So one catch to all these programs, and the opposition to them, is that in some cases, particularly in agriculture, is that these temporary workers are essential. This does not mean the workers should be able to stay after the crops are picked. Another case would be wild land firefighters, which is becoming a world employer, with crews and equipment shifting hemispheres with the seasons.Little-known program dominates Canada's massive guest-worker scheme
The International Mobility Program now brings in by far the most newcomers — with more than one million in the country now
Author of the articleouglas Todd
Published Sep 12, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
The International Mobility Program now accounts for by far the largest stream of guest workers in Canada, bringing in more than one million.
The International Mobility Program now accounts for by far the largest stream of guest workers in Canada, bringing in more than one million.
Union leader Mark Olsen is frustrated Canadians know almost nothing about Ottawa’s international mobility program. And he’s afraid company bosses want it that way.
The program is the vast federal guest worker program that now brings by far the most newcomers into Canada — with more than one million in the country now.
It’s also the program that Olsen believes makes it most easy for employers to exploit guest workers, which in turn harms Canadian workers.
As the western manager of the Laborers International Union of North America, Olsen said that the international mobility program is drawing more than four times as many guest workers as the more discussed temporary foreign workers program.
Two weeks ago Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to modestly trim the temporary foreign workers program by up to 80,000 workers after protests that it was responsible for a high number of low-wage workers at a time of high unemployment among Canadian young people.
An Angus Reid Institute poll released Tuesday shows that 56 per cent of Canadians believe the Liberals are bringing in too many temporary workers, which they think is making it harder to access housing and obtain decent wages.
Olsen believes Trudeau’s gesture with the temporary foreign workers program is window-dressing. If the past is a guide, he said, the federal government and corporations will just use the decline of that program to funnel more foreign workers into the expanding international mobility program.
The government’s strategy, Olsen said, will continue to “institutionalize foreign worker exploitation, discrimination and abuse, distort the labour market, suppress Canadians’ wages and lead to a loss of training opportunities and jobs for Canadian workers, including Indigenous people and women.”
There is a need, Olsen said, for qualified people to come from other countries to work in Canada. That’s especially the case in Canada’s gigantic construction industry, which employs most members of the Laborers International Union of North America. But guest workers, Olsen said, must be invited to the country in a way that’s fair both to them and to Canadian workers.
The major defect in the international mobility program, Olsen said, is that, unlike the temporary foreign workers program, it doesn’t require Canadian employers to provide evidence to the government that they’re unable to find a Canadian to do the job.
IMP
The guest worker track known as the international mobility program has expanded dramatically since the Liberals gained power in 2015.
“This has made the IMP (international mobility program) ripe for abuse of both the system and the temporary worker, and has fuelled explosive growth under the program,” said Olsen.
A second problem with the international mobility program is that employers are allowed to pay the foreign workers significantly less than they pay Canadians in the same job, whether they’re in the field of high tech, health care, retail or construction. That’s because bosses only have to commit to paying foreign workers a wage that is higher, even only slightly higher, than the median Canadian salary, which Olsen said is in the $23-an-hour range.
That leads to international mobility program workers often doing the same tasks as Canadian workers at far lower wages.
Obviously, Olsen said, the big wage disparity hands bosses an incentive to hire cheap labour through that program, rather than seek Canadian applicants.
“It results in employers paying substandard wages and often no benefits to foreign workers,” Olsen said in a joint memo with Eric Olsen, his brother, who is the political director for the western arm of Laborers International Union, which has about 400,000 members in the U.S. and 150,000 in Canada. “It also allows employers to pay Canadian workers less than the market would ordinarily require, distorting the market.”
The B.C. Building Trades this year put together a report on migration, with case studies showing how B.C. employers paid foreign workers much less than Canadians during construction of the Golden Ears Bridge, the Murray River mine project and the Canada Line.
Since 2015, the Liberal government has dramatically increased the number of temporary residents in Canada, to about 2.8 million. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said this year that nine per cent are in the temporary foreign workers program stream, 44 per cent are employed in Canada through the international mobility program category and another 43 per cent are foreign students, most of whom are allowed to work.
