From the Globe and Mail (Charkaoui joins fray on political judiciary by Bill Curry and Campbell Clark, February 24, 2007):
Adil Charkaoui wasted little time yesterday before placing his Supreme Court victory front and centre in one of the most sensitive political debates currently facing Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The Montreal man, who was jailed for two years under a security certificate and is now free under severe restrictions, smiled as he began to speak at a press conference after the landmark ruling. He immediately praised his family and the many volunteers who protested successfully for his release from prison in 2005.
[. . .]
"I hope the Harper government respects this decision," said Mr. Charkaoui, who now teaches high-school French at a private school in Montreal. "The only apprehension I have is that this Conservative government won't respect the Supreme Court decision. I know that those who were part of the Reform Party, the Canadian Alliance, have an ideology and are against judicial independence. This is a party that wants to limit the role of the Supreme Court. So I am very concerned as to how they will respond."
[Hyphenated Canadian: Wow. Our little Adil is a quick study. He seems to have really mastered that old-time left-wing cant. He knows what hot buttons will motivate his liberal supporters. Ooh. Reform Party. Ooh. Canadian Alliance. Very, very, scary.]
Mr. Charkaoui was detained in 2003, shortly after he applied for Canadian citizenship. The Moroccan national was detained because he allegedly had ties to al-Qaeda and trained in Afghanistan. He was released in 2005 under very strict conditions -- that he wear a tracking device, that he not go outside alone and that he allow police or security agents to inspect his home at any time
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
Adil Charkaoui is not a Canadian citizen. That makes him a foreigner and puts him outside Canadian society. It is not his place to comment on our politics. If he doesn't like the political decisions Canadians make for themselves, he should shut up and go home. The same applies to all the terrorist suspects who have been held on security certificates. None of these people are Canadian. They don't belong here because our national security agencies have determined they are a threat to Canada.
These people are able to stay here because in 1985 our arrogant Supreme Court, aided and abetted by human rights extremists, took it upon itself to grant foreigners the same protections Canadian citizens have. By doing this the court undermined our national sovereignty and put us at the mercy of foreign refugee claimants.
From chapter 5 of the Mackenzie Institute's free online book Other people's wars:
If an opportunity presents itself, there are opportunists who will take advantage of it, and Canada’s entry points were soon jammed with people who were using the relaxed guidelines (and some broad interpretations about the ‘persecution’ they faced) to bypass the immigration system. Worse still, the Supreme Court made one of its worst rulings ever in the 1985 Regina vs Singh decision (a case concerning a Sikh militant who had arrived in Canada and faced deportation); when it determined that anyone who arrived in Canada was entitled to the same full legal rights as any Canadian citizen. First off, this meant that every case —- no matter how flimsy — had to be heard and, since most refugees could claim indigence, they would be able to call on public funding to meet their legal costs. Almost overnight, a new legal industry was born — one that probably costs taxpayers at least $1 billion a year.
One other consequence of the decision that should be considered is that Canadian citizenship has taken on far less value: Some 2,265,000 immigrants and refugees landed in Canada between 1990 and 1998, but only about 1,00,040 ‘new Canadians’ have bothered to become citizens. This questions the commitment of many of the people who have arrived here.
Now that the gates were wide open, there has only really been one attempt to partly close them again. According to James Bisset, who helped to design it, a generous new system of benefits was created for refugees in 1988 by Immigration Canada, with the expectation that we would return to earlier principles and would only accept claims where Canada was the first country of asylum. In short, anybody who made it directly to Canada from their homeland could claim status, anybody coming by way of another country (particularly a liberal-democratic one) would have to be diverted into the immigration system. As it happens, the decision was partly over-ruled by the Mulroney Government; we would keep the benefits system, but the First Asylum principle would not be recognized… the rest is history.
See also:
Anti-Terrorism Act - Senate committee recommends extending controversial provisions
Deporting foreign terrorists - Supreme Court gives parliament a year to redraft security certificate process
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada immigration policy Canada
Saturday, February 24, 2007
A message to Adil Charkaoui and other foreign terrorist suspects: this isn't your country. Shut up and go home!
Friday, February 23, 2007
Charges stayed in Toronto terrorism case
From the Toronto Star (Charges stayed in terror case by Isabel Teotonio, February 23, 2007):
In the first setback for the government's case against an alleged homegrown terrorism cell in Toronto, the youngest suspect had charges against him stayed in a Brampton court today.
"The Crown made their own estimation of the evidence that it wasn't going to be adequate to come to a conviction or comittal for trial," said defence lawyer Michael Block, who is representing a 16-year-old, the youngest of the 18 Toronto-area suspects charged last summer after a massive police sweep across the Greater Toronto Area.
[. . .]
The teen, one of four youths charged with participating in a terrorist group for the purpose of carrying out terrorist acts and receiving training to be part of a terrorist group, breathed a sigh of relief as Justice Paul Currie stayed proceedings against him.
This means that bail restrictions against him are lifted, but the Crown has one year to reactivate those charges.
Crown attorney John Neander refused to comment.
Charges against two other teens, aged 17 and 18, were reduced to the first count and each was committed to stand trial. The Crown withdrew the second count. The hearing for a fourth youth - the only one in custody - continues.
[. . .]
Read all of Isabel Teotonio's article.
See also:
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Canada terrorism Muslims Canada Islamic terrorism
In the first setback for the government's case against an alleged homegrown terrorism cell in Toronto, the youngest suspect had charges against him stayed in a Brampton court today.
"The Crown made their own estimation of the evidence that it wasn't going to be adequate to come to a conviction or comittal for trial," said defence lawyer Michael Block, who is representing a 16-year-old, the youngest of the 18 Toronto-area suspects charged last summer after a massive police sweep across the Greater Toronto Area.
[. . .]
The teen, one of four youths charged with participating in a terrorist group for the purpose of carrying out terrorist acts and receiving training to be part of a terrorist group, breathed a sigh of relief as Justice Paul Currie stayed proceedings against him.
This means that bail restrictions against him are lifted, but the Crown has one year to reactivate those charges.
Crown attorney John Neander refused to comment.
Charges against two other teens, aged 17 and 18, were reduced to the first count and each was committed to stand trial. The Crown withdrew the second count. The hearing for a fourth youth - the only one in custody - continues.
[. . .]
Read all of Isabel Teotonio's article.
See also:
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Canada terrorism Muslims Canada Islamic terrorism
Anti-Terrorism Act - Senate committee recommends extending controversial provisions
From CBC News (Extend anti-terror provisions, senators recommend, February 22, 2007):
Anti-terror provisions that have caused debate in the Liberal party and sparked a political ruckus in the House of Commons should be extended for three years, a Senate committee recommended Thursday.
But in its report, the special Senate panel chaired by Liberal David Smith asked that new safeguards be attached to two disputed provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which are set to expire on March 1 unless they are renewed by Parliament.
The committee, which has been holding hearings for two years, heard from more than 100 witnesses.
[. . .]
The Anti-Terrorism Act, which went into effect in December 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., allows police to arrest people and hold them without charge for up to 72 hours if they're suspected of planning a terrorist act.
It also requires anyone with information relevant to the investigation of a terrorist act to appear before a judge for investigative hearings. Neither of these measures have ever been used.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Harper infuriates Liberals by reading newspaper report linking Navdeep Bains' father-in-law to Air India investigation
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada Canadian law
Anti-terror provisions that have caused debate in the Liberal party and sparked a political ruckus in the House of Commons should be extended for three years, a Senate committee recommended Thursday.
But in its report, the special Senate panel chaired by Liberal David Smith asked that new safeguards be attached to two disputed provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which are set to expire on March 1 unless they are renewed by Parliament.
The committee, which has been holding hearings for two years, heard from more than 100 witnesses.
[. . .]
The Anti-Terrorism Act, which went into effect in December 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., allows police to arrest people and hold them without charge for up to 72 hours if they're suspected of planning a terrorist act.
It also requires anyone with information relevant to the investigation of a terrorist act to appear before a judge for investigative hearings. Neither of these measures have ever been used.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Harper infuriates Liberals by reading newspaper report linking Navdeep Bains' father-in-law to Air India investigation
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada Canadian law
Bernard Mathieu - Montreal gang leader gets 10 years
From CBC News (Montreal street gang leader sentenced to 10 years, February 22, 2007):
Bernard Mathieu, the leader of a notorious street gang in Montreal's north end, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for gangsterism, conspiracy and drug trafficking in a groundbreaking ruling in Canada.
Mathieu and four other Montreal men sentenced Wednesday were among 15 convicted in January, about four months after proceedings began. The other 10 men were found guilty of charges that were mostly drug-related.
During sentencing arguments this week, police experts testified Mathieu, 35, was an "untouchable" kingpin in the crime underworld, who in the 1990s founded one of the best organized street gang operations ever in Montreal.
[. . .]
The other sentences handed down this week in the street gang mega-trial:
* Jean-Robert Pierre-Antoine, six years for gangsterism.
* Hansley Joseph, five years and nine months for conspiracy and drug trafficking.
* Serge Hadley Mussotte and Jean-Pierre Joseph, four years and six months, and four years and three months, respectively, for conspiracy and drug trafficking.
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
15 gang members found guilty in Montreal - some may be Haitian citizens
Technorati tags: gangs Montreal crime Montreal Canadian law Quebec
Bernard Mathieu, the leader of a notorious street gang in Montreal's north end, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for gangsterism, conspiracy and drug trafficking in a groundbreaking ruling in Canada.
Mathieu and four other Montreal men sentenced Wednesday were among 15 convicted in January, about four months after proceedings began. The other 10 men were found guilty of charges that were mostly drug-related.
During sentencing arguments this week, police experts testified Mathieu, 35, was an "untouchable" kingpin in the crime underworld, who in the 1990s founded one of the best organized street gang operations ever in Montreal.
[. . .]
The other sentences handed down this week in the street gang mega-trial:
* Jean-Robert Pierre-Antoine, six years for gangsterism.
* Hansley Joseph, five years and nine months for conspiracy and drug trafficking.
* Serge Hadley Mussotte and Jean-Pierre Joseph, four years and six months, and four years and three months, respectively, for conspiracy and drug trafficking.
Read all of the CBC article.
See also:
15 gang members found guilty in Montreal - some may be Haitian citizens
Technorati tags: gangs Montreal crime Montreal Canadian law Quebec
Deporting foreign terrorists - Supreme Court gives parliament a year to redraft security certificate process
From the Globe and Mail (Court strikes down security certificates by Kirk Makin, February 23, 2007):
The Supreme Court of Canada has voted unanimously to strike down a controversial federal procedure used to deport suspected terrorists as being a violation of life, liberty and security of the person.
The security certificate process is hopelessly flawed and must be redrafted by parliament to eliminate the extreme secrecy in which hearings to determine the reasonableness of certificates take place, the court said.
While carefully paying heed to fears of terrorism and the special difficulties of protecting national security, the court said that certain elements of fairness cannot be dispensed with -- including the right of a detainee to know the case against them and to make full answer and defence.
"While there is a risk of catastrophic acts of violence, it would be foolhardy to require a lengthy review process before a certificate should be issued," the court said.
However it said the various forms of review in which a designated lawyer is empowered to act on behalf of detainees could pass constitutional muster.
Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin suspended the effects of the ruling for one year to give the Federal Government time to craft a new security certificate process.
[. . .]
The three men behind the Supreme Court challenge – Adil Charkaoui, Mohamed Harkat and Hassan Almrei – had all spent several years behind bars before being released recently under tight conditions of house arrest and their agreement not to communicate with a wide range of individuals.
[. . .]
Read all of the Kirk Makin's article.
The text of the decision can be found here: Charkaoui v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2007 SCC 9.
See also:
Canada can be held for ransom by any foreign terrorist whose lawyer claims his client might be tortured if sent home - James Bissett
Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
"Laying out a welcome mat for murderers and terrorists"
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada Muslims Canada Canadian law immigration policy Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada has voted unanimously to strike down a controversial federal procedure used to deport suspected terrorists as being a violation of life, liberty and security of the person.
The security certificate process is hopelessly flawed and must be redrafted by parliament to eliminate the extreme secrecy in which hearings to determine the reasonableness of certificates take place, the court said.
While carefully paying heed to fears of terrorism and the special difficulties of protecting national security, the court said that certain elements of fairness cannot be dispensed with -- including the right of a detainee to know the case against them and to make full answer and defence.
"While there is a risk of catastrophic acts of violence, it would be foolhardy to require a lengthy review process before a certificate should be issued," the court said.
However it said the various forms of review in which a designated lawyer is empowered to act on behalf of detainees could pass constitutional muster.
Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin suspended the effects of the ruling for one year to give the Federal Government time to craft a new security certificate process.
[. . .]
The three men behind the Supreme Court challenge – Adil Charkaoui, Mohamed Harkat and Hassan Almrei – had all spent several years behind bars before being released recently under tight conditions of house arrest and their agreement not to communicate with a wide range of individuals.
[. . .]
Read all of the Kirk Makin's article.
The text of the decision can be found here: Charkaoui v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2007 SCC 9.
See also:
Canada can be held for ransom by any foreign terrorist whose lawyer claims his client might be tortured if sent home - James Bissett
Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
"Laying out a welcome mat for murderers and terrorists"
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada Muslims Canada Canadian law immigration policy Canada
Harper commited a Kinsley gaffe - National Post
From an editorial in the National Post ('Shame' on Harper? Hardly, February 22, 2007):
Journalists employ a special term when a politician accidentally speaks a forbidden truth out loud: They call it a "Kinsley gaffe," after the legendary American editorialist Michael Kinsley, who pointed out in 1992 that the word "gaffe" is never really used by native writers of English except to describe such a situation.
The catcalls of "shame" that drowned out the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Wednesday are the infallible sign of a Kinsley gaffe. Mr. Harper was about to describe an article from the Vancouver Sun pointing out that the father-in-law of an important young Liberal MP and organizer was once a spokesman for Babbar Khalsa, a group officially recognized by the Canadian government as a terrorist organization. This same individual is a potential witness in the Air India investigation — the very same investigation that will be shut down if Stéphane Dion prevails in his newfound and oddly passionate quest to kill provisions of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act that permit such investigations.
None of the Liberals leaping to their feet to denounce the PM have bothered to deny the facts presented in the Sun by CanWest's Kim Bolan: given Ms. Bolan's international reputation as an investigator and chronicler of Sikh separatist activity, it would be foolhardy to try. It is supposedly the context in which the fact was brought up that bothers them. Or so they say.
[. . .]
We recall that in 2000, the Liberals used the same specious calls of "shame" to attack Reform politicians who questioned the Liberals about their party's stance on a Tamil terrorist group. Yet it was the Liberals themselves who were disgraced when it turned out Paul Martin and Maria Minna had attended a fundraising event for a group identified by the U.S. State Department as a front for the Tamil Tigers, which -- like the Babbar Khalsa outfit for which Mr. Bains' father-in-law once acted as spokesman -- is classified as a terrorist group under Canadians law (over Liberal objections, of course).
[. . .]
Read the whole National Post editorial.
See also:
Harper infuriates Liberals by reading newspaper report linking Navdeep Bains' father-in-law to Air India investigation
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Navdeep Bains
Journalists employ a special term when a politician accidentally speaks a forbidden truth out loud: They call it a "Kinsley gaffe," after the legendary American editorialist Michael Kinsley, who pointed out in 1992 that the word "gaffe" is never really used by native writers of English except to describe such a situation.
The catcalls of "shame" that drowned out the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Wednesday are the infallible sign of a Kinsley gaffe. Mr. Harper was about to describe an article from the Vancouver Sun pointing out that the father-in-law of an important young Liberal MP and organizer was once a spokesman for Babbar Khalsa, a group officially recognized by the Canadian government as a terrorist organization. This same individual is a potential witness in the Air India investigation — the very same investigation that will be shut down if Stéphane Dion prevails in his newfound and oddly passionate quest to kill provisions of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act that permit such investigations.
None of the Liberals leaping to their feet to denounce the PM have bothered to deny the facts presented in the Sun by CanWest's Kim Bolan: given Ms. Bolan's international reputation as an investigator and chronicler of Sikh separatist activity, it would be foolhardy to try. It is supposedly the context in which the fact was brought up that bothers them. Or so they say.
[. . .]
We recall that in 2000, the Liberals used the same specious calls of "shame" to attack Reform politicians who questioned the Liberals about their party's stance on a Tamil terrorist group. Yet it was the Liberals themselves who were disgraced when it turned out Paul Martin and Maria Minna had attended a fundraising event for a group identified by the U.S. State Department as a front for the Tamil Tigers, which -- like the Babbar Khalsa outfit for which Mr. Bains' father-in-law once acted as spokesman -- is classified as a terrorist group under Canadians law (over Liberal objections, of course).
[. . .]
Read the whole National Post editorial.
See also:
Harper infuriates Liberals by reading newspaper report linking Navdeep Bains' father-in-law to Air India investigation
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Navdeep Bains
Harper infuriates Liberals by reading newspaper report linking Navdeep Bains' father-in-law to Air India investigation
From the Globe and Mail (PM's attack on Liberal fuels bedlam in Ottawa by Brian Laghi, Campbell Clark and Bill Curry, February 22, 2007):
Prime Minister Stephen Harper sparked political fury in the House of Commons yesterday when he implied the Liberals were refusing to extend anti-terrorism measures in order to protect one of their MPs.
Mr. Harper was accused of using smear tactics when he seized on a newspaper report that the father-in-law of Ontario MP Navdeep Bains would not have to testify at the criminal investigation into the bombing of an Air-India jet in 1985 if the measures are allowed to die.
The Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP all oppose extending the provisions, which would allow preventive arrests and special investigative hearings.
Mr. Harper attempted to read into the House of Commons record a newspaper article that said Darshan Singh Saini is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses who could be compelled to testify under the legislation.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
Navdeep Bains - Sikh MP's father-in-law was interviewed about Air India bombings
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Navdeep Bains
Prime Minister Stephen Harper sparked political fury in the House of Commons yesterday when he implied the Liberals were refusing to extend anti-terrorism measures in order to protect one of their MPs.
Mr. Harper was accused of using smear tactics when he seized on a newspaper report that the father-in-law of Ontario MP Navdeep Bains would not have to testify at the criminal investigation into the bombing of an Air-India jet in 1985 if the measures are allowed to die.
The Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP all oppose extending the provisions, which would allow preventive arrests and special investigative hearings.
Mr. Harper attempted to read into the House of Commons record a newspaper article that said Darshan Singh Saini is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses who could be compelled to testify under the legislation.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
Navdeep Bains - Sikh MP's father-in-law was interviewed about Air India bombings
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Navdeep Bains
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Navdeep Bains - Sikh MP's father-in-law was interviewed about Air India bombings
From the Vancouver Sun (Liberal MP's in-law interviewed in Air India case by Kim Bolan, February 21, 2007):
A young Liberal MP who delivered Stephane Dion 250 leadership votes is the son-in-law of a man police have interviewed in connection with the Air India bombing case.
Navdeep Singh Bains, MP for Mississauga-Brampton South, shot on to the national stage after the December 2006 convention in which he delivered huge support to Gerard Kennedy and later to Dion, who won the Liberal leadership by 437 votes.
The Vancouver Sun has learned that Bains's father-in-law, Darshan Singh Saini, is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses at investigative hearings designed to advance the Air India criminal probe.
But the ability to hold those hearings will be lost March 1 if parts of the Anti-Terrorism Act expire as expected, after the Liberals recently withdrew support for extending the provision being used to hold them.
Saini, former Ontario spokesman for the terrorist Babbar Khalsa Panthak, said in an interview that if he is called to the investigative hearing, he will testify.
"If they call me, I will see. I don't know about that," he said. "It is not that I hide anything. If something comes up again, that is that."
And he said his MP son-in-law's political positions have nothing to do with him.
"I can only speak for me. I cannot speak for my son-in-law," Saini said from Toronto.
Saini is listed as an alternative leadership delegate for Kennedy, according to documents obtained by The Sun. But he said he did not attend the convention because of medical issues.
[. . .]
Read all of Kim Bolan's article.
Kim Bolan has written a book about the Air India bombings: Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away With Murder.
See also:
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted
Politics in Brampton, Ontario: "non-ethnics" need not apply
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Navdeep Bains
A young Liberal MP who delivered Stephane Dion 250 leadership votes is the son-in-law of a man police have interviewed in connection with the Air India bombing case.
Navdeep Singh Bains, MP for Mississauga-Brampton South, shot on to the national stage after the December 2006 convention in which he delivered huge support to Gerard Kennedy and later to Dion, who won the Liberal leadership by 437 votes.
The Vancouver Sun has learned that Bains's father-in-law, Darshan Singh Saini, is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses at investigative hearings designed to advance the Air India criminal probe.
But the ability to hold those hearings will be lost March 1 if parts of the Anti-Terrorism Act expire as expected, after the Liberals recently withdrew support for extending the provision being used to hold them.
