From the Toronto Star (Peel board pulls novel after parent complains by Tess Kalinowski, January 31, 2007):
Peel's Catholic board has pulled the award-winning novel Snow Falling on Cedars from high school library shelves after one parent complained about its sexual content.
Officials say they have not banned the 1995 novel, but that it won't be accessible to students until a review by a board committee is complete.
The novel, which won the PEN/Faulkner award and the American Booksellers Association book of the year award, contains a few explicit passages, including a detailed description of a married couple's first sexual encounter, as well as sexual relations between two youths.
[. . .]
The novel was also turned into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Ethan Hawke.
Snow Falling on Cedars was part of a Grade 11 English course at Father Michael Goetz Secondary School in Mississauga when a parent complained about it just prior to Christmas, said Bruce Campbell, spokesperson for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.
Teachers and librarians were then ordered to pull the book out of circulation pending a review by a board committee.
The board's "challenged materials" policy states that complaints about books and resources that aren't resolved at the local level must be reviewed by a committee consisting of library services and religious education co-ordinators, two trustees, a parent and the superintendent of schools.
The policy is rarely used and yesterday no one at the board could remember the last book or resource to be reviewed under it.
[. . .]
Read all of Tess Kalinowski's article.
A Catholic school board temporarily pulls a book with sexual content. Why is this news? I haven't read the novel and have no opinion about it, but pulling a book from a school library is a lot different from state censorship. If the government banned this book I would be upset, but if a religious school board decides a book doesn't conform to its values, what's the big deal? We have Islamic and Sikh schools in Ontario. Do they have this novel in their school libraries? Would anyone make a fuss if they didn't?
For the record, if I were a father, I wouldn't object if my own child wanted to read good literature that came with some sexual content, but I would also respect the fact that other parents might see things differently.
See also:
Montreal webmaster sentenced to six months in jail for 'hate propaganda'
Windsor police board member wants speaker arrested for saying Islam promotes terrorism
The media's selective concern for free speech: Ernst Zundel and the Dixie Chicks
Technorati tags: Peel Region schools Toronto schools Dufferin-Peel Catholic schools Catholic schools Ontario Catholic education school libraries censorship free speech literature novels Snow Falling on Cedars movies Ethan Hawke
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Immigrants not doing better financially - Statistics Canada report
From CTV News (Immigrants no better off now, StatsCan reports, January 30, 2007):
The financial situation of new immigrants showed no improvement after the turn of the millennium although they have more education and skilled qualifications than a decade ago, Statistics Canada reports.
The report examines the economic welfare of immigrant families and individuals and assesses their financial situation since 2000, the extent of so-called "chronic" low income, and the impact of changes in education and skill classes on their economic well-being since 1993.
In 2002, low-income rates among immigrants during their first full year in Canada were 3.5 times higher than those of Canadian-born citizens. Two years later, the low-income rates were 3.2 times higher.
In this study, low income is defined as family income below 50 per cent of median income of the total population, adjusted for family size.
Statistics Canada says the low-income rates were higher than at any time during the 1990s, when they were around three times higher than rates for Canadian-born people.
"The increase in low income was concentrated among immigrants who had just recently entered the country, that is, they had been here only one or two years," StatsCan says.
[. . .]
Read all of the CTV article.
See also:
Statistics Canada report: Low-income rates among immigrants entering Canada
Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada immigrants Canada poverty
The financial situation of new immigrants showed no improvement after the turn of the millennium although they have more education and skilled qualifications than a decade ago, Statistics Canada reports.
The report examines the economic welfare of immigrant families and individuals and assesses their financial situation since 2000, the extent of so-called "chronic" low income, and the impact of changes in education and skill classes on their economic well-being since 1993.
In 2002, low-income rates among immigrants during their first full year in Canada were 3.5 times higher than those of Canadian-born citizens. Two years later, the low-income rates were 3.2 times higher.
In this study, low income is defined as family income below 50 per cent of median income of the total population, adjusted for family size.
Statistics Canada says the low-income rates were higher than at any time during the 1990s, when they were around three times higher than rates for Canadian-born people.
"The increase in low income was concentrated among immigrants who had just recently entered the country, that is, they had been here only one or two years," StatsCan says.
[. . .]
Read all of the CTV article.
See also:
Statistics Canada report: Low-income rates among immigrants entering Canada
Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada immigrants Canada poverty
Provincial by-election in Markham - candidates accuse each other of being anti-Chinese
From the Toronto Sun (Markham byelection off-colour by Antonella Artuso, January 30, 2007):
The political futures of the provincial Liberal and Conservative parties will likely be decided in the rich band of 905 votes that surrounds Toronto.
So it's no surprise that the upcoming byelection in Markham has turned into a hard-fought nailbiter of a race.
Former Liberal MPP Tony Wong took the riding from high-profile Conservative candidate minister David Tsubouchi, a pivotal victory that pointed to new voting patterns in the once Tory-blue 905 belt.
After Wong resigned last year to run municipally, both parties sought strong local candidates for the battle ahead -- Liberal candidate Michael Chan and Conservative candidate Alex Yuan.
[. . .]
The Conservatives have told voters that the previous Liberal MPP, Tony Wong, was kept to the backbenches in the McGuinty government and not allowed to speak out on pressing Markham issues like the hospital.
Chan said a Conservative election flyer went much further, suggesting that MPPs of Chinese descent do not get prominent positions in the McGuinty government.
The Tories have vehemently denied this allegation.
But Chan called a press conference with Chinese-language media where he released his own statement criticizing John Tory.
Yuan said the statement essentially labelled his party's leader a racist.
[. . .]
Read all of Antonella Artuso's article.
See also:
"White flight, big time." "We ran away from Markham because of multiculturalism."
McGuinty's visit to Punjab a 'giant photo op' for Sikh voters in Ontario
Demography is destiny. Minorities win more seats in local elections
Tamil refugee elected to Markham city council
Demography is destiny: Toronto suburbs are becoming more like the city
Technorati tags: Ontario politics Ontario elections Markham politics 905 belt GTA politics Canada ethnic vote Chinese immigrants
The political futures of the provincial Liberal and Conservative parties will likely be decided in the rich band of 905 votes that surrounds Toronto.
So it's no surprise that the upcoming byelection in Markham has turned into a hard-fought nailbiter of a race.
Former Liberal MPP Tony Wong took the riding from high-profile Conservative candidate minister David Tsubouchi, a pivotal victory that pointed to new voting patterns in the once Tory-blue 905 belt.
After Wong resigned last year to run municipally, both parties sought strong local candidates for the battle ahead -- Liberal candidate Michael Chan and Conservative candidate Alex Yuan.
[. . .]
The Conservatives have told voters that the previous Liberal MPP, Tony Wong, was kept to the backbenches in the McGuinty government and not allowed to speak out on pressing Markham issues like the hospital.
Chan said a Conservative election flyer went much further, suggesting that MPPs of Chinese descent do not get prominent positions in the McGuinty government.
The Tories have vehemently denied this allegation.
But Chan called a press conference with Chinese-language media where he released his own statement criticizing John Tory.
Yuan said the statement essentially labelled his party's leader a racist.
[. . .]
Read all of Antonella Artuso's article.
See also:
"White flight, big time." "We ran away from Markham because of multiculturalism."
McGuinty's visit to Punjab a 'giant photo op' for Sikh voters in Ontario
Demography is destiny. Minorities win more seats in local elections
Tamil refugee elected to Markham city council
Demography is destiny: Toronto suburbs are becoming more like the city
Technorati tags: Ontario politics Ontario elections Markham politics 905 belt GTA politics Canada ethnic vote Chinese immigrants
Thomas Collins - Toronto's Catholic archbishop to stress 'social justice' issues
From the Toronto Star (Social justice fighter by Stuart Laidlaw, January 30, 2007):
Toronto's new Catholic archbishop plans to stress social justice themes during his tenure – a side of the church he worries gets too little attention in the face of moral issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and ordination of women.
"Look at what we say. Look at what we are engaged in. The Catholic Church is at the forefront of social justice issues," Thomas Collins says.
He points to the many food banks, soup kitchens, housing projects and clothing and toy drives run by Catholic parishes as evidence of the commitment of the church to addressing the needs of the poor.
"These people are there every day," he says.
He said he could not comment yet on specific measures, such as a higher minimum wage, until he is more familiar with the diocese and the work being done on the issue.
This morning, Collins will take to the altar at the downtown St. Michael's Cathedral to become 10th archbishop of Toronto, its 223 parishes and 1.6 million faithful. More than 400 clergy – including 56 bishops and three cardinals – will be there, along with hundreds of dignitaries and church officials.
The installation is not open to the public, however, due to limited space.
[. . .]
Read all of Stuart Laidlaw's article.
I have concerns about poverty too, but I don't think Catholic clerics are qualified to tackle economic issues. I don't see anything wrong with a bishop pointing out social problems and reminding Catholics of their Christian duty towards those in need, but I get annoyed when clergy involve themselves in public policy debates they don't have the training to understand.
This is the kind of thing that concerns me:
But before long, Collins says, the church will speak out more about finding solutions to the root causes of poverty – including inadequate incomes, social supports and housing – while still addressing the immediate needs of the poor.
"There has to be that immediate reaction. If someone is hungry, we feed them. If someone is homeless, we house them," he says.
"But we also need to look at the roots of those sorts of things. Are there policies of the society that could be changed?"
All churches and church leaders, he says, have not only a right but also a reponsibility to be active in such political and policy discussions.
See also:
Thomas Collins - Toronto's new Catholic archbishop
Immigration and the decline of institutional Catholicism
Technorati tags: Catholic Canada Catholic Toronto Catholic social justice church state Toronto poverty Toronto social problems
Toronto's new Catholic archbishop plans to stress social justice themes during his tenure – a side of the church he worries gets too little attention in the face of moral issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and ordination of women.
"Look at what we say. Look at what we are engaged in. The Catholic Church is at the forefront of social justice issues," Thomas Collins says.
He points to the many food banks, soup kitchens, housing projects and clothing and toy drives run by Catholic parishes as evidence of the commitment of the church to addressing the needs of the poor.
"These people are there every day," he says.
He said he could not comment yet on specific measures, such as a higher minimum wage, until he is more familiar with the diocese and the work being done on the issue.
This morning, Collins will take to the altar at the downtown St. Michael's Cathedral to become 10th archbishop of Toronto, its 223 parishes and 1.6 million faithful. More than 400 clergy – including 56 bishops and three cardinals – will be there, along with hundreds of dignitaries and church officials.
The installation is not open to the public, however, due to limited space.
[. . .]
Read all of Stuart Laidlaw's article.
I have concerns about poverty too, but I don't think Catholic clerics are qualified to tackle economic issues. I don't see anything wrong with a bishop pointing out social problems and reminding Catholics of their Christian duty towards those in need, but I get annoyed when clergy involve themselves in public policy debates they don't have the training to understand.
This is the kind of thing that concerns me:
But before long, Collins says, the church will speak out more about finding solutions to the root causes of poverty – including inadequate incomes, social supports and housing – while still addressing the immediate needs of the poor.
"There has to be that immediate reaction. If someone is hungry, we feed them. If someone is homeless, we house them," he says.
"But we also need to look at the roots of those sorts of things. Are there policies of the society that could be changed?"
All churches and church leaders, he says, have not only a right but also a reponsibility to be active in such political and policy discussions.
See also:
Thomas Collins - Toronto's new Catholic archbishop
Immigration and the decline of institutional Catholicism
Technorati tags: Catholic Canada Catholic Toronto Catholic social justice church state Toronto poverty Toronto social problems
Matthew Daly's family devastated by son's murder
From the Toronto Star (Teen's murder haunts family by Bob Mitchell, January 30, 2007):
The father of slain teen Matthew Daly says he's haunted by the sight of his son's bloodied body and started drinking again after 17 years of sobriety, often passing out at his son's grave.
"Day after day, I would take a 40-ouncer of alcohol to the cemetery and attempting to ease the pain, I would sit there beside Matt's grave and drink," Matt Daly Sr. told a sentencing hearing yesterday for three of the group of young men who beat to death the 19-year-old college student after a high school grad party in Burlington. "On many occasions, I drank until I passed out only to have my wife and others come to find me lying on the ground.
"I don't even pretend to understand how devastating it was for my three sons to see me this way especially since they had never seen me drink any alcohol their entire life."
His victim impact statement was one of 11 delivered by family members as Justice Fletcher Dawson decides how many years in prison the three must serve until they become eligible for parole. They were convicted last month in the May 19, 2001 slaying.
[. . .]
Read all of Bob Mitchell's article.
See also:
Fifth man pleads guilty in Matthew Daly killing
Four found guilty in Matthew Daly killing
Matthew Daly jury asks judge for clarification
Matthew Daly murder case goes to the jury
Prosecutors say racial confrontation led to student being beaten to death in Hamilton. Two of the accused are immigrants from Cambodia
Technorati tags: Canada Ontario Hamilton Burlington Canada law court cases crime murder Matthew Daly Canada race relations Ontario race relations multiculturalism
The father of slain teen Matthew Daly says he's haunted by the sight of his son's bloodied body and started drinking again after 17 years of sobriety, often passing out at his son's grave.
"Day after day, I would take a 40-ouncer of alcohol to the cemetery and attempting to ease the pain, I would sit there beside Matt's grave and drink," Matt Daly Sr. told a sentencing hearing yesterday for three of the group of young men who beat to death the 19-year-old college student after a high school grad party in Burlington. "On many occasions, I drank until I passed out only to have my wife and others come to find me lying on the ground.
"I don't even pretend to understand how devastating it was for my three sons to see me this way especially since they had never seen me drink any alcohol their entire life."
His victim impact statement was one of 11 delivered by family members as Justice Fletcher Dawson decides how many years in prison the three must serve until they become eligible for parole. They were convicted last month in the May 19, 2001 slaying.
[. . .]
Read all of Bob Mitchell's article.
See also:
Fifth man pleads guilty in Matthew Daly killing
Four found guilty in Matthew Daly killing
Matthew Daly jury asks judge for clarification
Matthew Daly murder case goes to the jury
Prosecutors say racial confrontation led to student being beaten to death in Hamilton. Two of the accused are immigrants from Cambodia
Technorati tags: Canada Ontario Hamilton Burlington Canada law court cases crime murder Matthew Daly Canada race relations Ontario race relations multiculturalism
Monday, January 29, 2007
Muslim-Hindu riots in Bangalore India
This story is a week old, but it's the first I've heard of it.
From Reuters (Police patrol riot-hit Bangalore, IT firms operate, January 22, 2007):
Federal police were deployed and schools were shut in India's technology hub of Bangalore on Monday after communal rioting between Hindus and Muslims left one 12-year-old boy dead and dozens of people hurt.
Protests by thousands of Muslims against last month's execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq sparked a chain of violence over the weekend between the minority Muslims and nationalist Hindus, police and witnesses said.
Riot police patrolled empty streets of downtown Bangalore on Monday but operations in the city's numerous software firms and call centres, mostly outside the city centre, were unaffected.
[. . .]
Read all of the Reuters article.
I worry about this kind of violence coming to Canada, not necessarily between Hindus and Muslims but between any number of the ethnic groups living in Toronto, Vancouver and other cities.
Here are some links to more articles about the riots:
Bangalore Riots: This Is Not The Bangalore I Know
Brand Bangalore takes a hit again
Judicial probe sought into riots
See also:
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Indian politics: Bal Thackeray aspires to be the "Hitler of India"
Technorati tags: India communal riots Hindu Muslim Bangalore
From Reuters (Police patrol riot-hit Bangalore, IT firms operate, January 22, 2007):
Federal police were deployed and schools were shut in India's technology hub of Bangalore on Monday after communal rioting between Hindus and Muslims left one 12-year-old boy dead and dozens of people hurt.
Protests by thousands of Muslims against last month's execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq sparked a chain of violence over the weekend between the minority Muslims and nationalist Hindus, police and witnesses said.
Riot police patrolled empty streets of downtown Bangalore on Monday but operations in the city's numerous software firms and call centres, mostly outside the city centre, were unaffected.
[. . .]
Read all of the Reuters article.
I worry about this kind of violence coming to Canada, not necessarily between Hindus and Muslims but between any number of the ethnic groups living in Toronto, Vancouver and other cities.
Here are some links to more articles about the riots:
Bangalore Riots: This Is Not The Bangalore I Know
Brand Bangalore takes a hit again
Judicial probe sought into riots
See also:
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Indian politics: Bal Thackeray aspires to be the "Hitler of India"
Technorati tags: India communal riots Hindu Muslim Bangalore
Herouxville welcomes you. Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your kids to school with a kirpan or covering your face
From Canadian Press via canada.com (Quebec town outlines societal 'norms' for would-be immigrants by Dene Moore, January 29, 2007):
A sign at the entrance of this rural Quebec town says: Herouxville welcomes you. Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your kids to school with a kirpan or covering your face other than on Halloween.
The town council of Herouxville, a sleepy town dominated by a towering Roman Catholic church, has adopted a declaration of "norms" that it says would-be immigrants should be aware of before they settle in this town.
Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid.
Children cannot carry weapons to school. That includes ceremonial religious daggers like kirpans even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools.
However, children can swim in a pool with other children - boys and girls alike because they can't be segregated.
And for the record, female police officers in Herouxville, 165 kilometres northwest of Montreal, can arrest male suspects. Also part of the declaration is to allow women to drive, dance and make decisions on their own.
[. . .]
Read all of Dene Moore's article.
See also:
Montreal police officer to face disciplinary committee for writing song that urges immigrants to assimilate
Toronto Star: Muslim girls allowed private swim tests
Ambassador defends Filipino boy against dastardly Montreal school board officials
Technorati tags: Quebec multiculturalism Canada multiculturalism Canada immigration policy
A sign at the entrance of this rural Quebec town says: Herouxville welcomes you. Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your kids to school with a kirpan or covering your face other than on Halloween.
The town council of Herouxville, a sleepy town dominated by a towering Roman Catholic church, has adopted a declaration of "norms" that it says would-be immigrants should be aware of before they settle in this town.
Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid.
Children cannot carry weapons to school. That includes ceremonial religious daggers like kirpans even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools.
However, children can swim in a pool with other children - boys and girls alike because they can't be segregated.
And for the record, female police officers in Herouxville, 165 kilometres northwest of Montreal, can arrest male suspects. Also part of the declaration is to allow women to drive, dance and make decisions on their own.
[. . .]
Read all of Dene Moore's article.
See also:
Montreal police officer to face disciplinary committee for writing song that urges immigrants to assimilate
Toronto Star: Muslim girls allowed private swim tests
Ambassador defends Filipino boy against dastardly Montreal school board officials
Technorati tags: Quebec multiculturalism Canada multiculturalism Canada immigration policy
Montreal police officer to face disciplinary committee for writing song that urges immigrants to assimilate
From CBC News (Police officer faces discipline for penning song about immigrants, January 29, 2007):
A Montreal police officer could face disciplinary action for writing a song urging immigrants in Quebec to assimilate.
The song — currently circulating on the internet — is called That's Enough Already, and suggests Québécois culture is being denigrated by a wave of new immigrants who insist on practising different religious traditions.
The song berates immigrants for expecting Quebec to bend over backwards and accommodate their differences, and suggests that those who don't like it should hitch a ride to the airport.
The song was posted on a site called Humour Québec.
The 37-year-old officer, a 15-year veteran of the police force, will appear in front of a Montreal police disciplinary committee Monday, amid protests from his union.
[. . .]
The song appeared on the internet as the debate on "reasonable accommodation" was snowballing across Quebec. On Saturday, a small town in the Mauricie region made headlines after its city council drafted and approved a "code of conduct" outlining appropriate behaviour for all residents, including new immigrants.
The code of conduct in Héroux declares women have the right to drive a car, sign a cheque and dance, and should uncover their faces if they teach in schools.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
This particular story is more about culture and religion than race, but it is the kind of tension Jared Taylor discusses in the speech he was stopped from giving in Halifax: Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada? I'm not a white nationalist, but Taylor's point about diversity leading to tension and conflict is valid. The world is full ethnic, religious and racial conflict. There are Canadians who believe that our country has avoided this problem by adopting a policy of official multiculturalism that accommodates cultural differences, but as this story from Quebec shows, Canada is not immune to ethnic friction. If we don't reduce immigration, this kind of tension is going to get worse.
See also:
Canadian multiculturalism - cultural conflict in Quebec
Hasidic Jews in Montreal reluctant to deal with female police officers
Sudden increase in demand for religious accomodations in Quebec schools
Technorati tags: Montreal police Quebec multiculturalism Canada multiculturalism Canada immigration policy
A Montreal police officer could face disciplinary action for writing a song urging immigrants in Quebec to assimilate.
The song — currently circulating on the internet — is called That's Enough Already, and suggests Québécois culture is being denigrated by a wave of new immigrants who insist on practising different religious traditions.
The song berates immigrants for expecting Quebec to bend over backwards and accommodate their differences, and suggests that those who don't like it should hitch a ride to the airport.
The song was posted on a site called Humour Québec.
The 37-year-old officer, a 15-year veteran of the police force, will appear in front of a Montreal police disciplinary committee Monday, amid protests from his union.
[. . .]
The song appeared on the internet as the debate on "reasonable accommodation" was snowballing across Quebec. On Saturday, a small town in the Mauricie region made headlines after its city council drafted and approved a "code of conduct" outlining appropriate behaviour for all residents, including new immigrants.
The code of conduct in Héroux declares women have the right to drive a car, sign a cheque and dance, and should uncover their faces if they teach in schools.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
This particular story is more about culture and religion than race, but it is the kind of tension Jared Taylor discusses in the speech he was stopped from giving in Halifax: Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada? I'm not a white nationalist, but Taylor's point about diversity leading to tension and conflict is valid. The world is full ethnic, religious and racial conflict. There are Canadians who believe that our country has avoided this problem by adopting a policy of official multiculturalism that accommodates cultural differences, but as this story from Quebec shows, Canada is not immune to ethnic friction. If we don't reduce immigration, this kind of tension is going to get worse.
See also:
Canadian multiculturalism - cultural conflict in Quebec
Hasidic Jews in Montreal reluctant to deal with female police officers
Sudden increase in demand for religious accomodations in Quebec schools
Technorati tags: Montreal police Quebec multiculturalism Canada multiculturalism Canada immigration policy
China accuses Canada of harbouring fugitive criminals
From the Globe and Mail (China asks Canada to deport alleged embezzler by Geoffrey York, January 29, 2007):
Beijing is asking Ottawa to arrest and deport a fugitive bank manager who is accused of fleeing to Canada after embezzling $150-million from customers.
The case could aggravate Chinese complaints over the growing number of accused criminals who have sought haven in Canada. There is a mounting perception in China that corrupt officials and other criminals have found it easy to gain shelter in Canada.
Gao Shan, former head of a Bank of China branch in northeastern China, is alleged to have siphoned off huge sums from the accounts of customers and transferred the money illegally to an account in Canada.
[. . .]
Beijing remains furious over Ottawa's failure to deport Lai Chang-xing, the alleged mastermind of a multibillion-dollar smuggling scheme in southern China in the 1990s. He escaped to Canada in 1999 and sought refugee status, triggering a court battle that continues today with no end in sight.
[. . .]
Ottawa and Beijing do not have an extradition treaty -- largely because of Canadian concerns that a suspect could be executed after being deported to China. There are more executions in China than in the rest of the world combined, and white-collar criminals are among those often subjected to the death penalty.
[. . .]
Read all of Geoffrey York's article.
See also:
BC Chinese student to Canadian teacher: "Sir, why did you move here? It's all Chinese."
Maple Leaf Foods - foreign workers from China went into to debt to get Brandon, Manitoba jobs
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Technorati tags: Canada China Canada refugees Canada law crime human rights Lai Chang-xing Gao Shan
Beijing is asking Ottawa to arrest and deport a fugitive bank manager who is accused of fleeing to Canada after embezzling $150-million from customers.
The case could aggravate Chinese complaints over the growing number of accused criminals who have sought haven in Canada. There is a mounting perception in China that corrupt officials and other criminals have found it easy to gain shelter in Canada.
Gao Shan, former head of a Bank of China branch in northeastern China, is alleged to have siphoned off huge sums from the accounts of customers and transferred the money illegally to an account in Canada.
[. . .]
Beijing remains furious over Ottawa's failure to deport Lai Chang-xing, the alleged mastermind of a multibillion-dollar smuggling scheme in southern China in the 1990s. He escaped to Canada in 1999 and sought refugee status, triggering a court battle that continues today with no end in sight.
[. . .]
Ottawa and Beijing do not have an extradition treaty -- largely because of Canadian concerns that a suspect could be executed after being deported to China. There are more executions in China than in the rest of the world combined, and white-collar criminals are among those often subjected to the death penalty.
[. . .]
Read all of Geoffrey York's article.
See also:
BC Chinese student to Canadian teacher: "Sir, why did you move here? It's all Chinese."
Maple Leaf Foods - foreign workers from China went into to debt to get Brandon, Manitoba jobs
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Technorati tags: Canada China Canada refugees Canada law crime human rights Lai Chang-xing Gao Shan
Does Stephen Harper believe in anything besides power for its own sake?
Richard Gwyn writes in the Toronto Star (Team Harper undergoes liberal makeover, January 23, 2007):
Stephen Harper is different. He's a conservative. His government is a genuinely conservative one. Or he was – and it was – conservative. He and it are now rapidly morphing into a liberal government.
[Hyphenated Canadian: 'Conservative' means different things to different people. Harper may have at one time fit Gwyn's idea of a conservative, but I never saw him as one.]
The best example is the way Harper and his government have now wrapped themselves in green. Harper is clearly determined to out-green the Liberals – not that hard to do since the actual environmental record of the Liberals during their dozen years in power was zero, other than signing the Kyoto Protocol, about which they then did nothing.
The reason Harper is doing this needs no explanation: Canadians care a lot about global warming and there's going to be an election this year. Therefore, Harper cares a lot about being seen to be doing something about global warming.
One aspect of the turnabout does deserve a closer look, though.
Note needs to be taken of the ease and speed both with which Harper made the switch, and with the way all his MPs and supporters about-faced with him without breaking step.
That's a classic characteristic of the Liberals. In the wonderful phrase of the late political commentator Christina McCall, their policies are like "silly putty."
Traditionally, it is the Conservatives who get all tangled up over ideology and policy principles. It's in this fundamental way that they've morphed into Liberals.
Read all of Gwyn's column
Gwyn's column struck a cord with me because I often find myself wondering whether Stephen Harper believes in anything. I realize politicians have to compromise. They sometimes have to make tactical retreats in order to achieve long-term goals. They can't accomplish anything if they don't have power and in a democracy power comes from pleasing the electorate. That said, if you compromise to the extent that you're indistinguishable from the other party, what are you achieving by gaining power? Are elections just a game? Is winning an end in itself?
See also:
Canada: This Union Can’t Be Saved
Globe: Harper wants to take the ethnic vote away from the Liberals
Harper defends multiculturalism and wide-open immigration
Technorati tags: Stephen Harper Conservative Party Canada politics Canada elections Canada ideology conservatism Canada conservatives Canada Richard Gwyn Kyoto
Stephen Harper is different. He's a conservative. His government is a genuinely conservative one. Or he was – and it was – conservative. He and it are now rapidly morphing into a liberal government.
[Hyphenated Canadian: 'Conservative' means different things to different people. Harper may have at one time fit Gwyn's idea of a conservative, but I never saw him as one.]
The best example is the way Harper and his government have now wrapped themselves in green. Harper is clearly determined to out-green the Liberals – not that hard to do since the actual environmental record of the Liberals during their dozen years in power was zero, other than signing the Kyoto Protocol, about which they then did nothing.
The reason Harper is doing this needs no explanation: Canadians care a lot about global warming and there's going to be an election this year. Therefore, Harper cares a lot about being seen to be doing something about global warming.
One aspect of the turnabout does deserve a closer look, though.
Note needs to be taken of the ease and speed both with which Harper made the switch, and with the way all his MPs and supporters about-faced with him without breaking step.
That's a classic characteristic of the Liberals. In the wonderful phrase of the late political commentator Christina McCall, their policies are like "silly putty."
Traditionally, it is the Conservatives who get all tangled up over ideology and policy principles. It's in this fundamental way that they've morphed into Liberals.
Read all of Gwyn's column
Gwyn's column struck a cord with me because I often find myself wondering whether Stephen Harper believes in anything. I realize politicians have to compromise. They sometimes have to make tactical retreats in order to achieve long-term goals. They can't accomplish anything if they don't have power and in a democracy power comes from pleasing the electorate. That said, if you compromise to the extent that you're indistinguishable from the other party, what are you achieving by gaining power? Are elections just a game? Is winning an end in itself?
See also:
Canada: This Union Can’t Be Saved
Globe: Harper wants to take the ethnic vote away from the Liberals
Harper defends multiculturalism and wide-open immigration
Technorati tags: Stephen Harper Conservative Party Canada politics Canada elections Canada ideology conservatism Canada conservatives Canada Richard Gwyn Kyoto
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Khat (qat) a growing problem in Canada. Arrest in Toronto
From CBC News (Toronto khat bust part of a growing trend, police say, January 26, 2007):
An arrest in a Toronto drug case on Thursday has shed more light on what officials say is a growing problem in Canada — khat.
Common in East Africa where users chew the leaves, khat (Catha edulis Forsk) is a flowering evergreen shrub or small tree native to East Africa and southern Arabia.
It can also act as a stimulant that, according to the RCMP, produces a "euphoria comparable to that of a very mild cocaine or amphetamine high."
[. . .]
Thursday's arrest of a woman in the Dixon Road and Islington Avenue area in the city's west end involved seven kilos of khat worth about $3,000 on the street.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
In September the Toronto Star published an article about Somalis in three Dixon Rd. high-rises who claimed that they were being harassed by security guards from Intelligarde. Security guards said the real issue was drug trafficking. From the September Star article:
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.
In the late 1980s large numbers of Somali refugees started to settle in the Dixon Rd. area. This led to serious tensions between the newcomers and the established residents. The CBC produced a dreadful documentary called "A place called Dixon" which put all the blame for the friction on the established residents and made no effort to understand how the latter's lives had been disrupted by the flood of East African refugees.
Daniel Stoffman who has written a series on immigration as an Atkinson fellow and who would later write an important book about immigration called Who Gets In went to Dixon to investigate. He published an article in Toronto Life that tried to understand the situation from the point of view of both sides. He discussed, for example, the strains on services caused by having large Somali families sharing small apartments.
One of the problems Stoffman mentioned was that residents couldn't sleep at night because the Somalis would gather outdoors in large groups and talk loudly well into the early hours. Khat was part of that talking culture, if I can put it that way. It wasn't necessarily that the Somalis were bad people. They were conforming to the norms of their own culture, but their customs conflicted with the habits of the residents who had been their first.
The tensions in Dixon are a good example of how people in Ottawa make immigration decisions that have a negative impact on the quality of life of other Canadians. It's easy for officials in Ottawa to be 'generous' when they're not the ones directly affected. Simply put, Canada took in far too many Somali refugees, but the decision-makers didn't care, because the burden was put on a group of Torontonians who were powerless to protect themselves. For the CBC to attack the victims of Ottawa's bad policies was nothing less than shameful but that's the par for the course with Canada's 'public' broadcaster.
There is disagreement about the harmfulness of khat. The drug is legal in countries like the UK, but the Union of Islamic Courts banned it when they were in power in Somalia. The new transitional government installed by Ethiopian troops has allowed its sale again.
Meanwhile the Sun newspaper in Britain reports (Man jailed after 'khat' attack, January 17):
A man who attacked and killed his wife after “chewing khat” was jailed for life at the Old Bailey today.
Omar Saleh, 32, was found guilty of murdering 24-year-old Hodan who was found collapsed with stab wounds, including a fatal one to her neck at their north London home in April, last year.
Victor Temple QC, prosecuting, said: “It is likely this defendant was experiencing the effects of khat.”
See also:
Somalis organize tenants association to fight 'harassment'
Somalis claim discrimination. Security guard company says the real problem is drugs
Talk to the elder first. African tribal custom comes to Toronto
Technorati tags: Toronto crime illegal drugs Canada immigration policy Somalis Somalia khat qat
An arrest in a Toronto drug case on Thursday has shed more light on what officials say is a growing problem in Canada — khat.
Common in East Africa where users chew the leaves, khat (Catha edulis Forsk) is a flowering evergreen shrub or small tree native to East Africa and southern Arabia.
It can also act as a stimulant that, according to the RCMP, produces a "euphoria comparable to that of a very mild cocaine or amphetamine high."
[. . .]
Thursday's arrest of a woman in the Dixon Road and Islington Avenue area in the city's west end involved seven kilos of khat worth about $3,000 on the street.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
In September the Toronto Star published an article about Somalis in three Dixon Rd. high-rises who claimed that they were being harassed by security guards from Intelligarde. Security guards said the real issue was drug trafficking. From the September Star article:
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.
In the late 1980s large numbers of Somali refugees started to settle in the Dixon Rd. area. This led to serious tensions between the newcomers and the established residents. The CBC produced a dreadful documentary called "A place called Dixon" which put all the blame for the friction on the established residents and made no effort to understand how the latter's lives had been disrupted by the flood of East African refugees.
Daniel Stoffman who has written a series on immigration as an Atkinson fellow and who would later write an important book about immigration called Who Gets In went to Dixon to investigate. He published an article in Toronto Life that tried to understand the situation from the point of view of both sides. He discussed, for example, the strains on services caused by having large Somali families sharing small apartments.
One of the problems Stoffman mentioned was that residents couldn't sleep at night because the Somalis would gather outdoors in large groups and talk loudly well into the early hours. Khat was part of that talking culture, if I can put it that way. It wasn't necessarily that the Somalis were bad people. They were conforming to the norms of their own culture, but their customs conflicted with the habits of the residents who had been their first.
The tensions in Dixon are a good example of how people in Ottawa make immigration decisions that have a negative impact on the quality of life of other Canadians. It's easy for officials in Ottawa to be 'generous' when they're not the ones directly affected. Simply put, Canada took in far too many Somali refugees, but the decision-makers didn't care, because the burden was put on a group of Torontonians who were powerless to protect themselves. For the CBC to attack the victims of Ottawa's bad policies was nothing less than shameful but that's the par for the course with Canada's 'public' broadcaster.
There is disagreement about the harmfulness of khat. The drug is legal in countries like the UK, but the Union of Islamic Courts banned it when they were in power in Somalia. The new transitional government installed by Ethiopian troops has allowed its sale again.
Meanwhile the Sun newspaper in Britain reports (Man jailed after 'khat' attack, January 17):
A man who attacked and killed his wife after “chewing khat” was jailed for life at the Old Bailey today.
Omar Saleh, 32, was found guilty of murdering 24-year-old Hodan who was found collapsed with stab wounds, including a fatal one to her neck at their north London home in April, last year.
Victor Temple QC, prosecuting, said: “It is likely this defendant was experiencing the effects of khat.”