However, Mark Olsen is on to something when he worries ordinary Canadians have no idea about the country’s many guest worker programs — and the often crucial differences between them.
Olsen
Mark Olsen of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA).
Canada’s migration system is complex and confusing. Even politicians, pundits and pollsters often make comments that suggest they mistakenly think the temporary foreign workers program is the only Canadian stream for “temporary” workers. It doesn’t help that the term, international mobility program, is itself fuzzy.
In the face of the public’s ignorance, which Mark Olsen believes companies capitalize on, the leaders of the Laborers International Union want to reform Canada’s guest-worker programs.
One top recommendation is that bosses using the international mobility program must prove there is a need for each guest worker. Such declarations exist with the temporary foreign workers program, when employers fill out a document called a labour market impact assessment.
And since news reports frequently arise about abuse and deception in regard to the rules of the guest worker system, the union says “there must be proper enforcement and significant penalties.”
In addition, the union wants all foreign workers in Canada to “have the same rights as Canadian workers” and “be paid the same as Canadian workers in wages and benefits.”
It also recommends providing foreign workers “a pathway to Canadian citizenship.” As the union’s policy paper says: “If these workers are good enough to be invited here to build our country, they are good enough to stay and build their families and communities.”
In regard to these last two reforms, Mark Olsen acknowledged that there is sometimes resistance from members of his union.
Temp workers
Fifty-four per cent say the foreign worker system is bad for ‘the labour market for Canadian citizens.’ Source: Angus Reid Institute poll, September 2024
Given changing public sentiment in Canada, that’s not surprising. One key finding in this week’s Angus Reid poll is that only 24 per cent of Canadians believe guest workers should be offered a route to citizenship.
Nevertheless, Mark Olsen said after he talks to members about the union recommendations on guest workers, they invariably end up embracing the union’s viewpoint, which he describes as “respect for all.”
dtodd@postmedia.com
View attachment 24678View attachment 24679
Temporary Foreign Workers: Canadians support reduced program; few want workers to have path to citizenship -
Majority believe program is ‘bad’ for labour market for citizens, Canada’s housing situation September 10, 2024 – As Canadians express more concern over immigration, the federal government is taking steps to rein in the number of temporary residents the country takes in. That includes changes...angusreid.org
Little-known program dominates Canada's massive guest-worker scheme
Douglas Todd: Labour head frustrated Canadians know almost nothing about International Mobility Program. He's afraid bosses want it that waytorontosun.com
Refugee/Migrant Crisis
- Thread starter Tecumsehsbones
- Start date
Want to make a metric fuck tonne of money. Buy a shiny new combine and 10t dumper in Texas and work your way north custom harvesting all the way to Peace River. When done sell it. It's paid for. You'll get the depreciation back at tax time.
Start over next June with two.
Trudeau has broken every aspect of our immigration system
System is falling apart due to mismanagement by Trudeau's Liberal team.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Sep 13, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
If it wasn’t clear already, this past week showed there isn’t a single facet of the immigration system the Liberals haven’t broken.
A man on a student visa was in court on terrorism charges, a TD bank report showed temporary workers are harming the economy, and the Trudeau government started talking about moving tens of thousands of asylum seekers across the country.
“We could open a hotel in any particular province and ship people there,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said at the Liberal caucus retreat.
He was reacting to news that some premiers don’t want the federal government to ship thousands of asylum seekers their way from Ontario and Quebec. Rather than fix the problem, Miller and the rest of Trudeau’s team are trying to spread it around.
We’ve gone from a few thousand people showing up at airports and declaring asylum to a few thousand a month.
The problem is that the Trudeau government relaxed the visa requirements, in some cases waiving them. That has resulted in people who would otherwise be denied entrance to Canada being given permission to fly here and claim immediate asylum.