Saini, former Ontario spokesman for the terrorist Babbar Khalsa Panthak, said in an interview that if he is called to the investigative hearing, he will testify.
"If they call me, I will see. I don't know about that," he said. "It is not that I hide anything. If something comes up again, that is that."
And he said his MP son-in-law's political positions have nothing to do with him.
"I can only speak for me. I cannot speak for my son-in-law," Saini said from Toronto.
Saini is listed as an alternative leadership delegate for Kennedy, according to documents obtained by The Sun. But he said he did not attend the convention because of medical issues.
[. . .]
Read all of Kim Bolan's article.
Kim Bolan has written a book about the Air India bombings: Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away With Murder.
See also:
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted
Politics in Brampton, Ontario: "non-ethnics" need not apply
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Navdeep Bains
Harper moves to settle Air India dispute
From the Toronto Star (PM breaks Air India impasse by Tonda MacCharles, February 20, 2007):
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ordered national security officials to swiftly defuse a bitter dispute over "top secret" government documents that could lead to the collapse of the Air India inquiry.
Hours earlier, former Supreme Court of Canada Justice John Major – whom Harper named to lead the inquiry – warned he may shut it down permanently in the face of sweeping claims by the government of "national security" that prevents much evidence from being heard publicly. It would be an unprecedented step in the history of such inquiries in Canada.
[. . .]
Harper told the Commons he was "surprised" at the news of Major's frustrations.
"Let me be clear that I have instructed, and it is my understanding, that Justice Major has been given unedited all documents that related to the Air India inquiry."
The Prime Minister downplayed the amount of information involved in the dispute.
"What is at issue is in about 10 per cent of the cases a dispute about what by law can and cannot be made public. I have instructed my national security adviser to meet with people in the various departments to impose a non-restrictive interpretation of the law and to expedite resolution of this dispute as quickly as possible."
Federal lawyer Barney Brucker told the inquiry the government is trying to strike a "delicate balance" and co-operate with the inquiry. Still, he protested against much broader release of information, saying it would compromise the institutions the inquiry is trying to strengthen.
"Much of the information is so sensitive that disclosing it will jeopardize ongoing Air India investigations, the safety of confidential informants or sources, provide a roadmap for terrorists or criminals to bypass transport security measures ... or undermine the relationship between Canada and the foreign governments that supply vital intelligence to us."
[. . .]
Read all of Tonda MacCharles' article.
See also:
John Major frustrated by government secrecy. Threatens to shut down Air India inquiry
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Indo-Canadians
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ordered national security officials to swiftly defuse a bitter dispute over "top secret" government documents that could lead to the collapse of the Air India inquiry.
Hours earlier, former Supreme Court of Canada Justice John Major – whom Harper named to lead the inquiry – warned he may shut it down permanently in the face of sweeping claims by the government of "national security" that prevents much evidence from being heard publicly. It would be an unprecedented step in the history of such inquiries in Canada.
[. . .]
Harper told the Commons he was "surprised" at the news of Major's frustrations.
"Let me be clear that I have instructed, and it is my understanding, that Justice Major has been given unedited all documents that related to the Air India inquiry."
The Prime Minister downplayed the amount of information involved in the dispute.
"What is at issue is in about 10 per cent of the cases a dispute about what by law can and cannot be made public. I have instructed my national security adviser to meet with people in the various departments to impose a non-restrictive interpretation of the law and to expedite resolution of this dispute as quickly as possible."
Federal lawyer Barney Brucker told the inquiry the government is trying to strike a "delicate balance" and co-operate with the inquiry. Still, he protested against much broader release of information, saying it would compromise the institutions the inquiry is trying to strengthen.
"Much of the information is so sensitive that disclosing it will jeopardize ongoing Air India investigations, the safety of confidential informants or sources, provide a roadmap for terrorists or criminals to bypass transport security measures ... or undermine the relationship between Canada and the foreign governments that supply vital intelligence to us."
[. . .]
Read all of Tonda MacCharles' article.
See also:
John Major frustrated by government secrecy. Threatens to shut down Air India inquiry
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada Indo-Canadians
John Major frustrated by government secrecy. Threatens to shut down Air India inquiry
From the Globe and Mail (Judge threatens to shut down Air-India inquiry by Jeff Sallot, February 19, 2007):
The head of the Air-India inquiry has threatened to shut down proceedings because the government's claims to secrecy are hampering his ability to investigate the 1985 terrorist bombing.
Former Supreme Court justice John Major said on Monday morning that claims to secrecy were being placed on much of the material he required.
He plans to adjourn the hearings to March 5, saying he hopes the government will come around to share his view by that date.
"If the documents remain, in a manner of speaking, blacked out, there is no way I can carry out my mandate," Judge Major told the hearing.
"If this remains, I will communicate my views to the Prime Minister after assessing the state of affairs on March 5."
Air-India flight 182 from Canada to India via London was blown out of the sky on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, most of them Canadian citizens of Indian origin.
[. . .]
Read all of Jeff Sallot's article.
The official website of the Air India inquiry can be found here. The CBC has a 'backgrounder' on the Air India bombings here.
See also:
Convicted Sikh murderer issued visa, but denied admission
Man accused of having ties to Sikh terrorists deported
Sikh extremists in Canada: a culture of fear and intimidation
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada
The head of the Air-India inquiry has threatened to shut down proceedings because the government's claims to secrecy are hampering his ability to investigate the 1985 terrorist bombing.
Former Supreme Court justice John Major said on Monday morning that claims to secrecy were being placed on much of the material he required.
He plans to adjourn the hearings to March 5, saying he hopes the government will come around to share his view by that date.
"If the documents remain, in a manner of speaking, blacked out, there is no way I can carry out my mandate," Judge Major told the hearing.
"If this remains, I will communicate my views to the Prime Minister after assessing the state of affairs on March 5."
Air-India flight 182 from Canada to India via London was blown out of the sky on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, most of them Canadian citizens of Indian origin.
[. . .]
Read all of Jeff Sallot's article.
The official website of the Air India inquiry can be found here. The CBC has a 'backgrounder' on the Air India bombings here.
See also:
Convicted Sikh murderer issued visa, but denied admission
Man accused of having ties to Sikh terrorists deported
Sikh extremists in Canada: a culture of fear and intimidation
Technorati tags: Air India bombing terrorism Canada Sikhs Canada
Ethnic divisions inside Liberal Party over extending anti-terrorism measures
From Canadian Press via the Toronto Star (Terror law vote to test Dion's leadership, February 20, 2007):
The war on terrorism has become the first test of Stephane Dion's fledgling leadership, laying bare ideological and ethnic rifts within the Liberal party.
The matter could come to a head as early as Wednesday, when MPs vote on a government motion seeking parliamentary approval to extend two provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, involving preventive arrests and special investigative hearings.
Dion said today that he expects Liberal MPs to unite behind his decision to oppose extension of controversial anti-terrorism measures.
[. . .]
But in a taste of the high-pressure tactics that are already being brought to bear, the president of Liberal MP Roy Cullen's Toronto riding suggested today that the MP shouldn't be guaranteed the right to run for the party in the next election if he can't show loyalty to the leader now.
Cullen has been one of the most outspoken Liberals in supporting extension of the anti-terrorism measures. Indeed, he said last week that he was trying to recruit at least 30 other Liberals to defy Dion and ensure approval of the government motion.
But Ranjeet Chahal said the executive of Cullen's Etobicoke North riding association doesn't agree with the MP's stance.
"There's a line and if he doesn't agree with that, then he should open the nomination and let all the members of the riding decide," Chahal, riding president, said in an interview.
"In the end, we have to stand beside our party leader."
[. . .]
But MPs privately complain that the decision was taken by the caucus social justice committee, which is dominated by left-wing Liberals. Most MPs, including those with expertise in national security and human rights matters, were never consulted and were surprised when the decision was presented to them two weeks ago as a fait accompli.
Some privately grouse that Dion has been influenced by militant Sikh and Muslim groups, members of which helped secure his leadership victory last December.
Those complaints were echoed today by the chairman of the Air India Victims' Families Association.
"It looks like the sympathizers of terrorism have more influence on (Liberals)," Gupta said.
He said Dion may have become "victim of vote bank politics," referring to ethnic bloc voting.
[. . .]
The association is lobbying MPs to support the government motion, as is B'nai Brith Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of the Canadian Press article.
See also:
Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted
Liberal leadership convention: "A significant number of delegates went to Montreal . . . as pressure points for ethnic and foreign interests."
Historian Jack Granatstein is concerned about the influence of ethnic groups on Canadian foreign policy
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada
The war on terrorism has become the first test of Stephane Dion's fledgling leadership, laying bare ideological and ethnic rifts within the Liberal party.
The matter could come to a head as early as Wednesday, when MPs vote on a government motion seeking parliamentary approval to extend two provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, involving preventive arrests and special investigative hearings.
Dion said today that he expects Liberal MPs to unite behind his decision to oppose extension of controversial anti-terrorism measures.
[. . .]
But in a taste of the high-pressure tactics that are already being brought to bear, the president of Liberal MP Roy Cullen's Toronto riding suggested today that the MP shouldn't be guaranteed the right to run for the party in the next election if he can't show loyalty to the leader now.
Cullen has been one of the most outspoken Liberals in supporting extension of the anti-terrorism measures. Indeed, he said last week that he was trying to recruit at least 30 other Liberals to defy Dion and ensure approval of the government motion.
But Ranjeet Chahal said the executive of Cullen's Etobicoke North riding association doesn't agree with the MP's stance.
"There's a line and if he doesn't agree with that, then he should open the nomination and let all the members of the riding decide," Chahal, riding president, said in an interview.
"In the end, we have to stand beside our party leader."
[. . .]
But MPs privately complain that the decision was taken by the caucus social justice committee, which is dominated by left-wing Liberals. Most MPs, including those with expertise in national security and human rights matters, were never consulted and were surprised when the decision was presented to them two weeks ago as a fait accompli.
Some privately grouse that Dion has been influenced by militant Sikh and Muslim groups, members of which helped secure his leadership victory last December.
Those complaints were echoed today by the chairman of the Air India Victims' Families Association.
"It looks like the sympathizers of terrorism have more influence on (Liberals)," Gupta said.
He said Dion may have become "victim of vote bank politics," referring to ethnic bloc voting.
[. . .]
The association is lobbying MPs to support the government motion, as is B'nai Brith Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of the Canadian Press article.
See also:
Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted
Liberal leadership convention: "A significant number of delegates went to Montreal . . . as pressure points for ethnic and foreign interests."
Historian Jack Granatstein is concerned about the influence of ethnic groups on Canadian foreign policy
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Canada can be held for ransom by any foreign terrorist whose lawyer claims his client might be tortured if sent home - James Bissett
From an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen (Send terror suspects home by James Bissett, February 21, 2007):
There are five individuals currently under threat of deportation by means of the security certificate procedure. All are Muslims and all have been considered by Federal Court judges, over a period of years, to be a danger to the safety and security of Canadians.
Three of the men have been released on strict bail conditions and two others remain in custody in a specially constructed detention centre near Kingston. The human and civil rights activists, who count among them Alexandre Trudeau, demand that the terrorist suspects be given a fair trial and be allowed to see the charges against them. They also demand an end to the security certificate process.
[Hyphenated Canadian: I believe this says all you need to know about Pierre's son: Alexandre Trudeau on Fidel "Superman" Castro]
[. . .]
The security certificate procedure is not new and it is not part of the anti-terrorist legislation. It was designed in the 1960s to enable the government to detain and remove quickly non-citizens who are serious criminals or terrorists. It is used only in the most serious cases and normally only in cases where the individual does not have a criminal or terrorist conviction, in which case the normal process of criminal law would be used. Since the evidence for the certificate has been provided by foreign intelligence sources, it cannot be made public nor used in open court. Non-disclosure is an iron rule in international intelligence sharing and is essential to protect sources; otherwise no further information would be forthcoming from our allies.
Unfortunately, the security certificate system has become ineffective in serious terrorist cases because as a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Torture we cannot remove anyone to a country where they might risk torture or mistreatment.
Since they cannot be removed, the courts are reluctant to keep them detained for an indefinite period. This is why the courts have felt compelled to release, under strict conditions, three of those held in detention and it is likely the remaining two now detained will eventually also be released.
[. . .]
Canada's reluctance to return suspected terrorists is not shared by a number of other democratic countries. Germany and Britain are signatories to the Convention against Torture but they have taken a pro-active approach and returned suspected terrorists and serious criminals after obtaining guarantees from the receiving government that the individual will not be mistreated or put to death. The guarantee includes the right of regular visits by consular officials to interview the prisoner to ensure proper and humane treatment. There is no reason Canada cannot follow a similar approach.
As it now stands, we can be held for ransom by any foreign terrorist whose lawyer claims his client might be tortured if sent home.
[. . .]
Read all of James Bissett's op-ed.
People interested in an extensive discussion of Canada's failure to address terrorism should download free of charge Martin Collacott's Fraser Institute report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism. Also worth reading is the Mackenzie Institute's free online book: Other people's wars. National Post reporter Stewart Bell has written two important books about terrorism in Canada: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. Reviews of Bell's books can be read here and here.
See also:
Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
Judge rules Mahmoud Jaballah can't be deported to Egypt despite evidence he was involved in 1998 US embassy bombings
"Laying out a welcome mat for murderers and terrorists"
How long does it take to deport a terrorist? 10 years and counting in the case of one Tamil Tiger
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada immigration policy Canada CSIS James Bissett
There are five individuals currently under threat of deportation by means of the security certificate procedure. All are Muslims and all have been considered by Federal Court judges, over a period of years, to be a danger to the safety and security of Canadians.
Three of the men have been released on strict bail conditions and two others remain in custody in a specially constructed detention centre near Kingston. The human and civil rights activists, who count among them Alexandre Trudeau, demand that the terrorist suspects be given a fair trial and be allowed to see the charges against them. They also demand an end to the security certificate process.
[Hyphenated Canadian: I believe this says all you need to know about Pierre's son: Alexandre Trudeau on Fidel "Superman" Castro]
[. . .]
The security certificate procedure is not new and it is not part of the anti-terrorist legislation. It was designed in the 1960s to enable the government to detain and remove quickly non-citizens who are serious criminals or terrorists. It is used only in the most serious cases and normally only in cases where the individual does not have a criminal or terrorist conviction, in which case the normal process of criminal law would be used. Since the evidence for the certificate has been provided by foreign intelligence sources, it cannot be made public nor used in open court. Non-disclosure is an iron rule in international intelligence sharing and is essential to protect sources; otherwise no further information would be forthcoming from our allies.
Unfortunately, the security certificate system has become ineffective in serious terrorist cases because as a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Torture we cannot remove anyone to a country where they might risk torture or mistreatment.
Since they cannot be removed, the courts are reluctant to keep them detained for an indefinite period. This is why the courts have felt compelled to release, under strict conditions, three of those held in detention and it is likely the remaining two now detained will eventually also be released.
[. . .]
Canada's reluctance to return suspected terrorists is not shared by a number of other democratic countries. Germany and Britain are signatories to the Convention against Torture but they have taken a pro-active approach and returned suspected terrorists and serious criminals after obtaining guarantees from the receiving government that the individual will not be mistreated or put to death. The guarantee includes the right of regular visits by consular officials to interview the prisoner to ensure proper and humane treatment. There is no reason Canada cannot follow a similar approach.
As it now stands, we can be held for ransom by any foreign terrorist whose lawyer claims his client might be tortured if sent home.
[. . .]
Read all of James Bissett's op-ed.
People interested in an extensive discussion of Canada's failure to address terrorism should download free of charge Martin Collacott's Fraser Institute report: Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism. Also worth reading is the Mackenzie Institute's free online book: Other people's wars. National Post reporter Stewart Bell has written two important books about terrorism in Canada: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. Reviews of Bell's books can be read here and here.
See also:
Human rights extremists threaten Canada's national security
Judge rules Mahmoud Jaballah can't be deported to Egypt despite evidence he was involved in 1998 US embassy bombings
"Laying out a welcome mat for murderers and terrorists"
How long does it take to deport a terrorist? 10 years and counting in the case of one Tamil Tiger
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada immigration policy Canada CSIS James Bissett
Sunday, February 18, 2007
A multicultural approach to national security. Surprise. It's not going too well
From the National Post (The sound and the fury of ethnic outreach by Stewart Bell, February 17, 2007):
The Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security had a noble mission when it was set up three years ago: to engage the country's ethnic communities in Canada's fight against terrorism. Some now call it the "circus."
The round table's meetings, which bring together national security officials and community representatives, take place behind closed doors, but a leaked tape recording of a marathon session held last weekend suggests that its nickname is not entirely undeserved.
About 50 invited guests and a few gatecrashers gathered for eight hours last Sunday at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto to pose questions to the city's top RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service counterterrorism officials. It did not begin well.
The first speaker, Ahmed Motiar, started off by sharing his curious theories of the 9/11 attacks, claiming that "Muslims were not involved and seven of the alleged 19 hijackers are alive and well!"
Then Cheryfa Jamal complained about a Canadian military exercise she said was held outside her children's Islamic school. (Her husband is one of the 18 men charged with belonging to an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group that was allegedly plotting truck bombings in downtown Toronto.)
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
See also:
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000 - Globe and Mail reports
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada national security Canada multiculturalism Canada RCMP CSIS Stewart Bell
The Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security had a noble mission when it was set up three years ago: to engage the country's ethnic communities in Canada's fight against terrorism. Some now call it the "circus."
The round table's meetings, which bring together national security officials and community representatives, take place behind closed doors, but a leaked tape recording of a marathon session held last weekend suggests that its nickname is not entirely undeserved.
About 50 invited guests and a few gatecrashers gathered for eight hours last Sunday at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto to pose questions to the city's top RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service counterterrorism officials. It did not begin well.
The first speaker, Ahmed Motiar, started off by sharing his curious theories of the 9/11 attacks, claiming that "Muslims were not involved and seven of the alleged 19 hijackers are alive and well!"
Then Cheryfa Jamal complained about a Canadian military exercise she said was held outside her children's Islamic school. (Her husband is one of the 18 men charged with belonging to an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group that was allegedly plotting truck bombings in downtown Toronto.)
[. . .]
Read all of Stewart Bell's article.
See also:
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000 - Globe and Mail reports
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Technorati tags: terrorism Canada national security Canada multiculturalism Canada RCMP CSIS Stewart Bell
Friday, February 16, 2007
Herouxville speaks for Canada's silent majority
From an Immigration Watch Canada bulletin (Heroville, February 9, 2007):
The tumultuous entry (now broadcast around the world) of Herouxville, Quebec into Canada's immigration debate demonstrates the great divide that exists in Canada on the immigration issue.
On one side are the majority of Canadians who instictively feel something is wrong with Canada's mass immigration policy (currently about 250,000 per year, the highest per capita in the world). On the other side are Canada's mass immigration industry and its supporters (often described as a fifth column) who tell Canadians that mass immigration is wonderful.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Vdare calls the American immigration industry the treason lobby. That works for me. What else do you call politicians and special interests who insist on raising immigration levels when the government's own research shows that new immigrants are falling further behind?]
The national and international uproar that Herouxville has caused is wildly out of proportion to its size. The town has a population of 1300 and is located in rural Quebec, about 150 km. northeast of Montreal. Most Canadian towns and cities of all sizes have passively accepted the historically high immigration levels that Canada's federal government set for the country in 1990, but which it has never justified. In doing so, Herouxville is literally like David taking on Goliath.
[. . .]
Clearly, recent immigrants have felt empowered by their high numbers. And they have been encouraged by Canada's immigration industry to assert their power.
And that is precisely what Herouxville is reacting to. In the opinion of many Canadians, the little town is saying now what the country's federal government has been too timid to say, but should have said many years ago: that the interests of the country (in this case, Canada's cultural practices) are paramount. Cultural practices that conflict with those in Canada have to be left behind in immigrants' countries of origin.
The councillors clearly point out that, like most Canadians, they are willing to accept some immigrants, but that a long-established society exists in Quebec. This society has developed its own culture and it is tired of hearing recent multiple demands, (particularly in the Montreal area) that Canadians should adjust to the cultural wishes of new arrivals.
[. . .]
One thing that the declaration does not say directly is that the immigration industry and a significant number of recent arrivals seem to believe that this demographic change in Montreal and other parts of Canada should continue unabated. It would seem that Herouxville does not approve.
Obviously, this is because, like the rest of Canada, Herouxville was never asked if it wanted a mass immigration policy. Nor was it asked if it wanted the major demographic transformation which has occurred in the country since this policy was implemented in 1990.
It would seem that, by implication, Herouxville (as well as a number of other Quebec towns and some provincial politicians who have recently expressed solidarity with Herouxville), are bluntly saying to Canada's official "accommodators": "Why are we bringing in all of these people?" and "Enough is enough!"
[. . .]
Read all of Immigration Watch Canada's bulletin.