See also:
Somalis organize tenants association to fight 'harassment'
Somalis claim discrimination. Security guard company says the real problem is drugs
Talk to the elder first. African tribal custom comes to Toronto
Technorati tags: Toronto crime illegal drugs Canada immigration policy Somalis Somalia khat qat
Healthcare workers wouldn't check for typhoid. Parents take child to India for diagnosis
From the Toronto Sun (Their fevered search for answers by Thane Burnett, January 28, 2007):
Little Sainsha Lalls' infected insides stumped our health-care system -- the front lines for any new and disastrous plagues entering Canada.
So much so, that her frustrated immigrant parents -- Charu and Sanjeev Lalls -- put the feverish 4-year-old on a flight back to India. Within hours of landing there, the little girl finally got a diagnosis and a treatment she's responding to.
And what was this confusing condition which had Sainsha running a fever of as much as 104C for about 20 days -- the only cure for which, according to Canadian hospitals and doctors, was to keep sending her home during the pre-Christmas rush.
It was, say doctors in India, typhoid fever, a very contagious illness that affects 12.5-million people every year -- largely in Third World and developing countries.
[. . .]
Between Dec. 7 and until the Mississauga girl and her mom boarded a flight for New Delhi on Christmas Eve, Sainsha had stood sick before her pediatrician and doctors and nurses at Credit Valley Hospital, the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga and even two stops at The Hospital for Sick Children. The last visit to Sick Kids saw the frustrated family get up and leave after they said they went the entire night without seeing a doctor.
[. . .]
Read all of Thane Burnett's article.
See also:
Immigrants account for two-thirds of tuberculosis cases in Canada
Research warns that steady influx of unvaccinated immigrants could trigger outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases
Illegal immigrants "most vulnerable to infectious diseases such as typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV."
Technorati tags: Canada healthcare typhoid Canada immigration Toronto immigrants India Indo-Canadians Desis Desi
Little Sainsha Lalls' infected insides stumped our health-care system -- the front lines for any new and disastrous plagues entering Canada.
So much so, that her frustrated immigrant parents -- Charu and Sanjeev Lalls -- put the feverish 4-year-old on a flight back to India. Within hours of landing there, the little girl finally got a diagnosis and a treatment she's responding to.
And what was this confusing condition which had Sainsha running a fever of as much as 104C for about 20 days -- the only cure for which, according to Canadian hospitals and doctors, was to keep sending her home during the pre-Christmas rush.
It was, say doctors in India, typhoid fever, a very contagious illness that affects 12.5-million people every year -- largely in Third World and developing countries.
[. . .]
Between Dec. 7 and until the Mississauga girl and her mom boarded a flight for New Delhi on Christmas Eve, Sainsha had stood sick before her pediatrician and doctors and nurses at Credit Valley Hospital, the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga and even two stops at The Hospital for Sick Children. The last visit to Sick Kids saw the frustrated family get up and leave after they said they went the entire night without seeing a doctor.
[. . .]
Read all of Thane Burnett's article.
See also:
Immigrants account for two-thirds of tuberculosis cases in Canada
Research warns that steady influx of unvaccinated immigrants could trigger outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases
Illegal immigrants "most vulnerable to infectious diseases such as typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV."
Technorati tags: Canada healthcare typhoid Canada immigration Toronto immigrants India Indo-Canadians Desis Desi
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Dalhousie fallout - long National Post article about Jared Taylor, racism and freedom of speech
From the National Post (How not to handle a genteel racist by Joseph Brean, January 27, 2007):
In its reaction to Mr. Taylor's brief visit last week, Halifax failed on almost every measure. Prof. Divine did not check his background before agreeing to debate him as an intellectual peer, an omission that later forced him to publicly refuse to debate. The media courted Mr. Taylor, then shunned him, then courted him again, turning a non-story into a near-scandal; and citizens stooped to mob violence and an anonymous e-mail that read: "Next time he comes, we're going to cut off his head."
"Must be Muslims," Mr. Taylor said.
Literally overnight, this coincidence of failures transformed a harmless kook handing out fliers in a Maritime snowstorm into the hottest interview in Halifax. He is now hailed on the Internet among like-minded American "paleoconservatives" as a martyr for free speech in the face of aggressive Canadian political correctness. Even the local papers that refused his ads turned around and defended his right to get his message out.
Read all of Joseph Brean's article.
I consider myself a paleoconservative and make no apologies for it. However, unlike Taylor, I am not a white separatist. As far as I know, neither are most paleoconservatives.
There's a lot of discussion about the differences between paleo- and neoconservatives. Immigration is one difference. Paleoconservatives want to restrict immigration while neocons generally support open borders. Another difference concerns foreign policy. Paleoconservatives don't believe the United States and other western states should invade foreign countries in order to impose democracy on unwilling people. Neocons are responsible for the disaster in Iraq.
Stephen Harper is a neoconservative, which is why I don't support him. How can he say with a straight face that Canada is bringing democracy to Afghanistan? All NATO did was replace the Taliban with warlords who are growing rich off the opium trade. That's not a good reason for Canadian soldiers to die.
Read the dissertion Taylor was prevented from giving in Halifax and judge for yourself whether what he says is reasonable or not: Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada? Here is an article in which Taylor defends white nationalism: Taylor vs. Sailer—Survival v. "Citizenism". Taylor was responding to an earlier Vdare article by Steve Sailer: The Color Of Crime And The New Orleans Nightmare.
Read also Steve Sailer's American Conservative article: Fragmented Future, which discusses sociologist Robert D. Putnam's research about ethnic diversity.
Sailer qutoes Putnam who says:
In the presence of [ethnic] diversity, we hunker down. We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it’s not just that we don’t trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don’t trust people who do look like us.
Putnam, by the way, is a liberal who was shocked by his own findings, so shocked that he withheld publication for several years. Sailer writes:
It was one of the more irony-laden incidents in the history of celebrity social scientists. While in Sweden to receive a $50,000 academic prize as political science professor of the year, Harvard’s Robert D. Putnam, a former Carter administration official who made his reputation writing about the decline of social trust in America in his bestseller Bowling Alone, confessed to Financial Times columnist John Lloyd that his latest research discovery—that ethnic diversity decreases trust and co-operation in communities—was so explosive that for the last half decade he hadn’t dared announce it “until he could develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity, saying it ‘would have been irresponsible to publish without that.’”
Read all of Sailer's article.
See also:
Jared Taylor was roughed up by protestors in Halifax
Canadian immigration policy: why race matters
The Duke lacrosse 'rape' case - another reason to worry about non-white immigration
Technorati tags: Jared Taylor American Renaiassance white nationalism racism race relations race realism Dalhousie university Halifax Nova Scotia free speech censorship academic freedom
In its reaction to Mr. Taylor's brief visit last week, Halifax failed on almost every measure. Prof. Divine did not check his background before agreeing to debate him as an intellectual peer, an omission that later forced him to publicly refuse to debate. The media courted Mr. Taylor, then shunned him, then courted him again, turning a non-story into a near-scandal; and citizens stooped to mob violence and an anonymous e-mail that read: "Next time he comes, we're going to cut off his head."
"Must be Muslims," Mr. Taylor said.
Literally overnight, this coincidence of failures transformed a harmless kook handing out fliers in a Maritime snowstorm into the hottest interview in Halifax. He is now hailed on the Internet among like-minded American "paleoconservatives" as a martyr for free speech in the face of aggressive Canadian political correctness. Even the local papers that refused his ads turned around and defended his right to get his message out.
Read all of Joseph Brean's article.
I consider myself a paleoconservative and make no apologies for it. However, unlike Taylor, I am not a white separatist. As far as I know, neither are most paleoconservatives.
There's a lot of discussion about the differences between paleo- and neoconservatives. Immigration is one difference. Paleoconservatives want to restrict immigration while neocons generally support open borders. Another difference concerns foreign policy. Paleoconservatives don't believe the United States and other western states should invade foreign countries in order to impose democracy on unwilling people. Neocons are responsible for the disaster in Iraq.
Stephen Harper is a neoconservative, which is why I don't support him. How can he say with a straight face that Canada is bringing democracy to Afghanistan? All NATO did was replace the Taliban with warlords who are growing rich off the opium trade. That's not a good reason for Canadian soldiers to die.
Read the dissertion Taylor was prevented from giving in Halifax and judge for yourself whether what he says is reasonable or not: Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada? Here is an article in which Taylor defends white nationalism: Taylor vs. Sailer—Survival v. "Citizenism". Taylor was responding to an earlier Vdare article by Steve Sailer: The Color Of Crime And The New Orleans Nightmare.
Read also Steve Sailer's American Conservative article: Fragmented Future, which discusses sociologist Robert D. Putnam's research about ethnic diversity.
Sailer qutoes Putnam who says:
In the presence of [ethnic] diversity, we hunker down. We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it’s not just that we don’t trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don’t trust people who do look like us.
Putnam, by the way, is a liberal who was shocked by his own findings, so shocked that he withheld publication for several years. Sailer writes:
It was one of the more irony-laden incidents in the history of celebrity social scientists. While in Sweden to receive a $50,000 academic prize as political science professor of the year, Harvard’s Robert D. Putnam, a former Carter administration official who made his reputation writing about the decline of social trust in America in his bestseller Bowling Alone, confessed to Financial Times columnist John Lloyd that his latest research discovery—that ethnic diversity decreases trust and co-operation in communities—was so explosive that for the last half decade he hadn’t dared announce it “until he could develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity, saying it ‘would have been irresponsible to publish without that.’”
Read all of Sailer's article.
See also:
Jared Taylor was roughed up by protestors in Halifax
Canadian immigration policy: why race matters
The Duke lacrosse 'rape' case - another reason to worry about non-white immigration
Technorati tags: Jared Taylor American Renaiassance white nationalism racism race relations race realism Dalhousie university Halifax Nova Scotia free speech censorship academic freedom
Thousands of Israelis seeking asylum in Canada
From Associated Press via the Globe and Mail (Reports: Thousands of Israelis seeking asylum in Canada, January 26, 2007):
Thousands of Israelis, some citing fear of Palestinian terror attacks, others saying they are in danger of spousal abuse, have requested asylum in Canada and hundreds have so far been granted refugee status there, Israel's two mass-circulation dailies reported Friday.
Citing data received by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yediot Ahronot said that since the year 2000, at least 3,000 Israelis had filed asylum applications. Maariv also gave the figure of 3,000 and said that upward of 500 applications had been approved.
Yediot quoted Israeli ambassador to Canada Alan Baker as delivering a message to Canadian officials telling them they were being duped by spurious applications from Israelis.
[. . .]
Read all of the AP article.
See also:
Report: Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
US wants Canada to accept Iraqi and Cuban refugees
Canada allows homosexuals to claim refugee status. One result: asylum seekers say they're gay when they're not.
Bogus marriages to brothers, sisters and mothers being used to enter Canada
Technorati tags: Canada refugees Israel human rights Israelis Yediot Ahronot
Thousands of Israelis, some citing fear of Palestinian terror attacks, others saying they are in danger of spousal abuse, have requested asylum in Canada and hundreds have so far been granted refugee status there, Israel's two mass-circulation dailies reported Friday.
Citing data received by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yediot Ahronot said that since the year 2000, at least 3,000 Israelis had filed asylum applications. Maariv also gave the figure of 3,000 and said that upward of 500 applications had been approved.
Yediot quoted Israeli ambassador to Canada Alan Baker as delivering a message to Canadian officials telling them they were being duped by spurious applications from Israelis.
[. . .]
Read all of the AP article.
See also:
Report: Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
US wants Canada to accept Iraqi and Cuban refugees
Canada allows homosexuals to claim refugee status. One result: asylum seekers say they're gay when they're not.
Bogus marriages to brothers, sisters and mothers being used to enter Canada
Technorati tags: Canada refugees Israel human rights Israelis Yediot Ahronot
Project Top Hoodlum - Fear of 'escalating conflict' with Regent Park gang led to Project Originals arrests
From the Toronto Sun (Cops swoop down on gangs, January 26, 2007):
The fear of an escalating conflict between two downtown gangs which led to shots being fired downtown before Christmas spurred Toronto Police to speed up its campaign against a west-end gang.
Project Top Hoodlum targeted the Project Originals, based in the Vanauley Walk housing complex, and early yesterday took down five alleged gang members considered to be in the upper echelon of the group, Det. Jim McLane said.
Subsequent search warrants netted three other suspects and more than a half pound of cocaine and crack.
Earlier this week police seized two handguns when they raided a Regent Park area gang in the Shuter and Parliament Sts. area which had been fighting with the Project Originals.
[. . .]
There were two known clashes between the two groups, with no reported injuries, McLane said. The first at Yonge and Shuter Sts. was on Dec. 10 when the intended targets, all Project Originals, were returning to their parked SUV and were forced to duck for cover -- along with the rush-hour crush of pedestrians -- as a gunman opened fire. The second was on Dec. 30, again with no injuries.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Yonge and Shuter is next to the Eaton Centre. It's a just south from where Jane Creba was shot to death in December 2005.]
[. . .]
The suspected Project Originals arrested yesterday are among the second or third generation of the gang, whose territory is bounded by Bathurst St., Spadina Ave., Queen St. and Dundas St. The gang co-exists peacefully with another Vanauley gang, the Asian Assassinz.
[. . .]
Read all of the Sun article.
See also:
Project Originals - Toronto police arrest 9 in gang-related raids in Chinatown
Urban renewal leads to gang turf wars in Regent Park
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime police Project Originals Project Top Hoodlum Asian Assassinz Regent Park
The fear of an escalating conflict between two downtown gangs which led to shots being fired downtown before Christmas spurred Toronto Police to speed up its campaign against a west-end gang.
Project Top Hoodlum targeted the Project Originals, based in the Vanauley Walk housing complex, and early yesterday took down five alleged gang members considered to be in the upper echelon of the group, Det. Jim McLane said.
Subsequent search warrants netted three other suspects and more than a half pound of cocaine and crack.
Earlier this week police seized two handguns when they raided a Regent Park area gang in the Shuter and Parliament Sts. area which had been fighting with the Project Originals.
[. . .]
There were two known clashes between the two groups, with no reported injuries, McLane said. The first at Yonge and Shuter Sts. was on Dec. 10 when the intended targets, all Project Originals, were returning to their parked SUV and were forced to duck for cover -- along with the rush-hour crush of pedestrians -- as a gunman opened fire. The second was on Dec. 30, again with no injuries.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Yonge and Shuter is next to the Eaton Centre. It's a just south from where Jane Creba was shot to death in December 2005.]
[. . .]
The suspected Project Originals arrested yesterday are among the second or third generation of the gang, whose territory is bounded by Bathurst St., Spadina Ave., Queen St. and Dundas St. The gang co-exists peacefully with another Vanauley gang, the Asian Assassinz.
[. . .]
Read all of the Sun article.
See also:
Project Originals - Toronto police arrest 9 in gang-related raids in Chinatown
Urban renewal leads to gang turf wars in Regent Park
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime police Project Originals Project Top Hoodlum Asian Assassinz Regent Park
Thursday, January 25, 2007
More families with children living in condos puts a strain on Toronto schools
From the Globe and Mail (Here come the high-rise kids by John Lorince, January 20, 2007):
Contrary to the marketing stereotype of the twentysomething single buyer, Councillor Pam McConnell (Toronto-Centre) says a growing number of downtown condo dwellers now have children. Parents like Ms. Stringer -- who chose to send her older son to an out-of-district school in an enclave near the Summerhill subway -- are skeptical about whether the city and the school boards are truly prepared to deal with future enrolment growth in these high-rise communities.
It's a glaring error that's been made before in Toronto. Though initially geared at retirees, the towering luxury condos in the Yonge-Sheppard corridor have seen an influx of young families, many of them recent immigrants from dense Asian cities where high-rise living is the norm.
Initially, says Councillor John Filion (Willowdale), North York board of education officials insisted all the new development wouldn't bring children into the area. As it turned out, the demand was such that one of the local schools, McKee Public School, had to be completely rebuilt, its capacity tripled to 630. Despite that expansion, says Mr. Filion, McKee "was immediately full. It's obviously not a good situation."
Read all of John Lorince's article.
High-rise development - a good reason to treat immigration as a municipal election issue
Toronto is running out of space, but immigrants keep pouring in. Enough already! It's time to end this madness
The impact of population growth on local neighbourhoods
Immigration and new skyscrapers: population growth is transforming Toronto, but not for the better
Technorati tags: Toronto schools Canada immigration immigrants population growth condos highrises Pam McConnell John Filion
Contrary to the marketing stereotype of the twentysomething single buyer, Councillor Pam McConnell (Toronto-Centre) says a growing number of downtown condo dwellers now have children. Parents like Ms. Stringer -- who chose to send her older son to an out-of-district school in an enclave near the Summerhill subway -- are skeptical about whether the city and the school boards are truly prepared to deal with future enrolment growth in these high-rise communities.
It's a glaring error that's been made before in Toronto. Though initially geared at retirees, the towering luxury condos in the Yonge-Sheppard corridor have seen an influx of young families, many of them recent immigrants from dense Asian cities where high-rise living is the norm.
Initially, says Councillor John Filion (Willowdale), North York board of education officials insisted all the new development wouldn't bring children into the area. As it turned out, the demand was such that one of the local schools, McKee Public School, had to be completely rebuilt, its capacity tripled to 630. Despite that expansion, says Mr. Filion, McKee "was immediately full. It's obviously not a good situation."
Read all of John Lorince's article.
High-rise development - a good reason to treat immigration as a municipal election issue
Toronto is running out of space, but immigrants keep pouring in. Enough already! It's time to end this madness
The impact of population growth on local neighbourhoods
Immigration and new skyscrapers: population growth is transforming Toronto, but not for the better
Technorati tags: Toronto schools Canada immigration immigrants population growth condos highrises Pam McConnell John Filion
US wants Canada to accept Iraqi and Cuban refugees
From Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail (U.S. wants Canada to accept more Iraqis, January 20, 2007):
The United States is calling on Canada to accept more refugees from Iraq. It also wants Ottawa to reinterpret federal immigration rules so that about 40 Cubans claiming refugee status, who are now housed at the American naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, can move to Canada.
A current strict interpretation of the rules would disqualify the Cubans because technically they are still residing in their native country.
Ellen Sauerbrey, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for migration and refugees, spent two days in Ottawa this week discussing the matter with foreign affairs and immigration officials.
She said that Canadian officials said they would look into the matter. Canadian officials say no policy decisions have been made.
[. . .]
Read all of the CP article.
I don't have a problem with Canada accepting a limited number of Iraqi refugees provided they've been screened beforehand. The fact that Canada's refugee system is dysfunctional and open to abuse doesn't meant there aren't any real refugees. Accepting a limited number of pre-screened refugees is different from encouraging unscreened Iraqis to come to Canada illegally as some immigration lawyers have been urging. However, Daniel Stoffman makes a good point when he says the neediest refugees never reach Canada and the millions of dollars it costs to run our incompetent inland refugee determination system would be better spent sending aid to the people living for years on end in refugee camps.
See also:
Report: Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Immigration lawyers urging Iraqis to enter Canada illegally
Iraqi-Canadians playing prominent role in anti-American insurgency
Technorati tags: Canada refugees immigration Iraq Cuba
The United States is calling on Canada to accept more refugees from Iraq. It also wants Ottawa to reinterpret federal immigration rules so that about 40 Cubans claiming refugee status, who are now housed at the American naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, can move to Canada.
A current strict interpretation of the rules would disqualify the Cubans because technically they are still residing in their native country.
Ellen Sauerbrey, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for migration and refugees, spent two days in Ottawa this week discussing the matter with foreign affairs and immigration officials.
She said that Canadian officials said they would look into the matter. Canadian officials say no policy decisions have been made.
[. . .]
Read all of the CP article.
I don't have a problem with Canada accepting a limited number of Iraqi refugees provided they've been screened beforehand. The fact that Canada's refugee system is dysfunctional and open to abuse doesn't meant there aren't any real refugees. Accepting a limited number of pre-screened refugees is different from encouraging unscreened Iraqis to come to Canada illegally as some immigration lawyers have been urging. However, Daniel Stoffman makes a good point when he says the neediest refugees never reach Canada and the millions of dollars it costs to run our incompetent inland refugee determination system would be better spent sending aid to the people living for years on end in refugee camps.
See also:
Report: Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Immigration lawyers urging Iraqis to enter Canada illegally
Iraqi-Canadians playing prominent role in anti-American insurgency
Technorati tags: Canada refugees immigration Iraq Cuba
A scathing New York Times review of Dinesh D'Souza's new book The Enemy at Home
Here's an excerpt from a scathing review by Alan Wolfe of Dinesh D'Souza's new book The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. From the New York Times (None (but Me) Dare Call It Treason, January 21, 2007):
I never thought a book by D’Souza, the aging enfant terrible of American conservatism, would, like the Stalinist apologetics of the popular front period, contain such a soft spot for radical evil. But in “The Enemy at Home,” D’Souza’s cultural relativism hardly stops with bin Laden. He finds Ayatollah Khomeini still to be “highly regarded for his modest demeanor, frugal lifestyle and soft-spoken manner.” Islamic punishment tends to be harsh — flogging adulterers and that sort of thing — but this, D’Souza says “with only a hint of irony,” simply puts Muslims “in the Old Testament tradition.” Polygamy exists under Islamic law, but the sexual freedom produced by feminism in this country is, at least for men, “even better than polygamy.” And the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statement that the West has a taboo against questioning the existence of the Holocaust, while “pooh-poohed by Western commentators,” was “undoubtedly accurate.” Unlike President Bush, who once said he could not understand how anyone could hate America, D’Souza knows why Islamic radicals attack us. “Painful though it may be to admit,” he admits, “some of what the critics or even enemies say about America and the West ... may be true.” Susan Sontag never said we brought Sept. 11 on ourselves. Dinesh D’Souza does say it.
Read all of Alan Wolfe's review.
While contemporary western culture leaves a lot to be desired, I don't think its shortcomings explain Muslim terrorism. That said, I haven't read D'Souza's book and can only go by what I've read about it second-hand. This New York Times review is harsh, but until I read the book, which may be never, I won't know if Wolfe's comments are fair.
See also:
Learning To Love The West
Celebrity worship: people have strange priorities (This was written tongue-in-cheek, but I do find celebrity gossip boring. It just doesn't interest me.)
Technorati tags: Dinesh D'Souza western culture al Qaeda Islamism Islamic terrorism
I never thought a book by D’Souza, the aging enfant terrible of American conservatism, would, like the Stalinist apologetics of the popular front period, contain such a soft spot for radical evil. But in “The Enemy at Home,” D’Souza’s cultural relativism hardly stops with bin Laden. He finds Ayatollah Khomeini still to be “highly regarded for his modest demeanor, frugal lifestyle and soft-spoken manner.” Islamic punishment tends to be harsh — flogging adulterers and that sort of thing — but this, D’Souza says “with only a hint of irony,” simply puts Muslims “in the Old Testament tradition.” Polygamy exists under Islamic law, but the sexual freedom produced by feminism in this country is, at least for men, “even better than polygamy.” And the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statement that the West has a taboo against questioning the existence of the Holocaust, while “pooh-poohed by Western commentators,” was “undoubtedly accurate.” Unlike President Bush, who once said he could not understand how anyone could hate America, D’Souza knows why Islamic radicals attack us. “Painful though it may be to admit,” he admits, “some of what the critics or even enemies say about America and the West ... may be true.” Susan Sontag never said we brought Sept. 11 on ourselves. Dinesh D’Souza does say it.
Read all of Alan Wolfe's review.
While contemporary western culture leaves a lot to be desired, I don't think its shortcomings explain Muslim terrorism. That said, I haven't read D'Souza's book and can only go by what I've read about it second-hand. This New York Times review is harsh, but until I read the book, which may be never, I won't know if Wolfe's comments are fair.
See also:
Learning To Love The West
Celebrity worship: people have strange priorities (This was written tongue-in-cheek, but I do find celebrity gossip boring. It just doesn't interest me.)
Technorati tags: Dinesh D'Souza western culture al Qaeda Islamism Islamic terrorism
One moderate Muslim's opinion of Islamic extremism: "This is not an ideology. It's a mental illness."
'These people, ladies and gentleman -- have a good look at them. They actually think if you kill children, if you kill women, you would go to heaven... This is not an ideology. It's a mental illness.' [Includes link to video.]
Hat tip: Relapsed Catholic (scroll down)
See also:
Distinguishing between Islam and Islamism
A fascinating Pakistani review of CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
Technorati tags: Islam Islamism Muslims
Hat tip: Relapsed Catholic (scroll down)
See also:
Distinguishing between Islam and Islamism
A fascinating Pakistani review of CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
Technorati tags: Islam Islamism Muslims
Canadian citizens in Somalia's new transitional government
From the National Post (Canadians hold power in Somalia by Stewart Bell, January 20, 2007):
The interim government that took over this devastated East African country following a war that erupted in late December is made up of a remarkable number of former Ottawa and Toronto residents.
"Tim Hortons coffee, I like it," said Abdullahi Ahmed Afrah, the Minister of Trade, a Somali-Canadian economist who returned to Mogadishu to help turn around his disastrous homeland.
[Hyphenated Canadian: This confused me when I read it, because the Toronto Star's Michelle Shephard has been writing about a Somali-Canadian named Abdullahi Afrah who is a prominent figure in the Union of Islamic Courts, the Islamist movement that the Ethiopians ousted from power. Is Bell writing about the same man? Did he switch sides? Apparently not. You be the judge. Here is the picture of the Abdullahi Afrah Bell describes. Here is the Abdullahi Afrah described by Shephard. I don't see any resemblance. The man Shephard writes about also goes by the name of Asparo.]
The Minister is one of 18 Somali Members of Parliament who are also Canadian citizens. Four members of the Cabinet are Canadians: the ministers of education, information, wildlife and trade.
The deputy ministers of agriculture and energy are also Canadians. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is not a Canadian citizen, but his wife and children are, and so is the powerful President of Puntl and state, General Ade Muse Hirsi.
In interviews, a pair of Canadian ministers installed in the fledgling government said that while they are grateful to Canada for giving them refuge, they could not resist the pull of the homeland.
"We could not forget," Mr. Afrah said. "We owed something to this country."
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
See also:
Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Lebanese fallout - Lorne Gunter on Canadians of convenience
Somali official says at least two Canadian jihadists were killed in last month's fighting
Technorati tags: Canada immigration Somali refugees Somali-Canadians Somalia
The interim government that took over this devastated East African country following a war that erupted in late December is made up of a remarkable number of former Ottawa and Toronto residents.
"Tim Hortons coffee, I like it," said Abdullahi Ahmed Afrah, the Minister of Trade, a Somali-Canadian economist who returned to Mogadishu to help turn around his disastrous homeland.
[Hyphenated Canadian: This confused me when I read it, because the Toronto Star's Michelle Shephard has been writing about a Somali-Canadian named Abdullahi Afrah who is a prominent figure in the Union of Islamic Courts, the Islamist movement that the Ethiopians ousted from power. Is Bell writing about the same man? Did he switch sides? Apparently not. You be the judge. Here is the picture of the Abdullahi Afrah Bell describes. Here is the Abdullahi Afrah described by Shephard. I don't see any resemblance. The man Shephard writes about also goes by the name of Asparo.]
The Minister is one of 18 Somali Members of Parliament who are also Canadian citizens. Four members of the Cabinet are Canadians: the ministers of education, information, wildlife and trade.
The deputy ministers of agriculture and energy are also Canadians. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is not a Canadian citizen, but his wife and children are, and so is the powerful President of Puntl and state, General Ade Muse Hirsi.
In interviews, a pair of Canadian ministers installed in the fledgling government said that while they are grateful to Canada for giving them refuge, they could not resist the pull of the homeland.
"We could not forget," Mr. Afrah said. "We owed something to this country."
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
See also:
Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Lebanese fallout - Lorne Gunter on Canadians of convenience
Somali official says at least two Canadian jihadists were killed in last month's fighting
Technorati tags: Canada immigration Somali refugees Somali-Canadians Somalia
Licia Corbella meets a Somali refugee: "I felt as though I was in the presence of a female version of Himmler."
From the Calgary Sun (Racism not limited to West by Licia Corbella, January 21, 2007):
Many years ago, while living in Toronto, the very multicultural church I attended sponsored a Somalian woman and her children to come to Canada.
[. . .]
On the night I was to meet the woman, a few weeks after her arrival, I told a friend what my church had done and what I was doing that evening and she responded by saying: "Yet another reason to hate churches," before she stomped off.
[. . .]
When I did meet her my first impression of her was she was gorgeous -- long and lanky with regal bone structure and smooth taut cafe latte skin. She was wrapped up in yards of colourful fabric and looked exotic and alluring.
[. . .]
We were speaking about the political tensions in Somalia when she declared all members of a tribe she did not belong to -- that she blamed for all of her nation's strife -- should have been slaughtered years earlier "when we had the chance."
I think I actually said: "Pardon me?"
I was flabbergasted.
"We should have killed them all," she said.
I felt as though I was in the presence of a female version of Himmler.
Before I met the Somali woman I would never have guessed my colleague's comment in the newsroom would wind up being mild in comparison to the comments and attitude of the woman I viewed as a potential victim of racism.
[. . .]
Read all of Licia Corbella's column.
See also:
Clan rivalries are an obstacle to stability in Somalia
Talk to the elder first. African tribal custom comes to Toronto
Somalis claim discrimination. Security guard company says the real problem is drugs
Toronto Somalis want Ottawa to intervene in their former homeland
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
Technorati tags: Somalia clans Somalis Somali refugees Canada immigration racism
Many years ago, while living in Toronto, the very multicultural church I attended sponsored a Somalian woman and her children to come to Canada.
[. . .]
On the night I was to meet the woman, a few weeks after her arrival, I told a friend what my church had done and what I was doing that evening and she responded by saying: "Yet another reason to hate churches," before she stomped off.
[. . .]
When I did meet her my first impression of her was she was gorgeous -- long and lanky with regal bone structure and smooth taut cafe latte skin. She was wrapped up in yards of colourful fabric and looked exotic and alluring.
[. . .]
We were speaking about the political tensions in Somalia when she declared all members of a tribe she did not belong to -- that she blamed for all of her nation's strife -- should have been slaughtered years earlier "when we had the chance."
I think I actually said: "Pardon me?"
I was flabbergasted.
"We should have killed them all," she said.
I felt as though I was in the presence of a female version of Himmler.
Before I met the Somali woman I would never have guessed my colleague's comment in the newsroom would wind up being mild in comparison to the comments and attitude of the woman I viewed as a potential victim of racism.
[. . .]
Read all of Licia Corbella's column.
See also:
Clan rivalries are an obstacle to stability in Somalia
Talk to the elder first. African tribal custom comes to Toronto
Somalis claim discrimination. Security guard company says the real problem is drugs
Toronto Somalis want Ottawa to intervene in their former homeland
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
Technorati tags: Somalia clans Somalis Somali refugees Canada immigration racism
Somali official says at least two Canadian jihadists were killed in last month's fighting
From the National Post (Charred evidence of dead Jihadists by Stewart Bell, January 22, 2007):
A senior Somali official confirmed yesterday that at least two Canadians had been killed last month fighting alongside the country's jihadist militant group.
Colonel Ibrahim Mohamed said charred Canadian passports and other identification were found on the bodies of two Islamist fighters killed near the town of Bur Hakaba.
One of the dead men was a Somali-Canadian while the other was an Arab-Canadian, said Col. Mohamed, a senior counter-terrorism official in Somalia's National Security Agency.
"We have no doubt that these two persons were Canadians because some of the persons that were with them told us they were Canadian and they came to Somalia to take part in what they believed was a jihad," he said.
He said he did not know the men's names. Their bodies were found in a car that had been attacked by pro-government forces. Their passports were burned in the attack but some of the pages were intact, allowing soldiers to determine they were Canadian.
Troops also found bank cards and possibly a bus pass that identified them as Canadian, he said. The soldiers took note of the ID but left it at the site and it has since been lost.
[. . .]
Canadian officials have not yet been notified of the two deaths near Bur Hakaba, the colonel said.
"We haven't shared with the Canadian government so far, but it was clear they have come to Somalia for the ideology of al- Qaeda."
The fighters had apparently joined the Shabab, the militia of the Islamic Courts Union, which had been trying to turn lawless Somalia into an Islamic state similar to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
Stewart Bell is the author of two important books about terrorism in Canada: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. You can read a review of Cold Terror here. The Martyr's Oath is discussed here. An extensive discussion of the problem of foreign-based terrorism in Canada can be found in the Mackenzie's Institute's free online book Other people's wars.
See also:
Report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform
Somali-Canadian leaders of Islamist group linked by US to al-Qaeda are free to return to Canada
Former Toronto grocery store owner helps lead Taliban-like group in Somalia
Somali-"Canadians" fighting for Taliban-like group in Africa
Technorati tags: Canada Somalia Somali-Canadians immigrants terrorism Muslims Islamism jihad Union of Islamic Courts Shabab al-Qaeda
A senior Somali official confirmed yesterday that at least two Canadians had been killed last month fighting alongside the country's jihadist militant group.
Colonel Ibrahim Mohamed said charred Canadian passports and other identification were found on the bodies of two Islamist fighters killed near the town of Bur Hakaba.
One of the dead men was a Somali-Canadian while the other was an Arab-Canadian, said Col. Mohamed, a senior counter-terrorism official in Somalia's National Security Agency.
"We have no doubt that these two persons were Canadians because some of the persons that were with them told us they were Canadian and they came to Somalia to take part in what they believed was a jihad," he said.
He said he did not know the men's names. Their bodies were found in a car that had been attacked by pro-government forces. Their passports were burned in the attack but some of the pages were intact, allowing soldiers to determine they were Canadian.
Troops also found bank cards and possibly a bus pass that identified them as Canadian, he said. The soldiers took note of the ID but left it at the site and it has since been lost.
[. . .]
Canadian officials have not yet been notified of the two deaths near Bur Hakaba, the colonel said.
"We haven't shared with the Canadian government so far, but it was clear they have come to Somalia for the ideology of al- Qaeda."
The fighters had apparently joined the Shabab, the militia of the Islamic Courts Union, which had been trying to turn lawless Somalia into an Islamic state similar to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
Stewart Bell is the author of two important books about terrorism in Canada: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. You can read a review of Cold Terror here. The Martyr's Oath is discussed here. An extensive discussion of the problem of foreign-based terrorism in Canada can be found in the Mackenzie's Institute's free online book Other people's wars.
See also:
Report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform
Somali-Canadian leaders of Islamist group linked by US to al-Qaeda are free to return to Canada
Former Toronto grocery store owner helps lead Taliban-like group in Somalia
Somali-"Canadians" fighting for Taliban-like group in Africa
Technorati tags: Canada Somalia Somali-Canadians immigrants terrorism Muslims Islamism jihad Union of Islamic Courts Shabab al-Qaeda
Project Originals - Toronto police arrest 9 in gang-related raids in Chinatown
From CBC News (Toronto police arrest 9 in gang-related raids, January 25, 2007):
Police backed by the Emergency Task Force made a series of raids in downtown Toronto Thursday night, arresting nine people, including "at least five known gang members."
