Canada's Finest

Canada, a country built on immigration. And continuing that tradition. Canadians are not replacing themselves at a level commensurate with the need to grow its GDP. We are becoming a nation of elderly people, and too few young people. Immigration stands at roughly a half-million each and every year. It is a costly but necessary process to ensure that Canada continues to grow. But the process comes at a cost when due diligence in admitting future citizens is revealed to have flaws that bring into the country people whose values are inimical to the country.

One such and now-obvious immigrant who entered Canada, originally from Mauritania, by way of Germany is an electrical engineer who lived in Montreal and served as an imam at the Al-Sunnah mosque. The most recent release of WikiLeaks documents details this man's trajectory from immigrant to radicalization and eventual engagement as an al-Qaeda operative. One who ended up as a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. But not before he successfully recruited new members for al-Qaeda, while imam of the Al-Sunnah mosque.

He has, in fact, been linked to three of the hijackers who were involved in the 9/11 terror attacks. As a high-value prisoner he is still being interrogated for any information he may divulge relating to the activities of Islamist extremists in North Africa, Europe and Canada. An American Defence Department assessment of the man which considers him "an admitted member of al-Qaeda" who "was prepared to be a martyr", posits that he was a lieutenant to his cousin, Osama bin Laden's religious adviser, a member of the al-Qaeda council.

A relatively high-ranking, high-value prisoner with deep involvement. He is presumed to have recruited Muhammad Atta, Marwan al Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, pilots of three of the planes lethally and disastrously involved during the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to the American assessment of this very interesting and dedicated Islamist, "multiple independent sources" corroborate his intense involvement in the 9/11 recruitment, along with the Algerian terrorist Ahmed Ressam and the Tunisian synagogue truck bombing in 2002.

Interestingly enough, it was as a teenager in Germany studying on a grant by a foundation at the University of Duisburg where he was exposed to extremist religious indoctrination. He received training in jihad in Afghanistan, and returned there to fight with the mujahadeen against the Soviet-installed Afghan government. Which led to the installation of the Taliban. He planned to fight in Bosnia but decided to return to Germany, rather than face the "danger" in Bosnia.

Of the interesting information he divulged to American authorities was that al-Qaeda was able to invest in "unwitting companies" within Canada. Despite being a fount of useful information, he denies any direct involvement in terrorism. Another innocent man erroneously and grossly unfairly charged with crimes he did not commit. His forthcoming co-operation has been appreciated by the authorities, despite his denials of personal commitment.

Another of Canada's fine immigrants with citizenship potential.