Inadmissible Four Times, Enough...!

The big question here is how did Nawal Haj Khalil, now 56, get in to Canada to begin with? Surely the visa issued to her by an immigration officer was only released once her application had been thoroughly scrutinized? She is described as a "trusted member of Yasser Arafat's press corps", a former writer for the Palestine Liberation Organization's propaganda rag. With a firm membership with Fatah.

But evidently she was issued initially with a visa, and then it came to light what her associations were which would surely have made her inadmissible to Canada. The puzzling thing about this is that had she lied on her application, that lie, once discovered, would be enough in and of itself to disqualify her for landed immigrant status, let alone citizenship. The really vexing thing in this case is that all of this was so and is true, but yet she is still here.

As it is, she was accepted as a refugee in 1994. News reports do not clarify whether at that time it was known she had been a long-time member of Fatah at a time when it was fully engaged in overt terrorist acts. It was only years later, when she attempted to secure landed immigrant status that CSIS investigated. She claimed, on arrival in Canada with two children that her refugee claim was based on her having been tortured in Syria, the country of her birth.

She did divulge that she was a member of Fatah-PLO and had been a writer for Filastin Al Thawra, Fatah's magazine once the Canadian Security & Intelligence Service identified her as an individual engaged with a group that indulged in terrorist action. She was then declared inadmissible in 2000. Canada has additional mechanisms at the service of refugee claimants, and she appealed.

Her bid for permanent residency qualified her for a deeper investigation into her background, which revealed the details that would disqualify her for the status she sought. She won a reconsideration from the Federal Court and her application was heard again. And again. In all, Ms. Haj Khalil was declared inadmissible no fewer than four times. And three times she was given clearance to appeal.

The last assessment of her application where, yet again, an immigration officer found reasonable grounds to believe she had been a member of Fatah while it was fully engaged in terrorist activities - including the targeting of civilians, diplomats and tourists, and her fifteen years as a writer with the Fatah publication - resulted in her having been declared inadmissible again.

While Canada Border Services Agency agreed she was never personally involved in violence - and she has since cut off all ties to her former colleagues, and claims now she would no longer support violence, and appears on the surface to have adapted to Canadian democratic values - they remain concerned about her background and suitability to remain in Canada.

"Ms. Haj Khalil knowingly contributed to the propaganda efforts of the PLO and glorified its use of violence" CBSA officials stated, unequivocally . Canada's Public Safety Minister, in denying her an exemption to the immigration act that would grant her admissibility, felt that "her presence in Canada would be detrimental to the national interest."

Despite which, the Federal Court of Canada ordered the minister to reconsider. Then we wonder how it is that undesirables enter and remain in this country.