The raids were directed at a street gang known as the Project Originals, which operates in the Vanauley Walk Housing Complex near Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street, said Det. Sgt. John Loughlin.
[Hyphenated Canadian: The Rap Dictionary says this is a Bloods gang.]
[. . .]
The nine suspects were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning for bail hearings. They face a variety of charges including trafficking in drugs, possession of drugs, and being in possession of the proceeds of crime.
[. . .]
One of the 14 Division officers involved, Det. Const. Aaron Dennis, told CBC News these high-risk raids are part of a continuous pressure tactic being used to unsettle the gangs operating in the area.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
Toronto Community Housing wants to evict families of gang members
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Urban renewal leads to gang turf wars in Regent Park
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime police Project Originals
Police backed by the Emergency Task Force made a series of raids in downtown Toronto Thursday night, arresting nine people, including "at least five known gang members."
The raids were directed at a street gang known as the Project Originals, which operates in the Vanauley Walk Housing Complex near Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street, said Det. Sgt. John Loughlin.
[Hyphenated Canadian: The Rap Dictionary says this is a Bloods gang.]
[. . .]
The nine suspects were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning for bail hearings. They face a variety of charges including trafficking in drugs, possession of drugs, and being in possession of the proceeds of crime.
[. . .]
One of the 14 Division officers involved, Det. Const. Aaron Dennis, told CBC News these high-risk raids are part of a continuous pressure tactic being used to unsettle the gangs operating in the area.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
Toronto Community Housing wants to evict families of gang members
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Urban renewal leads to gang turf wars in Regent Park
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime police Project Originals
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
More about the New Born Assassins street gang
On January 11 I linked to a Toronto Star article about ten Toronto-area Grade 9 students who formed part of a gang called the New Born Assassins. They modeled themselves on the Los Angeles-based Crips. Here's a little more information about the gang from a Toronto Sun article (Gang life's a family affair by Rob Lamberti, January 12, 2007):
"They're very legitimate," unit Det. Kurt Diener said yesterday of the gang, which apparently formed in September. The members are from an area high school he didn't want to reveal.
"They're organized," he said. "As a matter of fact, they're that organized where they plan the robbery. They all get together ... and from there they trail the victim, do the robbery and then right after that they have debriefing."
Diener said police know of three victims of the gang's swarming spree that began in late fall. The most recent happened Monday in the Rogers Rd.-Keele area when a 17-year-old male was knocked unconscious in a midday attack in a laneway. He was robbed of his cap and cellphone.
Read all of Rob Lamberti's article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Rapper Alias Donmillion - lawyer claims Toronto's violent hip-hop culture forced client to carry gun
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime Toronto schools New Born Assassins
"They're very legitimate," unit Det. Kurt Diener said yesterday of the gang, which apparently formed in September. The members are from an area high school he didn't want to reveal.
"They're organized," he said. "As a matter of fact, they're that organized where they plan the robbery. They all get together ... and from there they trail the victim, do the robbery and then right after that they have debriefing."
Diener said police know of three victims of the gang's swarming spree that began in late fall. The most recent happened Monday in the Rogers Rd.-Keele area when a 17-year-old male was knocked unconscious in a midday attack in a laneway. He was robbed of his cap and cellphone.
Read all of Rob Lamberti's article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Rapper Alias Donmillion - lawyer claims Toronto's violent hip-hop culture forced client to carry gun
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime Toronto schools New Born Assassins
Janice Del Rosario - Refugee claimant accused of massive fraud back in the Philippines
From the Toronto Star (Alleged fraudster in Manila by Dale Brazao, January 24, 2007):
True to form, Janice Del Rosario arrived back in the Philippines in designer clothes, sunglasses and a smile. She left minutes later in handcuffs for the same Manila-area jail where she had met her husband years earlier.
The question now for the dozen or so victims out $2 million after Del Rosario's deportation is whether they can get the justice in the Philippines they say was denied to them in Canada.
Del Rosario, 44, and her husband, Kaye Gravador Del Rosario, 33, face a slew of fraud charges in their homeland where they stand accused of bilking some 200 police and military officers of $7 million in a pyramid-type scam.
The couple, who arrived Sunday with their two boys, are being held at a Quezon City jail where Kaye once worked as a jail guard and Janice was allegedly serving time for fraud.
The children, aged 13 and 8, are staying with relatives.
"She arrived looking like a movie star, and immediately got herself a top-notch lawyer," said Cecilia Ramos, a Toronto mortgage broker who is out more than $90,000 in her dealings with Del Rosario. "I can't believe our money is going to pay for her lawyer there."
The Del Rosarios have retained prominent human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag to fend off the fraud charges. The former Philippine senator has handled many of the country's controversial cases.
[. . .]
The Del Rosarios fled to Canada in 2003, alleging crooked police in the Philippines were constantly shaking them down for payoffs, and even tried to kidnap one of their children. An immigration adjudicator later turned down their request for asylum after finding the couple had fabricated much of their story.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for their arrest after the couple failed to show up for deportation on Nov. 15. Janice Del Rosario was arrested last Monday, and her husband gave himself up three days later.
In the months leading to their departure, Del Rosario was desperately seeking ways to stave off the deportation, including offering three Filipina friends $25,000 if any of them would marry her 25-year-old son, who is here on a student visa.
One woman, who wants to remain anonymous, said Del Rosario offered her $25,000 if she would wed her husband, Kaye, in a marriage of convenience.
[. . .]
Read all of Dale Brazao's article.
See also:
Janice del Rosario - Filipino refugee claimant accused of bilking millions from friends
Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Bogus marriages to brothers, sisters and mothers being used to enter Canada
Technorati tags: Janice Del Rosario Toronto crime Canada refugees Philippines Filipinos pyramid schemes
True to form, Janice Del Rosario arrived back in the Philippines in designer clothes, sunglasses and a smile. She left minutes later in handcuffs for the same Manila-area jail where she had met her husband years earlier.
The question now for the dozen or so victims out $2 million after Del Rosario's deportation is whether they can get the justice in the Philippines they say was denied to them in Canada.
Del Rosario, 44, and her husband, Kaye Gravador Del Rosario, 33, face a slew of fraud charges in their homeland where they stand accused of bilking some 200 police and military officers of $7 million in a pyramid-type scam.
The couple, who arrived Sunday with their two boys, are being held at a Quezon City jail where Kaye once worked as a jail guard and Janice was allegedly serving time for fraud.
The children, aged 13 and 8, are staying with relatives.
"She arrived looking like a movie star, and immediately got herself a top-notch lawyer," said Cecilia Ramos, a Toronto mortgage broker who is out more than $90,000 in her dealings with Del Rosario. "I can't believe our money is going to pay for her lawyer there."
The Del Rosarios have retained prominent human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag to fend off the fraud charges. The former Philippine senator has handled many of the country's controversial cases.
[. . .]
The Del Rosarios fled to Canada in 2003, alleging crooked police in the Philippines were constantly shaking them down for payoffs, and even tried to kidnap one of their children. An immigration adjudicator later turned down their request for asylum after finding the couple had fabricated much of their story.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for their arrest after the couple failed to show up for deportation on Nov. 15. Janice Del Rosario was arrested last Monday, and her husband gave himself up three days later.
In the months leading to their departure, Del Rosario was desperately seeking ways to stave off the deportation, including offering three Filipina friends $25,000 if any of them would marry her 25-year-old son, who is here on a student visa.
One woman, who wants to remain anonymous, said Del Rosario offered her $25,000 if she would wed her husband, Kaye, in a marriage of convenience.
[. . .]
Read all of Dale Brazao's article.
See also:
Janice del Rosario - Filipino refugee claimant accused of bilking millions from friends
Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Bogus marriages to brothers, sisters and mothers being used to enter Canada
Technorati tags: Janice Del Rosario Toronto crime Canada refugees Philippines Filipinos pyramid schemes
Toronto Community Housing wants to evict families of gang members
From the Toronto Star (Evictions target families of gang members by Betsy Powell, January 24, 2007):
Toronto Community Housing is attempting a mass eviction of families they say have street gang links in a bid to clean up the troubled Jamestown neighbourhood.
But some of those targeted are fiercely fighting the move before the Ontario Housing Rental Tribunal. Within the past year, TCH has served notice to leaseholders of 13 units in the Jamestown complex in Rexdale and there are likely more to come.
Some tenants have already moved out on their own. "They got the notice of termination and they left without challenging. Others have challenged," said Steve Floros, the corporation's director of property management.
[. . .]
It's a different scale of justice than in a criminal proceeding, he explained. "When you go to the tribunal, it's a quasi-legal hearing. It's based on the balance of probability – unlike criminal law, (which is) based on (proof) beyond a reasonable doubt."
TCH "can proceed even if the charges are thrown out," he continued. "We don't have to wait for the disposition of the case."
Last week, a lawyer representing eight leaseholders appeared before an adjudicator arguing the approach – used in Los Angeles to quell gang violence – is unfair and penalizes families of alleged criminals who have not yet been convicted of a crime. The case resumes March 12.
[. . .]
Read all of Betsy Powell's article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Jamestown Crew: Christian Science Monitor reports on Toronto's gang crackdown
Today's police raids targeted Rexdale's Jamestown Crew
Los Angeles police chief on race, crime and gangs
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime Jamestown Crew Rexdale Toronto Community Housing Ontario Housing Rental Tribunal tenant rights
Toronto Community Housing is attempting a mass eviction of families they say have street gang links in a bid to clean up the troubled Jamestown neighbourhood.
But some of those targeted are fiercely fighting the move before the Ontario Housing Rental Tribunal. Within the past year, TCH has served notice to leaseholders of 13 units in the Jamestown complex in Rexdale and there are likely more to come.
Some tenants have already moved out on their own. "They got the notice of termination and they left without challenging. Others have challenged," said Steve Floros, the corporation's director of property management.
[. . .]
It's a different scale of justice than in a criminal proceeding, he explained. "When you go to the tribunal, it's a quasi-legal hearing. It's based on the balance of probability – unlike criminal law, (which is) based on (proof) beyond a reasonable doubt."
TCH "can proceed even if the charges are thrown out," he continued. "We don't have to wait for the disposition of the case."
Last week, a lawyer representing eight leaseholders appeared before an adjudicator arguing the approach – used in Los Angeles to quell gang violence – is unfair and penalizes families of alleged criminals who have not yet been convicted of a crime. The case resumes March 12.
[. . .]
Read all of Betsy Powell's article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Jamestown Crew: Christian Science Monitor reports on Toronto's gang crackdown
Today's police raids targeted Rexdale's Jamestown Crew
Los Angeles police chief on race, crime and gangs
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime Jamestown Crew Rexdale Toronto Community Housing Ontario Housing Rental Tribunal tenant rights
Montreal webmaster sentenced to six months in jail for 'hate propaganda'
From CBC News (Racist webmaster gets 6 months for hate propaganda, January 23, 2007):
A notorious Montreal-based white supremacist whose body is covered in racist tattoos was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for willfully promoting hatred on a website he created.
Jean-Sébastien Presseault built and managed a website that featured racist and anti-Semitic music, documents, literature and cartoons available for download, including songs with titles such as "Skin is Black, You Make Me Sick."
Before he was arrested in 2003, Presseault's U.S.-based website received hundreds of thousands of hits, and material was downloaded from it more than 300,000 times, according to Montreal police.
Presseault has been in custody since June 2006, when he pleaded guilty to willfully promoting hatred, after he was picked up by police for uttering threats against the judge hearing his case.
[. . .]
Presseault is the second person in Canada to be convicted and sentenced under article 319 of the Criminal Code, which deals with online hate propaganda.
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
The media's selective concern for free speech: Ernst Zundel and the Dixie Chicks
Windsor police board member wants speaker arrested for saying Islam promotes terrorism
New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official
Technorati tags: Canada law hate speech free speech internet censorship racism antisemitism white nationalism
A notorious Montreal-based white supremacist whose body is covered in racist tattoos was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for willfully promoting hatred on a website he created.
Jean-Sébastien Presseault built and managed a website that featured racist and anti-Semitic music, documents, literature and cartoons available for download, including songs with titles such as "Skin is Black, You Make Me Sick."
Before he was arrested in 2003, Presseault's U.S.-based website received hundreds of thousands of hits, and material was downloaded from it more than 300,000 times, according to Montreal police.
Presseault has been in custody since June 2006, when he pleaded guilty to willfully promoting hatred, after he was picked up by police for uttering threats against the judge hearing his case.
[. . .]
Presseault is the second person in Canada to be convicted and sentenced under article 319 of the Criminal Code, which deals with online hate propaganda.
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
The media's selective concern for free speech: Ernst Zundel and the Dixie Chicks
Windsor police board member wants speaker arrested for saying Islam promotes terrorism
New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official
Technorati tags: Canada law hate speech free speech internet censorship racism antisemitism white nationalism
15 gang members found guilty in Montreal - some may be Haitian citizens
From the CBC (15 members of Montreal street gang found guilty, January 24, 2007):
A Quebec court convicted 15 members of a Montreal street gang Wednesday, in what is believed to be the first ruling in Canada that recognizes a street gang as a criminal organization.
Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin found the members guilty of 50 of the 58 charges against them. Five of the men, including gang leader Bernard Mathieu, were found guilty of gangsterism.
Mathieu was also convicted of drug trafficking and conspiracy.
Those convicted of gangsterism face up to 14 years in prison. Three of them, including Mathieu, also risk deportation. CTV reports that some of the gang members are from Haiti.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article..
See also:
Jean-Yves Brutus - Haitian gang member avoided deportation by claiming he would be tortured
Dawes Road Crips - Police say Toronto gangs are moving to Hamilton
Technorati tags: Montreal gangs Montreal crime Bernard Mathieu Canada law Canada immigration Haitian immigrants Haiti Haitians
A Quebec court convicted 15 members of a Montreal street gang Wednesday, in what is believed to be the first ruling in Canada that recognizes a street gang as a criminal organization.
Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin found the members guilty of 50 of the 58 charges against them. Five of the men, including gang leader Bernard Mathieu, were found guilty of gangsterism.
Mathieu was also convicted of drug trafficking and conspiracy.
Those convicted of gangsterism face up to 14 years in prison. Three of them, including Mathieu, also risk deportation. CTV reports that some of the gang members are from Haiti.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article..
See also:
Jean-Yves Brutus - Haitian gang member avoided deportation by claiming he would be tortured
Dawes Road Crips - Police say Toronto gangs are moving to Hamilton
Technorati tags: Montreal gangs Montreal crime Bernard Mathieu Canada law Canada immigration Haitian immigrants Haiti Haitians
David Wilkins defends decision to keep Maher Arar on security watch list
From CBC News (Wilkins slams Day for questioning U.S. on Arar, January 24, 2007):
U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins on Wednesday criticized Ottawa's efforts to have Maher Arar removed from a United States security watch list, saying the U.S. alone will decide who to let into the country.
Speaking in Edmonton after meeting with new Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, Wilkins warned Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to back off, because a U.S. review determined Arar should remain on the watch list.
Wilkins called it "a little presumptuous" for Day to comment on "who the United States can and cannot allow into" the country.
The ambassador reiterated that the U.S. found its own reasons to keep Arar on the watch list.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
US keeps Maher Arar on watch list, Patrick Leahy puzzled
Maher Arar affair - Zaccardelli resigns
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
Technorati tags: David Wilkins Maher Arar Stockwell Day Canada-US relations US border security US homeland security
U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins on Wednesday criticized Ottawa's efforts to have Maher Arar removed from a United States security watch list, saying the U.S. alone will decide who to let into the country.
Speaking in Edmonton after meeting with new Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, Wilkins warned Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to back off, because a U.S. review determined Arar should remain on the watch list.
Wilkins called it "a little presumptuous" for Day to comment on "who the United States can and cannot allow into" the country.
The ambassador reiterated that the U.S. found its own reasons to keep Arar on the watch list.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
US keeps Maher Arar on watch list, Patrick Leahy puzzled
Maher Arar affair - Zaccardelli resigns
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
Technorati tags: David Wilkins Maher Arar Stockwell Day Canada-US relations US border security US homeland security
McGuinty's visit to Punjab a 'giant photo op' for Sikh voters in Ontario
From the Toronto Star (McGuinty a star in Punjab by Ian Urquhart, January 22, 2007):
It was Dalton-mania in Punjab over the weekend as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his entourage were greeted here as something special.
On his previous stops in his tour of India – Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai (Bombay) – McGuinty was received politely but nonchalantly. Indians in those cities have been inundated with foreign dignitaries in recent years and have become rather blasé about it.
[. . .]
But it was an entirely different story in Punjab, which is in the north end of the country and somewhat off the beaten track for foreign visitors.
Why did McGuinty go there?
Punjab is the homeland of the Sikhs, and there are some 250,000 Sikhs living in Ontario, including three MPPs who accompanied McGuinty on his tour: Harinder Takhar, minister of small business, and backbenchers Kuldip Kular and Vic Dhillon.
They were all treated like visiting royalty from the time they touched down in Chandigarh (capital of Punjab) on Friday night and were given a police escort into town from the airport.
[. . .]
The business leaders who had been accompanying McGuinty at the earlier stops all abandoned the tour before it reached Punjab. Their absence in Punjab was disdainfully noted by the half-dozen representatives of the Punjabi-Canadian media following McGuinty on his tour. They peppered him with questions about what business was actually being transacted in Punjab, and McGuinty responded with bafflegab.
The answer to the question, of course, is that the Punjab leg of the tour was an opportunity for McGuinty to have positive images of himself beamed back to voters in ridings in Brampton and Mississauga, where Ontario's Sikhs are concentrated.
It was, in effect, a giant photo op.
This point was underlined at the Golden Temple, where McGuinty posed not only with his wife, Terri, but also with each of the MPPs accompanying him – including Linda Jeffrey, who is not a Sikh but has many Sikhs in her Brampton Centre riding. There is no doubt these photos will show up in the MPPs' pamphlets in the coming election campaign.
This is not to suggest that the exercise was entirely cynical, however. McGuinty said that he was visiting Punjab out of respect for the homeland of a large number of Ontarians, and that can't be denied.
[. . .]
Read all of Ian Urquhart's article.
See also:
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Politics in Brampton, Ontario: "non-ethnics" need not apply
Toronto Sun: Punjabi newspapers accuse provincial cabinet minister of trying to shut them down
Language chaos in Peel Region courts: 4,000-5,000 court cases alone requiring Punjabi translation
Technorati tags: Dalton McGuinty Ontario politics Canada India Punjab Chandigarh Sikhs Canada Indo-Canadians Brampton Canada ethnic vote Harinder Takhar Kuldip Kular Vic Dhillon
It was Dalton-mania in Punjab over the weekend as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his entourage were greeted here as something special.
On his previous stops in his tour of India – Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai (Bombay) – McGuinty was received politely but nonchalantly. Indians in those cities have been inundated with foreign dignitaries in recent years and have become rather blasé about it.
[. . .]
But it was an entirely different story in Punjab, which is in the north end of the country and somewhat off the beaten track for foreign visitors.
Why did McGuinty go there?
Punjab is the homeland of the Sikhs, and there are some 250,000 Sikhs living in Ontario, including three MPPs who accompanied McGuinty on his tour: Harinder Takhar, minister of small business, and backbenchers Kuldip Kular and Vic Dhillon.
They were all treated like visiting royalty from the time they touched down in Chandigarh (capital of Punjab) on Friday night and were given a police escort into town from the airport.
[. . .]
The business leaders who had been accompanying McGuinty at the earlier stops all abandoned the tour before it reached Punjab. Their absence in Punjab was disdainfully noted by the half-dozen representatives of the Punjabi-Canadian media following McGuinty on his tour. They peppered him with questions about what business was actually being transacted in Punjab, and McGuinty responded with bafflegab.
The answer to the question, of course, is that the Punjab leg of the tour was an opportunity for McGuinty to have positive images of himself beamed back to voters in ridings in Brampton and Mississauga, where Ontario's Sikhs are concentrated.
It was, in effect, a giant photo op.
This point was underlined at the Golden Temple, where McGuinty posed not only with his wife, Terri, but also with each of the MPPs accompanying him – including Linda Jeffrey, who is not a Sikh but has many Sikhs in her Brampton Centre riding. There is no doubt these photos will show up in the MPPs' pamphlets in the coming election campaign.
This is not to suggest that the exercise was entirely cynical, however. McGuinty said that he was visiting Punjab out of respect for the homeland of a large number of Ontarians, and that can't be denied.
[. . .]
Read all of Ian Urquhart's article.
See also:
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Politics in Brampton, Ontario: "non-ethnics" need not apply
Toronto Sun: Punjabi newspapers accuse provincial cabinet minister of trying to shut them down
Language chaos in Peel Region courts: 4,000-5,000 court cases alone requiring Punjabi translation
Technorati tags: Dalton McGuinty Ontario politics Canada India Punjab Chandigarh Sikhs Canada Indo-Canadians Brampton Canada ethnic vote Harinder Takhar Kuldip Kular Vic Dhillon
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A fascinating Pakistani review of CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
From Pakistan's Daily Times (Expats: learning to laugh at themselves, January 19, 2007):
The Muslims of Canada have got together with a Canadian TV channel to produce a hilarious comedy on what happens to Muslims in Canada, and, by extension, in all countries in the West. The humour is apparently at the cost of the non-Muslim Canadians who can’t make heads or tail of what the Canadian Muslims are up to, but most importantly, it is also a spoof on the expats who refuse to integrate and live a style of life that is not to be found ‘back home’. The TV series has caught on and might serve to demystify the cult of Muslim ghetto-isation and eventually find acceptance for them among the host community. Hopefully, the comedy will also puncture the high-seriousness artificially pumped into the expats by their extremely dated clergy.
The series called ‘Little Mosque on the Prairie’ tells the story of a small group of Muslims freshly moved to a prairie town in Saskatchewan, where one of the first things they do is build a mosque which they can manage only by renting space inside a chapel. The comedy is full of funny lines and is typical slapstick in the western tradition. In the past, the BBC has done take-offs on the lifestyle of the Asians to great effect, but Canada’s venture focuses on the Muslims, and needless to say, on their religious preoccupations. Since the Muslims’ defensiveness in alien environments has reduced them to cycles of prayers and strict adherence to what they think is shariah, this effort could lead to positive results.
[. . .]
The new ‘synthetic’ Muslim identity in the West is assisted by the policy of multiculturalism — that is, allowing ‘integration’ while remaining ‘separate’ without any obligation to imbibe any aspect of Western life and culture. In Western Europe and the United Kingdom, the Muslims have been allowed to attain a hard-line Islamic identity not even known ‘back home’. In the case of Pakistani expatriates, some pride is experienced by them in becoming more distinctly Muslim than the Muslims of Pakistan. Indeed, one often hears rebuke from the returnees on the state of ‘non-observance’ back home even though Pakistan has made its own tortuous journey towards religiosity.
[. . .]
Read the whole editorial.
I found this review fascinating. It's an interesting commentary not just on the show, but on Muslims in the West as well.
I wonder what the writer means when he says "what they think is shariah." It doesn't surprise me there are different ways of interpreting sharia law, but the author of this editorial seems to think Muslims in the West have a wrong understanding. It may have something to do with the way being a minority in a new country raises questions of identity. I'm speculating, but maybe some Muslims in the West turn to a rigid interpretation of sharia because they feel a sense of cultural insecurity or as the editorial writer puts it, they feel defensive. That might also explain why some 2nd-generation Muslims turn to extremist expressions of Islam.
Why do some Muslims in the West become terrorists? If I understand him correctly, Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch would argue that the answer lies in the Koran and the hadiths. I don't dismiss this interpretation because Spencer has spent years studying Islam and seems to have a solid grasp of the texts, but I have some scepticism. I see Muslim terrorism as a serious problem and I worry about the West's ability to absorb large numbers of Muslim immigrants, but I find it hard to accept that Islamic theology explains Muslim terrorism. This is one of many subjects I would like to study more.
See also:
New York Times review of Little Mosque on the Prairie
Michael Coren reviews Little Mosque on the Prairie: "Some caricatures are more obnoxious than others."
Muslim leaders urge followers to watch CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
Technorati tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie Canada Canadian culture media entertainment CBC multiculturalism cultural diversity Islam Muslims Pakistan Islamism
The Muslims of Canada have got together with a Canadian TV channel to produce a hilarious comedy on what happens to Muslims in Canada, and, by extension, in all countries in the West. The humour is apparently at the cost of the non-Muslim Canadians who can’t make heads or tail of what the Canadian Muslims are up to, but most importantly, it is also a spoof on the expats who refuse to integrate and live a style of life that is not to be found ‘back home’. The TV series has caught on and might serve to demystify the cult of Muslim ghetto-isation and eventually find acceptance for them among the host community. Hopefully, the comedy will also puncture the high-seriousness artificially pumped into the expats by their extremely dated clergy.
The series called ‘Little Mosque on the Prairie’ tells the story of a small group of Muslims freshly moved to a prairie town in Saskatchewan, where one of the first things they do is build a mosque which they can manage only by renting space inside a chapel. The comedy is full of funny lines and is typical slapstick in the western tradition. In the past, the BBC has done take-offs on the lifestyle of the Asians to great effect, but Canada’s venture focuses on the Muslims, and needless to say, on their religious preoccupations. Since the Muslims’ defensiveness in alien environments has reduced them to cycles of prayers and strict adherence to what they think is shariah, this effort could lead to positive results.
[. . .]
The new ‘synthetic’ Muslim identity in the West is assisted by the policy of multiculturalism — that is, allowing ‘integration’ while remaining ‘separate’ without any obligation to imbibe any aspect of Western life and culture. In Western Europe and the United Kingdom, the Muslims have been allowed to attain a hard-line Islamic identity not even known ‘back home’. In the case of Pakistani expatriates, some pride is experienced by them in becoming more distinctly Muslim than the Muslims of Pakistan. Indeed, one often hears rebuke from the returnees on the state of ‘non-observance’ back home even though Pakistan has made its own tortuous journey towards religiosity.
[. . .]
Read the whole editorial.
I found this review fascinating. It's an interesting commentary not just on the show, but on Muslims in the West as well.
I wonder what the writer means when he says "what they think is shariah." It doesn't surprise me there are different ways of interpreting sharia law, but the author of this editorial seems to think Muslims in the West have a wrong understanding. It may have something to do with the way being a minority in a new country raises questions of identity. I'm speculating, but maybe some Muslims in the West turn to a rigid interpretation of sharia because they feel a sense of cultural insecurity or as the editorial writer puts it, they feel defensive. That might also explain why some 2nd-generation Muslims turn to extremist expressions of Islam.
Why do some Muslims in the West become terrorists? If I understand him correctly, Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch would argue that the answer lies in the Koran and the hadiths. I don't dismiss this interpretation because Spencer has spent years studying Islam and seems to have a solid grasp of the texts, but I have some scepticism. I see Muslim terrorism as a serious problem and I worry about the West's ability to absorb large numbers of Muslim immigrants, but I find it hard to accept that Islamic theology explains Muslim terrorism. This is one of many subjects I would like to study more.
See also:
New York Times review of Little Mosque on the Prairie
Michael Coren reviews Little Mosque on the Prairie: "Some caricatures are more obnoxious than others."
Muslim leaders urge followers to watch CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
Technorati tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie Canada Canadian culture media entertainment CBC multiculturalism cultural diversity Islam Muslims Pakistan Islamism
More ethnic pandering: Conservatives allow bogus Portuguese 'refugees' to come back
From the Toronto Star (Refugees back for second chance by Phinjo Gombu, January 23, 2007):
Baby Francesca De Sousa remained contentedly oblivious to the tearful and joyous return to Canada of her parents and two older sisters yesterday, about 10 months after they were deported to Portugal.
Francesca's mother Maria De Sousa, 36, was seven months pregnant when she, husband Antonio, 37, and daughters Tanya, 13, and Anna, 11, left – after four years in Canada and a failed bid to stay here on a refugee asylum claim.
[Hyphenated Canadian: - Note the misleading headline. These people aren't refugees. They are fraudulent refugee claimants. A refugee is someone fleeing persecution. Portugal is a liberal democracy. There is no persecution there. This is what I mean by shameless propaganda. Doesn't the Star have any journalistic standards at all?
Do you see why I call these articles sob stories? By focusing on the emotions of this family, the reporter completely ignores the long-term consequences of tolerating illegal immigration. Sure, this time the family has permission to come here, but being put at the head of the immigration queue is in effect rewarding the family for being here illegally earlier. If they had obeyed the rules, they would probably still be in Portugal. By allowing them to come back, Ottawa is sending the message that it pays to come to Canada illegally. The article also ignores the fact that this family's predicament was of its own making. They should have gone home instead of filing a false refugee claim. I've been to Portugal. It's a nice country. Deporting Portuguese citizens to their own country is hardly a human rights violation.]
They were among hundreds of Portuguese families deported last year, mostly after overstaying work permits and visitor's visas.
[. . .]
Their arrival was the result of a one-year temporary resident permit signed by the minister of immigration after assurances of a guaranteed job for Antonio De Sousa as a roofer in the GTA's booming construction industry.
[Hyphenated Canadian: The Toronto Star needs to buy its reporters a good Thesaurus. If I see the hackneyed phrase 'booming construction industry' in one more article about illegal immigration, I'm going to drive down to the Toronto Star building and personally berate every Star reporter who has ever used the words.
The construction industry constantly complains that there is a skilled worker shortage. I don't dismiss that complaint entirely. There's no doubt that in Alberta, for example, there is a shortage of workers because the economy is hot. I talked to a businessman from that province who told me about production delays because workers weren't available. But this discussion about worker shortages ignores wages. There are a lot of jobs in Alberta and the wages are relatively high but so is the cost of living. You have full-time workers in that province who have trouble finding or affording good accommodation.
As for Toronto, I would like to know what efforts the construction industry has made to train Canadian workers. Also, is the construction industry even interested in hiring Canadian workers? A lot of hiring is done through informal networks that operate within particular communities. For example, in my neighbourhood, I sometimes see help wanted signs that are written in Portuguese only. Many jobs aren't advertised at all and some workplaces don't operate in English. Perhaps an argument can be made that the points system needs to adjusted to give more points for skilled tradesmen, but there is no excuse for tolerating illegal immigration. Canada must control its borders. More people want to come to Canada than we can possibly absorb. There have to be limits. There have to be rules. Isn't that obvious?
Also, immigration is one of the reasons the construction industry is booming in the first place, because housing has to be created for the 100,000 immigrants who come to the GTA each year. Population growth is great for developers, but not so great for our quality of life or the environment. Finally all booms end. What happens to the construction workers when the housing bubble bursts? What is the long-term effect of Portuguese immigration? What is the second-generation like? Portuguese students have been identified as one of the groups that are having trouble in Toronto schools.]
Returns like that of the De Sousas leave Peter Ferreira, president of the Portuguese Canadian National Congress – who fought last year's boost in deportations of Portuguese migrants, many of them construction workers – wondering why the government was so insistent on sending them packing in the first place.
"That's the million-dollar question," said Ferreira, saying last year's deportations were needless.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Uh, the fact that they were here illegally doesn't matter? The fact that they jumped ahead of people who have been waiting for years to come here legally isn't important? Does Ferreira agree with the radicals at No one is illegal that there should be no limits on immigration at all or as is more likely, is he only in favour of illegal immigrants when they are Portuguese like himself?]
[. . .]
Ferreira said he knows of at least a dozen such families who have already returned, some just months after their removal. He estimates that about 80 per cent of the 400 or so removed last year are either back or in the process of coming back.
He said it's possible the immigration department wanted to send a hard-line message.
"Maybe the government reassessed the situation," he said. "It was a given that the country needed these people and continues to need these highly skilled individuals."
The deportations made headlines after it was revealed that Canada Border Services Agents entered schools to enforce deportation orders, in one case taking children into custody first to lure their parents out. Many of the Portuguese workers, who had entered Canada as visitors or on temporary work permits, had lodged refugee claims in an effort to stay, based on misleading information.
The rise in deportations sparked demonstrations urging then immigration minister Monte Solberg to let the hard-working families remain.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Canadian families work hard too and it doesn't help that their wages are being driven down by immigrants, both legal and illegal. Where is the Star's sympathy for them? The Star writes endless stories about poverty and raising the minimum wage; yet supports the immigration policies responsible for much of that poverty. Don't take my word for it. Ask James Travers, who wrote: Worse still, the newest Canadians are driving big-city despair. In Toronto, immigrants increased poverty levels by nearly 3 per cent, reversing all gains made by non-immigrants, a pattern repeating in Montreal and Vancouver.]
[. . .]
Read all of Phinjo Gombu's article.
By allowing illegal immigrants to return the government is undermining the integrity of our immigration system. It's saying the law doesn't matter. It's inviting people to jump the immigration queue.
It seems to me that as far as illegal immigration is concerned, Harper's government wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, it wants to reassure its small-c conservative base that it will enforce the law, but on the other hand, it wants to appease business supporters and ethnic lobbies who want more immigrants.
In October, the Conservatives announced there would be no amnesty for illegal immigrants. I believe they made this decision because they know most Conservative voters aren't happy with illegal immigration. The party, however, wants to take away at least some of the ethnic vote from the Liberals and it's going out of its way to present itself as pro-multicultural and pro-immigration. The Conservatives are allowing deported immigrants to come back because they're afraid a tough stance on immigration will alienate ethnic voters and as well as some business leaders.
See also:
Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?
Ottawa won't grant amnesty to illegal immigrants
Conservatives raise immigration targets
The Toronto Star's shameless (and shameful) campaign on behalf of illegal immigrants
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada illegal immigration Canada refugees Toronto immigrants Portugal Portuguese
Baby Francesca De Sousa remained contentedly oblivious to the tearful and joyous return to Canada of her parents and two older sisters yesterday, about 10 months after they were deported to Portugal.
Francesca's mother Maria De Sousa, 36, was seven months pregnant when she, husband Antonio, 37, and daughters Tanya, 13, and Anna, 11, left – after four years in Canada and a failed bid to stay here on a refugee asylum claim.
[Hyphenated Canadian: - Note the misleading headline. These people aren't refugees. They are fraudulent refugee claimants. A refugee is someone fleeing persecution. Portugal is a liberal democracy. There is no persecution there. This is what I mean by shameless propaganda. Doesn't the Star have any journalistic standards at all?
Do you see why I call these articles sob stories? By focusing on the emotions of this family, the reporter completely ignores the long-term consequences of tolerating illegal immigration. Sure, this time the family has permission to come here, but being put at the head of the immigration queue is in effect rewarding the family for being here illegally earlier. If they had obeyed the rules, they would probably still be in Portugal. By allowing them to come back, Ottawa is sending the message that it pays to come to Canada illegally. The article also ignores the fact that this family's predicament was of its own making. They should have gone home instead of filing a false refugee claim. I've been to Portugal. It's a nice country. Deporting Portuguese citizens to their own country is hardly a human rights violation.]
