Refugee/Migrant Crisis
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Despite an all-out push by the Trudeau government to “build more homes, faster,” new estimates from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. show that home construction is actually poised to go down for the foreseeable future.
This — coupled with an immigration rate that remains at historic highs — means that skyrocketing rents and real estate prices are set to continue until at least the next federal election.
“Rents will rise and vacancy rates will fall,” reads the forecast. Meanwhile, the sale prices of homes will be pushed “beyond previous peak levels.”
Across the country, rents are already at all-time highs, while real estate affordability has never been worse.
The absolute best-case scenario for 2024 is that the country records 232,267 housing starts — a deficit of 8,000 homes compared to 2023. But more likely is a “baseline” scenario of 224,485, which represents a decrease of 16,000 homes.
The nine-year tenure of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already corresponded with a meteoric increase in housing prices. This trend has attracted recent international attention, with a profile in The Economist, a British weekly magazine, noting that when Trudeau took power in 2015, Canadians earning the median income could cover mortgage costs with 39 per cent of their pay, 25 percentage points lower than the proportion of income paid now.
But the grim news from CMHC comes after months of aggressive Trudeau government messaging that they are working to turn the corner on housing unaffordability. Every few days features Trudeau making a public appearance at another ribbon-cutting for a condo development or housing project built with federal assistance.
The release of the CMHC forecasts, in fact, corresponded with a statement out of the Prime Minister’s Office that included the line “we’ve taken bold action to build more homes, faster, improve access to housing, and make homes more affordable — and we need to do more.”
Canada is home to the most acute housing shortage of any country in the G7. According to 2023 estimates by the CMHC, Canada would need to build at least four million additional housing units to bring affordability to where it was in 2004.
But even at 2023 rates of homebuilding, Canada wasn’t even coming close to patching up its housing gap. In fact, it wasn’t even building sufficient homes for the more than one million newcomers now streaming into the country each year.
According to the most recent numbers by Statistics Canada, the country’s population grew by one million over a single nine-month period in 2023.
Canada is now among the top five fastest-growing countries on Earth, a distinction it shares exclusively with high-birthrate nations in the developing world, such as Syria or South Sudan.
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This — coupled with an immigration rate that remains at historic highs — means that skyrocketing rents and real estate prices are set to continue until at least the next federal election.
“Rents will rise and vacancy rates will fall,” reads the forecast. Meanwhile, the sale prices of homes will be pushed “beyond previous peak levels.”
Across the country, rents are already at all-time highs, while real estate affordability has never been worse.
The absolute best-case scenario for 2024 is that the country records 232,267 housing starts — a deficit of 8,000 homes compared to 2023. But more likely is a “baseline” scenario of 224,485, which represents a decrease of 16,000 homes.
The nine-year tenure of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already corresponded with a meteoric increase in housing prices. This trend has attracted recent international attention, with a profile in The Economist, a British weekly magazine, noting that when Trudeau took power in 2015, Canadians earning the median income could cover mortgage costs with 39 per cent of their pay, 25 percentage points lower than the proportion of income paid now.
But the grim news from CMHC comes after months of aggressive Trudeau government messaging that they are working to turn the corner on housing unaffordability. Every few days features Trudeau making a public appearance at another ribbon-cutting for a condo development or housing project built with federal assistance.
The release of the CMHC forecasts, in fact, corresponded with a statement out of the Prime Minister’s Office that included the line “we’ve taken bold action to build more homes, faster, improve access to housing, and make homes more affordable — and we need to do more.”
Canada is home to the most acute housing shortage of any country in the G7. According to 2023 estimates by the CMHC, Canada would need to build at least four million additional housing units to bring affordability to where it was in 2004.
But even at 2023 rates of homebuilding, Canada wasn’t even coming close to patching up its housing gap. In fact, it wasn’t even building sufficient homes for the more than one million newcomers now streaming into the country each year.
According to the most recent numbers by Statistics Canada, the country’s population grew by one million over a single nine-month period in 2023.
Canada is now among the top five fastest-growing countries on Earth, a distinction it shares exclusively with high-birthrate nations in the developing world, such as Syria or South Sudan.
FIRST READING: Rents, home prices set to get way worse until at least the next election — National Post
An all-out Trudeau government push to 'build more homes, faster' appears to be doing nothing
They are waiting. As it stands commercial real estate just cracked the 20% vacancy rate which by this time next year will hit 35-40%. Converting commercial into residential is cheaper and quicker than building from scratch....
The next bank crash is just months away...
Six children of Canadian mother to be repatriated from Syrian detention camp
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Anja Karadeglija
Published Apr 09, 2024 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — Six children, but not their Canadian mother, will be repatriated to Canada from a detention camp in Syria.
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who represents the mother, says Global Affairs Canada is planning the return of the children, who are between the ages of five and 12.
He says the government is working with the Polarization Clinic in Montreal, which supports families affected by radicalization. The clinic will receive the children, who don’t have family in Montreal and will likely end up placed in foster care if the mother is not back in the country.
Greenspon says the mother is now out of the camp and wants to return to Canada to be with her children. “Presumably her intention is to find her way back,” he said.
The federal government has refused to repatriate the woman, whose identity is not public, because officials believe she poses a security risk, according to Greenspon.
He said the government has repatriated other Canadian women from Syrian detention camps and put in place measures to address that risk, such as placing them under terrorist peace bonds.
The family is among many foreign nationals in Syrian camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn region from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Although the federal government decided not to facilitate the woman’s return, it offered repatriation assistance to her six children, leaving her to decide whether to send the children to Canada on their own or keep them with her in the squalid al-Roj camp.
Greenspon said “the mom was given an impossible choice.”
There is no timeline for when the children will arrive in Canada, but Greenspon said he is optimistic the government will “move expeditiously to bring the children home to safety.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Anja Karadeglija
Published Apr 09, 2024 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — Six children, but not their Canadian mother, will be repatriated to Canada from a detention camp in Syria.
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who represents the mother, says Global Affairs Canada is planning the return of the children, who are between the ages of five and 12.
He says the government is working with the Polarization Clinic in Montreal, which supports families affected by radicalization. The clinic will receive the children, who don’t have family in Montreal and will likely end up placed in foster care if the mother is not back in the country.
Greenspon says the mother is now out of the camp and wants to return to Canada to be with her children. “Presumably her intention is to find her way back,” he said.
The federal government has refused to repatriate the woman, whose identity is not public, because officials believe she poses a security risk, according to Greenspon.
