal crossings, Homeland Security officials said Thursday.
Detailing plans for an array of sensors, infrared cameras, watchtowers, and drones that will eventually stretch across America's entire 8,890-kilometre border with Canada, U.S. authorities said their goal is to have the world's longest undefended border under surveillance within three to six years.
''We are looking at making it just that, making it a guarded border,'' U.S. Border Patrol chief David Aguilar told reporters.
His comments followed a Department of Homeland Security announcement that Chicago-based Boeing Corp. had been awarded an initial $67-million contract to begin work on the project, known as the Secure Border Initiative.
Starting with a 45-kilometre section of the U.S.-Mexico border south of Tucson, Ariz., the project will expand along both the Canadian and Mexican boundaries based on evaluations of the threat posed by illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and terrorists.
''What we are looking to build is a virtual fence, a 21st-century virtual fence,'' said Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff.
[. . .]
Read all of the CanWest News article.
See also:
Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Drug tunnel under Canada-US border
Secure Border Initiative a Big Lie
Fact Sheet: Secure Border Initiative
DHS Announces SBINET Contract Award to Boeing
US House of Representatives votes to consider building security fence along Canadian border
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Six Nations Indians want to stop Caledonia protest
From Canadian Press via the Toronto Star (Occupiers want Caledonia rally stopped, September 22):
Six Nations protesters are calling on the province to stop a rally they say could spark a "volatile situation" on the former housing development aboriginals have occupied in Caledonia, Ont., since February.
A couple from Richmond Hill, Ont., north of Toronto, who founded the group Caledonia Wake Up Call, is organizing a rally for Oct. 15 on the disputed land saying the public has a right to use government property.
The group has asked the province — which bought the former housing development site and put it in trust while negotiations with the protesters continue — to sanction the rally.
But Hazel Hill, spokesperson for the aboriginal occupiers, said the governing Liberals need to step in and stop the rally before it creates a "volatile situation."
"They have to deal with it," she said. "This isn't public land . . . It's not optional to have rallies. It will incite problems."
Residents of the town, just outside of Hamilton, and aboriginals have clashed several times since the occupation began over six months ago. Six Nations protesters say they won't leave until the land they say was taken illegally from them over 200 years ago is returned.
[. . .]
Read the whole Canadian Press article
See also:
Caledonia Wake Up Call website
Citizens of Caledonia website
Wikipedia article: Caledonia Land Dispute
Government and police abandoned 'non-native' residents of Caledonia
Blows exchanged in Caledonia. Six Nations Indian land dispute
Smug Globe reporter shows little sympathy for plight of whites in Caledonia
Six Nations thugs steal confidential police documents
Caledonia land claim talks resume. Situation still very tense
What do Mohawks have to do with Jane Creba's murder?
The Long Fall of the Mohawk Warriors
Six Nations protesters are calling on the province to stop a rally they say could spark a "volatile situation" on the former housing development aboriginals have occupied in Caledonia, Ont., since February.
A couple from Richmond Hill, Ont., north of Toronto, who founded the group Caledonia Wake Up Call, is organizing a rally for Oct. 15 on the disputed land saying the public has a right to use government property.
The group has asked the province — which bought the former housing development site and put it in trust while negotiations with the protesters continue — to sanction the rally.
But Hazel Hill, spokesperson for the aboriginal occupiers, said the governing Liberals need to step in and stop the rally before it creates a "volatile situation."
"They have to deal with it," she said. "This isn't public land . . . It's not optional to have rallies. It will incite problems."
Residents of the town, just outside of Hamilton, and aboriginals have clashed several times since the occupation began over six months ago. Six Nations protesters say they won't leave until the land they say was taken illegally from them over 200 years ago is returned.
[. . .]
Read the whole Canadian Press article
See also:
Caledonia Wake Up Call website
Citizens of Caledonia website
Wikipedia article: Caledonia Land Dispute
Government and police abandoned 'non-native' residents of Caledonia
Blows exchanged in Caledonia. Six Nations Indian land dispute
Smug Globe reporter shows little sympathy for plight of whites in Caledonia
Six Nations thugs steal confidential police documents
Caledonia land claim talks resume. Situation still very tense
What do Mohawks have to do with Jane Creba's murder?
The Long Fall of the Mohawk Warriors
Mafia fugitives from Italy living in Toronto area. Police chief says Canadian immigration slow to react.
From the Toronto Star (`Dozen' mobsters living free in York by Richard Brennan and Peter Edwards):
There are at least a dozen Mafia fugitives who either consider York Region home or visit regularly, according to police Chief Armand La Barge.
Canadian immigration officials have known their whereabouts for about 18 months, and yet they have done nothing to round them up in order to decide what's to be done with them, La Barge said yesterday.
"The information has definitely been passed on from York Region police to immigration ... and we are reliant on them to move the files forward and do whatever they have to do," La Barge said, noting that 10 of the men live in York Region and two visit on a regular basis.
"It's not a case of them (federal government) not knowing who they are here," La Barge said. "It's a case of somebody having the will to take whatever action that needs to be taken ... (but) political will at this point in time is either lacking or is caught up in some level of bureaucracy that is totally inappropriate."
"There is an incredible frustration at the incredible delay here," La Barge said.
Yesterday the Toronto Star identified six men wanted by Italian prosecutors probing the Mafia, including Cosimo D'Agostino, 68, who fled to Canada from Italy in the 1970s after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for cocaine trafficking. All are openly living in the GTA — five in York and one in Toronto.
"Let me tell you there are more than six," La Barge said. "We know there is at least a dozen, 10 of whom live in our jurisdiction, the other two who frequent our jurisdiction."
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
There are a lot of Italians in the Toronto area. Who knew Furio was among them?
See also:
Accused mobsters in GTA
Asian gangs in Alberta
Terrorists work with gangs
There are at least a dozen Mafia fugitives who either consider York Region home or visit regularly, according to police Chief Armand La Barge.
Canadian immigration officials have known their whereabouts for about 18 months, and yet they have done nothing to round them up in order to decide what's to be done with them, La Barge said yesterday.
"The information has definitely been passed on from York Region police to immigration ... and we are reliant on them to move the files forward and do whatever they have to do," La Barge said, noting that 10 of the men live in York Region and two visit on a regular basis.
"It's not a case of them (federal government) not knowing who they are here," La Barge said. "It's a case of somebody having the will to take whatever action that needs to be taken ... (but) political will at this point in time is either lacking or is caught up in some level of bureaucracy that is totally inappropriate."
"There is an incredible frustration at the incredible delay here," La Barge said.
Yesterday the Toronto Star identified six men wanted by Italian prosecutors probing the Mafia, including Cosimo D'Agostino, 68, who fled to Canada from Italy in the 1970s after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for cocaine trafficking. All are openly living in the GTA — five in York and one in Toronto.
"Let me tell you there are more than six," La Barge said. "We know there is at least a dozen, 10 of whom live in our jurisdiction, the other two who frequent our jurisdiction."
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
There are a lot of Italians in the Toronto area. Who knew Furio was among them?
See also:
Accused mobsters in GTA
Asian gangs in Alberta
Terrorists work with gangs
BBC: Executions spark unrest in Indonesia
From the BBC (Executions spark Indonesia unrest, September 22):
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of eastern Indonesia after three Christian militants were executed in religiously divided Sulawesi.
Protesters torched cars, looted shops and set prisoners free from a jail.
But Palu, where the executions took place, remained calm. Mourners attended church services to pray for the men.
The three men were convicted of masterminding a series of attacks on Muslims in central Sulawesi in 2000 that killed at least 70 people.
A spokesman for the Vatican, which had appealed for clemency, described the executions as a defeat for humanity.
The human rights organisation Amnesty International also expressed disappointment.
The three men - Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva - were taken before the firing squad before dawn on Friday morning, according to police officers.
[. . . ]
Read all of the BBC article.
Christians are not immune to violence but Amnesty International and others have expressed concern about the fairness of the trial these three men received. Among other problems, Amnesty pointed to reports of Muslim radicals using intimidation to influence the courts:
Amnesty International received reports that the trial of the three men was unfair. In particular, there were concerns that witness testimony provided as evidence by the defence may have been ignored by the Court when giving its verdict. Further, There were demonstrators armed with stones outside the courthouse, demanding that the three be sentenced to death, and their legal representatives were subjected to intimidation including death threats. A bomb was planted at the house of one legal adviser. However, the authorities did not review the trial.
See also:
Indonesia prepares to execute three Catholics
Indonesia: Resumption of executions
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of eastern Indonesia after three Christian militants were executed in religiously divided Sulawesi.
Protesters torched cars, looted shops and set prisoners free from a jail.
But Palu, where the executions took place, remained calm. Mourners attended church services to pray for the men.
The three men were convicted of masterminding a series of attacks on Muslims in central Sulawesi in 2000 that killed at least 70 people.
A spokesman for the Vatican, which had appealed for clemency, described the executions as a defeat for humanity.
The human rights organisation Amnesty International also expressed disappointment.
The three men - Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva - were taken before the firing squad before dawn on Friday morning, according to police officers.
[. . . ]
Read all of the BBC article.
Christians are not immune to violence but Amnesty International and others have expressed concern about the fairness of the trial these three men received. Among other problems, Amnesty pointed to reports of Muslim radicals using intimidation to influence the courts:
Amnesty International received reports that the trial of the three men was unfair. In particular, there were concerns that witness testimony provided as evidence by the defence may have been ignored by the Court when giving its verdict. Further, There were demonstrators armed with stones outside the courthouse, demanding that the three be sentenced to death, and their legal representatives were subjected to intimidation including death threats. A bomb was planted at the house of one legal adviser. However, the authorities did not review the trial.