They were among hundreds of Portuguese families deported last year, mostly after overstaying work permits and visitor's visas.
[. . .]
Their arrival was the result of a one-year temporary resident permit signed by the minister of immigration after assurances of a guaranteed job for Antonio De Sousa as a roofer in the GTA's booming construction industry.
[Hyphenated Canadian: The Toronto Star needs to buy its reporters a good Thesaurus. If I see the hackneyed phrase 'booming construction industry' in one more article about illegal immigration, I'm going to drive down to the Toronto Star building and personally berate every Star reporter who has ever used the words.
The construction industry constantly complains that there is a skilled worker shortage. I don't dismiss that complaint entirely. There's no doubt that in Alberta, for example, there is a shortage of workers because the economy is hot. I talked to a businessman from that province who told me about production delays because workers weren't available. But this discussion about worker shortages ignores wages. There are a lot of jobs in Alberta and the wages are relatively high but so is the cost of living. You have full-time workers in that province who have trouble finding or affording good accommodation.
As for Toronto, I would like to know what efforts the construction industry has made to train Canadian workers. Also, is the construction industry even interested in hiring Canadian workers? A lot of hiring is done through informal networks that operate within particular communities. For example, in my neighbourhood, I sometimes see help wanted signs that are written in Portuguese only. Many jobs aren't advertised at all and some workplaces don't operate in English. Perhaps an argument can be made that the points system needs to adjusted to give more points for skilled tradesmen, but there is no excuse for tolerating illegal immigration. Canada must control its borders. More people want to come to Canada than we can possibly absorb. There have to be limits. There have to be rules. Isn't that obvious?
Also, immigration is one of the reasons the construction industry is booming in the first place, because housing has to be created for the 100,000 immigrants who come to the GTA each year. Population growth is great for developers, but not so great for our quality of life or the environment. Finally all booms end. What happens to the construction workers when the housing bubble bursts? What is the long-term effect of Portuguese immigration? What is the second-generation like? Portuguese students have been identified as one of the groups that are having trouble in Toronto schools.]
Returns like that of the De Sousas leave Peter Ferreira, president of the Portuguese Canadian National Congress – who fought last year's boost in deportations of Portuguese migrants, many of them construction workers – wondering why the government was so insistent on sending them packing in the first place.
"That's the million-dollar question," said Ferreira, saying last year's deportations were needless.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Uh, the fact that they were here illegally doesn't matter? The fact that they jumped ahead of people who have been waiting for years to come here legally isn't important? Does Ferreira agree with the radicals at No one is illegal that there should be no limits on immigration at all or as is more likely, is he only in favour of illegal immigrants when they are Portuguese like himself?]
[. . .]
Ferreira said he knows of at least a dozen such families who have already returned, some just months after their removal. He estimates that about 80 per cent of the 400 or so removed last year are either back or in the process of coming back.
He said it's possible the immigration department wanted to send a hard-line message.
"Maybe the government reassessed the situation," he said. "It was a given that the country needed these people and continues to need these highly skilled individuals."
The deportations made headlines after it was revealed that Canada Border Services Agents entered schools to enforce deportation orders, in one case taking children into custody first to lure their parents out. Many of the Portuguese workers, who had entered Canada as visitors or on temporary work permits, had lodged refugee claims in an effort to stay, based on misleading information.
The rise in deportations sparked demonstrations urging then immigration minister Monte Solberg to let the hard-working families remain.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Canadian families work hard too and it doesn't help that their wages are being driven down by immigrants, both legal and illegal. Where is the Star's sympathy for them? The Star writes endless stories about poverty and raising the minimum wage; yet supports the immigration policies responsible for much of that poverty. Don't take my word for it. Ask James Travers, who wrote: Worse still, the newest Canadians are driving big-city despair. In Toronto, immigrants increased poverty levels by nearly 3 per cent, reversing all gains made by non-immigrants, a pattern repeating in Montreal and Vancouver.]
[. . .]
Read all of Phinjo Gombu's article.
By allowing illegal immigrants to return the government is undermining the integrity of our immigration system. It's saying the law doesn't matter. It's inviting people to jump the immigration queue.
It seems to me that as far as illegal immigration is concerned, Harper's government wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, it wants to reassure its small-c conservative base that it will enforce the law, but on the other hand, it wants to appease business supporters and ethnic lobbies who want more immigrants.
In October, the Conservatives announced there would be no amnesty for illegal immigrants. I believe they made this decision because they know most Conservative voters aren't happy with illegal immigration. The party, however, wants to take away at least some of the ethnic vote from the Liberals and it's going out of its way to present itself as pro-multicultural and pro-immigration. The Conservatives are allowing deported immigrants to come back because they're afraid a tough stance on immigration will alienate ethnic voters and as well as some business leaders.
See also:
Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?
Ottawa won't grant amnesty to illegal immigrants
Conservatives raise immigration targets
The Toronto Star's shameless (and shameful) campaign on behalf of illegal immigrants
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada illegal immigration Canada refugees Toronto immigrants Portugal Portuguese
Dawes Road Crips - Police say Toronto gangs are moving to Hamilton
From the Toronto Sun (Gangs heading to Steeltown by Rob Lamberti, January 23, 2007):
A loaded .357 Magnum revolver found by Hamilton police after arresting a suspected Crips associate was the second gun Steeltown cops took from an alleged gang member last week.
The 16-year-old was walking in the King St. and Sanford Ave. area allegedly with the weapon tucked in his waist band when heavily armed police grabbed him without incident.
A day earlier, a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was seized from a group including an alleged member of Toronto's Dawes Road Crips gang and his associates who, police say, recently set up shop to deal crack in Hamilton. A fifth man, also considered an associate, is being sought.
In the past few years, a number of gang members and drug dealers have been moving west to escape the pressures of gang life and cops in Toronto, Hamilton police say.
[. . .]
Read all of Rob Lamberti's article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Rapper Alias Donmillion - lawyer claims Toronto's violent hip-hop culture forced client to carry gun
Children find gun in downtown schoolyard
Project Albion - Durham police arrest 38 in gang crackdown
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime Hamilton Ontario Dawes Road Crips guns
A loaded .357 Magnum revolver found by Hamilton police after arresting a suspected Crips associate was the second gun Steeltown cops took from an alleged gang member last week.
The 16-year-old was walking in the King St. and Sanford Ave. area allegedly with the weapon tucked in his waist band when heavily armed police grabbed him without incident.
A day earlier, a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was seized from a group including an alleged member of Toronto's Dawes Road Crips gang and his associates who, police say, recently set up shop to deal crack in Hamilton. A fifth man, also considered an associate, is being sought.
In the past few years, a number of gang members and drug dealers have been moving west to escape the pressures of gang life and cops in Toronto, Hamilton police say.
[. . .]
Read all of Rob Lamberti's article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Rapper Alias Donmillion - lawyer claims Toronto's violent hip-hop culture forced client to carry gun
Children find gun in downtown schoolyard
Project Albion - Durham police arrest 38 in gang crackdown
Technorati tags: Toronto gangs Toronto crime Hamilton Ontario Dawes Road Crips guns
Tariq Abdelhaleem - controversial imam calls Wajid Khan sub-human
Yesterday I posted an excerpt from a Globe article about Tariq Abdelhaleem, the father of one of the 18 suspects arrested last June for what the authorities allege to be a terrorist plot in Toronto. Here's another excerpt. From the Globe and Mail (Terror suspect trades his BMW convertible for a prison jumpsuit by Colin Freeze, January 22, 2007):
Above all, he is openly contemptuous of those whom he calls sellouts. For him, it doesn't matter whether they are police agents, or his federal Member of Parliament, who recently crossed the floor to join Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives.
"These are sub humans, these [police informants] and people like [Mississauga MP] Wajid Khan," said Dr. Abdelhaleem. ". . . They all sold their soul to the devil for a job. For money.
Read the whole article.
For more about Wajid Khan's defection to the Tories, see this Maclean's article: The mysterious Mr. Khan. Of course, Khan's change of party is connected to Harper's attempt to win the ethnic vote.
See also:
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
Canadian Muslim Congress wants action against fundamentalist threats
Muslim leader says her house was vandalized because she's against the veil
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Tariq Abdelhaleem Shareef Abdelhaleem Wajid Khan Conservative Party Canada Islamism Canada Muslims Toronto terrorism
Above all, he is openly contemptuous of those whom he calls sellouts. For him, it doesn't matter whether they are police agents, or his federal Member of Parliament, who recently crossed the floor to join Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives.
"These are sub humans, these [police informants] and people like [Mississauga MP] Wajid Khan," said Dr. Abdelhaleem. ". . . They all sold their soul to the devil for a job. For money.
Read the whole article.
For more about Wajid Khan's defection to the Tories, see this Maclean's article: The mysterious Mr. Khan. Of course, Khan's change of party is connected to Harper's attempt to win the ethnic vote.
See also:
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
Canadian Muslim Congress wants action against fundamentalist threats
Muslim leader says her house was vandalized because she's against the veil
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Tariq Abdelhaleem Shareef Abdelhaleem Wajid Khan Conservative Party Canada Islamism Canada Muslims Toronto terrorism
Monday, January 22, 2007
US keeps Maher Arar on watch list, Patrick Leahy puzzled
From Canadian Press via the Toronto Star (U.S. to keep Arar on security watch list, January 22, 2007):
Two top American officials have told Canada they have no plans to take Canadian Maher Arar off the U.S. security watch list.
In a letter released Monday, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said they’ve looked at the secret U.S. file on Arar and think the decision is “appropriate.”
“Our conclusion in this regard is supported by information developed by U.S. law enforcement agencies that is independent of that provided to us by Canada,” said the letter to Stockwell Day, Canada’s public safety minister.
It also offers to share the classified information with Canadians in a timely “confidential meeting.”
But the letter is dated last Tuesday, two days before Day met with Chertoff and said afterward that Canadian officials had ``looked at all the U.S. information” and found “nothing new” to suggest Arar was a safety risk.
“We are still maintaining that he should not be on that (no) fly list,” Day said.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who blasted Gonzales last week about the Arar case and demanded a briefing, said Monday that he is ``puzzled” about the U.S. decision, given Canada’s different conclusion.
[. . .]
Read all of the CP article.
More articles about this story:
Transcript of Gonzales-Leahy exchange on Arar (Toronto Star, January 18, 2007)
Top U.S. lawman blasted over Arar (Toronto Star, Tim Harper, January 19, 2007)
Senator knows Canada better than most Americans (Toronto Star, Tim Harper, January 19, 2007)
U.S. attorney general lambasted over Arar treatment (Canadian Press, January 18, 2007)
U.S. legislators to see file on Arar (Toronto Star, Tim Harper, January 18, 2007)
See also:
Arar Commission website
Maher Arar's personal website
Fraser Institute report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform
Mackenzie Institute report: Other people's wars: A Review of Overseas Terrorism in Canada
Maher Arar affair - Zaccardelli resigns
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
Zaccardelli apologizes to Arar. All well and good. Now can we start addressing the problem of Muslim terrorists in Canada?
Technorati tags: Maher Arar Canada terrorism Muslims homeland security national security human rights Patrick Leahy Alberto Gonzales Michael Chertoff Senate US politics Stockwell Day
Two top American officials have told Canada they have no plans to take Canadian Maher Arar off the U.S. security watch list.
In a letter released Monday, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said they’ve looked at the secret U.S. file on Arar and think the decision is “appropriate.”
“Our conclusion in this regard is supported by information developed by U.S. law enforcement agencies that is independent of that provided to us by Canada,” said the letter to Stockwell Day, Canada’s public safety minister.
It also offers to share the classified information with Canadians in a timely “confidential meeting.”
But the letter is dated last Tuesday, two days before Day met with Chertoff and said afterward that Canadian officials had ``looked at all the U.S. information” and found “nothing new” to suggest Arar was a safety risk.
“We are still maintaining that he should not be on that (no) fly list,” Day said.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who blasted Gonzales last week about the Arar case and demanded a briefing, said Monday that he is ``puzzled” about the U.S. decision, given Canada’s different conclusion.
[. . .]
Read all of the CP article.
More articles about this story:
Transcript of Gonzales-Leahy exchange on Arar (Toronto Star, January 18, 2007)
Top U.S. lawman blasted over Arar (Toronto Star, Tim Harper, January 19, 2007)
Senator knows Canada better than most Americans (Toronto Star, Tim Harper, January 19, 2007)
U.S. attorney general lambasted over Arar treatment (Canadian Press, January 18, 2007)
U.S. legislators to see file on Arar (Toronto Star, Tim Harper, January 18, 2007)
See also:
Arar Commission website
Maher Arar's personal website
Fraser Institute report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform
Mackenzie Institute report: Other people's wars: A Review of Overseas Terrorism in Canada
Maher Arar affair - Zaccardelli resigns
Maher Arar - report says Canadian Muslim tortured in Syria was wrongly suspected of links to terrorism
Zaccardelli apologizes to Arar. All well and good. Now can we start addressing the problem of Muslim terrorists in Canada?
Technorati tags: Maher Arar Canada terrorism Muslims homeland security national security human rights Patrick Leahy Alberto Gonzales Michael Chertoff Senate US politics Stockwell Day
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
From the Globe and Mail (Terror suspect trades his BMW convertible for a prison jumpsuit by Colin Freeze, January 22, 2007):
Tariq Abdelhaleem takes a deep breath as he reviews an outline of the Crown's allegations against 18 terrorism suspects, including his son.
A year ago, his son, 31-year-old Shareef Abdelhaleem, was a successful computer programmer driving around Toronto in a fancy car.
[. . .]
The upwardly mobile Abdelhaleem family, originally from Egypt, once lived the Canadian dream. The father is a successful engineer. The son studied computer science.
"He had a corner office when he was 25," boasted Tariq Abdelhaleem, adding that his son was about to start a new job at when he was arrested last summer.
At times controversial for his outspoken religious views, Dr. Abdelhaleem has kept from making his feelings public since police rounded up the suspects June 2, 2006. He says he wants Canadians to know that "the so-called terrorism plot" just doesn't add up.
"If there is any homegrown terror, it is the RCMP," Dr. Abdelhaleem said. "Where is the innocent until proven guilty?"
Canadians, he insists, must question what's become conventional wisdom about the case. Trials may be coming, but Dr. Abdelhaleem is already demanding a federal inquiry into Mountie procedures -- particularly the extensive use of paid undercover infiltrators. He argues the suspects pose no threat.
[. . .]
Read all of Colin Freeze's article.
See also:
Jihadists gather to show solidarity with Canadian suspects
Qari Kafayatullah - Questions surround Afghan-born imam's role in Toronto terror plot
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Toronto terrorism Muslims Canada Islamism Islamic terrorism Shareef Abdelhaleem Tariq Abdelhaleem
Tariq Abdelhaleem takes a deep breath as he reviews an outline of the Crown's allegations against 18 terrorism suspects, including his son.
A year ago, his son, 31-year-old Shareef Abdelhaleem, was a successful computer programmer driving around Toronto in a fancy car.
[. . .]
The upwardly mobile Abdelhaleem family, originally from Egypt, once lived the Canadian dream. The father is a successful engineer. The son studied computer science.
"He had a corner office when he was 25," boasted Tariq Abdelhaleem, adding that his son was about to start a new job at when he was arrested last summer.
At times controversial for his outspoken religious views, Dr. Abdelhaleem has kept from making his feelings public since police rounded up the suspects June 2, 2006. He says he wants Canadians to know that "the so-called terrorism plot" just doesn't add up.
"If there is any homegrown terror, it is the RCMP," Dr. Abdelhaleem said. "Where is the innocent until proven guilty?"
Canadians, he insists, must question what's become conventional wisdom about the case. Trials may be coming, but Dr. Abdelhaleem is already demanding a federal inquiry into Mountie procedures -- particularly the extensive use of paid undercover infiltrators. He argues the suspects pose no threat.
[. . .]
Read all of Colin Freeze's article.
See also:
Jihadists gather to show solidarity with Canadian suspects
Qari Kafayatullah - Questions surround Afghan-born imam's role in Toronto terror plot
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Toronto terrorism Muslims Canada Islamism Islamic terrorism Shareef Abdelhaleem Tariq Abdelhaleem
A dissenting view of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement
Back in 2003, Paul Gottfried wrote in Vdare (Did Pre-MLK America Really Need Redemption?, January 19, 2003):
Years before King’s supposedly redemptive death, whose assassination not surprisingly set off a wave of black violence, I went to school and played ball with black teenagers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Contrary to the current Authorized Version, my black classmates were neither victimized nor denied legal equality. One of them, our junior class president at Bassick High School, Sammy White, lived in a two-parent family, and, like others of his race in that pre-MLK era, bore no perceptible animosity toward whites.
When my parents and I went into New York, we saw blacks and whites eating in the same restaurants and attending the same public and recreational events. Perhaps this was an optical illusion, of the kind that pagans suffered when they imagined they were looking at pagan apparitions. Although segregation did exist in the South, it was not a political institution elsewhere, despite the fact that blacks, like Italians, Irish, Hungarians, and Jews, had their own neighborhoods.
From my youthful trips in Southern states, I discovered that blacks there were indeed segregated. But this situation seemed less appalling to me - perhaps I had not been sufficiently sensitized - than the Auschwitzian oppression that everyone now assumes was the lot of blacks in the antediluvian South.
Of course, my parents had escaped the real Auschwitz.
Read all of Paul Gottfried's article.
See also:
MLK as Twentieth-Century Jesus
Paul Gottfried compares Israel to 1920s Poland
Jared Taylor was roughed up by protestors in Halifax
Technorati tags: Martin Luther King civil rights movement race relations African Americans American history USA United States USA US Vdare Paul Gottfried
Years before King’s supposedly redemptive death, whose assassination not surprisingly set off a wave of black violence, I went to school and played ball with black teenagers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Contrary to the current Authorized Version, my black classmates were neither victimized nor denied legal equality. One of them, our junior class president at Bassick High School, Sammy White, lived in a two-parent family, and, like others of his race in that pre-MLK era, bore no perceptible animosity toward whites.
When my parents and I went into New York, we saw blacks and whites eating in the same restaurants and attending the same public and recreational events. Perhaps this was an optical illusion, of the kind that pagans suffered when they imagined they were looking at pagan apparitions. Although segregation did exist in the South, it was not a political institution elsewhere, despite the fact that blacks, like Italians, Irish, Hungarians, and Jews, had their own neighborhoods.
From my youthful trips in Southern states, I discovered that blacks there were indeed segregated. But this situation seemed less appalling to me - perhaps I had not been sufficiently sensitized - than the Auschwitzian oppression that everyone now assumes was the lot of blacks in the antediluvian South.
Of course, my parents had escaped the real Auschwitz.
Read all of Paul Gottfried's article.
See also:
MLK as Twentieth-Century Jesus
Paul Gottfried compares Israel to 1920s Poland
Jared Taylor was roughed up by protestors in Halifax
Technorati tags: Martin Luther King civil rights movement race relations African Americans American history USA United States USA US Vdare Paul Gottfried
Another one of those enriching cultural differences. London police woman refuses to shake hands with Metropolitan police chief
From the BBC (Police respond to handshake snub, January 21, 2007):
The Muslim woman officer refused to shake hands with the Metropolitan police chief on religious grounds.
It happened when Sir Ian inspected 200 recruits at a passing out parade.
The Met says the officer puts the job's requirements above her personal beliefs, which she only exercises where there is a choice.
"Any refusal to engage in this manner would not be tolerated by the Metropolitan Police Service," it added.
It said the officer's request not to shake her boss's hand was only granted "out of a desire to minimise any disruption to others' enjoyment, and to ensure the smooth running of what is one of the most important events in an officer's career."
The commissioner questioned the validity of the request, and the matter is being looked into by the MPS, it said, adding that an officer's probationary period is designed specifically to ensure that "they undertake the role as required".
If this does not occur the officer may be required to leave the Service as any variation on this will not be tolerated.
The woman had said it was contrary to her religious teaching to touch a man, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The woman, who wore a uniform hijab, also refused to be pictured with Sir Ian at the event on 21 December as she did not want a photo used for "propaganda purposes", the paper said.
[. . .]
Read all of the BBC article.
The Brussels Journal reports (London Policewoman Refuses to Shake Hands, January 21):
Three months ago another Muslim police officer, Alexander Basha, asked to be transferred to another section of the police so he would not have to guard the Israeli embassy in London.
[. . .]
In the meantime several Muslim leaders have already taken up the defense of the policewoman. Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission is one of them. He confirms that women should try to avoid all physical contact with men, whenever possible. However, in the context of their job, this should not lead to any problems. According to him the problem is rather one of cultural and religious ignorance and misunderstanding.
[. . .]
Read all of the Brussels Journal report.
Canadian academic, Will Kymlicka, argues that by accommodating cultural differences multiculturalism encourages immigrants (I don't know if this policewoman is an immigrant or not.) to integrate. He says accommodations make immigrants feel welcome, while refusing to accommodate differences encourages ghettoization. He says these kinds of accommodations have to be negotiated between immigrants and the host society. The trouble is that these negotiations never end and that they are decided as much by raw demographic power as by any sense of justice or fairness. Also, a recent study by University of Toronto sociologist Jeffrey Reitz and doctoral candidate Rupa Banerjee casts doubts on the claim that multiculturalism fosters a sense of inclusion. The question of accommodating cultural differences is a big issue in Quebec right now.
See also:
Canadian Muslim Congress wants action against fundamentalist threats
Globe and Mail: Saudis funding Muslim institutions in Canada
France is Europe's canary-down-the-mine on Muslim integration
Technorati tags: Britain Muslims UK Islamism London police Britain multiculturalism Jeffrey Reitz
The Muslim woman officer refused to shake hands with the Metropolitan police chief on religious grounds.
It happened when Sir Ian inspected 200 recruits at a passing out parade.
The Met says the officer puts the job's requirements above her personal beliefs, which she only exercises where there is a choice.
"Any refusal to engage in this manner would not be tolerated by the Metropolitan Police Service," it added.
It said the officer's request not to shake her boss's hand was only granted "out of a desire to minimise any disruption to others' enjoyment, and to ensure the smooth running of what is one of the most important events in an officer's career."
The commissioner questioned the validity of the request, and the matter is being looked into by the MPS, it said, adding that an officer's probationary period is designed specifically to ensure that "they undertake the role as required".
If this does not occur the officer may be required to leave the Service as any variation on this will not be tolerated.
The woman had said it was contrary to her religious teaching to touch a man, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The woman, who wore a uniform hijab, also refused to be pictured with Sir Ian at the event on 21 December as she did not want a photo used for "propaganda purposes", the paper said.
[. . .]
Read all of the BBC article.
The Brussels Journal reports (London Policewoman Refuses to Shake Hands, January 21):
Three months ago another Muslim police officer, Alexander Basha, asked to be transferred to another section of the police so he would not have to guard the Israeli embassy in London.
[. . .]
In the meantime several Muslim leaders have already taken up the defense of the policewoman. Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission is one of them. He confirms that women should try to avoid all physical contact with men, whenever possible. However, in the context of their job, this should not lead to any problems. According to him the problem is rather one of cultural and religious ignorance and misunderstanding.
[. . .]
Read all of the Brussels Journal report.
Canadian academic, Will Kymlicka, argues that by accommodating cultural differences multiculturalism encourages immigrants (I don't know if this policewoman is an immigrant or not.) to integrate. He says accommodations make immigrants feel welcome, while refusing to accommodate differences encourages ghettoization. He says these kinds of accommodations have to be negotiated between immigrants and the host society. The trouble is that these negotiations never end and that they are decided as much by raw demographic power as by any sense of justice or fairness. Also, a recent study by University of Toronto sociologist Jeffrey Reitz and doctoral candidate Rupa Banerjee casts doubts on the claim that multiculturalism fosters a sense of inclusion. The question of accommodating cultural differences is a big issue in Quebec right now.
See also:
Canadian Muslim Congress wants action against fundamentalist threats
Globe and Mail: Saudis funding Muslim institutions in Canada
France is Europe's canary-down-the-mine on Muslim integration
Technorati tags: Britain Muslims UK Islamism London police Britain multiculturalism Jeffrey Reitz
The immigration lobby is at it again. Push to increase immigration to 350,000 a year
From the Toronto Sun (Immigration push urged by Tom Godfrey, January 22, 2007):
Ottawa is being asked to increase from 250,000 to 350,000 the number of immigrants being accepted in Canada this year to help clear a lengthy backlog.
The province has joined top Toronto lawyers in asking that more newcomers be admitted to clear a backlog of 800,000 cases, many of whom are parents who've been waiting for years to reunite with their families.
"It is unfair to have 800,000 people waiting in line for so long," said Mike Colle, Ontario citizenship and immigration minister. "It is frustrating for these people and they're going elsewhere."
[. . .]
"There is global competition for these highly skilled immigrants," Colle said. "People will choose to go elsewhere where they can be processed faster."
[Hyphenated Canadian: There's a contradiction here. The article says many of those in the backlog are parents of immigrants. Family class immigrants aren't skilled immigrants. The expansion of the family class is responsible for the poor economic performance of recent immigrants.]
He said Ontario accepts about 140,000 newcomers yearly, or about 60% of all new immigrants.
"We would like to do our part to handle more immigrants as long as there's federal funding," Colle said. "We have a flat population growth and our workforce is getting older."
[. . .]
Read all of Tom Godfrey's article.
There's going to be a provincial election on October 4, so I imagine this has something to do with Mike Colle's support for more immigration. Like Stephen Harper he wants the ethnic vote. In November 2005, before the January, 2006 federal election then immigration minister Joe Volpe announced plans to increase immigration arguing that immigrants were doing so well that we needed more of them. Shortly after the announcement James Travers wrote a scathing column in the Star criticizing Volpe's claim that new immigrants were doing well. Travers wrote (Volpe's stories don't fit the facts, November 17, 2005):
With a winter election looming and Liberals desperate to hold the ethnic vote, Immigration Minister Joe Volpe is telling fanciful stories about the success of immigrants that just don't fit the facts. Volpe, who also happens to be Paul Martin's Ontario political boss, is promoting the notions that new arrivals are doing rather well and that Canada is ready to throw its doors open to a swelling new crowd.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Documents circulating through select government departments and obtained by the Star reveal disturbing results suggesting a ruling party concerned more with national interests than electoral advantage would put immigration increases on hold.
Research by his own department blows a gaping hole in Volpe's claim that within five years those who choose this country match the economic performance of their Canadian peers. The grim statistical fact is that it now takes more than 10 years to catch up, and some new immigrants, particularly those in the most politically sensitive family reunification class, are too often left behind forever.
Worse still, the newest Canadians are driving big-city despair. In Toronto, immigrants increased poverty levels by nearly 3 per cent, reversing all gains made by non-immigrants, a pattern repeating in Montreal and Vancouver.
No matter what Volpe claims, the bottom line is that in major urban centres, the ones that attract most new arrivals, low-income rates rose between 1990 and 2000 for one big reason - increases in immigrant poverty. Across the country, more than 35 per cent of those who had lived here five years or less by 2000 were earning low incomes.
[. . .]
See also:
Canada Can Fight Back Against Immigration Backlog Pressure
Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?
Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy lawyers Ontario politics ethnic vote Mike Colle
Ottawa is being asked to increase from 250,000 to 350,000 the number of immigrants being accepted in Canada this year to help clear a lengthy backlog.
The province has joined top Toronto lawyers in asking that more newcomers be admitted to clear a backlog of 800,000 cases, many of whom are parents who've been waiting for years to reunite with their families.
"It is unfair to have 800,000 people waiting in line for so long," said Mike Colle, Ontario citizenship and immigration minister. "It is frustrating for these people and they're going elsewhere."
[. . .]
"There is global competition for these highly skilled immigrants," Colle said. "People will choose to go elsewhere where they can be processed faster."
[Hyphenated Canadian: There's a contradiction here. The article says many of those in the backlog are parents of immigrants. Family class immigrants aren't skilled immigrants. The expansion of the family class is responsible for the poor economic performance of recent immigrants.]
He said Ontario accepts about 140,000 newcomers yearly, or about 60% of all new immigrants.
"We would like to do our part to handle more immigrants as long as there's federal funding," Colle said. "We have a flat population growth and our workforce is getting older."
[. . .]
Read all of Tom Godfrey's article.
There's going to be a provincial election on October 4, so I imagine this has something to do with Mike Colle's support for more immigration. Like Stephen Harper he wants the ethnic vote. In November 2005, before the January, 2006 federal election then immigration minister Joe Volpe announced plans to increase immigration arguing that immigrants were doing so well that we needed more of them. Shortly after the announcement James Travers wrote a scathing column in the Star criticizing Volpe's claim that new immigrants were doing well. Travers wrote (Volpe's stories don't fit the facts, November 17, 2005):
With a winter election looming and Liberals desperate to hold the ethnic vote, Immigration Minister Joe Volpe is telling fanciful stories about the success of immigrants that just don't fit the facts. Volpe, who also happens to be Paul Martin's Ontario political boss, is promoting the notions that new arrivals are doing rather well and that Canada is ready to throw its doors open to a swelling new crowd.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Documents circulating through select government departments and obtained by the Star reveal disturbing results suggesting a ruling party concerned more with national interests than electoral advantage would put immigration increases on hold.
Research by his own department blows a gaping hole in Volpe's claim that within five years those who choose this country match the economic performance of their Canadian peers. The grim statistical fact is that it now takes more than 10 years to catch up, and some new immigrants, particularly those in the most politically sensitive family reunification class, are too often left behind forever.
Worse still, the newest Canadians are driving big-city despair. In Toronto, immigrants increased poverty levels by nearly 3 per cent, reversing all gains made by non-immigrants, a pattern repeating in Montreal and Vancouver.
No matter what Volpe claims, the bottom line is that in major urban centres, the ones that attract most new arrivals, low-income rates rose between 1990 and 2000 for one big reason - increases in immigrant poverty. Across the country, more than 35 per cent of those who had lived here five years or less by 2000 were earning low incomes.
[. . .]
See also:
Canada Can Fight Back Against Immigration Backlog Pressure
Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?
Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy lawyers Ontario politics ethnic vote Mike Colle
Immigration quote of the day
Clan rivalries are an obstacle to stability in Somalia
From the New York Times (New Somali Government Faces Old Problem: Clans by Jeffrey Gettleman, January 22, 2007):
Somalia, which has been an archetype of Africa’s ills for so long, has waited 16 years for this government. The United Nations has invested millions of dollars into propping it up. American officials are so intent on it succeeding that, in the interests of regional stability and counterterrorism, American forces have ventured onto Somali soil for the first time in more than a decade to hunt down the last of the Islamist leaders who held a firm grip on much of the country until just a few weeks ago.
But whether Somalia pulls itself together now or explodes into bloodshed again depends not on American troops, foreign peacekeepers, investment or aid. It depends on clans. “Clannism,” said Ali Mahdi Mohammed, an influential clan leader and once a contender for president, “is our national cancer.”
[. . .]
Somalia’s main clans are divided into a dizzying number of subclans, sub-subclans and even sub-sub-subclans, and the term clan is loosely used for large family networks, like the Hawiye, and smaller ones, like the Ayr.
There is no definitive clan chart, with different clans disputing how they are interrelated, and Somalis argue over whether they have physical differences. But all clans are based on ancient genealogies. You cannot join a clan. You are born into one.
The Islamists, who seized power six months ago, had their own solution for this. They tried to submerge clan identities under the blanket of Islam, the one thing, besides language, that all Somalis share. They delivered more stability to Mogadishu in their short reign than the city had seen for a decade and a half.
[. . .]
Now many Somalis wonder what would have happened to the Islamist ideology if the Ethiopians had never stormed in. “Islam was probably the best answer for us,” said Hassan Gedi Roble, a chief of the Dir clan. “A government of clans is only going to create clan competition.” The Islamists have gone underground, vowing to wage a guerrilla war.
And already the resistance in the capital is beginning to work along clan lines, with attacks against government troops concentrated in neighborhoods that were Islamist strongholds. Government soldiers are so frightened of driving through Tawfik, dominated by the Ayr, that they change out of their uniforms into street clothes before they enter. In other areas not far away, like Sinai, inhabited by many Abgal, shopkeepers pump their fists in the air and cheer when they see the government troops.
[. . .]
Read all of Jeffrey Gettleman's article.
See also:
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Talk to the elder first. African tribal custom comes to Toronto
Somali-"Canadians" fighting for Taliban-like group in Africa
Technorati tags: Somalia clans Islam Islamists
Somalia, which has been an archetype of Africa’s ills for so long, has waited 16 years for this government. The United Nations has invested millions of dollars into propping it up. American officials are so intent on it succeeding that, in the interests of regional stability and counterterrorism, American forces have ventured onto Somali soil for the first time in more than a decade to hunt down the last of the Islamist leaders who held a firm grip on much of the country until just a few weeks ago.
But whether Somalia pulls itself together now or explodes into bloodshed again depends not on American troops, foreign peacekeepers, investment or aid. It depends on clans. “Clannism,” said Ali Mahdi Mohammed, an influential clan leader and once a contender for president, “is our national cancer.”
[. . .]
Somalia’s main clans are divided into a dizzying number of subclans, sub-subclans and even sub-sub-subclans, and the term clan is loosely used for large family networks, like the Hawiye, and smaller ones, like the Ayr.
There is no definitive clan chart, with different clans disputing how they are interrelated, and Somalis argue over whether they have physical differences. But all clans are based on ancient genealogies. You cannot join a clan. You are born into one.
The Islamists, who seized power six months ago, had their own solution for this. They tried to submerge clan identities under the blanket of Islam, the one thing, besides language, that all Somalis share. They delivered more stability to Mogadishu in their short reign than the city had seen for a decade and a half.
[. . .]
Now many Somalis wonder what would have happened to the Islamist ideology if the Ethiopians had never stormed in. “Islam was probably the best answer for us,” said Hassan Gedi Roble, a chief of the Dir clan. “A government of clans is only going to create clan competition.” The Islamists have gone underground, vowing to wage a guerrilla war.
And already the resistance in the capital is beginning to work along clan lines, with attacks against government troops concentrated in neighborhoods that were Islamist strongholds. Government soldiers are so frightened of driving through Tawfik, dominated by the Ayr, that they change out of their uniforms into street clothes before they enter. In other areas not far away, like Sinai, inhabited by many Abgal, shopkeepers pump their fists in the air and cheer when they see the government troops.
[. . .]
Read all of Jeffrey Gettleman's article.
See also:
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Talk to the elder first. African tribal custom comes to Toronto
Somali-"Canadians" fighting for Taliban-like group in Africa
Technorati tags: Somalia clans Islam Islamists
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Sunnybrook hospital. 24-hour police guard outside teenager's room. Shooting suspect spotted in facility
From the Toronto Sun (Police guard teenaged victim's room by Tom Godfrey, January 21, 2007):
A 24-hour police guard has been placed outside a teenage victim's room after the suspect wanted for shooting her was spotted several times at Sunnybrook hospital, cops say.