India is currently the top source country for people claiming asylum with more than 15,000 claims in the first six months of this year, claims from Mexico are at nearly 9,000. People coming here from India and Mexico, with rare exception, are not refugees, they are economic migrants abusing a system meant to protect people from persecution.
The Liberals could fix this problem by fixing the visa system, but they’d rather talk about building hotels, busing people across the country and be arguing with premiers than looking for solutions.
When it isn’t letting the visa system rot, we have questions about how well we vet people coming into the country.
On Friday, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was in court on terrorism charges. Khan was arrested last week after the FBI uncovered a plot, they say would have seen Khan travel to Brooklyn, New York to carry out an attack on the Jewish community there.
Khan was living in the Toronto area for a little over a year but is a Pakistani national who was admitted to Canada in June 2023 on a student visa. The arrest came just five weeks after Ahmed Eldidi was arrested on terrorism charges with a plot allegedly targeting Toronto’s Jewish community.
Eldidi had come to Canada on a visitor’s visa in 2018, claimed refugee status a few months later and was granted Canadian citizenship in May 2024 just before he was arrested.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the strength of our vetting system during a news conference in Montreal. To listen to Trudeau, there are no problems with the system.
“First of all, this is an extraordinarily serious situation, and it highlights just how effective our security services and institutions are that we were able to interdict these, these very, very potentially devastating situations,” Trudeau said.
The arrests are one thing, but why are we not catching people before they enter the country. One of the charges against Eldidi is due to what police say was his participation in an ISIS terror and torture video in 2015.
Our asylum claims are off the charts, the visa system is broken, we can’t properly vet people coming into Canada and now a report from TD Bank that says the over reliance on temporary foreign workers is hurting the economy.
All of these problems have been created by the Trudeau Liberals and their mismanagement of the system.
blilley@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
System is falling apart due to mismanagement by Trudeau's Liberal team.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Sep 13, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
If it wasn’t clear already, this past week showed there isn’t a single facet of the immigration system the Liberals haven’t broken.
A man on a student visa was in court on terrorism charges, a TD bank report showed temporary workers are harming the economy, and the Trudeau government started talking about moving tens of thousands of asylum seekers across the country.
“We could open a hotel in any particular province and ship people there,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said at the Liberal caucus retreat.
He was reacting to news that some premiers don’t want the federal government to ship thousands of asylum seekers their way from Ontario and Quebec. Rather than fix the problem, Miller and the rest of Trudeau’s team are trying to spread it around.
We’ve gone from a few thousand people showing up at airports and declaring asylum to a few thousand a month.
The problem is that the Trudeau government relaxed the visa requirements, in some cases waiving them. That has resulted in people who would otherwise be denied entrance to Canada being given permission to fly here and claim immediate asylum.
India is currently the top source country for people claiming asylum with more than 15,000 claims in the first six months of this year, claims from Mexico are at nearly 9,000. People coming here from India and Mexico, with rare exception, are not refugees, they are economic migrants abusing a system meant to protect people from persecution.
The Liberals could fix this problem by fixing the visa system, but they’d rather talk about building hotels, busing people across the country and be arguing with premiers than looking for solutions.
When it isn’t letting the visa system rot, we have questions about how well we vet people coming into the country.
On Friday, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was in court on terrorism charges. Khan was arrested last week after the FBI uncovered a plot, they say would have seen Khan travel to Brooklyn, New York to carry out an attack on the Jewish community there.
Khan was living in the Toronto area for a little over a year but is a Pakistani national who was admitted to Canada in June 2023 on a student visa. The arrest came just five weeks after Ahmed Eldidi was arrested on terrorism charges with a plot allegedly targeting Toronto’s Jewish community.
Eldidi had come to Canada on a visitor’s visa in 2018, claimed refugee status a few months later and was granted Canadian citizenship in May 2024 just before he was arrested.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the strength of our vetting system during a news conference in Montreal. To listen to Trudeau, there are no problems with the system.
“First of all, this is an extraordinarily serious situation, and it highlights just how effective our security services and institutions are that we were able to interdict these, these very, very potentially devastating situations,” Trudeau said.