He said the government has repatriated other Canadian women from Syrian detention camps and put in place measures to address that risk, such as placing them under terrorist peace bonds.
The family is among many foreign nationals in Syrian camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn region from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Although the federal government decided not to facilitate the woman’s return, it offered repatriation assistance to her six children, leaving her to decide whether to send the children to Canada on their own or keep them with her in the squalid al-Roj camp.
Greenspon said “the mom was given an impossible choice.”
There is no timeline for when the children will arrive in Canada, but Greenspon said he is optimistic the government will “move expeditiously to bring the children home to safety.”
Six children of Canadian mother to be repatriated from Syrian detention camp
Six children, but not their Canadian mother, will be repatriated to Canada from a detention camp in Syria.
Makes sense . Pull out your wallet .Six children of Canadian mother to be repatriated from Syrian detention camp
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Anja Karadeglija
Published Apr 09, 2024 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — Six children, but not their Canadian mother, will be repatriated to Canada from a detention camp in Syria.
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who represents the mother, says Global Affairs Canada is planning the return of the children, who are between the ages of five and 12.
He says the government is working with the Polarization Clinic in Montreal, which supports families affected by radicalization. The clinic will receive the children, who don’t have family in Montreal and will likely end up placed in foster care if the mother is not back in the country.
Greenspon says the mother is now out of the camp and wants to return to Canada to be with her children. “Presumably her intention is to find her way back,” he said.
The federal government has refused to repatriate the woman, whose identity is not public, because officials believe she poses a security risk, according to Greenspon.
He said the government has repatriated other Canadian women from Syrian detention camps and put in place measures to address that risk, such as placing them under terrorist peace bonds.
The family is among many foreign nationals in Syrian camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn region from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Although the federal government decided not to facilitate the woman’s return, it offered repatriation assistance to her six children, leaving her to decide whether to send the children to Canada on their own or keep them with her in the squalid al-Roj camp.
Greenspon said “the mom was given an impossible choice.”
There is no timeline for when the children will arrive in Canada, but Greenspon said he is optimistic the government will “move expeditiously to bring the children home to safety.”
Six children of Canadian mother to be repatriated from Syrian detention camp
Six children, but not their Canadian mother, will be repatriated to Canada from a detention camp in Syria.
Ottawa to provide $132 million to help people fleeing civil war in Sudan
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published Apr 12, 2024 • 2 minute read
OTTAWA — Canada will provide $132 million in aid for people fleeing Sudan’s yearlong civil war and facing “famine-like conditions,” International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Friday.
“The sheer scale of the needs, the displacement and the looming hunger really defines Sudan as the crisis of our time,” Hussen said at an announcement in Toronto.
“This cannot become the forgotten crisis, so we must continue to support the people of Sudan.”
The funding includes just over $100 million in humanitarian aid for Sudanese who have fled to neighbouring countries, as well as those stuck in Sudan amid widescale violence.
That aid includes housing, shelter and sanitation services for the more than 8.5 million people who have been displaced since duelling factions of Sudan’s military wings started fighting in the streets of Khartoum.
“We’re looking at looming famine-like conditions. Almost 25 million people, including 11 million children, are now in desperate need of humanitarian aid,” Hussen told reporters.
He said the rest of the funding will go toward development projects, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health for women in Sudan and South Sudan, and other projects in the Central African Republic, Chad and Ethiopia.
The Liberals insist they are deeply concerned about the crisis in Sudan, but have faced mounting criticism for not following peers in issuing sanctions on those supporting warlords.
The NDP has been calling on the Liberals for months to exert diplomatic pressure on those fueling the crisis. Green Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault said in a letter Thursday that global impunity during the Darfur genocide, which started in Sudan in 2003, is now being replicated as Sudanese starve.
The announcement comes ahead of a conference in Paris on Monday _ the one-year anniversary of the conflict — aimed at getting the world closer to meeting the humanitarian needs created by the crisis.
The United Nations says Sudan needs US$2.7 billion to deal with humanitarian needs but has received just six per cent of that target.
Hussen’s office says Canada plans to participate in the conference in Paris, but has not said who will attend the event, which occurs on the eve of the federal budget release.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published Apr 12, 2024 • 2 minute read
OTTAWA — Canada will provide $132 million in aid for people fleeing Sudan’s yearlong civil war and facing “famine-like conditions,” International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Friday.
“The sheer scale of the needs, the displacement and the looming hunger really defines Sudan as the crisis of our time,” Hussen said at an announcement in Toronto.
“This cannot become the forgotten crisis, so we must continue to support the people of Sudan.”
The funding includes just over $100 million in humanitarian aid for Sudanese who have fled to neighbouring countries, as well as those stuck in Sudan amid widescale violence.
That aid includes housing, shelter and sanitation services for the more than 8.5 million people who have been displaced since duelling factions of Sudan’s military wings started fighting in the streets of Khartoum.
“We’re looking at looming famine-like conditions. Almost 25 million people, including 11 million children, are now in desperate need of humanitarian aid,” Hussen told reporters.
He said the rest of the funding will go toward development projects, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health for women in Sudan and South Sudan, and other projects in the Central African Republic, Chad and Ethiopia.
The Liberals insist they are deeply concerned about the crisis in Sudan, but have faced mounting criticism for not following peers in issuing sanctions on those supporting warlords.
The NDP has been calling on the Liberals for months to exert diplomatic pressure on those fueling the crisis. Green Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault said in a letter Thursday that global impunity during the Darfur genocide, which started in Sudan in 2003, is now being replicated as Sudanese starve.
The announcement comes ahead of a conference in Paris on Monday _ the one-year anniversary of the conflict — aimed at getting the world closer to meeting the humanitarian needs created by the crisis.
The United Nations says Sudan needs US$2.7 billion to deal with humanitarian needs but has received just six per cent of that target.
Hussen’s office says Canada plans to participate in the conference in Paris, but has not said who will attend the event, which occurs on the eve of the federal budget release.
Ottawa to provide $132 million to help people fleeing civil war in Sudan
"This cannot become the forgotten crisis, so we must continue to support the people of Sudan."
Uh-oh!
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US Senate Set For Showdown On Mayorkas Impeachment | House Republicans Send Articles Of Impeachment
House Republicans deliver Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas' impeachment charges to the Senate, with the designated impeachment managers walk...
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Half of that is what our veterans were asking for. But that was too much for turdOWE.Ottawa to provide $132 million to help people fleeing civil war in Sudan
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published Apr 12, 2024 • 2 minute read
OTTAWA — Canada will provide $132 million in aid for people fleeing Sudan’s yearlong civil war and facing “famine-like conditions,” International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Friday.