See also:
Indonesia prepares to execute three Catholics
Indonesia: Resumption of executions
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Indonesia prepares to execute three Catholics. Remember this the next time Muslim crybabies whine about the Pope.
[Update: AsiaNews reports they have been executed.
From Zenit.org (3 in Indonesia Want Their Execution Public, September 20):
Facing execution this Thursday, three Catholics from Poso have asked that they be shot in public.
The three -- Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Da Silva and Marinus Riwa -- were convicted of involvement in the death six years ago of 200 Muslims amid interreligious strife on the islands of Sulawesi. Their trial was marred by irregularities.
The three Catholics have seen their execution postponed several times, the last time on Aug. 12. The day before, Benedict XVI appealed to the Indonesian president for a gesture of clemency for the three men.
On Tuesday, authorities announced that the executions would be carried out Thursday.
Tibo's eldest son, Robert, has expressed the trio's last wish, as reported by AsiaNews: "The execution should take place in public, to satisfy those who want our death."
According to the agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, the three Catholics will be executed by firing squad shortly after midnight, in the first minutes of Thursday.
The case of "Tibo and friends" drew international attention. Their trial was marred by illegal procedures such as witnesses not being heard and certain evidence not being accepted by the court. The judicial process also was marked by large-scale intimidation by Muslim extremists.
[. . .]
Read all of the Zenit article.
Indonesia's population is dazzlingly diverse.
See also:
2005 Poso beheadings
Machete killings fuel Indonesia's religious hatred
May Allah curse the Pope.
From Zenit.org (3 in Indonesia Want Their Execution Public, September 20):
Facing execution this Thursday, three Catholics from Poso have asked that they be shot in public.
The three -- Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Da Silva and Marinus Riwa -- were convicted of involvement in the death six years ago of 200 Muslims amid interreligious strife on the islands of Sulawesi. Their trial was marred by irregularities.
The three Catholics have seen their execution postponed several times, the last time on Aug. 12. The day before, Benedict XVI appealed to the Indonesian president for a gesture of clemency for the three men.
On Tuesday, authorities announced that the executions would be carried out Thursday.
Tibo's eldest son, Robert, has expressed the trio's last wish, as reported by AsiaNews: "The execution should take place in public, to satisfy those who want our death."
According to the agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, the three Catholics will be executed by firing squad shortly after midnight, in the first minutes of Thursday.
The case of "Tibo and friends" drew international attention. Their trial was marred by illegal procedures such as witnesses not being heard and certain evidence not being accepted by the court. The judicial process also was marked by large-scale intimidation by Muslim extremists.
[. . .]
Read all of the Zenit article.
Indonesia's population is dazzlingly diverse.
See also:
2005 Poso beheadings
Machete killings fuel Indonesia's religious hatred
May Allah curse the Pope.
Ottawa plans dual citizenship review. Lebanon evacuations cost Canadian taxpayers dearly.
From Canwest News via the National Post (Dual citizenship faces review by Allan Woods, September 21):
The federal government plans to revisit the 30-year-old rule allowing Canadians who live abroad to hold dual citizenship, a senior Conservative has told CanWest News Service.
The review of the law allowing people to carry a Canadian passport along with the citizenship of another country appears to be on a fast track, particularly after the government began tallying the costs and results of evacuating thousands of dual-passport holders from Lebanon during the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
"I think it's going to be something that our Minister of Immigration [Monte Solberg] ... will be addressing in the future because I think there is some interest as these details become known," said Conservative caucus chairman Rahim Jaffer, a member of the House of Commons citizenship and immigration committee.
Mr. Solberg refused requests for an interview, and Mr. Jaffer did not disclose what other issues relating to dual citizenship could come under review.
[. . .]
Read the all of Allan Woods' article.
See also:
Lebanon evacuation cost $85-million: report
Idiot of the Day
India promotes dual loyalties
Ottawa to review practice of allowing Canadian residents to run in foreign elections
The federal government plans to revisit the 30-year-old rule allowing Canadians who live abroad to hold dual citizenship, a senior Conservative has told CanWest News Service.
The review of the law allowing people to carry a Canadian passport along with the citizenship of another country appears to be on a fast track, particularly after the government began tallying the costs and results of evacuating thousands of dual-passport holders from Lebanon during the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
"I think it's going to be something that our Minister of Immigration [Monte Solberg] ... will be addressing in the future because I think there is some interest as these details become known," said Conservative caucus chairman Rahim Jaffer, a member of the House of Commons citizenship and immigration committee.
Mr. Solberg refused requests for an interview, and Mr. Jaffer did not disclose what other issues relating to dual citizenship could come under review.
[. . .]
Read the all of Allan Woods' article.
See also:
Lebanon evacuation cost $85-million: report
Idiot of the Day
India promotes dual loyalties
Ottawa to review practice of allowing Canadian residents to run in foreign elections
Stephen Harper is not a conservative
Stephen Harper is not a conservative.
From the Globe and Mail (Harper tells U.S. audience 'Canada is back', September 20):
[. . .]
“I want it understood that we are determined that Canada's role in the world will extend beyond this continent. Our needs for prosperity and security, our values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law...they are also the common destiny of all humanity.”
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
I rest my case.
The common destiny of all humanity? That's a French revolutionary talking, not a conservative. Where is Edmund Burke when you need him? Someone needs to write a book called Reflections on the Revolution in Canada.
See also:
Stephen Harper - neocon
What’s In A Name? The Curious Case Of “Neoconservative”
What the Heck Is a 'Neocon'?
From the Globe and Mail (Harper tells U.S. audience 'Canada is back', September 20):
[. . .]
“I want it understood that we are determined that Canada's role in the world will extend beyond this continent. Our needs for prosperity and security, our values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law...they are also the common destiny of all humanity.”
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
I rest my case.
The common destiny of all humanity? That's a French revolutionary talking, not a conservative. Where is Edmund Burke when you need him? Someone needs to write a book called Reflections on the Revolution in Canada.
See also:
Stephen Harper - neocon
What’s In A Name? The Curious Case Of “Neoconservative”
What the Heck Is a 'Neocon'?
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
BC unions say foreign workers are being hired to replace fired Canadians
This story appeared in August when I was away from the blog.
From Canadian Press via CBC News (B.C. union wants probe into hiring of foreigners to replace fired Canadians, August 31):
Several B.C. unions are asking the federal government for an investigation into what they call the misuse of an immigration policy that will allow companies to hire foreign workers while qualified Canadians sit idle.
B.C. Government Employees Union president George Heyman says a Kelowna long-term care facility has fired 70 care aides and is seeking government approval to hire foreign-trained nurses to replace them.
"The efforts of these companies to drive down wages and benefits for front line health care workers has created an artificial labour shortage," Heyman said Thursday. "Now, they are trying to exploit foreign workers to solve their recruitment problem."
The company doing the hiring, though, says only about 15 people will be hired from offshore.
Meanwhile, the B.C. & Yukon Territory Building & Construction Trades Council says German contractor Bilfinger Berger wants to use temporary foreign workers on the Golden Ears bridge project east of Vancouver.
B.C Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair said Bilfinger claims there's a shortage of skilled labour, but the real aim is to exploit cheap foreign labour.
[. . .]
Read all of the Canadian Press story.
See also:
Canadian Jobs at Risk
Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages
Thomas Sowell on immigration and low wages
Vancouver Sun: Immigrant labour has its detractors
Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"
From Canadian Press via CBC News (B.C. union wants probe into hiring of foreigners to replace fired Canadians, August 31):
Several B.C. unions are asking the federal government for an investigation into what they call the misuse of an immigration policy that will allow companies to hire foreign workers while qualified Canadians sit idle.
B.C. Government Employees Union president George Heyman says a Kelowna long-term care facility has fired 70 care aides and is seeking government approval to hire foreign-trained nurses to replace them.
"The efforts of these companies to drive down wages and benefits for front line health care workers has created an artificial labour shortage," Heyman said Thursday. "Now, they are trying to exploit foreign workers to solve their recruitment problem."
The company doing the hiring, though, says only about 15 people will be hired from offshore.
Meanwhile, the B.C. & Yukon Territory Building & Construction Trades Council says German contractor Bilfinger Berger wants to use temporary foreign workers on the Golden Ears bridge project east of Vancouver.
B.C Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair said Bilfinger claims there's a shortage of skilled labour, but the real aim is to exploit cheap foreign labour.
[. . .]
Read all of the Canadian Press story.
See also:
Canadian Jobs at Risk
Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages
Thomas Sowell on immigration and low wages
Vancouver Sun: Immigrant labour has its detractors
Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Eloquent letter writer challenges Ignatieff's proposal to raise immigration levels
A good letter to the editor in today's Toronto Star (Need shared truth, letter by Catherine Smith, September 19):
Re Diversity demands equality of citizenship
Michael Ignatieff argues that it is time for a new civic contract between Canada and its multicultural communities — a proposition that most people would agree with. He then decimates his argument with a fixation on Charter equality, rather than promoting a new national consensus on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. This mindset is exactly what is wrong with Canada.