The arrests are one thing, but why are we not catching people before they enter the country. One of the charges against Eldidi is due to what police say was his participation in an ISIS terror and torture video in 2015.
Our asylum claims are off the charts, the visa system is broken, we can’t properly vet people coming into Canada and now a report from TD Bank that says the over reliance on temporary foreign workers is hurting the economy.
All of these problems have been created by the Trudeau Liberals and their mismanagement of the system.
blilley@postmedia.com
LILLEY: Trudeau has broken every aspect of our immigration system
Under the Trudeau Liberals there isn't a single part of our immigration system that is working as it should.
Man arrested in Quebec for alleged plot to kill Jews in NYC returns to court Dec. 6
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Sidhartha Banerjee
Published Sep 13, 2024 • 3 minute read
MONTREAL — The case of a 20-year-old man arrested over an alleged Islamic State terror plot to kill Jews in New York City was before a judge briefly on Friday and will return to court in December in Montreal.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani national living in Ontario, was arrested Sept. 4 in Ormstown, Que., allegedly on his way across the border into New York state. United States officials charged Khan with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization, and they are seeking to have him extradited to stand trial.
Authorities allege that Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, intended to use “automatic and semi-automatic weapons” in a mass shooting in support of the Islamic State at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn around Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.
They allege he began planning his attack in November 2023, the same time he allegedly started posting on social media and communicating with others on an encrypted messaging app about his support for ISIS; he also allegedly distributed propaganda and literature about the terror group.
Khan then began communicating with two undercover officers who posed as people willing to help him carry out his alleged attack plan. The accused allegedly implored the two officers to buy weapons for the plot.
During one communication, Khan noted, “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.”
U.S. officials said he took three separate vehicles while travelling to the U.S. border.
In announcing his arrest, the RCMP said, “as his actions escalated, at no point in time was Khan an immediate threat prior to his arrest.”
He was not present for a hearing on Friday before the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, where lawyers said they are waiting for extradition documents and for authorization from Canadian officials before proceeding with the case, which will return before a judge on Dec. 6.
Khan’s lawyer, Gaetan Bourassa, said U.S. authorities have 60 days to file the necessary paperwork and Canadian officials have 30 days to authorize the extradition process.
“He was arrested last week and they have 60 days to produce the evidence the United States has,” Bourassa said outside the courtroom. “On Dec. 6, if we receive the proof, then we’ll fix a date for the hearing.” Khan is expected to appear via video on that date.
Bourassa said he spoke with his client, who is “reacting very well.” He called the evidence in the case “complex,” noting there are witnesses in the United States whose names he doesn’t know.
Earlier this week, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Khan arrived in Canada in June 2023 on a student visa granted to him the previous month.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about what is being done to ensure other ISIS supporters haven’t entered the country under false pretences.
“First of all, this is an extraordinarily serious situation and it highlights just how effective our security services and institutions are that we were able to interdict these, these very, very potentially devastating situations,” Trudeau told reporters in the Montreal area.
“We work with partners around the world … sharing intelligence and there’s many situations in which Canadian intelligence has been important to partners around the world.”
The RCMP said in a release last week that Khan faces three charges in Canada: attempting to leave Canada to commit an offence for a terrorist group; participating in activities of a terrorist group; and conspiracy to commit an offence by violating U.S. immigration law or attempting to enter the U.S. unlawfully. He was later rearrested under a provisional warrant involving the extradition request.
Bourassa said Friday he’s unaware of any charges laid against Khan in Canada, and a Justice Department lawyer present in court on Friday referred questions to a spokesperson in Ottawa.
“He was surprised, he was arrested at the border under special circumstances,” Bourassa said.
Khan remains detained at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Sidhartha Banerjee
Published Sep 13, 2024 • 3 minute read
MONTREAL — The case of a 20-year-old man arrested over an alleged Islamic State terror plot to kill Jews in New York City was before a judge briefly on Friday and will return to court in December in Montreal.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani national living in Ontario, was arrested Sept. 4 in Ormstown, Que., allegedly on his way across the border into New York state. United States officials charged Khan with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization, and they are seeking to have him extradited to stand trial.