“The sheer scale of the needs, the displacement and the looming hunger really defines Sudan as the crisis of our time,” Hussen said at an announcement in Toronto.
“This cannot become the forgotten crisis, so we must continue to support the people of Sudan.”
The funding includes just over $100 million in humanitarian aid for Sudanese who have fled to neighbouring countries, as well as those stuck in Sudan amid widescale violence.
That aid includes housing, shelter and sanitation services for the more than 8.5 million people who have been displaced since duelling factions of Sudan’s military wings started fighting in the streets of Khartoum.
“We’re looking at looming famine-like conditions. Almost 25 million people, including 11 million children, are now in desperate need of humanitarian aid,” Hussen told reporters.
He said the rest of the funding will go toward development projects, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health for women in Sudan and South Sudan, and other projects in the Central African Republic, Chad and Ethiopia.
The Liberals insist they are deeply concerned about the crisis in Sudan, but have faced mounting criticism for not following peers in issuing sanctions on those supporting warlords.
The NDP has been calling on the Liberals for months to exert diplomatic pressure on those fueling the crisis. Green Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault said in a letter Thursday that global impunity during the Darfur genocide, which started in Sudan in 2003, is now being replicated as Sudanese starve.
The announcement comes ahead of a conference in Paris on Monday _ the one-year anniversary of the conflict — aimed at getting the world closer to meeting the humanitarian needs created by the crisis.
The United Nations says Sudan needs US$2.7 billion to deal with humanitarian needs but has received just six per cent of that target.
Hussen’s office says Canada plans to participate in the conference in Paris, but has not said who will attend the event, which occurs on the eve of the federal budget release.
Ottawa to provide $132 million to help people fleeing civil war in Sudan
"This cannot become the forgotten crisis, so we must continue to support the people of Sudan."
Should have immigrated to Russia. Or China.
North Carolina student, 16, suspended for 'alien' comment, mom says
Author of the article
ostmedia News
Published Apr 18, 2024 • 1 minute read
A North Carolina mother says her 16-year-old son was suspended from school for referring to “aliens without green cards” during a vocabulary assignment.
Lexington mom Leah McGhee says her child received a three-day out-of-school suspension last week after asking for clarification from his teacher for the term “alien.”
“Like space aliens or aliens without green cards?” the student asked, according to McGee, reports U.S. broadcaster Sinclair Group’s Crisis in the Classroom.
The mother claimed that a classmate heard the comment and threatened her son.
According to Central Davidson High School assistant principal, the comment was “racially insensitive” and disrespectful to Hispanic students.
“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” the boy said, according to McGee. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries need(s) green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”
The student is apparently worried that the suspension being on his school record would affect his chances at receiving a pole vaulting scholarship.
“If this was handled properly in the classroom, it could have easily been used as a teachable moment for everyone,” McGhee told The Pete Kaliner Show. “I feel that the negligence of the administration’s decision has fueled the injustice of suspension for a student who simply asked for clarification to a teacher’s instructions.”
McGee said she was able to appeal the suspension to the school board as it was less than 10 days.
“We love Central Davidson High School and we are thankful that our child has such a wonderful school to attend,” McGhee wrote. “However, we feel that this label of racism is extremely excessive.”
wpde.com
torontosun.com
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublished Apr 18, 2024 • 1 minute read
A North Carolina mother says her 16-year-old son was suspended from school for referring to “aliens without green cards” during a vocabulary assignment.
Lexington mom Leah McGhee says her child received a three-day out-of-school suspension last week after asking for clarification from his teacher for the term “alien.”
“Like space aliens or aliens without green cards?” the student asked, according to McGee, reports U.S. broadcaster Sinclair Group’s Crisis in the Classroom.
The mother claimed that a classmate heard the comment and threatened her son.
According to Central Davidson High School assistant principal, the comment was “racially insensitive” and disrespectful to Hispanic students.
“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” the boy said, according to McGee. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries need(s) green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”
The student is apparently worried that the suspension being on his school record would affect his chances at receiving a pole vaulting scholarship.
“If this was handled properly in the classroom, it could have easily been used as a teachable moment for everyone,” McGhee told The Pete Kaliner Show. “I feel that the negligence of the administration’s decision has fueled the injustice of suspension for a student who simply asked for clarification to a teacher’s instructions.”
McGee said she was able to appeal the suspension to the school board as it was less than 10 days.
“We love Central Davidson High School and we are thankful that our child has such a wonderful school to attend,” McGhee wrote. “However, we feel that this label of racism is extremely excessive.”
NC student, 16, suspended for referring to 'aliens without green cards,' mother says
'We feel that this label of racism is extremely excessive,' the mother said.
wpde.com
North Carolina student, 16, suspended for 'alien' comment, mom says
A North Carolina mom says her 16-year-old son was suspended from school for referring to "aliens without green cards" during an assignment.
No mention of what happened to the classmate that threatened him?North Carolina student, 16, suspended for 'alien' comment, mom says
Author of the article
Published Apr 18, 2024 • 1 minute read
A North Carolina mother says her 16-year-old son was suspended from school for referring to “aliens without green cards” during a vocabulary assignment.
Lexington mom Leah McGhee says her child received a three-day out-of-school suspension last week after asking for clarification from his teacher for the term “alien.”
“Like space aliens or aliens without green cards?” the student asked, according to McGee, reports U.S. broadcaster Sinclair Group’s Crisis in the Classroom.
The mother claimed that a classmate heard the comment and threatened her son.
According to Central Davidson High School assistant principal, the comment was “racially insensitive” and disrespectful to Hispanic students.
“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” the boy said, according to McGee. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries need(s) green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”
The student is apparently worried that the suspension being on his school record would affect his chances at receiving a pole vaulting scholarship.
“If this was handled properly in the classroom, it could have easily been used as a teachable moment for everyone,” McGhee told The Pete Kaliner Show. “I feel that the negligence of the administration’s decision has fueled the injustice of suspension for a student who simply asked for clarification to a teacher’s instructions.”
McGee said she was able to appeal the suspension to the school board as it was less than 10 days.
“We love Central Davidson High School and we are thankful that our child has such a wonderful school to attend,” McGhee wrote. “However, we feel that this label of racism is extremely excessive.”
NC student, 16, suspended for referring to 'aliens without green cards,' mother says
'We feel that this label of racism is extremely excessive,' the mother said.North Carolina student, 16, suspended for 'alien' comment, mom says
A North Carolina mom says her 16-year-old son was suspended from school for referring to "aliens without green cards" during an assignment.