He wants to drastically increase immigration rates without acknowledging the disproportionate effects on our major cities, especially Toronto where half of the immigrants settle each year. The sprawl of suburbia, the crisis of transportation infrastructure, the funding difficulties in health care and education, can all be linked to cities that are growing too quickly and too large. We have both a right and a responsibility to create sustainable communities, and policies should reflect that duality.
[. . .]
Read all of Catherine Smith's letter.
See also:
Michael Ignatieff wants to boost immigration to 350,000 a year
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration
Urban sprawl and disappearing farmland in British Columbia
The impact of population growth on local neighbourhoods
Re Diversity demands equality of citizenship
Michael Ignatieff argues that it is time for a new civic contract between Canada and its multicultural communities — a proposition that most people would agree with. He then decimates his argument with a fixation on Charter equality, rather than promoting a new national consensus on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. This mindset is exactly what is wrong with Canada.
He wants to drastically increase immigration rates without acknowledging the disproportionate effects on our major cities, especially Toronto where half of the immigrants settle each year. The sprawl of suburbia, the crisis of transportation infrastructure, the funding difficulties in health care and education, can all be linked to cities that are growing too quickly and too large. We have both a right and a responsibility to create sustainable communities, and policies should reflect that duality.
[. . .]
Read all of Catherine Smith's letter.
See also:
Michael Ignatieff wants to boost immigration to 350,000 a year
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration
Urban sprawl and disappearing farmland in British Columbia
The impact of population growth on local neighbourhoods
Toronto Sun: Residents say roominghouse murder was "only a matter of time"
From the Toronto Sun (Murder doesn't surprise by Chris Doucette, September 19):
Residents of a Parkdale roominghouse where a man was murdered this weekend say it was only a matter of time until someone was killed in the filthy, rundown building.
Christopher James White, 22, of no fixed address, was found with a bullet in his head at 5:20 a.m. Sunday at 1268 King St. W., east of Jameson Ave., in one of the many empty units used by squatters to smoke crack, shoot up, and turn tricks.
"I've been complaining about this place for months and nobody will listen," a 56-year-old woman, who did not want to be identified, said yesterday of her home -- a decrepit building known in the area as a crack house.
[. . .]
Read all of Chris Doucette's Sun article.
See also:
Princeton sociologist: "Toronto is becoming increasingly segregated along racial and economic lines"
Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"
Another Sun columnist is disillusioned with Toronto
Residents of a Parkdale roominghouse where a man was murdered this weekend say it was only a matter of time until someone was killed in the filthy, rundown building.
Christopher James White, 22, of no fixed address, was found with a bullet in his head at 5:20 a.m. Sunday at 1268 King St. W., east of Jameson Ave., in one of the many empty units used by squatters to smoke crack, shoot up, and turn tricks.
"I've been complaining about this place for months and nobody will listen," a 56-year-old woman, who did not want to be identified, said yesterday of her home -- a decrepit building known in the area as a crack house.
[. . .]
Read all of Chris Doucette's Sun article.
See also:
Princeton sociologist: "Toronto is becoming increasingly segregated along racial and economic lines"
Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"
Another Sun columnist is disillusioned with Toronto
Monday, September 18, 2006
Stephen Harper take note. Immigrants don't vote conservative.
Stephen Harper and his advisers should read this: Still Time To Block Immigration-Induced Leftism.
Even though Steve Sailer is describing California, what he says applies equally well to Canada as Kevin Michael Grace pointed out in this Vdare article: Harper Rejects Sailer Strategy—And Loses.
Even though Steve Sailer is describing California, what he says applies equally well to Canada as Kevin Michael Grace pointed out in this Vdare article: Harper Rejects Sailer Strategy—And Loses.
May Allah curse the Pope
May Allah curse the Pope and other messages of peace you might wish to convey to Catholic worshippers as they leave the cathedral.
This moment in the history of Muslim tolerance brought to you by my favourite Glaswegian blogger Martin Kelly.
See also Religion of Peace Shoots Nun, Threatens Pope.
This moment in the history of Muslim tolerance brought to you by my favourite Glaswegian blogger Martin Kelly.
See also Religion of Peace Shoots Nun, Threatens Pope.
Driving instructors with bad records face few penalties
From the Toronto Star (Instructors face few penalties for bad records by Jessica Leeder and Robert Cribb):
Muhammad Yousaf's students have accused the Scarborough driving instructor of swearing at them during lessons, uttering racial epithets and using an instruction vehicle without a passenger-side brake.
One former student who filed a complaint with the city alleged that Yousaf "grabbed her purse, bruised her wrist and called her a `bitch,'" according to documents obtained by the Toronto Star. Another claimed she had to wait 90 minutes in Yousaf's car while he went to a doctor's appointment.
Yet another said she was "abandoned on the roadside by Mr. Yousaf without any means of transportation and without proper clothing for the weather conditions."
Despite all this, the 60-year-old driving instructor is still on the road.
[. . .]
He's not apologizing. And neither are the dozens of other driving instructors across the GTA who amass long lists of bylaw charges or public complaints, or ignore thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.
It's a situation their students, who pay $250 to $1,400 to learn the rules of the road, know nothing about.
For example, students of Scarborough driving instructor brothers Lik-Man and Andy Ho have no way of knowing that, together, the two have had more than 30 bylaw convictions since 2000, and have failed to pay $6,000 in fines. Nor do Markham instructor Wenyuan He's students know about the seven demerit points on his record.
In interviews with the Star, several instructors said they have learned how to manoeuvre within a licensing system in disarray. And the city appears powerless to take action.
Over the past decade, the city has tried to remove 26 driving instructors from the road by revoking their business licences.
City licensing officials took their cases against the instructors to the city licensing tribunal, a quasi-legal panel with the authority to strip business licences. In the end, the tribunal removed the licence of only one. The others were given short-term suspensions or minor conditions on their licenses.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
There is an immigration dimension to this problem. Many local driving schools cater to particular ethnic groups. For example, in my neighbourhood you see Portuguese signs saying Escola de conducao. People who don't speak English often want instruction from people who speak their language. Driving schools spring up to cater to that demand. Immigrants, of course, are often ignorant of Canadian norms and don't feel confident to complain when they are taken advantage of. I can't say immigration is the whole problem here, but it's certainly a factor.
See also:
Driving schools break rules
Student drivers in the dark
Muhammad Yousaf's students have accused the Scarborough driving instructor of swearing at them during lessons, uttering racial epithets and using an instruction vehicle without a passenger-side brake.
One former student who filed a complaint with the city alleged that Yousaf "grabbed her purse, bruised her wrist and called her a `bitch,'" according to documents obtained by the Toronto Star. Another claimed she had to wait 90 minutes in Yousaf's car while he went to a doctor's appointment.
Yet another said she was "abandoned on the roadside by Mr. Yousaf without any means of transportation and without proper clothing for the weather conditions."
Despite all this, the 60-year-old driving instructor is still on the road.
[. . .]
He's not apologizing. And neither are the dozens of other driving instructors across the GTA who amass long lists of bylaw charges or public complaints, or ignore thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.
It's a situation their students, who pay $250 to $1,400 to learn the rules of the road, know nothing about.
For example, students of Scarborough driving instructor brothers Lik-Man and Andy Ho have no way of knowing that, together, the two have had more than 30 bylaw convictions since 2000, and have failed to pay $6,000 in fines. Nor do Markham instructor Wenyuan He's students know about the seven demerit points on his record.
In interviews with the Star, several instructors said they have learned how to manoeuvre within a licensing system in disarray. And the city appears powerless to take action.
Over the past decade, the city has tried to remove 26 driving instructors from the road by revoking their business licences.
City licensing officials took their cases against the instructors to the city licensing tribunal, a quasi-legal panel with the authority to strip business licences. In the end, the tribunal removed the licence of only one. The others were given short-term suspensions or minor conditions on their licenses.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
There is an immigration dimension to this problem. Many local driving schools cater to particular ethnic groups. For example, in my neighbourhood you see Portuguese signs saying Escola de conducao. People who don't speak English often want instruction from people who speak their language. Driving schools spring up to cater to that demand. Immigrants, of course, are often ignorant of Canadian norms and don't feel confident to complain when they are taken advantage of. I can't say immigration is the whole problem here, but it's certainly a factor.
See also:
Driving schools break rules
Student drivers in the dark
Man killed with machete after being run down
From the Toronto Star (Man run down, killed with machete by Bob Mitchell and Debra Black, September 18):
Two men are dead and a third in hospital, following three separate bizarre acts of violence in Toronto yesterday.
In the city's east end, a young man was killed with a machete after being run down by a car.
Police were called at 10 a.m. to Longbow Square and Huntsmill Blvd., in the Warden Ave. and McNicolls Ave. area, where they found the victim, bleeding on the lawn of a home.
He was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
[. . .]
In a second, earlier incident, a man was shot in the head in Toronto's west end.
Police were called to King St. W. near Elm Grove Ave. around 4 a.m. for a report of a man "in trouble."
He was found with a gunshot wound to the head and taken to St. Michael's hospital, where he later died.
Police cordoned off the three-story Parkdale apartment where the incident took place. The apartment has been vandalized in the past and drug addicts and prostitutes often hang around outside the building.
Eighty-year-old Alex Koledin, who owns the building, blames the violence on the street drug culture in the area.
"They're all bums," said Koledin, who found police at his building when he returned from the cottage.
"They come all the time. They kick in the doors. They break in my place ... the police are handcuffed. They can't do anything."