Authorities allege that Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, intended to use “automatic and semi-automatic weapons” in a mass shooting in support of the Islamic State at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn around Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.
They allege he began planning his attack in November 2023, the same time he allegedly started posting on social media and communicating with others on an encrypted messaging app about his support for ISIS; he also allegedly distributed propaganda and literature about the terror group.
Khan then began communicating with two undercover officers who posed as people willing to help him carry out his alleged attack plan. The accused allegedly implored the two officers to buy weapons for the plot.
During one communication, Khan noted, “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.”
U.S. officials said he took three separate vehicles while travelling to the U.S. border.
In announcing his arrest, the RCMP said, “as his actions escalated, at no point in time was Khan an immediate threat prior to his arrest.”
He was not present for a hearing on Friday before the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, where lawyers said they are waiting for extradition documents and for authorization from Canadian officials before proceeding with the case, which will return before a judge on Dec. 6.
Khan’s lawyer, Gaetan Bourassa, said U.S. authorities have 60 days to file the necessary paperwork and Canadian officials have 30 days to authorize the extradition process.
“He was arrested last week and they have 60 days to produce the evidence the United States has,” Bourassa said outside the courtroom. “On Dec. 6, if we receive the proof, then we’ll fix a date for the hearing.” Khan is expected to appear via video on that date.
Bourassa said he spoke with his client, who is “reacting very well.” He called the evidence in the case “complex,” noting there are witnesses in the United States whose names he doesn’t know.
Earlier this week, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Khan arrived in Canada in June 2023 on a student visa granted to him the previous month.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about what is being done to ensure other ISIS supporters haven’t entered the country under false pretences.
“First of all, this is an extraordinarily serious situation and it highlights just how effective our security services and institutions are that we were able to interdict these, these very, very potentially devastating situations,” Trudeau told reporters in the Montreal area.
“We work with partners around the world … sharing intelligence and there’s many situations in which Canadian intelligence has been important to partners around the world.”
The RCMP said in a release last week that Khan faces three charges in Canada: attempting to leave Canada to commit an offence for a terrorist group; participating in activities of a terrorist group; and conspiracy to commit an offence by violating U.S. immigration law or attempting to enter the U.S. unlawfully. He was later rearrested under a provisional warrant involving the extradition request.
Bourassa said Friday he’s unaware of any charges laid against Khan in Canada, and a Justice Department lawyer present in court on Friday referred questions to a spokesperson in Ottawa.
“He was surprised, he was arrested at the border under special circumstances,” Bourassa said.
Khan remains detained at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail.
Man arrested in Quebec for alleged plot to kill Jews in NYC returns to court Dec. 6
The case of a 20-year-old man arrested over an alleged Islamic State terror plot to kill Jews in New York City was before a judge briefly
Terrorism sympathizer who planned to target Calgary Pride handed 6-year prison term
Author of the article:Kevin Martin
Published Sep 13, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 2 minute read
The Calgary man who facilitated terrorist activities through online postings — which included targeting the city’s Pride activities — was handed a six-year prison term Friday.
With credit for time on remand, Zakarya Rida Hussein will have serve another four years and 45 days, and won’t be eligible for parole until he’s served at least half that time, Justice Harry Van Harten ordered.
The Calgary Court of Justice judge accepted a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Domenic Puglia and defence counsel Alain Hepner for that sentence.
Puglia said there were multiple aggravating factors to justify a significant penitentiary term, including the fact Hussein, 21, targeted the city’s LGBTQ+ community when he wrote in a June 1, 2023, Snapchat post: “Tomorrow my mission begins. It’s Pride month. I’ve been waiting.”
The prosecutor also noted Hussein was found in possession of written instructions on how to make a bomb and a pre-sentence report suggested he still wasn’t aware of the impact of his crime.