"We believe he may try to return," Det. Steve Craddock said yesterday. "We are not taking any chances."
Sheldon Stefan Stubbs, 21, is sought on a warrant for the Jan. 2 shooting on the balcony of his former girlfriend's 20th floor apartment in the Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. area.
Police said the 18-year-old victim was shot at close range in the head while calling 911.
"This is the first time in my 19 years I've seen a gunman seek out a victim, point a gun to her head and pull the trigger," Craddock said.
[. . .]
Read all of Tom Godfrey's article.
From a Toronto police service news release:
January 02, 2007 - 06:45 pm
Suspect Wanted For Attempted Murder,
Sheldon Stefan Stubbs, 21,
Update,
Photo of suspect released,
31 Division
31 Division
416-808-3100
On Tuesday, January 2, 2007, at approximately midnight, police were called to the Weston Road/Lawrence Avenue West area for a shooting.
See previous news release. [pdf file]
A suspect has been identified as Sheldon Stefan Stubbs, 21. He is described as black, dark complexion, 5’7" and 125 lbs. He was wearing a black jacket and dark pants.
Sheldon Stefan Stubbs should be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3100, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.222tips.com.
Constable Kristine Bacharach, Public Information, for Detective Constable Paul McCloskey, 31 Division
See also:
Gun crime in Toronto: there's still a lot of work to do
Children find gun in downtown schoolyard
Gangs take aim at police - literally
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto police Toronto shootings hospitals
Canadian multiculturalism - cultural conflict in Quebec
Will Kymlicka, call your office.
From Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail (Quebec wrestles with multicultural identity by Dene Moore, January 21, 2007):
Is it political correctness run amok or the natural growing pains of an increasingly multicultural society?
That's the debate in Quebec, where politicians, minority advocates and everyday residents are weighing in on what is “reasonable” accommodation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities in what is an increasingly diverse society.
Mario Dumont, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec, said Quebec should quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities and, instead, set out in law reasonable compromises to be granted to religious and ethnic groups.
“We must make gestures which reinforce our national identity and protect those values which are so invaluable to us,” Mr. Dumont wrote in a letter to be sent to Quebeckers.
Unpopular with his political opponents, Mr. Dumont's position seemed to strike a chord with some Quebeckers.
“We're tired of empty political shells who have no firm position,” one man wrote to Montreal La Presse newspaper. “For us, Mario Dumont is a breath of fresh air.”
Read all of Dene Moore's article.
See also:
Leger poll claims 59% of Quebecers acknowledge being 'racist'
Quebec political party would consider banning burkas
Hasidic Jews in Montreal reluctant to deal with female police officers
Sudden increase in demand for religious accomodations in Quebec schools
Wishful thinking won't make Quebec nationalism disappear
Technorati tags: Quebec multiculturalism Quebec politics Mario Dumont Action Democratique Canada multiculturalism
From Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail (Quebec wrestles with multicultural identity by Dene Moore, January 21, 2007):
Is it political correctness run amok or the natural growing pains of an increasingly multicultural society?
That's the debate in Quebec, where politicians, minority advocates and everyday residents are weighing in on what is “reasonable” accommodation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities in what is an increasingly diverse society.
Mario Dumont, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec, said Quebec should quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities and, instead, set out in law reasonable compromises to be granted to religious and ethnic groups.
“We must make gestures which reinforce our national identity and protect those values which are so invaluable to us,” Mr. Dumont wrote in a letter to be sent to Quebeckers.
Unpopular with his political opponents, Mr. Dumont's position seemed to strike a chord with some Quebeckers.
“We're tired of empty political shells who have no firm position,” one man wrote to Montreal La Presse newspaper. “For us, Mario Dumont is a breath of fresh air.”
Read all of Dene Moore's article.
See also:
Leger poll claims 59% of Quebecers acknowledge being 'racist'
Quebec political party would consider banning burkas
Hasidic Jews in Montreal reluctant to deal with female police officers
Sudden increase in demand for religious accomodations in Quebec schools
Wishful thinking won't make Quebec nationalism disappear
Technorati tags: Quebec multiculturalism Quebec politics Mario Dumont Action Democratique Canada multiculturalism
Pakistan has its own interests in Afghanistan
In a posting earlier today, I wrote:
After the 1980 Soviet invasion numerous resistance groups emerged reflecting Afghanistan's ethnic and tribal diversity. Americans were left with the problem of deciding which groups to support. Not knowing much about the country, they relied on Pakistan for guidance, but Pakistan had its own interests and the groups it supported weren't necessarily those that best served the interests of either Afghanistan or the United States.
Pakistan still has its own interests in Afghanistan. From the New York Times (Pakistani Role Seen in Taliban Surge at Border by Carlotta Gall, January 21, 2007):
The most explosive question about the Taliban resurgence here along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is this: Have Pakistani intelligence agencies been promoting the Islamic insurgency?
The government of Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation and insists that it is fully committed to help American and NATO forces prevail against the Taliban militants who were driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001.
Western diplomats in both countries and Pakistani opposition figures say that Pakistani intelligence agencies — in particular the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence — have been supporting a Taliban restoration, motivated not only by Islamic fervor but also by a longstanding view that the jihadist movement allows them to assert greater influence on Pakistan’s vulnerable western flank.
More than two weeks of reporting along this frontier, including dozens of interviews with residents on each side of the porous border, leaves little doubt that Quetta is an important base for the Taliban, and found many signs that Pakistani authorities are encouraging the insurgents, if not sponsoring them.
The evidence is provided in fearful whispers, and it is anecdotal.
[. . .]
Read all of Carlotta Gall's article.
Hmm, I wonder what Canada's most famous car salesman thinks about this. Maybe he can ask on his next trip to the Middle East. Wajid Khan, please call your office.
See also:
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Dream on neocons - Afghanistan will never be a democracy
Technorati tags: Pakistan Afghanistan Canada Afghanistan Wajid Khan
After the 1980 Soviet invasion numerous resistance groups emerged reflecting Afghanistan's ethnic and tribal diversity. Americans were left with the problem of deciding which groups to support. Not knowing much about the country, they relied on Pakistan for guidance, but Pakistan had its own interests and the groups it supported weren't necessarily those that best served the interests of either Afghanistan or the United States.
Pakistan still has its own interests in Afghanistan. From the New York Times (Pakistani Role Seen in Taliban Surge at Border by Carlotta Gall, January 21, 2007):
The most explosive question about the Taliban resurgence here along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is this: Have Pakistani intelligence agencies been promoting the Islamic insurgency?
The government of Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation and insists that it is fully committed to help American and NATO forces prevail against the Taliban militants who were driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001.
Western diplomats in both countries and Pakistani opposition figures say that Pakistani intelligence agencies — in particular the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence — have been supporting a Taliban restoration, motivated not only by Islamic fervor but also by a longstanding view that the jihadist movement allows them to assert greater influence on Pakistan’s vulnerable western flank.
More than two weeks of reporting along this frontier, including dozens of interviews with residents on each side of the porous border, leaves little doubt that Quetta is an important base for the Taliban, and found many signs that Pakistani authorities are encouraging the insurgents, if not sponsoring them.
The evidence is provided in fearful whispers, and it is anecdotal.
[. . .]
Read all of Carlotta Gall's article.
Hmm, I wonder what Canada's most famous car salesman thinks about this. Maybe he can ask on his next trip to the Middle East. Wajid Khan, please call your office.
See also:
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Dream on neocons - Afghanistan will never be a democracy
Technorati tags: Pakistan Afghanistan Canada Afghanistan Wajid Khan
American perceptions of the war in Iraq
Mark Danner writes in the New York Review of Books (Iraq: The War of the Imagination, December 21, 2006, volume 53, number 20):
Thus the War of Imagination draped all the complications and contradictions of the history and politics of a war-torn, brutalized society in an ideologically driven vision of a perfect future. Small wonder that its creators, faced with grim reality, have been so loathe to part with it. Since the first thrilling night of shock and awe, reported with breathless enthusiasm by the American television networks, the Iraq war has had at least two histories, that of the war itself and that of the American perception of it. As the months passed and the number of attacks in Iraq grew, the gap between those two histories opened wider and wider.[7] And finally, for most Americans, the War of Imagination—built of nationalistic excitement and ideological hubris and administration pronouncements about "spreading democracy" and "greetings with sweets and flowers," and then about "dead-enders" and "turning points," and finally about "staying the course" and refusing "to cut and run"—began, under the pressure of nearly three thousand American dead and perhaps a hundred thousand or more dead Iraqis, to give way to grim reality.
The election of November 7, 2006, marks the moment when the War of Imagination decisively gave way to the war on the ground and when officials throughout the American government, not least the President himself, were forced to recognize and acknowledge a reality that much of the American public had discerned months or years before. The ideological canopy now has lifted. The study groups are at their work. Americans have come to know what they do not know. If confronted with that simple question the smiling President Ahmadinejad of Iran put to Mike Wallace last August —"I ask you, sir, what is the American Army doing inside Iraq?"—how many Americans could offer a clear and convincing answer?
Read all of Mark Danner's article.
This is article is interesting to me, because I have trouble understanding how the American government could be so stupid. How could otherwise intelligent men believe it was possible to transpant liberal democracy into a country whose history and culture hadn't prepared it for this form of government?
I ask myself the same question about Stephen Harper. Unless he's lying, our prime minister really believes Canada is bringing democracy to Afghanistan. I don't know which is worse - a PM who lies about Afghanistan or one who believes his own foolish rhetoric. I think a liar would be better, because he would at least be grounded in reality.
An understanding of foreign cultures is relevant to immgration as well. If you are oblivous to profound cultural differences, restricting immigration to culturally similar people won't make sense. If cultural differences are merely a question of exotic food and colourful costumes, if religious differences are nothing more than differences in ritual, if at bottom people are all the same, it wouldn't matter where immigrants came from.
If, on the other hand, people in different countries have profoundly different ways of thinking and acting, social stability demands that most immigration come from culturally similar countries. The different attitudes immigrant groups have towards women, for example, has social consequences. Immigrant groups that prefer boys over girls to the extent they kill female babies in the womb and create a sex imbalance in society are not desirable, at least not in large numbers.
See also:
Buchanan on Iraq: friendship with America may prove fatal
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Technorati tags: Iraq US foreign policy Stephen Harper Canada Afghanistan
Thus the War of Imagination draped all the complications and contradictions of the history and politics of a war-torn, brutalized society in an ideologically driven vision of a perfect future. Small wonder that its creators, faced with grim reality, have been so loathe to part with it. Since the first thrilling night of shock and awe, reported with breathless enthusiasm by the American television networks, the Iraq war has had at least two histories, that of the war itself and that of the American perception of it. As the months passed and the number of attacks in Iraq grew, the gap between those two histories opened wider and wider.[7] And finally, for most Americans, the War of Imagination—built of nationalistic excitement and ideological hubris and administration pronouncements about "spreading democracy" and "greetings with sweets and flowers," and then about "dead-enders" and "turning points," and finally about "staying the course" and refusing "to cut and run"—began, under the pressure of nearly three thousand American dead and perhaps a hundred thousand or more dead Iraqis, to give way to grim reality.
The election of November 7, 2006, marks the moment when the War of Imagination decisively gave way to the war on the ground and when officials throughout the American government, not least the President himself, were forced to recognize and acknowledge a reality that much of the American public had discerned months or years before. The ideological canopy now has lifted. The study groups are at their work. Americans have come to know what they do not know. If confronted with that simple question the smiling President Ahmadinejad of Iran put to Mike Wallace last August —"I ask you, sir, what is the American Army doing inside Iraq?"—how many Americans could offer a clear and convincing answer?
Read all of Mark Danner's article.
This is article is interesting to me, because I have trouble understanding how the American government could be so stupid. How could otherwise intelligent men believe it was possible to transpant liberal democracy into a country whose history and culture hadn't prepared it for this form of government?
I ask myself the same question about Stephen Harper. Unless he's lying, our prime minister really believes Canada is bringing democracy to Afghanistan. I don't know which is worse - a PM who lies about Afghanistan or one who believes his own foolish rhetoric. I think a liar would be better, because he would at least be grounded in reality.
An understanding of foreign cultures is relevant to immgration as well. If you are oblivous to profound cultural differences, restricting immigration to culturally similar people won't make sense. If cultural differences are merely a question of exotic food and colourful costumes, if religious differences are nothing more than differences in ritual, if at bottom people are all the same, it wouldn't matter where immigrants came from.
If, on the other hand, people in different countries have profoundly different ways of thinking and acting, social stability demands that most immigration come from culturally similar countries. The different attitudes immigrant groups have towards women, for example, has social consequences. Immigrant groups that prefer boys over girls to the extent they kill female babies in the womb and create a sex imbalance in society are not desirable, at least not in large numbers.
See also:
Buchanan on Iraq: friendship with America may prove fatal
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Technorati tags: Iraq US foreign policy Stephen Harper Canada Afghanistan
Buchanan on Iraq: friendship with America may prove fatal
Pat Buchanan writes in Vdare (See the Superpower Run, January 18, 2007):
Nouri al-Maliki can see what is coming.
As Condi flies about the Middle East in a security bubble, telling the press he is living on "borrowed time," and Bush tells PBS of his revulsion at the botched hanging of Saddam Hussein, Maliki is showing the same signs of independence he demonstrated when he refused Bush's invitation to dine with him and the king of Jordan. Give me the guns and equipment and go home, he seems to be saying to the White House.
Put me down on Maliki's side. It is he who is taking the real risk here—with his life. It is he who is likely to learn what Kissinger meant when he observed that in this world, while it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, to be a friend is fatal.
Read all of Pat Buchanan's article.
See also:
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Dream on neocons - Afghanistan will never be a democracy
Technorati tags: US foreign policy Iraq Pat Buchanan Vdare
Nouri al-Maliki can see what is coming.
As Condi flies about the Middle East in a security bubble, telling the press he is living on "borrowed time," and Bush tells PBS of his revulsion at the botched hanging of Saddam Hussein, Maliki is showing the same signs of independence he demonstrated when he refused Bush's invitation to dine with him and the king of Jordan. Give me the guns and equipment and go home, he seems to be saying to the White House.
Put me down on Maliki's side. It is he who is taking the real risk here—with his life. It is he who is likely to learn what Kissinger meant when he observed that in this world, while it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, to be a friend is fatal.
Read all of Pat Buchanan's article.
See also:
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Dream on neocons - Afghanistan will never be a democracy
Technorati tags: US foreign policy Iraq Pat Buchanan Vdare
Does the United States know what it's doing in Somalia?
Today I came across a January 13 Toronto Star column by Thomas Walkom that criticizes American foreign policy in Somalia. After describing the recent history of that country, Walkom writes (Somalia a victim of the war on terror, January 13, 2007):
That led last year to another civil war. In an effort to affect the outcome, the U.S. quietly supported an anti-Islamist faction of warlords. That only served to make the Islamic courts movement more popular. By the fall, it had gained control of almost the entire country.
Two weeks ago, Ethiopia invaded on the side of the anti-Islamists. Predominantly Christian Ethiopia is America's main client state in the region. So it is not surprising that this invasion was viewed inside Somalia as another American attempt at proxy intervention.
That perception was bolstered on Monday when a U.S. warplane strafed a group of Somalis, in a failed effort to assassinate a man suspected of having been involved in the Nairobi bombing. On Thursday, Washington admitted it had killed the wrong people.
So, here we are again. As in Afghanistan, the war on terror has trumped rationality. Faced with a choice between a somewhat orderly country run by people it doesn't particularly like or a failed state that has to be propped up by foreign troops, Washington seems to have again chosen the latter.
Mogadishu is once again degenerating into Dodge City and the populace is angry. Up to now, failed state Somalia has miraculously avoided becoming an anti-Western terror hub. But you can only mess about with a country so many times. Eventually, the prophecy fulfils itself.
Read all of Thomas Walkom's column.
So, is Walkom right? Will American support of Ethiopia's invasion encourage the very terrorism the United States is trying to suppress? Would it have been better to leave the Union of Islamic Courts in power? I don't know enough about Somalia to have a firm opinion, but I suspect Walkom is right. Recent history doesn't inspire much confidence in American foreign policy.
Back in the 1980s, when Reagan decided to aid the Afghan mujahideen's resistance to the Soviet invasion, I thought it was a good idea, because the United States would be resisting Soviet expansionism without sacrificing its own soldiers. If the Afghans were willing to risk their own lives fighting the Russians, supplying them with weapons and other support seemed like a good idea.
After 9-11, I had second thoughts when I began to read that Osama bin Laden and others associated with al-Qaeda had been among those fighting in Afghanistan. Like other people, I found myself wondering whether American assistance to the Afghan mujihadeen had inadvertently promoted the terrorists who would later attack the World Trade Center.
I still don't know the answer. My understanding of the Afghan-Soviet war is sketchy, because I haven't taken the time to study the conflict. My limited reading on the subject suggests that aiding the mujahideen may not have been bad in principle, but the actual implementation was flawed.
It's my understanding that most Afghans weren't radical Muslims. Islam in Afghanistan was relatively relaxed, though of course, Afghanistan is ethnically diverse and traditions vary from group to group, region to region. (The burqa, for example, was mostly worn by woman in the Pashtun regions of the country.)
After the 1980 Soviet invasion numerous resistance groups emerged reflecting Afghanistan's ethnic and tribal diversity. Americans were left with the problem of deciding which groups to support. Not knowing much about the country, they relied on Pakistan for guidance, but Pakistan had its own interests and the groups it supported weren't necessarily those that best served the interests of either Afghanistan or the United States.
Also, Afghanistan attracted Muslims from around the world. I can't remember where I read this, but it's been said that countries like Saudi Arabia saw Aghanistan as a convenient dumping ground for radicals who would otherwise have caused trouble at home. (Even though Saudi Arabia has a strict Wahhabi Muslim government, it has a problem with Islamists who don't believe the country is truly Islamic.)
As I said, I don't know much about Afghanistan, but I've read enough to suspect that the Americans didn't know what they were doing.
More recently, the disaster in Iraq sugggests the Americans don't know what they are doing in this country either. I find it amazing that Washington policymakers could seriously think it was possible to create a liberal democracy in Iraq while failing to anticipate conflicts between Sunnis and Shiites. When I read that even now American officials have trouble distinguishing Sunnis from Shiites, I'm left with the impression that the people who make American foreign policy are incompetent.
If Americans don't understand Afghanistan and Iraq, is there any reason to believe they understand Somalia better? Washington says the Union of Islamic Courts has links to al-Qaeda and that the group harboured men who had been involved in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa. It is apparently true that some members of the Union of Islamic Courts are sympathetic to al-Qaeda and it is possible that some al-Qaeda figures have found refuge in Somalia. However, this doesn't mean that the Islamic Courts Union was actively supporting al-Qaeda or that Somalia under its rule was a danger to the US. My limited knowledge suggests the United States should not have supported the Ethiopian invasion and that by associating itself with a corrupt and incompetent Transitional Federal Government Washington is creating the kind of resentment that encourages some Muslims to support terrorism.
In short, I don't know if Thomas Walkom's assessment of the situation in Somalia is correct, but I suspect it is. For a thoughtful dissertation on the subject by someone who knows more about Somalia than I ever will, read David Shinn's Somalia: Regional Involvement and Implications for US Policy. For another point of view, see two articles by Douglas Farah: The Wrong Question on Somalia and The Strategy in Somalia.
This, of course, is a separate question from whether it is a good idea for Canada to allow Somali Islamists to acquire Canadian citizenship. I don't particularly care whether Somalia has sharia law or not, because I don't have to live there, but I do care whether support for sharia law spreads to Canada. Muslims here aren't strong enough to impose sharia law on the rest of us, but Islamism (not traditional Islam) impedes integration into Canadian society. It is from the Islamist milieu that Muslim terrorists emerge.
See also:
Somali-Canadian reaction to the US air attack
Abdullahi Afrah - Somali Islamist could return to Canada. US government links Union of Islamic Courts to al-Qaeda
Somali-Canadian leaders of Islamist group linked by US to al-Qaeda are free to return to Canada
Former Toronto grocery store owner helps lead Taliban-like group in Somalia
More about the former Toronto man who helps lead an Islamic extremist group in Somalia
Somali-"Canadians" fighting for Taliban-like group in Africa
Toronto Somalis want Ottawa to intervene in their former homeland
Technorati tags: US foreign policy war on terror Somalia Ethiopia Africa Somalis Canada Pakistan Afghanistan Islam Muslims Islamism Islamic terrorism
That led last year to another civil war. In an effort to affect the outcome, the U.S. quietly supported an anti-Islamist faction of warlords. That only served to make the Islamic courts movement more popular. By the fall, it had gained control of almost the entire country.
Two weeks ago, Ethiopia invaded on the side of the anti-Islamists. Predominantly Christian Ethiopia is America's main client state in the region. So it is not surprising that this invasion was viewed inside Somalia as another American attempt at proxy intervention.
That perception was bolstered on Monday when a U.S. warplane strafed a group of Somalis, in a failed effort to assassinate a man suspected of having been involved in the Nairobi bombing. On Thursday, Washington admitted it had killed the wrong people.
So, here we are again. As in Afghanistan, the war on terror has trumped rationality. Faced with a choice between a somewhat orderly country run by people it doesn't particularly like or a failed state that has to be propped up by foreign troops, Washington seems to have again chosen the latter.
Mogadishu is once again degenerating into Dodge City and the populace is angry. Up to now, failed state Somalia has miraculously avoided becoming an anti-Western terror hub. But you can only mess about with a country so many times. Eventually, the prophecy fulfils itself.
Read all of Thomas Walkom's column.
So, is Walkom right? Will American support of Ethiopia's invasion encourage the very terrorism the United States is trying to suppress? Would it have been better to leave the Union of Islamic Courts in power? I don't know enough about Somalia to have a firm opinion, but I suspect Walkom is right. Recent history doesn't inspire much confidence in American foreign policy.
Back in the 1980s, when Reagan decided to aid the Afghan mujahideen's resistance to the Soviet invasion, I thought it was a good idea, because the United States would be resisting Soviet expansionism without sacrificing its own soldiers. If the Afghans were willing to risk their own lives fighting the Russians, supplying them with weapons and other support seemed like a good idea.
After 9-11, I had second thoughts when I began to read that Osama bin Laden and others associated with al-Qaeda had been among those fighting in Afghanistan. Like other people, I found myself wondering whether American assistance to the Afghan mujihadeen had inadvertently promoted the terrorists who would later attack the World Trade Center.
I still don't know the answer. My understanding of the Afghan-Soviet war is sketchy, because I haven't taken the time to study the conflict. My limited reading on the subject suggests that aiding the mujahideen may not have been bad in principle, but the actual implementation was flawed.
It's my understanding that most Afghans weren't radical Muslims. Islam in Afghanistan was relatively relaxed, though of course, Afghanistan is ethnically diverse and traditions vary from group to group, region to region. (The burqa, for example, was mostly worn by woman in the Pashtun regions of the country.)
After the 1980 Soviet invasion numerous resistance groups emerged reflecting Afghanistan's ethnic and tribal diversity. Americans were left with the problem of deciding which groups to support. Not knowing much about the country, they relied on Pakistan for guidance, but Pakistan had its own interests and the groups it supported weren't necessarily those that best served the interests of either Afghanistan or the United States.
Also, Afghanistan attracted Muslims from around the world. I can't remember where I read this, but it's been said that countries like Saudi Arabia saw Aghanistan as a convenient dumping ground for radicals who would otherwise have caused trouble at home. (Even though Saudi Arabia has a strict Wahhabi Muslim government, it has a problem with Islamists who don't believe the country is truly Islamic.)
As I said, I don't know much about Afghanistan, but I've read enough to suspect that the Americans didn't know what they were doing.
More recently, the disaster in Iraq sugggests the Americans don't know what they are doing in this country either. I find it amazing that Washington policymakers could seriously think it was possible to create a liberal democracy in Iraq while failing to anticipate conflicts between Sunnis and Shiites. When I read that even now American officials have trouble distinguishing Sunnis from Shiites, I'm left with the impression that the people who make American foreign policy are incompetent.
If Americans don't understand Afghanistan and Iraq, is there any reason to believe they understand Somalia better? Washington says the Union of Islamic Courts has links to al-Qaeda and that the group harboured men who had been involved in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa. It is apparently true that some members of the Union of Islamic Courts are sympathetic to al-Qaeda and it is possible that some al-Qaeda figures have found refuge in Somalia. However, this doesn't mean that the Islamic Courts Union was actively supporting al-Qaeda or that Somalia under its rule was a danger to the US. My limited knowledge suggests the United States should not have supported the Ethiopian invasion and that by associating itself with a corrupt and incompetent Transitional Federal Government Washington is creating the kind of resentment that encourages some Muslims to support terrorism.
In short, I don't know if Thomas Walkom's assessment of the situation in Somalia is correct, but I suspect it is. For a thoughtful dissertation on the subject by someone who knows more about Somalia than I ever will, read David Shinn's Somalia: Regional Involvement and Implications for US Policy. For another point of view, see two articles by Douglas Farah: The Wrong Question on Somalia and The Strategy in Somalia.
This, of course, is a separate question from whether it is a good idea for Canada to allow Somali Islamists to acquire Canadian citizenship. I don't particularly care whether Somalia has sharia law or not, because I don't have to live there, but I do care whether support for sharia law spreads to Canada. Muslims here aren't strong enough to impose sharia law on the rest of us, but Islamism (not traditional Islam) impedes integration into Canadian society. It is from the Islamist milieu that Muslim terrorists emerge.
See also:
Somali-Canadian reaction to the US air attack
Abdullahi Afrah - Somali Islamist could return to Canada. US government links Union of Islamic Courts to al-Qaeda
Somali-Canadian leaders of Islamist group linked by US to al-Qaeda are free to return to Canada
Former Toronto grocery store owner helps lead Taliban-like group in Somalia
More about the former Toronto man who helps lead an Islamic extremist group in Somalia
Somali-"Canadians" fighting for Taliban-like group in Africa
Toronto Somalis want Ottawa to intervene in their former homeland
Technorati tags: US foreign policy war on terror Somalia Ethiopia Africa Somalis Canada Pakistan Afghanistan Islam Muslims Islamism Islamic terrorism
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The Duke lacrosse 'rape' case - another reason to worry about non-white immigration
From Vdare (Nicholas Stix’ Absolutely Definitive Account Of The Incredible Disappearing Duke Rape Hoax by Nicholas Stix, January 13, 2007):
Ten months into one of the most dramatic racial rape hoaxes in American history, the suspects still can’t get their lies straight.
By suspects, I do not mean defendants Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, or Dave Evans. They’re the crime victims. The suspects are Durham, NC DA Mike Nifong who finally backed off on Friday asked North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper to appoint a special prosecutor in the case; Durham Police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb; Duke University President Richard Brodhead, various Duke administrators; the almost 100 professors (including the “Duke 88”;) who sought to have the victims railroaded, and who incited hatred against them; the socialist MSM; hoaxer Crystal Gail Mangum; and assorted John and Jane Does.
[. . .]
The only "crime" the three defendants are guilty of, is of being white, heterosexual men. If those three young white men go to trial in Durham, they may suffer the obverse side of jury nullification—"heads we win, tails you lose"—being railroaded by a black-dominated, racist jury, with white jurors either excluded or too cowardly to do the right thing.
In case you suspect I am exaggerating the danger to the defendants, consider the words of Irving Joyner, [send him mail] a leading professor of law at accuser Crystal Gail Mangum's school, black North Carolina Central University (NCCU), in Durham. Joyner serves as the "case monitor" of the NAACP, which has continuously supported the railroading of the white victims.
In June, over two months after the prosecution's case had been publicly exposed as non-existent, Joyner told Sports Illustrated, "[Nifong] still has a viable shot at victory before a jury in Durham." When K.C. Johnson e-mailed Joyner, asking him why he had emphasized a jury in Durham, Joyner responded:
"A Durham jury may see things differently than would an Orange or Wake County jury because the Durham jury will probably have more African-Americans on it than would be involved in most other counties in North Carolina…. This case originated in Durham and should be tried here."
At the time, Joyner also bragged that the exculpatory evidence would be thrown out, because of the "rape shield law and other evidentiary barriers," and spoke approvingly of "the value of [Nifong's] evidence," even though Joyner had to know at that point that there was no crime and thus no incriminating evidence. (Duke Hoax chronicler and Nifong critic William Anderson detailed on July 22 how Nifong could use rape shield laws—yet another abomination we have feminism to thank for—to railroad the victims.)
[. . .]
Read all of Nicholas Styx's chilling article.
In racially divided societies, almost everything revolves around race. Court cases provide an example. When society is divided by race, the facts of the case may be less important than the race of the defendant and the jury. We saw that in the OJ Simpson case where an obviously guilty defendant was let off by a racist jury that didn't like white people.
We also saw it here in Toronto during the Reodica inquest where publicity-seeking lawyers aided by the Toronto Star exploited a family's grief in an effort to convince a coroner's inquest that an officer thought to be white (he was actually aboriginal) was motivated by race when he shot a Filipino teen. Never mind that the officer had to a make a split-second decision under extremely intense circumstances or that a Filipino mob was out to do harm to a group of whites.
When sixteen black students were arrested at Cardinal McGuigan Catholic high school after a white girl complained about being sexually abused for a year and a half, the mothers of the arrested students lashed out at the white victim.
After a Trinidadian-born student got a light sentence for killing Andrew Stewart, the killer's friends celebrated.
Jared Taylor was right when he argued that racial diversity is not a strength. See also Steve Sailer's article: Fragmented Future. The evidence of racial divisions is all around us if we care to look. Official multiculturalism does not make Canada immune to the racial and ethnic conflicts we see in other countries.
Technorati tags: Duke lacrosse race relations justice system Canada immigration policy
Ten months into one of the most dramatic racial rape hoaxes in American history, the suspects still can’t get their lies straight.
By suspects, I do not mean defendants Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, or Dave Evans. They’re the crime victims. The suspects are Durham, NC DA Mike Nifong who finally backed off on Friday asked North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper to appoint a special prosecutor in the case; Durham Police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb; Duke University President Richard Brodhead, various Duke administrators; the almost 100 professors (including the “Duke 88”;) who sought to have the victims railroaded, and who incited hatred against them; the socialist MSM; hoaxer Crystal Gail Mangum; and assorted John and Jane Does.
[. . .]
The only "crime" the three defendants are guilty of, is of being white, heterosexual men. If those three young white men go to trial in Durham, they may suffer the obverse side of jury nullification—"heads we win, tails you lose"—being railroaded by a black-dominated, racist jury, with white jurors either excluded or too cowardly to do the right thing.
In case you suspect I am exaggerating the danger to the defendants, consider the words of Irving Joyner, [send him mail] a leading professor of law at accuser Crystal Gail Mangum's school, black North Carolina Central University (NCCU), in Durham. Joyner serves as the "case monitor" of the NAACP, which has continuously supported the railroading of the white victims.
In June, over two months after the prosecution's case had been publicly exposed as non-existent, Joyner told Sports Illustrated, "[Nifong] still has a viable shot at victory before a jury in Durham." When K.C. Johnson e-mailed Joyner, asking him why he had emphasized a jury in Durham, Joyner responded:
"A Durham jury may see things differently than would an Orange or Wake County jury because the Durham jury will probably have more African-Americans on it than would be involved in most other counties in North Carolina…. This case originated in Durham and should be tried here."
At the time, Joyner also bragged that the exculpatory evidence would be thrown out, because of the "rape shield law and other evidentiary barriers," and spoke approvingly of "the value of [Nifong's] evidence," even though Joyner had to know at that point that there was no crime and thus no incriminating evidence. (Duke Hoax chronicler and Nifong critic William Anderson detailed on July 22 how Nifong could use rape shield laws—yet another abomination we have feminism to thank for—to railroad the victims.)
[. . .]
Read all of Nicholas Styx's chilling article.
In racially divided societies, almost everything revolves around race. Court cases provide an example. When society is divided by race, the facts of the case may be less important than the race of the defendant and the jury. We saw that in the OJ Simpson case where an obviously guilty defendant was let off by a racist jury that didn't like white people.
We also saw it here in Toronto during the Reodica inquest where publicity-seeking lawyers aided by the Toronto Star exploited a family's grief in an effort to convince a coroner's inquest that an officer thought to be white (he was actually aboriginal) was motivated by race when he shot a Filipino teen. Never mind that the officer had to a make a split-second decision under extremely intense circumstances or that a Filipino mob was out to do harm to a group of whites.
When sixteen black students were arrested at Cardinal McGuigan Catholic high school after a white girl complained about being sexually abused for a year and a half, the mothers of the arrested students lashed out at the white victim.
After a Trinidadian-born student got a light sentence for killing Andrew Stewart, the killer's friends celebrated.
Jared Taylor was right when he argued that racial diversity is not a strength. See also Steve Sailer's article: Fragmented Future. The evidence of racial divisions is all around us if we care to look. Official multiculturalism does not make Canada immune to the racial and ethnic conflicts we see in other countries.
Technorati tags: Duke lacrosse race relations justice system Canada immigration policy
Bollywood West: Indian film production may come to Toronto
From the Toronto Star (Toronto as Bollywood West? by Ian Urquhart, January 19, 2007):
MUMBAI, India–This coastal city and Toronto could soon have more in common than a passion for Aishwarya Rai, the Bollywood movie star who attracted crowds on Yonge St. last week at the premiere of her latest film.
Indeed, there are behind-the-scenes moves that could ultimately lead to Canadian/Indian co-productions of Bollywood movies, with the filming taking place at least partly in Toronto.
That was the buzz last night at a gala in Mumbai (the city of 18 million formerly known as Bombay) that was hosted by Premier Dalton McGuinty, who is touring India this week to drum up business for Ontario.
The gala, held at Mumbai's arts centre, featured the screening of a Canadian film, Away From Her, directed by Sarah Polley and starring Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie.
On hand were several Bollywood producers, directors and stars, including Rahul Bose, the actor/director known as the "Oriental Sean Penn."
[. . .]
Read all of Ian Urquhart's article.
See also:
Bollywood: Excitement at Toronto premiere of Guru starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan
Bollywood comes to Toronto. Part of Yonge St. will be shut down for Indian movie premiere
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
Technorati tags: Bollywood Mumbai India film industry Indian movies Toronto arts Toronto economy Canada films Sarah Polley globalization culture Ontario politics Dalton McGuinty
MUMBAI, India–This coastal city and Toronto could soon have more in common than a passion for Aishwarya Rai, the Bollywood movie star who attracted crowds on Yonge St. last week at the premiere of her latest film.
Indeed, there are behind-the-scenes moves that could ultimately lead to Canadian/Indian co-productions of Bollywood movies, with the filming taking place at least partly in Toronto.