See also:
Canadian multiculturalism - cultural conflict in Quebec
Multicultural Canada is becoming a collection of monocultural neighbourhoods
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Immigration and cultural change or why I don't want to celebrate Eid and Diwali
Technorati tags: Herouxville immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada multiculturalism Quebec Immigration Watch Canada
The tumultuous entry (now broadcast around the world) of Herouxville, Quebec into Canada's immigration debate demonstrates the great divide that exists in Canada on the immigration issue.
On one side are the majority of Canadians who instictively feel something is wrong with Canada's mass immigration policy (currently about 250,000 per year, the highest per capita in the world). On the other side are Canada's mass immigration industry and its supporters (often described as a fifth column) who tell Canadians that mass immigration is wonderful.
[Hyphenated Canadian: Vdare calls the American immigration industry the treason lobby. That works for me. What else do you call politicians and special interests who insist on raising immigration levels when the government's own research shows that new immigrants are falling further behind?]
The national and international uproar that Herouxville has caused is wildly out of proportion to its size. The town has a population of 1300 and is located in rural Quebec, about 150 km. northeast of Montreal. Most Canadian towns and cities of all sizes have passively accepted the historically high immigration levels that Canada's federal government set for the country in 1990, but which it has never justified. In doing so, Herouxville is literally like David taking on Goliath.
[. . .]
Clearly, recent immigrants have felt empowered by their high numbers. And they have been encouraged by Canada's immigration industry to assert their power.
And that is precisely what Herouxville is reacting to. In the opinion of many Canadians, the little town is saying now what the country's federal government has been too timid to say, but should have said many years ago: that the interests of the country (in this case, Canada's cultural practices) are paramount. Cultural practices that conflict with those in Canada have to be left behind in immigrants' countries of origin.
The councillors clearly point out that, like most Canadians, they are willing to accept some immigrants, but that a long-established society exists in Quebec. This society has developed its own culture and it is tired of hearing recent multiple demands, (particularly in the Montreal area) that Canadians should adjust to the cultural wishes of new arrivals.
[. . .]
One thing that the declaration does not say directly is that the immigration industry and a significant number of recent arrivals seem to believe that this demographic change in Montreal and other parts of Canada should continue unabated. It would seem that Herouxville does not approve.
Obviously, this is because, like the rest of Canada, Herouxville was never asked if it wanted a mass immigration policy. Nor was it asked if it wanted the major demographic transformation which has occurred in the country since this policy was implemented in 1990.
It would seem that, by implication, Herouxville (as well as a number of other Quebec towns and some provincial politicians who have recently expressed solidarity with Herouxville), are bluntly saying to Canada's official "accommodators": "Why are we bringing in all of these people?" and "Enough is enough!"
[. . .]
Read all of Immigration Watch Canada's bulletin.
See also:
Canadian multiculturalism - cultural conflict in Quebec
Multicultural Canada is becoming a collection of monocultural neighbourhoods
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Immigration and cultural change or why I don't want to celebrate Eid and Diwali
Technorati tags: Herouxville immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada multiculturalism Quebec Immigration Watch Canada
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Asian gangs in Toronto: five people charged with first-degree murder
From the Toronto Star (No body, but five charged with murder, February 10, 2007):
Two years ago, Pei Ding Xu was kidnapped.
Yesterday, Toronto police charged five people with first-degree murder.
Although police are certain Xu is dead, there's one major piece of evidence missing: Xu's body has never been found.
"We believe we know how he died ... We have no doubt based on the investigation, and I stress there is no doubt that he is deceased or we wouldn't be laying these charges," homicide Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
Because the case is before the courts and police are still investigating, Giroux would not reveal how he believes Xu was killed. He did say, however, that forensic evidence confirms Xu is dead.
"I can tell you that the investigation involves two rival Asian gangs in relation to marijuana grow houses that were operating at the time in 2005 in the Scarborough area," Giroux said.
[. . .]
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article
See also:
Toronto police uncover major marijuana grow-operation run by "Asian-Canadian" group
Canadian-based Asian crime syndicates No.1 exporter of ecstasy into the US
Technorati tags: crime Toronto homicides Toronto gangs Toronto Asians Canada marijuana grow-ops organized crime Canada
Two years ago, Pei Ding Xu was kidnapped.
Yesterday, Toronto police charged five people with first-degree murder.
Although police are certain Xu is dead, there's one major piece of evidence missing: Xu's body has never been found.
"We believe we know how he died ... We have no doubt based on the investigation, and I stress there is no doubt that he is deceased or we wouldn't be laying these charges," homicide Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
Because the case is before the courts and police are still investigating, Giroux would not reveal how he believes Xu was killed. He did say, however, that forensic evidence confirms Xu is dead.
"I can tell you that the investigation involves two rival Asian gangs in relation to marijuana grow houses that were operating at the time in 2005 in the Scarborough area," Giroux said.
[. . .]
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article
See also:
Toronto police uncover major marijuana grow-operation run by "Asian-Canadian" group
Canadian-based Asian crime syndicates No.1 exporter of ecstasy into the US
Technorati tags: crime Toronto homicides Toronto gangs Toronto Asians Canada marijuana grow-ops organized crime Canada
Peter Kimber and Adam DePrisco revisited
At the beginning of this month I quoted a CBC story about Peter Kimber a Canadian who claims he has been unfairly imprisoned in Mexico. After quoting the story, I added links to stories about corruption in Mexico. This prompted a visitor to the blog to comment:
Dear Hyphenated: You write above that you "...don't have an opinion about Peter Kimber and his case." Respectfully, that's bollocks. Reprinting the CBC story and then adding links at the end like "Why Mexico is a sexist, ignorant, dirty, corrupt hellhole" shows that you obviously DO have an opinion. It's your blog, you can write anything you want but, please, don't claim to be unbiased here.
I should have said this in the original blog post but since I didn't, let me say it here: I don't know whether Peter Kimber is guilty or innocent, because all I know about the case is what I read in the CBC article and on the website his family set up. I'm not a reporter. I don't have the resources to investigate his claims. I assume professional news outlets will look into this story and more facts will become public over time. When they do I will post them here.
I added three links at the end of the post. The first link was to a blog post about Adam DePrisco, a young Canadian who was killed recently in Acapulco. Mexican authorites say he was the victim of a hit and run accident while the family suspect he was beaten to death. This story has been big news in Canada and raised questions in my country about how safe it is to travel to Mexico. Some Canadians want Ottawa to issue a travel advisory, but the government has decided against it.
Many Canadians who have visited Mexico say the country is safe and that the DePrisco case is an aberration. I don't have an opinion on the Adam DePrisco case either, because as with Peter Kimber, I don't have all the facts. I can only go by what is reported in the media. I included the link to the Adam DePrisco case because it is one of the reasons Canadians are interested in Mexico right now.
I also included two links from Vdare: one article by Brenda Walker and another by Allan Wall. Brenda Walker's article offers a harsh assessment of Mexico. Allan Wall, while still very critical, is somewhat more positive about the country. I added these links because corruption in Mexico is relevant to Peter Kimber's story. If Mexico's government had a reputation for honesty, Kimber's claim might seem less believable. The fact that corruption is a problem makes it harder for me to dismiss his story outright.
Based on what I little I know, and it is very little, I'm open to the possibility that Kimber is a victim, but I'm also open to the possibility he's guilty and deserves to be in prison. At this point I don't have enough facts to form an opinion one way or the other.
Technorati tags: Peter Kimber Adam DePrisco Mexico Canada Mexico justice system Mexico corruption Canada foreign relations British Columbia BC
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Discussing immigration - maybe sarcasm isn't the best approach
In my last blog post I used sarcasm to make a serious point about how some Muslim groups use hate speech laws and human rights codes to silence legitimate criticism of Islam and Muslims.
Using sarcasm was a lazy way of making that point. Good sarcasm can be entertaining, but it invites sarcasm in response and doesn't do much to advance a discussion.
I don't want to come across as someone who hates or bashes immigrants. Immigration is an important public policy matter that affects the lives of human beings. It should be discussed in a serious way.
I am trying in a small way to influence public policy. The tone of this blog should reflect the seriousness of the problems Canada faces. I don't have a lot of readers, but I want to leave a good impression with the few that I have.
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada Islam Muslims
Using sarcasm was a lazy way of making that point. Good sarcasm can be entertaining, but it invites sarcasm in response and doesn't do much to advance a discussion.
I don't want to come across as someone who hates or bashes immigrants. Immigration is an important public policy matter that affects the lives of human beings. It should be discussed in a serious way.
I am trying in a small way to influence public policy. The tone of this blog should reflect the seriousness of the problems Canada faces. I don't have a lot of readers, but I want to leave a good impression with the few that I have.
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada Islam Muslims
Friday, February 09, 2007
A question concerning the Islamic faith
Afghanistan mission - probe to examine alleged abuse of detainees
From CBC News (Civilian agency to probe alleged abuse of Afghan detainees, February 9, 2007)
A civilian investigation is being launched into alleged mistreatment of prisoners in Afghanistan involving the Canadian military, CBC News has learned.
The Military Police Complaints Commission said Friday it will conduct a "public interest investigation" into the way Canadian soldiers handle prisoners in the Afghan mission.
The allegations stem from military records detailing injuries in prisoners in Canadian custody.
The investigation will be private, but the commission may launch a public inquiry if there are indications of wrongdoing, said Peter Tinsley, who heads the civilian-run body.
[. . .]
The military has already launched its own investigation into the allegations made by Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, based on military documents he requested under the Access to Information Act.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
I don't know what to make of this story. I've never been in the military and have never been to war. This affair calls for comment from people who have had combat experience. Speaking very much as an outsider, I wonder whether human rights activists are asking more from our soldiers than can reasonably be expected. Our men and women face death everyday. They are under a kind of stress most of us can't even imagine. Would it really be surprising or shocking if soldiers sometimes handled prisoners roughly? And would it be fair to punish them if they did? (Note: these questions are hypothetical. The allegations of abuse haven't been proven. For all I know, nothing happened.)
It's easy to sit in an office and judge the actions of soldiers out in the field. Ottawa asked our military to fight a war. War is brutal and ugly. I don't believe Canada should be in Afghanistan, but if we send the military there, we should let our soldiers do their jobs. If accomplishing the mission means taking actions that make civilians queasy, tough. That said, I defer to the judgment of people who've actually been to war. They're the only ones qualified to judge.
Some more articles about this story (some links will expire soon):
Military investigates claim Canadians abused detainees Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2007
Ottawa silent on fate of captured terror suspects Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, February 6, 2007
Afghans feel our troops cross the line Murray Brewster, Canadian Press, February 7, 2007
A civilian investigation is being launched into alleged mistreatment of prisoners in Afghanistan involving the Canadian military, CBC News has learned.
The Military Police Complaints Commission said Friday it will conduct a "public interest investigation" into the way Canadian soldiers handle prisoners in the Afghan mission.
The allegations stem from military records detailing injuries in prisoners in Canadian custody.
The investigation will be private, but the commission may launch a public inquiry if there are indications of wrongdoing, said Peter Tinsley, who heads the civilian-run body.
[. . .]
The military has already launched its own investigation into the allegations made by Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, based on military documents he requested under the Access to Information Act.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article.
I don't know what to make of this story. I've never been in the military and have never been to war. This affair calls for comment from people who have had combat experience. Speaking very much as an outsider, I wonder whether human rights activists are asking more from our soldiers than can reasonably be expected. Our men and women face death everyday. They are under a kind of stress most of us can't even imagine. Would it really be surprising or shocking if soldiers sometimes handled prisoners roughly? And would it be fair to punish them if they did? (Note: these questions are hypothetical. The allegations of abuse haven't been proven. For all I know, nothing happened.)
It's easy to sit in an office and judge the actions of soldiers out in the field. Ottawa asked our military to fight a war. War is brutal and ugly. I don't believe Canada should be in Afghanistan, but if we send the military there, we should let our soldiers do their jobs. If accomplishing the mission means taking actions that make civilians queasy, tough. That said, I defer to the judgment of people who've actually been to war. They're the only ones qualified to judge.
Some more articles about this story (some links will expire soon):
Military investigates claim Canadians abused detainees Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2007
Ottawa silent on fate of captured terror suspects Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, February 6, 2007
Afghans feel our troops cross the line Murray Brewster, Canadian Press, February 7, 2007
Another Indo-Canadian woman dies violently in Surrey, BC
From Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail (Third death stuns Indo-Canadian community, February 8, 2007):
RCMP have released the name of the third Indo-Canadian woman to die violently in Surrey in four months.
Police said the body of Amanpreet Kaur Bahia, 33, of Surrey was found deceased by family members who had returned home from an outing on Wednesday.
Police said Ms. Bahia was the mother of three young children and two of them were home at the time of the murder.
Investigators said she was the victim of a brutal, violent attack, but did not elaborate.
RCMP Corporal Dale Carr said the police have spoken with members of her extended family and have interviewed her husband.
No charges have been laid and Cpl. Carr said there are no suspects.
[. . .]
Read all of the CP article.
Wife abuse "a cancer in the Indo-Canadian community."
Indian women who've been abandoned by their Indo-Canadian husbands
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada Indo-Canadians Surrey BC
RCMP have released the name of the third Indo-Canadian woman to die violently in Surrey in four months.
Police said the body of Amanpreet Kaur Bahia, 33, of Surrey was found deceased by family members who had returned home from an outing on Wednesday.
Police said Ms. Bahia was the mother of three young children and two of them were home at the time of the murder.
Investigators said she was the victim of a brutal, violent attack, but did not elaborate.
RCMP Corporal Dale Carr said the police have spoken with members of her extended family and have interviewed her husband.
No charges have been laid and Cpl. Carr said there are no suspects.
[. . .]
Read all of the CP article.
Wife abuse "a cancer in the Indo-Canadian community."
Indian women who've been abandoned by their Indo-Canadian husbands
India poised to become Canada's top source of immigrants. Is this what Canadians want?
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada Indo-Canadians Surrey BC
Jane Creba investigation - Richard Steele may have been target of shooting
From the Toronto Star (Did 19-year-old spark Creba slaying? by Peter Small, February 9, 2007)
A young man caught up in the Jane Creba murder investigation is being painted as the possible intended target in the 15-year-old girl's shooting, according to his lawyer.
"The police are saying that he may have been one of the triggers," Selwyn Pieters told reporters on the steps of Old City Hall courthouse after his client Richard Steele was sentenced on unrelated weapons and drug charges.
"That he may have been one of the sparks that caused the shooting to take place, that it could have been him that people are aiming for, that caused the shootout on Yonge St."
Pieters told reporters that he would apply to a judge to quash a Crown subpoena calling on Steele, 19, to testify in the trial of the 10 young men accused in the Creba shooting, because police have not assured him that he is not a suspect.
Until they do, he has a right not to incriminate himself, Pieters said.
[. . .]
Steele is the son of Valarie Steele, former head of the Jamaican Canadian Association. At her son's bail hearing last December, a prosecutor played a wiretap that revealed Steele, an adjudicator with the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal, tipping a friend that she would be hearing her upcoming case.
She has since admitted that was wrong for her to do. But she refused to comment on the matter yesterday.
She is still an adjudicator but is not hearing any cases while an investigation is conducted, a tribunal spokesperson said yesterday.
On the issue of her son's case, Steele said that she was disappointed, as an "African-Canadian-Jamaican woman" that even though other people bring drugs and guns into the country, "our young people pay for it."
[. . .]
Read all of Peter Small's article.
See also:
Why is the Star treating black leader Valarie Steele as a victim?
Technorati tags: homicides Toronto gangs Toronto crime Toronto Jamaicans Toronto Richard Steele Valarie Steele Jane Creba
A young man caught up in the Jane Creba murder investigation is being painted as the possible intended target in the 15-year-old girl's shooting, according to his lawyer.
"The police are saying that he may have been one of the triggers," Selwyn Pieters told reporters on the steps of Old City Hall courthouse after his client Richard Steele was sentenced on unrelated weapons and drug charges.
"That he may have been one of the sparks that caused the shooting to take place, that it could have been him that people are aiming for, that caused the shootout on Yonge St."
Pieters told reporters that he would apply to a judge to quash a Crown subpoena calling on Steele, 19, to testify in the trial of the 10 young men accused in the Creba shooting, because police have not assured him that he is not a suspect.
Until they do, he has a right not to incriminate himself, Pieters said.
[. . .]
Steele is the son of Valarie Steele, former head of the Jamaican Canadian Association. At her son's bail hearing last December, a prosecutor played a wiretap that revealed Steele, an adjudicator with the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal, tipping a friend that she would be hearing her upcoming case.
She has since admitted that was wrong for her to do. But she refused to comment on the matter yesterday.
She is still an adjudicator but is not hearing any cases while an investigation is conducted, a tribunal spokesperson said yesterday.
On the issue of her son's case, Steele said that she was disappointed, as an "African-Canadian-Jamaican woman" that even though other people bring drugs and guns into the country, "our young people pay for it."
[. . .]
Read all of Peter Small's article.
See also:
Why is the Star treating black leader Valarie Steele as a victim?
Technorati tags: homicides Toronto gangs Toronto crime Toronto Jamaicans Toronto Richard Steele Valarie Steele Jane Creba
Herouxville fallout - Jean Charest strikes commission to examine religious accommodations in Quebec
From the Globe and Mail (Quebec strikes commission to resolve minorities debate by Rheal Seguin, February 9, 2007):
The debate over accommodation of religious minorities has become so divisive that Quebec Premier Jean Charest named a non-partisan commission yesterday to settle an issue that has threatened to sideswipe his party on the eve of an election.
He said Quebec's fundamental values cannot be compromised to accommodate religious-minority groups.
"The Quebec nation has values, solid values, among them the equality between men and women, the primacy of French and the separation between religion and state," Mr. Charest said. "These are fundamental values. They are part of Quebec. They cannot be subject to any accommodation. They cannot be subordinated to any other principle."
He insisted that immigrants must adhere to these values, and will have help integrating into Quebec society. But to achieve peaceful co-existence, everyone needs to compromise, he added.
The non-partisan commission headed by two Quebec intellectuals, sociologist Gérard Bouchard and philosopher Charles Taylor, was given a mandate to resolve the debate within the framework of the values Mr. Charest outlined.
[. . .]
Read all of Rheal Seguin's article.
I suspect Charest is worried about losing votes to Mario Dumont's Action Democratique, which has issued statements recently about immigrants needing to adapt to Quebecois culture. Among other things the party has proposed banning burkas.
Why should the people of Quebec have to change their public culture to accommodate non-Western immigrants? This whole debate would be unnecessary if Canada had a sensible immigration policy. Why is Canada bringing 250,000+ mostly non-Western immigrants when there is no economic justification for doing so? I think it's good that the controvery over Herouxville's citizens' code of conduct has brought some attention to the cost of multiculturalism but the more important issue is immigration. Demography is destiny. How far Quebec and Canada go to accommodate religious minorities will depend to a large extent on the size of those minorities. If non-Christian religious minorities are large enough they will have the power to force the rest of society to accommodate their practices where we want it or not.
I don't know much about Charles Taylor but for some reason I associate his name with Will Kymlicka's. Something tells me his appointment to the commission is a bad sign. Time will tell.
See also:
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
Muslim groups threaten to file human rights complaint over Herouxville's code of conduct
What is more outrageous? You decide.
Technorati tags: Herouxville Jean Charest politics Quebec multiculturalism Quebec multiculturalism Canada human rights Quebec Muslims Canada Canada immigration policy
The debate over accommodation of religious minorities has become so divisive that Quebec Premier Jean Charest named a non-partisan commission yesterday to settle an issue that has threatened to sideswipe his party on the eve of an election.
He said Quebec's fundamental values cannot be compromised to accommodate religious-minority groups.
"The Quebec nation has values, solid values, among them the equality between men and women, the primacy of French and the separation between religion and state," Mr. Charest said. "These are fundamental values. They are part of Quebec. They cannot be subject to any accommodation. They cannot be subordinated to any other principle."
He insisted that immigrants must adhere to these values, and will have help integrating into Quebec society. But to achieve peaceful co-existence, everyone needs to compromise, he added.
The non-partisan commission headed by two Quebec intellectuals, sociologist Gérard Bouchard and philosopher Charles Taylor, was given a mandate to resolve the debate within the framework of the values Mr. Charest outlined.
[. . .]
Read all of Rheal Seguin's article.
I suspect Charest is worried about losing votes to Mario Dumont's Action Democratique, which has issued statements recently about immigrants needing to adapt to Quebecois culture. Among other things the party has proposed banning burkas.
Why should the people of Quebec have to change their public culture to accommodate non-Western immigrants? This whole debate would be unnecessary if Canada had a sensible immigration policy. Why is Canada bringing 250,000+ mostly non-Western immigrants when there is no economic justification for doing so? I think it's good that the controvery over Herouxville's citizens' code of conduct has brought some attention to the cost of multiculturalism but the more important issue is immigration. Demography is destiny. How far Quebec and Canada go to accommodate religious minorities will depend to a large extent on the size of those minorities. If non-Christian religious minorities are large enough they will have the power to force the rest of society to accommodate their practices where we want it or not.