“He states … I didn’t harm anyone,” Puglia told Van Harten.
“He actively did harm people and although the bomb didn’t go off … that doesn’t mean there wasn’t harm.”
Puglia said a six-year sentence would recognize the gravity of Hussein’s behaviour.
“This is a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and society’s condemnation of terrorism.”
Despite the comments in the pre-sentence report, Hepner said his client was remorseful for his conduct and now understand he was “brainwashed” by radical influences on social media.
“The guilty plea … is a sign of remorse. He does have insight into what has occurred. His family was shocked and disturbed,” Hepner said.
“He was completely, in my view, radicalized at this point … in his words, brainwashed.”
Hussein also addressed court, reading in a prepared statement.
“I was immature, naive and impressed by my peers when I got involved in the horrific black hole where my actions speak of radicalization,” he said.
Hussein pleaded guilty last Dec. 1, to facilitating a terrorist activity.
According to agreed facts read in by co-prosecutor Kent Brown at that time, Hussein engaged in online discussions about terrorist activities in the months leading up to his June 15, 2023, arrest and a search of his home and vehicle.
Among the items seized, Brown said, was a “notebook containing handwritten notes with step-by-step instructions for making an improvised explosive device.”
A consultation with experts “determined that the handwritten instructions located in the accused’s room appeared to be a viable and accurate means for the creation of a homemade explosive.”
On May 14, 2023, Hussein “knowingly facilitated a terrorist activity by posting an ISIS recruitment video to TikTok,” Brown said.
KMartin@postmedia.com
X: @KMartinCourts
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Kevin Martin
Published Sep 13, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 2 minute read
The Calgary man who facilitated terrorist activities through online postings — which included targeting the city’s Pride activities — was handed a six-year prison term Friday.
With credit for time on remand, Zakarya Rida Hussein will have serve another four years and 45 days, and won’t be eligible for parole until he’s served at least half that time, Justice Harry Van Harten ordered.
The Calgary Court of Justice judge accepted a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Domenic Puglia and defence counsel Alain Hepner for that sentence.
Puglia said there were multiple aggravating factors to justify a significant penitentiary term, including the fact Hussein, 21, targeted the city’s LGBTQ+ community when he wrote in a June 1, 2023, Snapchat post: “Tomorrow my mission begins. It’s Pride month. I’ve been waiting.”
The prosecutor also noted Hussein was found in possession of written instructions on how to make a bomb and a pre-sentence report suggested he still wasn’t aware of the impact of his crime.
“He states … I didn’t harm anyone,” Puglia told Van Harten.
“He actively did harm people and although the bomb didn’t go off … that doesn’t mean there wasn’t harm.”
Puglia said a six-year sentence would recognize the gravity of Hussein’s behaviour.
“This is a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and society’s condemnation of terrorism.”
Despite the comments in the pre-sentence report, Hepner said his client was remorseful for his conduct and now understand he was “brainwashed” by radical influences on social media.
“The guilty plea … is a sign of remorse. He does have insight into what has occurred. His family was shocked and disturbed,” Hepner said.
“He was completely, in my view, radicalized at this point … in his words, brainwashed.”
Hussein also addressed court, reading in a prepared statement.
“I was immature, naive and impressed by my peers when I got involved in the horrific black hole where my actions speak of radicalization,” he said.
Hussein pleaded guilty last Dec. 1, to facilitating a terrorist activity.
According to agreed facts read in by co-prosecutor Kent Brown at that time, Hussein engaged in online discussions about terrorist activities in the months leading up to his June 15, 2023, arrest and a search of his home and vehicle.
Among the items seized, Brown said, was a “notebook containing handwritten notes with step-by-step instructions for making an improvised explosive device.”
A consultation with experts “determined that the handwritten instructions located in the accused’s room appeared to be a viable and accurate means for the creation of a homemade explosive.”
On May 14, 2023, Hussein “knowingly facilitated a terrorist activity by posting an ISIS recruitment video to TikTok,” Brown said.