That was the buzz last night at a gala in Mumbai (the city of 18 million formerly known as Bombay) that was hosted by Premier Dalton McGuinty, who is touring India this week to drum up business for Ontario.
The gala, held at Mumbai's arts centre, featured the screening of a Canadian film, Away From Her, directed by Sarah Polley and starring Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie.
On hand were several Bollywood producers, directors and stars, including Rahul Bose, the actor/director known as the "Oriental Sean Penn."
[. . .]
Read all of Ian Urquhart's article.
See also:
Bollywood: Excitement at Toronto premiere of Guru starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan
Bollywood comes to Toronto. Part of Yonge St. will be shut down for Indian movie premiere
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
Technorati tags: Bollywood Mumbai India film industry Indian movies Toronto arts Toronto economy Canada films Sarah Polley globalization culture Ontario politics Dalton McGuinty
Canadian justice: I could just kill for a free Ph.D.
Unlike my working-class immigrant parents, I was fortunate enough to get a university education. Still, I only got a BA and if I could, would love to go back to school for an advanced degree. At the moment that's not possible, but so what? That's life. We can't always get what we want. Unless, of course, you are someone who goes on a shooting rampage in a Toronto courthouse and kills two men while putting a third in a wheelchair for life. In that case, you get to take university courses courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer. So, who do I have to kill to get my taxpayer-funded Ph.D? Just give me a gun and point the way.
From the Toronto Star (Killer bakes cookies at 'Club Fed' by Nick Pron, January 18, 2007):
Life inside a British Columbia prison – a facility dubbed Club Fed – has been good for the man who shot dead two people in an Osgoode Hall courtroom and left a third man paralyzed for life, a court has heard.
For nearly seven years, Kuldip Singh Samra has been playing chess, baking cookies, preparing his own meals in his residential-style unit, working in his vegetable garden, taking courses in sociology and jogging on a private track at the minimum security facility that isn't surrounded by a high wall or a barbed-wire fence.
Ferndale Institution also boasts a tennis court and weight room.
[. . .]
In Samra's own words he was enjoying the "most peaceful time" of his life.
[. . .]
Read all of Nick Pron's article
The most peaceful time of his life? Ah, ain't that swell? By the way, who's paying for this guy's lawyer?
See also:
Kuldip Singh Samra early parole hearing - convicted killer admits Osgoode Hall shooting rampage was planned
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Technorati tags: Kuldip Singh Samra Osgoode Hall shootings Toronto crime Canada law parole faint hope clause Sikhs Canada Canada justice system
From the Toronto Star (Killer bakes cookies at 'Club Fed' by Nick Pron, January 18, 2007):
Life inside a British Columbia prison – a facility dubbed Club Fed – has been good for the man who shot dead two people in an Osgoode Hall courtroom and left a third man paralyzed for life, a court has heard.
For nearly seven years, Kuldip Singh Samra has been playing chess, baking cookies, preparing his own meals in his residential-style unit, working in his vegetable garden, taking courses in sociology and jogging on a private track at the minimum security facility that isn't surrounded by a high wall or a barbed-wire fence.
Ferndale Institution also boasts a tennis court and weight room.
[. . .]
In Samra's own words he was enjoying the "most peaceful time" of his life.
[. . .]
Read all of Nick Pron's article
The most peaceful time of his life? Ah, ain't that swell? By the way, who's paying for this guy's lawyer?
See also:
Kuldip Singh Samra early parole hearing - convicted killer admits Osgoode Hall shooting rampage was planned
Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan
Technorati tags: Kuldip Singh Samra Osgoode Hall shootings Toronto crime Canada law parole faint hope clause Sikhs Canada Canada justice system
Canadian immigration quote of the day
Friday, January 19, 2007
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
From the Globe and Mail (An old practice in the New World by Raveena Aulakh, January 19, 2007):
Boy or girl? Blue or pink?
Most doctors would say chances are 50-50, boy or girl. But this law of nature doesn't seem to apply to Canadians whose roots are in the Punjab region of India.
Anubha Dhanju says she noticed the imbalance because of an innocent comment by her son. "My son came home one afternoon and wondered why girls don't go to school," she says.
Ms. Dhanju, a teacher in Mississauga, says her son had noticed there were few girls of Indian origin in his class at Roberta Bondar Public School, located in a part of Brampton where many immigrants from India have made a home.
[Hyphenated Canadian: How ironic. Roberta Bondar is a feminist hero because she was Canada's first female astronaut.]
The next time she was at his school for a parent-teacher meeting, Ms. Dhanju noticed the same thing.
To some community workers in the area, there is no mystery.
"We kill our girls in the womb, even before they are born," says Amandeep Kaur, a consultant with the Mississauga-based Punjabi Community Health Centre. "It's sad, but the truth."
[. . .]
Read all of Ravenna Aulakh's article.
See also:
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Wife abuse "a cancer in the Indo-Canadian community."
Language chaos in Peel Region courts: 4,000-5,000 court cases alone requiring Punjabi translation
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Politics in Brampton, Ontario: "non-ethnics" need not apply
90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes
Technorati tags: Canada India immigrants Canada Desi Punjab Punjabi Indo-Canadians Brampton Ontario Toronto GTA
Boy or girl? Blue or pink?
Most doctors would say chances are 50-50, boy or girl. But this law of nature doesn't seem to apply to Canadians whose roots are in the Punjab region of India.
Anubha Dhanju says she noticed the imbalance because of an innocent comment by her son. "My son came home one afternoon and wondered why girls don't go to school," she says.
Ms. Dhanju, a teacher in Mississauga, says her son had noticed there were few girls of Indian origin in his class at Roberta Bondar Public School, located in a part of Brampton where many immigrants from India have made a home.
[Hyphenated Canadian: How ironic. Roberta Bondar is a feminist hero because she was Canada's first female astronaut.]
The next time she was at his school for a parent-teacher meeting, Ms. Dhanju noticed the same thing.
To some community workers in the area, there is no mystery.
"We kill our girls in the womb, even before they are born," says Amandeep Kaur, a consultant with the Mississauga-based Punjabi Community Health Centre. "It's sad, but the truth."
[. . .]
Read all of Ravenna Aulakh's article.
See also:
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Wife abuse "a cancer in the Indo-Canadian community."
Language chaos in Peel Region courts: 4,000-5,000 court cases alone requiring Punjabi translation
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Politics in Brampton, Ontario: "non-ethnics" need not apply
90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes
Technorati tags: Canada India immigrants Canada Desi Punjab Punjabi Indo-Canadians Brampton Ontario Toronto GTA
Kuldip Singh Samra early parole hearing - convicted killer admits Osgoode Hall shooting rampage was planned
From the National Post (Triple shooting planned, killer admits for first time by Peter Brieger, January 19, 2007):
Double murderer Kuldip Singh Samra admitted for the first time yesterday that his 1982 shooting rampage inside the Osgoode Hall law courts was a "planned and deliberate" execution.
Testifying at his early parole hearing, the convicted killer contradicted a long-held contention that he fatally shot two people and paralyzed his political rival in a "brief moment of insanity" after losing a legal battle involving voter registration at a local Sikh temple.
"It was planned and deliberate," said the slight man with a salt-and-pepper beard who wore a grey pullover and jeans. "I take full responsibility."
Samra has served 15 years of a life sentence after being convicted in 1993 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. (He was a fugitive in his native India for almost a decade.)
First-degree murderers must serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before seeking parole. But he was granted a hearing under the "faint hope" clause of the Criminal Code, which lets convicted killers petition the parole board after 15 years if a jury approves their request.
[. . .]
Read all of Peter Brieger's article.
Some more articles about this case:
Samra says he's changed (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 19)
Shootings were 'evil,' killer admits (Canadian Press, Tobi Cohen, January 18)
Killer bakes cookies at 'Club Fed' (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 18)
Victims face a killer (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 17)
Samra's `faint hope' jury hearing begins (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 16)
Killer of two at Osgoode Hall makes `faint hope' release bid (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 13)
Technorati tags: Kuldip Singh Samra Osgoode Hall shootings Toronto crime Canada law parole faint hope clause Sikhs Canada
Double murderer Kuldip Singh Samra admitted for the first time yesterday that his 1982 shooting rampage inside the Osgoode Hall law courts was a "planned and deliberate" execution.
Testifying at his early parole hearing, the convicted killer contradicted a long-held contention that he fatally shot two people and paralyzed his political rival in a "brief moment of insanity" after losing a legal battle involving voter registration at a local Sikh temple.
"It was planned and deliberate," said the slight man with a salt-and-pepper beard who wore a grey pullover and jeans. "I take full responsibility."
Samra has served 15 years of a life sentence after being convicted in 1993 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. (He was a fugitive in his native India for almost a decade.)
First-degree murderers must serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before seeking parole. But he was granted a hearing under the "faint hope" clause of the Criminal Code, which lets convicted killers petition the parole board after 15 years if a jury approves their request.
[. . .]
Read all of Peter Brieger's article.
Some more articles about this case:
Samra says he's changed (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 19)
Shootings were 'evil,' killer admits (Canadian Press, Tobi Cohen, January 18)
Killer bakes cookies at 'Club Fed' (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 18)
Victims face a killer (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 17)
Samra's `faint hope' jury hearing begins (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 16)
Killer of two at Osgoode Hall makes `faint hope' release bid (Toronto Star, Nick Pron, January 13)
Technorati tags: Kuldip Singh Samra Osgoode Hall shootings Toronto crime Canada law parole faint hope clause Sikhs Canada
Celebrity worship: people have strange priorities
Don't people have more important things to worry about than this:
American Idol judges panned for 'cruel' remarks
or this
Madonna defends Rosie in Trump feud?
It seems everytime I turn on the TV someone is talking about stories like this. Don't people have better things to do with their time than worry about celebrities and their incredibly boring lives? I don't know about you, but I have days where I begin to wonder whether living under sharia law would really be all that bad. If this is what western civilization has come to, who needs it? If I see Paris Hilton on TV one more time, I might become a suicide bomber.
I don't usually talk about celebrity gossip on this blog, but since I'm on the topic: Paris, Britney, girls, please put on some underwear.
See also:
The sexualization of children
Learning To Love The West
Technorati tags: western civilization American culture celebrities Madonna Donald Trump rosie-odonnell Britney Spears Paris Hilton
American Idol judges panned for 'cruel' remarks
or this
Madonna defends Rosie in Trump feud?
It seems everytime I turn on the TV someone is talking about stories like this. Don't people have better things to do with their time than worry about celebrities and their incredibly boring lives? I don't know about you, but I have days where I begin to wonder whether living under sharia law would really be all that bad. If this is what western civilization has come to, who needs it? If I see Paris Hilton on TV one more time, I might become a suicide bomber.
I don't usually talk about celebrity gossip on this blog, but since I'm on the topic: Paris, Britney, girls, please put on some underwear.
See also:
The sexualization of children
Learning To Love The West
Technorati tags: western civilization American culture celebrities Madonna Donald Trump rosie-odonnell Britney Spears Paris Hilton
Sheik Taj el-din al-Hilaly - Muslim cleric insults Australians
From AAP via the Sydney Morning Herald (Call for all to denounce Hilaly, January 15, 2007):
A Sunni Muslim community group has called for all Australians, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to denounce outspoken Sheik Taj el-din al-Hilaly.
Darulfatwa, or the Islamic High Council of Australia, has distanced itself from the controversial cleric, who last week sparked outrage with comments on an Egyptian chat show.
In the television interview, the sheik labelled white Australians "liars" and said Muslims were more entitled to be in Australia than those with a convict heritage.
In comments aired on Australian television on Saturday night he also took a swipe at Mr Howard, calling him "Mr Me Too" because "he wait for any news from America to say 'me too' ".
Responding to the criticism, Mr Howard said it was up to the Islamic community to show leadership on the issue, warning they risked embarrassment and hurt if the sheik was not reined in.
[. . .]
Read all of the AAP article.
See also:
Sheik Feiz Mohammed - Muslim cleric in Australia urges children to die for Islam
Technorati tags: Hilaly Australia Muslims Australia Islam Islamism
A Sunni Muslim community group has called for all Australians, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to denounce outspoken Sheik Taj el-din al-Hilaly.
Darulfatwa, or the Islamic High Council of Australia, has distanced itself from the controversial cleric, who last week sparked outrage with comments on an Egyptian chat show.
In the television interview, the sheik labelled white Australians "liars" and said Muslims were more entitled to be in Australia than those with a convict heritage.
In comments aired on Australian television on Saturday night he also took a swipe at Mr Howard, calling him "Mr Me Too" because "he wait for any news from America to say 'me too' ".
Responding to the criticism, Mr Howard said it was up to the Islamic community to show leadership on the issue, warning they risked embarrassment and hurt if the sheik was not reined in.
[. . .]
Read all of the AAP article.
See also:
Sheik Feiz Mohammed - Muslim cleric in Australia urges children to die for Islam
Technorati tags: Hilaly Australia Muslims Australia Islam Islamism
Sheik Feiz Mohammed - Muslim cleric in Australia urges children to die for Islam
From Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune (Australian Muslim cleric, Sheik Feiz Mohammed, incites jihad on DVDs, January 18, 2007):
An Australian Muslim cleric has urged children to be martyrs for Islam and referred to Jews as pigs in a series of DVD's, sparking condemnation by the government and further straining tensions with the nation's Muslims.
The Australian federal police said it would investigate the videos to determine whether the cleric, Sheik Feiz Mohammed, had breached Australian laws against sedition and inciting violence.
Feiz, head of the Global Islamic Youth Center in western Sydney, made the remarks on a series of videotaped lectures for sale in Australia and overseas.
"We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam," the Australian-born cleric said on one of the tapes, aired on Australian television.
The cleric said many parents were stopping their children from attending Islamic lessons for fear that they "might create a place in their hearts, the love, just a bit of love, of sacrificing their lives for Allah."
[. . .]
Read all of the AP article.
See also:
Does Muslim alienation start in high school?
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: Feiz Mohammed Australia Muslims Australia Islam Islamism
An Australian Muslim cleric has urged children to be martyrs for Islam and referred to Jews as pigs in a series of DVD's, sparking condemnation by the government and further straining tensions with the nation's Muslims.
The Australian federal police said it would investigate the videos to determine whether the cleric, Sheik Feiz Mohammed, had breached Australian laws against sedition and inciting violence.
Feiz, head of the Global Islamic Youth Center in western Sydney, made the remarks on a series of videotaped lectures for sale in Australia and overseas.
"We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam," the Australian-born cleric said on one of the tapes, aired on Australian television.
The cleric said many parents were stopping their children from attending Islamic lessons for fear that they "might create a place in their hearts, the love, just a bit of love, of sacrificing their lives for Allah."
[. . .]
Read all of the AP article.
See also:
Does Muslim alienation start in high school?
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: Feiz Mohammed Australia Muslims Australia Islam Islamism
Janice del Rosario - Filipino refugee claimant accused of bilking millions from friends
From the Toronto Star (Refugee claimant allegedly bilks friends for millions by Dale Brazao, January 14, 2007):
She came into their lives out of nowhere – a beautiful, God-fearing woman preaching love, bearing presents, and offering everyone an opportunity to share in her good fortune.
Janice Del Rosario dressed in Gucci and drove a BMW. And she dispensed kindness, compassion and good deeds "like a Mother Teresa."
But when she disappeared suddenly last November, the velvet-tongued Del Rosario left behind a dozen victims clutching an armful of bounced cheques, useless promissory notes and slim chances of recovering any of the estimated $1.5 million they claim she took from them. Victims who spoke to the Star said the amount taken may be much higher, but those victims have not come forward.
"I never in my life thought she was capable of something like this," says 75-year-old Luigi Chiarotto who says he is owed about $1.2 million. "She seemed honest, very honest, like my daughter."
Del Rosario feted the retired construction worker with a lavish surprise party on his 73rd birthday. A cancer victim was given a prepaid cemetery plot. Some got Danier leather jackets, others Swarovski crystal.
Even as the 44-year-old Filipino refugee claimant garnered sympathy among newfound friends with horrific stories of her family being extortion victims back home, they say she was setting them up to be exploited.
[. . .]
The family, who came to Canada in March 2003 as visitors, then applied for refugee status claiming they were victims of extortion by corrupt Filipino police officials, had exhausted all legal means of overturning their removal order.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for their arrest after they failed to make a flight to Manila on Nov. 16.
The last place Janice and Kaye Del Rosario want to return to is to their own country, where both are wanted for fraud in connection with a large-scale pyramid-type scam. None of their alleged victims in Canada were aware there were warrants for their arrest in the Philippines when she started tapping them for loans.
[. . .]
Read all of Dale Brazao's article.
According to the Star, the del Rosario family is scheduled for deportation today. (Accused fugitive to be deported by Dale Brazao, January 19, 2007)
See also:
Toronto Star: Girl raped by Angolan asylum seeker 'destroyed'
Another day, another refugee rapist. Today's knife-wielding advertisement for immigration reform hails from Somalia.
Technorati tags: Janice del Rosario Toronto crime Canada immigration Canada refugees Filipinos Philippines
She came into their lives out of nowhere – a beautiful, God-fearing woman preaching love, bearing presents, and offering everyone an opportunity to share in her good fortune.
Janice Del Rosario dressed in Gucci and drove a BMW. And she dispensed kindness, compassion and good deeds "like a Mother Teresa."
But when she disappeared suddenly last November, the velvet-tongued Del Rosario left behind a dozen victims clutching an armful of bounced cheques, useless promissory notes and slim chances of recovering any of the estimated $1.5 million they claim she took from them. Victims who spoke to the Star said the amount taken may be much higher, but those victims have not come forward.
"I never in my life thought she was capable of something like this," says 75-year-old Luigi Chiarotto who says he is owed about $1.2 million. "She seemed honest, very honest, like my daughter."
Del Rosario feted the retired construction worker with a lavish surprise party on his 73rd birthday. A cancer victim was given a prepaid cemetery plot. Some got Danier leather jackets, others Swarovski crystal.
Even as the 44-year-old Filipino refugee claimant garnered sympathy among newfound friends with horrific stories of her family being extortion victims back home, they say she was setting them up to be exploited.
[. . .]
The family, who came to Canada in March 2003 as visitors, then applied for refugee status claiming they were victims of extortion by corrupt Filipino police officials, had exhausted all legal means of overturning their removal order.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for their arrest after they failed to make a flight to Manila on Nov. 16.
The last place Janice and Kaye Del Rosario want to return to is to their own country, where both are wanted for fraud in connection with a large-scale pyramid-type scam. None of their alleged victims in Canada were aware there were warrants for their arrest in the Philippines when she started tapping them for loans.
[. . .]
Read all of Dale Brazao's article.
According to the Star, the del Rosario family is scheduled for deportation today. (Accused fugitive to be deported by Dale Brazao, January 19, 2007)
See also:
Toronto Star: Girl raped by Angolan asylum seeker 'destroyed'
Another day, another refugee rapist. Today's knife-wielding advertisement for immigration reform hails from Somalia.
Technorati tags: Janice del Rosario Toronto crime Canada immigration Canada refugees Filipinos Philippines
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Jared Taylor was roughed up by protestors in Halifax
From the Chronicle Herald (Taylor: Racism protesters "contemptible’ by Michael Lightstone, January 18, 2007):
The man at the centre of a venomous anti-racism protest in Halifax on Tuesday says freedom of speech was squelched by a bunch of "louts" who refused to consider his opinion on racial diversity.
Jared Taylor said Wednesday he should have been allowed to deliver his prepared remarks to a public meeting at the Lord Nelson hotel.
"These people are terrified of a dissenting view," he told CTV news, referring to young foul-mouthed demonstrators who shouted him down at a raucous event inside a hotel meeting room.
[. . .]
At one point in the noisy protest, Mr. Taylor was roughed up by activists wearing bandanas or balaclavas to hide their identities. An attendee, who is Jewish and was there to see if Mr. Taylor was going to talk about Jews, intervened and helped the man free himself from a couple of the demonstrators.
"I was hoping to have a civilized debate," said Mr. Taylor. He acknowledged he was shocked when he was "surrounded by louts who then forced me physically . . . out of the room."
Editor of a publication called American Renaissance, Mr. Taylor is a Yale-educated journalist and author who believes in freedom of association. But he maintains blacks are happier living and working with blacks, and whites are happier with whites.
[. . .]
Read all of Michael Lightstone's article.
Read the speech Taylor was prevented from giving: Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada? See also Steve Sailer's article, Fragmented Future, which discusses Robert D. Putnam's work on ethnic diversity.
See also:
Globe: Visible-minority immigrants "identify less and less" with Canada
Canadian immigration policy: why race matters
Technorati tags: Jared Taylor Canada free speech Canada multiculturalism Halifax Nova Scotia
The man at the centre of a venomous anti-racism protest in Halifax on Tuesday says freedom of speech was squelched by a bunch of "louts" who refused to consider his opinion on racial diversity.
Jared Taylor said Wednesday he should have been allowed to deliver his prepared remarks to a public meeting at the Lord Nelson hotel.
"These people are terrified of a dissenting view," he told CTV news, referring to young foul-mouthed demonstrators who shouted him down at a raucous event inside a hotel meeting room.
[. . .]
At one point in the noisy protest, Mr. Taylor was roughed up by activists wearing bandanas or balaclavas to hide their identities. An attendee, who is Jewish and was there to see if Mr. Taylor was going to talk about Jews, intervened and helped the man free himself from a couple of the demonstrators.
"I was hoping to have a civilized debate," said Mr. Taylor. He acknowledged he was shocked when he was "surrounded by louts who then forced me physically . . . out of the room."
Editor of a publication called American Renaissance, Mr. Taylor is a Yale-educated journalist and author who believes in freedom of association. But he maintains blacks are happier living and working with blacks, and whites are happier with whites.
[. . .]
Read all of Michael Lightstone's article.
Read the speech Taylor was prevented from giving: Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada? See also Steve Sailer's article, Fragmented Future, which discusses Robert D. Putnam's work on ethnic diversity.
See also:
Globe: Visible-minority immigrants "identify less and less" with Canada
Canadian immigration policy: why race matters
Technorati tags: Jared Taylor Canada free speech Canada multiculturalism Halifax Nova Scotia
US immigration quote of the day
Actually, Brenda Walker wrote this in 2004, but it's as relevant today as it was then:
Family values may not stop at the Rio Grande, the United States of America does.
Technorati tags: Mexico immigration Vdare
Family values may not stop at the Rio Grande, the United States of America does.
Technorati tags: Mexico immigration Vdare
Adam DePrisco - funeral today
From the Toronto Star (Questions at teen’s funeral by Tracy Huffman, January 18, 2007):
More than 1,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Woodbridge today to say goodbye to Adam DePrisco, the 19-year-old who was killed while vacationing in Mexico last week.
Family members and friend Marco Calabro, who took the trip to Acapulco with DePrisco, were pall bearers and carried the casket, draped in white linen, into the church.
Parents Benny and Carm DePrisco followed the casket and sat in a front pew, sobbing heavily throughout the service.
[. . .]
Rev. Michael Corcione told mourners that while there are many questions surrounding DePrisco’s death, they should instead focus on the joy he brought to his family and friends in life.
Anthony Ianiero, the son of a Woodbridge couple murdered in Mexico last year, was also among the mourners, and said he was there to offer his support to DePrisco’s family.
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article.
Tales from the chicken bus is an interesting blog run by a Canadian journalist who lives in Guadalajara, Mexico. See also Allan Wall's articles in Vdare. Wall is an American who lives in Mexico.
See also:
Adam DePrisco - MacKay pushes for probe
Adam DePrisco - Woodbridge family believes son killed in Mexico was beaten
Technorati tags: Adam DePrisco Mexico crime Mexico police Mexico justice system Mexico corruption Acapulco Woodbridge Ontario Toronto GTA
More than 1,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Woodbridge today to say goodbye to Adam DePrisco, the 19-year-old who was killed while vacationing in Mexico last week.
Family members and friend Marco Calabro, who took the trip to Acapulco with DePrisco, were pall bearers and carried the casket, draped in white linen, into the church.
Parents Benny and Carm DePrisco followed the casket and sat in a front pew, sobbing heavily throughout the service.
[. . .]
Rev. Michael Corcione told mourners that while there are many questions surrounding DePrisco’s death, they should instead focus on the joy he brought to his family and friends in life.
Anthony Ianiero, the son of a Woodbridge couple murdered in Mexico last year, was also among the mourners, and said he was there to offer his support to DePrisco’s family.
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article.
Tales from the chicken bus is an interesting blog run by a Canadian journalist who lives in Guadalajara, Mexico. See also Allan Wall's articles in Vdare. Wall is an American who lives in Mexico.
See also:
Adam DePrisco - MacKay pushes for probe
Adam DePrisco - Woodbridge family believes son killed in Mexico was beaten
Technorati tags: Adam DePrisco Mexico crime Mexico police Mexico justice system Mexico corruption Acapulco Woodbridge Ontario Toronto GTA
Immigration poll: majority believe there should be greater scrutiny before citizenship is awarded
From the Toronto Sun (Tighten up on immigration: Poll by Kathleen Harris, January 17, 2007)
A majority of Canadians want tighter controls over the influx of immigrants and believe more must be done to better integrate the nation's newcomers.
A Sun Media poll conducted by Leger Marketing shows 57% think there should be greater scrutiny before citizenship is awarded, while only 3% say the rules should loosen up. Just over one-third believe current controls are sufficient.
Leger VP Dave Scholz says that as a neighbour to the U.S., Canada is likely more "paranoid" about security concerns in the wake of Sept. 11. But the figures also reflect a strong desire to target immigrants who will help build a better Canada.
[. . .]
Scholz said this loud call for a clampdown hints that many harbour a negative attitude toward immigrants, but it also makes a damning assessment of the system's ability to process claims and settle newcomers.
Of the thousands surveyed across the country, just over half believe immigrants blend in with ease while 45% think they have difficulty integrating into Canadian society. Scholz said that figure suggests governments and agencies aren't doing enough to assist new Canadians, forcing people who may have cultural or language barriers to fend for themselves.
[. . .]
The survey also shows more than half of Canadians think immigrants should be encouraged to settle outside major cities. Scholz said this result might speak to a broader objective of curbing the density of cities in favour of building up suburban and outlying areas.
[. . .]
Read all of Kathleen Harris' article.
View the poll results here.
See also:
High-rise development - a good reason to treat immigration as a municipal election issue
Urban sprawl and disappearing farmland in British Columbia
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada race relations Canada public opinion
A majority of Canadians want tighter controls over the influx of immigrants and believe more must be done to better integrate the nation's newcomers.
A Sun Media poll conducted by Leger Marketing shows 57% think there should be greater scrutiny before citizenship is awarded, while only 3% say the rules should loosen up. Just over one-third believe current controls are sufficient.
Leger VP Dave Scholz says that as a neighbour to the U.S., Canada is likely more "paranoid" about security concerns in the wake of Sept. 11. But the figures also reflect a strong desire to target immigrants who will help build a better Canada.
[. . .]
Scholz said this loud call for a clampdown hints that many harbour a negative attitude toward immigrants, but it also makes a damning assessment of the system's ability to process claims and settle newcomers.
Of the thousands surveyed across the country, just over half believe immigrants blend in with ease while 45% think they have difficulty integrating into Canadian society. Scholz said that figure suggests governments and agencies aren't doing enough to assist new Canadians, forcing people who may have cultural or language barriers to fend for themselves.
[. . .]
The survey also shows more than half of Canadians think immigrants should be encouraged to settle outside major cities. Scholz said this result might speak to a broader objective of curbing the density of cities in favour of building up suburban and outlying areas.
[. . .]
Read all of Kathleen Harris' article.
View the poll results here.
See also:
High-rise development - a good reason to treat immigration as a municipal election issue
Urban sprawl and disappearing farmland in British Columbia
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada race relations Canada public opinion
Six students at Chaminade College facing charges related to dozens of muggings
From the Globe and Mail (Police catch two suspects after chase in ravine by Oliver Moore and Nick Patch):
Two teenagers chased down and tackled by police in a snowy ravine are among six youths facing charges related to dozens of muggings reported near a North York school.
The arrests yesterday and Tuesday come after an investigation launched as a result of students' complaints at Chaminade College School they were being targeted for money, transit tokens and electronic equipment.
These crimes weren't always obvious, Detective Andrew Kis said last night.
The intimidation was often surreptitious and the interactions could have been mistaken for friends chatting, he said.
"These kids walk up and say, 'Gimme your stuff,' " he said. A weapon was occasionally brandished, but more routine were threats of a beating.
A surveillance unit was set up this month and on Tuesday observed what appeared to be a robbery in progress.
Officers tried to apprehend two young men, one 16 and the other 17, but they fled into a nearby wooded area with a half-dozen police in pursuit.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Are teachers losing control of some Toronto schools? Are gangs starting to take over?
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto schools Toronto police Chaminade College
Two teenagers chased down and tackled by police in a snowy ravine are among six youths facing charges related to dozens of muggings reported near a North York school.
The arrests yesterday and Tuesday come after an investigation launched as a result of students' complaints at Chaminade College School they were being targeted for money, transit tokens and electronic equipment.
These crimes weren't always obvious, Detective Andrew Kis said last night.
The intimidation was often surreptitious and the interactions could have been mistaken for friends chatting, he said.
"These kids walk up and say, 'Gimme your stuff,' " he said. A weapon was occasionally brandished, but more routine were threats of a beating.
A surveillance unit was set up this month and on Tuesday observed what appeared to be a robbery in progress.
Officers tried to apprehend two young men, one 16 and the other 17, but they fled into a nearby wooded area with a half-dozen police in pursuit.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Are teachers losing control of some Toronto schools? Are gangs starting to take over?
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto schools Toronto police Chaminade College
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Multiculturalism and free speech: is Kemosabe a racist word?
Below is an excerpt from a speech Jared Taylor was unable to give in Halifax. Taylor was prevented from speaking by the usual leftist thugs. You know the type, the kind of people who say "Be tolerant or we'll crack your skull open."
Jared Taylor writes (Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada?):
One of the unpleasant consequences of racial diversity is that whites, at any rate, have to be very careful about how they talk. In 2005 the chief economist of CIBC World Markets Jeff Rubin was spanked and sent for sensitivity training when he wrote that oil prices would double by 2010 because "this time around there won't be any tap that some appeased mullah or sheik can suddenly turn back on." Writing about "sheiks" apparently upset the Islamic lobby.
But I think the "Kemosabe" case was more interesting. As you will recall, that is what Tonto called the Lone Ranger in the TV series. Well, right here in Nova Scotia, your Human Rights Commission worked itself into a lather when a Mi'kmaq lady named Dorothy Moore said her boss called her Kemosabe. He called everyone Kemosabe, but she took offense. The commission appointed a board of inquiry to look into the complaint. It watched a bunch of Lone Ranger reruns and concluded in Feb. 2004, that first, Kemosabe is not an insult, and that Ms. Moore hadn't clearly shown she was offended by being called Kemosabe.
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission was determined that "Kemosabe" be found racist and demeaning. It appealed the board of inquiry's decision to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The court agreed with the board, namely that Miss Moore hadn't proven the word was an insult, but the human rights commission still would not give up. It took the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada! The Supreme Court had better things to do than watch reruns of "The Lone Ranger," and refused to take the case.
"We're disappointed," said Mayann Francis, head of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. "We thought this case might help establish clearer guidelines for dealing with discrimination and the cultural differences one finds in a diverse workplace."
Ladies and gentlemen. If this is the sort of thing you get from a "diverse workplace" who needs it?
Read all of Jared Taylor's article.
See also:
Haroon Siddiqui: "a growing realization that freedom of speech is circumscribed"
Is it legal to say Muslim immigration is bad for Canada? For that matter, is it even legal to ask the question?
Technorati tags: Canada free speech Nova Scotia Halifax Canada multiculturalism Canada racism Canada race relations Canada human rights Jared Taylor Lone Ranger Kemosabe TV shows
Jared Taylor writes (Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada?):
One of the unpleasant consequences of racial diversity is that whites, at any rate, have to be very careful about how they talk. In 2005 the chief economist of CIBC World Markets Jeff Rubin was spanked and sent for sensitivity training when he wrote that oil prices would double by 2010 because "this time around there won't be any tap that some appeased mullah or sheik can suddenly turn back on." Writing about "sheiks" apparently upset the Islamic lobby.
But I think the "Kemosabe" case was more interesting. As you will recall, that is what Tonto called the Lone Ranger in the TV series. Well, right here in Nova Scotia, your Human Rights Commission worked itself into a lather when a Mi'kmaq lady named Dorothy Moore said her boss called her Kemosabe. He called everyone Kemosabe, but she took offense. The commission appointed a board of inquiry to look into the complaint. It watched a bunch of Lone Ranger reruns and concluded in Feb. 2004, that first, Kemosabe is not an insult, and that Ms. Moore hadn't clearly shown she was offended by being called Kemosabe.
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission was determined that "Kemosabe" be found racist and demeaning. It appealed the board of inquiry's decision to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The court agreed with the board, namely that Miss Moore hadn't proven the word was an insult, but the human rights commission still would not give up. It took the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada! The Supreme Court had better things to do than watch reruns of "The Lone Ranger," and refused to take the case.
"We're disappointed," said Mayann Francis, head of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. "We thought this case might help establish clearer guidelines for dealing with discrimination and the cultural differences one finds in a diverse workplace."
Ladies and gentlemen. If this is the sort of thing you get from a "diverse workplace" who needs it?
Read all of Jared Taylor's article.
See also:
Haroon Siddiqui: "a growing realization that freedom of speech is circumscribed"
Is it legal to say Muslim immigration is bad for Canada? For that matter, is it even legal to ask the question?
Technorati tags: Canada free speech Nova Scotia Halifax Canada multiculturalism Canada racism Canada race relations Canada human rights Jared Taylor Lone Ranger Kemosabe TV shows
Jared Taylor on the impact of Hispanic immigration on the United States
Jared Taylor writes in Vdare (Do We Need More Hispanics? January 10, 2007):
First, what is the economic impact of Hispanics? We are repeatedly told that immigrants do vital work natives will not do. It is certainly true that large numbers of low-skilled Hispanics hold down wages in certain industries. The result is often unemployment for natives and poverty for the immigrants—at least by American standards. In 2004, the median per capita income of Hispanics was $14,100—less even than that of blacks ($16,000)—and about half the white figure of $27,500.[3] The median net worth even of Hispanics born in the United States was $10,425, or just 12 percent of the median white net worth of $88,651.[4]
Poor, low-skilled people consume more in social services than they pay in taxes, and the Center of Immigration Studies calculates that the average Mexican immigrant will collect $55,200 more in government services during his lifetime than he will pay in taxes.[5] The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that every year the net cost of illegal immigrants is $45 billion.[6]
Hispanics who are in the country legally and can get welfare and go on unemployment seem to lose their storied willingness to take any available job. In 2004, for example, Hispanics were about 50 percent more likely to be unemployed than whites,[7] and in the same year, fully half of all Hispanic households used at least one form of welfare, compared to 47 percent of blacks and 18 percent of whites.[8]
Hispanics are a high-crime population second only to blacks. They are 2.3 times more likely to be in prison than whites (blacks are 6.8 times more likely), and are four times more likely than whites to commit murder, robbery or assault.[9] Given that Mexico is our largest supplier of marijuana and cocaine, and our second-largest supplier of heroin,[10] it is no surprise that Hispanics are nearly six times more likely than whites to be locked up for drug offenses. These problems are sure to get worse: Hispanics are no less than 19 times more likely than whites to be members of youth gangs (blacks are 18 times more likely).[11]
[. . .]
