Suitable for Immigration

"While we have indeed identified Canadians who have travelled abroad to join extremist groups and possibly to participate in terrorist activities, I cannot discuss specifics about them.  What I can say is that the phenomenon of young Canadians joining violent organizations overseas is very real.  These groups - Al Shabaab and al-Qaeda among them - offer young people a misguided sense of purpose and belonging, and maybe even an ill-conceived promise of adventure in a foreign land - but too often it gets them killed.

"This is a serious security threat to Canadian interests because those recruits could return to Canada to promote radicalism, share their terrorist training and possibly even carry out acts of violence on Canadian soil.  People who participate in these activities abroad are a threat to the interests of Canadians and our allies, and no one should be surprised that it often ends violently for them."  Tahera Mufti, CSIS spokeswoman

Well, we are surprised.  And why should we not be, after all?  When immigrants make the decision to leave their countries of origin, generally it is because they feel there is nothing left for them there.  Often enough the society has been found wanting, there is insecurity, mass unemployment, government oppression, sometimes civil war, and sometimes it is an escape route from persecution as a result of religion or heritage.

Some societies and cultures inculcate in their populations values that are not reflective of the social contract in Canada.  Among them tribal, sectarian, ideological and religious imperatives that become difficult to square with Canadian values and Canadian culture.  It may be unrealistic to expect that people from Sri Lanka or India, who agitate in their home countries for independence, leave it all behind them as soon as they reach Canada, but realistically, the conflicts that attend to them should be left behind.

As worrying as those two examples have been - and one resulted in the most dreadful impacting act of terrorism ever experienced by Canada through the actions of separatist Sikhs seeking to avenge themselves on fellow Canadian Hindus - a much more prolonged and pervasive situation has arisen with first- and second-generation Canadian Muslim youth hailing from countries like Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria, among others.

There have been public displays of support within Canadian cities of groups held by most Western nations to be terrorist organizations and outlawed in Europe, the U.S. and Canada.  Flags and posters celebrating Hezbollah and Hamas have been proudly carried in demonstrations by Muslim-Canadians.  Canadian Intelligence has revealed the presence of members of Hamas and Hezbollah in Canada, recruiting to their cause.

Money-laundering for these terrorist groups has been an ongoing concern.  As has unsettling attempts to create divisions within Canadian society.  Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service testified in April to a Senate committee that "at least 45 Canadians, possibly as many as 60", to their knowledge had travelled overseas to join al-Qaeda affiliates.

On a number of documented occasions young men with Canadian passports have gone abroad to train in terrorist camps and to fight in Somalia and Afghanistan, and in places like the North Caucasus, as well.  "Consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information regarding reports of a Canadian citizen killed in Russia", according to Claude rochon, a spokesman with Department of Foreign Affairs.

This is in reflection of the latest event where a young Canadian who became a citizen in 2008, studied at Seneca College in Toronto, returned to Russia in 2010 has died abroad.  He was among seven insurgents killed in Dagestan on Friday when they were ambushed by Russian police and military.  Dagestan has been experiencing insurgent violence between Islamist rebels and Russian security forces.

Canadian Muslims killed in counter-terrorism operations include men killed in Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan and Somalia.  These represent men fully invested in violent jihad, and the terrorist activities that delineate that requirement by fanatical Islamism. 

These clearly are not immigrants to Canada who can be said to have been suitable for acceptance as landed immigrants, residents or/and citizens of the country.