I don't know much about Charles Taylor but for some reason I associate his name with Will Kymlicka's. Something tells me his appointment to the commission is a bad sign. Time will tell.
See also:
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
Muslim groups threaten to file human rights complaint over Herouxville's code of conduct
What is more outrageous? You decide.
Technorati tags: Herouxville Jean Charest politics Quebec multiculturalism Quebec multiculturalism Canada human rights Quebec Muslims Canada Canada immigration policy
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Omar Wellington beating death - Toronto police hope YouTube can help crack Flemingdon Park homicide case
From the Toronto Star (Police hope YouTube video cracks murder case by Tracy Huffman, February 8, 2007):
Almost seven months after homicide victim 17-year-old Omar Wellington was stripped to his underwear and beaten while dozens of Flemingdon Park residents watched, police believe a composite sketch of a suspect on YouTube may lead to an arrest.
“I am very encouraged by the cooperation and the recent information that has come forward that has allowed us to develop this composite photograph and I’m urging anyone in the community that may have information ... to give me a call,” said Det. Scott Spratt at a news conference at police headquarters today.
Until recently, Spratt said he did not have enough information to make a composite.
[. . .]
“Witnesses tell us that person lives within the immediate neighbourhood of Flemingdon Park,” Spratt said, pointing to the composite. “He did so, I believe, at the time of this murder and may very well still live there.”
[. . .]
The suspect is described as a black male with a light complexion, about 18-years-old. He is 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 and weighs 140 to 150 pounds.
Anyone with information can contact Spratt at 416-808-7407 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477 or online at www.222tips.com.
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article.
View the police video on YouTube.
See also:
Residents watched as teen was stripped down, beaten and stabbed to death
Teen found beaten to death
Technorati tags: Flemingdon Park Omar Wellington gangs Toronto homicides Toronto crime Toronto police Toronto YouTube
Almost seven months after homicide victim 17-year-old Omar Wellington was stripped to his underwear and beaten while dozens of Flemingdon Park residents watched, police believe a composite sketch of a suspect on YouTube may lead to an arrest.
“I am very encouraged by the cooperation and the recent information that has come forward that has allowed us to develop this composite photograph and I’m urging anyone in the community that may have information ... to give me a call,” said Det. Scott Spratt at a news conference at police headquarters today.
Until recently, Spratt said he did not have enough information to make a composite.
[. . .]
“Witnesses tell us that person lives within the immediate neighbourhood of Flemingdon Park,” Spratt said, pointing to the composite. “He did so, I believe, at the time of this murder and may very well still live there.”
[. . .]
The suspect is described as a black male with a light complexion, about 18-years-old. He is 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 and weighs 140 to 150 pounds.
Anyone with information can contact Spratt at 416-808-7407 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477 or online at www.222tips.com.
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article.
View the police video on YouTube.
See also:
Residents watched as teen was stripped down, beaten and stabbed to death
Teen found beaten to death
Technorati tags: Flemingdon Park Omar Wellington gangs Toronto homicides Toronto crime Toronto police Toronto YouTube
14-year-old wanted for Scarborough shooting that left one dead, two wounded
[Update: I removed the suspect's name because the special judicial permission allowing him to be named is no longer in effect. Also his picture has been removed from the Star webpage.]
From the Toronto Star (Police identify shooting suspect, 14 by Tracy Huffman, February 8, 2007):
Police are hunting for a 14-year-old boy, wanted in the shooting of Kemar Long-Thompson who was killed in the city's far east end Sunday while attending a birthday party for his 16-year-old cousin.
In a move reserved for the most serious of crimes, homicide officers were granted judicial authorization to identify [. . .] for five days in order to seek help from the public, Det. Graham Gibson said at a press conference at police headquarters this afternoon.
"To [. . .], the Toronto Police Service urges you to turn yourself in," said Gibson.
[. . .] should be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached, the homicide detective said.
Anyone who sees [. . .] should call 911.
[. . .]
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article.
See also:
Teen shot dead, two others wounded at birthday party
Gun crime in Toronto: there's still a lot of work to do
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto youth crime Toronto homicides Toronto shootings Toronto Community Housing
From the Toronto Star (Police identify shooting suspect, 14 by Tracy Huffman, February 8, 2007):
Police are hunting for a 14-year-old boy, wanted in the shooting of Kemar Long-Thompson who was killed in the city's far east end Sunday while attending a birthday party for his 16-year-old cousin.
In a move reserved for the most serious of crimes, homicide officers were granted judicial authorization to identify [. . .] for five days in order to seek help from the public, Det. Graham Gibson said at a press conference at police headquarters this afternoon.
"To [. . .], the Toronto Police Service urges you to turn yourself in," said Gibson.
[. . .] should be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached, the homicide detective said.
Anyone who sees [. . .] should call 911.
[. . .]
Read all of Tracy Huffman's article.
See also:
Teen shot dead, two others wounded at birthday party
Gun crime in Toronto: there's still a lot of work to do
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto youth crime Toronto homicides Toronto shootings Toronto Community Housing
Multicultural Canada is becoming a collection of monocultural neighbourhoods
From the Globe and Mail (Do ethnic enclaves impede integration? by Marina Jimenez, February 8, 2007):
It is here, on the border of Brampton and Mississauga, that it is most striking: Canada's famed multicultural mosaic has morphed into a series of monocultural neighbourhoods.
If it weren't for the snow and salt in the parking lot, Plaza McLaughlin Village outside Toronto could as easily be in New Delhi. There is goat and lamb for sale at the Doaba meat shop. The latest Bollywood hit, Guru, is at West End Video. You can do your taxes, go to the doctor and book a flight in Punjabi. And the clock in the photocopy shop shows the time in New Delhi. The only Caucasian faces are the officers at Brampton's community policing station.
The number of ethnic enclaves like this one has exploded in Canada. In 1981, there were only six in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. By 2001, there were 254, according to a study by Statistics Canada, which defines ethnic enclaves as communities with 30 per cent of the population from one visible minority group.
Some neighbourhoods are low-income, underscoring the reality that visible minority families make up three-quarters of the country's poor. In a way, they mirror earlier waves of immigrants, such as Jews and Italians, who congregated in ethnic enclaves out of economic necessity and cultural identity long before anyone had ever heard of multiculturalism policies.
Today, Canada seeks out immigrants with more money and earning power, and many bypass inner-city neighbourhoods and head straight for the suburbs. There, in expanding and well-heeled communities, they either buy houses or rent basement suites in the homes of other newcomers.
"In Canada, we may live in a multicultural society, but the evidence suggests that fewer and fewer of us are living in multicultural neighbourhoods," says Allan Gregg, who has written about geographic concentrations of immigrants and is chairman of the Strategic Counsel, a polling and market-research firm. "We spend so much time congratulating ourselves on tolerance and diversity that we have allowed it to slide into self-segregated communities, isolated along ethnic lines."
[. . .]
Read all of Marina Jimenez's article.
The key thing to remember when you read articles like this is that there is no economic justification for bringing in 250,000+ immigrants a year into Canada. When people look at the data, the economic arguments fall apart.
Why then are all these people coming here? What social purpose is served by making Canada more ethnically diverse?
To a shockingly large exent, Canada's immigration policy is motivated by ideology and in particular by a disdain for whites. There are powerful and influential people who believe whites are responsible for most of the world's problems and eliminating whites as a distinct demographic group is a moral imperative. These people hope that through a combination of mass immigration and intermarriage humanity will blend into one harmonious whole.
That's why some immigration enthusiasts become hysterical at any suggestion immigration numbers should be reduced. When critics argue there is too much immigration, they aren't just challenging a public policy, they are also threatening what amounts to a religious belief in the necessity of eliminating whites as a distinct people.
Canada's current immigration policies aren't just bad. They're evil.
See also:
Disillusionment on the campaign trail: "I can't talk to anybody. None of them speak English."
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada race relations Canada immigrants Toronto Marina Jimenez
It is here, on the border of Brampton and Mississauga, that it is most striking: Canada's famed multicultural mosaic has morphed into a series of monocultural neighbourhoods.
If it weren't for the snow and salt in the parking lot, Plaza McLaughlin Village outside Toronto could as easily be in New Delhi. There is goat and lamb for sale at the Doaba meat shop. The latest Bollywood hit, Guru, is at West End Video. You can do your taxes, go to the doctor and book a flight in Punjabi. And the clock in the photocopy shop shows the time in New Delhi. The only Caucasian faces are the officers at Brampton's community policing station.
The number of ethnic enclaves like this one has exploded in Canada. In 1981, there were only six in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. By 2001, there were 254, according to a study by Statistics Canada, which defines ethnic enclaves as communities with 30 per cent of the population from one visible minority group.
Some neighbourhoods are low-income, underscoring the reality that visible minority families make up three-quarters of the country's poor. In a way, they mirror earlier waves of immigrants, such as Jews and Italians, who congregated in ethnic enclaves out of economic necessity and cultural identity long before anyone had ever heard of multiculturalism policies.
Today, Canada seeks out immigrants with more money and earning power, and many bypass inner-city neighbourhoods and head straight for the suburbs. There, in expanding and well-heeled communities, they either buy houses or rent basement suites in the homes of other newcomers.
"In Canada, we may live in a multicultural society, but the evidence suggests that fewer and fewer of us are living in multicultural neighbourhoods," says Allan Gregg, who has written about geographic concentrations of immigrants and is chairman of the Strategic Counsel, a polling and market-research firm. "We spend so much time congratulating ourselves on tolerance and diversity that we have allowed it to slide into self-segregated communities, isolated along ethnic lines."
[. . .]
Read all of Marina Jimenez's article.
The key thing to remember when you read articles like this is that there is no economic justification for bringing in 250,000+ immigrants a year into Canada. When people look at the data, the economic arguments fall apart.
Why then are all these people coming here? What social purpose is served by making Canada more ethnically diverse?
To a shockingly large exent, Canada's immigration policy is motivated by ideology and in particular by a disdain for whites. There are powerful and influential people who believe whites are responsible for most of the world's problems and eliminating whites as a distinct demographic group is a moral imperative. These people hope that through a combination of mass immigration and intermarriage humanity will blend into one harmonious whole.
That's why some immigration enthusiasts become hysterical at any suggestion immigration numbers should be reduced. When critics argue there is too much immigration, they aren't just challenging a public policy, they are also threatening what amounts to a religious belief in the necessity of eliminating whites as a distinct people.
Canada's current immigration policies aren't just bad. They're evil.
See also:
Disillusionment on the campaign trail: "I can't talk to anybody. None of them speak English."
Khalsa Community School - Brampton Sikh-only institution expanding
90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada multiculturalism Canada race relations Canada immigrants Toronto Marina Jimenez
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Canada is bringing in skilled immigrants for jobs that don't exist - Martin Collacott
From the National Post via the Ottawa Citizen (More immigrants than jobs by Martin Collacott, February 5, 2007):
In recent years, newcomers to Canada have brought with them a greater level of education, on average, than previous immigrant cohorts. Yet according to Statistics Canada figures released on Jan. 30, their economic performance remains far below that of the Canadian-born population. Why are today's highly qualified immigrants doing so poorly? The answer is obvious: We don't need the services of many of the skilled people coming to Canada. The jobs they hoped to find here do not exist.
[. . .]
Canadians may find this hard to understand given all we hear about the shortage of skilled labour in Canada. Yet immigration is an effective means of dealing with simply labour shortages only in rare cases.
Alan Green, emeritus professor of economics at Queen's University and one of Canada's most distinguished specialists on the economics of immigration, has pointed out that while Canada did not have the educational infrastructure in place to meet all of our skilled-labour needs back in the 1960s, when we launched programs to attract skilled immigrants to Canada, these educational facilities now exist. We should, therefore, be able to meet our skills needs from within Canada's existing population.
This does not mean that we don't experience shortages of skilled workers from time to time in some areas, particularly where there is rapid economic expansion -- as in the case of the Alberta oil sands. In these cases, however, normal market forces will kick in as wages rise and more Canadians are encouraged to acquire the training necessary to enter the field in question.
[. . .]
While governments and immigration advocates continue to tell us about the economic benefits we get from the high influx of newcomers, some recent analyses tell a different story. In a September, 2005 study, for example, former economics professor Herbert Grubel calculated that, given the poor economic performance of immigrants in recent decades, the cost to Canadian taxpayers amounted to tens of billions of dollars per year. Our high immigration levels may have a negative economic impact in other ways as well. Canada's failure to keep pace with countries such as the United States in productivity growth could be linked to the ease with which immigration has made it possible for Canadian employers to substitute cheap labour for investments in capital and new technology.
[. . .]
Read all of Martin Collacott's commentrary.
In 2002, Martin Collacott wrote an important study of Canadian immigration policy. You can download it for free in pdf format here: Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform. Collacott also authored two other reports touching on immigration that you can download: Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada? and Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism.
Collacott's article mentions a September 2005 Fraser Institute study by economist Herb Grubel. You can get a free copy in pdf format here: Immigration and the Welfare State in Canada.
Patrick Grady has written about the impact of recent immigration on productivity growth. He has also written about The Economic Impact on Canada of Immigration.
Daniel Stoffman and Diane Francis have both written important books about immigration. Kevin Michael Grace reviews them here: Breakthrough In Canada!.
Perhaps the best source of information about Canadian immigration policy in all its dimensions is Immigration Watch Canada. See in particular their informative weekly bulletins.
See also:
Star columnist lambastes Volpe's politically-motivated plan to increase immigration levels.
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
Princeton sociologist: "Toronto is becoming increasingly segregated along racial and economic lines"
Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada immigrants economy Martin Collacott labor market skilled workers poverty
In recent years, newcomers to Canada have brought with them a greater level of education, on average, than previous immigrant cohorts. Yet according to Statistics Canada figures released on Jan. 30, their economic performance remains far below that of the Canadian-born population. Why are today's highly qualified immigrants doing so poorly? The answer is obvious: We don't need the services of many of the skilled people coming to Canada. The jobs they hoped to find here do not exist.
[. . .]
Canadians may find this hard to understand given all we hear about the shortage of skilled labour in Canada. Yet immigration is an effective means of dealing with simply labour shortages only in rare cases.
Alan Green, emeritus professor of economics at Queen's University and one of Canada's most distinguished specialists on the economics of immigration, has pointed out that while Canada did not have the educational infrastructure in place to meet all of our skilled-labour needs back in the 1960s, when we launched programs to attract skilled immigrants to Canada, these educational facilities now exist. We should, therefore, be able to meet our skills needs from within Canada's existing population.
This does not mean that we don't experience shortages of skilled workers from time to time in some areas, particularly where there is rapid economic expansion -- as in the case of the Alberta oil sands. In these cases, however, normal market forces will kick in as wages rise and more Canadians are encouraged to acquire the training necessary to enter the field in question.
[. . .]
While governments and immigration advocates continue to tell us about the economic benefits we get from the high influx of newcomers, some recent analyses tell a different story. In a September, 2005 study, for example, former economics professor Herbert Grubel calculated that, given the poor economic performance of immigrants in recent decades, the cost to Canadian taxpayers amounted to tens of billions of dollars per year. Our high immigration levels may have a negative economic impact in other ways as well. Canada's failure to keep pace with countries such as the United States in productivity growth could be linked to the ease with which immigration has made it possible for Canadian employers to substitute cheap labour for investments in capital and new technology.
[. . .]
Read all of Martin Collacott's commentrary.
In 2002, Martin Collacott wrote an important study of Canadian immigration policy. You can download it for free in pdf format here: Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform. Collacott also authored two other reports touching on immigration that you can download: Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada? and Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism.
Collacott's article mentions a September 2005 Fraser Institute study by economist Herb Grubel. You can get a free copy in pdf format here: Immigration and the Welfare State in Canada.
Patrick Grady has written about the impact of recent immigration on productivity growth. He has also written about The Economic Impact on Canada of Immigration.
Daniel Stoffman and Diane Francis have both written important books about immigration. Kevin Michael Grace reviews them here: Breakthrough In Canada!.
Perhaps the best source of information about Canadian immigration policy in all its dimensions is Immigration Watch Canada. See in particular their informative weekly bulletins.
See also:
Star columnist lambastes Volpe's politically-motivated plan to increase immigration levels.
Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist
Princeton sociologist: "Toronto is becoming increasingly segregated along racial and economic lines"
Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"
Technorati tags: immigration policy Canada immigrants economy Martin Collacott labor market skilled workers poverty
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
What is more outrageous? You decide.
What is more outrageous?
Herouxville's citizens' code of conduct
or the fact that
Punjabi women in Canada feel pressured to abort female babies?
In the long run, the latter will have a greater impact on society than the former.
Herouxville's code of conduct includes a ban on female genital mutilation. We know it happens in the United States. If it happens there, why wouldn't it be happening here when we have refugees from Somalia where female genital mutilation is part of the culture?
Why is there more outrage over Herouxville's code of conduct than over some of the horrible cultural practices that are being brought into Canada by some immigrants?
See also:
Muslim groups threaten to file human rights complaint over Herouxville's code of conduct
Female genital mutilation - if it's happening in the US, it's happening here
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
Technorati tags: Herouxville multiculturalism Quebec multiculturalism Canada human rights Quebec Indo-Canadians female genital mutilation Canada immigration policy
Herouxville's citizens' code of conduct
or the fact that
Punjabi women in Canada feel pressured to abort female babies?
In the long run, the latter will have a greater impact on society than the former.
Herouxville's code of conduct includes a ban on female genital mutilation. We know it happens in the United States. If it happens there, why wouldn't it be happening here when we have refugees from Somalia where female genital mutilation is part of the culture?
Why is there more outrage over Herouxville's code of conduct than over some of the horrible cultural practices that are being brought into Canada by some immigrants?
See also:
Muslim groups threaten to file human rights complaint over Herouxville's code of conduct
Female genital mutilation - if it's happening in the US, it's happening here
Canadian immigration - Women from Punjab say they are pressured to abort female babies
Technorati tags: Herouxville multiculturalism Quebec multiculturalism Canada human rights Quebec Indo-Canadians female genital mutilation Canada immigration policy
Muslim groups threaten to file human rights complaint over Herouxville's code of conduct
From CBC News (Muslim groups to launch complaint over town's immigrant code, February 5, 2007):
Two prominent Canadian Muslim groups want to file a human rights complaint over immigrant policies recently adopted in a rural Quebec town.
The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and the Canadian Muslim Forum claim Hérouxville's new code of conduct for immigrants fuels negative stereotypes of ethnic minorities and violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
CIC chair Mohamed Elmasry told CBC that the groups will file a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission if Hérouxville does not retract its code.
He said the code is regressive with racist undertones.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC News article.
Jean Charest isn't pleased either: Immigrant debate has 'gone too far': Charest.
See also:
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
Toronto bus drivers told not to challenge Muslim women whose faces are covered
Technorati tags: Herouxville multiculturalism Quebec multiculturalism Canada human rights Quebec Muslims Canada Canadian Islamic Congress Canada immigration policy
Two prominent Canadian Muslim groups want to file a human rights complaint over immigrant policies recently adopted in a rural Quebec town.
The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and the Canadian Muslim Forum claim Hérouxville's new code of conduct for immigrants fuels negative stereotypes of ethnic minorities and violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
CIC chair Mohamed Elmasry told CBC that the groups will file a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission if Hérouxville does not retract its code.
He said the code is regressive with racist undertones.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC News article.
Jean Charest isn't pleased either: Immigrant debate has 'gone too far': Charest.
See also:
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
Toronto bus drivers told not to challenge Muslim women whose faces are covered
Technorati tags: Herouxville multiculturalism Quebec multiculturalism Canada human rights Quebec Muslims Canada Canadian Islamic Congress Canada immigration policy
Welcome to the zoo. Watch and learn as primates struggle for dominance in the social hierarchy
From the Toronto Sun (A picture of bad behaviour by Zen Ruryk, February 6, 2007):
In an event that seems better suited to elementary school, efforts to take a city council photograph fell apart yesterday morning following a kerfuffle over who got spots in the front row.
According to accounts from several councillors, Mayor David Miller ended up calling off the photo shoot as a result of the acrimony.
Councillor Case Ootes said he refused to give up his spot in the front row in protest of how the mayor is exercising tight control over how city council is run.
[. . .]
A group photograph is taken of the mayor and Toronto’s 44 councillors each term. Workers traditionally secure the picture to the wall outside the mayor’s second-floor City Hall office.
Miller countered that he didn’t throw a “hissy fit,” adding it’s easier to get a group of nine-year-olds to pose for a hockey picture than corralling councillors for a photograph.
[. . .]
Read all of Zen Ruryk's article.
See also:
Mayor David Miller wants to give non-citizens the vote
Toronto Star frets that city council is too "white-bread"
Technorati tags: David Miller Toronto Case Ootes politics Toronto city council Toronto human behavior sociobiology evolutionary psychology
In an event that seems better suited to elementary school, efforts to take a city council photograph fell apart yesterday morning following a kerfuffle over who got spots in the front row.
