Dispatches from the Hogtown Front

Diversity for the sake of diversity

2011-05-04T13:08:00.003-04:00

I posted some more comments about immigration on my neighbourhood Bloor-Lansdowne blog. Click here.

Immigration and yesterday's federal election

2011-05-03T16:25:00.005-04:00

I posted a few comments about immigration and yesterday's federal election on my other blog. Please click here.

CBC's biased reporting on immigration contributes to the very poverty the broadcaster deplores

2009-12-10T11:10:00.000-05:00

From the latest Immigration Watch Canada bulletin (CBC helped to creae the poverty it says it wants to relieve):

The principal mistake that the CBC has made is a common one. It has believed politicians' statements that current immigration numbers are no different from those in Canada's past. Also, it has accepted politicians' claim that new workers have been brought to Canada for a good reason and that these people should be integrated into Canada's economy. The truth is that current immigration numbers differ significantly from those of previous years in the sense that Canada has never had 20 years of uninterrupted high immigration. The truth is also that no sensible reason has ever been provided for bringing in the high numbers Canada has been bringing in.

As a result of ignoring reality, the CBC's biased reporting has contributed to a host of problems. One is competition between Canadian-born and newly-arrived workers for a decreasing amount of employment. Another is wage stagnation for many Canadian workers, particularly those with lower incomes. A third is a rise in the numbers of low income workers and intransigence in the country's child poverty rate. A fourth is enormous pressure on the country's social assistance programmes and already besieged health care services. A fifth is large increases in the cost of housing, especially in Canada's urban areas. Finally, there is very serious environmental damage.

In other words, the misery the CBC has helped to create on the 364 non-Foodbank days of the year makes the $500,000 raised on its one Food Bank day seem insignificant.
[...]

It seems that this has rendered them unaware that their advocacy of high immigration on 364 days of the year has helped to cause the high unemployment, child poverty and misery that they think are so shameful. By revealing that high immigration in a recession causes even higher unemployment, the CBC, as well as journalists in the private media, could have put pressure on Canada's politicians at all levels to reduce immigration.

Read the whole bulletin here

You can discuss this and other immigration stories on Immigration Watch Canada's new discussion forum. Please note the address for Immgration Watch Canada's main site is www.immigrationwatchcanada.org with .org on the end while the address for the discussion forumn is www.immigrationwatchcanada.ca with .ca on the end.

See also:

The Effects of Mass Immigration

Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?

Civic leader says working poor a "smouldering crisis"

Immigrants In, Wages Down

Young Canadians can't find work, so why does Ottawa continue to bring in so many immigrants?

2009-12-04T11:10:00.006-05:00

Tavia Grant writes in the Globe and Mail (Young and jobless: The recession's toll, Dec 3):

Mr. Baines is the face of a generation that is being forced to make life adjustments after a recession that claimed hundreds of thousands of jobs, devastating a labour market now struggling to rebound.

No group has been displaced more than our youth, whose jobless rate has spiked to a near 11-year high of 15.6 per cent. And as more young people move home, default on their debts and scuttle their career plans, the aftershocks will linger for years, economists warn. Nowhere has the youth jobless toll risen more, percentage-wise, than in British Columbia, where it rocketed 56.2 per cent to 60,000 this October from the same month last year.

Economists hold out hope that when Statistics Canada releases its latest reading on the labour force Friday, some new jobs will have been created nationally. But even if the report shows some improvements among youth, that would be small comfort to the 438,000 young Canadians now looking for jobs. And many young people say that if the picture is brightening, they aren't seeing it.

“If this economy doesn't pick up again, we're going to lose this generation,” says Nancy Schaefer, who runs Toronto-based Youth Employment Services (YES) , one of the largest youth jobless centres in the country. “They're going to lose hope.”

The situation is particularly acute among recent university graduates, say youth employment counsellors. Caught between being overqualified and rejected for low-skilled jobs, and competing with out-of-work, more experienced older workers for higher-skilled positions, many are struggling with rising living costs and debt loads, they say.

[...]

Read all of Tavia Grant's article.

Often when I criticize Canadian immigration policy, I'm told Canada has always had immigration and people have always complained about it. In other words, what's the big deal? The big deal is this. The immigration policy we have today is radically different from the one we used to have.

Although Canadians often associate Pierre Elliot Trudeau with immigration because his government introduced official multiculturalism, the big change I want to talk about came under Brian Mulroney. Before Mulroney's Conservatives came to power, immigration levels would rise and fall in accordance with Canada's labour needs. When the economy was booming immigration levels would rise and when unemployment went up immigration targets would go down.

This sensible practice of adjusting immigration levels according to our country's labour needs ended when Mulroney's immigration minister Barbara McDougall convinced the cabinet to increase immigration to 250,000 newcomers a year. More important than that, from now on this number would either remain steady or rise regardless of the state of the Canadian economy.

Mulroney's Conservatives changed immigration policy because they wanted to woo ethnic voters away from the Liberals. This policy of ethnic pandering has continued under Stephen Harper.

See also:

Australia and UK admit unemployment-immigration connection. Canada says nothing

Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?

Gov't Ignored Predictions That High Immigration Would Lower Income Growth. Canadians Have Paid The Price

Auditor General: 370,000 temporary foreign workers and other immigration problems

David Suzuki wants Canada to cut immigration

2009-11-29T16:51:00.008-05:00

From Immigration Watch Canada's Nov. 27 bulletin:

This bulletin reports on two interviews with David Suzuki. In the first, Suzuki states that "...immigration, which makes up 66% of the population growth (in both Canada and the U.S.)"... "should be decreased". "A growing population makes every environmental problem worse." In the second, Suzuki says, "We're way overpopulated.... Even if you only look at industrialised countries, there are way too many of us."

The big question many Canadians ask is this: Why has Suzuki not made his criticism of immigration a much more public issue?

Suzuki's leadership status both in and out of Canada would provide the weight to make immigration reduction the major issue it deserves to be.

Is it possible that The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) refuses to criticize immigration because it takes sizeable donations from the Royal Bank and other corporations which want to maintain high immigration levels or increase them? If this is so, is the DSF not undermining its good work on other fronts?

If the DSF is taking money from immigration promoters, then what is the difference between the DSF and the American Sierra Club which adopted a notorious policy of not criticizing immigration in order to continue getting very large donations (over $100 Million) from David Gelbaum, an American philanthropist?

[...]

Read the whole bulletin.

See also:

Thou shalt not criticize immigration even if you are trying to protect the environment

Developer resists provincial greenbelt plan

Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration

Here's a cultural difference you won't learn about in a government-sponsored diversity class

2009-11-29T16:20:00.003-05:00

From an Associated Press article that appeared in the Toronto Star (East African albinos flee murder, dismemberment by Tom Odula, Associated Press, Nov. 29):

The belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa's albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make huge profits selling a complete dismembered set.

Mary Owido, who lacks pigment that gives colour to skin, eyes and hair, says she is comfortable only when at work or at home with her husband and children.

"Wherever I go people start talking about me, saying that my legs and hands can fetch a fortune in Tanzania," said Owido, 36, a mother of six. "This kind of talk scares me. I am afraid of going out alone."

[...]

Since 2007, 44 albinos have been killed in Tanzania and 14 others have been slain in Burundi, sparking widespread fear among albinos in East Africa.

At least 10,000 have been displaced or gone into hiding since the killings began, according to a new report by the International Federation for the Red Cross and Crescent societies.

[...]

Read the whole article

Does Doug Saunders still think Canada needs a million poor African immigrants? Probably. In my experience, the supporters of multiculturalism and open borders aren't too interested in the negative aspects of non-Western cultures.

Does anybody else remember the uproar Pat Buchanan caused when he said English immigrants would assimilate into American culture more easily than Zulus? I realize the Africans in this story aren't Zulus but Buchanan got into a lot of trouble for making the simple point that some cultures are more like ours than others. The fact that the United States was founded by Englishmen carried no weight with Buchanan's critics. (Although I'm writing from Canada, I say 'ours' because American and Canadian culture are essentially the same. Sorry Canadian nationalists, but it's the truth.)

Multiculturalists think of culture in terms of folklore: colourful costumes, interesting music and ethnic restaurants. They don't like to think about the nasty side of non-Western cultures: female genital mutilation, misogyny, witch doctors, sharia law, jihad, caste discrimination. For them the world is one big Folklarama festival. To suggest that some cultures encourage the killing of Albinos because Albino body parts are magical would be racist. That this happens to be true just doesn't matter.

Gypsy refugees put more strain on Toronto's overburdened education system

2009-11-28T21:26:00.005-05:00

Louise Brown writes in the Toronto Star (Roma children perplex local educators, Nov. 28):

They are Europe's Least Wanted – reviled for their unorthodox ways, hounded by white supremacists. Now the sudden arrival of Roma "gypsies" in Ontario has teachers here grappling to connect with some of the most perplexing students in the world.

With no English, limited education and an often shaky regard for school, the wave of Roma children give fresh urgency to the term "at-risk." Schools across Toronto and Hamilton, caught largely by surprise, are rushing to educate staff, hire more ESL teachers and find Hungarian and Czech interpreters for everything from report cards to welcome kits.

"We've got major problems with this wave of students and we need help – we've had more than 100 kids show up this fall and our staff are scrambling," said Trustee Irene Atkinson at a recent crash course on Roma culture organized by the Toronto District School Board, one of several this fall in Toronto and Hamilton.

"We need to develop curriculum for Roma teenagers in Grade 10 who are working at a Grade 4 to 6 level," she said.

It's not just about academic catch-up. What sets Roma apart from most immigrants – and has Canadian educators desperate for help – is that many don't seem to care about school. Roma students can seem lukewarm to learning, even suspicious.

Puzzled teachers say many Roma children seem unfamiliar with routines such as the school bell. Some plunge into fist-fights, show little respect for teachers, ignore homework and skip school for days at a time, even in elementary grades.

[...]

Read all of Louise Brown's article.

Stories like this drive me crazy. Why are these children here in the first place? What will it take for Ottawa to reform our broken refugee system?

The Gypsy families mentioned in the article came to Canada from democratic countries. I don't dispute they may have suffered discrimination at home, but Canada can not afford to accept as refugees every person in the world who has been treated badly.

In the past refugee status was reserved for people fleeing political persecution. Broadening the definition of refugee to include people who have experienced discrimination brings in too many people and makes the system unmanageable.

Louise Brown talks about the problems teachers and Roma children face, but she doesn't discuss how treating these problems sucks resources away from Canadian-born children as well as the children of regular immigrants. Toronto schools are already struggling with a violent underclass. The last thing the schools need are more children who don't speak English and who are reluctant to learn.

Obviously I don't blame the children for not speaking English or for coming from a culture that doesn't value education. It's not their fault. I don't necessarily blame their parents either, because I don't know all the reasons Gypsy culture has developed the way it has.

I do, however, blame the Canadian government and the courts for creating a refugee system that isn't sustainable. It's unfortunate that people in other countries are suffering, but if Canadians want to keep their quality of life, they will have to force Ottawa to reform its immigration and refugee policies.

See also:

Toronto school study shows great disparities among cultural groups in academic performance

Toronto schools - "The escalation of guns and violence has made lockdown practices as necessary a routine as recess"

Canada allows homosexuals to claim refugee status. One result: asylum seekers say they're gay when they're not.

It's Saturday night and the guns are blazing, as usual

2009-11-28T18:14:00.012-05:00

The Toronto Star reports (Man shot and wounded in Trethewey Dr. apartment, Nov. 28):

A man is in hospital and three suspects are on the loose after a shooting Saturday evening.

Around 5:30 p.m. in the area of Jane St. and Weston Rd., a man was found with a bullet wound in the upper arm on the 11th floor of a high-rise building on 710 Trethewey Dr.

[...]

The first suspect is described as male, black, six-foot in height, medium build, wearing a black shirt; the second as male, black, five-foot-ten, heavy build, wearing jeans; and the third as male, black, wearing a white mask.

Last night, a driver in the Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W., a few blocks away, escaped injury when at least 10 shots were fired at his SUV. Bullets also hit a passing bus and a house.

[...]

For as long as I can remember the media and the political class has been downplaying crime in Toronto. I hate to sound like an old fogey who starts his stories with "when I was a boy", but when I was boy growing up in the 1960s and 70s shootings were rare events that made the front pages. Now stories like this are so common that they are often buried in the middle of the newspaper.

A whole generation of young people is growing up with the idea that guns and gangs are just a normal part of city life. When I tell young people that the Toronto I grew up in didn't have gangs, they don't believe me.

Maybe I need to qualify what I'm saying. Toronto has never been a perfect place. It has always had slums and youth violence is not entirely new. There have always been groups of young people who gave themselves names and called themselves gangs, but they weren't gangs as we know them today. They weren't organized criminal enterprises that consider guns a tool of the trade and who beat people to death because they failed to buy well ... a gun. Gangs in the old days were groups of neighbourhood toughs who caused trouble and generally acted as bullies, but they were not shooting at each other.

Toronto used to pride itself on being better than American cities. We were the city that worked. Others used to see us that way too. Peter Ustinov once described Toronto as New York run by the Swiss. I don't think that ever was true, but Toronto used to be a safer, cleaner city. Some Americans are still under the illusion that Toronto is a multicultural paradise. Hogtown certainly is multicultural but as for paradise, why not ask the parents of Jane Creba or Vivi Leimonis? You might also want to speak to the parents of Andrew Stewart, Jordan Manners and Ephraim Brown.

Anybody who thinks Toronto has become a better place in the last few decades is living in a fantasy land and sooner or later reality is going to catch up to them.

Is it Martyrs' Day already? Where does the time fly?

2009-11-28T13:28:00.008-05:00

Anthony Reinhart writes in the Globe and Mail (Toronto-area Tamils observe 'Martyrs Day', Nov. 28):

Their keynote speaker's ejection from Canada amounted to barely a hiccup for Toronto-area Tamils, thousands of whom flocked to an annual "Martyrs' Day" commemoration of Tamil Tiger fighters who died in Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war.

The day-long event at a sprawling banquet hall in Brampton went smoothly yesterday despite the arrest of Sebastian Seeman, a firebrand Tiger sympathizer brought from India earlier in the week.

[...]

Officials said Mr. Seeman was arrested and sent home because he was inadmissible to Canada, not for his remarks at Wednesday's rally. His speech reportedly included a call for revenge on the Sinhalese, who form the majority in Sri Lanka and are blamed for decades of Tamil oppression in the South Asian island country.

In the predawn hours yesterday, a wooden porch was set on fire at a Buddhist temple in Scarborough where Sinhalese Sri Lankans are known to worship. It was the second such fire since May, when the Tigers were defeated in their 26-year conflict with the Sri Lankan government.

[...]

Read all of Anthony Reinhart's article

When you read stories like this, always remember that most Canadian Tamils are here because of our broken refugee system - a system that the Tamil Tigers exploited. Sri Lanka is next door to India, which claims to be the world's largest democracy. Why didn't the Tamils go there? Why did they come to Canada? Just across the water from Sri Lanka is the Indian province of Tamil Nadu where Sri Lankan Tamils can find millions of Indian Tamils who share their language and culture. Why would they choose to go to an alien country thousands of miles away instead of the one next door? They came here because we are a rich country with a well-developed welfare state.

Police stopped Caledonia protesters from flying the Canadian flag

2009-11-27T15:14:00.007-05:00

Christie Blatchford writes in the Globe and Mail (Two protests, two different OPP responses, Nov. 27):

About six weeks after the OPP refused to allow a Caledonia residents group to march down the town's main street carrying a Canadian flag and even arrested one man for doing it, the same police force gave a respectful, lights-flashing escort to native protesters who did precisely the same thing while carrying flags of the Mohawk Warriors.

The jarring and undeniable contrast in the force's approach to policing the two marches is evident in videotapes played yesterday at the lawsuit of Dave Brown and Dana Chatwell now being heard before Mr. Justice Thomas Bielby of Ontario Superior Court.

The judge has already heard that one senior OPP officer involved in the Caledonia crisis describes the Warriors as an organization akin to the Hells Angels, whose members are usually armed.

Mr. Brown and his family, whose home is bordered on two sides by the former Douglas Creek Estates development seized by Six Nations protesters almost four years ago, are suing the OPP and the Ontario government for a total of $7-million.

Ironically given the tale of the tapes, a central allegation of the lawsuit is that though natives routinely behaved with criminal recklessness that sometimes turned violent, the OPP refused to police them in any recognizable fashion, leaving Mr. Brown and his family essentially on their own.

[...]

Read all of Christie Blatchford's report. At the bottom of the article, you will find links to more articles about the events in Caledonia.

This isn't an immigration story but it does show what happens to whites in Canada when their rights get in the way of a government-approved minority. The government's kowtowing to aboriginals reflects the same mindset that gave us multiculturalism and racial quotas in hiring. No matter what the situation, whites are presumed guilty.

Sinhalese Buddhist temple set on fire for second time in Scarborough

2009-11-27T12:35:00.002-05:00

Alexander Posadzki and John Rieti write in the Toronto Star (Arson suspected in latest Scarborough Buddhist temple fire, Nov. 27):

A Sinhalese Buddhist temple in Scarborough torched in May was set ablaze again in a fire police are calling arson.

The fire started before 2 a.m. Friday on the wooden porch that encircles the Kingston Rd. temple, near Beechgrove Dr.

The porch was lined with bottles of flammable liquid meant to help the flames spread quickly, thus making arson likely, said Toronto fire.

[...]

Police are again looking into the possibility that the conflict in Sri Lanka motivated those behind the arson.

May's fire occurred at the peak of the civil war in Sri Lanka and the protests by Toronto's Tamil community.

Police treated the incident back in May as a hate crime due to the threats the temple received from Tamils several days before the fire.

[...]

Read the whole Star article.

In 2005 there were major riots in the heavily Muslim suburbs of Paris. Some Canadians dared to ask whether such riots could ever happen here. In general the response was smug. Nothing like this would ever happen in Canada because we have a policy of official multiculturalism that promotes tolerance and understanding. I, however, strongly disagreed with the idea that Canada is somehow immune from racial violence.

Ethnic and racial diversity always contains the potential for violence. For a government to go out of its away to promote that diversity is insanity. Democracies can only be stable where citizens share a common identity. Canada already had enough problems coping with Quebec without making things worse by introducing multiculturalism. Mass immigration combined with a policy of celebrating cultural differences is a recipe for disaster.

Tamil Tiger supporter deported after speaking at rally

2009-11-27T11:35:00.001-05:00

Stewart Bell writes in the National Post (Tamil Tiger supporter deported after speaking at rally, Nov. 26)

TORONTO -- Canadian immigration officials arrested an Indian man in Toronto on Thursday after he gave a fiery speech at an event where the flag of the outlawed Tamil Tigers rebels was flown.

Sebastian Seeman, who was in Canada on a speaking tour, was taken into custody by Canada Border Services Agency officers and questioned before agreeing to leave the country immediately.

A CBSA spokeswoman, Patricia Giolti, confirmed the arrest, and his lawyer Hadayt Nazami said immigration officials had intended to deport him on security grounds unless he left voluntarily.

He departed Canada on Thursday night.

[...]

A film director from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Seeman is known for his hardline speeches in support of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers rebels and their fight for independence.

[...]

He was also targeted by the Indian press after photos surfaced showing him smiling and posing with the late leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

[...]

Read all of Stewart Bell's article.

"If you think that there are organized youth gangs out there and that they are out of control, I would say no," - Toronto police detective, 1992

2009-11-25T16:45:00.005-05:00

I have been going through back issues of the Toronto Star because I am researching the history of Toronto's gang problem. A quick review of headlines from as recently as the 1990s reveals how quickly this problem has developed. When the police and media started noticing gangs, there was concern, but there was also a tendency to downplay their danger.

Take, for example, an event that occurred in the early 1990s. On June 1, 1992 there was a huge brawl involving youth gangs on Toronto Centre Island. According to a story (Teen brawl shuts island, June 2, 1992) that appeared on the front page of the Star the next day, "at least eight people were arrested and eight more injured." After this violence the media was filled with the usual hand-wringing about causes. The opinions expressed at the time make for interesting reading.

Here's an excerpt from an article (Police, students agree gangs started Centre Island brawls, Toronto Star, June 3, 1992) that I found particularly telling:

Metro police and Toronto high school students agree that the Centre Island brawls this week were the work of gangs, possibly fighting a grudge match.

