Securing the Safety of Canadians

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for all of their ongoing support and concern for us in this past year. We are aware that so many people reached out to the police to provide information and we were so grateful for that."
"We would also like to thank the media for all of their attention to Marrisa's case. Lastly, we would like to thank the police for all their hard work and specifically IHIT [Integrated Homicide Investigation Team for their perseverance."
"We hope that justice will now be served and that Marrisa can finally be at peace in heaven."
Shen family, Burnaby, British Columbia

28-year-old Ibrahim Ali has been charged in the first degree murder of Burnaby teen Marrisa Shen, whose body was found in Central Park in July 2017. (Supplied by family)

"When a tragedy like this happens, it can and does impact public opinion and it's unfortunate that entire communities can be white-washed by the horrific alleged behaviour of one individual."
"We have found the vast, vast majority have left all of that behind -- the trauma, the war -- and just want to live a peaceful and productive life in Canada, paying taxes and supporting their kids in school."
Chris Friesen, director, Immigrant Services Society of B.C.

"[Marrisa Shen's case was] one of the biggest, if not the biggest murder investigations that IHIT has had [in terms of hours and effort by officers and the] leading edge [investigave techniques used]."
"The investigative path was extraordinary and I couldn't be more proud."
Eric Stubbs, RCMP assistant commissioner, criminal investigations, B.C.

Marrisa Shen was reported missing by her parents on July 18, 2017 in Burnaby, British Columbia. The city's Central Park was where the child's body was found the next morning. In the investigation police had identified and eventually eliminated over two thousand "persons of interest". It took over a year, but eventually police closed in on a suspect, and named 28-year-old Syrian refugee Ibrahim Ali, accusing and charging him of first-degree murder. Details of what caused Marrisa's death have not been revealed. The arrested man had no criminal record, and it was not revealed how the police were led to identify him as a suspect in the murder.

He had been in Canada for three months at the time of the murder. When he was arrested and charged he had the status of a permanent resident of Canada, was employed, and had family living in Burnaby. Immigration and Refugee Board authorities have been unable to find records of any public proceedings where this man was involved, but it is known he hadn't arrived at a port of entry to claim asylum. He is only one of 3,500 Syrian refugees living in 69 communities in British Columbia. Another Syrian man with the same name, in prison, was confused with the man arrested for the murder.

Over 1,300 residents of the city had been canvassed resulting in over 600 interviews, with more than a thousand hours of video footage. The public responded to a website the police launched in hopes of receiving tips, and that site had 80,000 visits. Although the RCMP's behavioural sciences group had developed a likely criminal profile of the-then unknown killer, no details have been released indicating what led them to identify this man as the murderer of 13-year-old Marrisa. The local Syrian community has expressed sadness and their full support in finding justice for the girl.

When the government of Canada set out to respond to a UN appeal for countries to absorb Syrian refugees, the decision could have been made to rescue women and children, Christians, and Kurds, all of whom are threatened Syrian demographics. Single Muslim men are known to have been a cause of criminal activities and in particular, violence against women where they have settled in great numbers in Germany, for example. Through both government and private auspices, an estimated 40,000 Syrian refugees were brought into Canada.

In Syria's Kurdistan, the Kurdish military have long since arrested and placed in prison Western nationals who had travelled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Among them is a number of Canadian nationals, deeply involved in ISIS terrorist activities. One in particular, is known to have brutalized and murdered captives of ISIS, and to have been one of their 'voices' for narration of the horrifying videos of atrocities committed by the terrorists.

A screen shot from the ISIS execution video Flames of War, showing the narrator.
SITE Intelligence Group

One of the Muslim Canadians had informed the New York Times podcast Caliphate that he had executed captives while serving as a loyal ISIS operative. That man is known to have since returned to university studies in the Toronto area and has not been charged with any crime. Of the Canadians known to have joined ISIS and returned to Canada, few have been charged, despite that Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced that Canada and its allies were collaborating to "assemble evidence from the battlefield that will be usable in courts of law".

That glib assurance aside, thus far no Canadian investigators have yet spoken with Ali, captured by the YPG armed group in northern Syria four months ago, even though he declared he had been interrogated by American, British and Kurdish officials. "From a recruitment perspective, it actually speaks to the people here saying, 'Hey, if that wanker from Mississauga or Hamilton or Calgary can do it, well then so can I'," said Phil Gurski, formerly an analyst with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who now heads Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting.

Protesters gathered outside the B.C. provincial courthouse protesting the government's refugee screening process; the man accused of killing 13-year-old Marrisa Shen, Ibrahim Ali, 28, is a Syrian refugee.  Photo: Tessa Vikaner, StarMetro