According to accounts from several councillors, Mayor David Miller ended up calling off the photo shoot as a result of the acrimony.
Councillor Case Ootes said he refused to give up his spot in the front row in protest of how the mayor is exercising tight control over how city council is run.
[. . .]
A group photograph is taken of the mayor and Toronto’s 44 councillors each term. Workers traditionally secure the picture to the wall outside the mayor’s second-floor City Hall office.
Miller countered that he didn’t throw a “hissy fit,” adding it’s easier to get a group of nine-year-olds to pose for a hockey picture than corralling councillors for a photograph.
[. . .]
Read all of Zen Ruryk's article.
See also:
Mayor David Miller wants to give non-citizens the vote
Toronto Star frets that city council is too "white-bread"
Technorati tags: David Miller Toronto Case Ootes politics Toronto city council Toronto human behavior sociobiology evolutionary psychology
Zafar Bangash - leader of Newmarket mosque advocates Iranian-style revolutions
From the Toronto Star (Islamic leader under fire by Michelle Shephard, February 06, 2007):
What started as a mundane zoning proposal for a Newmarket mosque has now made Zafar Bangash the target of a neighbourhood's wrath and once again ignited international debate about the separation of politics and religion.
[. . .]
Much of the opposition comes from Bangash's writings in a publication known as Crescent International, which has a Markham office and advocates for an Iranian-inspired regime in Muslim countries.
"Muslims must strive to overthrow the oppressive systems in their societies through Islamic revolutions, and not by participating in fraudulent elections organized by the elites operating through various political parties that actually divide the people," he wrote in a July 2005 column in the newsmagazine.
"And they must keep well away from the U.S., the greediest, most exploitative, most manipulative, most hypocritical and most ruthless power that the world has ever known."
[. . .]
For some there's a temptation now to ridicule the debate, likening it to the CBC's hit show Little Mosque on the Prairie, a comedic portrayal of a Muslim community in a fictional prairie town and its residents trying to come to terms with each other's misunderstandings.
But others say community leaders and politicians, out of fear of being branded racist, often overlook the influence of those who support regimes whose values they say are contrary to Canada's democratic ones.
"By permitting a known Islamist to literally monopolize the Muslim narrative, you're shutting out modern, secular Muslims from having a say," says Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress who is writing a book on the influence of Islamists in Canada.
Fatah claimed that Bangash is the "unofficial spokesperson for the Iranian regime in Canada."
[. . .]
Read all of Michelle Shephard's article.
See also:
Newmarket mosque wins approval
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
Technorati tags: Newmarket mosque Zafar Bangash Muslims Canada Muslims Toronto multiculturalism Canada
What started as a mundane zoning proposal for a Newmarket mosque has now made Zafar Bangash the target of a neighbourhood's wrath and once again ignited international debate about the separation of politics and religion.
[. . .]
Much of the opposition comes from Bangash's writings in a publication known as Crescent International, which has a Markham office and advocates for an Iranian-inspired regime in Muslim countries.
"Muslims must strive to overthrow the oppressive systems in their societies through Islamic revolutions, and not by participating in fraudulent elections organized by the elites operating through various political parties that actually divide the people," he wrote in a July 2005 column in the newsmagazine.
"And they must keep well away from the U.S., the greediest, most exploitative, most manipulative, most hypocritical and most ruthless power that the world has ever known."
[. . .]
For some there's a temptation now to ridicule the debate, likening it to the CBC's hit show Little Mosque on the Prairie, a comedic portrayal of a Muslim community in a fictional prairie town and its residents trying to come to terms with each other's misunderstandings.
But others say community leaders and politicians, out of fear of being branded racist, often overlook the influence of those who support regimes whose values they say are contrary to Canada's democratic ones.
"By permitting a known Islamist to literally monopolize the Muslim narrative, you're shutting out modern, secular Muslims from having a say," says Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress who is writing a book on the influence of Islamists in Canada.
Fatah claimed that Bangash is the "unofficial spokesperson for the Iranian regime in Canada."
[. . .]
Read all of Michelle Shephard's article.
See also:
Newmarket mosque wins approval
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
Technorati tags: Newmarket mosque Zafar Bangash Muslims Canada Muslims Toronto multiculturalism Canada
Newmarket mosque wins approval
From Yorkregion.com (Mosque plan gets Newmarket OK by Joan Ransberry, February 5, 2007):
Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen put a gag order on any personal or political views linked to an application to build a mosque on Mulock Drive.
The mayor's order didn't, however, stop an emotionally charged gathering in the town hall foyer following the meeting.
More than 300 people, including members of the Muslim community, crowded into the Newmarket council chambers to see how an application to convert a house in to a mosque, complete with 50 parking spots on a four-acre lot would be handled.
Council's committee of the whole approved the site plan application recommending council give the mosque the green light.
[. . .]
Read all of Joan Ransberry's article.
See also:
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
Technorati tags: Newmarket mosque Muslims Canada Muslims Toronto 905 belt Ontario multiculturalism Canada antisemitism Islamophobia
Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen put a gag order on any personal or political views linked to an application to build a mosque on Mulock Drive.
The mayor's order didn't, however, stop an emotionally charged gathering in the town hall foyer following the meeting.
More than 300 people, including members of the Muslim community, crowded into the Newmarket council chambers to see how an application to convert a house in to a mosque, complete with 50 parking spots on a four-acre lot would be handled.
Council's committee of the whole approved the site plan application recommending council give the mosque the green light.
[. . .]
Read all of Joan Ransberry's article.
See also:
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
Technorati tags: Newmarket mosque Muslims Canada Muslims Toronto 905 belt Ontario multiculturalism Canada antisemitism Islamophobia
Monday, February 05, 2007
Judge in Matthew Daly case says murderers' desire for revenge was 'understandable' - Toronto Star reports
On Friday the Toronto Star reported that Stephen Papadopoulos who had been convicted of manslaughter for his part in the May 19, 2001 beating death of Matthew Daly had been released from detention. Daly's family is understandably upset and much of the article (Ruling a blow for Daly family by Bob Mitchell, February 2, 2007) describes their frustration:
They knew no sentence would ever bring back their dead son.
But for the close-knit Daly family, knowing that a man who played a key role in 19-year-old Matthew Daly's murder would be set free was just too much to stomach.
Convicted of manslaughter for his role in the May 19, 2001 beating death of the Burlington college student, Stephen Papadopoulos, 26, was sentenced yesterday by Justice Fletcher Dawson to "one more day" in jail and three years probation. The Hamilton man was given the standard two-for-one credit for time served, an equivalent to nearly an 11-year sentence.
Papadopoulos spent last night with his parents after being released late yesterday from Maplehurst Detention Centre.
Two other men, Sam Nop, 24, and Fadil (Neil) Mujku, 23, were convicted of second-degree murder and were given life sentences. They are ineligble for parole for 13 and 12 years respectively. Daly's father Matt Sr. shook his head in disbelief when Dawson delivered his decision inside a Brampton courtroom. Overcome with emotion and anger, he left the courtroom and kicked over a garbage can in the hallway.
However, in the middle of we read this:
Dawson said that while there was no excuse for the "savage" beating, the desire for revenge was "understandable." He berated those who called the unwanted guests racist and derogatory names. He said most of them likely lived in "comfort" and "relative privilege" compared to the lives of the accused, two of whom once lived in refugee camps in southeast Asia and another who grew up in war-ravaged Kosovo.
The judge also said none of the accused did anything that night to warrant the slurs except showing up at the party dressed in red, a signal to some that they had gang ties.
Read all of Bob Mitchell's article.
I don't know excactly what happened at that party because I wasn't there. I can only go by what I read in the paper. However, if people show up at a party uninvited they shouldn't be surprised if they're treated rudely. Even if, as appears to be the case, racist language was used, that hardly makes a desire for murder 'understandable'. If the Star's account of the judge's remarks is accurate, his comments are outrageous. It sounds like he's making excuses for the murderers because they were at one time refugees. What difference does it make that the people at the party were better off?
The problems with Canada's refugee system are well documented. Why then hasn't the system been reformed? I think the judge's remarks, if they have been reported accurately, give us a hint. Many of the politicians, judges and bureaucrats who run the Canadian state have contempt for ordinary citizens, especially if those citzens are white. Many of those with power simply don't care about the impact that bad refugee policy has on average Canadians, because they see us as racists and bigots who need to be re-educated. They neither respect nor trust us. They certainly aren't interested in our opinions. If Canada's refugee policy causes problems, it's our fault, because from their view high in the clouds we're not tolerant enough. The media is part of the problem too. Journalists also see themselves as morally superior. That's why papers like the Star are filled with condescending articles meant to 'educate' us about the supposed benefits of racial and ethnic diversity.
The judge's reported remarks in the Daly case reminds of another homicide I blogged about. Back in October, a 17-year-old black youth who kicked and beat to death a 68-year-old man was a given a lenient sentence because the victim had supposedly uttered racial slurs and the judge considered this a mitigating factor. The victim, of course, is dead, so the judge never heard his side of the story.
See also:
Matthew Daly's family devastated by son's murder
Prosecutors say racial confrontation led to student being beaten to death in Hamilton.
Craig Bromell comments on defendants playing the race card
Is it open season on whites in Toronto? Black teenager who brutally attacked old man plays race card and gets 18-months as a youth offender
Technorati tags: Matthew Daly Stephen Papadopoulos crime Hamilton crime Burlington crime Ontario homicides Canada Canadian law court cases Ontario race relations Canada race relations Ontario multiculturalism Canada
They knew no sentence would ever bring back their dead son.
But for the close-knit Daly family, knowing that a man who played a key role in 19-year-old Matthew Daly's murder would be set free was just too much to stomach.
Convicted of manslaughter for his role in the May 19, 2001 beating death of the Burlington college student, Stephen Papadopoulos, 26, was sentenced yesterday by Justice Fletcher Dawson to "one more day" in jail and three years probation. The Hamilton man was given the standard two-for-one credit for time served, an equivalent to nearly an 11-year sentence.
Papadopoulos spent last night with his parents after being released late yesterday from Maplehurst Detention Centre.
Two other men, Sam Nop, 24, and Fadil (Neil) Mujku, 23, were convicted of second-degree murder and were given life sentences. They are ineligble for parole for 13 and 12 years respectively. Daly's father Matt Sr. shook his head in disbelief when Dawson delivered his decision inside a Brampton courtroom. Overcome with emotion and anger, he left the courtroom and kicked over a garbage can in the hallway.
However, in the middle of we read this:
Dawson said that while there was no excuse for the "savage" beating, the desire for revenge was "understandable." He berated those who called the unwanted guests racist and derogatory names. He said most of them likely lived in "comfort" and "relative privilege" compared to the lives of the accused, two of whom once lived in refugee camps in southeast Asia and another who grew up in war-ravaged Kosovo.
The judge also said none of the accused did anything that night to warrant the slurs except showing up at the party dressed in red, a signal to some that they had gang ties.
Read all of Bob Mitchell's article.
I don't know excactly what happened at that party because I wasn't there. I can only go by what I read in the paper. However, if people show up at a party uninvited they shouldn't be surprised if they're treated rudely. Even if, as appears to be the case, racist language was used, that hardly makes a desire for murder 'understandable'. If the Star's account of the judge's remarks is accurate, his comments are outrageous. It sounds like he's making excuses for the murderers because they were at one time refugees. What difference does it make that the people at the party were better off?
The problems with Canada's refugee system are well documented. Why then hasn't the system been reformed? I think the judge's remarks, if they have been reported accurately, give us a hint. Many of the politicians, judges and bureaucrats who run the Canadian state have contempt for ordinary citizens, especially if those citzens are white. Many of those with power simply don't care about the impact that bad refugee policy has on average Canadians, because they see us as racists and bigots who need to be re-educated. They neither respect nor trust us. They certainly aren't interested in our opinions. If Canada's refugee policy causes problems, it's our fault, because from their view high in the clouds we're not tolerant enough. The media is part of the problem too. Journalists also see themselves as morally superior. That's why papers like the Star are filled with condescending articles meant to 'educate' us about the supposed benefits of racial and ethnic diversity.
The judge's reported remarks in the Daly case reminds of another homicide I blogged about. Back in October, a 17-year-old black youth who kicked and beat to death a 68-year-old man was a given a lenient sentence because the victim had supposedly uttered racial slurs and the judge considered this a mitigating factor. The victim, of course, is dead, so the judge never heard his side of the story.
See also:
Matthew Daly's family devastated by son's murder
Prosecutors say racial confrontation led to student being beaten to death in Hamilton.
Craig Bromell comments on defendants playing the race card
Is it open season on whites in Toronto? Black teenager who brutally attacked old man plays race card and gets 18-months as a youth offender
Technorati tags: Matthew Daly Stephen Papadopoulos crime Hamilton crime Burlington crime Ontario homicides Canada Canadian law court cases Ontario race relations Canada race relations Ontario multiculturalism Canada
Teen shot dead, two others wounded at birthday party
After this Star article was published, police identified the 17-year-old victim as Kemar Long Thompson.
From the Toronto Star (Teens shot dead at party by Leslie Ferenc, February 5, 2007)
A shooting at a 16th-birthday party that left one teen dead and two other young men wounded has rocked a quiet east Toronto neighbourhood.
Police were called to a house on Scarborough Heights Blvd. after shots rang out shortly past midnight on Sunday morning.
[. . .]
Frightened neighbours peered out their windows yesterday morning as police investigators from the forensic identification unit collected evidence from the one-and-a-half-storey yellow stucco home with the green roof, its front yard cordoned off by yellow police tape.
The property is owned by Toronto Community Housing Corporation, neighbours said, noting that the current tenants – a woman in her 50s named Barbara, her son Leonard and daughter Carrie-Anne, 16 – are "lovely people."
[. . .]
Read all of the Lesilie Ferenc's article.
From a Toronto Police Service news release (Homicide #6/2007):
Police are looking for three male suspects, with these updated descriptions:
Suspect #1 is now described as: brown, 5'6" to 5'7", with a slim build and dark hair in cornrows. He was wearing dark clothing.
Suspect #2 is now described as: black, 5'9" to 6', with a dark complexion. He was wearing a black hoodie and a baseball cap.
Suspect #3 is described as: black, 5'9" to 6", with braided hair. He was wearing a black hoodie and a baseball cap.
At the time of the shooting, a large number of people were in the house for a party. Many have come forward with valuable information. Investigators are encouraging those who have not yet come forward to call.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Graham Gibson at 416-808-7405, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.222tips.com.
See also:
Toronto Community Housing wants to evict families of gang members
Gun crime in Toronto: there's still a lot of work to do
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto youth crime Toronto homicides Toronto shootings Toronto Community Housing
From the Toronto Star (Teens shot dead at party by Leslie Ferenc, February 5, 2007)
A shooting at a 16th-birthday party that left one teen dead and two other young men wounded has rocked a quiet east Toronto neighbourhood.
Police were called to a house on Scarborough Heights Blvd. after shots rang out shortly past midnight on Sunday morning.
[. . .]
Frightened neighbours peered out their windows yesterday morning as police investigators from the forensic identification unit collected evidence from the one-and-a-half-storey yellow stucco home with the green roof, its front yard cordoned off by yellow police tape.
The property is owned by Toronto Community Housing Corporation, neighbours said, noting that the current tenants – a woman in her 50s named Barbara, her son Leonard and daughter Carrie-Anne, 16 – are "lovely people."
[. . .]
Read all of the Lesilie Ferenc's article.
From a Toronto Police Service news release (Homicide #6/2007):
Police are looking for three male suspects, with these updated descriptions:
Suspect #1 is now described as: brown, 5'6" to 5'7", with a slim build and dark hair in cornrows. He was wearing dark clothing.
Suspect #2 is now described as: black, 5'9" to 6', with a dark complexion. He was wearing a black hoodie and a baseball cap.
Suspect #3 is described as: black, 5'9" to 6", with braided hair. He was wearing a black hoodie and a baseball cap.
At the time of the shooting, a large number of people were in the house for a party. Many have come forward with valuable information. Investigators are encouraging those who have not yet come forward to call.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Graham Gibson at 416-808-7405, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.222tips.com.
See also:
Toronto Community Housing wants to evict families of gang members
Gun crime in Toronto: there's still a lot of work to do
Technorati tags: Toronto crime Toronto youth crime Toronto homicides Toronto shootings Toronto Community Housing
Lawyer concerned about Omar Khadr's mental stability
From the Toronto Star (The view from Guantanamo Bay by Michelle Shephard, February 4, 2007):
Canadian Omar Khadr now lives in this modern building modelled after a Michigan prison. Officials boast that the guards are better protected here than in other camps and that detainees enjoy more privacy and new amenities, including air conditioning.
[. . .]
Two weeks ago, Khadr's military-appointed lawyer travelled here to visit with the 20-year-old Canadian and prepare for his impending military tribunal. But despite Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey's efforts, Khadr refused to meet him.
Exactly why Khadr refused the visit is uncertain, but Vokey says it adds to his concern about the Canadian's mental stability.
"It seems he doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone any more – the guards, lawyers – he's becoming withdrawn from the world," Vokey said in an interview.
During a December visit by U.S. civilian lawyer Muneer Ahmad, Khadr was largely unresponsive.
For almost a year, Khadr's legal team has tried to bring in an independent psychiatrist to assess their client, but so far visits by non-Department of Defence doctors have been denied.
[. . .]
Khadr is here because the Bush administration has designated him an "enemy combatant" and says he killed a U.S. soldier and injured others in Afghanistan.
[. . .]
Read all of Michelle Shephard's article.
See also:
US prepares murder charges against Omar Khadr
[The Khadrs:] Canada's First Family of Terrorism
CBC Indepth: The Khadr family
Technorati tags: Omar Khadr Khadr family Canada Muslim terrorism al-Qaeda Canada Muslims Canada Islamic terrorism Guantanamo human rights war on terror Afghanistan US military law
Canadian Omar Khadr now lives in this modern building modelled after a Michigan prison. Officials boast that the guards are better protected here than in other camps and that detainees enjoy more privacy and new amenities, including air conditioning.
[. . .]
Two weeks ago, Khadr's military-appointed lawyer travelled here to visit with the 20-year-old Canadian and prepare for his impending military tribunal. But despite Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey's efforts, Khadr refused to meet him.
Exactly why Khadr refused the visit is uncertain, but Vokey says it adds to his concern about the Canadian's mental stability.
"It seems he doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone any more – the guards, lawyers – he's becoming withdrawn from the world," Vokey said in an interview.
During a December visit by U.S. civilian lawyer Muneer Ahmad, Khadr was largely unresponsive.
For almost a year, Khadr's legal team has tried to bring in an independent psychiatrist to assess their client, but so far visits by non-Department of Defence doctors have been denied.
[. . .]
Khadr is here because the Bush administration has designated him an "enemy combatant" and says he killed a U.S. soldier and injured others in Afghanistan.
[. . .]
Read all of Michelle Shephard's article.
See also:
US prepares murder charges against Omar Khadr
[The Khadrs:] Canada's First Family of Terrorism
CBC Indepth: The Khadr family
Technorati tags: Omar Khadr Khadr family Canada Muslim terrorism al-Qaeda Canada Muslims Canada Islamic terrorism Guantanamo human rights war on terror Afghanistan US military law
Egyptian accused of spying for Israel said to have Canadian citizenship. Foreign Affairs investigating
From Canadian Press via the Toronto Star (Ottawa probes allegation Canadian spied for Israel by Jim Brown, February 4, 2007):
Diplomats are trying to find out more, while security officials are staying mum about a man with a Canadian connection arrested in Egypt and charged with spying for Israel.
Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar was detained in Cairo last month, but the charges against him — and three alleged Israeli cohorts — were not made public until the weekend.
El-Attar has been variously described as 26 or 31 years old, as an Egyptian native who also holds Canadian citizenship, and as someone who obtained a residence permit in Canada by using a false name.
“We are aware of reports of the arrest,” Bernard Nguyen, a spokesman at Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa, said Sunday. ``We have been in contact with our embassy in Cairo and we are investigating.”
So far, however, the department has not confirmed the man’s citizenship or other details of his background.
[. . .]
Read all of Jim Brown's article.
According to the Globe and Mail (Egypt says Canadian spied for Israel by Tu Thanh and Colin Freeze, February 05, 2007):
Egypt alleges Israel's intelligence services used Canada as a base to spy on local Arab residents, laying espionage charges against a man who was arrested last month as he arrived at Cairo's International Airport from Toronto.
A state prosecutor in Cairo identified the man as Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar, 31, and said he was an Egyptian who also holds Canadian citizenship. Recruited in Turkey, Mr. Attar was asked by his Israeli handlers to resettle in Canada, where he worked at a Toronto bank near a local mosque, according to a report by the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat.
Mr. Attar was spying on local Egyptian and Arab communities during his stay in Turkey and Canada, High State Security Prosecutor Hisham Badawi alleged in Cairo.
