For Concerns Over Canadian Values Look At Home : One Down, More to Go....

"[There is reason for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to be concerned over the Organization's guest speakers to] displace the public benefit by engaging in activities that promote hate and intolerance."
"[Speakers' viewpoints] may be incongruous with the concept of public benefit."
"The Organization [Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque], by allowing these individuals to make use of its facilities, and to speak to an audience consisting of its parishioners, is providing its guest speakers with a de facto endorsement."
"[The board's] passive approach [to its responsibilities and] often approving speakers without any knowledge of the content of the lectures that were to be delivered, and in some cases allowing speakers to attend the mosque against the board's wishes [is equally troubling]."
"The Organization acknowledged that it allowed its premises to be used by individuals and groups with extremist views. The Organization recognizes that certain people made decisions about guest speakers and lecturers without appropriate due diligence and oversight."
Canada Revenue Agency audit

Ottawa Islamic Centre, Assalam Mosque, 2335 St Laurent, Ottawa

"[The Organization is devoted to] playing a positive active role in the lives of the Islamic community [beneficiers of the Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque] in the Ottawa-Carleton area."
Website, Ottawa Islamic Centre, Assalam Mosque

"Allah has created women deficient. Even if she gets a PhD. Deficient. Her intellect is incomplete."
"Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain."
"No one loves the kuffar [non-believers]. Not a single person here from the Muslims loves the kuffar, whether those kuffars are from the U.K. or from the U.S. We love the people of Islam and we hate the people of kuffar."
Abu Usamah At-thahabi

"Such an act [suicide bombing] is not really suicide in the true sense."
"Instead it is a military action requiring the sacrifice of human lives."
Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips

"Muslims are going to have to take a stand [against the filthy habits of homosexuals] and it's not enough to call them names."
Abdullah Hakkeem Quick

The Canada Revenue Agency in performing an audit of the activities of the mosque in question saw fit to revoke its charitable status. On its web site the mosque claims to have received no funding from any outside source, that it maintains its presence and outreach purely through the generosity of individual donations, presumably from its members. The CRA granted the Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque -- which describes itself as a dual social centre and mosque -- charitable status with the proviso that it live up to the standards required to maintain that status.

The reasons given for the revocation of charitable status were: failing to devote all of its resources to charitable activities; allowing its resources for use of activities promoting hatred and intolerance; providing financial support -- an undue benefit -- to a director; and finally, failing, despite having agreed that they would, to maintain the required records. The loss of charitable status for this mosque will certainly impact on its ability to support itself since donors will no longer be provided with tax-deductible receipts.

The list of speakers whom the CRA deemed representative of intolerant hate speech included controversial clerics such as Abu Usamah At-thahabi based in the United Kingdom whose quotes that Christians and Jews are enemies of Muslims distinguish him as a virulent hate-monger inciting his audience to reciprocate as enemies of Christians and Jews. Another speaker, Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, Jamaican-born Canadian, has been banned from entering Australia, the U.K. Kenya, Bangaldesh, the U.S. and Germany. He was arrested in the Philippines for "inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities".

When the CRA requested of the organization that it provide written transcripts or recordings of the numerous speaking engagements in question, the response was unwillingness or inability to produce any, according to the audit. On four occasions in 2012 and 2013 the organization was asked for a complete list of guest speakers by the CRA. The list that ensued was deemed to be "grossly deficient" in comparison to the events the CRA identified with its own research. While the organization claimed to have paid travel expenses of speakers, only eight records reflecting eight people were provided, while the supplementary research undertaken by the CRA revealed an additional 28 people having spoken within the facilities of the organization.

Of the 800 to 900 registered charities the Canada Revenue Agency audits annually, this one stands out for its clear rejection of Canadian values, much less its lax attitude toward its responsibilities inherent in its valuable charitable status. The City of Ottawa, once the organization was granted charitable status in 2010, reduced tax arrears assessed against the mosque from $678,000 to $186,000. This mosque is by no means an anomaly in its flouting of Canadian values. Values which are in actual fact those expressed by all decent, humane societies.

There are mosques in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and elsewhere that have been cited for their regular and customary closing prayers which focus on Koranic verses identifying Jews and Christians as enemies that must be fought and killed. Transcripts and videos have been discovered and their contents published in the past which are equally incendiary and anti-human rights, violently discriminatory and urging to violence, whose status in Canada remains a blemish and a threat.