But they disagree on how well-organized the gangs are - and whether there's more violence ahead.

"It's definitely not over," said a student at a school in the west end, where gangs have fought. "Between these guys, it's never over."

But Detective John Muise, who waded into the thick of Monday's youth warfare on Centre Island, said the fights were "silly little juvenile macho things."

"We don't know what the summer is going to bring," he said.

"These kids are thumping each other," not the public, said Muise, an undercover officer with the street crime unit which deals with young people.

"If you think that there are organized youth gangs out there and that they are out of control, I would say no," he said.

[...]

Back in 1992 Det. John Muise's opinion may have been reasonable, but no police officer could say that today with a straight face. Toronto is a city where gang members shooting at each other has become so routine that people barely think about it any more. Thanks to bad immigration policy, the city now has a violent underclass. The social problems caused by Ottawa's reckless policies are not going to disappear any time. In fact, since there are no plans to reform immigration in a responsible way, Toronto's underclass will just continue to grow.

Pakistani immigrant to Canada faces terrorism-related charges in the US

2009-10-28T00:01:00.004-04:00

Stewart Bell writes in the National Post (FBI says Canadian plotted terror, Oct. 28)

A Canadian arrested in Chicago for allegedly helping plot a terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper told the FBI he was offended by editorial cartoons of Muhammad that the daily had published.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a 48-year-old Pakistani-born Canadian, has been charged with supporting terrorism for his role in what the FBI says was a plot against the Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen.

An indictment unsealed yesterday alleges Mr. Rana conspired with David Headley on the Mickey Mouse Project, an innocuously named terrorist operation meant to strike at the newspaper for "making fun of Islam."

"The criminal complaints unsealed today have exposed a serious plot against overseas targets by two Chicago-based men working with Pakistani-based terrorist organizations," said David Kris, the Assistant Attorney-General for National Security.

A Danish intelligence official, Jakob Scharf, said the plotters had considered attacks involving firearms and explosives, but Mr. Rana's lawyer said his client denied the charge and was looking forward to clearing his name.

[...]

Read all of Stewart Bell's article.

See also:

Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism

Pakistani-Canadian journalist may have been beaten for questioning whether Muslim leader wrote Mohammed's name on the moon

The perils of ethnic pandering: Canadian branch of Pakistani political movement accused of terrorism actively supports the federal Conservatives

Canada's refugee policy controlled by vested interests

2009-08-26T00:01:00.004-04:00

From Immigration Watch Canada's August 26 bulletin:

We are one of the few countries in the world that allows anyone from any country to enter simply because they claim to be persecuted. For example, in 2002, citizens of 152 different countries applied for refugee status in Canada -- including people from the United States, Sweden, Switzerland and other democratic countries. Why has this nonsense been permitted to continue?

The reason is because all of our political parties know that Canadians know very little about refugee policy. The policy is complicated, and usually doesn't figure as a major election issue. So this leaves the field open to a powerful refugee lobby composed of full-time refugee-industry advocates -- such as the Canadian Council For Refugees, immigration lawyers and consultants -- who make thousands of dollars defending asylum seekers. They are supported by a multitude of NGOs, which receive millions of dollars in government funding to care for and help asylum seekers. They have a stake in making sure the system remains bloated and dysfunctional.

The average Canadian doesn't know the difference between a bogus asylum seeker and a real refugee. Even the media falsely refer to people arriving in Canada and applying for refugee status as "refugees" -- even though most don't suffer any form of persecution in their country of origin.

Read the whole bulletin

Note: This bulletin is a reprint of an op-ed that originally appeared in the National Post. The author is James Bissett, who was Director of Canada's Immigration Service from 1985-90.

See also:

Canada's refugee determination board is staffed by amateurs. Some adjudicators barely speak English

Fire at Buddhist temple in Scarborough

2009-05-16T13:11:00.013-04:00

It's important not to jump to conclusions; however, given the tensions surrounding the situation in Sri Lanka, this story is worth noting.

From the Toronto Star (Scarborough fire related to Sri Lankan conflict, monk says by Madeleine White, May 16, 2009):

A Buddhist monk believes a suspected arson at a temple in Scarborough is related to the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.

The fire sent three monks running for safety from the building on Kingston Rd. just south of Military Trail Rd., at about 4:30 a.m. after its east emergency entrance was found burning. Police and the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office are investigating.

Nalaka, a resident monk, said he believes the incident is connected to the war in Sri Lanka. He also said the monks have been threatened in the last week.

The incident has caused upset across Toronto's Sinhalese community

Read the whole article.

See also:
If you support the Tamil Tigers, you support an evil cause

If you support the Tamil Tigers, you support an evil cause

2009-05-14T19:36:00.015-04:00

Tiger flags on University Ave. Click to enlarge
On Monday I wrote a message in which I said "The Tamil cause is evil." A neighbour of mine whose ancestry is Tamil, but who doesn't support the Tigers, objected. Perhaps my first message wasn't clear, so let me try again.

The Tamil protesters who have been blocking traffic in Toronto claim the moral high ground. They say they have the right to disrupt the lives of other Torontonians because they are trying to draw attention to a "genocide" in Sri Lanka. Our civic leaders have responded by giving protesters the benefit of the doubt. Dalton McGuinty, for example, called on Torontonians to have patience because the demonstrators are worried about relatives in Sri Lanka.

I'm saying the demonstrators don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. While I accept that the protesters are concerned about people dying, I note they also support the Tamil Tigers - a group that Canada has officially declared a terrorist organization. And Canada is far from alone. Thirty-one other countries have banned the Tigers.

While the Sri Lankan government has a bad human rights record, the Tigers have a long history of deliberately killing non-combatants as part of a campaign of terror. They are terrorists not because they have an army, but because they go out of their way to murder civilians. They have a history of bombing public places that are not military targets. That's terrorism and it's evil.

Many people have remarked on the fact that the protesters in Toronto have been flying red flags with a Tiger emblem. They say the protesters are carrying terrorist flags. Tamil spokesmen deny this. They say the flag they carry symbolizes Tamil Eelam (an independent Tamil state) and not the Tigers. This is disingenuous at best. An outright lie at worst.

First, it's hard to believe that a flag with a roaring tiger surrounded by a halo of bullets does not symbolize the Tiger terrorist group. Are we to accept as a coincidence the fact the two flags are virtually identical? (The official Tiger flag also has the name Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam emblazoned below the Tiger symbol.)

Secondly and more importantly, the protesters are chanting "Tamil Tigers Freedom Fighters" and "Our glorious leader Prabhakaran." Velupillai Prabhakaran leads the Tigers. It's not just a few protesters chanting either. The organizers of the rallies are leading the people in these chants. These demonstrations which Torontonians are being asked to tolerate in the name of "human rights' are an open show support for a terrorist group. If you support a terrorist organization, you support an evil cause.

Do all Tamils in Toronto support the Tigers? No. Are Tamil civilians dying in the war zone? Yes, they are. But who is responsible? I am not there, but there are reports that the civilians are being held hostage by the Tigers who shoot people who try to flee. The protesters ask Canadians to take on faith that their concerns are humanitarian. However, their support for an outlawed terrorist organization calls that claim into question.

I repeat what I said in my previous message. It's not enough for civic leaders to tell the protesters to stop blocking the road. They should also condemn the protests for what they represent. I am not saying the authorities should ban lawful protest, (i.e. protest that doesn't block roads and highways) but politicians should stop showing so much understanding. Instead of rewarding, the protesters our leaders should say, if you support the Tamil Tigers you are showing contempt for Canada's civic values. You are spitting in the eye of the country that granted you (or your parents) refuge.

The Tamil cause is evil

2009-05-11T19:58:00.010-04:00

Portrait of terrorist leader Vellupilai Prabhakaran carried by Tamil protesters on University Avenue

[Update: It's been suggested this post needs a better headline. Fine. Here it is: If you support the Tamil Tigers, you support an evil cause]

[Update: The National Post's Jonathan Kay has an article describing how the Tamil Tigers murdered a moderate Tamil politician by the name of Neelan Tiruchelvam. Read it here.]

I'm too busy to post as much as I would like about the Tamil protests that first blocked University Avenue and more recently the Gardiner expressway. However, I would like to make a short comment.

I hear a lot of people saying they sympathize with the Tamil protesters but they object to the methods used. I hear civic leaders saying blockading roads and highways is counterproductive. That may well be, but the methods used by the protesters aren't the only problem. The Tamil cause itself is evil.

I work downtown and every day I go by the protesters who were on University and are now at Queen's Park. I've heard the organizers lead people in chants of "Tamil Tigers Freedom Fighters" and "Our Glorious Leader Prabhakaran." I've seen the terrorist flags the protesters are waving and as well as the portraits of Velupillai Prabhakaran.

These are demonstrations in favour of terrorism and they should be unequivocably condemned even if the protesters were law-abiding, which they are not.

Welcome to the new Canada where multiculturalism means flying terrorist flags while stopping other people from going to work

2009-04-30T01:15:00.012-04:00

Click to enlarge - More pictures here[Update: Tamil protesters moved off University Ave.]

As everyone in Toronto already knows, Tamil protesters have been blocking traffic on University Avenue for three days now. Yesterday there were clashes with police who made some arrests. Among the chants I heard when I went downtown yesterday afternoon were "Tamil Tigers - Freedom Fighters".

Right.

These are freedom fighters who kidnap children to use as frontline soldiers in a separatist war. These are freedom fighters who use extortion and other crimes to fund suicide bombings and other acts of murder.

Not that the Sri Lankan government is any better. It was Sinhalese chauvinism that started this mess in the first place.

Unfortunately, the approaching military defeat of the Tigers in Sri Lanka won't mean the end of Tamil terrorism in Canada. The Tigers will continue to exist. They will continue to raise money illegally. They will continue to teach Tamil children that their first loyalty is to murderous thugs on the other side of the globe.

People sometimes say immigration and multiculturalism have created a new Canada. That's certainly true. Welcome to the new Canada, where supporters of a foreign terrorist organization don't think twice about displaying terrorist symbols while occupying a major street in the country's largest city.

Welcome to the new Canada where police are afraid to clear the road because they know if they do, they will be called racists by the Barbara Halls of this world.

Speaking of which, isn't flying a terrorist flag somewhat you know, err, what's the word ... hateful? Why aren't these protesters being hauled before the human rights commission to explain their open display of hatred towards the Sinhalese? Why is the board missing out on this chance to invent a new crime? Why it could even coin a new word to join the growing list of phobic neologisms: homophobia, Islamophobia, Sinhalophobia. And speaking of words, what do we call citizens of one country who openly display loyalty to a foreign government or in this case foreign terrorist group?

More protest pictures here.

Please support Vdare (and Immigration Watch Canada)

2009-04-17T11:28:00.003-04:00

Even though I haven't posted regularly for over a year, people are still coming to this blog. Readers come for different reasons, but I assume most of you are here because you care about immigration. If you think Canada needs to reduce its immigration levels, I urge you to support Vdare. Although Vdare is an American site that focuses on America's immigration disaster, it also covers Canada, largely because its founder Peter Brimelow used to live here and has a better understanding of our country than most Canadian analysts. Just to be clear, when I say support Vdare, I mean GIVE MONEY. Another group that deserves support is Immigration Watch Canada. If you want to help their fight to bring some sanity to Canadian immigration policy, go here. Consider it an investment in Canada's future.

Ottawa ignored predictions high immigration would lower Income growth. Canadians have paid the price

2009-04-12T00:05:00.004-04:00

From Immigration Watch Canada's April 9th bulletin:

John Meyer, a Canadian businessman and a past-president of Zero Population Growth, is the author of the article ("Immigration To Canada Now That We've Grown") featured in this bulletin.

Mr. Meyer's observations are particularly relevant in this deepening recession :

(1) In the 1970's, it was predicted that higher rates of immigration would lower per capita income growth. Recent OECD stats on this issue show that Canada has under-performed every other OECD country and that the prediction has come true. High immigration to do the so-called "dirty low paid jobs that Canadians reject" was a clear attempt to expand and perpetuate low-paying work.

(2 The move to raise immigration even higher is a "smoke stack era policy" which ignores social and environmental effects. High immigration makes environmental goals, such as a commitment to Kyoto, worthless.

(3 Creating millions of low-paying workers means creating a group which contributes minimally to our tax pool. This makes it impossible for Canada to both balance budgets and maintain full social programs.

(4) The impact of mass immigration on deficits and the environment has never been officially calculated. High immigration supporters such as cheap labour employers (supported by huge indirect subsidies) and land speculators lobby our governments to keep things that way. Canada, now likely a net food importer, has moved from feeding the world to consuming the world.

(5) Canada's accounting system remains cash-flow based. It values negative things such as sitting in traffic and paving farmland because these activities increase paid activity. Our GDP does not present a true picture because it fails to measure much more important factors in our economy.

(6) Canada needs to advance to a real-wealth accounting system which values environmental assets and considers the true and total effects of high immigration. Our current system hides all these negative effects and allows Canada's immigration lobby to control immigration policy. We do not permit the tobacco industry to write health legislation. We should not allow the immigration lobby to control immigration policy.

(7) "Knowing what we are measuring , looking down the road and developing integrated policies are core competencies for a democratic government--as is keeping a full set of books." Canada does not have any of these "core competencies" in place.

Read the whole bulletin

An excellent resource: Immigration Watch Canada

2009-04-03T22:00:00.005-04:00

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog, but I'm still here and I'm still thinking about immigration. I see no reason to change my opinion that Canada's current immigration policies are a disaster. I plan to resume this blog, but I don't know when. In the meantime I would like to remind visitors that Immigration Watch Canada is an excellent resource for learning more about immigration policy. Also, please read, and just as important, support Peter Brimelow's website Vdare. Be sure to visit the blog. Even though Vdare is an American site, it often publishes articles about Canada. Just put Canada into the site's search engine. Furthermore, although Canadian and American immigration problems are different, there are enough similarities for the American articles to be of interest to Canadians.

School violence: Toronto principals reluctant to report fights

2008-06-18T21:22:00.002-04:00

From the Toronto Star (Principals balk at reporting fights by Kristen Rushowy, June 18, 2008):

Ontario's public school principals don't want to be forced to report altercations between students, saying it would be "time-consuming, inappropriate and costly."

"While reports to the police should be made" in cases of physical assault where a student requires medical attention, among other situations, "involving the police in school life is a decision best left to educators who know students the best," says yesterday's letter to the education minister from Lisa Vincent, president of the Ontario Principals' Council.

But Tory MPP Frank Klees (Newmarket-Aurora) says the province needs "the force and effect of law which provides for consequences when the protocol is not followed."

Klees has been pressing the provincial government to close the loophole in the Child and Family Services Act, which mandates reporting of adult-on-student crime or suspicion of it, but not student-on-student.

The move comes after a Grade 1 boy in a York Region Catholic school was allegedly whipped by two Grade 8 boys in a school washroom. The school's principal did not report the incident to police nor to the boy's parents, who found out from their older child.

The parents called police immediately, and two youths have since been charged with assault and assault with a weapon.

[. . .]

Read all of Kristen Rushowy's article.

See also:

Ontario Safe Schools Act - Liberals plan to abolish zero-tolerance policy. Too many black students being expelled

Toronto schools - "The escalation of guns and violence has made lockdown practices as necessary a routine as recess"

Trinidad-born killer apologizes for brutally murdering white student

Are teachers losing control of some Toronto schools? Are gangs starting to take over?

Urban Diversity Strategy aims to cut Toronto's black dropout rate from 40 t0 15 percent

2008-06-18T09:05:00.003-04:00

From the Toronto Star (Cut black dropout rate to 15%, schools told by Louise Brown, June 18, 2008):

Canada's largest school board is poised to set tough targets to chop the alarming 40 per cent dropout rate among black students to 15 per cent within five years.

Through mentors, teacher training and close tracking of the most needy students, the Toronto District School Board's sweeping new Urban Diversity Strategy – to be voted on tomorrow by a board committee and by all trustees next week – would aim to make all intermediate and high schools across the city more sensitive to the demographic roadblocks often facing students of differing backgrounds.

The action plan would also target the 25 most racially diverse, low-performing schools for extra youth workers, outreach staff to work with parents, summer programs for Grade 8 students who fail any of the 3 Rs, and a network of teachers who feel passionate about working in such challenging schools.

"We know this is not going to be an easy task, but with the data we now know about our students, and with what we see is working already at some schools – plus a little bit of pressure – we know it can be done," said Gerry Connelly, the board's director of education, in an interview yesterday.

The report is one of the ways the board is responding to new data showing children from poor or turbulent backgrounds or marginalized communities often lag behind.

While trustees voted to open an Africentric alternative school in September 2009 as a sort of test lab for a more global curriculum and more black teachers as role models, the board also charged staff to come up with ways to help children at risk in all schools.

[. . .]

Read all of Louise Brown's article.

This strategy seems to be based on the premise that all students have the same potential to do well academically. But what if that's not true? What if, for example, average IQ levels differ from group to group? I suspect five years from now the Star will be publishing articles asking why the Urban Diversity Strategy failed. There's nothing wrong in trying to help black students, but don't assume that all groups will do equally well in school.

See also:

Toronto school study shows great disparities among cultural groups in academic performance

Ontario Safe Schools Act - Liberals plan to abolish zero-tolerance policy. Too many black students being expelled

High number of immigrant children places huge strain on Toronto school system

Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates

Canada adds World Tamil Movement to list of terrorist organizations

2008-06-17T23:59:00.001-04:00

From the Toronto Star (Canada brands Tamil group as terrorist front for Tigers by Paola Loriggio, June 17, 2008):

The controversial World Tamil Movement has been added to Canada's list of terrorist organizations, the latest move in an ongoing investigation that links the group to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers.

The group's assets have been frozen and could be seized by Canada's attorney general, said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who announced the decision at a Toronto news conference yesterday.

"We want to make sure any group who would help terrorist organizations is prevented from doing that," said Day. The minister would not say whether charges would be laid against the group or its members, citing a continuing government probe.

In 2006, the RCMP raided the group's office in Scarborough and seized documents that included step-by-step instructions on how to set up a front organization and indoctrinate children.

About two months ago, the federal police force sought court approval to seize the WTM's bank accounts.

In a 400-page affidavit filed in federal court, the RCMP accuses the World Tamil Movement of orchestrating a complex extortion scheme that targets Tamil Canadians and pressures them to donate money to the LTTE, a militant separatist group that has been fighting for an independent homeland in north and east Sri Lanka since the 1970s.

Published reports have previously suggested that as much as $1 million a month leaves Canada to support the LTTE. Day, however, refused to speculate on the amount when speaking to reporters yesterday.

"They (the WTM) have been collecting lots of funds," said Sri Lankan Consul General Bandula Jayasekera, describing complaints from community members who say the group harassed them for money.

"We've known for years they're the front of the LTTE – it's not a secret."

[. . .]

Read all of Paola Loriggio's article.

See also:

Tamil Tigers exploit Canadian electoral database to extort money for terrorism in Sri Lanka - RCMP alleges

World Tamil Movement leader supports Tamil Tigers but denies his group funded them

Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted

Regent Park residents 'rattled' by shootings

2008-06-13T11:37:00.010-04:00

From the Toronto Sun (Regent Park rattled by Cris Doucette, June 13, 2008):

Regent Park residents are feeling more than a little uneasy after a brazen afternoon shooting that left an 18-year-old youth critically injured and a 15-year-old boy wounded.

Watching his two little girls play on a slide just steps from what was a bloody scene a day earlier, Iamtiaz Mohammad couldn't help but feel relieved yesterday that his children were not in the park when the gunfire erupted Wednesday.

[. . .]

Toronto Police say a group of youths were gathered behind the lowrise building on the southwest corner of Gerrard and River Sts. and there was some sort of altercation just before the bullets started flying around 4:15 p.m.

Two teenagers arrived at St. Mike's hospital minutes later in a private vehicle, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. The older youth was hit in his chest and the younger boy in the legs.

[. . .]

Read all of Chris Doucette's article.