Meanwhile, a third man is in hospital with serious injuries after being stabbed in the chest during a brawl in the city's east end.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Two men are dead and a third in hospital, following three separate bizarre acts of violence in Toronto yesterday.
In the city's east end, a young man was killed with a machete after being run down by a car.
Police were called at 10 a.m. to Longbow Square and Huntsmill Blvd., in the Warden Ave. and McNicolls Ave. area, where they found the victim, bleeding on the lawn of a home.
He was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
[. . .]
In a second, earlier incident, a man was shot in the head in Toronto's west end.
Police were called to King St. W. near Elm Grove Ave. around 4 a.m. for a report of a man "in trouble."
He was found with a gunshot wound to the head and taken to St. Michael's hospital, where he later died.
Police cordoned off the three-story Parkdale apartment where the incident took place. The apartment has been vandalized in the past and drug addicts and prostitutes often hang around outside the building.
Eighty-year-old Alex Koledin, who owns the building, blames the violence on the street drug culture in the area.
"They're all bums," said Koledin, who found police at his building when he returned from the cottage.
"They come all the time. They kick in the doors. They break in my place ... the police are handcuffed. They can't do anything."
Meanwhile, a third man is in hospital with serious injuries after being stabbed in the chest during a brawl in the city's east end.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
From the Toronto Star (RCMP wrong on Arar: Report by Michelle Shephard, September 18):
Canadian Maher Arar and his wife were on a U.S. watch list wrongly described as “Islamic extremist individuals” suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda, based on incorrect information provided by the RCMP, a federal inquiry report released today says.
Justice Dennis O’Connor’s newly released report on Arar’s deportation by American authorities to Syria portrayed the RCMP as an inexperienced police force that passed erroneous information to American officials both before, and after Arar’s detention on Sept. 26, 2002.
The report revealed that in the fall of 2001, when there was a heightened sense of anxiety over the possibility of future terrorism attacks, the RCMP requested that Arar and his wife Monia Mazigh be placed on a U.S. Customs “lookout,” as terrorism suspects.
At the time, Arar was only considered a “person of interest,” peripheral to an RCMP-led terrorism investigation known as Project A O Canada, and his wife was not under investigation.
"The potential consequences of labeling someone an Islamic extremist in post-9/11 are enormous,” O’Connor wrote in his 822-page report.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
See also US ruling dismisses Arar lawsuit
Canadian Maher Arar and his wife were on a U.S. watch list wrongly described as “Islamic extremist individuals” suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda, based on incorrect information provided by the RCMP, a federal inquiry report released today says.
Justice Dennis O’Connor’s newly released report on Arar’s deportation by American authorities to Syria portrayed the RCMP as an inexperienced police force that passed erroneous information to American officials both before, and after Arar’s detention on Sept. 26, 2002.
The report revealed that in the fall of 2001, when there was a heightened sense of anxiety over the possibility of future terrorism attacks, the RCMP requested that Arar and his wife Monia Mazigh be placed on a U.S. Customs “lookout,” as terrorism suspects.
At the time, Arar was only considered a “person of interest,” peripheral to an RCMP-led terrorism investigation known as Project A O Canada, and his wife was not under investigation.
"The potential consequences of labeling someone an Islamic extremist in post-9/11 are enormous,” O’Connor wrote in his 822-page report.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
See also US ruling dismisses Arar lawsuit
Saturday, September 16, 2006
160 HIV-positive delegates to Toronto AIDS conference make refugee claims
From the Globe and Mail (HIV patients in search of a home by Marina Jimenez, September 16):
It was hardly a surprise when 160 HIV-positive foreigners in Toronto for the recent AIDS conference decided to make refugee claims.
The non-governmental organizations that lobbied for their visas were so worried they would defect, many dispatched minders to ensure the delegates showed up for their return flights.
Joaquin Ramirez, a 36-year-old clothing seller from El Salvador, was one conference delegate who gave his minder the slip.
[. . .]
Mr. Ramirez, who is receiving medical care and antiretroviral drugs while he awaits a hearing date, is amazed at the acceptance of homosexuality in Canada, where gay couples can marry.
His case, and those of the South Africans, Ugandans, Eritreans, Peruvians and others who made refugee claims after arriving here for last month's AIDS conference, have put the issue of HIV-positive refugee claimants in the spotlight.
Canada assesses the health needs of prospective immigrants who are living with HIV and rejects those who would place an excessive burden on the health-care system. No refugee claimant is disqualified from making a claim in Canada just because of their HIV-positive status.
And there is no automatic right to asylum for people with HIV who cannot access antiretroviral drugs in their own country.
"Simply being sick and from a country too poor to provide you with drugs isn't enough to qualify under the refugee definition," says Audrey Macklin, a University of Toronto law professor and former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
[. . .]
Read all of Marina Jimenez's Globe article.
See also:
Asylum seekers say they're gay when they're not
The Pink Trail to Canada
African immigrant infects three women with AIDS virus
Canada: The Disease Dimension
It was hardly a surprise when 160 HIV-positive foreigners in Toronto for the recent AIDS conference decided to make refugee claims.
The non-governmental organizations that lobbied for their visas were so worried they would defect, many dispatched minders to ensure the delegates showed up for their return flights.
Joaquin Ramirez, a 36-year-old clothing seller from El Salvador, was one conference delegate who gave his minder the slip.
[. . .]
Mr. Ramirez, who is receiving medical care and antiretroviral drugs while he awaits a hearing date, is amazed at the acceptance of homosexuality in Canada, where gay couples can marry.
His case, and those of the South Africans, Ugandans, Eritreans, Peruvians and others who made refugee claims after arriving here for last month's AIDS conference, have put the issue of HIV-positive refugee claimants in the spotlight.
Canada assesses the health needs of prospective immigrants who are living with HIV and rejects those who would place an excessive burden on the health-care system. No refugee claimant is disqualified from making a claim in Canada just because of their HIV-positive status.
And there is no automatic right to asylum for people with HIV who cannot access antiretroviral drugs in their own country.
"Simply being sick and from a country too poor to provide you with drugs isn't enough to qualify under the refugee definition," says Audrey Macklin, a University of Toronto law professor and former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
[. . .]
Read all of Marina Jimenez's Globe article.
See also:
Asylum seekers say they're gay when they're not
The Pink Trail to Canada
African immigrant infects three women with AIDS virus
Canada: The Disease Dimension
Political correctness defined
Question: What is political correctness?
Answer: Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small.
Hat Tip: The Brussels Journal
Answer: Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small.
Hat Tip: The Brussels Journal
Muslim leaders want Pope to apologize
Some Muslim leaders want the Pope to apologize for his recent remarks about Islam.
Meanwhile in other news from the Muslim world, two West Bank churches have been firebombed.
Meanwhile in other news from the Muslim world, two West Bank churches have been firebombed.
Jane Creba shooting suspects in court
From the Toronto Sun (Boxing Day suspects in court by Sarah Green, September 16):
Four men charged in the notorious Boxing Day shootout return to court next week to set a date for a pre-trial hearing.
The men, aged 19 to 23, made brief and separate court appearances yesterday, two in person and two by video from local detention centres.
The high-profile shooting on Yonge St. filled with post-Christmas shoppers left 15-year-old Jane Creba dead and six others wounded.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
See also 8 arrested in Jane Creba shooting death
Four men charged in the notorious Boxing Day shootout return to court next week to set a date for a pre-trial hearing.
The men, aged 19 to 23, made brief and separate court appearances yesterday, two in person and two by video from local detention centres.
The high-profile shooting on Yonge St. filled with post-Christmas shoppers left 15-year-old Jane Creba dead and six others wounded.
[. . .]
Read the whole article
See also 8 arrested in Jane Creba shooting death
Friday, September 15, 2006
Michael Ignatieff wants to boost immigration to 350,000 a year
From Canadian Press:
Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff says the federal government should boost immigration to Canada to at least 350,000 people a year from the current 260,000 by streamlining the immigration process.
The rookie MP who is the perceived front-runner in the leadership campaign was in Vancouver to deliver a speech on national unity.
He and the other candidates will also take part in a public forum Sunday in Vancouver.
Ignatieff told a group of supporters at Simon Fraser University's downtown campus that as soon as the federal government has streamlined the immigration process and cut down waiting times, the country must open its doors to more immigrants.
[. . .]
See also
Bevilacqua proposes doubling immigration levels (Bevilacqua has since dropped out of the Liberal leadership race)
Harper says Canada needs more immigrants
Doug Saunders says Canada needs a million poor African immigrants
Columnist lambastes Volpe's politically-motivated plan to increase immigration levels
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends
Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff says the federal government should boost immigration to Canada to at least 350,000 people a year from the current 260,000 by streamlining the immigration process.
The rookie MP who is the perceived front-runner in the leadership campaign was in Vancouver to deliver a speech on national unity.
He and the other candidates will also take part in a public forum Sunday in Vancouver.
Ignatieff told a group of supporters at Simon Fraser University's downtown campus that as soon as the federal government has streamlined the immigration process and cut down waiting times, the country must open its doors to more immigrants.
[. . .]
See also
Bevilacqua proposes doubling immigration levels (Bevilacqua has since dropped out of the Liberal leadership race)
Harper says Canada needs more immigrants
Doug Saunders says Canada needs a million poor African immigrants
Columnist lambastes Volpe's politically-motivated plan to increase immigration levels
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends
US House of Representatives votes to consider building security fence along Canadian border
From CanWest News via the National Post (U.S. still trying to build fences by Sheldon Alberts, September 15):
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday resurrected legislation to consider security fencing along the Canada-U.S. border.