They should be identified, be placed on notice and their very presence and purpose questioned and identified as inimical to Canada's focus as a pluralist nation dedicated to equality and freedom.

Refugee Sponsorship in Canada : Mutual Obligations

"Unlike any other refugee populations, social media and mobile applications are very commonly used by the Syrian refugees and the population who are actively connected to each other via mobile devices, specifically WhatsApp."
"Refugees were comparing what Syrian friends received in terms of services in other cities and provinces and requested equivalent services and support."
"Many partners and stakeholders were concerned about the [Syrian] youth group [which had experienced a lapse in their education and might find it a future challenge to both fit in to Canadian society and find employment]."
"The perception was that given the integration challenges mentioned above, this group could become disenfranchised and have a harder time developing a sense of belonging to their communities."
Government of Canada report

Syrian refugees line up at the processing centre in Amman, Jordan, where they will meet with Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) employees on Dec. 13, 2015.  MCpl Bernie Kuhn / Canadian Forces

"If instances of sponsors asking refugees to pay for their own sponsorship come to our attention, we will investigate."
"However, we will not comment on any investigations which may be underway."
Remi Lariviere, Immigration Department spokesman

"Large-scale refugee movements place pressure on health-care systems, both in their immediate response and as part of long-term resettlement efforts."
"As Syrians integrate into Canada, meeting their longer-term, health-care needs will call for a seamless network of health-care providers, supported by community partners."
"[Some children arrived with illnesses including cancers, seizures and developmental disorders. Malnutrition and children with intellectual disabilities were also observed at a rate higher than in the general Canadian population]."
"[In Toronto, more than 500 dental emergencies were addressed. Patients of all ages had severe mouth diseases, unable to sleep or eat because of pain.]"  
Canadian Communicable Disease Report study

A recently published government study began with an evaluation by the Immigration Department of the refugee program to settle Syrians through privately sponsored programs which saw 8,918 refugees arriving in Canada between November 2014 and March of 2017, of whom 581 wee interviewed. Twenty-three of those surveyed stated they had paid for the completion of their sponsorship application or for the provision of their personal support in Canada; in some instances being asked to give payment.

This is an illegal situation since private sponsorship groups are not meant to accept or to require that any funds be supplied by a refugee for submitting a sponsorship. It is not just Syrians, according to the report, who have ended up paying sponsors. Privately sponsored refugees arriving from elsewhere in the world surveyed for a previously-undertaken study had divulged that 19 of 451 refugees that paid for their sponsorship, as well. On the other hand, on a private note, it seems entirely reasonable if the refugees have the financial wherewithal, that they be expected to help support themselves.

In the evaluation of the first wave of Syrians documentation comparable with other refugee groups, it was divulged that some Syrians are less educated and are possessed of a more meagre proficiency of one of the two Canadian official languages, both indices which are meant to identify ideal characteristics for welcoming immigrants and refugees to Canada. Syrians, through this enquiry, were also revealed to have larger families and a lower state of awareness of Canadian rights and freedoms than refugees from other groups.

All of which might mark them as less than ideal candidates for migration to and absorption into Canadian society. These are also recognized factors that contribute to additional settlement challenges, (as, for example, a greater financial investment in supporting larger families) which, when added to the popularity among Syrian refugees of social media, has resulted in an additional complication; the expectation among Syrian refugees to Canada of certain services that they feel they are entitled to.

It was also established that only ten percent of adult government-assisted Syrian refugees had found employment, a number which government officials feel to be comparable with other refugee population groups assisted by government for settlement in Canada. September marked the 13th month of the initial group of refugees being situated in Canada, significant since refugees can expect financial support from the federal government or private sponsors for a twelve-month period before they are expected to become independent.

Those not yet self-supporting theoretically can ask for provincial social assistance, to receive welfare  benefits. The estimate is that from March 2017 approximately 1,890 to 2,005 Syrian adults would be eligible to access provincial welfare. The burden on the Canadian taxpayer, from the moment the estimated 40,000 Syrian refugees entered Canada and received financial support for housing, food, medical care, language and job training and education, straining all public welfare systems in the process, now extends to funding in some of the same spheres through provincial welfare.

But it is the future trajectory of the capacity of the Syrian refugees to accept Canadian cultural and social values, to join the mainstream of self-sufficient and law-abiding citizenry that will represent the true test of the wisdom of bringing in to a country dedicated to equality, fundamental human rights entitlements, protection of rights and freedoms, a pluralistic society and economic opportunities having succeeded or failed.