There is a lot of discussion about whether or not crime in Toronto is getting worse. Some people point to statistics that show crime is not in fact increasing. I would agree that overall Toronto remains a safe city. However, the problem of guns and gangs is new. This is not something that existed twenty-thirty years ago. It is a new phenomenon and it is related to immigration policies that have brought in people from countries like Jamaica and Somalia where there are serious social problems. I'm not saying all immigrants from these countries are bad. Of course not. However, it stands to reason that if countries are dysfunctional large-scale immigration from those places will bring those dysfunctions here. I should also point out that I know full well that most of these gang members were born in Canada. They may have been born here but they are growing up in social environments that have been transplanted from other countries. You can't blame white racism for the fact that so many black children are being raised by single mothers. White Canadians don't force black men to father children with multiple women. (Though knowing Stephen Harper, I expect him to issue an apology shortly. After all, it's the only thing he's good at.) Toronto never was and never will be crime-free, but it would be a safer city if we had better immigration policies. Just to be clear, better immigration means less immigration. Much less immigration.

Toronto school study shows great disparities among cultural groups in academic performance

2008-06-13T07:50:00.004-04:00

Below is more evidence that Canada is paying a heavy price for its senseless immigration policy. Different groups will always perform differently because aptitudes vary from group to group. I fear that the effort to achieve equal outcomes where there aren't equal abilities will cause a lot of harm. We need to be more realistic about racial and cultural differences.

From the Toronto Star (Toronto's schools fail to overcome barriers by Louise Brown, June 13, 2008):

A startling demographic snapshot of students across Canada's largest school board shows the system is failing to help children overcome roadblocks of culture, race, poverty and family background.

The ambitious personal student survey of achievement, to be made public next week, is a call to action for the Toronto District School Board to try to reduce these barriers over the next five years, says director of education Gerry Connelly.

"It confirms our belief that the status quo for too many of our students is not working," said Connelly in a covering letter for the 55-page report, which shows boys lag behind girls in almost everything including math, that teens born in Mexico tend to fail more Grade 9 courses than classmates born India, and that students whose first language is English are less likely to pass Ontario's compulsory Grade 10 literacy test than those who speak Hindi or Serbian.

[. . .]

At a board committee meeting next Thursday, staff will unveil a sweeping new plan aimed at helping students over some of these demographic roadblocks through changes that could range from curriculum and teaching staff to extra free help for certain groups.

Among some of the gaps it will try to address:

Grade 9 students who identify as gay somehow do worse at geography than those who say they are straight – although both do about the same on the literacy test the next year;

Children of single fathers are more likely to do worse at Grade 8 science than children of single mothers – and both do worse than classmates who live with two parents.

Among the 4,800 black students in Grades 7 and 8, the 400 born in Africa are more likely to earn at least a B in math than those born in the Caribbean or Canada.

While board officials are not talking until they put the finishing touches on this blueprint, leading Canadian researchers in the minefield of demographics and learning warn these numbers can be more complex than they seem.

"This isn't some sort of horse race – we do this kind of research in the interest of equity because we know kids from different countries can come to school with different degrees of preparedness, depending on the dominant values of their culture," said Vancouver researcher Bruce Garnett, who has just completed his doctorate in the achievement of immigrant students.

"It's dangerous to use this kind of data to make genetic assumptions. The differences often reflect economic status or the school system in the country you came from."

[. . .]

Read all of Louise Brown's article.

See also:

High number of immigrant children places huge strain on Toronto school system

Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates

An effort to encourage more Portuguese students to get post-secondary education

Ontario Safe Schools Act - Liberals plan to abolish zero-tolerance policy. Too many black students being expelled

90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes

Does Muslim alienation start in high school?

Police say MS-13 different from other Toronto street gangs

2008-06-05T19:47:00.009-04:00

Yesterday Toronto police sent out a press release announcing they along with Halton Regional Police had launched raids aimed at people linked to the notorious Central American street gang known as Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13. There have been reports in the past that this gang has been establishing itself in Canada. Earlier this year a MS-13 member who admitted being a murderer was temporarily released before finally being deported.

Today Chief Bill Blair held a press conference to discuss yesterday's arrests. (You can download audio of the conference in mp3 format on the police website.) I listened to the audio this evening. Unfortunately it's no surprise to hear that MS-13 is using the refugee system to enter Canada. This is, after all, the same system that has allowed Tamil, Sikh and Muslim terrorists to set up shop here.

The police said something else interesting. In recent years, Toronto has seen the emergence of black gangs that call themselves Crips and Bloods. While these black gangs imitate the American originals, Toronto police see little evidence of actual links between the Canadians and the Americans. MS-13 is a different story. It is a transnational gang that actively recruits members in other countries. In Canada, MS-13 has been working to recruit local Latino gangs into their transnational network.

Police say yesterday's arrests stopped a plan to murder someone in the justice system, but didn't say what job in the system the target of the plot held.

Toronto police raids connected to MS-13 street gang

2008-06-04T20:49:00.003-04:00

This bulletin was sent out by Toronto police this morning:

Toronto Police Service
News Release

Early morning raids, 22 search warrants executed in the GTA, 21 people arrested, Update, Statement from Deputy Chief Tony Warr

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - 4:40 PM
Specialized Operations Command
416-808-7100

The following is from Deputy Chief Tony Warr:

During the spring of 2008, investigators from the Integrated Gun & Gang Task Force started a focused investigation into the distribution of controlled drugs, firearms, and acts of violence surrounding a group of men in the northwest area of Toronto and surrounding region.

As a result, investigators identified numerous persons involved, and addresses allegedly used to facilitate the distribution of illicit drugs and weapons.

Some of the persons identified are believed to be members of the organized criminal street gang known as MS-13. Some are associated with the gang through their distribution of drugs and weapons. The focus of the enforcement action was on the offences surrounding the firearms and the distribution of drugs that were affecting community safety.

Today, in a joint operation, the Toronto Police Service Integrated Gun & Gang Task Force and the Halton Regional Police Service, assisted by other Organized Crime Enforcement units, the Drug Squad, TAVIS Rapid Response Teams, 23 Division, 31 Division, and the Emergency Task Force, executed 22 search warrants in residences, and several more on related vehicles. There were four warrants executed in Peel region, one in York region and the remainder in Toronto.

At present, 21 people have been arrested. The investigation is continuing.

Investigators have seized large quantities of cocaine, related firearms, other prohibited weapons, and a significant amount of cash related to proceeds of crime. As well, investigators have seized paraphernalia associated with the drug distribution network. The seizures are matters of evidentiary concern, and are being investigated and processed accordingly. The total number of charges is increasing as the seized evidence is assessed.

Im sure you understand why, as the investigation is ongoing, there is much I cannot say. I will not do or say anything which might affect the safety of the officers or the public.

There will be a news conference, at headquarters, at 10 a.m., tomorrow, in which we will be able to provide a complete summary of todays events, including arrests, charges and the property seized.

Constable Wendy Drummond, Public Information, for Deputy Chief Tony Warr, Special Operations Command

There are no files attached to this release.

More evidence that Tamil terrorists raise money in Canada

2008-05-27T00:01:00.003-04:00

Stewart Bell writes in the National Post (Tamil leader frustrated with fundraising, May 27):

Federal officials released more documents yesterday that were seized during a massive RCMP investigation into Tamil Tigers fundraising in Canada, including a guerrilla leader's request for "a huge sum" of money.

The police files, unsealed by the Federal Court, are the latest evidence that Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers rebels have been bankrolling their civil war with money raised by supporters in Canada. But the newly disclosed documents also suggest the Tamil Tigers may not be getting as much from Canada as they would like: In one communique, a senior rebel boss complained that Canadians were not doing enough to support the fight.

[...]

Read all of Stewart Bell's article

See also:

Civil war in Sri Lanka - bought and paid for with Canadian dollars

Tamil Tigers exploit Canadian electoral database to extort money for terrorism in Sri Lanka - RCMP alleges

Tamil Tigers exploit Canadian electoral database to extort money for terrorism in Sri Lanka - RCMP alleges

2008-05-06T04:31:00.002-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Tamil Tigers using electoral list, RCMP say by Colin Freeze, May 6, 2008):

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans living in Canada have been funding the Tamil Tigers' terrorism campaign through a secret strategy of profiling carried out using Canada's electoral database, the RCMP allege.

In what amounts to the most detailed examination of alleged terrorist fundraising ever filed in a federal court, the national police force claims as much as $50,000 a month was being drawn from bank accounts in Toronto and funnelled to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.

The Tigers' operation in Canada, responsible for providing 15 per cent of global funds for the secession movement, identified potential donors by postal code and used a "sales team" of locals to extract the cash, alleges the 400-page police affidavit unsealed in the Federal Court of Canada this week.

The affidavit suggests the Toronto offices of the World Tamil Movement - a non-profit organization - may have been generating funds for the Tigers. The RCMP says it has also obtained a significant letter sent to Toronto from the head of the Tamil Tigers. Velupillai Prabhakaran, one of the world's most sought-after fugitives, is said to have urged that Canadian Tamils commit about 15 per cent of the global contribution to his cause.

Read all of Colin Freeze's article.

See also:

Civil war in Sri Lanka - bought and paid for with Canadian dollars

Banning Tamil Tigers had positive effects but Ottawa and Toronto police should do more - Human Rights Watch

World Tamil Movement leader supports Tamil Tigers but denies his group funded them

Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted

Tamil Tigers use child soldiers to fight their separatist war in Sri Lanka

No economic benefits to mass immigration - British study concludes

2008-04-21T20:43:00.007-04:00

From CanWest News (Is immigration helping us? by Margret Kopala, April 21, 2008):

While Canada's opposition parties quibbled over modest measures expediting the arrival of skilled immigrant workers, one answer to that question appeared in a report from the British House of Lords. Stunningly, it concludes that record levels of immigration bring no economic benefits.

The Economic Impact of Immigration argues that immigration addresses neither labour shortages nor problems associated with an aging society. Rather, low-paid and young workers are being placed at a disadvantage because of competition from immigrants; worse, strains on public services and Britons being priced out of the housing market risk stoking social tensions.

According to the Telegraph, the British government welcomed this contribution to its "huge immigration shakeup."

Here in Canada, few noticed the British report or even Britain's "immigration shakeup," though for similar reasons cracks have been appearing in Canada's immigration portfolio too, and a small but growing number of academics, former civil servants and diplomats knowledgeable about Canada's complex and inefficient immigration system are speaking out.

Martin Collacott and James Bissett have reached conclusions similar to the new thinking on immigration now gripping most Western democracies, as did the late Bernard Ostry, while economists and professors emeritus such as Alan Green (Queen's University) and Herbert Grubel (Simon Fraser) are backing them up with far-reaching data and analysis.

Read all of Margret Kopala's article.

See also:

Canada is bringing in skilled immigrants for jobs that don't exist - Martin Collacott

Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends

Immigration realism at the Toronto Star

Princeton sociologist: "Toronto is becoming increasingly segregated along racial and economic lines"

The Axis Of Amnesty’s Ideology Of Cheap Labor

Economist George J. Borjas analyzes the impact of immigration on American wages

Government immigration ad campaign targets ethnic minorities

2008-04-21T20:00:00.001-04:00

From the Toronto Star (Ad blitz touts reforms of immigration system by Tonda MacCharles, April 21, 2008):

The Conservative government has launched a massive, nationwide ethnic media blitz to promote its proposed immigration reforms to wary immigrant communities.

Billed as "public notice" ads, the campaign has just begun in ethnic radio and print media to amplify the message of the big speech Prime Minister Stephen Harper made Friday to a who's who of the Indo-Canadian community.

Several sources said it is a government, not a Conservative party, initiative, and is not "political advertising" but an attempt to get the facts out to new Canadians. The Toronto Star could not determine how much the blitz will cost.

[. . .]

Senior government and department officials believe debate over the proposed changes has become too political. A decision was made to speak directly to immigrant communities – voters the Conservative party is keen to woo.

Conservatives believe that, among second-generation immigrants and more affluent newcomer communities, there is support for a more economically strategic approach to immigration policy.

The Liberals and NDP say many immigrant communities are nervous the reforms will block efforts to reunite families if applicants don't have certain skills or don't meet the government's "priorities."

The advertising campaign stresses three "F's" – a more fair, flexible and fast system. It also argues the backlog is growing, family reunification is being delayed and the government is committed to "fixing this," as Harper said in Toronto.

[. . .]

Read all of Tonda MacCharles' article.

See also:

Harper defends multiculturalism and wide-open immigration

Ethnic pandering alert - Conservatives set to recognize Komagata Maru incident

Tarek Fatah describes demands made by ethnic delegates at the Liberal convention. Tamils wanted terrorist group delisted

Historian Jack Granatstein is concerned about the influence of ethnic groups on Canadian foreign policy

Pandering to Ukrainians part of Harper strategy

The perils of ethnic pandering: Canadian branch of Pakistani political movement accused of terrorism actively supports the federal Conservatives

Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

2008-04-09T22:18:00.006-04:00

Promises, promises. Why do they taunt us with good news when they know it's not true?

From a Canadian Press article in the Toronto Star (Canada could lose multiculturalism, critics warn by Michael Oliveira, April 8, 2008):

Canada is signalling to the world that it views immigrants as commodities and not people, ethnic groups warned Tuesday as they voiced concerns about controversial legislation that they say could threaten the country's tradition of multiculturalism and diversity.

The proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act would give Ottawa new power to fast-track certain types of applicants, especially highly sought after skilled workers and give lower priority to others.

Many visible-minority communities – which added up to five million residents according to the latest census – fear the proposed changes would result in some immigrants being discriminated against and judged only as commodities, said Sima Sahar Zerehi of the group Status Now.

"Canadian immigration is being totally reverted from a system that is based on a humanitarian basis to a system that is totally being catered to economic gains," said Zerehi, who is Iranian and came to Canada as a refugee.

"Immigrants are being stripped of humanity and viewed as strictly economic units – and they can then be discarded when they're no longer useful."

The new policy could spell the demise of well-established ethnic communities that would shrink instead of grow as new immigration priorities are established, she said. And eventually, some ethnic cultures could disappear almost entirely from Canadian society as a result, she added.

[. . .]

Read all of Mike Oliveira's article.

See also:

No economic benefits to mass immigration - British study concludes

Princeton sociologist: "Toronto is becoming increasingly segregated along racial and economic lines"

Soccer violence. Is Toronto one out-of-control celebration away from a major riot?

Polygamous Muslims collecting welfare for each of their wives - Toronto Sun article

2008-02-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

This was in the Toronto Sun (Harems pay off for Muslims by Tom Godfrey, February 8, 2008):

Hundreds of GTA Muslim men in polygamous marriages -- some with a harem of wives -- are receiving welfare and social benefits for each of their spouses, thanks to the city and province, Muslim leaders say.

Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said wives in polygamous marriages are recognized as spouses under the Ontario Family Law Act, providing they were legally married under Muslim laws abroad.

"Polygamy is a regular part of life for many Muslims," Ali said yesterday. "Ontario recognizes religious marriages for Muslims and others."

He estimates "several hundred" GTA husbands in polygamous marriages are receiving benefits. Under Islamic law, a Muslim man is permitted to have up to four spouses.

However, city and provincial officials said legally a welfare applicant can claim only one spouse. Other adults living in the same household can apply for welfare independently.

The average recipient with a child can receive about $1,500 monthly, city officials said.

[. . .]

Read all of Tom Godfrey's article. For a detailed analysis about immigration and the welfare state, download for free Herbert Grubel's Fraser Institute study.

See also:

Diversity Is Strength! It’s Also…Polygamy?

Thou shalt not criticize Islam! Canadian Islamic Congress wants to censor Mark Steyn

Is it legal to say Muslim immigration is bad for Canada? For that matter, is it even legal to ask the question?

The Problem with Polygamy

Thou shalt not criticize Islam! Canadian Islamic Congress wants to censor Mark Steyn

2007-11-29T08:05:00.000-05:00

This press release was in my inbox this morning:

The Canadian Islamic Congress
Press Conference Announcement

The Islamic Congress launches human rights complaints against Maclean's magazine for publishing Islamophobic article

WHEN:
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 At 10:30 am

WHERE:
The Niagara Room (Lower Lobby),
Hotel Intercontinental,
Downtown Toronto next to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre,
225 Front Street West,
Toronto, Ontario.

WHO:
Faisal Joseph, CIC's Legal Counsel, Partner with the Law Firm of Lerners
LLP. Mr. Joseph is a former Federal and Provincial Crown Attorney, and
former Chair of the Criminal Section of the Canadian Bar Association (Nova
Scotia).

WHAT:
The Canadian Islamic Congress has launched human rights complaints against Macleans Magazine and its editor-in-chief, Kenneth Whyte, for publishing a flagrantly Islamophobic article, "The Future Belongs to Islam," in its Oct 23, 2006 issue.

This article continues to be published on the Macleans website at this web address.

The complaints have been submitted to the British Columbia, Ontario, and
Federal Human Rights Commissions on the grounds that the article subjects Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt.

The complaints have been accepted by the British Columbia and the Federal
Commissions; hearings have been scheduled in British Columbia for June 2-6, 2008.

The press conference will be conducted by Mr. Faisal Joseph who will be
arguing the matter before the BC Human Rights Tribunal.

CONTACT:
Faisal Joseph
(519) 640-6342

Last October, I asked, Is it legal to say Muslim immigration is bad for Canada? According to some people the clear answer is no. Already during the ridiculous Muhammad cartoon controversy, the Star's Haroon Siddiqui wrote there is "a growing realization that freedom of speech is circumscribed." Siddiqui, by the way, thinks restricting speech is a good idea.

Better read Mark Steyn's article while it's still available. If some Muslims have their way, it will soon be illegal to say Muslim immigration is bad for the West. 9-11 be damned. Thou shalt celebrate multiculturalism! (Disclaimer: Christian-bashing is still OK.)

See also:

Windsor police board member wants speaker arrested for saying Islam promotes terrorism

Pakistani-Canadian journalist may have been beaten for questioning whether Muslim leader wrote Mohammed's name on the moon

The media's selective concern for free speech: Ernst Zundel and the Dixie Chicks

Dalhousie fallout - long National Post article about Jared Taylor, racism and freedom of speech

Asian Assasinz and other Toronto gangs use internet to recruit and intimidate

2007-11-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

From the Toronto Star (Gangs turn to the Web to boast, threaten and recruit by Betsy Powell, November 19, 2007):

Just five years ago, a Toronto gang calling itself the Asian Assassinz had four members and claimed as its turf two blocks in downtown Chinatown.

Back then, they "tagged the living crap" out of the area, according to a police officer who has tracked them, but not any more because, now, "they have the Internet."

Police say gang members' appearances on Web pages, chat rooms, blogs and social networking sites have allowed the Assassinz to recruit new members and expand their criminal activities far beyond the downtown core.

[. . .]

An officer who tracks the Assassinz, and prefers to stay anonymous, patrols the streets building his base of confidential informants and getting to know gang members – when he's not trolling the Internet. He says the two investigative techniques complement one another.

The Internet allows a gang to grow and to reach out to areas where "they aren't known," the front-line officer says.

Four youths charged in a recent home invasion case in Windsor, Ont., for instance, are alleged to be members of the Asian Assassinz and Project Originals, another downtown Toronto gang.

Police were initially stumped as to how the accused knew that the residence, hundreds of kilometres from Toronto, was a suspected gambling operation. Then the Toronto officer searched the Internet and made a link to a southwestern Ontario man who recently pleaded guilty to the crime. The alliance of the Assassinz and P.O. Boys, as they're also known, came to the attention of police after they spotted Web pages containing both logos.

[. . .]

Read all of Betsy Powell's article.

See also:

Project Top Hoodlum - Fear of 'escalating conflict' with Regent Park gang led to Project Originals arrests

Manipulating language - the open-borders crowd would make Orwell proud

2007-08-04T18:08:00.000-04:00

Joe Guzzardi has an article (“Wave of Hate”? More Propaganda From The Treason Lobbyists At La Raza, August 3, 2007) in Vdare that Canadian immigration-reformers should be read. Even though Guzzardi is talking about the US, the Canadian immigration lobby plays similar games with language.

Here's an excerpt from Guzzardi's article:

Twenty years ago, the most common term to describe individuals illegally in the U.S. was “illegal immigrant”. Although it appeared in print from time to time, the correct term, “illegal alien” was always a tough sell for us.

Then, out of nowhere, appeared “undocumented immigrant” appeared. That lasted a while but before long “undocumented worker” replaced it—much more persuasive from La Raza’s view because it suggests that aliens work. That’s not always true, of course, but it sure sounds good.

Soon thereafter, the “undocumented workers” had deeply rooted and unshakeable “family values.”