KMartin@postmedia.com
X: @KMartinCourts
Terrorism sympathizer who planned to target Calgary Pride handed six-year prison term
Terrorism sympathizer Zakarya Rida Hussein sentenced to six years in prison on a charge of facilitating a terrorist activity.
Calgary man sentenced to six years in prison for sharing terrorism videos on TikTok
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Sep 17, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
A Calgary man who pleaded guilty to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok will spend the next six years behind bars.
A Calgary man who pleaded guilty to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok will spend the next six years behind bars.
CALGARY — A Calgary man who admitted to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Zakarya Rida Hussein, 20, was sentenced in court Friday after he earlier pleaded guilty to one of four terrorism-related charges.
Hussein admitted that he owned social media accounts that posted ISIS propaganda. Court heard that one recruitment video, posted in May 2023, received comments from other users that included “I$I$ and proud” and “the video itself is very motivational.”
An agreed statement of facts submitted in court says Hussein later shared a longer version of the same video in a text message.
The document says Hussein also posted a message to Snapchat on June 1, 2023, saying his mission would begin the next day — nearly two weeks before he was arrested by RCMP and Calgary police.
“It’s Pride month,” he wrote. “I’ve been waiting.”
The court document says Hussein shared a video to a group chat containing “extremist ideological interpretations that encouraged the killing of gay men.”
Hussein also replied to an automated text message from Alberta’s United Conservative Party asking for his support, the document says.
“No,” he wrote back. “I’m gonna do a terrorist attack on you guys.”
“I’ll blow you guys up with an explosive,” he said in response to another automated text asking if the UCP could put a sign up at his house.
During a search, police recovered a notebook with step-by-step instructions for making an improvised explosive device, an ISIS flag, several electronics, a black collapsible baton, knives and imitation brass knuckles.
Canada’s crown prosecution service said in a statement Tuesday that Hussein will need to submit DNA results and will be under a lifetime ban from owning firearms after he’s released.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Sep 17, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
A Calgary man who pleaded guilty to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok will spend the next six years behind bars.
A Calgary man who pleaded guilty to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok will spend the next six years behind bars.
CALGARY — A Calgary man who admitted to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Zakarya Rida Hussein, 20, was sentenced in court Friday after he earlier pleaded guilty to one of four terrorism-related charges.
Hussein admitted that he owned social media accounts that posted ISIS propaganda. Court heard that one recruitment video, posted in May 2023, received comments from other users that included “I$I$ and proud” and “the video itself is very motivational.”
An agreed statement of facts submitted in court says Hussein later shared a longer version of the same video in a text message.
The document says Hussein also posted a message to Snapchat on June 1, 2023, saying his mission would begin the next day — nearly two weeks before he was arrested by RCMP and Calgary police.
“It’s Pride month,” he wrote. “I’ve been waiting.”
The court document says Hussein shared a video to a group chat containing “extremist ideological interpretations that encouraged the killing of gay men.”
Hussein also replied to an automated text message from Alberta’s United Conservative Party asking for his support, the document says.
“No,” he wrote back. “I’m gonna do a terrorist attack on you guys.”
“I’ll blow you guys up with an explosive,” he said in response to another automated text asking if the UCP could put a sign up at his house.
During a search, police recovered a notebook with step-by-step instructions for making an improvised explosive device, an ISIS flag, several electronics, a black collapsible baton, knives and imitation brass knuckles.
Canada’s crown prosecution service said in a statement Tuesday that Hussein will need to submit DNA results and will be under a lifetime ban from owning firearms after he’s released.
Calgary man sentenced to six years in prison for sharing terrorism videos on TikTok
Hussein admitted that he owned social media accounts that posted ISIS recruitment videos and propaganda.
Despite deportation order, migrant influencer likely stuck in U.S.
Author of the articleostmedia News
Published Sep 17, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
A migrant influencer who went viral on social media by flaunting American money and other handouts while encouraging others who crossed into the country illegally to squat in vacant homes has reportedly been ordered deported.