Feds don’t ’care if they die,’ says lawyer helping Canadian children held in Syria
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Jim Bronskill
Published Apr 22, 2024 • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — Five Canadian children are languishing in a squalid detention camp in northeastern Syria after Ottawa denied their mothers permission to come to Canada, says a lawyer fighting in court on behalf of the families.
The development is the latest setback for Canadians among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle centres set up after the war-ravaged region was wrested from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Lawyer Asiya Hirji said she sought temporary resident permits in February last year for two women with Canadian children in al-Roj camp, and heard last month they had been refused on security grounds.
One of the mothers has a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. The other mother has a nine-year-old girl and boys aged seven and five. Her oldest boy has a serious eye condition that requires medical treatment.
Neither mother is a Canadian citizen. The Canadian fathers of the children are no longer in the families’ lives.
Hirji, supervising lawyer at the University of Toronto law faculty’s legal clinic, said the women signed confessions under duress in Syria — information Canada should not rely on.
She is now pursuing a Federal Court review of Canada’s permit denial decision.
“In all security cases, they are very careful about what they are disclosing to the applicants,” she said. “And so it results in a very protracted process.”
A civil society delegation that visited Syrian prison camps last August called on Ottawa to provide immediate consular assistance to Canadian detainees and to swiftly repatriate all citizens wishing to return to Canada.
Delegation members, including Sen. Kim Pate and former Amnesty International Canada head Alex Neve, also urged the government to issue temporary permits to ensure that non-Canadian mothers and siblings of Canadian children can travel to Canada.
The delegation said Canada is complicit in a serious international human-rights failure through a policy of essentially warehousing thousands of foreign nationals, more than half of them children.
A recent Amnesty International report said men, women and children in the detention facilities endure inhumane conditions, in some cases including beatings, gender-based violence and torture.
An estimated 11,500 men, 14,500 women, and 30,000 children are held in at least 27 detention facilities and the al-Roj and al-Hol camps, the report said.
Hirji said she has repeatedly asked Global Affairs Canada to facilitate medical treatment for the five Canadian children she is trying to help, without success.
“I do not think that they care if they die,” Hirji said.
“It’s just heartwrenching that we’re just letting this happen. Kids don’t ask to be born. And so we have a responsibility to do what’s in the best interests of children.”
Non-Canadian parents of Canadian children may ask that their children be repatriated to Canada without them, and the federal government evaluates these requests on a case-by-case basis, said Global Affairs spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod.
Canadian consular officials remain “actively engaged” with Syrian Kurdish authorities and international organizations operating in the region, as well as civil society groups for information on and assistance to Canadian citizens in the camps, MacLeod said.
“Due to privacy considerations, we cannot comment on specific cases or potential future actions.”
Hirji said that for the Canadian mothers, sending their children to Canada alone amounts to an impossible choice.
“Do they commit their children to a lifetime of emotional trauma? Or do they keep them with them and try to protect their emotional health at the detriment of their physical health?”
Canada has arranged for the repatriation of several other Canadian women and children from detention in Syria.
One Canadian woman from Quebec was denied help from Ottawa to return to Canada on security grounds, but has since managed to leave al-Roj camp. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
The woman’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, says Ottawa has agreed to help her six young children, who are also citizens, come to Canada.
“I have very definite instructions from her to bring her children home as quickly as possible, and it looks like Global Affairs is moving in that direction,” Greenspon said.
A specialized clinic in Montreal is “ready to step in” to assist the children once they return, he added.
As for the mother, Greenspon said “the hope is that she will be able to find her way to a Canadian consulate and eventually find her way home.”
Greenspon is also one of the lawyers behind a court effort to secure the repatriation of four Canadian men being held in Syria.
In November, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the men’s challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that said Ottawa is not obligated under the law to help them return.
The top court is being asked to reconsider its decision.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Jim Bronskill
Published Apr 22, 2024 • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — Five Canadian children are languishing in a squalid detention camp in northeastern Syria after Ottawa denied their mothers permission to come to Canada, says a lawyer fighting in court on behalf of the families.
The development is the latest setback for Canadians among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle centres set up after the war-ravaged region was wrested from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Lawyer Asiya Hirji said she sought temporary resident permits in February last year for two women with Canadian children in al-Roj camp, and heard last month they had been refused on security grounds.
One of the mothers has a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. The other mother has a nine-year-old girl and boys aged seven and five. Her oldest boy has a serious eye condition that requires medical treatment.
Neither mother is a Canadian citizen. The Canadian fathers of the children are no longer in the families’ lives.
Hirji, supervising lawyer at the University of Toronto law faculty’s legal clinic, said the women signed confessions under duress in Syria — information Canada should not rely on.
She is now pursuing a Federal Court review of Canada’s permit denial decision.
“In all security cases, they are very careful about what they are disclosing to the applicants,” she said. “And so it results in a very protracted process.”
A civil society delegation that visited Syrian prison camps last August called on Ottawa to provide immediate consular assistance to Canadian detainees and to swiftly repatriate all citizens wishing to return to Canada.
Delegation members, including Sen. Kim Pate and former Amnesty International Canada head Alex Neve, also urged the government to issue temporary permits to ensure that non-Canadian mothers and siblings of Canadian children can travel to Canada.
The delegation said Canada is complicit in a serious international human-rights failure through a policy of essentially warehousing thousands of foreign nationals, more than half of them children.
A recent Amnesty International report said men, women and children in the detention facilities endure inhumane conditions, in some cases including beatings, gender-based violence and torture.
An estimated 11,500 men, 14,500 women, and 30,000 children are held in at least 27 detention facilities and the al-Roj and al-Hol camps, the report said.
Hirji said she has repeatedly asked Global Affairs Canada to facilitate medical treatment for the five Canadian children she is trying to help, without success.
“I do not think that they care if they die,” Hirji said.
“It’s just heartwrenching that we’re just letting this happen. Kids don’t ask to be born. And so we have a responsibility to do what’s in the best interests of children.”
Non-Canadian parents of Canadian children may ask that their children be repatriated to Canada without them, and the federal government evaluates these requests on a case-by-case basis, said Global Affairs spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod.
Canadian consular officials remain “actively engaged” with Syrian Kurdish authorities and international organizations operating in the region, as well as civil society groups for information on and assistance to Canadian citizens in the camps, MacLeod said.
“Due to privacy considerations, we cannot comment on specific cases or potential future actions.”