And what are we? Among other things, we are “racists,” “xenophobes,” and “nativists”.

Now that a growing respect for our position has emerged, we have been upgraded to “anti-immigration” or, the warmest and fuzziest of all the terms used to describe us “immigration restrictionists”.

As it now stands, we, the “immigration restrictionists” who ride a “wave of hate” are pitted against the “undocumented workers” and their “family values.”

As I said earlier, you can’t help but admire how cleverly our opposition has outmaneuvered us.

Read all of Joe Guzzardi's article.

See also:

The Conspiracy of Silence At The BBC, The ABC and The CBC

The Toronto Star's shameless (and shameful) campaign on behalf of illegal immigrants

About that family Ottawa just deported: most countries wouldn't even consider a refugee claim made by Costa Ricans.

Tamil Tigers use child soldiers to fight their separatist war in Sri Lanka

2007-05-20T12:42:00.000-04:00

The civil war in Sri Lanka is fairly obscure because unlike the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has little international importance. Sri Lanka, as far as I know, doesn't have any strategic significance. The war is awful for Sri Lankans themselves, but it doesn't affect most people outside the country.

One country that does have an interest is neighbouring India which has its own huge Tamil population. In fact, there are far more Tamils in India than in Sri Lanka.

Another country affected by the war is Canada. Since the 1980s the Tamil Tigers have used Canada's refugee system to establish themselves here where they commit extortion and other crimes to raise money for weapons and supplies.

Helped by unscrupulous politicians like Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, Canadian supporters of the Tigers successfully opposed having the group listed as a terrorist organization until Stephen Harper's Conservative government finally put them on the terrorist list last year.

This infuriated Tiger supporters and during last year's Liberal leadership convention, Tamil delegates offered their support to any candidate who would remove the terrorist designation. Tamils were only one of several groups at the convention who put their ethnic interests above the national good.

Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority isn't blameless in this conflict. The Tamil drive for independence is largely a response to discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese. The Sri Lankan army has committed its share of atrocities and Tamils have been murdered in ethnic riots.

As a Canadian, I'm not interested in picking sides. I don't care one way or the other whether Tamils separate from Sri Lanka. My concern is the way the Tigers exploit Canada for their own purposes.

I have blogged a lot about the Tigers, also known by the abbreviation LTTE, but I'm not sure many Canadians share my sense of outrage at how this terrorist group exploits our hospitality. I imagine the war in Sri Lanka is too far away for the average Canadian to care about especially since most Canadian Tamils are concentrated in Toronto.

That said, I think all Canadians should know just how despicable the Tigers are, because the crimes this terrorist group commits are often paid for by money raised here. Sri Lankan Tamils may have legitimate grievances against the Sinhalese, but nothing the Sri Lankan government has done justifies the Tigers' use of terrorist tactics.

Probably the worst thing the Tigers do is recruit children into their guerilla army. Some children join more or less 'voluntarily', but many are kidnapped from their families. In 2004, Human Rights Watch issued a report about the Tigers' recruitment of child soldiers. Here is an excerpt:

The LTTE has recruited and used children as soldiers throughout the two-decade-long civil war in Sri Lanka, and especially since October 1987 when the LTTE attacked and eventually forced the departure of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force from the northern Jaffna peninsula.

[. . .]

Under international law, recruitment of children to be soldiers is not only unlawful if the children are forcibly recruited. The LTTE is also violating international law by accepting into its ranks children who join “voluntarily.”

Children were initially recruited into what was known as the “Baby Brigade,” but were later integrated into other units. An elite “Leopard Brigade” (Siruthai puligal) was formed of children drawn from LTTE-run orphanages and was considered one of the LTTE’s fiercest fighting units.

UNICEF reports that more than 40 percent of children recruited by the LTTE are girls. The LTTE claims that the recruitment of girls and women is a way of “assisting women’s liberation and counteracting the oppressive traditionalism of the present system.” Female soldiers within the LTTE are known as “Birds of Freedom.” Unlike many other conflict situations where girls are recruited, sexual abuse of girls in the LTTE is rare, and relationships between the sexes are generally prohibited.

Prior to the cease-fire, the LTTE regularly deployed both boys and girls in combat. A major LTTE military operation against the Elephant Pass military complex in 1991 reportedly used waves of children drawn from the Baby Brigade and resulted in an estimated 550 LTTE deaths, mostly children. Assessments of LTTE soldiers killed in combat during the 1990’s found that between 40 and 60 percent of the dead fighters were children under the age of eighteen. A case study conducted for a major United Nations (U.N.) study on the impact of war on children found that children were reportedly used for “massed frontal attacks” in major battles, and that children between the ages of twelve and fourteen were used to massacre women and children in remote rural villages. The study cited reports indicating the use of children as young as ten as assassins.

The LTTE gives cyanide capsules and grenades to its soldiers, including children, with instructions to take the capsule or blow themselves up rather than allow themselves to be captured by the Sri Lankan Army.

The LTTE was among the first armed opposition groups to use its cadres, including children, to carry out suicide bomb attacks. Since the 1980’s, the LTTE has conducted some 200 such suicide bombings. Female soldiers, girls among them, were used for numerous such attacks, in part because they were less likely to undergo rigorous searches at government checkpoints.

Read all of the Human Rights Watch report. The part I excerpted comes from this section: LTTE Recruitment and Use of Children Before the Cease-fire.

See also:

Civil war in Sri Lanka - bought and paid for with Canadian dollars

Banning Tamil Tigers had positive effects but Ottawa and Toronto police should do more - Human Rights Watch

World Tamil Movement leader supports Tamil Tigers but denies his group funded them

Belgian writer urges us to take a critical look at Tariq Ramadan's message

2007-05-19T10:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday evening I wrote a blog post about controversial Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan who will be addressing a Muslim conference in Ottawa this weekend. I noted that while Ramadan likes to portray himself as a moderate, critics see him as an extremist. In 2004, Ramadan was hired to teach at Notre Dame University but his appointment was controversial and Washington denied him a visa. Here is another article that argues Ramadan's views are harmful. Marij Uijt den Bogaard writes in the Brussels Journal (Tariq Ramadan and Islam’s Future in Europe, May 13, 2003):

But the very absence of a well defined doctrine makes Islam a Trojan horse. You have to wait to see what is inside, and the latter could be a big surprise. Unfortunately, a radical version of Islam is becoming dominant in Europe. It is the so-called “European Islam,” promoted by modern Islamic philosophers like Tariq Ramadan.

Extremist Muslim groups, such as the Salafists, find in Ramadan a defender of their range of thought. Considering the man’s background this is hardly strange. Ramadan’s maternal grandfather is Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and a source of inspiration for the distribution of Islam as a strict teaching. The Muslim Brotherhood is a worldwide organisation that puts the Quran above the law, with violence if need be. The organisation is forbidden in Egypt – all the more reason for a critical look at Ramadan’s message.

[. . .]

In Ramadan’s orthodox Salafist opinion, Europe’s Muslim youths must refuse to come into contact with non-Islamic environments. They have to isolate themselves from Western influences.

[. . .]

Mr. Ramadan will say that this is exactly how it should be because of Quran regulations. Such conduct however, is not correct according to our European principles. Ramadan’s “European Islam” has not in the least been influenced by European values. I am not a philosopher nor a scientist, as Ramadan, who currently lectures at Rotterdam University, pretends to be. I wonder, however, whether the West should allow Islamists the right to undermine our legal system by advocating the primacy of Islamic law and the imposition of the Sharia in Europe. Why do we have to allow separate swimming hours for Muslim women in public swimming pools? Why do we allow it? Why has Ramadan been given a lectureship at Rotterdam university?

Read all of Marij Uijt's den Bogaard's article.

See also:

Heroville, Canada

Tariq Ramadan to address Muslim conference in Ottawa

Tariq Ramadan to address Muslim conference in Ottawa

2007-05-19T00:26:00.000-04:00

Three points about the Ottawa Citizen story excerpted below:

1) The article is about a Muslim association called ISNA. Daniel Pipes calls this group "a leading organization in the Wahhabi lobby's American division."

2) One of the speakers will be Tariq Ramadan. Ramadan presents himself as a moderate, but not everyone agrees. See these articles: A tribute to Tariq Ramadan and Tariq Ramadan's Two-Faced Islam. In 2004, Ramadan was hired to teach at Notre Dame University but his appointment was controversial and Washington denied him a visa.

3) The article doesn't mention that both ISNA and Tariq Ramadan are controversial, to say the least. Instead the reader is treated to a puff piece about Muslims who like hockey and maple syrup.

From the Ottawa Citizen (On being Muslim in Canadian society by Charles Enman, May 18, 2007):

About 3,000 Muslims from across Canada and beyond will be in Ottawa Saturday and Sunday, focusing on issues of how to be fully Muslim while remaining fully Canadian. Those Muslims, as well as people of other faiths and some of no faith, will be attending the 33rd Annual ISNA Canada Convention.

ISNA Canada, the Canadian arm of the Islamic Society of North America, is an umbrella group that represents many Muslim associations and supports mosques across the country.

ISNA spokesman Iman Faris says the discussions really can only come to one conclusion.

"Of course, one can be fully Muslim and fully Canadian - and I can know this because I am fully Muslim and fully Canadian - true to my faith and yet a Canadian who loves to go to Ottawa Senators games, loves maple syrup, loves this country.

[Michael says: Maple syrup and the Sens are all well and good but what does he think of Don Cherry?]

[. . .]

Topics to be addressed include Islamic financing, balancing family and work, Muslims and the media, rethinking multiculturalism, interfaith collaboration, relations between Muslim men and women, and Muslims and the arts.

Speakers will include Ingrid Mattson, the Canadian-born president of ISNA, the American organization based in Plainfield, Indiana; Tariq Ramadan, a British-based scholar who believes Western Muslims should be engaged in their societies; Idris Tawfiq, a former Catholic priest, now a Muslim, known for his gently written introductions to Muslim belief and history; and Sophie Harkat, wife of Mohamed Harkat, whose appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada on security charges resulted in a declaration that security certificate processes were unconstitutional.

[. . .]

Read all of Charles Enman's article.

See also:

A lengthy New York Times article about controversial Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan

New York Times review of Tariq Ramadan's biography of Muhammad

Jamaican-Canadian convert to Islam banned from Australia, but apparently still welcome in Canada

World Tamil Movement leader supports Tamil Tigers but denies his group funded them

2007-05-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

From the National Post (Tamil leader denies funding terrorist group by Graeme Hamilton, May 18, 2007):

The head of an organization that is suspected of funding the Tamil Tigers terrorist group has testified that he considers the Tigers "freedom fighters" and he supports their "activities that would benefit the people." But he denied that his organization, the World Tamil Movement, has sent money to the Sri Lankan guerillas.

In Quebec Court testimony that concluded yesterday, Kathiravelupillai Sithamparanathan, the 84-year-old president of the World Tamil Movement's Montreal office, acknowledged attending a 2004 workshop in Sri Lanka organized by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers.

[. . .]

The testimony came as the RCMP sought court approval to keep for another year materials seized during an April, 2006, raid on World Tamil Movement offices in Montreal while its investigation continues. The RCMP has alleged in an affidavit that the Montreal organization strong-arms local Tamils to fund the LTTE, which Canada listed as a terrorist organization last year. No charges have been laid yet.

Normally police are able to withhold seized material for up to a year without laying charges, but a judge can approve an extension if the complexity of the investigation warrants it. The World Tamil Movement is contesting the request for an extension. A similar extension was recently granted for a parallel investigation into World Tamil Movement operations in Toronto.

[. . .]

Read all of Graeme Hamilton's article.

The Council on Foreign Relations has posted background material about the Tamil Tigers on its website. Information about the organization can also be found at the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

In March 2006, Human Rights Watch issued a report describing how the Tamil Tigers use "intimidation, extortion and even violence" to raise money for military operations in Sri Lanka. The Tigers also raise money in Australia.

In his book, Cold Terror, National Post reporter Stewart Bell devotes a chapter to Tiger operations in Canada. As described by Bell and the Mackenzie Institute among others, the Tigers were able to establish themselves in Canada by exploiting our dysfunctional refugee system.

See also:

Civil war in Sri Lanka - bought and paid for with Canadian dollars

Project OSALUKI - RCMP investigation of the World Tamil Movement

Banning Tamil Tigers had positive effects but Ottawa and Toronto police should do more - Human Rights Watch

Muslim women who cover their faces will be allowed to vote in the next federal election

2007-05-17T18:24:00.000-04:00

From CanWest News via the National Post (Election law allows veiled votes by Tim Naumetz, May 17, 2007):

Muslim women wearing veils will be allowed to vote without exposing their faces in the next federal election despite a bill proposing new requirements for photo ID at the polls, the head of elections told the Senate yesterday.

Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand declined to speculate on whether he would use special powers to compel Muslims to raise their veils before voting -- as Quebec's chief electoral officer did during a controversy in the recent provincial election -- but said nothing in the law requires them to show their faces.

[. . .]

Read all of Tim Naumetz's article.

Wearing a hijab (i.e. a scarf or kerchief) is one thing; covering your face is another. Allowing people to vote without showing their faces would seem to make the process vulnerable to fraud.

See also:

Heroville, Canada

Muslim women in Quebec must show their faces if they want to vote

Some Muslim art students won't draw nudes

Jamaican-Canadian convert to Islam banned from Australia, but apparently still welcome in Canada

2007-05-17T11:13:00.000-04:00

This story is almost two months old but I only came across it yesterday. According to the Herald Sun newspaper in Australia, the US government named the man in the story an 'unindicted co-conspirator' in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

From the National Post (Australia bars Canadian Muslim preacher by Stewart Bell, April 5, 2007):

The Australian government has barred a hardline Canadian Muslim preacher from entering the country, citing national security concerns.

Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, who was Dennis Philips before his conversion, was to speak at an Islamic conference in Melbourne this weekend.

But Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews told Australian news media yesterday that the Jamaican-born Canadian raised in Toronto would not be getting a visa.

[. . .]

Mr. Philips lives in the Persian Gulf and is a frequent public speaker in Canada. His writings are available at many bookstores and public libraries but some consider him a radical.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: A quick author search turns up one book by Philips in the Toronto Public Library system. It's a translation of a book by someone else. I found three books by the man at Chapters Indigo.]

On his Web site, he supports beheading, calls polygamy a "male right," says homosexuality is "evil" and writes that "if women, children or the elderly bear arms they may be killed in self-defence."

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Does he consider Israeli civilians fair game, because they are eligible for service in the military?]

He also cites Muslim scripture to justify "physical jihad," which he describes as taking up arms to defend Islam and the Muslim community from its enemies.

The Herald Sun newspaper in Australia reported the U.S. government had named him as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

[. . .]

Read all of Stewart Bell's article

Stewart Bell is the author of two important books about terrorism in Canada: Cold Terror and The Martyr's Oath. Patrick Grady reviews them here and here. See also Grady's article The Judiciary and Politicians put Canadian National Security At Risk .

Daniel Pipes has written about converts to Islam who support terrorism. See, for example, these articles: Converts to Terrorism and More Converts to Terrorism.

See also:

Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system

Momin Khawaja - Canadian Muslim linked to terror cell responsible for 2005 London transit bombings

Does Muslim alienation start in high school?

Immigrant marriage fraud: 42 citizenship applications, 42 wedding albums with the same set of guests

2007-05-16T19:43:00.000-04:00

From Toronto Sun (Case of the phony weddings by Ajit Jain, May 16, 2007):

Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials have discovered 42 wedding albums submitted with 42 different citizenship applications in which the guests in the photos were all the same.

All the weddings had supposedly taken place at the same Wedding Palace in Chandigarh in India's Punjab region.

"You'd have to believe that 42 weddings had the same guests," says Mendel Green, president of Green and Spiegel, who has been practising immigration law for 42 years.

[. . .]

Liberal MP Roy Cullen, who has 29,000 South Asians in his Etobicoke North riding, says many Indo-Canadians in his riding have expressed concerns over this "abuse" of the system.

"They are telling me it is becoming like an epidemic and it is being seriously abused and so sometime back I spoke with former immigration minister Monte Solberg. I suggested to him -- and I am soon going to write to his successor Diane Finley -- that immigration rules could be amended to issue spousal visas on a probation of say three to five years and if at the end of this period the couple is still in marital relationship, they should be given permanent landed status."

[. . .]

Read all of Ajit Jain's article.

For more information about foreigners using marriage fraud to enter Canada, see this Immigration Watch Canada bulletin: The Mother Of All Fraud Marriages. The website Stop Marriage Fraud also has information about this problem.

See also:

Bogus marriages to brothers, sisters and mothers being used to enter Canada

Woman victim of Cuban marriage scam. Still on the hook for immigrant husband who has already sponsored his 'former' girlfriend.

A second Michele Mandel column about Canadians duped into marriages of convenience

Rampant fraud in Canada's healthcare system

2007-05-15T19:18:00.000-04:00

A year ago the Toronto Star published an article about a group of doctors who wanted Ottawa to stop deporting illegal immigrants because fear of deportation supposedly kept illegals from seeking medical attention. According to the article, the illegal aliens paid the doctors directly. I made this observation:

The article says illegal immigrants pay the doctors out of pocket, but what about all those illegals who use false documentation or who borrow OHIP cards from family and co-workers? How many of them are being treated courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer?

My opinion that illegal immigrants were using fraud to get free healthcare was reinforced last year when Ontario's auditor general revealed that Queen's Park had issued 300,000 (another report says 500,000) more health cards than there are people in the province. My belief received another boost earlier this year when York Regional Police broke up a massive counterfeit operation run by students from China. It's pretty simple. Where there are illegal immigrants, there are fraudulent documents, including health cards.

On April 18, Immigration Watch Canada issued a bulletin that describes rampant fraud in the healthcare system. Julie Taub, an immigration lawyer, writes:

Has any politician ever thought to investigate whether everyone on the waiting lists, emergency departments, doctors’ offices is really eligible for health care. Having a health card means little because there are hundreds of thousands of fraudulent cards; the government of Ontario distributed 500,000 too many under the Conservatives. In Ontario, the majority of health cards have no pictures, such as mine until several weeks ago. Thousands have obtained health cards fraudulently in Ontario and I am sure across Canada. Americans living near the border can rent or buy health cards. Some permanent residents and citizens rent or lend their cards to friends or family who visit them from abroad. I am an immigration lawyer, and some of my clients have confirmed that this practice is rampant. (Editor's Note: Former B.C. MLA David Schreck has recently pointed out B.C. irregularities similar to those in Ontario.)

Read the whole bulletin.

See also:

300,000 more healthcare cards in Ontario than there are people

York Regional Police break up massive forgery operation run by visiting Chinese students in Markham

African refugee gives African nurse AIDS - Globe and Mail wants Canadians to pay the bill

Toronto park space isn't keeping up with immigration-driven population growth

2007-05-15T18:16:00.000-04:00

From the Toronto Star (Growing city lacks enough green areas, especially for new housing projects by Jim Byers, May 9, 2007):

Toronto is growing every year, but the city has failed to invest in the parks that residents need, a city council committee was told yesterday.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Toronto is growing because Canada takes in 250,000+ immigrants a year. We have the highest rate of immigration per capita in the world. There's no need for it. Immigration is a political choice.]

A final report on what's called the Toronto Parks Renaissance Strategy won't be ready for a few months, but the company working on the concept says the growing city needs to invest more in parks and open space.

"There are issues with maintenance and a lack of repairs, but we also need new parks for new neighbourhoods," said Pino Di Mascio, a consultant with Urban Strategies Inc. "But there's no stable or predictable funding base" for the city's green spaces.

Another problem is simple geography: "We're not making any new land."

[Hyphenated_Canadian: That's what I've been saying all along. The government keeps on packing in more people in a limited amount of space. Canada is a huge country, but most of the country isn't inhabitable. The vast majority of immigrants end up in Toronto, Vancouver and to a lesser extent, Montreal. Other Canadian cities also receive immigrants but not at the same rate.]

[. . .]

Di Mascio told the Star that Toronto has a little less than 3.24 hectares of parkland per 1,000 residents, compared with 8 in Ottawa – though better than Montreal, which has just 1.2 hectares per 1,000 residents.

Those ratios do depend somewhat "on what each city defines as a formal park," he said. "Montreal might have a lot of open space, but it isn't within the parks department. The situation varies from city to city, but I think the numbers are generally pretty comparable."

