Saturday 27 April 2013

NDP MP Paul Dewar says someone dropped the ball when one of the train bomb suspects was allowed to remain in Canada despite a criminal record and a deportation order.



Today, I bring you another very hopeful article, verbatim by Jessica Murphy of the Toronto Sun, Parliamentary Bureau entitled, 'Kenney reviewing immigration policy in wake of alleged terror bomb plot'.
My response is below with room for your comment below that, unless you prefer to send an email but please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack others personally, and keep your language decent.



                                                  Immigration Minister Jason Kenney

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says he was stunned to learn one of the train bomb suspects was allowed to remain in Canada despite a criminal record and a deportation order. And Kenney said he's now taking a closer look at federal policies and whether the government — despite being a signatory to a UN convention on statelessness — can remove people from the country in cases similar to that of Raed Jaser.

"We are reviewing the case to see what lessons we can learn," he said Friday. A deportation order was issued against Jaser in 1998. In 2004, he was arrested on that order but released because he is considered stateless under international law. Jaser, 35, who is accused of terrorism-related charges based on an alleged plot to derail a VIA passenger train, was born in the United Arab Emirates but was never granted UAE citizenship. He came to Canada as a minor in 1993.

He earned three criminal convictions after landing in Canada, including uttering death threats in 2000. He later received a pardon for that crime and was granted permanent residency. "I was absolutely disturbed to learn that a foreigner can get a pardon for a serious criminal offence and then be allowed to stay in Canada," Kenney said. "I'm looking at all aspects of this case to see if we can learn whether anything more could have been done. But I can certainly tell you that I cannot tolerate that serious criminals would be allowed to stay in Canada in perpetuity based on some pardon."

The minister said his department is implementing a "massive upgrade" to immigration controls to beef up security screening and he placed the blame on old policies of former governments for the immigration loopholes that allowed Jaser to stay in Canada and receive a pardon. But while the feds are trying to put as much light between themselves and the immigration files of Jaser and his co-accused, Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, the opposition is beginning to ask questions.

"It appears from what we know right now that someone dropped the ball," NDP MP Paul Dewar said.
"There's a number of issues here. There's the pardon. There's the deportation." Dewar warned new anti-terror laws and border technology like biometric visas, which include photos and fingerprints of applicants, are only useful if relevant agencies like the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency are properly funded and staffed.

Results of a Toronto Sun Poll

Does Canada's immigration need an overhaul? Yes @ 94% No @ 2% and I don't know @ 4%, as of Saturday, April 29, 2013

my response.....

                                                          An arial view of a train bombing!

The operative statement here is...."It appears from what we know right now that someone dropped the ball," NDP MP Paul Dewar said. "There's a number of issues here. There's the pardon. There's the deportation."

Does this mean that we have the NDP onside with reforming our front...and back door? Frankly, that is long overdue!

Jennifer Pagliaro Andrew Livingstone, Wendy Gillis and Michelle Shephard, Staff Reporters for the Toronto Star ask us if this spate of terrorism cases indicate a worrying new trend? Or is the real worry that the high-profile incidents will incite political opportunism and a repeat of what followed the 9/11 attacks — a dramatic reshaping of Western foreign policy and domestic laws?



                                                       What a bombing on a train looks like!

They go to tell us that Michael Zekulin, a political science instructor at the University of Calgary and specialist in terrorism and radicalization, is of the opinion that although this case may be considered Canada’s first taste of organized terrorism, we have always been a target, along with other western democracies. Michael wonders if the alleged train plot could reveal that Al Qaeda’s connection here is limited, considering one of the accused is a Tunisian doctoral student with a history of erratic behaviour, and the other is a permanent resident with a lengthy criminal history.

If a large terrorist organization were directing the effort, “You would think that they’d have more to choose from,” Zekulin said. He agrees that attacks in future will be less organized and perpetrated more by “self-radicalized” individuals. “They’re simply doing things on their own. “There is no way of telling how many of those there are . . . That’s a curveball for us.”


                                                  A scene from the Boston Bombing!

NIcholas Keung, the immigration reporter for the Toronto Star tells that Kenney will order a review into why his officials granted permanent resident status 'instead of the boot' to one of the accused...who had at least five fraud-related convictions and another threatening death or bodily harm while living in the GTA.

It is clear that our Immigration folks need better training and or better tools...and the sooner they get this, the safer we will all be!

                                             -30-



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