Hirji said that for the Canadian mothers, sending their children to Canada alone amounts to an impossible choice.
“Do they commit their children to a lifetime of emotional trauma? Or do they keep them with them and try to protect their emotional health at the detriment of their physical health?”
Canada has arranged for the repatriation of several other Canadian women and children from detention in Syria.
One Canadian woman from Quebec was denied help from Ottawa to return to Canada on security grounds, but has since managed to leave al-Roj camp. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
The woman’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, says Ottawa has agreed to help her six young children, who are also citizens, come to Canada.
“I have very definite instructions from her to bring her children home as quickly as possible, and it looks like Global Affairs is moving in that direction,” Greenspon said.
A specialized clinic in Montreal is “ready to step in” to assist the children once they return, he added.
As for the mother, Greenspon said “the hope is that she will be able to find her way to a Canadian consulate and eventually find her way home.”
Greenspon is also one of the lawyers behind a court effort to secure the repatriation of four Canadian men being held in Syria.
In November, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the men’s challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that said Ottawa is not obligated under the law to help them return.
The top court is being asked to reconsider its decision.
Feds don’t ’care if they die,’ says lawyer helping Canadian children held in Syria
Five Canadian children are languishing in Syria after Ottawa denied their mothers permission to come to Canada, says a lawyer.
Saskatoon immigrant aid society wants Ottawa to accept 10,000 Gazans: Report
Federal cabinet limited special permits to Gazans at 1,000
Author of the articleostmedia News
Published Apr 29, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 1 minute read
The federally-funded Saskatoon Open Door Society, an immigrant aid society, is asking Ottawa to accept at least 10,000 people from Gaza, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
In an electronic petition registered with Parliament last Friday, the society is also asking that Gazans get the same free medicare, social services and legal counsel as Ukrainian war refugees.
“The present restriction to accepting the application of refugees only from within Gaza is unreasonable, inhumane and the present maximum of 1,000 individuals is inhumanely restrictive in the face of the dire threats to life they face,” said petition E-4959.
The petition was introduced by Sultan Ali Sadat, a director with the Saskatoon Open Door Society, which got $1.3 million in federal funding in 2023.
“At least 10,000 individuals” should be accepted from Gaza, said the petition.
“This is necessary to address the scale of the crisis and to provide refuge to those in urgent need of protection and assistance,” it said.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
On Dec. 21, cabinet limited special permits at 1,000 Gazans with indirect family in Canada and a total of 986 applications were received by the end of March, the majority of them men and boys. Only 14 are known to have left Gaza.
The petition was not sponsored by any Saskatoon MP, but by New Democrat Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East).
The Open Door Society did not reply to questions, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said earlier that Canada wouldn’t conduct any rescue missions in the war zone and it was up to Israeli authorities to do mandatory security checks.
torontosun.com
Federal cabinet limited special permits to Gazans at 1,000
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublished Apr 29, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 1 minute read
The federally-funded Saskatoon Open Door Society, an immigrant aid society, is asking Ottawa to accept at least 10,000 people from Gaza, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
In an electronic petition registered with Parliament last Friday, the society is also asking that Gazans get the same free medicare, social services and legal counsel as Ukrainian war refugees.
“The present restriction to accepting the application of refugees only from within Gaza is unreasonable, inhumane and the present maximum of 1,000 individuals is inhumanely restrictive in the face of the dire threats to life they face,” said petition E-4959.
The petition was introduced by Sultan Ali Sadat, a director with the Saskatoon Open Door Society, which got $1.3 million in federal funding in 2023.
“At least 10,000 individuals” should be accepted from Gaza, said the petition.
“This is necessary to address the scale of the crisis and to provide refuge to those in urgent need of protection and assistance,” it said.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
On Dec. 21, cabinet limited special permits at 1,000 Gazans with indirect family in Canada and a total of 986 applications were received by the end of March, the majority of them men and boys. Only 14 are known to have left Gaza.
The petition was not sponsored by any Saskatoon MP, but by New Democrat Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East).
The Open Door Society did not reply to questions, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said earlier that Canada wouldn’t conduct any rescue missions in the war zone and it was up to Israeli authorities to do mandatory security checks.
Saskatoon immigrant aid society wants Ottawa to accept 10,000 Gazans: Report
The Saskatoon Open Door Society, an immigrant aid society, is asking Ottawa to accept at least 10,000 Gazans, Blacklock’s Reporter says.
Revolutionary Guard/ Hamas fan boy Mohammad Assadi on a mission
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Apr 30, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
Nika Shakarami vanished from an anti-regime demonstration in Tehran in 2022.
Her body was discovered nine days later; she had been tortured and sexually assaulted.
Of course, Iran’s fanatical Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) claimed she killed herself.
She was just 16 and the sick narrative offered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini’s headcase henchmen is laughable. A secret IRGC dossier published by BBC News tells a wildly different tale.
VICTIM: Nika Shakarami. Murdered by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. She was 16. FAMILY
VICTIM: Nika Shakarami. Murdered by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. She was 16. FAMILY
These are Mohammad Assadi’s peeps, with a chaser of Hamas for good measure. On Friday, the Ottawa man pleaded guilty to breaching his bail conditions.
Instead of being at his sister’s house as part of his conditions, the anti-Israel protest frequent flier hit the road for Toronto on Oct. 7, 2023. That was the day 1,300 Israelis were slaughtered at a concert devoted to peace — and elsewhere.
The killers were Hamas, a maniacal proxy for Iran.
As has been widely reported, Assadi is a big fan of the mad mullahs of Tehran and their twisted theocracy. He even dons a Revolutionary Guards’ hat at the many protests he attends.
“It’s really concerning to me that there’s any support in Canada for an Islamo-fascist dictatorship,” outspoken PC MPP Goldie Ghamari, herself an Iranian immigrant, told The Toronto Sun on Tuesday.
“The Government of Canada needs to take this seriously. They don’t respect Canada or Canadians, and they should be kicked out of a country that they hate so much.”
At the Toronto demonstration on Oct. 7, Assadi made a slew of pro-Hamas comments.
Now, the Crown has asked the judge to weigh those words of hate when Assadi is sentenced next week.
Assadi was all in at the Toronto demos with a bullhorn, proffering his devotion to Hamas and Hezbollah, Crown attorney Moiz Karimjee told the court.
Both entities are recognized in this country as terrorist organizations.
“Here he is in downtown Toronto, advocating for Hamas and armed resistance while on release for crimes of violence [assault],” the Crown said.