[. . .]

Read all of Jim Byers' article.

See also:

Toronto is running out of space, but immigrants keep pouring in. Enough already! It's time to end this madness

Bad immigration policy is hurting our quality of life

Daniel Stoffman on the consequences of unchecked immigration

Urban sprawl: another problem that could be solved by a moratorium on immigration

Jerry Falwell dead at 73

2007-05-15T17:08:00.000-04:00

I wasn't expecting this. I knew Falwell was getting on in years, but I thought he would be with us for a while to come. Nowadays, 73 is not that old. I can't say I thought much of Falwell's theology or politics, but I'm sorry to see him go. I always feel old when a prominent personality dies. It reminds too much of my own mortality. I wonder what Larry Flynt is thinking.

From the New York Times (Jerry Falwell, Leading Religious Conservative, Dies at 73 by Peter Applebome, May 15, 2007):

Jerry Falwell, the fundamentalist preacher who founded the Moral Majority and helped bring the language and passions of religious conservatives into American politics, died today shortly after he was found unconscious in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He was 73 years old.

Mr. Falwell had a history of heart problems, and probably died of cardiac arrythmia, his physician, Dr. Carl Moore, said today. Mr. Falwell had no pulse when he was found, the doctor said, and efforts to revive him at the university and on the way to the hospital were unsuccessful.

Dr. Moore said Mr. Falwell was pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m. Eastern time.

The university’s executive vice president, Ronald Godwin, told a news conference this afternoon that he had had breakfast with Mr. Falwell at 8:30 a.m., and said the university mourns his loss.

[. . .]

Read all of Peter Applebome's article.

See also:

Religion and cultural change - Canada's loss of faith

Naturalized Canadian citizens face beheading in Saudi Arabia

2007-05-15T10:25:00.000-04:00

There is a story (Imprisoned Canadians face beheading in Saudi Arabia by Alan Freeman, May 15, 2007) in today's Globe and Mail about two naturalized Canadians who are in prison in Saudi Arabia accused of killing a Syrian boy in a schoolyard brawl. They could be beheaded for the crime.

Mohamed Kohail and his brother were stateless Palestinians born in Saudi Arabia. They were granted Canadian citizenship in 2005 but returned with their family to Saudi Arabia after their sister became ill. The brawl in which the Syrian boy, Munzer Haraki, was killed took place January 13 at Edugates International School near Jeddah. Kohail signed a confession, but he says he was tricked into signing after having been abused by Saudi police.

In recent years, there have been several news stories about immigrants who, after having been granted Canadian citizenship, ran into trouble in their country of origin. The Canadian government is then expected to bail them out.

Last year for example, when Israel shelled Lebanon Canada, rescued thousands of dual citizens who had returned to live in that country.

Then there's the case of Huseyin Celil, the Uyghur activist who has been sentenced to life in China after being convicted of taking part in terrorist activities. Peter MacKay has been lobbying China on his behalf.

There's also Mohammed Jabarah an Arab from Kuwait who went to school in St. Catharines. His family sent him to Kuwait every summer where he fell under the influence of a radical Muslim cleric. He joined al-Qaeda and was eventually arrested for his part in a plot by Jemaah Islamiyah to attack American and Israeli targets in Singapore. He is now in prison in the US. He has supporters in Canada who want Ottawa to help him.

Omar Khadr is another 'Canadian' Ottawa is expected to help. Just the other day a Canadian citizen was arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of being a terrorist.

Whenever I read stories like this I ask myself whether these people should have been granted Canadian citizenship in the first place. Did they ever have any real commitment to Canada or did they just see a Canadian passport as a convenient piece of paper?

Yann Martel, author of the Life of Pi, once called Canada the "greatest hotel on Earth." He meant it as a compliment, but to me it sounds disrespectful. A country should be more than the place you happen to live and citizenship should be more than a get out of foreign jail free card.

You can't force naturalized citizens, or native-born ones for that matter, to be loyal to Canada, but allowing people to become citizens after only three years cheapens our citizenship. So does letting in 250,000+ immigrants a year. Ottawa is giving Canada away.

One of the differences between immigration today and in the past is that we live in a more mobile world. If you moved to Canada from Europe a hundred years ago, going back to the old country was more difficult. Some people did go back, but it was harder to do. There were people who came to Canada simply to earn money, but even many of those ended up staying. Now the old country is a plane-trip away.

Also, communications technology like the Internet makes it easier to stay in touch with the country you came from. You can come to Canada, acquire Canadian citizenship and through the Internet remain engaged in politics back home. New technology allows for the creation of transnational networks that undermine the nation-state.

African refugee gives African nurse AIDS - Globe and Mail wants Canadians to pay the bill

2007-05-14T10:10:00.000-04:00

There is a story in today's Globe and Mail about a Kenyan nurse working in Canada who was infected with the AIDS virus by an African refugee named Adrien Sylver Nduwayo. Nduwayo, originally from Burundi, is now serving 15 years in prison for intentionally infecting others with HIV. According to the article, at least four women were infected by this man. Another consequence of our 'generous' refugee policies.

From the Globe article (Cruel twist leaves women's lives in the balance by Lisa Priest and Marina Jimenez, May 13, 2007):

A Kenyan woman who came to this country in search of a better life, only to become infected with the AIDS virus in a sexual assault by a Canadian man, faces possible deportation for being a burden on the health-care system.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Was it sexual assault? Later in the article, it becomes clear that the sex was consensual. I don't know what the legal definition of sexual assault is. It was a crime because the man did lie to her about not being infected, but even if technically correct, this paragraph is misleading. The opening sentence doesn't make it clear that the woman chose to have unprotected sex with him. From further down in the article:

She believed Mr. Nduwayo when he said he had no STDs. When she suggested a condom, he said they “get stuck in the vagina.”

Does that sound like she was forced to have sex with him, which is what I think most people would infer from the phrase 'sexual assault'? Of course, she doesn't deserve to be sick, but her illness is the consequence of a bad choice she made.

Calling this man a Canadian doesn't sound right. He is technically Canadian in the sense that Ottawa was stupid enough to allow him to become a citizen, but is he culturally Canadian? His formative experiences were in Africa, so why doesn't the Globe call him an African man, which is what he is, despite his new citizenship. Some blacks born in Canada like to play up their African roots, so why can't a man actually born in Africa be called an African? Answer: It doesn't suit the Globe's agenda, which is to blame Canada for this Kenyan woman's problem. By calling Nduwayo Canadian the Globe implies Canada is responsible for what happened. Ottawa is certainly guilty of letting him live here, but I don't think the Globe is in any hurry to change Canada's refugee policies. It's partly because of liberal newspapers like the Globe that Canada has awful immigration policies to begin with. Why are people like Nduwayo allowed to live in Canada? What are the consequences for Canada of allowing so many refugees to come here? Those are the sorts of question the paper should be asking.]

The 29-year-old, who cannot be named due to a court-ordered publication ban, was infected more than five years ago by Adrien Sylver Nduwayo, who is now serving the toughest prison sentence in Canada – 15 years – for intentionally infecting others with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.

In the process, the Vancouver-area nurse and mother of two has become a victim not only of Mr. Nduwayo's crime but of the immigration system.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Saying this woman is a victim of the immigration system is outrageous. She is a foreign national. She doesn't have an automatic right to live in Canada. Once again, the Globe and Mail forgets that Canada belongs to Canadians, who have every right to control which foreigners get to join our society. A woman from Kenya doesn't have an inherent right to become Canadian.]

That's because some HIV immigrants with significant health needs, such as requiring many months of costly antiretroviral therapy, can be deemed a burden on the health-care system.

This victim of crime could face a one-way trip back to Kenya, where access to antiretroviral medication is uncertain.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: As usual, the Globe and Mail has a perverse take on this story. Instead of examining the refugee policies that allow dangerous people like Nduwayo to come to Canada in the first place, the article is more concerned about the Kenyan woman who the government wants to deport because she is a burden on Canada's healthcare system.]

More from the article:

Individuals seeking permanent residence in Canada who are assessed as likely to pose an excessive demand on Canadian health and social services – determined as costing $20,285 or more in health and social services over a five-year period – are considered inadmissible on health grounds, according to Mélanie Carkner, spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Good. Canada's healthcare system should put Canadians first. It would be wonderful if every person on the planet had good healthcare, but in a world of limited resources, Canada's medical system should focus on Canadians. Unfortunately, Canada can't afford to treat every person in the world who is sick. Why doesn't the Globe understand this?

The article says she is 'seeking permanent residence status.' I take that to mean she came here as a foreign worker not as an immigrant. If that's the case, why does the Globe act is if she is being denied something she's entitled to? She came here as a foreign worker. She made a bad decision that caused to her become sick. She's a burden on a healthcare system that already has trouble meeting the needs of the Canadians it is intended for. The government wants to send her home. Why does the Globe have a problem with that? If the authors of the article feel so strongly that this woman deserves help, why don't they offer to pay for her treatment with their own money? It's easy to be compassionate and generous when you're asking other people to foot the bill.

I do feel sorry for the woman, but why does she deserve better treatment than the millions of other Africans suffering from AIDS? Are we going to treat all of them as well? But, of course, the Globe article implies Canada is responsible because the man who infected her is a Canadian citizen. Papers like the Globe support the immigration and refugee policies that allow Africans like Nduwayo to become Canadian citizens. Then when some of those naturalized Africans commit crimes, the paper says Canadians are behaving badly, making no distinction between African immigrants and Canadians born here. Nduwayo may be a Canadian citizen, but he is not really Canadian. He is culturally African and should never have been allowed to live here.

Here's a surprise. One of the two reporters who wrote this Globe article is the utterly horrid Marina Jimenez - a journalist who makes a career out of promoting immigration policies that hurt Canadians. I don't know what's wrong with this woman. She doesn't seem to give a damn about her fellow citizens. Where is her compassion for the Canadians who have to wait in line for operations and other treatments because our healthcare system is overburdened? How does allowing an HIV-infected nurse stay in Canada affect them? All Jimenez seems to care about is fighting any effort by the government to deport people who shouldn't be here.

Jimenez is the kind of reporter who uses euphemisms like 'undocumented worker' for illegal immigrant and who thinks people who steal Canadian jobs are victims we should feel sorry for. Just because she doesn't want to do the construction jobs illegals take from Canadians doesn't mean this is work other Canadians won't do. Despite her Hispanic name, Jimenez is a typical white, middle-class liberal who loves to be 'generous' at the expense of other people. After all, there's no danger an illegal immigrant will take her job as a well-paid reporter for Canada's so-called 'national newspaper'.

The egregious immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman also makes an appearance in the Globe article:

Lorne Waldman, a Toronto immigration lawyer, believes she would stand a good chance of being accepted on humanitarian grounds.

“She has two Canadian-born children, has established herself here and was infected thanks to the criminal behaviour of a Canadian citizen,” he said. “Plus, she would have a greater life expectancy in Canada than in Kenya.”

Of course, it's partly because of immigration lawyers like Lorne Waldman that people like Adrien Sylver Nduwayo get to become Canadian citizens in the first place. For Waldman to use Nduwayo's status as a Canadian citizen as an excuse to blame Canada for what happened to this Kenyan nurse is outrageous. If Waldman cares so much about Canadian citizens infecting people with HIV, he should be fighting to reform the refugee policies that allow the Nduwayos of this world to settle in Canada.

Read the whole article.

See also:

An Immigration Lawyer Identifies "Rampant" Fraud On Medical Cards, Etc.

160 HIV-positive delegates to Toronto AIDS conference make refugee claims

Immigrants account for more than 90 percent of tuberculosis cases in Toronto

The growing problem of drug-resistant disease

My new neighbourhood blog

2007-05-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I feel like writing about things that don't fit Dispatches from the Hogtown Front, which is mostly concerned with immigration and multiculturalism. While Hogtown Front will always be my main blog, I've been thinking about starting some other blogs to deal with subjects that don't fit here.

Today, I started Michael's Bloor-Lansdowne Blog, where I will write about things that are happening in my local neighbourhood. I live in a mostly immigrant neighbourhood, so some topics will fit both blogs.

I'll play it by ear, but my rule of thumb will be this: if the event in my neighbourhood is directly related to immigration or multiculturalism, I'll write about it on Hogtown Front, but if the event is just local neighbourhood news I'll post it on the Bloor-Lansdowne Blog. In some cases, I might write about the same event on both blogs, emphasizing the immigration aspect on this blog.

Hogtown Front is my main blog and will continue to get most of my time and attention.

Will unhappy Conservatives start another Reform Party?

2007-05-12T22:12:00.000-04:00

I don't know how much to make of this story, but it is interesting. What's the point of voting Conservative if their policies are virtually the same as the Liberals'? Too bad the article doesn't mention immigration or Harper's shameless pandering to ethnic special interests.

From Globe and Mail (Disgruntled Tories consider refounding Reform Party by Gloria Galloway, May 11, 2007):

Somewhere in Kingston Saturday, a small group of disaffected Conservatives will meet to discuss what would have been unfathomable in the heady days that followed the last federal election: refounding the Reform Party.

Organizers say they have room for just 30 people, but that this weekend's event is a mere prelude to a much larger meeting later this month.

“It's now or never,” the online invitation says. “This new party will never be infiltrated by Red Tories, special interest groups or Quebec again.”

[Note to readers outside Canada: Red Tory is an imprecise label, but it basically means a left-leaning member of the Conservative Party. Red Tories tend to be socially liberal. They support the welfare state and extensive government intervention in the economy. They're similar to 'moderate' Republicans in the US.]

[. . .]

When the Conservatives were elected in January, 2006, the former Reformers were jubilant at the thought of finally having a voice in Ottawa. But after a series of centrist decisions by Mr. Harper, they are again lamenting their disenfranchisement.

Connie Wilkins of Kingston, who owns freedominion.ca, one of the most popular conservative websites in Canada, has been invited to the weekend meeting.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Free Dominion has a discussion thread about the Globe article.]

At this point, she says, reforming Reform is just a discussion.

“The idea is just to get together and to decide how it would be best for people who have conservative values – stronger conservative values – to make their voices be heard better and to be listened to,” Ms. Wilkins said.

[. . .]

Read all of Gloria Galloway's article.

See also:

It's Official: They're Liberals! Paul Martin Liberals!

Gerry Nichols for PM

Norwegian Constitution Day in Toronto

2007-05-12T13:20:00.000-04:00

Time does fly. Is it Norwegian Constitution Day already? No, not quite. The actual day is May 17, but there is a celebration today in my local park. (Actually, there are several small parks in my neighbourhood, but this is the nicest one.)

When I walked to the park this morning a friend of mine who is a very active volunteer there, told me about the celebration. Things were just getting started when I left. There was a big Norwegian flag flying over a park building and I saw some people waving little ones. I also saw a woman in Norwegian folk costume chatting, appropriately enough, in Norwegian.

Across the street from the park, I saw a couple wearing red, blue and white ribbons. When I said Happy Norwegian Independence Day to them, the man answered with what I took to be a Norwegian accent. I asked if they were visiting. He said, "No, we live in Waterloo." Oops. But they were Norwegian and they were going to the celebration.

Toronto has historical ties to Norway, though this isn't connected to today's event. Norway was occupied by the Nazis during World War II. The Norwegian Government-in-exile decided to set up a training centre for Norwegian fighter pilots. Arrangements were made with the Canadian government to establish a base in Toronto. It came to be called Little Norway. Today the site is home to Little Norway Park, but it's in another neighbourhood, not mine.

See also:

A conversation with a drunk man in a west-end Toronto park

Dosanjh says police should investigate Sikh parade that honoured terrorist

2007-05-12T01:33:00.000-04:00

From CBC News (B.C. Sikh parade should be investigated, says MP, May 11, 2007):

B.C. Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh says police should be investigating a Sikh parade in Surrey last month that featured a photo of Talwinder Parmar — the man believed by authorities to have been the mastermind of the Air India bombings.

[. . .]

Surrey's annual Vaisakhi parade was attended by Conservative, Liberal and NDP politicians and included Parmar in its display of Sikh martyrs and saints.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: The Conservatives have expressed regret for participating.]

There were also several young people wearing International Sikh Youth Federation T-shirts.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: The ISYF is a terrorist group.]

[. . .]

Dosanjh told CBC Radio Friday that those aspects of the parade were unacceptable and that police and politicians should be paying more attention.

[. . .]

Read all of the CBC article.

In 1985, Dosanjh was badly beaten after he spoke out against Sikh extremism

See also:

Bad immigration policies made Air India tragedy possible

Man accused of having ties to Sikh terrorists deported

New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official

Mohamed Harkat - another suspected Muslim terrorist gets to prolong his stay in Canada

2007-05-11T19:17:00.000-04:00

From CanWest News via the National Post (Judge halts Ottawa’s attempt to deport Mohamed Harkat by Andrew Duffy, May 11, 2007):

A Federal Court judge has shut down the government's attempt to deport Mohamed Harkat before Parliament puts in place a security-certificate law that conforms to the Constitution.

Judge Francois Lemieux on Friday ordered a permanent stay on the process leading to Harkat's removal to Algeria.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Canada's most notorious Muslim terrorist, Ahmed Ressam, the Millenium bomber, was a failed asylum seeker from Algeria. Even after his refugee claim was rejected, he was not deported because Ottawa thought the situation in Algeria was too dangerous.]

The federal government had been seeking to move ahead with that removal - even though the Supreme Court of Canada has said the hearing that found Harkat to be a terrorist is fundamentally unjust.

Harkat, an Algerian refugee, was working as a gas station attendant in Ottawa when he was taken into custody on the strength of a security certificate in 2002 and accused of being an al-Qaeda sleeper agent.

Lemieux said Harkat could be denied the benefit of the Supreme Court's decision if the deportation process was allowed to proceed.

[. . .]

Read all of Andrew Duffy's article.

Harkat claims he will be tortured if he is returned to Algeria. In 1995, Manickavasagam Suresh, a Sri Lankan refugee accused by CSIS of being a fundraiser for the terrorist Tamil Tigers, was ordered deported from Canada. Suresh appealed, claiming he would be tortured in Sri Lanka. He remains in Canada to this day. In 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Ottawa may in "exceptional circumstances" deport people who are at risk of being tortured. This is known as the Suresh exception. The court hasn't ruled yet what those exceptional circumstances might be. Most foreign terrorist suspects come from countries where the authorities sometimes torture prisoners. James Bisset points out:

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.

See also:

The Judiciary and Politicians put Canadian National Security At Risk

Canada can be held for ransom by any foreign terrorist whose lawyer claims his client might be tortured if sent home - James Bissett

A message to Adil Charkaoui and other foreign terrorist suspects: this isn't your country. Shut up and go home!

Afghan police arrest 'Canadian' on suspicion he attended terrorist training camp

2007-05-11T10:40:00.000-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Kabul detains Canadian citizen by Graeme Smith and Colin Freeze, May 11, 2007):

Afghan police have detained a Canadian citizen on suspicion that he attended a militant training camp, sources say, marking the first time in almost five years that a Canadian has been arrested in Afghanistan for possible involvement with the insurgency.

Police took the young man into custody at a bus station in Kabul within the past few days, sources say, and Afghan authorities continue to hold him for investigation at a compound belonging to the Ministry of Interior. His name was not released, but he was identified as a 24-year-old of Pakistani origin who previously lived in Calgary. He was carrying a Canadian passport at the time of his arrest.

The Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa confirmed that a Canadian had been arrested, and said that embassy staff have consular access.

The man has not been formally charged, but police allege he attended a militant camp in Waziristan, a lawless border region of Pakistan believed to serve as a hideout for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

[. . .]

Read all of the Globe article.

See also:

Should Harper lobby for Omar Khadr's release from Guantanamo?

Does Muslim alienation start in high school?

Dalton McGuinty asks Auditor-General to investigate controversial immigration grants

2007-05-10T19:01:00.000-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Ontario calls in Auditor-General to probe grant process):

The Ontario government is calling in the provincial Auditor-General to investigate the way its Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration hands out grants.

Premier Dalton McGuinty surprised the legislature today by abruptly changing course after three weeks of refusing requests to look at the process.

“I have just sent a letter to the Auditor-General,” he said after being asked a question by Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.

He said that the Auditor-General, James McCarter, was asked to investigate the granting of $32-million in year-end grants to 110 immigrant-aid groups and to report by the beginning of July.