Read all of Jared Taylor's article.
Jared Taylor's website is American Renaissance.
See also:
Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada?
Racial violence in Los Angeles - Latinos vs. blacks
Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages
Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates
Technorati tags: US immigration Hispanic immigrants Latino immigrants Hispanics Latinos Jared Taylor Vdare race realism
First, what is the economic impact of Hispanics? We are repeatedly told that immigrants do vital work natives will not do. It is certainly true that large numbers of low-skilled Hispanics hold down wages in certain industries. The result is often unemployment for natives and poverty for the immigrants—at least by American standards. In 2004, the median per capita income of Hispanics was $14,100—less even than that of blacks ($16,000)—and about half the white figure of $27,500.[3] The median net worth even of Hispanics born in the United States was $10,425, or just 12 percent of the median white net worth of $88,651.[4]
Poor, low-skilled people consume more in social services than they pay in taxes, and the Center of Immigration Studies calculates that the average Mexican immigrant will collect $55,200 more in government services during his lifetime than he will pay in taxes.[5] The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that every year the net cost of illegal immigrants is $45 billion.[6]
Hispanics who are in the country legally and can get welfare and go on unemployment seem to lose their storied willingness to take any available job. In 2004, for example, Hispanics were about 50 percent more likely to be unemployed than whites,[7] and in the same year, fully half of all Hispanic households used at least one form of welfare, compared to 47 percent of blacks and 18 percent of whites.[8]
Hispanics are a high-crime population second only to blacks. They are 2.3 times more likely to be in prison than whites (blacks are 6.8 times more likely), and are four times more likely than whites to commit murder, robbery or assault.[9] Given that Mexico is our largest supplier of marijuana and cocaine, and our second-largest supplier of heroin,[10] it is no surprise that Hispanics are nearly six times more likely than whites to be locked up for drug offenses. These problems are sure to get worse: Hispanics are no less than 19 times more likely than whites to be members of youth gangs (blacks are 18 times more likely).[11]
[. . .]
Read all of Jared Taylor's article.
Jared Taylor's website is American Renaissance.
See also:
Is Racial Diversity Good for Canada?
Racial violence in Los Angeles - Latinos vs. blacks
Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages
Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates
Technorati tags: US immigration Hispanic immigrants Latino immigrants Hispanics Latinos Jared Taylor Vdare race realism
Adam DePrisco - MacKay pushes for probe
From the Toronto Star (MacKay pushes Mexico on probe by Curtis Rush and Allan Woods, January 17, 2007):
For the first time, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay spoke personally with relatives of Adam DePrisco yesterday and assured them he is pressing Mexican authorities for a thorough investigation into the 19-year-old Woodbridge man's death.
MacKay called Carm DePrisco, Adam's mother, to give his condolences and those of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the country, officials in MacKay's office said.
MacKay told her the government will continue providing the family with consular support and monitor the probe in Mexico, they said.
The DePrisco family has accused the Canadian government of largely ignoring its demands for answers since Adam died Jan. 8, a day after he was thrown out of an Acapulco nightclub.
Foreign Affairs officials insisted yesterday that Canadian officials in Mexico were involved with the case from the start.
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
See also:
Adam DePrisco - Woodbridge family believes son killed in Mexico was beaten
Adam DePrisco- autopsy concluded but family wants results kept private
Mexico’s Lawlessness And Machismo—Coming Here, Courtesy Of The Bush Betrayal
Technorati tags: Adam DePrisco Mexico crime Mexico police Mexico justice system Mexico corruption Acapulco Canada foreign affairs Canada Mexico Peter MacKay
For the first time, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay spoke personally with relatives of Adam DePrisco yesterday and assured them he is pressing Mexican authorities for a thorough investigation into the 19-year-old Woodbridge man's death.
MacKay called Carm DePrisco, Adam's mother, to give his condolences and those of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the country, officials in MacKay's office said.
MacKay told her the government will continue providing the family with consular support and monitor the probe in Mexico, they said.
The DePrisco family has accused the Canadian government of largely ignoring its demands for answers since Adam died Jan. 8, a day after he was thrown out of an Acapulco nightclub.
Foreign Affairs officials insisted yesterday that Canadian officials in Mexico were involved with the case from the start.
[. . .]
Read all of the Star article.
See also:
Adam DePrisco - Woodbridge family believes son killed in Mexico was beaten
Adam DePrisco- autopsy concluded but family wants results kept private
Mexico’s Lawlessness And Machismo—Coming Here, Courtesy Of The Bush Betrayal
Technorati tags: Adam DePrisco Mexico crime Mexico police Mexico justice system Mexico corruption Acapulco Canada foreign affairs Canada Mexico Peter MacKay
Should Canada accept members of Pakistan's Mohajir Quomi Movement as refugees? Or should they be treated as terrorists?
From the National Post (One official's 'refugee' is another's 'terrorist' by Adrian Humphreys, January 17, 2007):
Two members of the same foreign organization who applied for refugee status in Canada have received dramatically different judgments: One was declared a member of a terrorist group, the other accepted as a legitimate refugee.
The vast discrepancy between decisions in remarkably similar cases -- based on the same package of government evidence -- highlights the difficulties of handling security cases and has drawn judicial consternation.
"The packages of documentary evidence in the two cases were the same, the time frame the same, and the issue to be determined was the same," writes Michael L. Phelan, a Federal Court of Canada judge, in a judgment published yesterday.
"In one case a member held an organization not to be engaged in terrorism, while in the instant case, on the very same evidence, the member found that the organization had engaged in terrorism," he ruled.
"The failure to explain the basis for the different conclusion undermines the integrity of [Immigration and Refugee Board] decisions and gives them an aura of arbitrariness which is no doubt not intended nor is it acceptable."
The answer, for Judge Phelan, was to send the case of Mohammad Ashraf Siddiqui -- in which the Pakistan-based Mohajir Quomi Movement (MQM) was found to be an organization that engaged in terrorism -- back to the Immigration and Refugee Board for a fresh hearing.
The case of the second man, Javed Memon -- in which evidence of terrorist involvement by the MQM was dismissed -- also remains in dispute.
The government has appealed that decision, with hearings on the matter pending.
[. . .]
Read all of Adrian Humphreys' article
Two important books about terrorism in Canada are Stewart Bell's Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. You can read a review of Cold Terror here. An extensive discussion of the problem of foreign-based terrorism in Canada can be found in the Mackenzie's Institute's free online book Other people's wars.
See also:
Fraser Institute Report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Fraser Institute Report: Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Canada's refugee determination board is staffed by amateurs. Some adjudicators barely speak English
Another refugee board scandal - this time in Quebec. Isn't $125,000 a year enough?
Technorati tags: Canada refugees Canada immigration policy Canada law Mohajir Quomi Movement MQM Pakistan politics Muslims terrorism Islamist movements
Two members of the same foreign organization who applied for refugee status in Canada have received dramatically different judgments: One was declared a member of a terrorist group, the other accepted as a legitimate refugee.
The vast discrepancy between decisions in remarkably similar cases -- based on the same package of government evidence -- highlights the difficulties of handling security cases and has drawn judicial consternation.
"The packages of documentary evidence in the two cases were the same, the time frame the same, and the issue to be determined was the same," writes Michael L. Phelan, a Federal Court of Canada judge, in a judgment published yesterday.
"In one case a member held an organization not to be engaged in terrorism, while in the instant case, on the very same evidence, the member found that the organization had engaged in terrorism," he ruled.
"The failure to explain the basis for the different conclusion undermines the integrity of [Immigration and Refugee Board] decisions and gives them an aura of arbitrariness which is no doubt not intended nor is it acceptable."
The answer, for Judge Phelan, was to send the case of Mohammad Ashraf Siddiqui -- in which the Pakistan-based Mohajir Quomi Movement (MQM) was found to be an organization that engaged in terrorism -- back to the Immigration and Refugee Board for a fresh hearing.
The case of the second man, Javed Memon -- in which evidence of terrorist involvement by the MQM was dismissed -- also remains in dispute.
The government has appealed that decision, with hearings on the matter pending.
[. . .]
Read all of Adrian Humphreys' article
Two important books about terrorism in Canada are Stewart Bell's Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. You can read a review of Cold Terror here. An extensive discussion of the problem of foreign-based terrorism in Canada can be found in the Mackenzie's Institute's free online book Other people's wars.
See also:
Fraser Institute Report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism
Fraser Institute Report: Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System
Canada's refugee determination board is staffed by amateurs. Some adjudicators barely speak English
Another refugee board scandal - this time in Quebec. Isn't $125,000 a year enough?
Technorati tags: Canada refugees Canada immigration policy Canada law Mohajir Quomi Movement MQM Pakistan politics Muslims terrorism Islamist movements
Racial violence in Los Angeles - Latinos vs. blacks
From the New York Times (Racial Hate Feeds a Gang War’s Senseless Killing by Randal C. Archibold, January 17, 2007):
The Latino gang members were looking for a black person, any black person, to shoot, the police said, and they found one. Cheryl Green, perched near her scooter chatting with friends, was shot dead in a spray of bullets that left several other young people injured.
She was 14, an eighth grader who loved junk food and watching Court TV with her mother and had recently written a poem beginning: “I am black and beautiful. I wonder how I will be living in the future.”
[. . .]
Ethnic and racial tension comes to Los Angeles as regularly as the Santa Ana winds. Race-related fights afflict school campuses and jails, and two major riots, in 1965 and 1992, are hardly forgotten. But civil rights advocates say that the violence grew at an alarming rate last year, continuing a trend of more Latino versus black confrontations and prompting street demonstrations and long discussions on talk-radio programs and in community meetings.
Much of the violence springs from rivalries between black and Latino gangs, especially in neighborhoods where the black population has been declining and the Latino population surging. A 14 percent increase in gang crime last year, at a time when overall violent crime was down, has been attributed in good measure to the interracial conflict.
This month, the authorities reported that crimes in the city motivated by racial, religious or sexual orientation discrimination had increased 34 percent in 2005 over the previous year. Statistics for 2006 have not yet been compiled.
Rabbi Allen Freehling, executive director of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, a group created after the 1965 riots, said the recent growth in hate crimes reflected a failure by government and community leaders to prepare residents for socioeconomic changes in many neighborhoods, “and therefore people have a tendency to lash out, out of desperation.”
[. . .]
Read all of Randal C. Archibold's article.
See also:
Do We Need More Hispanics?
A Black “Old Right Conservative” On The Black Elite’s Immigration Betrayal
Los Angeles police chief on race, crime and gangs
Rival Somali and Jamaican girl gangs connected to seizure of .44 Magnum at Thistletown Collegiate
Technorati tags: California Los Angeles LA race relations blacks Latinos Hispanics gangs
The Latino gang members were looking for a black person, any black person, to shoot, the police said, and they found one. Cheryl Green, perched near her scooter chatting with friends, was shot dead in a spray of bullets that left several other young people injured.
She was 14, an eighth grader who loved junk food and watching Court TV with her mother and had recently written a poem beginning: “I am black and beautiful. I wonder how I will be living in the future.”
[. . .]
Ethnic and racial tension comes to Los Angeles as regularly as the Santa Ana winds. Race-related fights afflict school campuses and jails, and two major riots, in 1965 and 1992, are hardly forgotten. But civil rights advocates say that the violence grew at an alarming rate last year, continuing a trend of more Latino versus black confrontations and prompting street demonstrations and long discussions on talk-radio programs and in community meetings.
Much of the violence springs from rivalries between black and Latino gangs, especially in neighborhoods where the black population has been declining and the Latino population surging. A 14 percent increase in gang crime last year, at a time when overall violent crime was down, has been attributed in good measure to the interracial conflict.
This month, the authorities reported that crimes in the city motivated by racial, religious or sexual orientation discrimination had increased 34 percent in 2005 over the previous year. Statistics for 2006 have not yet been compiled.
Rabbi Allen Freehling, executive director of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, a group created after the 1965 riots, said the recent growth in hate crimes reflected a failure by government and community leaders to prepare residents for socioeconomic changes in many neighborhoods, “and therefore people have a tendency to lash out, out of desperation.”
[. . .]
Read all of Randal C. Archibold's article.
See also:
Do We Need More Hispanics?
A Black “Old Right Conservative” On The Black Elite’s Immigration Betrayal
Los Angeles police chief on race, crime and gangs
Rival Somali and Jamaican girl gangs connected to seizure of .44 Magnum at Thistletown Collegiate
Technorati tags: California Los Angeles LA race relations blacks Latinos Hispanics gangs
Ahmed Ressam - Federal appeals court vacates convicted terrorist's sentence
From the New York Times (Court Vacates Term of Algerian in Bomb Plot by Jennifer Steinhauer, January 17, 2007):
A federal appeals court on Tuesday vacated the 2005 sentence of an Algerian man convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
The man, Ahmed Ressam, known as the Millennium Bomber because of prosecutors’ claims that he intended to bomb the airport on the eve of the millennium, was arrested in December 1999 in Washington State after driving off a ferry from British Columbia in a car with bomb-making materials in its trunk. He was convicted on nine counts, including document fraud and transportation of deadly explosives, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
But on Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, reversed his conviction on the ninth count, which charged that he was carrying explosives while committing the felony of making a false statement to customs officials about both his identity and the fact that he had explosives.
[. . .]
Given its reversal on that count, which carried a mandatory sentence of 10 years, the court opted to vacate the entire sentence.
[. . .]
Read all of Jennifer Steinhauer's article.
Good information about terrorism in Canada can be found at these two links:
Other people's wars and Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism. A good book that describes how Canada's immigration and refugee system allows terrorists to settle here is Cold Terror by Stewart Bell. Read a review of Cold Terror here.
See also:
Judge rules insufficient evidence to support France's claim Abdullah Ouzghar belonged to terrorist group
Mohamed Mahjoub case: Judge rules Ottawa can't deport Egyptian suspected of terrorism
Judge rules Mahmoud Jaballah can't be deported to Egypt despite evidence he was involved in 1998 US embassy bombings
Technorati tags: Ahmed Ressam Millenium Bomber Canada terrorism Islamic terrorism Muslim terrorism Canada Muslims
A federal appeals court on Tuesday vacated the 2005 sentence of an Algerian man convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
The man, Ahmed Ressam, known as the Millennium Bomber because of prosecutors’ claims that he intended to bomb the airport on the eve of the millennium, was arrested in December 1999 in Washington State after driving off a ferry from British Columbia in a car with bomb-making materials in its trunk. He was convicted on nine counts, including document fraud and transportation of deadly explosives, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
But on Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, reversed his conviction on the ninth count, which charged that he was carrying explosives while committing the felony of making a false statement to customs officials about both his identity and the fact that he had explosives.
[. . .]
Given its reversal on that count, which carried a mandatory sentence of 10 years, the court opted to vacate the entire sentence.
[. . .]
Read all of Jennifer Steinhauer's article.
Good information about terrorism in Canada can be found at these two links:
Other people's wars and Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism. A good book that describes how Canada's immigration and refugee system allows terrorists to settle here is Cold Terror by Stewart Bell. Read a review of Cold Terror here.
See also:
Judge rules insufficient evidence to support France's claim Abdullah Ouzghar belonged to terrorist group
Mohamed Mahjoub case: Judge rules Ottawa can't deport Egyptian suspected of terrorism
Judge rules Mahmoud Jaballah can't be deported to Egypt despite evidence he was involved in 1998 US embassy bombings
Technorati tags: Ahmed Ressam Millenium Bomber Canada terrorism Islamic terrorism Muslim terrorism Canada Muslims
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Immigration Watch Canada: Layton and Harper need to do their homework on the Komagata Maru issue
From Immigration Watch Canada (Hit The Road, Jack Stephen and Others. And Don't Come Back Till You've Done Your Work!, January 12, 2007):
NDP leader Jack Layton has recently called upon the Harper government to apologize to Canada's Sikhs for the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. The Komagata Maru was a ship which several hundred Sikhs had chartered in Hong Kong to take them on the last leg of their journey from India to Vancouver. Most of the Sikhs were denied entry to Canada.
Prime Minister Harper has expressed sentiments similar to those of Mr. Layton.
Before others join this "Vote for Me Chorus", they should all do some serious homework on one of the reasons the Canadian government had for rejecting most of the Sikhs: the cheap labour turmoil of the late 1800's and early 1900's.
Mr. Layton, Prime Minister Harper and others will find that reason explained in a 1907 Royal Commission Report which Mackenzie King did on why 11,440 Japanese, Chinese and East Indian workers arrived at Vancouver and Victoria in 1907.
At that time, Mackenzie King was Deputy Minister of Labour and had just finished a Royal Commission report on compensation to the Japanese for the losses they had suffered during the September, 1907 Vancouver Riot. Specifically, King was asked to examine the methods by which oriental labourers had been induced to come to Canada.
[. . .]
Read the whole bulletin.
See also:
Chinese "Contract Labor" And Canada’s Immigration Catastrophe
New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Technorati tags: Komagata Maru Canada immigration policy Canada history Canada politics Canada multiculturalism Sikhs Indo-Canadians foreign workers Jack Layton Stephen Harper
NDP leader Jack Layton has recently called upon the Harper government to apologize to Canada's Sikhs for the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. The Komagata Maru was a ship which several hundred Sikhs had chartered in Hong Kong to take them on the last leg of their journey from India to Vancouver. Most of the Sikhs were denied entry to Canada.
Prime Minister Harper has expressed sentiments similar to those of Mr. Layton.
Before others join this "Vote for Me Chorus", they should all do some serious homework on one of the reasons the Canadian government had for rejecting most of the Sikhs: the cheap labour turmoil of the late 1800's and early 1900's.
Mr. Layton, Prime Minister Harper and others will find that reason explained in a 1907 Royal Commission Report which Mackenzie King did on why 11,440 Japanese, Chinese and East Indian workers arrived at Vancouver and Victoria in 1907.
At that time, Mackenzie King was Deputy Minister of Labour and had just finished a Royal Commission report on compensation to the Japanese for the losses they had suffered during the September, 1907 Vancouver Riot. Specifically, King was asked to examine the methods by which oriental labourers had been induced to come to Canada.
[. . .]
Read the whole bulletin.
See also:
Chinese "Contract Labor" And Canada’s Immigration Catastrophe
New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Technorati tags: Komagata Maru Canada immigration policy Canada history Canada politics Canada multiculturalism Sikhs Indo-Canadians foreign workers Jack Layton Stephen Harper
Leger poll claims 59% of Quebecers acknowledge being 'racist'
From CBC News (59% of Quebecers say they're racist: poll, January 15, 2007):
Fifty-nine per cent of Quebecers admit to being racist to some degree, according to a Léger Marketing survey published Monday in Le Journal de Montréal.
In comparison, only 47 per cent of those outside Quebec say they are racist to some degree.
Among Quebecers, most (43 per cent) said they were only mildly racist, while 15 per cent said they were moderately racist and only one per cent responded that they were very racist.
[. . .]
The findings come from three surveys in late December and early January. The first two surveys were conducted over the internet, with 2,228 Quebecers taking part, while the third survey interviewed 3,092 people across Canada.
[. . .]
It found 36 per cent of Quebecers have a bad opinion of Jewish people, while 27 per cent have a poor opinion of blacks. Fifty per cent have a bad opinion of Muslims.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
Of course, much depends on how you define 'racism.' A negative opinion of another group isn't 'racist' if it's based on facts and observed behaviour. Even if a negative opinion is based on prejudice in the narrow sense of pre-judging, it's not necessarily 'racist.' Strictly speaking, racism means a belief in the biological superiority of one human race over another. Arabs are a linguistic and cultural group of heterogeneous origins. Muslims are a religious group comprising many races. In Toronto a disproportionate amount of violent crime is committed by young black men who were raised by single mothers. Haitian gangs are a problem in Montreal. This would explain why many people have a negative view of blacks even if it's unfair to law-abiding blacks.
I don't know what to make of this study, but it doesn't surprise me that Quebecers have negative opinions of some cultural groups. Animosity between different groups is a fact of human life. It's regrettable but I don't see how you can eliminate it. Cultural homogeneity can be a strength because society runs more smoothly when there are fewer ethnic, religious or cultural tensions. French-English tensions caused more than enough problems for Canada. Multiculturalism combined with mass immigration from non-European countries is creating tensions and instability. The recklessness of Canada's leaders is shocking. They are ruining one of the best countries in the world.
Fragmented Future: Multiculturalism doesn’t make vibrant communities but defensive ones.
Globe: Visible-minority immigrants "identify less and less" with Canada
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Technorati tags: Canada race relations Quebec multiculturalism public opinion racism
Fifty-nine per cent of Quebecers admit to being racist to some degree, according to a Léger Marketing survey published Monday in Le Journal de Montréal.
In comparison, only 47 per cent of those outside Quebec say they are racist to some degree.
Among Quebecers, most (43 per cent) said they were only mildly racist, while 15 per cent said they were moderately racist and only one per cent responded that they were very racist.
[. . .]
The findings come from three surveys in late December and early January. The first two surveys were conducted over the internet, with 2,228 Quebecers taking part, while the third survey interviewed 3,092 people across Canada.
[. . .]
It found 36 per cent of Quebecers have a bad opinion of Jewish people, while 27 per cent have a poor opinion of blacks. Fifty per cent have a bad opinion of Muslims.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
Of course, much depends on how you define 'racism.' A negative opinion of another group isn't 'racist' if it's based on facts and observed behaviour. Even if a negative opinion is based on prejudice in the narrow sense of pre-judging, it's not necessarily 'racist.' Strictly speaking, racism means a belief in the biological superiority of one human race over another. Arabs are a linguistic and cultural group of heterogeneous origins. Muslims are a religious group comprising many races. In Toronto a disproportionate amount of violent crime is committed by young black men who were raised by single mothers. Haitian gangs are a problem in Montreal. This would explain why many people have a negative view of blacks even if it's unfair to law-abiding blacks.
I don't know what to make of this study, but it doesn't surprise me that Quebecers have negative opinions of some cultural groups. Animosity between different groups is a fact of human life. It's regrettable but I don't see how you can eliminate it. Cultural homogeneity can be a strength because society runs more smoothly when there are fewer ethnic, religious or cultural tensions. French-English tensions caused more than enough problems for Canada. Multiculturalism combined with mass immigration from non-European countries is creating tensions and instability. The recklessness of Canada's leaders is shocking. They are ruining one of the best countries in the world.
Fragmented Future: Multiculturalism doesn’t make vibrant communities but defensive ones.
Globe: Visible-minority immigrants "identify less and less" with Canada
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Technorati tags: Canada race relations Quebec multiculturalism public opinion racism
Qari Kafayatullah - Questions surround Afghan-born imam's role in Toronto terror plot
From the Globe and Mail (Was imam another informant in Toronto terror plot? by Colin Freeze and Omar el Akkad, January 16, 2007):
It's not clear how Qari Kafayatullah entered the orbit of the young alleged extremists accused of plotting a terrorist attack on Canadian soil. Then again, much about the 46-year-old's life raises more questions than answers.
How does a cab-driver-turned-development-worker find himself facing allegations he is near the centre of the biggest anti-terrorism probe in Canadian history? More important, how does the Afghan imam emerge unscathed to date?
A source close to the 18 young suspects accused last summer of a terrorist truck-bomb conspiracy says that family and friends of the accused now ask these questions. They suggest Mr. Kafayatullah, who has never been named in connection with the investigation, could have been a provocateur working against the alleged extremists.
[. . .]
Mr. Kafayatullah first came to Canada in the 1980s, but often returns to his war-torn homeland. He loves Afghanistan -- and in particular, his Pashtun culture. On a Yahoo Internet group for his kinsmen, he has posted hundreds of messages.
The source close to the families of the accused said Mr. Kafayatullah frequently asserted knowledge of explosives as he got to know the suspects. It's also alleged that "he misled some parents and said the December camp was to be fun . . . he would be the responsible, older adult at the camp."
Beyond talking to suspects at early stages, there are no indications that Mr. Kafayatullah ever went to the camp.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
CBC Indepth: Toronto bomb plot
'Devout Muslim' informer aided in Toronto conspiracy arrests
Preliminary hearing for four teens arrested in last June's anti-terrorism sweep in Toronto
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Muslim bookseller "good friend" of Pakistani terrorist leader. How did this guy get into Canada?
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian courts law Ontario Toronto Afghanistan Afghanis Afghan Canadians homegrown terrorism terrorists terrorist Islam Muslims Toronto bomb plot
It's not clear how Qari Kafayatullah entered the orbit of the young alleged extremists accused of plotting a terrorist attack on Canadian soil. Then again, much about the 46-year-old's life raises more questions than answers.
How does a cab-driver-turned-development-worker find himself facing allegations he is near the centre of the biggest anti-terrorism probe in Canadian history? More important, how does the Afghan imam emerge unscathed to date?
A source close to the 18 young suspects accused last summer of a terrorist truck-bomb conspiracy says that family and friends of the accused now ask these questions. They suggest Mr. Kafayatullah, who has never been named in connection with the investigation, could have been a provocateur working against the alleged extremists.
[. . .]
Mr. Kafayatullah first came to Canada in the 1980s, but often returns to his war-torn homeland. He loves Afghanistan -- and in particular, his Pashtun culture. On a Yahoo Internet group for his kinsmen, he has posted hundreds of messages.
The source close to the families of the accused said Mr. Kafayatullah frequently asserted knowledge of explosives as he got to know the suspects. It's also alleged that "he misled some parents and said the December camp was to be fun . . . he would be the responsible, older adult at the camp."
Beyond talking to suspects at early stages, there are no indications that Mr. Kafayatullah ever went to the camp.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
CBC Indepth: Toronto bomb plot
'Devout Muslim' informer aided in Toronto conspiracy arrests
Preliminary hearing for four teens arrested in last June's anti-terrorism sweep in Toronto
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Muslim bookseller "good friend" of Pakistani terrorist leader. How did this guy get into Canada?
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian courts law Ontario Toronto Afghanistan Afghanis Afghan Canadians homegrown terrorism terrorists terrorist Islam Muslims Toronto bomb plot
Man accused of setting woman on fire
From the Toronto Star (Man accused of setting woman, self ablaze Tamara Cherry and Linda Nguyen):
A man has been arrested after allegedly pouring gasoline on himself and a woman and setting them both on fire in the city’s downtown core Monday morning.
[. . .]
Fred Chung Fai Quong, 58, of Toronto, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and mischief endangering life.
Read the whole article.
I guess his machete is in the shop being sharpened. See. What did I tell you? If they ban guns people will just use gasoline and matches.
Technorati tags: Toronto crime
A man has been arrested after allegedly pouring gasoline on himself and a woman and setting them both on fire in the city’s downtown core Monday morning.
[. . .]
Fred Chung Fai Quong, 58, of Toronto, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and mischief endangering life.
Read the whole article.
I guess his machete is in the shop being sharpened. See. What did I tell you? If they ban guns people will just use gasoline and matches.
Technorati tags: Toronto crime
Monday, January 15, 2007
New York Times review of Little Mosque on the Prairie
[Update: a good source of information about Muslim terrorism is Jihad Watch.]
Original post:
From the (‘Little Mosque’ Defuses Hate With Humor by Christopher Mason, January 16, 2007):
When it comes to producing a funny television show or movie in Canada, producers here have a reliable stable of topics: French-English relations, urban-rural dynamics and anything that involves a bumbling politician or the United States.
But Islam — something of a third rail of comedy throughout the Western world — did not make the list, which is one reason the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s new situation comedy, “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” is attracting such attention here. “It is a risk doing a sitcom about what can be considered a very touchy subject,” said Kirstine Layfield, executive director of network programming at CBC.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Risk? What risk? A politically correct show about how Muslim immigrants are just plain folks isn't a risk. A risk would be a show about Canadian-born Muslims plotting to behead the prime minister or about Somali-Canadian jihadists returning to the homeland to impose sharia law. A show about cousin marriage, honour killings and female genital mutilation. Now that would be a risk! Oh, wait a second. My mistake. The CBC already has a show like that. It's called the news.]
But last Tuesday’s series premiere attracted 2.09 million viewers, impressive in a country where an audience of one million is a runaway hit. The CBC had not had a show draw that size audience in a decade, according to the network.
[. . .]
The show has been criticized for treating too lightly the threat posed by radical Islam and the imams who preach it. The newly hired imam in “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” Amaar Rashid, is clean-shaven, wears tight jeans and has the “ravishing looks of a soap-opera star,” as the columnist Margaret Wente wrote in the Toronto daily newspaper The Globe and Mail.
“If there’s an imam on Earth who resembles this one, I will convert to Islam, don the veil and catch the next plane to Mecca,” she added.
[. . .]
Read all of Christopher Mason's article.
See also:
Michael Coren reviews Little Mosque on the Prairie: "Some caricatures are more obnoxious than others."
Technorati tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie Canada Canadian culture media entertainment CBC multiculturalism cultural diversity Islam Muslims
Original post:
From the (‘Little Mosque’ Defuses Hate With Humor by Christopher Mason, January 16, 2007):
When it comes to producing a funny television show or movie in Canada, producers here have a reliable stable of topics: French-English relations, urban-rural dynamics and anything that involves a bumbling politician or the United States.
But Islam — something of a third rail of comedy throughout the Western world — did not make the list, which is one reason the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s new situation comedy, “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” is attracting such attention here. “It is a risk doing a sitcom about what can be considered a very touchy subject,” said Kirstine Layfield, executive director of network programming at CBC.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Risk? What risk? A politically correct show about how Muslim immigrants are just plain folks isn't a risk. A risk would be a show about Canadian-born Muslims plotting to behead the prime minister or about Somali-Canadian jihadists returning to the homeland to impose sharia law. A show about cousin marriage, honour killings and female genital mutilation. Now that would be a risk! Oh, wait a second. My mistake. The CBC already has a show like that. It's called the news.]
But last Tuesday’s series premiere attracted 2.09 million viewers, impressive in a country where an audience of one million is a runaway hit. The CBC had not had a show draw that size audience in a decade, according to the network.
[. . .]
The show has been criticized for treating too lightly the threat posed by radical Islam and the imams who preach it. The newly hired imam in “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” Amaar Rashid, is clean-shaven, wears tight jeans and has the “ravishing looks of a soap-opera star,” as the columnist Margaret Wente wrote in the Toronto daily newspaper The Globe and Mail.
“If there’s an imam on Earth who resembles this one, I will convert to Islam, don the veil and catch the next plane to Mecca,” she added.
[. . .]
Read all of Christopher Mason's article.
See also:
Michael Coren reviews Little Mosque on the Prairie: "Some caricatures are more obnoxious than others."
Technorati tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie Canada Canadian culture media entertainment CBC multiculturalism cultural diversity Islam Muslims
It isn't all doom and gloom. Some pictures from the neighbourhood skating rink
A lot of the people who visit my blog are outside Canada. It's nice to know readers in other countries are interested in what I post here. I'm guessing some of these visitors are originally from Toronto, but I also imagine a lot of my readers have never been to this city. If all they know about Toronto is what I post here, they might have a skewed impression, because my blog deliberately focuses on the bad aspects of Canadian immigration policy. I'm not negative for the sake of it. I concentrate on what is bad because I want to draw attention to what I believe are very serious problems. Canadians need to think long and hard about what immigration is doing to our country and Toronto, along with Vancouver, is the region most affected by immigration. That said, not everything in this city is bad. Despite the growing problems, it's still possible to have a good life here. People still have fun. For example, the city recently rebuilt the outdoor skating rink at my local park. For anyone who is curious about how one local park in Toronto looks like, here are some pictures from the official opening of the skating rink.
See also:
A conversation with a drunk man in a west-end Toronto park
"We're disgusted with the hookers, pimps and crackheads"
Technorati tags: Toronto parks sports skating rinks
See also:
A conversation with a drunk man in a west-end Toronto park
"We're disgusted with the hookers, pimps and crackheads"
Technorati tags: Toronto parks sports skating rinks
Jean-Yves Brutus - Haitian gang member avoided deportation by claiming he would be tortured
From the Globe and Mail (Quebec murder case puts deportation process in spotlight by Tu Thanh Ha, January 13, 2007):
By the time he appeared before an immigration judge in 2002, Jean-Yves Brutus was known to Montreal police as a street-gang member who wore gang colours, recruited runaway girls and possessed a pistol and a sawed-off rifle.
An immigrant from Haiti, he was ordered deported but he never left Canada, because his lawyer successfully persuaded immigration officials that Mr. Brutus's life would be threatened if he were sent back.
Last week, Mr. Brutus, 26, was charged with attempted murder in a case in which the victim was reportedly shot in the back for being part of a group that wore the wrong colour of clothing in a gang neighbourhood.
Mr. Brutus's case puts the spotlight on the procedure known as preremoval risk assessments, in which immigration officers have to balance how much risk someone facing deportation poses for society against the potential dangers that person faces once expelled from Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Tu Thanh Ha's article.
See also:
Another day, another refugee rapist. Today's knife-wielding advertisement for immigration reform hails from Somalia.
Fernando Zola: Refugee claimant who raped teen seven times gets 25 years
Mohamed Mahjoub case: Judge rules Ottawa can't deport Egyptian suspected of terrorism
Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
Technorati tags: Canada immigration Canadian law deportation Haitian immigrants Montreal crime Quebec Haiti
By the time he appeared before an immigration judge in 2002, Jean-Yves Brutus was known to Montreal police as a street-gang member who wore gang colours, recruited runaway girls and possessed a pistol and a sawed-off rifle.
An immigrant from Haiti, he was ordered deported but he never left Canada, because his lawyer successfully persuaded immigration officials that Mr. Brutus's life would be threatened if he were sent back.
Last week, Mr. Brutus, 26, was charged with attempted murder in a case in which the victim was reportedly shot in the back for being part of a group that wore the wrong colour of clothing in a gang neighbourhood.
Mr. Brutus's case puts the spotlight on the procedure known as preremoval risk assessments, in which immigration officers have to balance how much risk someone facing deportation poses for society against the potential dangers that person faces once expelled from Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Tu Thanh Ha's article.
See also:
Another day, another refugee rapist. Today's knife-wielding advertisement for immigration reform hails from Somalia.
Fernando Zola: Refugee claimant who raped teen seven times gets 25 years
Mohamed Mahjoub case: Judge rules Ottawa can't deport Egyptian suspected of terrorism
Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
Technorati tags: Canada immigration Canadian law deportation Haitian immigrants Montreal crime Quebec Haiti
Windsor police board member wants speaker arrested for saying Islam promotes terrorism
From the Windsor Star (Hate crime or free speech? by Trevor Wilhelm and Dalson Chen, January 13, 2007):
A member of the Windsor Police Services Board says the anti-Islamic lecture held at a Baptist church Thursday night was a hate crime, and he's leading the charge to have the speaker arrested.