Mr. Have Protest Will Travel was pinched while he slept in a car in Oshawa last November. Cops say that inside the vehicle was a replica gun and Assadi proffered that it was “for the protests.” Assadi’s lawyer says his client had no memory of that conversation with police.
His lawyer, Michael Smith, did not dispute the facts. Smith did not return messages left by the Sun.
Sources told the Sun that the nationwide Hamas fests are not the only place you’ll find Assadi, adding that the Iranian immigrant’s partner in slime is Palestinian firebrand Firas Al Najim.
On TikTok, Najim has called Ghamari a “racist”, “a crook”, and “a prostitute.” He also accused the politician of “mental health issues.”
And, he called the redoubtable Mr. Assadi his friend in a social media post. Al Najim is also head of the non-profit, Canadian Defenders for Human Rights. Pro-Islamic Republic, pro-Hamas.
A source told the Sun that Assadi’s special IRGC hat is for the Quds Force.
“It is considered a terrorist organization, it’s like wearing a swastika for Iranians,” the source said. “He’s unfortunately well-known in the Iranian community. He also wears an Ayatollah Khameini scarf. The two of them [Assadi and Najim] travel around together.”
When the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, religious fanatic Ayatollah Khomeini took charge, sending the once prosperous, modern state hurtling backwards into the Dark Ages.
But on social media, Assadi crowed: “It’s not an exaggeration to say Ayatollah Khomeini was the most influential revolutionary figure of the 20th Century.”
Nika Shakarami, her friends and her family would surely disagree.
As for Assadi, he’s wearing his Revolutionary Guard hat and cool Khameini T-shirt, pumped up for the next protest.
Who’s going to stop him?
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
bbc.com
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Apr 30, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
Nika Shakarami vanished from an anti-regime demonstration in Tehran in 2022.
Her body was discovered nine days later; she had been tortured and sexually assaulted.
Of course, Iran’s fanatical Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) claimed she killed herself.
She was just 16 and the sick narrative offered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini’s headcase henchmen is laughable. A secret IRGC dossier published by BBC News tells a wildly different tale.
VICTIM: Nika Shakarami. Murdered by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. She was 16. FAMILY
VICTIM: Nika Shakarami. Murdered by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. She was 16. FAMILY
These are Mohammad Assadi’s peeps, with a chaser of Hamas for good measure. On Friday, the Ottawa man pleaded guilty to breaching his bail conditions.
Instead of being at his sister’s house as part of his conditions, the anti-Israel protest frequent flier hit the road for Toronto on Oct. 7, 2023. That was the day 1,300 Israelis were slaughtered at a concert devoted to peace — and elsewhere.
The killers were Hamas, a maniacal proxy for Iran.
As has been widely reported, Assadi is a big fan of the mad mullahs of Tehran and their twisted theocracy. He even dons a Revolutionary Guards’ hat at the many protests he attends.
“It’s really concerning to me that there’s any support in Canada for an Islamo-fascist dictatorship,” outspoken PC MPP Goldie Ghamari, herself an Iranian immigrant, told The Toronto Sun on Tuesday.
“The Government of Canada needs to take this seriously. They don’t respect Canada or Canadians, and they should be kicked out of a country that they hate so much.”
At the Toronto demonstration on Oct. 7, Assadi made a slew of pro-Hamas comments.
Now, the Crown has asked the judge to weigh those words of hate when Assadi is sentenced next week.
Assadi was all in at the Toronto demos with a bullhorn, proffering his devotion to Hamas and Hezbollah, Crown attorney Moiz Karimjee told the court.
Both entities are recognized in this country as terrorist organizations.
“Here he is in downtown Toronto, advocating for Hamas and armed resistance while on release for crimes of violence [assault],” the Crown said.
Mr. Have Protest Will Travel was pinched while he slept in a car in Oshawa last November. Cops say that inside the vehicle was a replica gun and Assadi proffered that it was “for the protests.” Assadi’s lawyer says his client had no memory of that conversation with police.
His lawyer, Michael Smith, did not dispute the facts. Smith did not return messages left by the Sun.
Sources told the Sun that the nationwide Hamas fests are not the only place you’ll find Assadi, adding that the Iranian immigrant’s partner in slime is Palestinian firebrand Firas Al Najim.
On TikTok, Najim has called Ghamari a “racist”, “a crook”, and “a prostitute.” He also accused the politician of “mental health issues.”
And, he called the redoubtable Mr. Assadi his friend in a social media post. Al Najim is also head of the non-profit, Canadian Defenders for Human Rights. Pro-Islamic Republic, pro-Hamas.
A source told the Sun that Assadi’s special IRGC hat is for the Quds Force.
“It is considered a terrorist organization, it’s like wearing a swastika for Iranians,” the source said. “He’s unfortunately well-known in the Iranian community. He also wears an Ayatollah Khameini scarf. The two of them [Assadi and Najim] travel around together.”
When the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, religious fanatic Ayatollah Khomeini took charge, sending the once prosperous, modern state hurtling backwards into the Dark Ages.
But on social media, Assadi crowed: “It’s not an exaggeration to say Ayatollah Khomeini was the most influential revolutionary figure of the 20th Century.”
Nika Shakarami, her friends and her family would surely disagree.
As for Assadi, he’s wearing his Revolutionary Guard hat and cool Khameini T-shirt, pumped up for the next protest.
Who’s going to stop him?
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
Secret document says Iran security forces molested and killed teen protester
Revolutionary Guards' papers passed to the BBC give chilling details of Nika Shakarami’s last movements.
bbc.com
HUNTER: Revolutionary Guard/ Hamas fan boy Mohammad Assadi on a mission
Nika Shakarami vanished from an anti-regime demonstration in Tehran in 2022.
India’s foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published May 05, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — India’s Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP’s recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also called Ottawa the No. 1 driver of what he described as a violent movement of Sikhs trying to carve their own country out of India.
“It’s not so much a problem in the U.S.; our biggest problem right now is in Canada,” Jaishankar said Saturday during remarks at a forum for intellectuals in India.
RCMP charged three Indian nationals last Friday in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, B.C.
Nijjar was a fervent activist for the creation of a Sikh homeland called Khalistan, and his death sparked a wave of protests and rallies against Indian diplomats in Canada.
Those protests reached particular intensity after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi last September of playing a role in the homicide.
While speaking at the forum in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, Jaishankar took questions on multiple topics.
One attendee asked about countries like the U.S. and Canada wanting to partner with India while allowing people to support a separatist movement there, which New Delhi deems unconstitutional. Another attendee inquired about last Friday’s arrests.