[. . .]

But even as he relented on bringing in the Auditor-General, the Premier refused a request by Mr. Tory to ask for the resignation of Citizenship Minister Mike Colle, who has been at the centre of a sustained controversy about the grants.

[. . .]

Read all of Murray Campbell's article.

There is another issue here besides the way in which grants are being handed out. Why does Queens Park rely on ethnic organizations to help immigrants adapt to Canada? Isn't this the kind of thing the government would be better off handling itself? How effective are these organizations in helping immigrants adjust to life here? Do these groups promote Canada's interests or their own ethnic agendas? Even more important: why is Ottawa bringing so many people here in the first place when there is no economic need?

See also:

List of immigration and citizenship grants given to groups with Liberal ties

Ontario slush fund scandal: Sleazebag Liberals play the race card for fun and profit

$200,000 grant to Iranian group with ties to provincial Liberals

Language barrier may have caused near-miss in the air

2007-05-10T18:45:00.000-04:00

Not immigration-related except that it shows how important it is for people to speak the same language. If I wanted to be mean, I could have used this headline: Cultural diversity almost causes airplane crash.

From Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail (Did language barrier cause airliner near-miss over Vancouver?, May 10, 2007):

The Transportation Safety Board is investigating whether a language barrier played a role in an incident in the skies near Vancouver International Airport in which two airliners came too close for comfort.

A Philippine Airlines Airbus 340 approaching the airport last week descended below its prescribed altitude of 2,400 metres, sending controllers scrambling to move other air traffic out of the way.

TSB investigator Damian Lawson confirmed the flight from Manila came within 2.9 kilometres laterally and 244 metres vertically of a Delta Airlines flight.

[. . .]

Read all of the CP article.

See also:

Lack of adequate English limits immigrant mobility

Man stabbed at Toronto mosque for refusing to pray

2007-05-10T18:12:00.000-04:00

It sounds like the man who did the stabbing is suffering from a mental disorder. Is he an immigrant? Is he here legally? If so, how thoroughly did Canadian authorities check his background before admitting him into Canada? Does he have a history of violence in the country he came from?

From the National Post (Man stabbed at mosque for not praying, police say by Matthew Coutts, May 10, 2007):

An attacker who stabbed a man at a downtown mosque before attempting to kill himself did so because the victim had refused to pray with him, police said yesterday.

"The suspect wanted the victim to come pray," said Detective Ron Boyce, adding the man declined because he wasn't clean enough according to Muslim custom. "He told him that he didn't want to go, but the other gentleman insisted."

The two men began arguing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the lobby of the Downtown Muslim Community Centre on Parliament Street near Shuter Street. According to security footage given to police, one man pulled a 16- inch kitchen knife from his pants and attacked the other.

[. . .]

The assault continued outside, police said, and the wounded man escaped north on Parliament.

His attacker re-entered the mosque and "attempted to kill himself " by cutting his own throat, then stumbled back outside and around the block, before collapsing near the back entrance of the mosque.

[. . .]

Mafas Hashem, 23, is charged with attempted murder, assault with a weapon, weapons dangerous and carrying a concealed weapon.

Read all of Matthew Coutts' article.

See also:

Virginia Tech - one indisputable fact

Rule No. 1 for the Sopranos and other ethnic mobsters who want to assimilate: Thou shalt not whack thy neighbour

2007-05-10T12:50:00.000-04:00

James Fulford writes on the Vdare blog (Immigrants And Organized Crime, May 6, 2007):

When Steven Malanga refers to Tony Soprano as assimilated, he’s talking about externals. If the sons and grandsons of the modern Russian Mafia want to assimilate, I would suggest that they not do it by attending Ivy League colleges, or drinking coffee instead of tea, or playing high school football.

I would suggest that they assimilate by not whacking people. That’s not much to ask, is it?

Read all of James Fulford's comments.

See also:

Vito Rizzuto case: Plea bargain results in 10-year sentence for Canadian mob boss

Italians migrate to the suburbs. The Mafia follows.

Mafia fugitives from Italy living in Toronto area. Police chief says Canadian immigration slow to react.

Les misérables: Young French workers flock to Britain in search of jobs

2007-05-10T12:08:00.000-04:00

From The Guardian (Les misérables: France's unhappy position by Ashley Seager, May 7, 2007):

When the dust settles on the Ségo v Sarko presidential election campaign, the harsh reality of the economic challenges that face the victor will still be there like a hangover after a party.

France's poor labour market performance is well known and has been a problem for decades. But until recently the economy was propped up by low interest rates and robust consumer spending.

[. . .]

Contrary to the idea held by many people in Britain - that the French have a better quality of life - studies suggest they are less content with their lot. Danny Blanchflower, a Bank of England economist, has researched relative happiness levels across many countries and the results are clear: the French trail the British in terms of happiness, life satisfaction and job satisfaction.

As unemployment has a strong correlation with happiness levels, it is probably safe to conclude that jobless figures at close to 9% - the eurozone's highest - is the main reason. And unemployment remains particularly acute amongst the young, at over 20%. Small wonder, then, that so many young French people come to London to find work. This is a loss to France since many of them are highly educated.

In Britain they enjoy the flexibility and jobs that the UK labour market offers them. About 300,000 now live in Britain and France has suffered the biggest emigration since the Huguenots fled in the 16th and 17th centuries. Indeed, Mr Sarkozy came to London earlier this year appealing to these émigrés to return.

Read all of Ashley Seager's article.

I'm interested in France for what, if anything, it can tell me about the consequences of Muslim immigration to a western nation. The massive riots in 2005 are proof if any is needed that Muslim immigrants have not integrated into French society. The question is, why not? Living as I do in Canada, it's hard for me to judge. Does the problem lie with religion? Is Islam incompatible with the French way of life? Is the problem economic discrimination? Are the youth in the banlieues angry because French employers unfairly discriminate against them? Maybe the problem isn't discrimination so much as a general lack of jobs due to France's rigid work rules? Nicolas Sarkozy campaigned on the need to change some of the regulations that make it hard to do business in France. Would that help? Would deregulation create more jobs and would more jobs take away some of the anger that now exists in the immigrant neighbourhoods? Sarkozy also supports affirmative action quotas. Is that compatible with business deregulation?

See also:

Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected president of France. This should prove interesting. Or maybe not

Elections in France: immigration, assimilation and national identity are the centrepieces of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign

Jean-Marie Le Pen goes after France's ethnic vote

Language laws in Estonia

2007-05-09T16:37:00.000-04:00

Estonia is one of the three Baltic states that became independent following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. The country had been part of the Russian Empire before World War I, but along with Latvia and Lithuania became independent in 1918. During World War II, it was occupied by Nazi Germany. After the war it was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. During the Soviet period, large numbers of ethnic Russians moved into the country. Soviet dissidents argued that the government encouraged ethnic Russians to move to non-Russian republics as part of a program of deliberate Russification. Whatever the reason so many Russians ended up in Estonia, most felt no need to learn the local language. Things changed when the country regained its independence, because the new state passed laws encouraging, some would say compelling, Russians to learn Estonian. As a Canadian, I find this interesting, because language is an important political and social issue in Quebec. Quebec, of course, has its own language laws.

From the Washington Post (For Estonia's Ethnic Russians, Ties to Moscow Fading by Peter Finn, May 9, 2007):

Estonia was part of the Soviet Union for close to five decades, a period many Estonians view as an occupation. Large numbers of Russian civilians moved here, often resented by the locals. When independence came in 1991, the Russians found themselves a vulnerable minority and sometimes continued to look to Moscow to defend their interests.

[. . .]

But Estonian government officials champion their integration policies and note that the number of people without citizenship has dropped from 450,000 12 years ago to 100,000 today. The number of Russians speaking Estonian has increased from 15 percent in 1991 to 40 percent today, a figure that increases to nearly 60 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds.

"Of course there's still a lot to do, but integration has been successful," said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet. "The parents of Russian children are putting them in Estonian schools because they want their children integrated into this society."

This integration has been sped by controversial policies of compulsion. Speaking Estonian is a requirement for employment in many parts of the public and private sectors. Depending on the responsibility of the work, people have to obtain a language certificate at one of three levels -- basic, for instance, for a taxi driver but advanced for a doctor.

Officials from a language inspectorate conduct spot-checks of workers to see if they speak Estonian. If they fail, they are forced to get certified or face loss of their jobs. Amnesty International has condemned the policy as "repressive and punitive in nature." And it has alienated some Russians who say it is unforgiving of an older generation who could not easily adapt to change.

"It's humiliating and oppressive," said Prekup, the clergyman. "The state says it's integration, but as a matter of fact it's assimilation."

[. . .]

Read all of Peter Finn's article.

See also:

Would NATO defend Estonia if Russia attacked it?

Moderate Muslims are no myth - Daniel Pipes

2007-05-09T13:09:00.000-04:00

Daniel Pipes writes in an article originally published in the New York Sun (A Million Moderate Muslims on the March, May 8, 2007):

"Moderate Unicorns," huffed a reader, responding to my recent plea that Western states bolster moderate Muslims. Dismissing their existence as a myth, he notes that non-Muslims "are still waiting for moderates to stand and deliver, identifying and removing extremist thugs from their mosques and their communities."

It's a valid skepticism and a reasonable demand. Recent events in Pakistan and Turkey, however, prove that moderate Muslims are no myth.

In Pakistan, an estimated 100,000 people demonstrated on April 15 in Karachi, the country's largest city, to protest the plans of a powerful mosque in Islamabad, the Lal Masjid, to establish a parallel court system based on Islamic law, the Shari‘a. "No to extremism," roared the crowd. "We will strongly resist religious terrorism and religious extremism," exhorted Altaf Hussain, leader of the Mutahida Qaumi Movement, at the rally.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: How much does Pipes know about the MQM? According to an article by Stewart Bell, it has been linked to violence of a kind I consider terrorism. Another website says the MQM was the most potent threat to Pakistan’s internal security in the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties.]

In Turkey, more than a million moderate Muslims in five marches protested the bid of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to take over the presidency of the republic, giving it control over the two top government offices (the other being the prime ministry, currently filled by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan).

[. . .]

Read all of Daniel Pipes' article.

Over the years Daniel Pipes has taken a lot of abuse from people who accuse him of being Islamophobic. I don't see that at all. If you read what the man actually writes, you'll see he consistently makes a distinction between Islamism, which is a modern, politicized interpretation of Islam, and the traditional religion. Pipes opposes Islamism because he sees it as totalitarian, but he always points out that most Muslims aren't Islamists.

When Pipes uses an article to argue that moderate Muslims definitely do exist, that shows he doesn't hate Muslims. The people who say he does either don't know what they're talking about or are deliberately maligning him. I'm not saying I agree with everything Pipes writes, but it's obvious that despite whatever faults there may or may not be in his arguments, he respects Muslims.

I find this particular article interesting, because as far as I'm concerned it's still an open question whether Islam is compatible with liberal democracy. A big reason I'm undecided is that Muslims have different interpretations of their religion. Obviously, you can't judge all Muslims by what al-Qaeda and other Muslim terrorists do, but I think Robert Spencer, among others, make it clear it's equally wrong to assume Islam is a benign religion of peace. There is a lot happening in the Muslim world and not being an expert in Islamic history and theology, I find it hard to make sense of it all. That's why I'm interested in what people like Daniel Pipes have to say.

See also:

Secular Turks say, "We don't want an imam in the presidential palace."

Begum Nawazish Ali - Pakistan's answer to Dame Edna Everage.

The perils of ethnic pandering: Canadian branch of Pakistani political movement accused of terrorism actively supports the federal Conservatives

Can Islam and democracy co-exist in Indonesia?

Malvern Crew case: Province will appeal acquittal in gang-related killing

2007-05-08T21:29:00.000-04:00

From the Toronto Star (Province to appeal murder acquittal by Betsy Powell, May 8, 2007):

The province is asking the Ontario Court of Appeal to overturn a jury's acquittal of Warren Abbey for first-degree murder.

On March 29, after a six-week trial, Abbey was found not guilty in the Jan. 8, 2004 shooting of Simeon Peter in Toronto's east end.

The Crown alleged the slaying related to ongoing gang warfare between the Malvern Crew and Galloway Boys.

[. . .]

The Crown's main ground for appeal was that the trial judge erred in law by excluding evidence "regarding the meaning or significance of a teardrop tattoo" that Abbey had inscribed under his right eye after the victim's murder.

A "certified gang specialist" testified for days, without the jury present, that the teardrop tattoo, specifically in gang culture, can be interpreted as a signature for killing a rival.

Superior Court Justice Todd Archibald refused to allow the jury to hear the expert or any mention of the tattoo, saying it was a "scarlet letter" that could have a "prejudicial effect" on the trial.

[. . .]

Police officers privately criticized the ruling and worried the acquittal would hamper their fight against gangs because of the difficulty in persuading witnesses to testify – a concern the defence rejected as groundless. At the Abbey trial, jurors heard three gang members testify.

[. . .]

Read all of Betsy Powell's article.

See also:

Legal rulings complicate gang prosecutions

Anti-gang sweeps placing huge strain on Ontario legal aid plan

Is diversity all it's cracked up to be?

2007-05-08T17:38:00.000-04:00

Pat Buchanan writes in Vdare (Queen’s Fancy PC Footwork In Jamestown, May 7, 2007):

The Great Britain of Tony Blair may be more diverse than the land of Victoria and Edward VII, Lloyd George and Winston Churchill—but is it a better nation?

Only if one worships diversity can one say Britain is a better, stronger or greater country than she was on the eve of the Great War, a century ago, when Britannia ruled a fourth of the world.

Read all of Pat Buchanan's article.

Hat tip: Modern Tribalist

See also:

History about white people for white people

New study by 'Bowling Alone' author: Ethnic diversity breeds mistrust

Racial and ethnic diversity undermines support for the American welfare state

A case of mistaken identity

2007-05-08T17:20:00.000-04:00

Thomas Sowell writes:

Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.

Two Tamils charged with terrorism offences in Australia

2007-05-08T15:54:00.000-04:00

On Sunday I posted a message about the escalating ethnic conflict between Tamil separatists and the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka. I pointed out that Canada's immigration and refugee system allowed the terrorist Tamil Tigers to establish themselves here where they use crime to raise money for bombs and bullets in the old country. Canada isn't the only country the Tigers exploit. The group has also set up shop in Australia.

From the the Age (Tamil terror accused men denied bail, May 8, 2007):

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 32, of Mt Waverley, and Sivarajah Yathavan, 36, of Vermont South, were charged last week with terrorism offences for supporting separatist group the Tamil Tigers.

Chief Magistrate Ian Gray today denied the pair bail, saying they failed to prove exceptional circumstances for it to be granted.

The men each face charges of being members of a terrorist organisation, providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation and making funds available to a terrorist organisation.

The men allegedly used the Melbourne-based Tamil Coordination Committee to raise funds for the Tamil Tigers under the guise of fundraising for tsunami relief.

It is alleged they bought equipment of the type used in terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.

[. . .]

Read all of the Age article.

See also:

Civil war in Sri Lanka - bought and paid for with Canadian dollars

Is there a global Tamil nation?

Project OSALUKI - RCMP investigation of the World Tamil Movement

National Post: Tigers use Canadian charities as 'fronts'

High number of immigrant children places huge strain on Toronto school system

2007-05-07T20:21:00.000-04:00

Newspaper articles like the one below frustrate me, because they point out serious problems caused by Canada's immigration policies without ever questioning those policies. Kristin Rushowy's article does the reader a service by describing the problems many immigrants have navigating Toronto's school system. The reporter, however, doesn't ask why there are so many immigrants in the system. Nor does she look at how the presence of so many immigrant children affects native-born Canadian students. All the resources spent helping newcomers adjust could have been used to help the children actually born here. Do the needs of Canadian-born children even count?

Canada receives 250,000+ immigrants a year, forty percent of whom end up in the Greater Toronto Area. Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world. Why are we bringing all these people here? I can't summarize all the problems with Canada's immigration system in one blog post. If anyone is interested in understanding what is wrong with the current policies, I suggest they download (for free) and read these Fraser Institute reports:

Canada's Immigration Policy: The Need for Major Reform

Immigration and the Welfare State in Canada: Growing Conflicts, Constructive Solutions

Canada's Dysfunctional Refugee Determination System

Is there Really a Looming Labour Shortage in Canada and, if there is, can Increased Immigration Fill the Gap?

I also suggest the interested reader visit the Immigration Watch Canada website. For detailed information about the immigration system, look at the research section. For information about specific immigration-related issues, read the group's informative weekly bulletins.

From the Toronto Star (Newcomers baffled by school system by Kristin Rushowy, May 7, 2007):

For the country's largest and most diverse school board – and others around Ontario with large numbers of immigrants – it's a constant learning curve to help newcomer parents adapt to this country's education system.

But they could be doing a better job – and it's critical that teachers and parents get talking because children of recent immigrants drop out, fail, are suspended or streamed into non-academic courses in disproportionate numbers, Ryerson University professor Mehrunnisa Ali told a Toronto District School Board parent conference on the weekend at Scarborough Civic Centre.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Does the professor acknowledge the possibility that different groups have different levels of natural ability or does she assume that when outcomes vary it necessarily means there is a problem with the system? Perhaps some groups are more likely to drop out because they have lower average IQ or a culture that doesn't value education. You can't simply assume that if certain groups do poorly, the system is at fault.]

[. . .]

Teachers and recent immigrants "don't really understand each others' backgrounds. They are brought up in different cultures, they don't necessarily know how to talk to each other, and they don't know what's expected of their children and of each other," said Ali who, with Antoinette Gagne of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, conducted a small study of newcomer parents and local teachers. It was funded by Heritage Canada.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Wait a second. People from different cultures have trouble understanding each other? That can't be good. But Toronto's motto says Diversity Our Strength. There would appear to be a discrepancy between the city's official slogan and that other thing. What is it called again? Oh yeah. Reality.]

Toronto teachers, for the most part, are white European, middle-class women, while new immigrants hail from around the globe, representing many different languages, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds.

"Newcomer parents and teachers have powerful, but very different, images in their heads of characteristics, roles and responsibilities of `good' students, teachers and parents," Ali told the audience.

[. . .]

While some schools do a great job reaching out to new immigrants, reduced funding for programming is contributing to the problem, she said, and boards also need to beef up funding for translation and interpreting services.

Ali recommends schools with high immigrant populations have full-time settlement workers to help new families adjust to life in Canada and navigate the school system.

For Shefa Alkhulaqi, who came from Yemen with her seven daughters just months ago, even having a part-time settlement worker in her children's schools made all the difference.

[. . .]

Read all of Kristin Rushowy's article.

See also:

Severe shortage of ESL teachers in Ontario - People for Education survey

Language barriers at a Toronto public school

Ontario Safe Schools Act - Liberals plan to abolish zero-tolerance policy. Too many black students being expelled

Toronto high school students who speak Portuguese, Spanish or Somali drop out at higher rates

90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes

It could be worse

2007-05-07T14:44:00.000-04:00

A Festival of Resistance in Hogtown? It could be worse. At least it's not Nuit Blanche. Left-wing nutjobs aren't as bad as pretentious art snobs. Granted it's not much of a choice and there is some overlap.

Happy birthday

2007-05-07T14:40:00.001-04:00

The answer is NO!

Ontario slush fund scandal: Sleazebag Liberals play the race card for fun and profit

2007-05-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

From the Toronto Sun (Grits use smear to gag foes, Tory says by Antonella Artuso, May 7, 2007):

The Ontario Liberals continue to play the race card to try to silence political critics in the "slush fund" scandal, PC Leader John Tory says.

Tory said the latest "smear" on his reputation -- he was accused of showing ignorance to ethnic groups in a harshly worded petition submitted to the Ontario legislature by Liberal MPPs -- proves the governing Grits are on a planned campaign to undermine their opponents by labelling them racist.

[. . .]

Ontario MPPs routinely submit petitions on behalf of their constituents. Liberal MPPs Peter Fonseca and Kuldip Kular put in a petition accusing Tory of insulting the Sikh community with his questions about the grants.

[. . .]

Read all of Antonella Artuso's article.