However, the deportation likely won’t happen anytime soon due to a diplomatic rift between the U.S. and Venezuela.
According to the New York Post, 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant Leonel Moreno was ordered out of the country by an Ohio-based immigration judge on Sept. 9, citing U.S. Homeland Security sources.
But because Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his authoritarian regime followed through on a threat to no longer accept migrants flown back to the country from the U.S. last February, it appears that Moreno isn’t going anywhere.
The almost weekly flights of migrants being returned to Venezuela were halted in late January, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal.
No domestic flights are allowed from the U.S. to Venezuela since 2019 after the U.S. government cited reports of unrest and violence.
Moreno, who crossed the U.S. southern border illegally into Texas in April 2022, went viral on TikTok after he shared a video that encouraged migrants to come to the U.S. and invoke “squatter’s rights” to empty and dilapidated homes so that they can be renovated and sold for profit.
He also bragged of not being employed and buying supplies for his American-born baby with food stamps while flaunting wads of cash.
“I don’t like to work,” he told his followers. “Boys, in the U.S. there are a million tricks, a million things to do” to live for free.
Earlier this year, he said his family received $350 a week from the federal government and claimed to bring in $1,000 a day begging for cash.
Moreno, who remains in custody at the Geauga County Jail in Ohio, spoke in April claiming to be a victim of “persecution” in both countries.
“I came here to the United States because of persecution in my country … But they’re doing the same thing to me in the United States — persecuting me,” Moreno told the Post.
“It’s all misinformation in the media about me. They’re defaming me. They’re misrepresenting me in the news … I am a good father, a good husband, a good son, a good person, humble, respectful to people who respect me.”
nypost.com
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Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublished Sep 17, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
A migrant influencer who went viral on social media by flaunting American money and other handouts while encouraging others who crossed into the country illegally to squat in vacant homes has reportedly been ordered deported.
However, the deportation likely won’t happen anytime soon due to a diplomatic rift between the U.S. and Venezuela.
According to the New York Post, 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant Leonel Moreno was ordered out of the country by an Ohio-based immigration judge on Sept. 9, citing U.S. Homeland Security sources.
But because Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his authoritarian regime followed through on a threat to no longer accept migrants flown back to the country from the U.S. last February, it appears that Moreno isn’t going anywhere.
The almost weekly flights of migrants being returned to Venezuela were halted in late January, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal.
No domestic flights are allowed from the U.S. to Venezuela since 2019 after the U.S. government cited reports of unrest and violence.
Moreno, who crossed the U.S. southern border illegally into Texas in April 2022, went viral on TikTok after he shared a video that encouraged migrants to come to the U.S. and invoke “squatter’s rights” to empty and dilapidated homes so that they can be renovated and sold for profit.
He also bragged of not being employed and buying supplies for his American-born baby with food stamps while flaunting wads of cash.
“I don’t like to work,” he told his followers. “Boys, in the U.S. there are a million tricks, a million things to do” to live for free.
Earlier this year, he said his family received $350 a week from the federal government and claimed to bring in $1,000 a day begging for cash.
Moreno, who remains in custody at the Geauga County Jail in Ohio, spoke in April claiming to be a victim of “persecution” in both countries.
“I came here to the United States because of persecution in my country … But they’re doing the same thing to me in the United States — persecuting me,” Moreno told the Post.
“It’s all misinformation in the media about me. They’re defaming me. They’re misrepresenting me in the news … I am a good father, a good husband, a good son, a good person, humble, respectful to people who respect me.”
Exclusive | ‘Migrant influencer’ Leonel Moreno, who encouraged migrants to be squatters, is ordered deported — but here’s why he likely won’t be kicked out of the country
“Migrant influencer” Leonel Moreno, who went viral on TikTok for encouraging illegal border crossers to squat in US homes, was ordered deported by an immigration judge — but he li…
nypost.com
Despite deportation order, migrant influencer likely stuck in U.S.
A migrant influencer who went viral on social media by flaunting American money and other handouts has reportedly been ordered deported.