Jaishankar responded to both questions by saying the governing Liberals and other, unspecified political parties “pander” to Sikh separatists for votes, and “have given these kinds of extremism, separatism, advocates of violence a certain legitimacy in the name of free speech.”
Last year’s protests against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government included posters calling on people to “kill India” and offering cash rewards for the home addresses of Indian officials.
Jaishankar said he has asked Foreign Minister Melanie Joly about “attacks or threats” to India’s diplomatic missions and staff in Canada.
“I tell the foreign minister (Joly) saying, ’Suppose it happened to you. if it was your diplomat, your embassy, your flag, how would you react?’ So, we have to keep our position strong,” he said.
Jaishankar also reiterated his ministry’s insistence that Ottawa is allowing criminal elements to operate in Canada and affiliate with Sikh separatists, in response to last week’s arrests.
“Somebody may have been arrested; the police may have done some investigation. But the fact is (a) number of gangland people, (a) number of people with organized crime links from Punjab, have been made welcome in Canada,” he said, referencing the Indian region the Khalistan movement wants to take over.
“These are wanted criminals from India; you have given them visas … and yet you allow them to live there.”
New Delhi raised that same concern a week before Trudeau announced that India was suspected of involvement in Nijjar’s death last September. In its readout of Trudeau’s meeting with Modi, Jaishankar’s ministry had called out “the nexus of (Khalistan separatism) forces with organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking.”
But Ottawa has repeatedly insisted India has not proven that people it accuses of terrorism have actually done anything that meets the threshold under Canada’s criminal code.
In February, a senior Canadian foreign-service bureaucrat told MPs that Canadian officials have been offering their Indian counterparts “workshops” on the rule of law, because India’s definition of terrorism “does not always compute in our legal system.”
In his remarks Saturday, Jaishankar also said “there will be pushback” to calls for Khalistan separation, but he didn’t specify where that may come from.
“It’s no longer a world which runs as a one-way street,” he said. “There will be a reaction; others will take steps or counter it.”
India’s high commission in Ottawa did not immediately respond when asked whether Jaishankar referred to pushback from India or by non-state elements.
Joly’s office also did not immediately respond when asked for comment. Joly has previously said she wants to conduct diplomacy with India in private.
Human Rights Watch says Modi has overseen a deterioration of civil rights in India and promoted an “ultranationalist ideology” that has fuelled violent attacks on non-Hindu citizens.
The organization has called on India to look into possible involvement in Nijjar’s death, given “Indian authorities’ repeated failure to hold police and military personnel accountable for unlawful killings” within the country.
India has previously urged Canada to prosecute people for glorifying those linked to the 1985 Air India bombing, which followed an intense period of ethnic violence.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published May 05, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — India’s Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP’s recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also called Ottawa the No. 1 driver of what he described as a violent movement of Sikhs trying to carve their own country out of India.
“It’s not so much a problem in the U.S.; our biggest problem right now is in Canada,” Jaishankar said Saturday during remarks at a forum for intellectuals in India.
RCMP charged three Indian nationals last Friday in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, B.C.
Nijjar was a fervent activist for the creation of a Sikh homeland called Khalistan, and his death sparked a wave of protests and rallies against Indian diplomats in Canada.
Those protests reached particular intensity after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi last September of playing a role in the homicide.
While speaking at the forum in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, Jaishankar took questions on multiple topics.
One attendee asked about countries like the U.S. and Canada wanting to partner with India while allowing people to support a separatist movement there, which New Delhi deems unconstitutional. Another attendee inquired about last Friday’s arrests.
Jaishankar responded to both questions by saying the governing Liberals and other, unspecified political parties “pander” to Sikh separatists for votes, and “have given these kinds of extremism, separatism, advocates of violence a certain legitimacy in the name of free speech.”
Last year’s protests against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government included posters calling on people to “kill India” and offering cash rewards for the home addresses of Indian officials.
Jaishankar said he has asked Foreign Minister Melanie Joly about “attacks or threats” to India’s diplomatic missions and staff in Canada.
“I tell the foreign minister (Joly) saying, ’Suppose it happened to you. if it was your diplomat, your embassy, your flag, how would you react?’ So, we have to keep our position strong,” he said.
Jaishankar also reiterated his ministry’s insistence that Ottawa is allowing criminal elements to operate in Canada and affiliate with Sikh separatists, in response to last week’s arrests.
“Somebody may have been arrested; the police may have done some investigation. But the fact is (a) number of gangland people, (a) number of people with organized crime links from Punjab, have been made welcome in Canada,” he said, referencing the Indian region the Khalistan movement wants to take over.
“These are wanted criminals from India; you have given them visas … and yet you allow them to live there.”
New Delhi raised that same concern a week before Trudeau announced that India was suspected of involvement in Nijjar’s death last September. In its readout of Trudeau’s meeting with Modi, Jaishankar’s ministry had called out “the nexus of (Khalistan separatism) forces with organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking.”
But Ottawa has repeatedly insisted India has not proven that people it accuses of terrorism have actually done anything that meets the threshold under Canada’s criminal code.
In February, a senior Canadian foreign-service bureaucrat told MPs that Canadian officials have been offering their Indian counterparts “workshops” on the rule of law, because India’s definition of terrorism “does not always compute in our legal system.”
In his remarks Saturday, Jaishankar also said “there will be pushback” to calls for Khalistan separation, but he didn’t specify where that may come from.
“It’s no longer a world which runs as a one-way street,” he said. “There will be a reaction; others will take steps or counter it.”
India’s high commission in Ottawa did not immediately respond when asked whether Jaishankar referred to pushback from India or by non-state elements.
Joly’s office also did not immediately respond when asked for comment. Joly has previously said she wants to conduct diplomacy with India in private.
Human Rights Watch says Modi has overseen a deterioration of civil rights in India and promoted an “ultranationalist ideology” that has fuelled violent attacks on non-Hindu citizens.
The organization has called on India to look into possible involvement in Nijjar’s death, given “Indian authorities’ repeated failure to hold police and military personnel accountable for unlawful killings” within the country.
India has previously urged Canada to prosecute people for glorifying those linked to the 1985 Air India bombing, which followed an intense period of ethnic violence.
India’s foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
India's Foreign Affairs Minister says Canada is his country's "biggest problem" when it comes to Sikh separatism.