In a 281-138 vote, the Republican-dominated House passed the Secure Fence Act instructing the Department of Homeland Security to study the feasibility of "the construction of a state-of-the-art barrier system along the northern international land and maritime border of the United States."
The measure was included in the new border-security bill on the recommendation of members of the House Armed Services Committee, which held hearings this summer at the Canada-U.S. border and reported serious concerns about drug trafficking and terrorist infiltration.
The legislation also instructs Homeland Security to "achieve and maintain operational control over the entire international and land maritime borders" by increasing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites and cameras.
The construction of a physical barrier along the Canadian border "is very much needed," said Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican whose district borders southwestern Ontario and parts of Lake Huron.
"Every day, smugglers are bringing drugs, people and other contraband across our northern borders, which is met with little or no resistance," Ms. Miller said during heated debate yesterday on the legislation. "Terror cells have been rounded up in Toronto, which is literally only a three-hour drive from my district."
[. . .]
Read all of Sheldon Alberts' article
See also:
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Former CSIS official says Canada needs a moratorium on immigration
Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Toronto anti-terror sweep
Drug tunnel under Canada-US border
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday resurrected legislation to consider security fencing along the Canada-U.S. border.
In a 281-138 vote, the Republican-dominated House passed the Secure Fence Act instructing the Department of Homeland Security to study the feasibility of "the construction of a state-of-the-art barrier system along the northern international land and maritime border of the United States."
The measure was included in the new border-security bill on the recommendation of members of the House Armed Services Committee, which held hearings this summer at the Canada-U.S. border and reported serious concerns about drug trafficking and terrorist infiltration.
The legislation also instructs Homeland Security to "achieve and maintain operational control over the entire international and land maritime borders" by increasing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites and cameras.
The construction of a physical barrier along the Canadian border "is very much needed," said Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican whose district borders southwestern Ontario and parts of Lake Huron.
"Every day, smugglers are bringing drugs, people and other contraband across our northern borders, which is met with little or no resistance," Ms. Miller said during heated debate yesterday on the legislation. "Terror cells have been rounded up in Toronto, which is literally only a three-hour drive from my district."
[. . .]
Read all of Sheldon Alberts' article
See also:
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
Former CSIS official says Canada needs a moratorium on immigration
Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Toronto anti-terror sweep
Drug tunnel under Canada-US border
215,000 people on municipal voters list haven't confirmed their Canadian citizenship
From the Globe and Mail (Toronto struggles to determine who can vote by Jennifer Lewington, September 15):
The eligibility of about 215,000 Toronto residents to vote in the Nov. 13 election still remains a mystery.
Despite intense efforts in recent weeks, city officials said yesterday that only 26,000 residents -- 9 per cent of 277,000 voters whose status was thrown in doubt last month -- have confirmed they are Canadian citizens and thus able to cast ballots.
As well, when the city sent out letters in 17 languages to the 277,000 residents asking them to confirm their citizenship -- a key eligibility criterion -- more than 35,000 (or 13 per cent) were returned as "undeliverable."
That leaves in question the status of 215,000 residents -- or 78 per cent of the total -- to vote on election day.
[. . .]
Read all of Jennifer Lewington's Globe article.
See also:
Language chaos in Peel Region courts
Immigration, language and local democracy
The eligibility of about 215,000 Toronto residents to vote in the Nov. 13 election still remains a mystery.
Despite intense efforts in recent weeks, city officials said yesterday that only 26,000 residents -- 9 per cent of 277,000 voters whose status was thrown in doubt last month -- have confirmed they are Canadian citizens and thus able to cast ballots.
As well, when the city sent out letters in 17 languages to the 277,000 residents asking them to confirm their citizenship -- a key eligibility criterion -- more than 35,000 (or 13 per cent) were returned as "undeliverable."
That leaves in question the status of 215,000 residents -- or 78 per cent of the total -- to vote on election day.
[. . .]
Read all of Jennifer Lewington's Globe article.
See also:
Language chaos in Peel Region courts
Immigration, language and local democracy
Harper nominates Toronto Star reporter to become federal commissioner of official languages
From the Toronto Star (Harper tips Star journalist for federal post, September 14):
Graham Fraser, a national affairs writer in the Star's Ottawa bureau, has been nominated to become federal commissioner of official languages.
Fraser, 60, the author of five books on politics and public affairs, is described as "an active and ardent voice for Canada's language policy" by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the appointment notice yesterday.
If approved by Parliament, he would become the sixth commissioner of official languages, replacing Dyane Adam, a Quebec-born educator appointed language commissioner in 1999.
The journalist, author and lecturer has spoken across the country on official languages issues and has lectured on language policy as an adjunct professor at Carleton University School of Journalism.
His most recent book, Sorry, I Don't Speak French, published in March, is an in-depth look at Canada's bilingualism policies.
[. . .]
Read the whole Star article
Graham Fraser, a national affairs writer in the Star's Ottawa bureau, has been nominated to become federal commissioner of official languages.
Fraser, 60, the author of five books on politics and public affairs, is described as "an active and ardent voice for Canada's language policy" by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the appointment notice yesterday.
If approved by Parliament, he would become the sixth commissioner of official languages, replacing Dyane Adam, a Quebec-born educator appointed language commissioner in 1999.
The journalist, author and lecturer has spoken across the country on official languages issues and has lectured on language policy as an adjunct professor at Carleton University School of Journalism.
His most recent book, Sorry, I Don't Speak French, published in March, is an in-depth look at Canada's bilingualism policies.
[. . .]
Read the whole Star article
"Racist" is the modern-day equivalent of "heretic"
What is the Nature of Multiculturalism?
“A number of researchers have come to see that certain issues in the migration debate has religious connotations. The Norwegian social anthropologist Inger Lise Lien, for instance, has written that ‘racism’ in the public immigration debate has become a word used to label the demons among us, the impure from whom all decent people should remain aloof.” “We have every reason to believe that the use of the term ‘racist’ in our day has many functional similarities with the use of the word ‘heretic’ three hundred years ago.”
“A number of researchers have come to see that certain issues in the migration debate has religious connotations. The Norwegian social anthropologist Inger Lise Lien, for instance, has written that ‘racism’ in the public immigration debate has become a word used to label the demons among us, the impure from whom all decent people should remain aloof.” “We have every reason to believe that the use of the term ‘racist’ in our day has many functional similarities with the use of the word ‘heretic’ three hundred years ago.”
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The anti-smoking zealots are in a tizzy because Sean Penn dared to smoke a cigarette. Welcome to Toronto where the inmates run the asylum.
More evidence that the City of Toronto is run by very silly people. See also this.
God forbid the city worry about real health problems like immigrants bringing in tuberculosis.
God forbid the city worry about real health problems like immigrants bringing in tuberculosis.
US Congressman wants 12,000 National Guard troops to watch Canada-US border
From the Globe and Mail (Use 12,000 troops to guard Canadian border, U.S. urged by Alan Freeman, September 13):
A task force appointed by a Republican congressman from Georgia has recommended that at least 12,000 National Guard troops and additional agents be deployed on the U.S.-Canada border to halt what it fears is a growing flow of illegal immigrants.
"We're talking about tens of thousands of illegal immigrants a year coming from Canada," said John Stone, deputy chief of staff to Charlie Norwood -- a Republican who is active in the immigration reform caucus, which is pushing for tough measures to stop illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico.
Mr. Stone and four retired military and border-patrol officials named by Mr. Norwood have recommended the deployment of 8,000 National Guard soldiers to secure the border with Canada, including round-the-clock surveillance of 1,000 hard-surface roads crossing the border that are currently not patrolled.
In a 22-page report, the task force says that these unmanned roads "currently provide . . . quick exit for intruders."
[. . .]
Read all of Alan Freeman's Globe article.
Read the press release and report on Congressman Norwood's website.
Last June a security who analyst who used to work for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service told a US Congressional subcommittee that Canada should place a moratorium on immigration. See also the PBS website Trail of a Terrorist about Ahmed Ressam, a failed refugee claimant from Algeria who wanted to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.
A task force appointed by a Republican congressman from Georgia has recommended that at least 12,000 National Guard troops and additional agents be deployed on the U.S.-Canada border to halt what it fears is a growing flow of illegal immigrants.
"We're talking about tens of thousands of illegal immigrants a year coming from Canada," said John Stone, deputy chief of staff to Charlie Norwood -- a Republican who is active in the immigration reform caucus, which is pushing for tough measures to stop illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico.
Mr. Stone and four retired military and border-patrol officials named by Mr. Norwood have recommended the deployment of 8,000 National Guard soldiers to secure the border with Canada, including round-the-clock surveillance of 1,000 hard-surface roads crossing the border that are currently not patrolled.
In a 22-page report, the task force says that these unmanned roads "currently provide . . . quick exit for intruders."
[. . .]
Read all of Alan Freeman's Globe article.
Read the press release and report on Congressman Norwood's website.
Last June a security who analyst who used to work for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service told a US Congressional subcommittee that Canada should place a moratorium on immigration. See also the PBS website Trail of a Terrorist about Ahmed Ressam, a failed refugee claimant from Algeria who wanted to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.
Ugandan immigrant charged with defrauding Ontario healthcare system. Accused of issuing illegal prescriptions for narcotics.