The provincial Conservatives, like their federal counterparts are bending over backwards to portray themselves as pro-multicultural and immigrant friendly, but does it do them any good? John Tory raises legitimate questions about money being doled out to ethnic organizations with Liberal affiliations. The Liberals respond by accusing him of racism. Will these accusations stick? Will ethnic politicians like Kuldip Kular succeed in convincing Sikh voters that the Conservatives are anti-Sikh? (Canadian politicians' fear of being labelled anti-Sikh created the situation that made the Air India bombings possible.)

The accusations of racism levelled at John Tory remind me of what happened in 2000, when Canadian Alliance MPs criticized federal Liberal cabinet ministers Maria Minna and Paul Martin of attending a fundraising dinner for a Tamil terrorist front. Minna and Martin accused the Alliance of being racist and this strategy apparently worked. Martin went on to become prime minister while Minna still sits in the House of Commons.

John Tory's predecessor, Mike Harris, owed much of his success to winning votes in the so-called 905 belt of suburbs surrounding Toronto. Recent immigration, however, has radically changed the region's demography so that in places like Brampton white voters are effectively disenfranchised. The power of the immigrant vote in Ontario has reached the point where politicians feel obliged to visit Asia in order to win votes at home.

See also:

Ontario Conservatives protest grants to Liberal-friendly ethnic organizations

Ontario 'slush fund' controversy: McGuinty stands by Colle

$200,000 grant to Iranian group with ties to provincial Liberals

Some Bengalis are more equal than other Bengalis. Canadians just pay the bill

Bad immigration policies made Air India tragedy possible

2007-05-06T22:44:00.000-04:00

From a 2005 National Post article (From Asia, with malice by Martin Loney, April 28, 2005):

The roots of the Air India tragedy lie in our nation's willingness to provide refuge to Sikh militants who sought to pursue their campaign for Punjab independence from Canadian soil. Sikh moderates tried in vain to warn the government that many of those being admitted in the years prior to the bombing were dangerous. Ironically, it was precisely the newcomers' claim of membership in the extremist Sikh organization Babbar Khalsa that was offered as the pretext for granting asylum.

Once in Canada, the militant Sikhs made no secret of their agenda, setting up supposed consulates for the future, independent nation of Khalistan in major Canadian cities. These men also fought to take over Sikh temples, intimidating and on occasion killing their opponents.

The Sikh militants clearly understood that Canadians, ever fearful of accusations of racism, and led by politicians who could be counted on to pander to ethnic constituencies, would do nothing. When one of the militant leaders, Talwinder Singh Parmar, arrived at Toronto's airport in July, 1984, a large crowd of sword-carrying Sikhs greeted him. Had the sword carriers been white, does anyone suppose they would not have been arrested?

Read all of Martin Loney's article

See also:

Navdeep Bains - Sikh MP's father-in-law was interviewed about Air India bombings

New Westminster gurdwara honours Sikh assassin who murdered Canadian official

McGuinty's visit to Punjab a 'giant photo op' for Sikh voters in Ontario

Civil war in Sri Lanka - bought and paid for with Canadian dollars

2007-05-06T19:32:00.000-04:00

From Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune (Sri Lanka seen heading back to civil war — on an even larger scale by Matthew Rosenberg, May 5, 2007):

Five years after a cease-fire brought a measure of relief to Sri Lanka, a ferocious ethnic war is again raging between the government dominated by the country's predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the Tamil Tigers, separatists seeking a homeland for the largely Hindu Tamil minority.

The signs of a deepening conflict are everywhere: soldiers in full battle gear patrolling Colombo, the increasingly fortified capital; sandbagged bunkers and trenches going up all over the rebel-held north.

Both sides claim to be observing the truce, which remains officially in place. But clearly it has left neither side satisfied, and now it has completely collapsed. The rebels are mounting renewed attacks, including a bus bombing last June that killed 64 people, and Sri Lankan forces are pushing farther into rebel territory, with officials openly saying they aim to militarily crush their enemy.

[. . .]

Read all of Matthew Rosenberg's article.

Canadians like to see their country as an international boy scout running around the world doing nothing but good deeds. Some Canadians, though definitely not all, also like to pat themselves on the back for living in a country that has a 'generous' immigration and refugee system. However, that refugee system has allowed terrorist groups like the Tamil Tigers to establish themselves here. As Human Rights Watch, among others, have documented, the Tigers use intimidation and coercion to force Canadian Tamils to donate money to their cause. Tamil gangs also use crime to raise money for the Tigers.

As far as I can tell, Tamils have legitimate grievances against the Sinhalese, but they don't justify terrorist acts that deliberately target civilians. They certainly don't justify committing crimes in Canada to finance a war in Sri Lanka. Every time you read a story about that war, remember that thanks to our bankrupt refugee system Canadian dollars are paying for the bombs and the bullets.

People in Sri Lanka are dying because politicians like Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis and others allow their lust for ethnic votes to blind them to what is happening in Sri Lanka. I can't say how much Karygiannis and other politicians really know about that country, but even if they acted out of ignorance, their opposition to banning the Tigers in Canada had the effect of killing people in Sri Lanka.

Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected president of France. This should prove interesting. Or maybe not

2007-05-06T18:29:00.000-04:00

From the International Herald Tribune (Decisive victory for Sarkozy in France by Katrin Bennhold and Elaine Sciolino, May 6, 2007):

Nicolas Sarkozy, an immigrant's son who had the French presidency in his sights for three decades, won a decisive victory in the election Sunday, keeping the right in power for the next five years.

With 86 percent of the vote counted, the fiery former interior minister obtained 53.3 percent, according to preliminary results from the Interior Ministry. His Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, received 46.7 percent, ending her quest to become France's first female head of state and dealing a severe blow to her Socialist Party. Turnout was estimated at 85 percent.

[. . .]

Socialists and centrists were quick to call on their voters to deprive Sarkozy of a majority in Parliament in the legislative elections next month. But the victory puts Sarkozy's party, the Union for a Popular Movement, in a strong position to win more than 50 percent of the seats in the National Assembly.

Sarkozy voters went to the polls with a message: it's time to reform the economy. His backers said they chose Sarkozy because France needs to pull itself up by the bootstraps - and they believe he can get the job done.

The French presidency is a very special office - part monarch and part elected politician. No other elected political office in Europe comes with as much power and grandeur. Elected for five years, the French president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and is responsible for foreign and defense policy. He also nominates the prime minister and can dissolve the National Assembly.

[. . .]

Read the whole article.

I don't know enough about France to even guess how much of a difference Sarkozy will make. On the one hand, he is said to be a polarizing figure largely because of his tough rhetoric during the 2005 riots, but this article argues that the French are comfortable and don't want change. I wonder whether Sarkozy will take a tough stance against illegal immigration. Is he serious about clamping down or was his tough talk on the issue empty rhetoric designed to win over Le Pen voters? It will be interesting to see what if anything changes in France.

See also:

Globe and Mail profile of Nicolas Sarkozy

Oh my. I almost forgot Cinco de Mayo

2007-05-05T22:36:00.000-04:00

Please forgive me. The day is almost over and I forgot to mention Cinco de Mayo. There, I've mentioned it. I've discharged my duty. Now I can sleep soundly.

Vito Rizzuto case: Plea bargain results in 10-year sentence for Canadian mob boss

2007-05-05T19:14:00.000-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Canada's Teflon Don jailed in New York by Sinclair Stewart and Tu Thanh Ha, May 5, 2007):

For years, authorities alleged that Vito Rizzuto ran a criminal empire that smuggled drugs by the tonne, ran illegal gambling, loan-sharking and other rackets, and laundered millions of dollars.

But the discreet, dapper 61-year-old repeatedly beat all efforts to convict him and earned a reputation as Canada's most powerful Mafia boss.

His streak ended in a sparsely attended Brooklyn courtroom Friday. Clad in a prison-issue blue T-shirt and khaki pants, he admitted to a role in a triple murder 26 years ago today, during an internal purge in the Bonanno crime family of New York.

It was a historic moment but it came with a bad aftertaste for law enforcement.

Mr. Rizzuto plea bargained a 10-year sentence, which will be cut by the three years he has already spent in detention. His lawyer, John Mitchell, said his client will likely be jailed for 5½ years in the United States, and will then be deported to Canada to be in supervised release for three years.

[. . .]

Read all of the Globe and Mail article.

See also:

Vito Rizzuto case - accused Canadian mafia boss asks for trial delay

Montreal anti-Mafia bust could shift power to Toronto

Anti-Mafia sweep in Montreal

Globe and Mail profile of Nicolas Sarkozy

2007-05-05T18:46:00.000-04:00

Saturday's Globe and Mail has a profile of Nicolas Sarkozy. Doug Saunders writes (Brash loner poised to redefine France, May 5, 2007):

Throughout his life, Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, has fit awkwardly into the comfortable club of French leadership, like a brassy character actor dropping one-liners in the midst of a regal drama. In photos taken a decade ago, he stands out from the crowd like an awkward interloper: Surrounded by fellow ministers, he has always looked and acted like an outsider.

Sunday, Mr. Sarkozy will be the subject of the most important election France has held in half a century. Even if his Socialist opponent, Ségolène Royal, manages to overcome his 10-per-cent lead in the polls.

[. . .]

Some people, even admirers, say there is something decidedly un-French about this child born to a Hungarian immigrant father and a French mother with Jewish roots. That argument was used this week by far-right National Front leader Jean Marie Le Pen, who urged his followers to abstain from voting Sunday because Mr. Sarkozy, who has used anti-immigrant rhetoric to woo the Front's voters, is too much an outsider, insufficiently French and Christian. “It would be like letting some stranger come in off the street and sit in your father's favourite armchair,” Mr. Le Pen said.

On the other hand, he is a figure who is deeply familiar in France, the energetic man who comes from outside to take control in the midst of a crisis.

“He is the heir to the French political tradition of Bonapartism, and makes that argument for himself all the time,” says his biographer, Frédéric Charpier, who sees Mr. Sarkozy as an avid student of the Napoleonic method. “It is an authoritarian tradition within a democracy, in which France has a private economy but it is very state-focused, and the state remains at the centre of public life, and the leader is the centre of the state.”

Read all of Doug Saunders' article.

See also:

Elections in France: immigration, assimilation and national identity are the centrepieces of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign

Jean-Marie Le Pen goes after France's ethnic vote

Race riots: Los Angeles 1992, France 2005, Toronto 20??

Lack of adequate English limits immigrant mobility

2007-05-04T20:42:00.000-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Language, experience hamper career climb by Wallace Immen, May 2, 2007):

Accountant Vince Dong says he sees all too many immigrants in his profession hit a "concrete ceiling" that traps them at entry levels because their English skills limit their ability to deal with clients and get assignments that could win promotions.

So he's launching a program that will teach immigrant accountants the language skills needed for their profession.

"I see a lot of immigrants in accounting who have passed English-language proficiency tests but are still unable to speak confidently with clients about technical issues. This relegates them to being background people," says Mr. Dong, owner of tax consulting service Ad-Vice Inc. in Toronto.

[. . .]

Mr. Dong is on the right track, according to a major study from Statistics Canada released this week which found that, even when immigrants land jobs, a lack of language skills and working experience in Canada prevents them from reaching their full potential.

But too many employers are not taking the initiative to help them get what they need to make it in their professions, experts say.

[. . .]

Read all of Wallace Immen's article.

I don't understand. It's the employer's responsibility to teach his employees English? If people aren't job-ready, why do we invite them to Canada in the first place?

See also:

Punjabi and Cantonese As Canada's Two New Official Languages?

Severe shortage of ESL teachers in Ontario - People for Education survey

Immigration agreement won't reverse negative trends. New spending won't address "the cultural framework of failure" - Toronto Star columnist

Would NATO defend Estonia if Russia attacked it?

2007-05-04T20:34:00.000-04:00

Pat Buchanan makes an interesting point concerning the current tensions between Russia and Estonia. He writes in Vdare (To Die For Tallinn, May 3, 2007):

Why should this issue be of interest to America?

If President Putin decides the Estonians need a lesson, and sends troops to teach it, the United States, under NATO, would have to treat Russian intervention in Estonia as an attack upon the United States, and declare war on behalf of Estonia.

So we come face to face with the idiocy of having moved NATO onto Russia's front porch, and having given war guarantees to three little nations with historic animosities toward a nuclear power that has the ability to inflict 1,000 times the destruction upon us as Iran.

Read all of Pat Buchanan's article

See also:

Don Imus and the Duke lacrosse witch-hunt: Pat Buchanan puts things into perspective

Pat Buchanan on patriots vs. transnationial elites

Severe shortage of ESL teachers in Ontario - People for Education survey

2007-05-04T00:53:00.000-04:00

I know where the government can find $20-million for ESL teachers. An even better solution would be to drastically reduce immigration.

From the Globe and Mail (More than half of ESL students without specialist teachers by Jill Mahoney, May 2, 2007):

More than half of Ontario elementary schools with pupils requiring English-as-a-second-language instruction do not have a specialist ESL teacher, according to new information that highlights a pressing issue in urban classrooms.

People for Education, a parent group that released the figures yesterday, also said that 27 per cent of secondary schools with ESL students lack ESL teachers.

"There's a real issue of unfairness in this," said Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education.

The organization, which surveyed schools across the province, said the proportion of schools that need -- but do not have -- an ESL teacher has increased by 60 per cent since the 1999-2000 academic year. The situation is especially dire in schools with the highest proportion of English learners, where the per cent shortage of ESL instructors has doubled in the past seven years.

[. . .]

Read all of Jill Mahoney's article

See also:

Ontario school boards use ESL funds for other purposes

Language barriers at a Toronto public school

90 percent of pupils in Mississauga school come from non-English-speaking homes

Multicultural Canada is becoming a collection of monocultural neighbourhoods

Disillusionment on the campaign trail: "I can't talk to anybody. None of them speak English."

Language chaos in Peel Region courts: 4,000-5,000 court cases alone requiring Punjabi translation

Nearly half of foreign spies in Canada are Chinese

2007-05-03T21:47:00.000-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Half of foreign spies in Canada work for China, MPs told by Gloria Galloway, May 1, 2007):

Foreign spies are in Canada and nearly half of them are working for the Chinese, the head of Canada's intelligence service told a Senate committee yesterday

The committee, which is looking into the direction and control of the intelligence community, asked Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Jim Judd whether operatives from other countries are on Canadian soil.

"Yes, they do come. We like to think that we know when they're coming and where they're going and who they are. And in many cases we do," Mr. Judd replied. "It's surprising, sometimes, the number of hyperactive tourists we get here and where they come from."

The CSIS director was reluctant to point to any particular source of foreign spies. "I won't name specific countries," he said. "There are maybe 15 countries that would be of interest to us in that regard."

But Colin Kenney (sic), the chairman of the Senate committee on national security and defence, said it was hardly improper to finger China when public reports had referred to the "aggressive" spy program run by the Chinese within Canada.

[. . .]

Read all of Gloria Galloway's article.

See also:

York Regional Police break up massive forgery operation run by visiting Chinese students in Markham

Terrorism in Canada: "The public does not need calming. The public needs the truth." - Senator Colin Kenny

Ottawa and Alberta expected to sign immigration deal

2007-05-03T21:15:00.000-04:00

From the Globe and Mail (Deal to ease Alberta's serious labour shortage by Katherine Harding and Steven Chase, May 3, 2007):

Ottawa and Alberta are expected to sign a special immigration deal in Calgary as early as Monday aimed at easing the acute labour shortage in the country's fastest growing province.

Premier Ed Stelmach said in an interview that the agreement, which has been in the works since he took over from retiring premier Ralph Klein in December, will reflect the province's immigration needs, especially when it comes to attracting skilled workers,

During the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party leadership race last fall, Mr. Stelmach made negotiating an immigration agreement with Ottawa a major plank of his platform. He promised to try opening Alberta "desks" around the world, possibly in Canadian embassies and consulates, that would recruit immigrants.

Mr. Stelmach said he's hopeful the agreement will allow for these special international immigration units.

[. . .]

Read all of the Globe article.

See also:

Canada is bringing in skilled immigrants for jobs that don't exist - Martin Collacott

Immigration Minister's Contentions About Need For Foreign Workers Are Questionable

Commons immigration committee to examine issue of illegal foreign workers

Commons immigration committee to examine issue of illegal foreign workers

2007-05-03T18:09:00.000-04:00

From the Ottawa Citizen (Commons committee to hold hearings on deporting of illegal skilled workers by Juliet O'Neill, May 2, 2007):

MPs voted yesterday to tackle what critics say is an illogical policy of deporting illegal foreign skilled trades workers while the country faces chronic labour shortages in housing and other building sectors.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: What happens to these workers and their families when the construction boom ends?]

The Commons immigration committee voted unanimously to hold hearings on tens of thousands of undocumented foreign skilled workers in Canada, many of whom work in an underground economy in which they're underpaid and have little recourse if they get injured on the job or face abuse.

The idea behind the motion, proposed by Toronto Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, is to stop deportations, which critics say were increased early among illegal workers last year and to legalize their status in Canada.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: Jim Karygiannis is a sleazebag who has fought tooth and nail to stop Ottawa from listing the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization. The Liberals want more immigration because immigrants historically vote for their party.]

MPs cited estimates of 200,000 undocumented foreign workers in the country, and the total reaches 500,000 when children and other family members are included.

"We're going to bring the human stories, the human faces into the House of Commons," Mr. Karygiannis said.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: In other words, rather looking at the big picture and examining the economics of immigration the committee will hear sob stories that play on the emotions. To put it another way, these hearings will be propaganda.]

Immigration Minister Diane Finley responded with a statement echoing the government's reaction last year to a proposed amnesty for illegal workers: that it would be unfair to let people jump the queue when others who applied legally for immigrant status have waited patiently.

[. . .]

Read all of Juliet ONeill's article.

Is immigration the best way to meet Canada's need for skilled workers? Here's what Martin Collacott wrote last February in the National Post (More immigrants than jobs, February 5, 2007):

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 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.

Read all of Martin Collacott's article.

What are the long-term consequences of allowing illegal foreign workers to stay in Canada? Many of these labourers are Portuguese. Last year the Toronto Star reported (Dropout, Failure Rates Linked to Language by Lousie Brown, June 23, 2006) on a study conducted by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) that showed that students who speak Spanish, Portuguese and Somali are at the highest risk of dropping out of school.

Any benefits of immigration have to be balanced against the long-term costs to society of bringing in people who don't integrate well. Rewarding illegal immigrants with amnesty will only encourage more to come here. Amnesty is a bad idea. Before we take that drastic step, we should make sure we're making good use of Canadian labour. Canada already has serious problems absorbing the 250,000+ legal immigrants it receives each year. We don't need the additional burden of integrating hundreds of thousands of illegals.

See also:

A Look At Some Recent Proposals To Deal With Illegal Immigration

The Toronto Star's shameless (and shameful) campaign on behalf of illegal immigrants

There they go again. Treating illegal immigrants as victims.

CBC: Toronto public school board won't let immigration officials question students

MS-13 - Ultra-violent Hispanic gang establishing itself in Canada

2007-05-02T19:47:00.002-04:00

[Update June 4 2008: Toronto police raids connected to MS-13 street gang]

Original post

Two years ago I read a Vdare article about an extremely violent Hispanic gang known as Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 for short. From time to time, I've seen reports saying the gang has a presence in Canada. Here's another story about the gang's activities in this country. From Global National (Violent Hispanic gang spreading in Canada, May 2, 2007):

While it was once exclusively Salvadoran in membership, MS-13 is now believed to have over 100,000 members of all nationalities worldwide, engaged in activities that include drug and human trafficking, illegal arms sales, murder-for-hire, and even assaults on law enforcement officials.

And after years of growth, beyond the borders of its Los Angeles and Central American origins, the gang is now active in 33 U.S. states, several European nations -- and Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent, Edmonton and Calgary.

"They don't think they're bad; people KNOW they're bad," says a young member of MS-13's Toronto chapter who only wishes to be identified as "Six."

Local Canadian police agencies are now fearing a surge in violence as MS-13 -- a gang known for beheading its victims -- starts clashing with rival street gangs.

Det. Const. Russ Wardrop, with the Vancouver Police Department's criminal intelligence branch, is particularly troubled by the pattern of violence that has followed the gang in other parts of North America.

"They are relatively new here but I use Seattle as an example because a lot of what takes place there doesn't take long to get here," he said.

"When they started showing up in Seattle in the mid-1990s, they were very low profile. Now, with MS-13 in Seattle, they've had murders, shootings, bank robberies. Every place they have arrived, there is an increase in violence and crime and I don't see any reason Vancouver would be different.