Mr. Badawi said Mr. Attar was monitoring the bank accounts and financial transactions of Arab clients in Toronto, and was trying to find potential recruits for Israel's secret services.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
Technorati tags: el-Attar Canada foreign relations Israel Canada Egypt Canada Arab immigrants Canada espionage spies
Diplomats are trying to find out more, while security officials are staying mum about a man with a Canadian connection arrested in Egypt and charged with spying for Israel.
Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar was detained in Cairo last month, but the charges against him — and three alleged Israeli cohorts — were not made public until the weekend.
El-Attar has been variously described as 26 or 31 years old, as an Egyptian native who also holds Canadian citizenship, and as someone who obtained a residence permit in Canada by using a false name.
“We are aware of reports of the arrest,” Bernard Nguyen, a spokesman at Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa, said Sunday. ``We have been in contact with our embassy in Cairo and we are investigating.”
So far, however, the department has not confirmed the man’s citizenship or other details of his background.
[. . .]
Read all of Jim Brown's article.
According to the Globe and Mail (Egypt says Canadian spied for Israel by Tu Thanh and Colin Freeze, February 05, 2007):
Egypt alleges Israel's intelligence services used Canada as a base to spy on local Arab residents, laying espionage charges against a man who was arrested last month as he arrived at Cairo's International Airport from Toronto.
A state prosecutor in Cairo identified the man as Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar, 31, and said he was an Egyptian who also holds Canadian citizenship. Recruited in Turkey, Mr. Attar was asked by his Israeli handlers to resettle in Canada, where he worked at a Toronto bank near a local mosque, according to a report by the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat.
Mr. Attar was spying on local Egyptian and Arab communities during his stay in Turkey and Canada, High State Security Prosecutor Hisham Badawi alleged in Cairo.
Mr. Badawi said Mr. Attar was monitoring the bank accounts and financial transactions of Arab clients in Toronto, and was trying to find potential recruits for Israel's secret services.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
Technorati tags: el-Attar Canada foreign relations Israel Canada Egypt Canada Arab immigrants Canada espionage spies
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Traffic-calming measures please some, anger others
From the Toronto Sun (Toronto's road rage bumps on by Rob Granatstein, February 4, 2007):
Time and again, our readers chose stopping the expansion of traffic calming as a way to Fix Toronto.
"The City of Toronto should put a moratorium on speed bumps (or traffic calming concrete), especially in the Beaches," Cathy Andrew wrote. "I just drive down the streets without them. Who actually asks for these make-work projects? And can the city really afford their hefty price tag?"
Mayor David Miller heard this concern from Sun readers, but wasn't ready to stop the humps right away.
"There's a tension between people who want to go through a neighbourhood to get somewhere and the people who live in that neighbourhood," Miller said.
Miller points out speed humps allow you to drive over them at 30 km/h.
"If they're on the right kind of street it's appropriate to say to people this is a local neighbourhood street with a lot of kids on it and you have to drive 30 km/h."
Back when he was a councillor, Miller said, a traffic study on Windemere Ave. in the High Park area, north of Bloor, found 90% of the cars were going 20 km/h over the speed limit.
[. . .]
Read all of Rob Granatstein's article.
Of course, these traffic problems are the result of local population growth, most of which is due to immigration. Traffic is worsening because our transporation infrastructure can't cope with the roughly 100,000 new immigrants who arrive each year in the GTA.
Sure, some of the problems could be helped by better planning, but the fact remains, there's no reason Toronto has to grow so fast. Immigration on this scale is great for developers, the Liberal Party and the immigration industry, but it doesn't benefit most Canadians. As Martin Collacott and Herb Grubel, among others, have argued there is no economic rationale for our current immigration levels.
I wonder. Do the people complaining about gridlock and other traffic problems see the connection to immigration? Some may, but I suspect most don't, because immigration has become a sacred cow people are reluctant to criticize. Anyone who publicly states he wants a reduction in immigration risks a torrent of abuse, as Ontario's environment commissioner Gord Miller found out when he wrote a report warning of the environmental consequences of immigration-driven population growth.
See also:
Toronto drivers pay emotional and financial cost for long commutes - study
Report warns of Toronto traffic crisis - no plan in place to accommodate growing population
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Thou shalt not criticize immigration even if you are trying to protect the environment
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Toronto immigration Toronto population growth Toronto demography Toronto traffic Toronto transportation Toronto urban planning Toronto politics Ontario environment Canada environment David Miller Toronto
Time and again, our readers chose stopping the expansion of traffic calming as a way to Fix Toronto.
"The City of Toronto should put a moratorium on speed bumps (or traffic calming concrete), especially in the Beaches," Cathy Andrew wrote. "I just drive down the streets without them. Who actually asks for these make-work projects? And can the city really afford their hefty price tag?"
Mayor David Miller heard this concern from Sun readers, but wasn't ready to stop the humps right away.
"There's a tension between people who want to go through a neighbourhood to get somewhere and the people who live in that neighbourhood," Miller said.
Miller points out speed humps allow you to drive over them at 30 km/h.
"If they're on the right kind of street it's appropriate to say to people this is a local neighbourhood street with a lot of kids on it and you have to drive 30 km/h."
Back when he was a councillor, Miller said, a traffic study on Windemere Ave. in the High Park area, north of Bloor, found 90% of the cars were going 20 km/h over the speed limit.
[. . .]
Read all of Rob Granatstein's article.
Of course, these traffic problems are the result of local population growth, most of which is due to immigration. Traffic is worsening because our transporation infrastructure can't cope with the roughly 100,000 new immigrants who arrive each year in the GTA.
Sure, some of the problems could be helped by better planning, but the fact remains, there's no reason Toronto has to grow so fast. Immigration on this scale is great for developers, the Liberal Party and the immigration industry, but it doesn't benefit most Canadians. As Martin Collacott and Herb Grubel, among others, have argued there is no economic rationale for our current immigration levels.
I wonder. Do the people complaining about gridlock and other traffic problems see the connection to immigration? Some may, but I suspect most don't, because immigration has become a sacred cow people are reluctant to criticize. Anyone who publicly states he wants a reduction in immigration risks a torrent of abuse, as Ontario's environment commissioner Gord Miller found out when he wrote a report warning of the environmental consequences of immigration-driven population growth.
See also:
Toronto drivers pay emotional and financial cost for long commutes - study
Report warns of Toronto traffic crisis - no plan in place to accommodate growing population
Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration
Thou shalt not criticize immigration even if you are trying to protect the environment
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Toronto immigration Toronto population growth Toronto demography Toronto traffic Toronto transportation Toronto urban planning Toronto politics Ontario environment Canada environment David Miller Toronto
A lengthy New York Times article about controversial Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan
From the New York Times (Tariq Ramadan Has an Identity Issue by Ian Buruma, February 04, 2007):
Tariq Ramadan, Muslim, scholar, activist, Swiss citizen, resident of Britain, active on several continents, is a hard man to pin down. People call him “slippery,” “double-faced,” “dangerous,” but also “brilliant,” a “bridge-builder,” a “Muslim Martin Luther.” He wants Muslims to become active citizens of the West but four years ago was himself refused permission to enter the U.S. He could not take up the teaching position he’d been offered at the University of Notre Dame. Oxford University took him on as a visiting fellow instead.
To his admirers, he is a courageous reformer who works hard to fill the chasm between Muslim orthodoxy and secular democracy. Young European Muslims flock to his talks, which are widely distributed on audiocassettes. A brilliant speaker, he inspires his audiences, rather like Black Power leaders did in the 1960s, by instilling a sense of pride. A friend of mine saw him last year in Rotterdam, talking to a hall packed with around 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. To them he had the aura of an Islamic superstar. Even my friend, an Iranian-born Dutchman with entirely secular views, was impressed by the eloquence of this Muslim thinker, who wishes to press his faith into the mainstream of European life. His critics see things differently: they accuse him of anti-Semitism, religious bigotry, promoting the oppression of women and waging a covert holy war on the liberal West.
I first met Ramadan last year in Paris. The French news magazine Le Point had organized a debate between the two of us on Muslims in Europe (or “Eurabia,” as some fearful people are now calling my native continent). I was instructed to “really push him.” But if the hope of Le Point was for sparks to fly, they were disappointed. Ramadan is much too smooth for sparks. Slim, handsome and dressed in a very elegant suit, he spoke softly in fluent English, with a slight French accent. His first languages were French and Arabic, but he heard English at home in Geneva, spoken mostly by visiting Pakistanis.
[. . .]
So who is Tariq Ramadan? What does he stand for?
[. . .]
Read all of Ian Buruma's article.
One of Ramadan's critics is Daniel Pipes, who himself is controversial. Pipes wrote in the New York Sun (Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa? August 27, 2004):
But on July 28, just nine days before the Ramadans were to leave for America, Mr. Ramadan was informed that the Department of Homeland Security had revoked his work visa.
[. . .]
Of course, Mr. Ramadan dismisses the revocation as "unjustified" and due to "political pressure." He even blames me for the DHS decision.
What's up? The DHS knows much more than I do, but it is not talking. A review of the press, however, gives an idea of what the problem is. Here are some reasons why Mr. Ramadan might have been kept out:
* He has praised the brutal Islamist policies of the Sudanese politician Hassan Al-Turabi. Mr. Turabi in turn called Mr. Ramadan the "future of Islam."
* Mr. Ramadan was banned from entering France in 1996 on suspicion of having links with an Algerian Islamist who had recently initiated a terrorist campaign in Paris.
* Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian indicted for Al-Qaeda activities, had "routine contacts" with Mr. Ramadan, according to a Spanish judge (Baltasar Garzón) in 1999.
* Djamel Beghal, leader of a group accused of planning to attack the American embassy in Paris, stated in his 2001 trial that he had studied with Mr. Ramadan.
* Along with nearly all Islamists, Mr. Ramadan has denied that there is "any certain proof" that Bin Laden was behind 9/11.
* He publicly refers to the Islamist atrocities of 9/11, Bali, and Madrid as "interventions," minimizing them to the point of near-endorsement.
Read all of Pipes' article.
See also:
Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs. Tariq Ramadan
Enoch Powell's famous speech warning of the dangers of immigration to Britain
British police say terror cell planned to kidnap, torture and behead a Muslim soldier
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
Technorati tags: Tariq Ramadan Ian Buruma New York Times Muslims Europe Eurabia Islam Islamism Islamic theology immigration Europe multiculturalism Europe Daniel Pipes
Tariq Ramadan, Muslim, scholar, activist, Swiss citizen, resident of Britain, active on several continents, is a hard man to pin down. People call him “slippery,” “double-faced,” “dangerous,” but also “brilliant,” a “bridge-builder,” a “Muslim Martin Luther.” He wants Muslims to become active citizens of the West but four years ago was himself refused permission to enter the U.S. He could not take up the teaching position he’d been offered at the University of Notre Dame. Oxford University took him on as a visiting fellow instead.
To his admirers, he is a courageous reformer who works hard to fill the chasm between Muslim orthodoxy and secular democracy. Young European Muslims flock to his talks, which are widely distributed on audiocassettes. A brilliant speaker, he inspires his audiences, rather like Black Power leaders did in the 1960s, by instilling a sense of pride. A friend of mine saw him last year in Rotterdam, talking to a hall packed with around 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. To them he had the aura of an Islamic superstar. Even my friend, an Iranian-born Dutchman with entirely secular views, was impressed by the eloquence of this Muslim thinker, who wishes to press his faith into the mainstream of European life. His critics see things differently: they accuse him of anti-Semitism, religious bigotry, promoting the oppression of women and waging a covert holy war on the liberal West.
I first met Ramadan last year in Paris. The French news magazine Le Point had organized a debate between the two of us on Muslims in Europe (or “Eurabia,” as some fearful people are now calling my native continent). I was instructed to “really push him.” But if the hope of Le Point was for sparks to fly, they were disappointed. Ramadan is much too smooth for sparks. Slim, handsome and dressed in a very elegant suit, he spoke softly in fluent English, with a slight French accent. His first languages were French and Arabic, but he heard English at home in Geneva, spoken mostly by visiting Pakistanis.
[. . .]
So who is Tariq Ramadan? What does he stand for?
[. . .]
Read all of Ian Buruma's article.
One of Ramadan's critics is Daniel Pipes, who himself is controversial. Pipes wrote in the New York Sun (Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa? August 27, 2004):
But on July 28, just nine days before the Ramadans were to leave for America, Mr. Ramadan was informed that the Department of Homeland Security had revoked his work visa.
[. . .]
Of course, Mr. Ramadan dismisses the revocation as "unjustified" and due to "political pressure." He even blames me for the DHS decision.
What's up? The DHS knows much more than I do, but it is not talking. A review of the press, however, gives an idea of what the problem is. Here are some reasons why Mr. Ramadan might have been kept out:
* He has praised the brutal Islamist policies of the Sudanese politician Hassan Al-Turabi. Mr. Turabi in turn called Mr. Ramadan the "future of Islam."
* Mr. Ramadan was banned from entering France in 1996 on suspicion of having links with an Algerian Islamist who had recently initiated a terrorist campaign in Paris.
* Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian indicted for Al-Qaeda activities, had "routine contacts" with Mr. Ramadan, according to a Spanish judge (Baltasar Garzón) in 1999.
* Djamel Beghal, leader of a group accused of planning to attack the American embassy in Paris, stated in his 2001 trial that he had studied with Mr. Ramadan.
* Along with nearly all Islamists, Mr. Ramadan has denied that there is "any certain proof" that Bin Laden was behind 9/11.
* He publicly refers to the Islamist atrocities of 9/11, Bali, and Madrid as "interventions," minimizing them to the point of near-endorsement.
Read all of Pipes' article.
See also:
Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs. Tariq Ramadan
Enoch Powell's famous speech warning of the dangers of immigration to Britain
British police say terror cell planned to kidnap, torture and behead a Muslim soldier
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
Technorati tags: Tariq Ramadan Ian Buruma New York Times Muslims Europe Eurabia Islam Islamism Islamic theology immigration Europe multiculturalism Europe Daniel Pipes
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Court order forces patient with XDR TB to remain in Toronto hospital
From Reuters (Court order keeps Canadian TB patient in hospital by Leah Schnurr, January 29, 2007):
TORONTO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Canadian health officials have won a court order to keep a patient with a new, highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis in hospital, while the national health agency says it will start tracking rates of the disease this year.
Health officials in Toronto say the person has been confined to treatment for 11 months.
"Basically, this is someone who dropped in and out of treatment over a number of years," Elizabeth Rae, associate medical officer of health with the tuberculosis program at Toronto Public Health, said on Monday.
[. . .]
The first strain, multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, is immune to the most common antibiotics. If improper treatment continues, it can become extensively drug-resistant (XDR), which is extremely difficult to treat and has a high mortality rate.
The Public Health Agency of Canada plans to begin tracking cases of XDR and will publish their findings this year.
The agency believes the number of XDR cases accounts for a small fraction of MDR cases. The number of MDR cases was in a range of 13 to 23 people a year from 1998 to 2005.
[. . .]
Experts say most XDR cases in Canada are seen in foreign-born people who develop the disease in another country before traveling to Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Leah Schnurr's article.
See also:
Canada: The Disease Dimension
XDR TB: Toronto hospital treating several cases of drug resistant tuberculosis
Immigrants account for two-thirds of tuberculosis cases in Canada
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada immigration public health Toronto immigration Toronto hospitals drug resistant tuberculosis drug resistant TB XDR TB Canadian law
TORONTO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Canadian health officials have won a court order to keep a patient with a new, highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis in hospital, while the national health agency says it will start tracking rates of the disease this year.
Health officials in Toronto say the person has been confined to treatment for 11 months.
"Basically, this is someone who dropped in and out of treatment over a number of years," Elizabeth Rae, associate medical officer of health with the tuberculosis program at Toronto Public Health, said on Monday.
[. . .]
The first strain, multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, is immune to the most common antibiotics. If improper treatment continues, it can become extensively drug-resistant (XDR), which is extremely difficult to treat and has a high mortality rate.
The Public Health Agency of Canada plans to begin tracking cases of XDR and will publish their findings this year.
The agency believes the number of XDR cases accounts for a small fraction of MDR cases. The number of MDR cases was in a range of 13 to 23 people a year from 1998 to 2005.
[. . .]
Experts say most XDR cases in Canada are seen in foreign-born people who develop the disease in another country before traveling to Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Leah Schnurr's article.
See also:
Canada: The Disease Dimension
XDR TB: Toronto hospital treating several cases of drug resistant tuberculosis
Immigrants account for two-thirds of tuberculosis cases in Canada
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada immigration public health Toronto immigration Toronto hospitals drug resistant tuberculosis drug resistant TB XDR TB Canadian law
Stephane Dion's English is appalling and he is often entirely unintelligible - Michael Coren
From the Toronto Sun (Lost in translation by Michael Coren, February 3, 2007):
There is an elephant sitting in the corner of the room and the political elites are pretending it isn't there. Or to put it more directly, the Tory attack ads on Stephane Dion are missing the point. The most obvious problem about the leader of the Liberal party is that his English is appalling and he is often entirely unintelligible.
[Hyphenated Canadian - Coren is correct. Dion has a heavy accent that sometimes makes him hard to understand. For an ordinary francophone resident of Quebec his English is fine, but for the leader of a major federal party it is unacceptably flawed.]
There. That which we are not supposed to mention. It's okay to lambaste English-Canadian politicians for their lack of French, even if they represent completely English-speaking ridings, but never point out that a man who wants to rule Canada and speak to and for 20 million Anglophones has an often-impenetrable accent and a bewildering vocabulary.
He's far from stupid. But he learned English late and has spent far too little time in English Canada and with English-Canadians to have developed an even acceptable ability to communicate in the English language. Which in itself reveals just how insular he is and how little he genuinely understands Ontario and especially western Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Michael Coren's column.
Coren is right about the double standard. It's ridiculous that the prime minister should have to speak French in a country that's close to eighty percent English-speaking. Certainly speaking French is an asset, but most of Canada's prime ministers didn't speak the language even when the francophone proportion of the population was much larger. If Sir John A. MacDonald were alive today our smug media would say he's not fit to run for PM.
Part of the problem is our personality-driven politics. When Canada was founded there was no television and the average voter never expected to see or hear the prime minister. The voter would deal with local representatives of the party, who in Quebec did speak French. Now you have to make a good impression on TV if you hope to get elected. It's hard to impress a voter if you don't speak his language well. It'll be interesting to see how much Dion's heavy accent affects his support in the next election.
See also:
Acadians criticize Liberal candidates for their poor French
Poetic justice: Six Liberal leadership candidates not fluent in French
Will future prime ministers need to speak Inuktitut?
Punjabi and Cantonese As Canada's Two New Official Languages?
Stephane Dion holds French citizenship
Technorati tags: Stephane Dion Liberal Party Canada national politics Canada bilingualism Canada Michael Coren
There is an elephant sitting in the corner of the room and the political elites are pretending it isn't there. Or to put it more directly, the Tory attack ads on Stephane Dion are missing the point. The most obvious problem about the leader of the Liberal party is that his English is appalling and he is often entirely unintelligible.
[Hyphenated Canadian - Coren is correct. Dion has a heavy accent that sometimes makes him hard to understand. For an ordinary francophone resident of Quebec his English is fine, but for the leader of a major federal party it is unacceptably flawed.]
There. That which we are not supposed to mention. It's okay to lambaste English-Canadian politicians for their lack of French, even if they represent completely English-speaking ridings, but never point out that a man who wants to rule Canada and speak to and for 20 million Anglophones has an often-impenetrable accent and a bewildering vocabulary.
He's far from stupid. But he learned English late and has spent far too little time in English Canada and with English-Canadians to have developed an even acceptable ability to communicate in the English language. Which in itself reveals just how insular he is and how little he genuinely understands Ontario and especially western Canada.
[. . .]
Read all of Michael Coren's column.
Coren is right about the double standard. It's ridiculous that the prime minister should have to speak French in a country that's close to eighty percent English-speaking. Certainly speaking French is an asset, but most of Canada's prime ministers didn't speak the language even when the francophone proportion of the population was much larger. If Sir John A. MacDonald were alive today our smug media would say he's not fit to run for PM.
Part of the problem is our personality-driven politics. When Canada was founded there was no television and the average voter never expected to see or hear the prime minister. The voter would deal with local representatives of the party, who in Quebec did speak French. Now you have to make a good impression on TV if you hope to get elected. It's hard to impress a voter if you don't speak his language well. It'll be interesting to see how much Dion's heavy accent affects his support in the next election.
See also:
Acadians criticize Liberal candidates for their poor French
Poetic justice: Six Liberal leadership candidates not fluent in French
Will future prime ministers need to speak Inuktitut?
Punjabi and Cantonese As Canada's Two New Official Languages?