From the Toronto Sun (Doc accused of defrauding OHIP by Alan Cairns, September 14):
A Richmond Hill doctor faces charges of filling out more than $300,000 in "unnecessary" and "illegal" prescriptions for narcotics that were "diverted" to the "illicit street drug trade."
Dr. John Justin Chrozy Kitakufe is also charged with defrauding OHIP by submitting claims for false prescriptions.
The allegations against Kitakufe are eerily similar to those in a massive Chicago-based drugs-for-sale scam which put him in a U.S. jail for 14 months in the late 1990s.
Upon his return to Canada in 2001, Kitakufe's licence was lifted for six months.
Kitakufe, 60, and six Toronto-area residents face a variety of charges after a lengthy probe by OPP anti-rackets officers.
OPP officials alleged yesterday Kitakufe, a Canadian citizen who came to Canada from Uganda at age 18, was paid to issue prescriptions for narcotics that were "not medically necessary."
[. . .]
Read all of Alan Cairns' Sun article.
A Richmond Hill doctor faces charges of filling out more than $300,000 in "unnecessary" and "illegal" prescriptions for narcotics that were "diverted" to the "illicit street drug trade."
Dr. John Justin Chrozy Kitakufe is also charged with defrauding OHIP by submitting claims for false prescriptions.
The allegations against Kitakufe are eerily similar to those in a massive Chicago-based drugs-for-sale scam which put him in a U.S. jail for 14 months in the late 1990s.
Upon his return to Canada in 2001, Kitakufe's licence was lifted for six months.
Kitakufe, 60, and six Toronto-area residents face a variety of charges after a lengthy probe by OPP anti-rackets officers.
OPP officials alleged yesterday Kitakufe, a Canadian citizen who came to Canada from Uganda at age 18, was paid to issue prescriptions for narcotics that were "not medically necessary."
[. . .]
Read all of Alan Cairns' Sun article.
The Montreal shootings - what can you say?
From the CBC (Woman, gunman dead in Montreal school rampage, last updated September 13):
A young woman was killed as a result of a shooting rampage at a Montreal college Wednesday. The suspected shooter, a 25-year-old Quebec man, died after a police confrontation.
The shooting at Dawson College also left 19 injured and many in emotional shock.
Police Chief Yvan Delorme told RDI television that a woman in her twenties had died.
Lieut. François Doré of Sûreté de Québec told CBC News the man was born in Quebec and lived in the Montreal area, but his identity is being withheld. An autopsy will be performed on him as soon as possible, he said.
Doré said the suspected shooter's car and residence would be part of the initial stages of the investigation, with police hoping to learn more about his history, and possibly, an apparent motive.
"There is no racist connotation or no terrorist link as far as we know," Delorme said.
The gunman died minutes after he opened fire on the student body at Dawson, a CEGEP serving about 10,000 students near the storied Montreal Forum.
While it was reported earlier in the day that police fatally shot the man, Doré backed off somewhat from that conclusion.
[. . .]
Read the whole CBC article.
What can I say? All I can do is offer my condolences to the victims, their families and all those in Montreal who have been affected by this terrible event.
Wikipedia has set up a page to cover the shootings: Dawson College Shooting
A young woman was killed as a result of a shooting rampage at a Montreal college Wednesday. The suspected shooter, a 25-year-old Quebec man, died after a police confrontation.
The shooting at Dawson College also left 19 injured and many in emotional shock.
Police Chief Yvan Delorme told RDI television that a woman in her twenties had died.
Lieut. François Doré of Sûreté de Québec told CBC News the man was born in Quebec and lived in the Montreal area, but his identity is being withheld. An autopsy will be performed on him as soon as possible, he said.
Doré said the suspected shooter's car and residence would be part of the initial stages of the investigation, with police hoping to learn more about his history, and possibly, an apparent motive.
"There is no racist connotation or no terrorist link as far as we know," Delorme said.
The gunman died minutes after he opened fire on the student body at Dawson, a CEGEP serving about 10,000 students near the storied Montreal Forum.
While it was reported earlier in the day that police fatally shot the man, Doré backed off somewhat from that conclusion.
[. . .]
Read the whole CBC article.
What can I say? All I can do is offer my condolences to the victims, their families and all those in Montreal who have been affected by this terrible event.
Wikipedia has set up a page to cover the shootings: Dawson College Shooting
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Convicted Sikh murderer issued visa, but denied admission
From CanWest News Service via the National Post (Questions raised after convicted-killer Sikh given visa to Canada by Kim Bolan, September 13):
A former high priest of Sikhism was denied entry to Canada two weeks ago because of his conviction in India for killing a rival religious leader, says a B.C. Conservative MP.
Ed Fast told the Vancouver Sun that Ranjit Singh - one of five jathedars of Sikhism until his removal in 1999 - should never have been given a visa to visit Canada, but that a mistake was made at the Canadian consulate in Chandigarh.
Fast was approached by the leaders of an Abbotsford Sikh temple on Sept. 1 who had sponsored Singh and were upset that he had been unable to leave Vancouver International Airport after arriving here Aug. 30.
Singh was to be the guest of honour at an Abbotsford religious parade on Sept. 3.
Temple president Swarn Singh Gill said his executive waited for hours for Singh after his plane touched down in Vancouver, but were not given the chance to talk to him in person or on the phone before immigration officials sent him back.
Fast said he learned the visitor's visa given to Singh was in error because of confusion on the part of Canadian officials in India.
''The original visa in India should never have been issued,'' Fast said. ''There was some confusion over two different names that were being used.''
Fast said there is no suggestion Singh attempted to mislead officials, but that there was a mix-up at the consulate in the Punjabi capital.
[. . .]
Read all of Kim Bolan's article
And I thought intramural Catholic disputes were rough. Last time I checked no traditionalist Catholic has ever murdered a modernist.
The real question is why Canadian Sikhs would invite a guy like this in the first place, particularly when he had excommunicated newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer who was later murdered. Canada's dazzling diversity includes people who honour murderers.
A former high priest of Sikhism was denied entry to Canada two weeks ago because of his conviction in India for killing a rival religious leader, says a B.C. Conservative MP.
Ed Fast told the Vancouver Sun that Ranjit Singh - one of five jathedars of Sikhism until his removal in 1999 - should never have been given a visa to visit Canada, but that a mistake was made at the Canadian consulate in Chandigarh.
Fast was approached by the leaders of an Abbotsford Sikh temple on Sept. 1 who had sponsored Singh and were upset that he had been unable to leave Vancouver International Airport after arriving here Aug. 30.
Singh was to be the guest of honour at an Abbotsford religious parade on Sept. 3.
Temple president Swarn Singh Gill said his executive waited for hours for Singh after his plane touched down in Vancouver, but were not given the chance to talk to him in person or on the phone before immigration officials sent him back.
Fast said he learned the visitor's visa given to Singh was in error because of confusion on the part of Canadian officials in India.
''The original visa in India should never have been issued,'' Fast said. ''There was some confusion over two different names that were being used.''
Fast said there is no suggestion Singh attempted to mislead officials, but that there was a mix-up at the consulate in the Punjabi capital.
[. . .]
Read all of Kim Bolan's article
And I thought intramural Catholic disputes were rough. Last time I checked no traditionalist Catholic has ever murdered a modernist.
The real question is why Canadian Sikhs would invite a guy like this in the first place, particularly when he had excommunicated newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer who was later murdered. Canada's dazzling diversity includes people who honour murderers.
Khawaja case: Crown defends anti-terrorism act
From Canadian Press via the National Post (Crown defends terror law in Khawaja case by Bruce Cheadle, September 13):
Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act is “not something that dropped out of the sky on Sept. 11, 2001,” a Crown lawyer argued Wednesday in defending the constitutionality of the legislation.
The act, which is being challenged in Superior Court by alleged bomb plotter Momin Khawaja, was a response to a long list of increasingly violent international terrorist crimes, said Crown lawyer David McKercher.
Khawaja, the first person charged under the post-9-11 anti-terror laws, is seeking to have the statutes struck down.
But his application, McKercher said, “insults the democratic process which resulted in the legislation.”
Khawaja’s lawyer spent more than two days this week arguing that the Anti-Terrorism Act is a hasty, ad hoc response to national stress that infringes on basic freedoms and will one day be viewed with the same regret as government decisions to intern Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.
[. . .]
Read all of Bruce Cheadle's article.
Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act is “not something that dropped out of the sky on Sept. 11, 2001,” a Crown lawyer argued Wednesday in defending the constitutionality of the legislation.
The act, which is being challenged in Superior Court by alleged bomb plotter Momin Khawaja, was a response to a long list of increasingly violent international terrorist crimes, said Crown lawyer David McKercher.
Khawaja, the first person charged under the post-9-11 anti-terror laws, is seeking to have the statutes struck down.
But his application, McKercher said, “insults the democratic process which resulted in the legislation.”
Khawaja’s lawyer spent more than two days this week arguing that the Anti-Terrorism Act is a hasty, ad hoc response to national stress that infringes on basic freedoms and will one day be viewed with the same regret as government decisions to intern Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.
[. . .]
Read all of Bruce Cheadle's article.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
US schools 'dazzlingly diverse'. Just like Bosnia, Iraq, er . . . Toronto
According to the New York Times, US schools are "dazzlingly diverse". Yup. Just like Bosnia, Iraq, er . . . Toronto, where Diversity is our strength. Orwell would have loved Toronto. I sometimes wonder. Did Orwell borrow HG Wells' time machine and visit contemporary Canada before he wrote Nineteen Eighty-four?