"It's only a matter of time before we start seeing that here -- conflicts with other groups."

Wardrop said the first MS-13 member was arrested in Vancouver in 1997, but over the past four years, the number of MS-13 gang members identified by Vancouver police has increased and the number of drug houses raided has risen.

Read all of the Global National article. You can also view a video clip about the gang.

See also:

Hispanic gang sets up in Vancouver

Notorious MS-13 gang setting up shop in Canada. You just gotta love our country's growing diversity.

The Shane Doan non-event - Once again Canadian politicians show a lack of good judgment

2007-05-02T09:24:00.000-04:00

By now, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Canada is governed by less than brilliant minds. Casting a ballot in this country means trying to decide which candidate is marginally less brain-dead than the others. Anyone who doubts what I'm saying should look at what's happening on Parliament Hill these days. The sheer stupidity of our governing class is on full display in the non-controversy over Hockey Canada's decision to make Shane Doan captain of Team Canada. All this fuss because of an anti-French remark Doan allegedly made in 2005. Doan denies making the remark and has launched a lawsuit against Liberal MP Denis Coderre in an effort to clear his name. The NHL investigated and found no evidence Doan uttered the slur. But even if he had, big deal. Athletes insult referees all the time. It's not nice, but it's not the end of the world either. The Shane Doan affair is a non-event. Here's a small sample of what dumb and dumber have to say about Mr. Doan. From the National Post (Doan's teammates, coach come to his defence by Steve Keating, May 2, 2007):

Mr. Doan's comments particularly rankled the Bloc Quebecois.

Party leader Gilles Duceppe said he wanted the officials who named Mr. Doan as captain to explain their decision to a special Parliamentary committee, given that Hockey Canada is funded by taxpayers.

"If someone had made remarks like that about blacks, aboriginals or Jews, that would quite rightly have been denounced," he told reporters in Ottawa yesterday.

"It's not the first time that words like that (have been) used against French players. It's almost a tradition. And we should accept that? Never," he said.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: And I'm sure no French hockey player has ever insulted an English or European player. Hockey players insulting other hockey players. Imagine that. Shocking.]

Jack Layton, leader of the left-leaning New Democrats, said the controversy was "diminishing the enthusiasm with which everyone should be focused on the hockey ... the wisdom of the decision (to name Doan captain) has to be questioned."

Read all of Steve Keating's article.

See also:

Who is Canadian? The Don Cherry test

Shane Doan brouhaha - It's official. Canada's leaders are insane

Shane Doan brouhaha - It's official. Canada's leaders are insane

2007-05-01T18:58:00.000-04:00

From CanWest News via the National Post (Parliament calls Hockey Canada out over Doan's captaincy by Dan Barnes, May 1, 2007):

A parliamentary committee has summoned Hockey Canada officials to explain their selection of Shane Doan as captain of Team Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, reports say.

The Conservatives, Liberals and NDP threw their support behind a Bloc Quebecois motion on Tuesday that demands officials from Hockey Canada and Sport Canada appear before the House of Commons' Official Languages Committee.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: The Conservatives support this inquisition? I assume this has something to do with winning nationalist votes in Quebec. God forbid that a little thing like sanity stop the Tories from pandering.]

On Monday, opposition party leaders slammed the choice of Doan as captain due to an alleged incident at the end of a National Hockey League game between Doan’s Phoenix Coyotes and the hometown Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 13, 2005. It was claimed by a French-Canadian linesman that Doan directed an anti-French slur at referee Stephane Auger, for which Doan received a gross misconduct. The NHL investigated and found no substance to the charges but the issue simply won’t die.

[. . .]

“I don’t have a single thing to hide about any of this,” Doan said. “The NHL investigated it. When they investigated it, there was nothing there. Nothing at all. I did not say a single thing. It wasn’t like I said almost something like that. I was trying to calm down our goalie [Curtis Joseph]. I was not talking to the officials.”

The issue was resurrected in early 2006 when Doan was named to represent Canada on the Olympic team in Turin and former minister of amateur sport Denis Coderre publicly slammed Doan’s character. Doan sued Coderre and Coderre countersued. There has been no settlement.

The matter reared its ugly head again in the House of Commons Monday while Doan was scoring the winning goal for Canada over Norway at the World Hockey Championship here. Opposition parties played politics against the Tories with Doan as the puck.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion said the Tories’ silence on the issue was “shocking” while Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe admonished the government for not taking a stand on an issue that was disrespectful to Francophones. NDP leader Jack Layton said Doan’s captaincy would “cast a shadow” on Canada’s participation in the tourney.

[. . .]

Read all of Dan Barnes' article.

Doan says he didn't make the anti-French remark. I have no reason to doubt him. But let's suppose he did say whatever he's accused of saying. Imagine that. An angry hockey player makes a nasty remark to an official he doesn't like. He mentions the official's ethnic ancestry. Maybe he says something out and out racist. Not very nice, but really, so what? Angry hockey players say mean and nasty things. When they do, an apology might be in order, maybe even a fine or some other penalty, but it's hardly a national emergency. It's certainly isn't worth talking about in parliament. I don't think Doan made the remark, but even if he did, so what?

See also:

Who is Canadian? The Don Cherry test

Hockey nationalism in Quebec

Who is Canadian? The Don Cherry test

2007-05-01T18:14:00.000-04:00

There's a simple, surefire way to determine who is really Canadian. I call it the Don Cherry test. If you like Don Cherry, you are a true Canadian. If don't like him, get out of my country! Get out now! Yes, that means you, Swede-lover!

See also:

My quick stab at defining Canada

Hockey nationalism in Quebec

Racial and ethnic diversity undermines support for the American welfare state

2007-05-01T00:52:00.000-04:00

From the New York Times (The Divisions That Tighten the Purse Strings by Eduard Porter, April 29, 2007):

MANY Americans are skeptical about government spending on social programs, and they cite a litany of familiar reasons: big government programs aren’t effective, they are vulnerable to waste and abuse, and they run counter to the libertarian, self-reliant spirit of the nation’s founders.

But a growing body of research suggests that America’s antipathy toward big government has another, less-often-acknowledged underpinning: the nation’s racial and ethnic diversity.

Recent studies by economists and other social scientists have found that this mix tends to undermine support for government spending on “public goods” of all types, whether health care, roads or welfare programs for the disadvantaged.

Some of these studies suggest that America’s rich diversity — not only ethnic and racial but also religious and linguistic — goes a long way toward explaining why government spending on social welfare programs is much lower than it is in the more homogeneous nations of Europe. Other studies have found that within the United States, local support for various types of public spending falls as diversity rises.

“Racial divisions and ethnic divisions reduce incentives for people to be generous to others through social welfare,” said Alberto Alesina, a professor of economics at Harvard. “This is very unfortunate. But as social scientists, we can’t close our eyes to something we don’t like.”

[. . .]

Read all of Eduardo Porter's article.

Hat tip: American Renaissance

See also:

New study by 'Bowling Alone' author: Ethnic diversity breeds mistrust

'I see a devil's brew for future racial and social unrest"

Canadian immigration policy: why race matters

Disillusionment on the campaign trail: "I can't talk to anybody. None of them speak English."

Multicultural Canada is becoming a collection of monocultural neighbourhoods

Blogger given media credentials at the UN

2007-04-30T22:29:00.000-04:00

Congratulate me. I've just written the most boring headline in the history of blogging. I realize a story about a blogger getting media credentials at the UN might sound pretty dull, but it interests me because I'm curious about how blogs and the Internet in general are changing the news business. I can think of at least one way in which the Internet is very important. It offers a platform to alternative viewpoints that the mainstream media would rather shut out.

From the New York Times (As Blogs Proliferate, a Gadfly With Accreditation at the U.N. by Maria Aspan, April 30, 2007):

Mr. [Matthew] Lee, a well-known gadfly who often presses banks to revise their policies on mortgage loans to the poor, is the only blogger at the United Nations with media credentials, entitling him to free office space and access to briefings and press conferences. There had been a second accredited blogger, Pincas Jawetz, a 73-year-old retired energy policy consultant, but he was ejected last month on the grounds that he had distracted too many briefings with off-topic questions.

The United Nations is one of the only institutions of its size and importance that currently allow bloggers not affiliated with larger, more traditional media companies into the permanent press corps.

The Democrats and Republicans allowed bloggers into their 2004 conventions. But the question of whether bloggers should be considered credentialed journalists is a relatively new one at the United Nations, in part, it seems, because the foreign policy debates here are considered mind-numbing to many Americans.

Read all of Maria Aspan's article.

See also:

Bloggers are lonely people who live in a make-believe world - Calgary professor

Does Canadian law recognize bloggers as journalists?

How many blogs does your neighbourhood have?

2007-04-30T22:03:00.000-04:00

From the New York Times (The Latest Must-Have for Yuppies: A Blog About the Neighborhood by Maria Aspan, April 30, 2007):

First come the renovated condominiums, the latte bars and the expensive baby strollers. Next, apparently, come the bloggers.

One Web site’s survey of the prevalence of blogs in urban neighborhoods found a link between gentrification and the number of people who feel compelled to think out loud about the changes in their backyards. The site, Outside.in, crowned Clinton Hill in Brooklyn as the most blogged-about neighborhood in America.

Also on the top 10 list were Harlem; Shaw in Washington; downtown Los Angeles; Newton, Mass.; and Rogers Park/North Howard in Chicago.

Before the survey, the staff of Outside.in was “not conscious that local blogging would be so closely allied with gentrification,” said Steven Berlin Johnson, a founder of the site. Change, he said, “makes people particularly interested in every little development in their neighborhoods.”

[. . .]

Read all of Maria Aspan's article.

See also:

Meet you at the corner of Crack and Whore

Bloggers are lonely people who live in a make-believe world - Calgary professor

Does Canadian law recognize bloggers as journalists?

Mohammed Junaid Babar - Pakistani immigrant to US was key witness in British terror trial

2007-04-30T19:10:00.000-04:00

Note: Canadian Momin Khawaja, who faces terrorism charges at home, has been linked to the five convicted British terrorists.

From Associated Press via the Washington Post (Informant Captivated British Courtroom by David Stringer, April 30, 2007):

The FBI's star al-Qaida informant captivated a London courtroom for 17 days as he told how he nurtured a generation of homegrown British terrorists.

Mohammed Junaid Babar's testimony in the year-long trial of five men convicted Monday of a plot to bomb targets in London revealed how disaffected Britons were trained for terrorism in Pakistan, where many have family ties.

Flanked by U.S. marshals on the witness stand, Babar _ who prosecutors said is the first FBI informant to testify in a British terror case _ described how the plot developed in the cramped mosques of suburban England and the hills of Pakistan's tribal belt.

It was his testimony that cemented ties between the 2005 al-Qaida-linked attack on London's transit system and the five men sentenced to life in prison for plotting to detonate a bomb made of a half ton of fertilizer in the city.

A naturalized American from Pakistan, Babar was an associate of the ringleader of the deadly July 7, 2005, transit attack in London, the fertilizer bomb plotters and a group who cased Britain's luxury hotels and targets on Wall Street, law enforcement officials said.

[. . .]

Read all of David Stringer's article.

See also:

Momin Khawaja - Canadian Muslim linked to terror cell responsible for 2005 London transit bombings

This would make a good SAT question

2007-04-30T15:51:00.000-04:00

[Update: When I saw the name Anthony Garcia, I thought the man must be a convert. My hunch was wrong. It turns out Mr. Garcia was born in Algeria with the name Rahman Benouis. See this BBC article: Profile: Anthony Garcia. For more information about the other participants in the UK fertiliser bomb plot, go to this interactive chart.]

Original blog post:

The sentence below is from a recent Globe and Mail article. Note that the first part of the statement contains a series of five names. Which name in the series is out of place?

Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar and Salahuddin Amin were convicted of conspiring with Khawaja to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

See also:

Converts to terrorism

More Converts to Terrorism

Momin Khawaja - Canadian Muslim linked to terror cell responsible for 2005 London transit bombings

2007-04-30T11:07:00.000-04:00

Doug Saunders writes in the Globe and Mail (Khawaja believed part of London terror cell, April 30, 2007):

Momin Khawaja, the Ottawa software technician facing terrorism charges in Canada, is believed to have been a member of the same terror cell that carried out the July 7, 2005, public-transit bombings that killed 53 people in London.

A British jury was told by former terrorists and intelligence officials that Mr. Khawaja attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan with at least three of the British men who carried out the July 7 attacks, and was part of another group that met regularly with the July 7 cell and appeared to be working in coordination with the group responsible for the London bombings.

The connections between the British-Canadian bomb-making cell of which Mr. Khawaja is alleged to be a member and the accused July 7 bombers have been known for more than a year, but they can be reported today for the first time because a British publication ban has ended.

For the past 13 months, Mr. Khawaja's alleged co-conspirators, all of them British, have been facing trial on charges that they plotted to detonate a huge bomb in London.

Those five Britons were found guilty Monday of plotting to carry out al-Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks across Britain potentially killing hundreds at targets ranging from nightclubs to trains and a shopping centre.

[. . .]

Read all of Doug Saunders' article.

See also:

Momin Khawaja - Supreme Court won't hear appeal from Canadian accused of terrorism

One clause in anti-terrorism law ruled unconstitutional. Khawaja trial will proceed

The Judiciary and Politicians put Canadian National Security At Risk

Toronto terror bomb plot case inches its way through the court system

Technorati tags: Momin Khawaja terrorism Canada

Immigration and black crime in Quebec

2007-04-30T03:00:00.000-04:00

The excerpts below come from a 1991 article in American Renaissance magazine (The Great "White" North by Marian Evans, March 1991):

In 1976, when the all-but-separatist Parti Québécois won provincial control, it appointed as its first immigration minister a priest and retired missionary to Africa, Jacques Couture.

[Hyphenated_Canadian: In Canada immigration is a federal responsibility but Quebec and other provinces have signed agreements with Ottawa that give them considerable control over immigration to their own jurisdiction.]

Mr. Couture was determined to do two things: bring more French-speakers to Quebec and open the province to the poor and suffering. In what could not have been a more disastrous choice, he decided on Haiti as the perfect source for new Quebeckers. Haiti was French-speaking, in a primitive way, and it was the most desperately poor, backward place in the hemisphere. Haitians would provide both a fresh dose of francophone vigor and an opportunity for white Quebeckers to open their hearts to the downtrodden.

[. . .]

The population of Montreal, where most of the Haitians ended up, is now 30 percent non-white. Thanks to Mr. Couture, it got an instant underclass that behaves almost exactly like its counterpart in the United States. Black neighborhoods have become violent, crime-ridden, drug-sodden slums. French newspapers have invented a new word to describe the transformation: se bronxifier, or to become like the Bronx. Without so much as a hint of the “400 years of slavery and oppression” that is supposed to account for black failure in the United States, Canadian blacks are in exactly the same social and economic position as their brothers to the south.

Other aspects of Mr. Couture's experiment mirror the United States. Although Quebec could not possibly have recruited more poverty- and crime-prone immigrants, their failures are inevitably blamed on white racism. Whenever a white policeman shoots a black criminal, for example, there are shouts of “racism.”

Journalists and even the police have been so intimidated by charges of racism that it is nearly impossible to report on the extent of black crime in Quebec. In one notorious case last fall, police arrested hundreds of Haitians who had forced women into a huge prostitution business. The women invariably white—were treated abominably. Some were branded like cattle. Others were forced to eat their own menstrual tampons. Some of the Haitians liked to shove a gun barrel up a woman's vagina and threaten to shoot her.

Police are normally eager to publicize big successes, but not in the charged, whites-are-always-to-blame racial atmosphere of Quebec. As the Montreal Gazette, which finally broke the whole sordid story explained (11/17/90), “police say they could hardly afford to call a news conference to say they had been arresting young Haitians by the hundreds.”

[. . .]

Read all of Marian Evans' article.

See also:

Bernard Mathieu - Montreal gang leader gets 10 years

Gang violence - in some parts of Montreal it's dangerous to wear red

Speaking the truth about immigration and crime cost Gwyn Morgan his federal appointment

What has changed in the last forty years to make Toronto a violent city? It wouldn't have anything to do with immigration, would it?

16 BLACK students charged after WHITE girl complained of 18 months of sexual harassment and abuse at Toronto Catholic school

Controversial ruling on Canada's anti-money laundering rules

2007-04-29T20:08:00.000-04:00

From the National Post (Immigrants decry anti-money laundering rules by Adrian Humphreys, April 28, 2007):

Bujar Mehmeti, an Albanian man living in Toronto, was boarding a plane to his homeland in August, 2005, when he was stopped by border agents interested in his luggage. Inside, they found $50,000 in undeclared American cash.

Canada Border Services Agency officials seized the money, saying they had reasonable grounds to suspect it was the proceeds of crime or terrorist funding, touching off a case that may have wide implications on Canada's ability to track money crossing its borders.

Mr. Mehmeti, who denied it was related to any nefarious activity, applied to the Minister of Public Safety for its return, a challenge the minister rejected.

Five Albanian men in Toronto then stepped forward and said the money was, in fact, theirs; that it had been lawfully earned and entrusted to Mr. Mehmeti to give to their families as gifts and for other benign purposes.

The men went to court to get their money back.

[. . .]

And critics say the ruling puts further loopholes in Canada's already uneven anti-money laundering rules and is another in a growing list of legal challenges eroding the government's antiterror measures.

Some see the ruling as legal approval of "smurfing," a moneylaundering technique where a large pool of cash is divided into smaller amounts, often below the $10,000 reporting limit, and deposited by numerous individuals so as not to attract suspicion.

[. . .]

Read all of Adrian Humphreys's article.

See also:

A distinguished economist's memoirs of the financial war on terror

The Judiciary and Politicians put Canadian National Security At Risk

York Regional Police break up massive forgery operation run by visiting Chinese students in Markham

American advertisers seek out Muslim customers

2007-04-29T19:54:00.000-04:00

From the New York Times (Rewriting the Ad Rules for Muslim-Americans by Louise Story, April 28, 2007):

For years, few advertisers in the United States have dared to reach out to Muslims.

Either they did not see much potential for sales or they feared a political backlash. And there were practical reasons: American Muslims come from so many ethnic backgrounds that their only common ground is their religion, a subject most marketers avoid.

That is beginning to change. Consumer companies and advertising executives are focusing on ways to use the cultural aspects of the Muslim religion to help sell their products.

Grocers and consumer product companies are considering ways to adapt their goods to Muslim rules, which forbid among other things, gelatin and pig fat, which is often used in cosmetics and cleaning products. Retailers are looking into providing more conservative skirts, even during the summer months, and mainstream advertisers are planning to place some commercials on the satellite channels that Muslims often watch.

Marketing to Muslims carries some risks. But advertising executives, used to dividing American consumers into every sort of category, say that ignoring this group — estimated to be about five million to eight million people, and growing fast — would be like missing the Hispanic market in the 1990s.

[. . .]

Read all of Louise Story's article.

No one knows for sure how many Muslims there are in the US, but the number is probably lower than what the Times says. See here: Number of Muslims in the United States

See also:

Canadian chicken producer makes special "Zabiha Halal" products for the Muslim market

Ban on hijab in Quebec tae kwon do tournaments remains in place

2007-04-29T19:28:00.000-04:00

From the Montreal Gazette (Hijab to remain banned from tae kwon do by Ren ):

The Muslim hijab will remain banned from tae kwon do tournaments in Quebec despite an offer of compromise in the guise of a sporty, head-hugging head scarf used in international competitions, provincial officials ruled yesterday.

Coaches and an athlete from the Ultimate Tae Kwon Do club demonstrated a tight-fitting hijab to the eight-member board of directors of the Quebec Tae Kwon Do Federation at their Olympic Stadium headquarters.

Five girls age 8 to 13 from the club who were sent to a provincial competition in Longueuil two weeks ago were barred from competition because they were wearing hijabs. The club is based out of the Centre Communautaire Musulman de Montral.

After consultation, federation members said they would present the suggestion of a sport-hijab to the World Tae Kwon Do Federation Council, the sport's international governing body based in South Korea.

[. . .]

Read all of Ren Bruemmer's article.

See also:

Tae kwon do hijab ban rarely enforced - world federation officials say

McMaster professor who sponsored 'Wear a Hijab Day' says she was targeted before

The Québecois Nation versus Multiculturalism

Heroville, Canada