Loyalty to Canada

The Company He Keeps...!

"Adverse information" unleashed by CSIS resulted in the stripping of secret security clearance for a senior federal bureaucrat.  And without that clearance, the poor man simply was incapable of conducting his professional career as a senior federal bureaucrat.  His loyalty to Canada was in question.  And so, the senior federal bureaucrat brought a grievance against his termination of employment that followed the stripping of his secret security clearance.

But, ruled adjudicator Linda Gobell of the Public Service Labour Relations Board, there appeared to her to be no evidence that the decision to terminate Nazih Nasrallah, whose position with Human Resources Canada as a senior policy advisor was complicated as a result of CSIS's discretionary release of information.  Allegations related to ties to terrorist organizations led to his firing, claimed Mr. Nasrallah.

But the adjudicator concluded on the evidence that Mr. Nasrallah's firing had been proper and deserved, for misappropriating government funds.  The tribunal decision made clear that when Mr. Nasrallah returned from his 2009 parental leave he was informed his security clearance had been revoked as a result of information received from the Canadian intelligence service.

The details of the allegations were not elaborated upon, but it was on the basis of his having lost his secret-level security clearance that Mr. Nasrallah was subsequently suspended without pay.  Which was when the Special Investigations Unit of the Integrity Services Branch of Services Canada was brought in for a review.  Mr. Nasrallah was questioned "whether he was a member of a terrorist organization".

Or "whether he had any relationship with a certain member of Hezbollah with the same last name".  Hezbollah being a radical militant group considered a terrorist militia, armed, funded and trained by Iran as a proxy, non-state military.  Now, however, a still-armed, militantly violent part of the Lebanese government, through the election of  members representing its political 'wing'.

The internal review, in its careful investigation, discovered that Mr. Nasrallah had 'misrepresented' his salary to the Canada Student Loan Program resulting in his receiving over $13,000 which he was not entitled to.  This unsavoury revelation, along with the cumulative effects of other allegations, and the withdrawal of his security clearance led to his being fired.

Records that were scrutinized indicated that Mr. Nasrallah was a director of the Ahlul Bayt Centre in Ottawa in 2009, an organizational member of the Canadian Arab Federation.  In that year the Ahlul Bayt Centre became involved in a dispute between Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and the Canadian Arab Federation leader, Khaled Mouammar.

Mr. Mouammar characterized Mr. Kenney as a professional whore", taking a dislike to Mr. Kenney's position on certain matters such as displays of anti-Semitism on the part of the CAF.  Mr. Kenney in return promised a review of the CAF's government funding.  During which the Ahlul Bayt Centre in response, endorsed a letter in support of the CAF, recommending that the prime minister "restrain" Mr. Kenney.

The government abruptly gave notice it would no longer fund a language-training program administered by the CAF.  A letter to Mr. Mouammar by a government official explained "serious concerns" over his public comments: "These statements have included the promotion of hatred, anti-Semitism and support for the banned terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah."

As for Human Resources, Mr. Nasrallah's former employer, its spokeswoman, Anna Maddison, declared "The department accepts the decision of the Public Service Labour Relations Board."  I guess so.  In spades.

Now, about Mr. Nasrallah and Mr. Mouammar; what further can be done about the presence in Canada of such deliberately malign figures whose loyalty to Canada and values held dear by Canadians are clearly not priorities for them...?