Hat tip: Vdare
Hat tip: Vdare
The cost of educating illegal aliens
The cost of educating illegal aliens in North Carolina.
I wonder what the comparable figures are for Ontario. Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Oh, I forgot. Don't ask, don't tell.
I wonder what the comparable figures are for Ontario. Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Oh, I forgot. Don't ask, don't tell.
Mahmoud Jaballah update: Muslim terror suspect may face torture
From the Toronto Star (Jaballah may face torture, Crown says by Canadian Press, September 12):
A federal government lawyer spearheading the legal battle against suspected Egyptian terrorist Mahmoud Jaballah urged a Toronto judge to consider the possibility the man could face torture if deported.
For almost seven years, the government has argued that Jaballah's alleged connection to terrorist groups Al Jihad and Al Qaeda demanded his immediate expulsion from Canada.
Jaballah's lawyers have long argued, unsuccessfully, that the married father of six faces torture, or even death, if returned to Egypt and deserves protection under the law.
But yesterday, federal prosecutor Donald McIntosh staged a remarkable role reversal as he urged Justice Andrew MacKay to consider the constitutionality of deporting Jaballah in light of those concerns.
"This is one of the foremost issues of our time ... these are questions that go to the very essence of democracy," he said, with Jaballah's supporters muttering in disbelief.
"We would urge you to weigh in on these issues."
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Terrorist suspects about to be sent home often claim they will be tortured. The Supreme Court has ruled that suspects may be deported under certain circumstances, but has not yet defined what those circumstances are. For more details about the legal and national security issues involved read this blog entry: Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
A federal government lawyer spearheading the legal battle against suspected Egyptian terrorist Mahmoud Jaballah urged a Toronto judge to consider the possibility the man could face torture if deported.
For almost seven years, the government has argued that Jaballah's alleged connection to terrorist groups Al Jihad and Al Qaeda demanded his immediate expulsion from Canada.
Jaballah's lawyers have long argued, unsuccessfully, that the married father of six faces torture, or even death, if returned to Egypt and deserves protection under the law.
But yesterday, federal prosecutor Donald McIntosh staged a remarkable role reversal as he urged Justice Andrew MacKay to consider the constitutionality of deporting Jaballah in light of those concerns.
"This is one of the foremost issues of our time ... these are questions that go to the very essence of democracy," he said, with Jaballah's supporters muttering in disbelief.
"We would urge you to weigh in on these issues."
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Terrorist suspects about to be sent home often claim they will be tortured. The Supreme Court has ruled that suspects may be deported under certain circumstances, but has not yet defined what those circumstances are. For more details about the legal and national security issues involved read this blog entry: Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
Canada's broken-down "refugee" system: ravenous foxes guarding the chicken coop
From the Mackenzie Institute book Other people's wars: A Review of Overseas Terrorism in Canada:
Many immigration and refugee lawyers and immigration advocates also find their way into the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). An alert officer who earmarks a case to be heard by it can have little confidence that a suspicious applicant will be turned down. The experienced Refugee Hearing officers (independent professional civil servants who sometimes acted much like crown prosecutors in IRB hearings) have been diminished both in numbers and authority. Moreover, even if the IRB finds reason to turn down an applicant’s bid to stay in Canada, there is little guarantee that this is the end of the story. Most refused applicants are expected to voluntarily deport themselves — and few personnel and resources are spent to ensure that they do. There are tens of thousands of people in Canada who are not supposed to be here, and we have no idea where many of them are.
A 2003 report by Canada's auditor general found that Ottawa lost track of 36,000 failed refugee claimants.
One example of a refused applicant who didn't voluntarily deport himself is the Millenium Bomber Ahmed Ressam. Other failed refugee claimants go on to commit horrific crimes. This doesn't seem to bother the silly people at No One is Illegal. I'm tempted to use stronger language, but my mother told me never to argue with crazy people.
Many immigration and refugee lawyers and immigration advocates also find their way into the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). An alert officer who earmarks a case to be heard by it can have little confidence that a suspicious applicant will be turned down. The experienced Refugee Hearing officers (independent professional civil servants who sometimes acted much like crown prosecutors in IRB hearings) have been diminished both in numbers and authority. Moreover, even if the IRB finds reason to turn down an applicant’s bid to stay in Canada, there is little guarantee that this is the end of the story. Most refused applicants are expected to voluntarily deport themselves — and few personnel and resources are spent to ensure that they do. There are tens of thousands of people in Canada who are not supposed to be here, and we have no idea where many of them are.
A 2003 report by Canada's auditor general found that Ottawa lost track of 36,000 failed refugee claimants.
One example of a refused applicant who didn't voluntarily deport himself is the Millenium Bomber Ahmed Ressam. Other failed refugee claimants go on to commit horrific crimes. This doesn't seem to bother the silly people at No One is Illegal. I'm tempted to use stronger language, but my mother told me never to argue with crazy people.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Local immigrants less likely to vote in municipal election
From the Toronto Star (Immigrants in Ward 26 treat voting as low priority by John Spears, September 2, 2006):
While the onlookers — all from Thorncliffe or Flemingdon Park — are clearly keen on the vote, traditionally their neighbours have not been.
The voting numbers from the 2003 election tell the story for the ward, which has a split identity.
To the southeast, it encompasses the highrise neighbourhoods of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon, populated overwhelmingly with immigrants; in the northwest corner is leafy, prosperous Leaside.
In 2003, Leaside had nine of the ward's 47 polls — less than 20 per cent — but accounted for 42 per cent of the votes cast (excluding those cast in advance polls.)
So while its residents are outnumbered by those of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon, Leaside wields disproportionate electoral clout.
Part of the reason is the voting traditions that many newcomers bring with them, says Bobhania; he remembers an Indian saying his father used in arguing that voting was a futile exercise:
"A politician is like a crow," he would say. "All crows are black."
Read all of John Spear's Star article.
In July, a teenager was beaten to death in Flemingdon Park while onlookers watched. This morning a man was found shot in the face in the same neighbourhood. Stephen Harper spent part of his youth in Leaside
While the onlookers — all from Thorncliffe or Flemingdon Park — are clearly keen on the vote, traditionally their neighbours have not been.
The voting numbers from the 2003 election tell the story for the ward, which has a split identity.
To the southeast, it encompasses the highrise neighbourhoods of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon, populated overwhelmingly with immigrants; in the northwest corner is leafy, prosperous Leaside.
In 2003, Leaside had nine of the ward's 47 polls — less than 20 per cent — but accounted for 42 per cent of the votes cast (excluding those cast in advance polls.)
So while its residents are outnumbered by those of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon, Leaside wields disproportionate electoral clout.
Part of the reason is the voting traditions that many newcomers bring with them, says Bobhania; he remembers an Indian saying his father used in arguing that voting was a futile exercise:
"A politician is like a crow," he would say. "All crows are black."
Read all of John Spear's Star article.
In July, a teenager was beaten to death in Flemingdon Park while onlookers watched. This morning a man was found shot in the face in the same neighbourhood. Stephen Harper spent part of his youth in Leaside
Muslim bookseller "good friend" of Pakistani terrorist leader. How did this guy get into Canada?
From the National Post (Toronto bookseller 'friend' to terror boss by Stewart Bell, National Post, September 11, 2006):
A Toronto bookseller whose house was raided by police as part of this summer's anti-terrorism arrests acknowledged in an interview that he is a "good friend" of the founder of a Pakistani terrorist group.
Mohammed Al-Attique told the National Post about his long-time relationship with Hafez Mohammed Saeed of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the al-Qaeda-linked faction suspected of training some of those involved in the alleged Canadian terror plot.
"He's a good friend of mine," said Mr. Al-Attique, the owner of Al-Attique Publishers Inc., which produces Korans and Muslim study guides and has offices in Scarborough; Lahore, Pakistan; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Al-Attique told the Post he has known Mr. Saeed since 1982. He said he last met him at a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba convention in 1998 at the militant group's guarded compound north of Lahore.
A native of Pakistan, Mr. Al-Attique has not been charged with any wrongdoing. But he admitted his relationships with the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba boss and two of the Toronto terror suspects may have caught the attention of Canadian counterterrorism investigators.
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
Bell is a courageous journalist who has been writing about Canadian terrorism for years. He has written two important books on the subject: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath.
To understand how people like Mohammed Al-Attique get into Canada, read ambassador Martin Collacott's Fraser Institute report Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism.
Is it any wonder some security experts say Canada needs a moratorium on immigration. National security stories keep coming back to one simple point. It's the immigration, stupid.
A Toronto bookseller whose house was raided by police as part of this summer's anti-terrorism arrests acknowledged in an interview that he is a "good friend" of the founder of a Pakistani terrorist group.
Mohammed Al-Attique told the National Post about his long-time relationship with Hafez Mohammed Saeed of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the al-Qaeda-linked faction suspected of training some of those involved in the alleged Canadian terror plot.
"He's a good friend of mine," said Mr. Al-Attique, the owner of Al-Attique Publishers Inc., which produces Korans and Muslim study guides and has offices in Scarborough; Lahore, Pakistan; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Al-Attique told the Post he has known Mr. Saeed since 1982. He said he last met him at a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba convention in 1998 at the militant group's guarded compound north of Lahore.
A native of Pakistan, Mr. Al-Attique has not been charged with any wrongdoing. But he admitted his relationships with the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba boss and two of the Toronto terror suspects may have caught the attention of Canadian counterterrorism investigators.