Stephane Dion holds French citizenship
Technorati tags: Stephane Dion Liberal Party Canada national politics Canada bilingualism Canada Michael Coren
US prepares murder charges against Omar Khadr
From the Toronto Star (Khadr faces fresh U.S. charges by Michelle Shephard, February 3, 2007):
Guantanamo Bay's chief military prosecutor has prepared murder charges against former Toronto resident Omar Khadr, once again starting the process of putting the Canadian on trial for war crimes.
Col. Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor, said in an interview last night that he hopes Khadr's case will be tried before military commissions held on the U.S. navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as early as this summer.
[. . .]
Two other detainees also had charges sworn against them yesterday – Australia's David Hicks and Osama bin Laden's alleged driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdam, who is from Yemen.
Khadr's lawyers called the new charges an abuse of justice, saying the tribunals permit hearsay, coerced and secret evidence – making them not much different from what the Supreme Court previously rejected.
[. . .]
Khadr was captured in July 2002 by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and brought to the Guantanamo prison camp three months later, after his 16th birthday.
He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier and injured others following a lengthy attack by U.S. forces on a suspected Al Qaeda stronghold where Khadr was the only survivor.
[. . .]
Read all of Michelle Shephard's article.
See also:
[The Khadrs:] Canada's First Family of Terrorism
Toronto Star: Ottawa urged to lobby for Khadr's return
Canada's al Qaeda family back in the news: Abdullah Khadr charged on four counts
Technorati tags: Omar Khadr Khadr family Canada Muslim terrorism al-Qaeda Muslims Islamic Guantanamo human rights war on terror Afghanistan US military law
Guantanamo Bay's chief military prosecutor has prepared murder charges against former Toronto resident Omar Khadr, once again starting the process of putting the Canadian on trial for war crimes.
Col. Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor, said in an interview last night that he hopes Khadr's case will be tried before military commissions held on the U.S. navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as early as this summer.
[. . .]
Two other detainees also had charges sworn against them yesterday – Australia's David Hicks and Osama bin Laden's alleged driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdam, who is from Yemen.
Khadr's lawyers called the new charges an abuse of justice, saying the tribunals permit hearsay, coerced and secret evidence – making them not much different from what the Supreme Court previously rejected.
[. . .]
Khadr was captured in July 2002 by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and brought to the Guantanamo prison camp three months later, after his 16th birthday.
He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier and injured others following a lengthy attack by U.S. forces on a suspected Al Qaeda stronghold where Khadr was the only survivor.
[. . .]
Read all of Michelle Shephard's article.
See also:
[The Khadrs:] Canada's First Family of Terrorism
Toronto Star: Ottawa urged to lobby for Khadr's return
Canada's al Qaeda family back in the news: Abdullah Khadr charged on four counts
Technorati tags: Omar Khadr Khadr family Canada Muslim terrorism al-Qaeda Muslims Islamic Guantanamo human rights war on terror Afghanistan US military law
Man wants to build AfriCana Village and Museum on Toronto waterfront
From the Toronto Star (If he builds it... by Ingrid Walter):
Like the black soldiers who fought on Toronto's waterfront in the War of 1812 to save Canada from American domination, Trevor David is a black man engaged in a battle.
[. . .]
David is the architect of a $100 million waterfront development called the AfriCana Village and Museum project (africanavillage.com). Created as a, "social enterprise," AfriCana is designed to support black business, employ some 500 marginalized black youth and pump millions of tourist dollars into the Toronto economy.
"Nineteen million people visit Toronto annually. If we have just 10 per cent of them, spending $100 each, that's $190 million, which is a conservative estimate," David says.
The AfriCana Village project includes a museum exhibiting the history of African and Caribbean Canadians, an African Canadian Hall of Fame, a four-star hotel and spa, and waterfront promenade – to be named after William P. Hubbard, the City of Toronto's first African Canadian councillor – as a venue for jazz, calypso and reggae.
Also planned are retail shops, a Praise Café, even the revival of jazz musician Archie Alleyne's Underground Railroad restaurant, famous for its soul/Creole cuisine and celebrity patrons.
David has spent the past 18 months researching and developing the AfriCana proposal, working with his board, which includes, Alleyene, artist David Kibuuka, former MP Howard McCurdy, pastor Don Meredith and Jim Mckay, CEO of Berkeley Consulting Group.
There have been rocky moments, including heated fights among board members, dismissals and cool to non-existent responses from some elected officials and members of the business elite. Still, David has managed to push ahead. The AfriCana proposal has been sent to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and is being reviewed by Jim Bradley's provincial tourism ministry. The City of Toronto says it will provide the board with direction.
[. . .]
Read all of Ingrid Walter's article.
See also:
What has changed in the last forty years to make Toronto a violent city?
Jamaicans and crime - something else we're not supposed to talk about
Technorati tags: Toronto blacks Toronto multiculturalism Toronto waterfront Toronto tourism Canada multiculturalism African Canadians Canadian history
Like the black soldiers who fought on Toronto's waterfront in the War of 1812 to save Canada from American domination, Trevor David is a black man engaged in a battle.
[. . .]
David is the architect of a $100 million waterfront development called the AfriCana Village and Museum project (africanavillage.com). Created as a, "social enterprise," AfriCana is designed to support black business, employ some 500 marginalized black youth and pump millions of tourist dollars into the Toronto economy.
"Nineteen million people visit Toronto annually. If we have just 10 per cent of them, spending $100 each, that's $190 million, which is a conservative estimate," David says.
The AfriCana Village project includes a museum exhibiting the history of African and Caribbean Canadians, an African Canadian Hall of Fame, a four-star hotel and spa, and waterfront promenade – to be named after William P. Hubbard, the City of Toronto's first African Canadian councillor – as a venue for jazz, calypso and reggae.
Also planned are retail shops, a Praise Café, even the revival of jazz musician Archie Alleyne's Underground Railroad restaurant, famous for its soul/Creole cuisine and celebrity patrons.
David has spent the past 18 months researching and developing the AfriCana proposal, working with his board, which includes, Alleyene, artist David Kibuuka, former MP Howard McCurdy, pastor Don Meredith and Jim Mckay, CEO of Berkeley Consulting Group.
There have been rocky moments, including heated fights among board members, dismissals and cool to non-existent responses from some elected officials and members of the business elite. Still, David has managed to push ahead. The AfriCana proposal has been sent to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and is being reviewed by Jim Bradley's provincial tourism ministry. The City of Toronto says it will provide the board with direction.
[. . .]
Read all of Ingrid Walter's article.
See also:
What has changed in the last forty years to make Toronto a violent city?
Jamaicans and crime - something else we're not supposed to talk about
Technorati tags: Toronto blacks Toronto multiculturalism Toronto waterfront Toronto tourism Canada multiculturalism African Canadians Canadian history
Mosque controversy in Newmarket. Zafar Bangash accused of extremism
[Update: The committee looking at the application recommended that city council approve the mosque. See here.]
From the Toronto Sun (Little mosque, big trouble by Joe Warmington, February 3, 2007):
NEWMARKET -- The story about the little mosque in the suburbs has been stirring up more than a little controversy.
[. . .]
If you haven't heard of this situation, stayed tuned because it's about to hit the fan before city council here Monday. It's purported to be a meeting about the zoning of a new mosque on Mulock Drive, near Bayview. It sounds more like it's going to be a debate about whether the mosque belongs there at all.
[. . .]
The Era Banner had a recent front page headline: Mosque Welcome, Extremist Not, Neighbour Says. It quoted George Cunningham saying: "I don't want an Islamic extremist in my community."
He's talking about Zafar Bangash --a well-known Islamic imam, who is director of The Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought.
And he has thoughts -- some critics describe them as "hate." A lot of Bangash's comments could be interpreted as anti-Israel and anti-American -- heavy ideas for neighbours of 700 Mulock Drive to handle.
[. . .]
He is, though, the former editor of the Crescent International newspaper which after Sept. 11, 2001 did describe Osama Bin Laden as a person who "stands up to the West in the name of Islam" and that there was a "far greater tragedy taking place in Iraq, Palestine and now in Afghanistan."
He insists stories where he is quoted as saying the U.S. knew about the potential attacks on 9/11 or that Canada is a "fully paid-up member of the Anglo-Saxon Mafia, which is responsible for most of the recorded genocides in the world" are not his.
[. . .]
Read all of Joe Warmington's 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?
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000 - Globe and Mail reports
Does Muslim alienation start in high school?
Technorati tags: Newmarket mosque Muslims Canada Muslims Toronto 905 belt Ontario multiculturalism Canada antisemitism Islamophobia
From the Toronto Sun (Little mosque, big trouble by Joe Warmington, February 3, 2007):
NEWMARKET -- The story about the little mosque in the suburbs has been stirring up more than a little controversy.
[. . .]
If you haven't heard of this situation, stayed tuned because it's about to hit the fan before city council here Monday. It's purported to be a meeting about the zoning of a new mosque on Mulock Drive, near Bayview. It sounds more like it's going to be a debate about whether the mosque belongs there at all.
[. . .]
The Era Banner had a recent front page headline: Mosque Welcome, Extremist Not, Neighbour Says. It quoted George Cunningham saying: "I don't want an Islamic extremist in my community."
He's talking about Zafar Bangash --a well-known Islamic imam, who is director of The Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought.
And he has thoughts -- some critics describe them as "hate." A lot of Bangash's comments could be interpreted as anti-Israel and anti-American -- heavy ideas for neighbours of 700 Mulock Drive to handle.
[. . .]
He is, though, the former editor of the Crescent International newspaper which after Sept. 11, 2001 did describe Osama Bin Laden as a person who "stands up to the West in the name of Islam" and that there was a "far greater tragedy taking place in Iraq, Palestine and now in Afghanistan."
He insists stories where he is quoted as saying the U.S. knew about the potential attacks on 9/11 or that Canada is a "fully paid-up member of the Anglo-Saxon Mafia, which is responsible for most of the recorded genocides in the world" are not his.
[. . .]
Read all of Joe Warmington's 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?
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000 - Globe and Mail reports
Does Muslim alienation start in high school?
Technorati tags: Newmarket mosque Muslims Canada Muslims Toronto 905 belt Ontario multiculturalism Canada antisemitism Islamophobia
Friday, February 02, 2007
Bloggers are lonely people who live in a make-believe world - Calgary professor
From Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail (Author laments lonely life of bloggers by Bill Graveland, January 31, 2007):
Bloggers are living in a world where emotions may be real but everything else is make-believe, says a University of Calgary professor in a new book.
Blogs are everywhere on the Internet these days and often reveal the innermost feelings of individuals who hate their jobs, activists with a political cause or even angst-ridden teenagers in the throes of first love.
The popularity of sites such as MySpace.com, which contains virtually thousands of blogs, is a testament to the world of self-expression.
But Michael Keren, who has written "Blogosphere: The New Political Arena," suggests individuals who bare their souls in blogs are isolated and lonely, living in a virtual reality instead of forming real relationships or helping to change the world.
"Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills," the author says.
[. . .]
Read all of Bill Graveland's article.
What the good professer says applies to all bloggers. Except me. I'm special. Mamma told me so.
I don't know what to say about the professor's observations. For one thing I haven't read the book though I think I will. It sounds interesting. I won't disptute there's a lot in cyberspace including the blogosphere that's unhealthy, but I think blogs can be an effective way of promoting a political message. My own blog is small, but bloggers like Steve Sailer, Michelle Malkin, Kathy Shaidle and the blogging collective at Vdare, to a name just a few, do have an impact on public discourse. Blogs can't replace the mainstream media. In fact, most blogs including mine rely heavily on professional reporting done by others, but what bloggers can do is provide alternative points of view. They can shake things up a bit.
For a critical look at Michael Keren's book see Mark Wells' blog post: Statistics on Michael Keren’s blog-smear.
See also:
Does Canadian law recognize bloggers as journalists?
The day of the licensed blogger may not be far behind - Martin Kelly
Technorati tags: blogs bloggers blogging blogs blogosphere internet cyberspace virtual reality books University of Calgary Michael Keren
Bloggers are living in a world where emotions may be real but everything else is make-believe, says a University of Calgary professor in a new book.
Blogs are everywhere on the Internet these days and often reveal the innermost feelings of individuals who hate their jobs, activists with a political cause or even angst-ridden teenagers in the throes of first love.
The popularity of sites such as MySpace.com, which contains virtually thousands of blogs, is a testament to the world of self-expression.
But Michael Keren, who has written "Blogosphere: The New Political Arena," suggests individuals who bare their souls in blogs are isolated and lonely, living in a virtual reality instead of forming real relationships or helping to change the world.
"Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills," the author says.
[. . .]
Read all of Bill Graveland's article.
What the good professer says applies to all bloggers. Except me. I'm special. Mamma told me so.
I don't know what to say about the professor's observations. For one thing I haven't read the book though I think I will. It sounds interesting. I won't disptute there's a lot in cyberspace including the blogosphere that's unhealthy, but I think blogs can be an effective way of promoting a political message. My own blog is small, but bloggers like Steve Sailer, Michelle Malkin, Kathy Shaidle and the blogging collective at Vdare, to a name just a few, do have an impact on public discourse. Blogs can't replace the mainstream media. In fact, most blogs including mine rely heavily on professional reporting done by others, but what bloggers can do is provide alternative points of view. They can shake things up a bit.
For a critical look at Michael Keren's book see Mark Wells' blog post: Statistics on Michael Keren’s blog-smear.
See also:
Does Canadian law recognize bloggers as journalists?
The day of the licensed blogger may not be far behind - Martin Kelly
Technorati tags: blogs bloggers blogging blogs blogosphere internet cyberspace virtual reality books University of Calgary Michael Keren
Informant in Toronto terrorism case wanted $14-million. Sources say he received at least $500,000 - Globe and Mail reports
From the Globe and Mail (Terror informant wanted $14-million by Colin Freeze and Omar el Akkad, February 2, 2007):
One of the key informants in the terrorism case against 18 Toronto-area suspects initially asked police to pay him more than $14-million for helping to arrange a sting that triggered last June's arrests, sources have told The Globe and Mail.
The once financially struggling Canadian Muslim did not get all the cash he wanted from the RCMP, but multiple sources say he was paid at least $500,000, one of the biggest payoffs ever afforded to an informant in this country.
Sources say total compensation for the man's role, which began just weeks before the arrests, could be in the $4-million range when relocation costs are tallied.
The man is believed to be in the witness protection program and The Globe, although it knows his identity, is banned from revealing it or his whereabouts. Since the arrests, members of the man's extended family have moved, leading some to suggest they have also been relocated by the state.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
CBC backgrounder: Toronto bomb plot
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
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Toronto terrorism Muslims Toronto Muslims Canada Canada trials Canada court cases Canadian law
One of the key informants in the terrorism case against 18 Toronto-area suspects initially asked police to pay him more than $14-million for helping to arrange a sting that triggered last June's arrests, sources have told The Globe and Mail.
The once financially struggling Canadian Muslim did not get all the cash he wanted from the RCMP, but multiple sources say he was paid at least $500,000, one of the biggest payoffs ever afforded to an informant in this country.
Sources say total compensation for the man's role, which began just weeks before the arrests, could be in the $4-million range when relocation costs are tallied.
The man is believed to be in the witness protection program and The Globe, although it knows his identity, is banned from revealing it or his whereabouts. Since the arrests, members of the man's extended family have moved, leading some to suggest they have also been relocated by the state.
[. . .]
Read all of the Globe article.
See also:
CBC backgrounder: Toronto bomb plot
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
Tariq Abdelhaleem - Father of suspect arrested in last June's anti-terror sweep wants inquiry into RCMP procedures
Technorati tags: Toronto terror plot Toronto terrorism Muslims Toronto Muslims Canada Canada trials Canada court cases Canadian law
XDR TB: Toronto hospital treating several cases of drug resistant tuberculosis
From Canadian Press via the Chronicle Herald (Toronto hospital tackles drug-resistant TB by Helen Branswell, January 23, 2007):
A Toronto hospital is treating several cases of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, with one of the patients being held in isolation under court order, the doctor overseeing the treatment said Monday.
Public health experts fear the dangerous strain of tuberculosis, which is susceptible to very few of the antibiotics normally used to treat TB, is a global health crisis in the making.
Dr. Monica Avendano, the physician in charge of the tuberculosis service at West Park Healthcare Centre, said since 2004 her unit has treated five or six patients with XDR TB, as it is called. All the patients were either infected abroad or infected by a family member who picked up the highly resistant strain elsewhere, she said.
"Currently I am treating three," said Avendano. "All of them have a previous history of tuberculosis that was not well managed."
[. . .]
"Both of the cases are young women who went to their country of origin to look after their ailing grandmothers. And the ailing grandmothers gave them TB. And it was XDR TB," she said.
She did not identify the countries involved. XDR TB has been found in a number of places, including China, South Africa, and many republics of the former Soviet Union. It is believed to have spread, still at low levels, from these jurisdictions to developed countries.
The Public Health Agency of Canada currently doesn’t know the scope of the problem in this country. The last time Canadian TB statistics were gathered, the provinces and territories were not asked to report XDR TB cases. The TB statistics for 2006 — which will be reported sometime this year — will include XDR TB figures, agency spokesperson Alain Desroches said in an e-mail.
[. . .]
Read all of Helen Branswell's article.
Let's be clear. By allowing mass immigration from countries where tuberculosis is prevalent, the government is playing Russian roulette with Canadian lives. What will it take before Ottawa addresses the problem of immigration and disease? Will a Canadian child have to die first? Does there have to be an epidemic?
See also:
Canada: The Disease Dimension
Immigrants account for two-thirds of tuberculosis cases in Canada
Globe and Mail: 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 immigration policy Canada immigration public health Toronto immigration Toronto hospitals drug resistant tuberculosis drug resistant TB XDR TB
A Toronto hospital is treating several cases of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, with one of the patients being held in isolation under court order, the doctor overseeing the treatment said Monday.
Public health experts fear the dangerous strain of tuberculosis, which is susceptible to very few of the antibiotics normally used to treat TB, is a global health crisis in the making.
Dr. Monica Avendano, the physician in charge of the tuberculosis service at West Park Healthcare Centre, said since 2004 her unit has treated five or six patients with XDR TB, as it is called. All the patients were either infected abroad or infected by a family member who picked up the highly resistant strain elsewhere, she said.
"Currently I am treating three," said Avendano. "All of them have a previous history of tuberculosis that was not well managed."
[. . .]
"Both of the cases are young women who went to their country of origin to look after their ailing grandmothers. And the ailing grandmothers gave them TB. And it was XDR TB," she said.
She did not identify the countries involved. XDR TB has been found in a number of places, including China, South Africa, and many republics of the former Soviet Union. It is believed to have spread, still at low levels, from these jurisdictions to developed countries.
The Public Health Agency of Canada currently doesn’t know the scope of the problem in this country. The last time Canadian TB statistics were gathered, the provinces and territories were not asked to report XDR TB cases. The TB statistics for 2006 — which will be reported sometime this year — will include XDR TB figures, agency spokesperson Alain Desroches said in an e-mail.
[. . .]
Read all of Helen Branswell's article.
Let's be clear. By allowing mass immigration from countries where tuberculosis is prevalent, the government is playing Russian roulette with Canadian lives. What will it take before Ottawa addresses the problem of immigration and disease? Will a Canadian child have to die first? Does there have to be an epidemic?
See also:
Canada: The Disease Dimension
Immigrants account for two-thirds of tuberculosis cases in Canada
Globe and Mail: 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 immigration policy Canada immigration public health Toronto immigration Toronto hospitals drug resistant tuberculosis drug resistant TB XDR TB
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Gang violence - in some parts of Montreal it's dangerous to wear red
From Sun Media via the Ottawa Sun (Gang war hits home by Vincent Larouche, January 22, 2007):
Daudi Niyonsaba knew nothing about street gangs until the morning of Dec. 30.
That was the morning he was chased and shot in the back. It was the morning he realized it was dangerous to wear red in certain parts of Montreal.
The 27-year-old Ottawa man keeps a bitter souvenir from his first stay in the city: A bullet fragment in his shoulder blade.
[. . .]
His brother was wearing red. The two men had never heard of the bloody war between Montreal street gangs. Neither man knew the gangs identify themselves by the colours they wear, nor that they found themselves in the middle of the Crips' territory -- a gang that wears blue.
[. . .]
A few days after the attack, police arrested Jean-Yves "Blaze" Brutus, a member of the Crack Down Posse, the head group of the Crips in Montreal. He has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting.
Read all of Vincent Larouche's article.
See also:
15 gang members found guilty in Montreal - some may be Haitian citizens
Jean-Yves Brutus - Haitian gang member avoided deportation by claiming he would be tortured
Technorati tags: Jean-Yves Brutus Montreal gangs Montreal crime Canada Haitian immigrants Canada immigration policy Bloods Crips
Daudi Niyonsaba knew nothing about street gangs until the morning of Dec. 30.
That was the morning he was chased and shot in the back. It was the morning he realized it was dangerous to wear red in certain parts of Montreal.