Recent deaths do make it seem criminals have been 'made welcome in Canada'India’s foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published May 05, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
OTTAWA — India’s Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP’s recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also called Ottawa the No. 1 driver of what he described as a violent movement of Sikhs trying to carve their own country out of India.
“It’s not so much a problem in the U.S.; our biggest problem right now is in Canada,” Jaishankar said Saturday during remarks at a forum for intellectuals in India.
RCMP charged three Indian nationals last Friday in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, B.C.
Nijjar was a fervent activist for the creation of a Sikh homeland called Khalistan, and his death sparked a wave of protests and rallies against Indian diplomats in Canada.
Those protests reached particular intensity after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi last September of playing a role in the homicide.
While speaking at the forum in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, Jaishankar took questions on multiple topics.
One attendee asked about countries like the U.S. and Canada wanting to partner with India while allowing people to support a separatist movement there, which New Delhi deems unconstitutional. Another attendee inquired about last Friday’s arrests.
Jaishankar responded to both questions by saying the governing Liberals and other, unspecified political parties “pander” to Sikh separatists for votes, and “have given these kinds of extremism, separatism, advocates of violence a certain legitimacy in the name of free speech.”
Last year’s protests against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government included posters calling on people to “kill India” and offering cash rewards for the home addresses of Indian officials.
Jaishankar said he has asked Foreign Minister Melanie Joly about “attacks or threats” to India’s diplomatic missions and staff in Canada.
“I tell the foreign minister (Joly) saying, ’Suppose it happened to you. if it was your diplomat, your embassy, your flag, how would you react?’ So, we have to keep our position strong,” he said.
Jaishankar also reiterated his ministry’s insistence that Ottawa is allowing criminal elements to operate in Canada and affiliate with Sikh separatists, in response to last week’s arrests.
“Somebody may have been arrested; the police may have done some investigation. But the fact is (a) number of gangland people, (a) number of people with organized crime links from Punjab, have been made welcome in Canada,” he said, referencing the Indian region the Khalistan movement wants to take over.
“These are wanted criminals from India; you have given them visas … and yet you allow them to live there.”
New Delhi raised that same concern a week before Trudeau announced that India was suspected of involvement in Nijjar’s death last September. In its readout of Trudeau’s meeting with Modi, Jaishankar’s ministry had called out “the nexus of (Khalistan separatism) forces with organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking.”
But Ottawa has repeatedly insisted India has not proven that people it accuses of terrorism have actually done anything that meets the threshold under Canada’s criminal code.
In February, a senior Canadian foreign-service bureaucrat told MPs that Canadian officials have been offering their Indian counterparts “workshops” on the rule of law, because India’s definition of terrorism “does not always compute in our legal system.”
In his remarks Saturday, Jaishankar also said “there will be pushback” to calls for Khalistan separation, but he didn’t specify where that may come from.
“It’s no longer a world which runs as a one-way street,” he said. “There will be a reaction; others will take steps or counter it.”
India’s high commission in Ottawa did not immediately respond when asked whether Jaishankar referred to pushback from India or by non-state elements.
Joly’s office also did not immediately respond when asked for comment. Joly has previously said she wants to conduct diplomacy with India in private.
Human Rights Watch says Modi has overseen a deterioration of civil rights in India and promoted an “ultranationalist ideology” that has fuelled violent attacks on non-Hindu citizens.
The organization has called on India to look into possible involvement in Nijjar’s death, given “Indian authorities’ repeated failure to hold police and military personnel accountable for unlawful killings” within the country.
India has previously urged Canada to prosecute people for glorifying those linked to the 1985 Air India bombing, which followed an intense period of ethnic violence.
India’s foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
India's Foreign Affairs Minister says Canada is his country's "biggest problem" when it comes to Sikh separatism.
How did they slip past the scrutiny of Canada Border Services?
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published May 06, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
The 11-year-old boy slated to die alongside his gangster father.
A high-profile Sikh activist rubbed out in the Lower Mainland.
A family destroyed by a wrong-way driver racing from a liquor store robbery on Hwy. 401.
In Ottawa, six people — including four children — stabbed to death by a tenant.
The commonality in all of these horrors is that in every case, an international student is accused. None of the charges have been proven in court.
It begs the question: How in hell did these people get into the country? How did they slip past the scrutiny of Canada Border Services?
The trio who allegedly targeted high-profile Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, and caught up to him in a Surrey, B.C., parking lot last June were arrested Friday in Edmonton.
According to CBC News, investigators believe the murder of Nijjar was at the behest of the Indian government.
Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, are each charged with one count of murder using a firearm and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
All are Indian nationals and at least two slipped into the country as … ahem … international students.
According to cops, homicide detectives probing the Nijjar slaying are also looking at the possibility that the trio are connected to additional murders across the country.
Edmonton gangster Harpreet Singh Uppal, 41, was gunned down at an Edmonton gas station in early November. And in a touch of old-world charm, the killers also murdered Uppal’s son Gavin, 11.
Cops say the little boy did not catch a stray bullet nor was he caught in the crossfire. The assassins wanted him dead too.
Uppal had allegedly been a member in good standing of the coterie of B.C. thugs known as the Brothers Keepers gang.
In Toronto, four days later, rival UN Gang member Parmvir “Parm” Chahil, 27, had his lifetime of violence and bullying catch up to him in a downtown parking garage where he was murdered.
Last March in Ottawa, six people — including four young children — were slaughtered inside a townhouse in the city’s south end. The young family were recent immigrants from Sri Lanka and rented a room to a countryman.
An … ahem … international student Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
And last week, another international student apparently in Canada bolstering his criminal CV boosted some booze from an LCBO in Bowmanville (and threatened an off-duty cop with a knife). He fled and drove the wrong way down the 401.
The result was the deaths of an Ajax family’s grandparents visiting from India and their three-month-old grandson.
The driver was Gagandeep Singh, 21, who was out on bail on two prior liquor store heists. Weeks before he had been released on $2,000 bail, as my colleague Joe Warmington reported. Singh was slated to be back in court on May 14. He was also killed in the crash.
The international student was also before the courts for carjacking and drug possession.
India’s Foreign Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was quoted at a conference and while his statements are wildly disingenuous, he does have a point.
“But the fact is (a) number of gangland people, (a) number of people with organized crime links from Punjab, have been made welcome in Canada,” he said.
“These are wanted criminals from India; you have given them visas … and yet you allow them to live there.”
And we are paying the price.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
HUNTER: Recent deaths do make it seem criminals have been 'made welcome in Canada'
It begs the question: How in hell did these people get into the country? How did they slip past the scrutiny of Canada Border Services?