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
Bell is a courageous journalist who has been writing about Canadian terrorism for years. He has written two important books on the subject: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath.
To understand how people like Mohammed Al-Attique get into Canada, read ambassador Martin Collacott's Fraser Institute report Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism.
Is it any wonder some security experts say Canada needs a moratorium on immigration. National security stories keep coming back to one simple point. It's the immigration, stupid.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Bilingualism and national security
From the Ottawa Citizen (CSIS 'ignored' terror threats by Ian MacLeod, September 9):
Terrorism and other national security reports from Montreal CSIS agents were ignored or delayed in translation because of anti-French prejudices and language incompetence within the spy agency's senior Ottawa ranks, according to complaints under review by the federal language watchdog.
A former veteran CSIS agent who worked as a counter-terrorism intelligence officer in the agency's Montreal office made the allegations in recent interviews with the Citizen and Radio Canada.
A second veteran agent, also a francophone and now retired, voiced similar complaints to the Citizen yesterday.
A court order prohibits publicly identifying the first former agent. The other former agent spoke on condition of anonymity.
The agency has declined to comment on their accusations.
CSIS was scandalized by similar allegations in the mid 1980s.
A 1987 report by the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which oversees the agency, complained it was essentially an English organization that treated its French-speaking members as second-class citizens. It said the use of French in the security service was regarded as a "troublesome frill."
CSIS in recent years has boosted French-language training and requirements for many employees, notably intelligence officers and managers.
[Hyphenated Canadian says: are any CSIS agents studying Arabic or Chinese?]
"As an organization, we've greatly improved," says CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion, also an intelligence agent. "When I joined the service 16 years ago, I worked in an area where I dealt with Quebec region and there was never any problem in reading French-language reports."
But the two former agents say the anti-French attitude continued to dog the service when they retired a few years ago. Based on conversations with current employees, they say the practice continues.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Terrorism and other national security reports from Montreal CSIS agents were ignored or delayed in translation because of anti-French prejudices and language incompetence within the spy agency's senior Ottawa ranks, according to complaints under review by the federal language watchdog.
A former veteran CSIS agent who worked as a counter-terrorism intelligence officer in the agency's Montreal office made the allegations in recent interviews with the Citizen and Radio Canada.
A second veteran agent, also a francophone and now retired, voiced similar complaints to the Citizen yesterday.
A court order prohibits publicly identifying the first former agent. The other former agent spoke on condition of anonymity.
The agency has declined to comment on their accusations.
CSIS was scandalized by similar allegations in the mid 1980s.
A 1987 report by the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which oversees the agency, complained it was essentially an English organization that treated its French-speaking members as second-class citizens. It said the use of French in the security service was regarded as a "troublesome frill."
CSIS in recent years has boosted French-language training and requirements for many employees, notably intelligence officers and managers.
[Hyphenated Canadian says: are any CSIS agents studying Arabic or Chinese?]
"As an organization, we've greatly improved," says CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion, also an intelligence agent. "When I joined the service 16 years ago, I worked in an area where I dealt with Quebec region and there was never any problem in reading French-language reports."
But the two former agents say the anti-French attitude continued to dog the service when they retired a few years ago. Based on conversations with current employees, they say the practice continues.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Toronto Sun: "Billions spent to protect Canada but are we safer?"
From the Toronto Sun (The price we pay by Alan Findlay, September 10, 2006):
Since the largest terrorist attack on North American soil brought the Word Trade Center's towers crashing down before the world's stunned gaze, Canada has fought the war on terrorism in large part with its wallet.
The cost of new national security initiatives financed since Sept. 11, 2001, is near the $10-billion mark.
National defence has enjoyed its own funding boom under both the Liberal and Conservative governments.
The Grits committed $12.8 billion in additional funding for the military over a five-year period, while the Conservatives added $5.3 billion over five years in their budget last spring. By 2010, national defence spending is expected to top $21 billion.
But have we bought a safer Canada?
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Canada's participation in Afghanistan hasn't made us safer, but it has allowed Stephen Harper to play tough guy in an unconvincing way. Of course, the key to greater security is immigration reform. Peter Brimelow had it right when he wrote after 9-11: It's the immigration, stupid. In June, David Harris (scroll down), a security analyst who used to work for CSIS, told a US Congressional subcommittee that Canada needs a moratorium on immigration. A moratorium would have other benefits as well.
Since the largest terrorist attack on North American soil brought the Word Trade Center's towers crashing down before the world's stunned gaze, Canada has fought the war on terrorism in large part with its wallet.
The cost of new national security initiatives financed since Sept. 11, 2001, is near the $10-billion mark.
National defence has enjoyed its own funding boom under both the Liberal and Conservative governments.
The Grits committed $12.8 billion in additional funding for the military over a five-year period, while the Conservatives added $5.3 billion over five years in their budget last spring. By 2010, national defence spending is expected to top $21 billion.
But have we bought a safer Canada?
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Canada's participation in Afghanistan hasn't made us safer, but it has allowed Stephen Harper to play tough guy in an unconvincing way. Of course, the key to greater security is immigration reform. Peter Brimelow had it right when he wrote after 9-11: It's the immigration, stupid. In June, David Harris (scroll down), a security analyst who used to work for CSIS, told a US Congressional subcommittee that Canada needs a moratorium on immigration. A moratorium would have other benefits as well.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Time stands still. Isn't this thing over yet?
I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the news lately. It's amazing how much that does to help a person's sanity. To all my fellow news junkies, heed my advice, every once in a while take the day off and forget about the insanity we call Canadian politics.
I see that the Liberal leadership race is still in progress. My God! Isn't this thing over yet?
From the Toronto Star (Rae, Ignatieff duel for audience by Susan Delacourt, September 9, 2006):
It was duelling Liberalism at the University of Montreal yesterday as top leadership contenders Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff delivered big, "national vision" speeches in the same building.
Just a flight of stairs — and their feelings about reopening the Constitution — separated the old university roommates, now leadership rivals.
Ignatieff would like to see the Constitution updated at some point to accommodate Quebec and the "other" division in Canada, the urban-rural divide.
But Rae told a student questioner it's close to impossible, practically speaking, to leap through all the legal and political hurdles a constitutional overhaul would require.
Yet in this divided scene, Rae and Ignatieff both talked unity — of Canada and Quebec and of the Liberal party in particular.
Ignatieff, a former academic and now MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, spoke in a lecture hall to 150 to 200 students and supporters. Rae, a former NDP premier of Ontario, spoke in a smaller classroom, to about 100 students, one floor above. Rae took students' questions, Ignatieff did not.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
I see that the Liberal leadership race is still in progress. My God! Isn't this thing over yet?
From the Toronto Star (Rae, Ignatieff duel for audience by Susan Delacourt, September 9, 2006):
It was duelling Liberalism at the University of Montreal yesterday as top leadership contenders Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff delivered big, "national vision" speeches in the same building.
Just a flight of stairs — and their feelings about reopening the Constitution — separated the old university roommates, now leadership rivals.
Ignatieff would like to see the Constitution updated at some point to accommodate Quebec and the "other" division in Canada, the urban-rural divide.
But Rae told a student questioner it's close to impossible, practically speaking, to leap through all the legal and political hurdles a constitutional overhaul would require.
Yet in this divided scene, Rae and Ignatieff both talked unity — of Canada and Quebec and of the Liberal party in particular.
Ignatieff, a former academic and now MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, spoke in a lecture hall to 150 to 200 students and supporters. Rae, a former NDP premier of Ontario, spoke in a smaller classroom, to about 100 students, one floor above. Rae took students' questions, Ignatieff did not.
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Friday, September 08, 2006
A brief comment about my absence
I was ill most of the summer. It wasn't anything too serious, but I had to take medication that made me extremely drowsy. I've never experienced anything like it before. At one point I was sleeping 16 hours a day. At first I didn't realize what was happening but then I read the list of side effects that came with the bottle. I'm still feeling tired, so I don't know how active I'll be, but I care about immigration reform as much as I ever did.
There are two items on Vdare worth checking out: Race and the American Prospect and Race and Conservatism. I've been thinking a lot about race lately. Canada is undergoing an irreversible demographic transformation. It is absurd that we can't discuss this without being called "bigots" as happened to me today. I should be used to this nonsense by now, but it still gets under my skin when I get called that name. Of course, protesting does no good. Ah well, it's small potatoes in the big scheme of things.
There are two items on Vdare worth checking out: Race and the American Prospect and Race and Conservatism. I've been thinking a lot about race lately. Canada is undergoing an irreversible demographic transformation. It is absurd that we can't discuss this without being called "bigots" as happened to me today. I should be used to this nonsense by now, but it still gets under my skin when I get called that name. Of course, protesting does no good. Ah well, it's small potatoes in the big scheme of things.
Your opinion please
I apologize for my long absence. If anyone is still visiting this site, I would appreciate their opinion on something.
I've been involved for a while with a local community group that has an online discussion list. Recently, a website came up for discussion: www.onthecorner.biz I would be very interested to hear people's reactions to this site. I have my own opinion, but I don't want to prejudice your views. Feel free to post in the comments any reaction: positive, negative, neutral, etc.
I've been involved for a while with a local community group that has an online discussion list. Recently, a website came up for discussion: www.onthecorner.biz I would be very interested to hear people's reactions to this site. I have my own opinion, but I don't want to prejudice your views. Feel free to post in the comments any reaction: positive, negative, neutral, etc.
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