The 27-year-old Ottawa man keeps a bitter souvenir from his first stay in the city: A bullet fragment in his shoulder blade.
[. . .]
His brother was wearing red. The two men had never heard of the bloody war between Montreal street gangs. Neither man knew the gangs identify themselves by the colours they wear, nor that they found themselves in the middle of the Crips' territory -- a gang that wears blue.
[. . .]
A few days after the attack, police arrested Jean-Yves "Blaze" Brutus, a member of the Crack Down Posse, the head group of the Crips in Montreal. He has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting.
Read all of Vincent Larouche's article.
See also:
15 gang members found guilty in Montreal - some may be Haitian citizens
Jean-Yves Brutus - Haitian gang member avoided deportation by claiming he would be tortured
Technorati tags: Jean-Yves Brutus Montreal gangs Montreal crime Canada Haitian immigrants Canada immigration policy Bloods Crips
Toronto bus drivers told not to challenge Muslim women whose faces are covered
From the Globe and Mail (Traffic is the least of their worries by Jeff Gray, February 2, 2007):
On Day 18 of the Toronto Transit Commission's bus drivers school, you finally get the woman-in-a-veil question.
Seven recruits, not yet in uniforms but dressed in mandatory shirts, ties and dress pants, break into pairs to role-play a conversation between a driver and a supervisor.
"You arrive at a stop where a number of customers are waiting," reads the scenario on the overhead projector. Three customers board the bus showing student passes. A fourth is wearing a veil that covers her face.
"You cannot tell if the picture is of this woman," the scenario reads. "You don't say anything to her and she moves past you and takes a seat."
The seminar-style class launches into a lengthy discussion of TTC policy and the human-rights code, one of several sparked by the thorny hypothetical questions recruits face in bus-driver boot camp.
[. . .]
On the question of the veil, no one in the class takes the bait and tries to force the customer to prove her identity. They are told the TTC's policy is to allow veiled passengers onto the bus, but to file a report if a driver has reason to believe there is some sort of fraud.
[. . .]
Read all of Jeff Gray's article
This is ridiculous. If a woman, whether she is Muslim or not, refuses to show her face to a driver in order to verify her identity, she shouldn't be allowed on the bus. This is Canada not Saudi Arabia or Sweden. Muslim immigrants need to understand that if they choose to live here, they may have to abandon some customs that conflict with Canadian norms. While I think Herouxville's citizens code of conduct is a bit crude, I agree with its general intent. It is up to immigrants to adapt to Canada not the other way around. Does Canada belong to Canadians or doesn't it? We have the right to impose reasonable limits on how far we will accommodate foreign customs.
See also:
South Asians arrested in Brampton burka bandit case. One man may have been ordered deported seven years ago
The Times - British terrorist suspect wore burka to evade arrest
Burka-clad Muslims and topless babes in string bikinis. Why can't everyone just get along?
Technorati tags: TTC Toronto multiculturalism Ontario human rights Canada multiculturalism Canada Muslims Canada religious accommodations Muslims veil
On Day 18 of the Toronto Transit Commission's bus drivers school, you finally get the woman-in-a-veil question.
Seven recruits, not yet in uniforms but dressed in mandatory shirts, ties and dress pants, break into pairs to role-play a conversation between a driver and a supervisor.
"You arrive at a stop where a number of customers are waiting," reads the scenario on the overhead projector. Three customers board the bus showing student passes. A fourth is wearing a veil that covers her face.
"You cannot tell if the picture is of this woman," the scenario reads. "You don't say anything to her and she moves past you and takes a seat."
The seminar-style class launches into a lengthy discussion of TTC policy and the human-rights code, one of several sparked by the thorny hypothetical questions recruits face in bus-driver boot camp.
[. . .]
On the question of the veil, no one in the class takes the bait and tries to force the customer to prove her identity. They are told the TTC's policy is to allow veiled passengers onto the bus, but to file a report if a driver has reason to believe there is some sort of fraud.
[. . .]
Read all of Jeff Gray's article
This is ridiculous. If a woman, whether she is Muslim or not, refuses to show her face to a driver in order to verify her identity, she shouldn't be allowed on the bus. This is Canada not Saudi Arabia or Sweden. Muslim immigrants need to understand that if they choose to live here, they may have to abandon some customs that conflict with Canadian norms. While I think Herouxville's citizens code of conduct is a bit crude, I agree with its general intent. It is up to immigrants to adapt to Canada not the other way around. Does Canada belong to Canadians or doesn't it? We have the right to impose reasonable limits on how far we will accommodate foreign customs.
See also:
South Asians arrested in Brampton burka bandit case. One man may have been ordered deported seven years ago
The Times - British terrorist suspect wore burka to evade arrest
Burka-clad Muslims and topless babes in string bikinis. Why can't everyone just get along?
Technorati tags: TTC Toronto multiculturalism Ontario human rights Canada multiculturalism Canada Muslims Canada religious accommodations Muslims veil
British police say terror cell planned to kidnap, torture and behead a Muslim soldier
From the Globe and Mail (U.K. terror cell wanted to kill Muslim soldier by Doug Saunders, February 1, 2007):
British police say a dramatic series of raids and arrests across England yesterday intercepted an Iraq-style plot to kidnap a British Muslim soldier from his home, torture and behead him, and post a video of the killing on the Internet.
If police allegations against the nine men arrested in largely Pakistani neighbourhoods in Birmingham are true, they were on the verge of carrying out an act that would be the first instance of Internet-driven execution outside of Iraq, Pakistan and Chechnya.
The men, according to accounts by police and intelligence agents who had been following them, had held meetings in which they described Muslim soldiers in the British army as "salaried traitors."
[. . .]
Despite these small numbers, yesterday's arrests seem to confirm indications that a section of the British Pakistani community, a group made up mainly of second-generation men, has come to see the British state and its institutions as enemies to be opposed with violence.
Last year, Britain saw the first death of a Muslim soldier in combat in Afghanistan, 24-year-old corporal Jabron Hashmi. It was an event that provoked a surprisingly divided reaction from Britain's Pakistani community, with some of the community's websites denouncing the soldier as an enemy of Islam.
[. . .]
Read all of Doug Saunders' article.
See also:
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Tariq Abdelhaleem - controversial imam calls Wajid Khan sub-human
Enoch Powell's famous speech warning of the dangers of immigration to Britain
Technorati tags: Birmingham terror plot UK Islamic terrorism UK Muslims
British police say a dramatic series of raids and arrests across England yesterday intercepted an Iraq-style plot to kidnap a British Muslim soldier from his home, torture and behead him, and post a video of the killing on the Internet.
If police allegations against the nine men arrested in largely Pakistani neighbourhoods in Birmingham are true, they were on the verge of carrying out an act that would be the first instance of Internet-driven execution outside of Iraq, Pakistan and Chechnya.
The men, according to accounts by police and intelligence agents who had been following them, had held meetings in which they described Muslim soldiers in the British army as "salaried traitors."
[. . .]
Despite these small numbers, yesterday's arrests seem to confirm indications that a section of the British Pakistani community, a group made up mainly of second-generation men, has come to see the British state and its institutions as enemies to be opposed with violence.
Last year, Britain saw the first death of a Muslim soldier in combat in Afghanistan, 24-year-old corporal Jabron Hashmi. It was an event that provoked a surprisingly divided reaction from Britain's Pakistani community, with some of the community's websites denouncing the soldier as an enemy of Islam.
[. . .]
Read all of Doug Saunders' article.
See also:
Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system
Tariq Abdelhaleem - controversial imam calls Wajid Khan sub-human
Enoch Powell's famous speech warning of the dangers of immigration to Britain
Technorati tags: Birmingham terror plot UK Islamic terrorism UK Muslims
My community is the Canadian community. I am not the ambassador of some country to Canada - Conservative MP Wajid Khan
From the Globe and Mail (Wajid Khan deserves our respect by Tarek Fatah, January 22, 2007 subscription required):
This has not been a particularly kind month for Mississauga MP Wajid Khan. But the political dogfight in which he finds himself pales when compared to the day his MiG 19 was shot down over India in 1971. Mr. Khan parachuted to safety, only to end up in an Indian PoW camp for the next year.
[. . .]
When I suggested that now that his own Muslim communities, especially Arab leaders, are attacking his credibility, he interrupted: "Listen to me very carefully, my community is the Canadian community; I am not the ambassador of some country to Canada; I am an MP representing Canadians and my primary interest is Canada's welfare. I am not in politics to represent some overseas group or government. Yes, I am a Muslim, but I cannot be held hostage by self-appointed community leaders who have their own hidden agendas."
Mr. Khan was reacting to a joint statement by Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, and Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, who not only demanded Mr. Khan publish his elusive Middle East report to the Prime Minister but also attacked Mr. Khan's credibility while mocking his competence.
Their statement claimed there was nothing in Mr. Khan's "past or present activities and experience that would qualify him as suitable for such a sensitive mission." It went on to say that "most of the countries he has visited know nothing about him as a representative of Canada."
[. . .]
Read all of Tarek Fatah's commentary. (subscription required)
See also:
Tariq Abdelhaleem - controversial imam calls Wajid Khan sub-human
Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted
Globe and Mail: Saudis funding Muslim institutions in Canada
Technorati tags: Wajid Khan Canada Muslims Canada multiculturalism Canada politics ethnic vote Conservative Party Canada Mississauga Ontario Greater Toronto Area politics
This has not been a particularly kind month for Mississauga MP Wajid Khan. But the political dogfight in which he finds himself pales when compared to the day his MiG 19 was shot down over India in 1971. Mr. Khan parachuted to safety, only to end up in an Indian PoW camp for the next year.
[. . .]
When I suggested that now that his own Muslim communities, especially Arab leaders, are attacking his credibility, he interrupted: "Listen to me very carefully, my community is the Canadian community; I am not the ambassador of some country to Canada; I am an MP representing Canadians and my primary interest is Canada's welfare. I am not in politics to represent some overseas group or government. Yes, I am a Muslim, but I cannot be held hostage by self-appointed community leaders who have their own hidden agendas."
Mr. Khan was reacting to a joint statement by Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, and Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, who not only demanded Mr. Khan publish his elusive Middle East report to the Prime Minister but also attacked Mr. Khan's credibility while mocking his competence.
Their statement claimed there was nothing in Mr. Khan's "past or present activities and experience that would qualify him as suitable for such a sensitive mission." It went on to say that "most of the countries he has visited know nothing about him as a representative of Canada."
[. . .]
Read all of Tarek Fatah's commentary. (subscription required)
See also:
Tariq Abdelhaleem - controversial imam calls Wajid Khan sub-human
Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted
Globe and Mail: Saudis funding Muslim institutions in Canada
Technorati tags: Wajid Khan Canada Muslims Canada multiculturalism Canada politics ethnic vote Conservative Party Canada Mississauga Ontario Greater Toronto Area politics
Cheap foreign labour - Mackenzie King's 1907 Royal Commission
From an Immigration Watch Canada press release (Can "A Better Life" For Newly-Arrived Mean "A Worse Life" For Many Residents? January 26, 2007):
Mackenzie King's 1907 Royal Commission investigated why unusually high numbers of Japanese, Chinese and East Indians (about 11,500) suddenly arrived in Canada in 1907. One of our previous press releases revealed that large numbers of Japanese labourers arrived because the immigration industry of 1907 (Japanese employment contractors in Canada and others) had arranged to get cheap-labour jobs for them. In addition, displaced Japanese labourers in Hawaii believed rumours that they could find jobs in Canada.
This press release explains why large numbers of Chinese and East Indians started arriving. By implication and otherwise, it also looks at a number of significant similarities between new arrivals then and now.
The common reason that labourers from Japan, China and India had for wanting to come here was economic. This was the 1907 version of the "better life" argument which Canadians hear so often today. The newly-arrived labourers could get wages which were unbelieveably higher than wages they would receive at home.
For example, in 1907, at a wage of $1.50 per day in Canada, East Indian labourers could earn 50 times more than the 3 cents a day they earned in India. At a wage of $1.50 per day in Canada, Chinese labourers could earn 20 times more than the 7.5 cents a day they could earn in China. At $1.50 per day in Canada, Japanese labourers could earn 10 times more than the 15 cents a day they could earn in Japan.
Some openly admitted that they had no intention of staying. They were here merely to make money and then return to their home countries to buy the land they could not otherwise afford. The majority were unskilled and most were younger males.
Today, Canada's immigration system uses the term "Temporary Workers" for those who are here merely for financial reasons and then leave. In contrast, Canada's immigration system refers to those who are here permanently as "Immigrants". In 1907 and earlier, Canada's immigration system did not make this distinction, although political leaders such as Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and different Royal Commissioners recognized that many people were here temporarily. As in 1907, the majority of Canada's intake today is overwhelmingly unskilled-----despite the clamour made by the CBC and others, about the side issue of foreign credentials.
In the case of the Japanese, Mackenzie King made two clear recommendations: (1) Prohibit Japanese labourers from entering Canada if they did not come directly by ship from Japan. (2) In the case of labourers coming directly from Japan, restrict the numbers of contract labourers.
On other occasions, Mackenzie King made it very clear that the primary reason for the wide-spread antagonism towards the Chinese and Japanese was the economic repercussions they had caused for host population workers (displacement of host population First Nations and whites from jobs, forced departure from British Columbia of displaced workers, discouragement-because of low wages--of a settler/family base from coming to British Columbia). In the case of the newly-arrived cheap-labour East Indians, he was saying much the same thing.
[. . .]
Read the whole press release
See also:
Maple Leaf Foods - foreign workers from China went into to debt to get Brandon, Manitoba jobs
Chinese "Contract Labor" And Canada’s Immigration Catastrophe
Hit The Road, Jack Stephen and Others. And Don't Come Back Till You've Done Your Work!
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada foreign workers Canada labour market Canada Chinese immigrants Canada Japanese immigrants Canada Indian immigrants
Mackenzie King's 1907 Royal Commission investigated why unusually high numbers of Japanese, Chinese and East Indians (about 11,500) suddenly arrived in Canada in 1907. One of our previous press releases revealed that large numbers of Japanese labourers arrived because the immigration industry of 1907 (Japanese employment contractors in Canada and others) had arranged to get cheap-labour jobs for them. In addition, displaced Japanese labourers in Hawaii believed rumours that they could find jobs in Canada.
This press release explains why large numbers of Chinese and East Indians started arriving. By implication and otherwise, it also looks at a number of significant similarities between new arrivals then and now.
The common reason that labourers from Japan, China and India had for wanting to come here was economic. This was the 1907 version of the "better life" argument which Canadians hear so often today. The newly-arrived labourers could get wages which were unbelieveably higher than wages they would receive at home.
For example, in 1907, at a wage of $1.50 per day in Canada, East Indian labourers could earn 50 times more than the 3 cents a day they earned in India. At a wage of $1.50 per day in Canada, Chinese labourers could earn 20 times more than the 7.5 cents a day they could earn in China. At $1.50 per day in Canada, Japanese labourers could earn 10 times more than the 15 cents a day they could earn in Japan.
Some openly admitted that they had no intention of staying. They were here merely to make money and then return to their home countries to buy the land they could not otherwise afford. The majority were unskilled and most were younger males.
Today, Canada's immigration system uses the term "Temporary Workers" for those who are here merely for financial reasons and then leave. In contrast, Canada's immigration system refers to those who are here permanently as "Immigrants". In 1907 and earlier, Canada's immigration system did not make this distinction, although political leaders such as Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and different Royal Commissioners recognized that many people were here temporarily. As in 1907, the majority of Canada's intake today is overwhelmingly unskilled-----despite the clamour made by the CBC and others, about the side issue of foreign credentials.
In the case of the Japanese, Mackenzie King made two clear recommendations: (1) Prohibit Japanese labourers from entering Canada if they did not come directly by ship from Japan. (2) In the case of labourers coming directly from Japan, restrict the numbers of contract labourers.
On other occasions, Mackenzie King made it very clear that the primary reason for the wide-spread antagonism towards the Chinese and Japanese was the economic repercussions they had caused for host population workers (displacement of host population First Nations and whites from jobs, forced departure from British Columbia of displaced workers, discouragement-because of low wages--of a settler/family base from coming to British Columbia). In the case of the newly-arrived cheap-labour East Indians, he was saying much the same thing.
[. . .]
Read the whole press release
See also:
Maple Leaf Foods - foreign workers from China went into to debt to get Brandon, Manitoba jobs
Chinese "Contract Labor" And Canada’s Immigration Catastrophe
Hit The Road, Jack Stephen and Others. And Don't Come Back Till You've Done Your Work!
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Canada foreign workers Canada labour market Canada Chinese immigrants Canada Japanese immigrants Canada Indian immigrants
Toronto drivers pay emotional and financial cost for long commutes - study
From the National Post (Hwy. 400 commuters paying the price study: Most drivers underestimate cost of getting to work in the GTA by Katie Rook, February 1, 2007)
GTA commuters vastly underestimate the financial and emotional toll of hours spent behind the wheel, according to a federally funded survey released yesterday.
"Three-quarters of the respondents dislike or resent commuting," Scott McCrindle of Living Green, a Barrie environmental group, told a news conference yesterday. "They feel their time can be put to better use."
The online survey was jointly funded by Living Green, Transport Canada and Suite Works, a telecommuting consulting firm. It targeted the Highway 400 corridor, polling 231 respondents motoring daily between Barrie and their GTA workplaces.
Most said they spent $200 to $300 more each week than they realized, the report says; the commuters estimated spending between $100 and $200 weekly, which is a reasonable amount only for those who take the bus or who carpool, based on a CAA estimate of 43? a kilometre.
The average round-trip commute from Barrie to full-time jobs in greater Toronto is about 185 kilometres. Most commuters said they allocated between 60 and 90 minutes for the trip and left home before 7 a.m.
[. . .]
Read all of Katie Rook's article.
See also:
Fighting Toronto's traffic gridlock: highway tolls among options to be considered by city council
Report warns of Toronto traffic crisis - no plan in place to accommodate growing population
Commute times getting longer - transportation infrastructure strained by population growth
View From Lodi, CA: Lodi, CA. Phil Angelides Is Wrong—“Smart Growth” Can’t Save The California Idyll
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Toronto immigration Toronto population growth Toronto demography Toronto traffic Toronto transportation Barrie Ontario Canada environment
GTA commuters vastly underestimate the financial and emotional toll of hours spent behind the wheel, according to a federally funded survey released yesterday.
"Three-quarters of the respondents dislike or resent commuting," Scott McCrindle of Living Green, a Barrie environmental group, told a news conference yesterday. "They feel their time can be put to better use."
The online survey was jointly funded by Living Green, Transport Canada and Suite Works, a telecommuting consulting firm. It targeted the Highway 400 corridor, polling 231 respondents motoring daily between Barrie and their GTA workplaces.
Most said they spent $200 to $300 more each week than they realized, the report says; the commuters estimated spending between $100 and $200 weekly, which is a reasonable amount only for those who take the bus or who carpool, based on a CAA estimate of 43? a kilometre.
The average round-trip commute from Barrie to full-time jobs in greater Toronto is about 185 kilometres. Most commuters said they allocated between 60 and 90 minutes for the trip and left home before 7 a.m.
[. . .]
Read all of Katie Rook's article.
See also:
Fighting Toronto's traffic gridlock: highway tolls among options to be considered by city council
Report warns of Toronto traffic crisis - no plan in place to accommodate growing population
Commute times getting longer - transportation infrastructure strained by population growth
View From Lodi, CA: Lodi, CA. Phil Angelides Is Wrong—“Smart Growth” Can’t Save The California Idyll
Technorati tags: Canada immigration policy Toronto immigration Toronto population growth Toronto demography Toronto traffic Toronto transportation Barrie Ontario Canada environment
Peter Kimber - BC man says he is a victim of Mexican corruption
From CBC News (B.C. man campaigns for release from Mexican jail, January 31, 2007):
A B.C. contractor jailed in Mexico says he was wrongly convicted of fraud, and accuses the Canadian government of doing nothing to help get him released.
Peter Kimber of Mission in the Fraser Valley was arrested by Mexican police two years ago following a dispute over the construction of a new home for a British couple.
Speaking from prison, he told CBC Radio on Wednesday that he's innocent and didn't get a proper trial.
He also says he has been living in horrendous conditions, and has been routinely beaten by prisoners and guards, leading to health problems.
[. . .]
Read all of the CBC article. Next to the article there is an audio clip of Peter Kimber being interviewed.
Kimber's family has started a campaign to have him released. They have set up a website: Free Peter Kimber. See also Petti Fong's Globe and Mail article (Mexican prison is 'hell,' says jailed Canadian, February 1, 2007). According to the Vancouver Province, Kimber's family has met with Conservative MP Randy Kamp.
See also:
Adam DePrisco - funeral today
Top Ten Reasons Why the US Should Not Marry Mexico
Is Mexico About to Fall Apart?
Technorati tags: Peter Kimber Mexico Canada Mexico justice system Mexico corruption Canada foreign relations British Columbia BC Randy Kamp
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