Wally Chafchak, also a member of the Windsor Islamic Association, said he and other Muslims and Christians have approached police about the lecture by Zachariah Anani.
[. . .]
The Campbell Baptist Church on Wyandotte Street West held a lecture Thursday called The Deadly Threat of Islam, with Anani as the guest speaker. Born in Lebanon, he has claimed on Fox News to be a former terrorist who killed 223 people in the name of Islam.
Now a Christian convert, Anani said Islamic doctrine teaches the "ambushing, seizing and slaying" of non-believers, especially Jews and Christians. He said Islam is a religion that worships a god "who strikes with terror."
Pastor Donald McKay, who heads the Baptist church of about 350 members, also called Islam "oppressive" and "vicious."
Chafchak said the Islamic association will hold a news conference today at Windsor Mosque in response to Thursday's event.
[. . .]
Windsor police Staff Sgt. William Donnelly said Friday evening he had no records of formal complaints against Anani.
But he said there are police records of Anani complaining of hate and harassment against himself. Donnelly said Anani complained of receiving threatening letters and phone calls.
[. . .]
Read all of the Windsor Star article.
See also:
Is it legal to say Muslim immigration is bad for Canada? For that matter, is it even legal to ask the question?
Haroon Siddiqui: "a growing realization that freedom of speech is circumscribed"
Technorati tags: Canada Ontario Windsor Islam Muslims Islamic theology terrorism multiculturalism hate speech laws free speech
A member of the Windsor Police Services Board says the anti-Islamic lecture held at a Baptist church Thursday night was a hate crime, and he's leading the charge to have the speaker arrested.
Wally Chafchak, also a member of the Windsor Islamic Association, said he and other Muslims and Christians have approached police about the lecture by Zachariah Anani.
[. . .]
The Campbell Baptist Church on Wyandotte Street West held a lecture Thursday called The Deadly Threat of Islam, with Anani as the guest speaker. Born in Lebanon, he has claimed on Fox News to be a former terrorist who killed 223 people in the name of Islam.
Now a Christian convert, Anani said Islamic doctrine teaches the "ambushing, seizing and slaying" of non-believers, especially Jews and Christians. He said Islam is a religion that worships a god "who strikes with terror."
Pastor Donald McKay, who heads the Baptist church of about 350 members, also called Islam "oppressive" and "vicious."
Chafchak said the Islamic association will hold a news conference today at Windsor Mosque in response to Thursday's event.
[. . .]
Windsor police Staff Sgt. William Donnelly said Friday evening he had no records of formal complaints against Anani.
But he said there are police records of Anani complaining of hate and harassment against himself. Donnelly said Anani complained of receiving threatening letters and phone calls.
[. . .]
Read all of the Windsor Star article.
See also:
Is it legal to say Muslim immigration is bad for Canada? For that matter, is it even legal to ask the question?
Haroon Siddiqui: "a growing realization that freedom of speech is circumscribed"
Technorati tags: Canada Ontario Windsor Islam Muslims Islamic theology terrorism multiculturalism hate speech laws free speech
Brussels Journal: Dutch fear rising ethnic tensions
From the Brussels Journal (Finger in the Dyke: Dutch fear rising ethnic tensions by Paul Belien, January 14, 2007):
The Netherlands may soon witness an outburst of ethnic violence. An official report published last Wednesday states that “tensions between various ethnic and cultural groups of youths are seriously underestimated.” The report points out that the Dutch authorities fail to grasp the gravity of the problem. It warns the government in The Hague that if nothing is done the country will soon witness situations similar to those in France. There violent clashes, which erupted in late 2005, have led to the police abandoning immigrant suburbs to gangs of Muslim youths, who have now taken over effective control of more than 750 French urban neighborhoods.
[. . .]
Read all of Paul Belien's article.
I fear similar ethnic tensions are developing in Toronto. A lot of Canadians have this idea that our policy of multiculturalism makes us immune to the ethnic conflicts that exist in other parts of the world. I think we are in for a rude awakening. Things could get ugly here real fast.
See also:
Could riots like those in France happen in Canada?
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Technorati tags: Netherlands immigration Europe Muslims Canada multiculturalism
The Netherlands may soon witness an outburst of ethnic violence. An official report published last Wednesday states that “tensions between various ethnic and cultural groups of youths are seriously underestimated.” The report points out that the Dutch authorities fail to grasp the gravity of the problem. It warns the government in The Hague that if nothing is done the country will soon witness situations similar to those in France. There violent clashes, which erupted in late 2005, have led to the police abandoning immigrant suburbs to gangs of Muslim youths, who have now taken over effective control of more than 750 French urban neighborhoods.
[. . .]
Read all of Paul Belien's article.
I fear similar ethnic tensions are developing in Toronto. A lot of Canadians have this idea that our policy of multiculturalism makes us immune to the ethnic conflicts that exist in other parts of the world. I think we are in for a rude awakening. Things could get ugly here real fast.
See also:
Could riots like those in France happen in Canada?
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Technorati tags: Netherlands immigration Europe Muslims Canada multiculturalism
Preliminary hearing for four teens arrested in last June's anti-terrorism sweep in Toronto
From CTV News (Hearing begins for youngest Ont. terror suspects, January 15, 2007):
Four Toronto-area teenagers accused of practicing terrorist training at a camp in cottage country are to appear in a Brampton, Ont. court Monday to begin their preliminary hearing.
The teens were among a group of 18 adults and youths arrested during sweeping raids in an alleged homegrown terror plot. The roundup made headlines around the world.
Police claim the group of predominantly young, Canadian-born Muslims planned to bomb Toronto and other southern Ontario targets.
The youths are accused of training at a site near Washago, about an hour north of Toronto, which locals have now jokingly dubbed "al Qaeda hill," the Toronto Star reports.
One of the teens is in custody as the other three have been granted bail with strict conditions.
Read all of the CTV article.
See also:
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Terrorism in Canada: "The public does not need calming. The public needs the truth." - Senator Colin Kenny
Technorati tags: Canada Ontario Toronto Brampton Canadian courts Muslims terrorism terrorists Toronto bomb plot
Four Toronto-area teenagers accused of practicing terrorist training at a camp in cottage country are to appear in a Brampton, Ont. court Monday to begin their preliminary hearing.
The teens were among a group of 18 adults and youths arrested during sweeping raids in an alleged homegrown terror plot. The roundup made headlines around the world.
Police claim the group of predominantly young, Canadian-born Muslims planned to bomb Toronto and other southern Ontario targets.
The youths are accused of training at a site near Washago, about an hour north of Toronto, which locals have now jokingly dubbed "al Qaeda hill," the Toronto Star reports.
One of the teens is in custody as the other three have been granted bail with strict conditions.
Read all of the CTV article.
See also:
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Terrorism in Canada: "The public does not need calming. The public needs the truth." - Senator Colin Kenny
Technorati tags: Canada Ontario Toronto Brampton Canadian courts Muslims terrorism terrorists Toronto bomb plot
Saturday, January 13, 2007
New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official
From the website of the Sikh Youth of BC (Commemorating the Sacrifice Made by Shaheed Bhai Mewa Singh Ji ):
Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar, New Westminster will be celebrating the sacrifice made to the community by Shaheed (Martyr) Bhai Mewa Singh on January 12th to 14th 2007, who was the first and only Sikh to be executed in Canada.
[Hyphenated Canadian: One community's "martyr" is another community's terrorist, I guess.]
He sacrificed his own life for his beliefs to fight against injustice to the poor and community.
[. . .]
The last straw in these discriminatory incidents came on Sunday September 6, 1914 when Bela Singh Jain an informer and agent of Inspector Hopkinson, pulled out two guns and started shooting at the Khalsa Diwan Society Gurdwara Sahib on West 2nd Avenue. He murdered Bhai Bhag Singh, President of the Society and Battan Singh and Bela Singh was charged with murder, but Hopkinson decided to appear as a witness in his case and made up much of his testimony at his trail and subsequently Bela Singh was acquitted.
On October 21, 1914, Bhai Mewa Singh, Granthi of Khalsa Diwan Society shot William Hopkinson in the Assize court corridor with two revolvers because he believed him to be unscrupulous and corrupt, using informers to spy on Indian immigrants.
At the trail in the court of Judge Morrison, Mr. Wood the attorney of Mewa Singh in his statement said, “The Sikh community felt that Hopkinson was in part responsible for the failure of the plans to land the Sikhs aboard the Komagata Maru. He was born in India (English Father and East Indian mother). He could speak Indian languages fluently. He established a ring of informers to report about the activities of the Sikh community. Bela Singh Jain was his chief informer and an employee of Immigration department. He acted as a victorious lord over his community and was backed by his boss Hopkinson”. Mewa Singh made a historical statement in the Court:
“My religion does not teach me to bear enmity with anybody, nor had I any enmity with Mr. Hopkinson.
[Hyphenated Canadian: He loved Mr. Hopkinson so much he just had to kill him.]
He was oppressing poor people very much. I, being a staunch Sikh, could no longer bear to see the wrong done both to my countrymen and Dominion of Canada. This is what led me to take Hopkinson’s life and sacrifice my own life. And I, performing the duty of a true Sikh and remembering the name of God, will proceed towards the scaffold with the same amount of pleasure as a hungry babe goes towards his mother. I am sure God will take me into His blissful arms.”
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Wow. If a minority group doesn't like Canadian immigration policy, it is justified in murdering the government officials charged with enforcing it. Now that's multiculturalism with a vengeance! Let's be clear. If this article is accurate, the gurdwara is teaching its members to despise the British Canadians who built Canada. I don't believe in "hate speech" laws, but I do note the inconsistency with which they are enforced. It seems to me saying a murdered Canadian official deserved to die is hateful speech. Assassinating a government official is a terrorist act whatever the circumstances. In honouring this assassin, the Sikhs at this gurdwara are honouring a terrorist.
Does the gurdwara believe Sikhs today would be justified in assassinating a CSIS agent who was using informants to monitor Sikh extremists in Canada? Would a Muslim who objected to Canada's treatment of Maher Arar be justified in murdering government officials?
This last question isn't entirely theoretical. In July, 2005 Aly Hindy, head of head of Scarborough's Salaheddin Islamic Centre, caused a controversy with some remarks directed at CSIS. From a Globe and Mail article (Imam warns Ottawa to back off Muslims by Colin Freeze, July 25, 2005):
A controversial Toronto imam warned Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan at a closed-door meeting to stop "terrorizing" Canadian Muslims.
"If you try to cross the line I can't guarantee what is going to happen. Our young people, we can't control," Aly Hindy, the head of Scarborough's Salaheddin Islamic Centre, recalls telling the minister at the May meeting she held in Toronto with dozens of Muslim leaders.
[. . .]
Mr. Hindy, who has long complained that CSIS is spying on him, his family and his mosque, told Ms. McLellan that a young Muslim woman complained to him she was roughed up by Canadian spies while her husband was away at prayers. This allegation could spur reprisals because "our women are the most valuable thing to us" and "for a Muslim, honour is more important than his life," Mr. Hindy said in a recent interview.
More on Jihad Watch
See also:
Sikh extremists in Canada: a culture of fear and intimidation
Layton says Canada should apologize for Komagata Maru incident. Conservatives agree
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian history British Columbia BC New Westminster Sikhs multiculturalism immigration terrorism Khalsa Diwan Society Komagata Maru
Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar, New Westminster will be celebrating the sacrifice made to the community by Shaheed (Martyr) Bhai Mewa Singh on January 12th to 14th 2007, who was the first and only Sikh to be executed in Canada.
[Hyphenated Canadian: One community's "martyr" is another community's terrorist, I guess.]
He sacrificed his own life for his beliefs to fight against injustice to the poor and community.
[. . .]
The last straw in these discriminatory incidents came on Sunday September 6, 1914 when Bela Singh Jain an informer and agent of Inspector Hopkinson, pulled out two guns and started shooting at the Khalsa Diwan Society Gurdwara Sahib on West 2nd Avenue. He murdered Bhai Bhag Singh, President of the Society and Battan Singh and Bela Singh was charged with murder, but Hopkinson decided to appear as a witness in his case and made up much of his testimony at his trail and subsequently Bela Singh was acquitted.
On October 21, 1914, Bhai Mewa Singh, Granthi of Khalsa Diwan Society shot William Hopkinson in the Assize court corridor with two revolvers because he believed him to be unscrupulous and corrupt, using informers to spy on Indian immigrants.
At the trail in the court of Judge Morrison, Mr. Wood the attorney of Mewa Singh in his statement said, “The Sikh community felt that Hopkinson was in part responsible for the failure of the plans to land the Sikhs aboard the Komagata Maru. He was born in India (English Father and East Indian mother). He could speak Indian languages fluently. He established a ring of informers to report about the activities of the Sikh community. Bela Singh Jain was his chief informer and an employee of Immigration department. He acted as a victorious lord over his community and was backed by his boss Hopkinson”. Mewa Singh made a historical statement in the Court:
“My religion does not teach me to bear enmity with anybody, nor had I any enmity with Mr. Hopkinson.
[Hyphenated Canadian: He loved Mr. Hopkinson so much he just had to kill him.]
He was oppressing poor people very much. I, being a staunch Sikh, could no longer bear to see the wrong done both to my countrymen and Dominion of Canada. This is what led me to take Hopkinson’s life and sacrifice my own life. And I, performing the duty of a true Sikh and remembering the name of God, will proceed towards the scaffold with the same amount of pleasure as a hungry babe goes towards his mother. I am sure God will take me into His blissful arms.”
[. . .]
Read the whole article.
Wow. If a minority group doesn't like Canadian immigration policy, it is justified in murdering the government officials charged with enforcing it. Now that's multiculturalism with a vengeance! Let's be clear. If this article is accurate, the gurdwara is teaching its members to despise the British Canadians who built Canada. I don't believe in "hate speech" laws, but I do note the inconsistency with which they are enforced. It seems to me saying a murdered Canadian official deserved to die is hateful speech. Assassinating a government official is a terrorist act whatever the circumstances. In honouring this assassin, the Sikhs at this gurdwara are honouring a terrorist.
Does the gurdwara believe Sikhs today would be justified in assassinating a CSIS agent who was using informants to monitor Sikh extremists in Canada? Would a Muslim who objected to Canada's treatment of Maher Arar be justified in murdering government officials?
This last question isn't entirely theoretical. In July, 2005 Aly Hindy, head of head of Scarborough's Salaheddin Islamic Centre, caused a controversy with some remarks directed at CSIS. From a Globe and Mail article (Imam warns Ottawa to back off Muslims by Colin Freeze, July 25, 2005):
A controversial Toronto imam warned Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan at a closed-door meeting to stop "terrorizing" Canadian Muslims.
"If you try to cross the line I can't guarantee what is going to happen. Our young people, we can't control," Aly Hindy, the head of Scarborough's Salaheddin Islamic Centre, recalls telling the minister at the May meeting she held in Toronto with dozens of Muslim leaders.
[. . .]
Mr. Hindy, who has long complained that CSIS is spying on him, his family and his mosque, told Ms. McLellan that a young Muslim woman complained to him she was roughed up by Canadian spies while her husband was away at prayers. This allegation could spur reprisals because "our women are the most valuable thing to us" and "for a Muslim, honour is more important than his life," Mr. Hindy said in a recent interview.
More on Jihad Watch
See also:
Sikh extremists in Canada: a culture of fear and intimidation
Layton says Canada should apologize for Komagata Maru incident. Conservatives agree
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian history British Columbia BC New Westminster Sikhs multiculturalism immigration terrorism Khalsa Diwan Society Komagata Maru
Adam DePrisco- autopsy concluded but family wants results kept private
From Canadian Press via the Toronto Star (Family wants autopsy results kept private, January 13, 2007):
Ontario's chief coroner has concluded the autopsy on the Woodbridge, Ont., man who died this week in Mexico, but says the family does not want the cause of death made public.
[. . .]
DePrisco’s body arrived at the coroner’s office early Saturday and Dr. Barry McLellan took several hours to conduct the second autopsy. The first autopsy had been performed in Mexico.
“The results of the examination have been made available to Adam’s family and they have requested that the result not be made public at this time,” McLellan said.
“I am aware that there is a significant amount of public interest in the result of the autopsy, but I also know that the public will respect the privacy that the family is requesting at this time, as the family is in the process of coping with a very tragic death.”
[. . .]
DePrisco’s death comes nearly a year after Dominic and Nancy Ianiero of Woodbridge — the same suburb north of Toronto where the DePrisco family lives — were found slain in their hotel room at a resort near Cancun.
[. . .]
Read all of the Canadian Press story.
Today's Globe and Mail also has an article about this case (Man's body is flown back from Mexico by Oliver Moore and Lazlo Buhasz, January 13, 2007)
The 19-year-old is the third Canadian visitor to Mexico to die in violent circumstance in less than a year. Domenic and Nancy Ianiero were killed in Cancun last February and their family is still asking for an explanation.
All three victims hailed from Woodbridge, Ont. "I've already heard of people cancelling their trips," said Maurizio Bevilacqua, who is the Liberal MP for the Woodbridge area.
"There's a concern amongst Canadians that people have been murdered in Mexico and there's a sense that justice isn't being done," he added in a phone interview yesterday. "It begins to enter the people's consciousness -- what is going on here?"
Mr. Bevilacqua, who spent several hours with Mr. DePrisco's family on Thursday, said they fear their questions may never get answered.
"There's a lot of sadness, obviously, but also real concern about getting to the bottom of it," he said. "They want justice done by the Mexican authorities."
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
Is Mexico About To Fall Apart? Brenda Walker Says Yes
Adam DePrisco - autopsy ordered for Canadian killed in Mexico
Adam DePrisco - Woodbridge family believes son killed in Mexico was beaten
Technorati tags: Adam DePrisco Mexico Mexican police Acapulco crime corruption justice system Canada Ontario Woodbridge Toronto GTA Ianiero
Ontario's chief coroner has concluded the autopsy on the Woodbridge, Ont., man who died this week in Mexico, but says the family does not want the cause of death made public.
[. . .]
DePrisco’s body arrived at the coroner’s office early Saturday and Dr. Barry McLellan took several hours to conduct the second autopsy. The first autopsy had been performed in Mexico.
“The results of the examination have been made available to Adam’s family and they have requested that the result not be made public at this time,” McLellan said.
“I am aware that there is a significant amount of public interest in the result of the autopsy, but I also know that the public will respect the privacy that the family is requesting at this time, as the family is in the process of coping with a very tragic death.”
[. . .]
DePrisco’s death comes nearly a year after Dominic and Nancy Ianiero of Woodbridge — the same suburb north of Toronto where the DePrisco family lives — were found slain in their hotel room at a resort near Cancun.
[. . .]
Read all of the Canadian Press story.
Today's Globe and Mail also has an article about this case (Man's body is flown back from Mexico by Oliver Moore and Lazlo Buhasz, January 13, 2007)
The 19-year-old is the third Canadian visitor to Mexico to die in violent circumstance in less than a year. Domenic and Nancy Ianiero were killed in Cancun last February and their family is still asking for an explanation.
All three victims hailed from Woodbridge, Ont. "I've already heard of people cancelling their trips," said Maurizio Bevilacqua, who is the Liberal MP for the Woodbridge area.
"There's a concern amongst Canadians that people have been murdered in Mexico and there's a sense that justice isn't being done," he added in a phone interview yesterday. "It begins to enter the people's consciousness -- what is going on here?"
Mr. Bevilacqua, who spent several hours with Mr. DePrisco's family on Thursday, said they fear their questions may never get answered.
"There's a lot of sadness, obviously, but also real concern about getting to the bottom of it," he said. "They want justice done by the Mexican authorities."
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
Is Mexico About To Fall Apart? Brenda Walker Says Yes
Adam DePrisco - autopsy ordered for Canadian killed in Mexico
Adam DePrisco - Woodbridge family believes son killed in Mexico was beaten
Technorati tags: Adam DePrisco Mexico Mexican police Acapulco crime corruption justice system Canada Ontario Woodbridge Toronto GTA Ianiero
Nyamko Sabuni - Sweden's Congo-born immigration minister wants newcomers to assimilate
From the New York Times (Sweden’s Lightning Rod in a Storm Over Assimilation by Sarah Lyall, January 13, 2007):
Nyamko Sabuni would stand out anyway, being tiny, dark-skinned and obviously foreign in a place where those things are still anomalies. But as the recently appointed minister for integration and gender equality, she tends to draw more attention for her unusually blunt pronouncements about the place of immigrants in Swedish society.
As an opposition politician, Ms. Sabuni proposed banning the veil for girls under the age of 15. She proposed that schoolgirls undergo compulsory medical examinations to check for evidence of genital mutilation. She denounced what she called the “honor culture” of some immigrant groups, proposed outlawing arranged marriages and called for an end to state financing of religious schools.
Even as furious immigrant and minority groups demand that she be removed from her post, Ms. Sabuni, 37, insists that she is not as extreme as people make her out to be. Given that Sweden is governed by a coalition in which parliamentary votes cannot always be counted on, it is unlikely, anyway, that most of her ideas could plausibly translate into actual law. Nonetheless, she stands by her basic premise: that immigrants must try harder to fit in to their adopted country.
[. . .]
The daughter of a frequently jailed opposition politician in Congo, then Zaire, who fled to Sweden as a political refugee, Ms. Sabuni has a past so singular for Sweden that she arguably represents a minority of one. The story of how she arrived here with her parents and five of her siblings at the age of 12, learned Swedish, thrived in school and in college and ultimately got elected to Parliament and elevated to the cabinet is almost American in its can-do trajectory.
[. . .]
Read all of Sarah Lyall's New York Times article.
See also:
Swedish Welfare State Collapses as Immigrants Wage War
Is Swedish Democracy Collapsing?
Technorati tags: Nyamko Sabuni Sweden politics Swedish Europe immigration African immigrants multiculturalism Congo Zaire Africa Africans
Nyamko Sabuni would stand out anyway, being tiny, dark-skinned and obviously foreign in a place where those things are still anomalies. But as the recently appointed minister for integration and gender equality, she tends to draw more attention for her unusually blunt pronouncements about the place of immigrants in Swedish society.
As an opposition politician, Ms. Sabuni proposed banning the veil for girls under the age of 15. She proposed that schoolgirls undergo compulsory medical examinations to check for evidence of genital mutilation. She denounced what she called the “honor culture” of some immigrant groups, proposed outlawing arranged marriages and called for an end to state financing of religious schools.
Even as furious immigrant and minority groups demand that she be removed from her post, Ms. Sabuni, 37, insists that she is not as extreme as people make her out to be. Given that Sweden is governed by a coalition in which parliamentary votes cannot always be counted on, it is unlikely, anyway, that most of her ideas could plausibly translate into actual law. Nonetheless, she stands by her basic premise: that immigrants must try harder to fit in to their adopted country.
[. . .]
The daughter of a frequently jailed opposition politician in Congo, then Zaire, who fled to Sweden as a political refugee, Ms. Sabuni has a past so singular for Sweden that she arguably represents a minority of one. The story of how she arrived here with her parents and five of her siblings at the age of 12, learned Swedish, thrived in school and in college and ultimately got elected to Parliament and elevated to the cabinet is almost American in its can-do trajectory.
[. . .]
Read all of Sarah Lyall's New York Times article.
See also:
Swedish Welfare State Collapses as Immigrants Wage War
Is Swedish Democracy Collapsing?
Technorati tags: Nyamko Sabuni Sweden politics Swedish Europe immigration African immigrants multiculturalism Congo Zaire Africa Africans
Michael Coren reviews Little Mosque on the Prairie: "Some caricatures are more obnoxious than others."
From the Toronto Sun (Show is visual drudgery by Michael Coren, January 13, 2007):
When sane people read about a comedy show called Little Mosque on the Prairie made by a notoriously liberal public broadcaster they assumed it was a clever self-parody.
The CBC had at last found a sense of humour, they assumed, and was making fun of its own reputation for political correctness and plodding leftism.
[. . .]
Then they saw it. The usual visual drudgery. Awful Canadian actors mouthing lamentable dialogue packed with cliches and telegraphed attempts at humour. The bland leading the bland. And all paid for by your tax dollars -- including the huge advertising campaign for the project. Public money that could otherwise have been spent on something trivial like a nurse in an intensive care ward.
[. . .]
Everyone is a caricature in Little Mosque, but some caricatures are more obnoxious than others.
The Muslim characters are nice and kind and ordinary in that quintessentially Canadian way. Some of them may be silly and old-fashioned but they'd never hurt a fly, let alone kill an infidel.
[. . .]
Read all of Michael Coren's column.
See also:
Little Mosque on the Prairie opens with good ratings
Muslim leaders urge followers to watch CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
Technorati tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie Canada Canadian culture media entertainment CBC multiculturalism cultural diversity Islam Muslims
When sane people read about a comedy show called Little Mosque on the Prairie made by a notoriously liberal public broadcaster they assumed it was a clever self-parody.
The CBC had at last found a sense of humour, they assumed, and was making fun of its own reputation for political correctness and plodding leftism.
[. . .]
Then they saw it. The usual visual drudgery. Awful Canadian actors mouthing lamentable dialogue packed with cliches and telegraphed attempts at humour. The bland leading the bland. And all paid for by your tax dollars -- including the huge advertising campaign for the project. Public money that could otherwise have been spent on something trivial like a nurse in an intensive care ward.
[. . .]
Everyone is a caricature in Little Mosque, but some caricatures are more obnoxious than others.
The Muslim characters are nice and kind and ordinary in that quintessentially Canadian way. Some of them may be silly and old-fashioned but they'd never hurt a fly, let alone kill an infidel.
[. . .]
Read all of Michael Coren's column.
See also:
Little Mosque on the Prairie opens with good ratings
Muslim leaders urge followers to watch CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie
Technorati tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie Canada Canadian culture media entertainment CBC multiculturalism cultural diversity Islam Muslims
Friday, January 12, 2007
Globe: Visible-minority immigrants "identify less and less" with Canada
From the Globe and Mail (How Canadian are you? by Marina Jimenez, January 12, 2007):
Visible-minority immigrants are slower to integrate into Canadian society than their white, European counterparts, and feel less Canadian, suggesting multiculturalism doesn't work as well for non-whites, according to a landmark report.
The study, based on an analysis of 2002 Statistics Canada data, found that the children of visible-minority immigrants exhibited a more profound sense of exclusion than their parents.
Visible-minority newcomers, and their offspring, identify themselves less as Canadians, trust their fellow citizens less and are less likely to vote than white immigrants from Europe.
The findings suggest that multiculturalism, Canada's official policy on interethnic relations since 1971, is not working as well for newer immigrants or for their children, who hail largely from China, South Asia and the Caribbean, conclude co-authors Jeffrey Reitz, a University of Toronto sociologist, and Rupa Banerjee, a doctoral candidate.
It is also a warning that Canada, long considered a model of integration, won't be forever immune from the kind of social disruption that has plagued Europe, where marginalized immigrant communities have erupted in discontent, with riots in the Paris suburbs in the fall of 2005.
"We need to address the racial divide," Prof. Reitz said. "Otherwise there is a danger of social breakdown. The principle of multiculturalism was equal participation of minorities in mainstream institutions. That is no longer happening."
[. . .]
Read all of Marina Jimenez's article.
See also:
Fragmented Future: Multiculturalism doesn’t make vibrant communities but defensive ones.
New study by 'Bowling Alone' author: Ethnic diversity breeds mistrust
Canadian immigration policy: why race matters
Race and Canadian identity
"As numbers have grown . . . there is a much greater comfort level in embracing South Asian identity and even religious identity."
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Could riots like those in France happen in Canada?
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian immigration immigrants multiculturalism cultural diversity race relations visible minorities racism sociology Jeffrey Reitz
Visible-minority immigrants are slower to integrate into Canadian society than their white, European counterparts, and feel less Canadian, suggesting multiculturalism doesn't work as well for non-whites, according to a landmark report.
The study, based on an analysis of 2002 Statistics Canada data, found that the children of visible-minority immigrants exhibited a more profound sense of exclusion than their parents.
Visible-minority newcomers, and their offspring, identify themselves less as Canadians, trust their fellow citizens less and are less likely to vote than white immigrants from Europe.
The findings suggest that multiculturalism, Canada's official policy on interethnic relations since 1971, is not working as well for newer immigrants or for their children, who hail largely from China, South Asia and the Caribbean, conclude co-authors Jeffrey Reitz, a University of Toronto sociologist, and Rupa Banerjee, a doctoral candidate.
It is also a warning that Canada, long considered a model of integration, won't be forever immune from the kind of social disruption that has plagued Europe, where marginalized immigrant communities have erupted in discontent, with riots in the Paris suburbs in the fall of 2005.
"We need to address the racial divide," Prof. Reitz said. "Otherwise there is a danger of social breakdown. The principle of multiculturalism was equal participation of minorities in mainstream institutions. That is no longer happening."
[. . .]
Read all of Marina Jimenez's article.
See also:
Fragmented Future: Multiculturalism doesn’t make vibrant communities but defensive ones.
New study by 'Bowling Alone' author: Ethnic diversity breeds mistrust
Canadian immigration policy: why race matters
Race and Canadian identity
"As numbers have grown . . . there is a much greater comfort level in embracing South Asian identity and even religious identity."
Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?
Could riots like those in France happen in Canada?
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian immigration immigrants multiculturalism cultural diversity race relations visible minorities racism sociology Jeffrey Reitz
Project Albion - Durham police arrest 38 in gang crackdown
From CBC News (Police make gang arrests in Durham and Toronto, January 12, 2007):
Durham police have arrested 38 people and laid 178 charges after a two-month-long crackdown on gangs in the Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa and Bowmanville areas. Toronto police also arrested 10 teenagers Thursday in connection with gang-related activity.
Most of those charged by Durham police were between the ages of 21 and 25. The oldest was 55. Also charged were a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old youth.
Investigators from Durham's Gang Enforcement Unit reported they seized two handguns, $39,000 worth of crack cocaine, $36,780 in marijuana, $2,580 in methamphetamine pills, $2,580 in Oxycontin, $5,620 in cash and $2,100 in counterfeit currency.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
Durham police press release
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Rapper Alias Donmillion - lawyer claims Toronto's violent hip-hop culture forced client to carry gun
Technorati tags: Toronto crime GTA crime Durham region gangs police Project Albion
Durham police have arrested 38 people and laid 178 charges after a two-month-long crackdown on gangs in the Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa and Bowmanville areas. Toronto police also arrested 10 teenagers Thursday in connection with gang-related activity.
Most of those charged by Durham police were between the ages of 21 and 25. The oldest was 55. Also charged were a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old youth.
Investigators from Durham's Gang Enforcement Unit reported they seized two handguns, $39,000 worth of crack cocaine, $36,780 in marijuana, $2,580 in methamphetamine pills, $2,580 in Oxycontin, $5,620 in cash and $2,100 in counterfeit currency.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
Durham police press release
The Newborn Assassins - Crips wannabes arrested for a series of vicious attacks
Rapper Alias Donmillion - lawyer claims Toronto's violent hip-hop culture forced client to carry gun
Technorati tags: Toronto crime GTA crime Durham region gangs police Project Albion
Bollywood: Excitement at Toronto premiere of Guru starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan
From the Toronto Sun (Bollywood comes to T.O. by Joe Warmington, January 12, 2007):
The movie is called Guru and its producers chose Toronto to be the place for its premiere. Turns out it was a good decision. Turns out Toronto knows its Bollywood stars. Two of its biggest are in Toronto.
Even Mayor David Miller was there. You better believe he was. In this town on Jan. 11, 2007, there was no bigger ticket. Some fans paid $500 just to sit in the front row.
[. . .]
None of the pros who cover these things can recall a movie premiere or any other event in Toronto history with more pandemonium. I know I can't and I have been to a lot of stuff in my 15 years at the Sun.
It really was something.
"It's just about the wildest (red carpet event) for sure," said veteran celebrity photographer Tom Sandler, who has been to almost everything in the last 30 years. "That bordered on dangerous."
He's right. That thing had potential for trouble. But there was too much love for the stars for anything bad to happen.
[. . .]
But still, somewhere Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and maybe Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, must have been jealous since the hottest stars on this continent last night were Abhishek Bachchan and his beautiful co-star and girlfriend Aishwarya Rai.
"Bollywood royalty," said Bob Saroya.
He would know since he is one of the owners of Etobicoke's own Bollywood Masala Restaurant, 25 Woodbine Downs Rd.
"We show their movies there," he laughs. "We just had to be here."
[. . .]
Read all of Joe Warmington's article.
See also:
Bollywood comes to Toronto. Part of Yonge St. will be shut down for Indian movie premiere
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Race and Canadian identity
"As numbers have grown . . . there is a much greater comfort level in embracing South Asian identity and even religious identity."
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian culture Toronto India Indian culture immigration multiculturalism cultural diversity Indo-Canadians Desis Desi Bollywood movies entertainment Guru Aishwarya Rai Abhishek Bachchan
The movie is called Guru and its producers chose Toronto to be the place for its premiere. Turns out it was a good decision. Turns out Toronto knows its Bollywood stars. Two of its biggest are in Toronto.
Even Mayor David Miller was there. You better believe he was. In this town on Jan. 11, 2007, there was no bigger ticket. Some fans paid $500 just to sit in the front row.
[. . .]
None of the pros who cover these things can recall a movie premiere or any other event in Toronto history with more pandemonium. I know I can't and I have been to a lot of stuff in my 15 years at the Sun.
It really was something.
"It's just about the wildest (red carpet event) for sure," said veteran celebrity photographer Tom Sandler, who has been to almost everything in the last 30 years. "That bordered on dangerous."
He's right. That thing had potential for trouble. But there was too much love for the stars for anything bad to happen.
[. . .]
But still, somewhere Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and maybe Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, must have been jealous since the hottest stars on this continent last night were Abhishek Bachchan and his beautiful co-star and girlfriend Aishwarya Rai.
"Bollywood royalty," said Bob Saroya.
He would know since he is one of the owners of Etobicoke's own Bollywood Masala Restaurant, 25 Woodbine Downs Rd.
"We show their movies there," he laughs. "We just had to be here."
[. . .]
Read all of Joe Warmington's article.
See also:
Bollywood comes to Toronto. Part of Yonge St. will be shut down for Indian movie premiere
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Race and Canadian identity
"As numbers have grown . . . there is a much greater comfort level in embracing South Asian identity and even religious identity."
Technorati tags: Canada Canadian culture Toronto India Indian culture immigration multiculturalism cultural diversity Indo-Canadians Desis Desi Bollywood movies entertainment Guru Aishwarya Rai Abhishek Bachchan
Judge rules insufficient evidence to support France's claim Abdullah Ouzghar belonged to terrorist group
From the Toronto Star (France terrorist claim re