Canada's Globe-Trotting Prime Minister Visits The Middle East : Addled or Evil?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara last week. Photo by ADEM ALTAN /AFP via Getty Images

 

"As NATO Allies, Canada and Turkiye are bound together by shared values: human rights, individual liberties, democracy and the rule of law."

Prime Minister Mark Carney, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joint statement 

 

"[Canada could not defend the gay rights of its own citizens other than as a] truly sovereign nation."

"[Sovereign nationhood requires a] broad range  of partnerships." 

"The engagement in those partnerships does not mean approval." 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"Saudi nationals and foreigners have been sentenced to lengthy jail sentences for social media activities, including posts or simple 'likes'."

"This included social media activity that took place outside Saudi Arabia and sometimes many years in the past."

Canada's Global Affairs, travel warning to Canadians 

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, speaks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he arrives at the Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, July 9, 2026. Adrian Wyld (The Canadian Press)

 

Back in the summer of 2026, Canada's Prime Minister Carney decided on a trip to Saudi Arabia which his office lauded as "the first visit to the country by a Canadian Prime Minister in 26 years". In his zeal to reach out to prospective trade partners in the midst of a prolonged trade war with American President Donald Trump, Mr. Carney has sought out potential trade partners. In a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon, Mr. Carney enthused over a "partnership ... based on trust, friendship and a shared vision of confronting global challenges with pragmatic, swift and tangible cooperation", in Jeddah.  

 

First was a trip to China in January where meeting with Premier Xi Jinping in Beijing, Canada's premier praised the People's Republic of China as a partner in a "new world order". How quickly and conveniently is forgotten the Canadian Parliament's censure of China over its cultural genocide of the Uyghurs. Meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mr. Carney said effusively "The world has changed much since that last visit (by previous PM Jean Chretien) and I believe the progress that we have made, and the partnership, sets us up well for the new world order." Followed by a joint statement pledging closer "law enforcement cooperation" between Beijing and Canada.

 

Both China and Canada are looking to strengthen trade ties amid Trump's tariffs

 

These trips were followed up more recently by trips to Qatar and Turkey, both allies of the terrorist group Hamas, proscribed as such on Canada's official terrorist list. Doha has been the locale of the official political office of Hamas for over a decade. Only two weeks before Mr. Carney's visit to Turkey, a Hamas delegation was hosted by Turkey's foreign Minister, where President Erdogan praised Hamas as a "group of liberators". 

 

Canada, through the outreach of its latest prime minister, has chosen ostensible trade partners in a strange coalition where both Qatar and Turkey according to the Global Slavery Index, are both involved in slave labour. "Turkey has up to 1.3 million people living in modern slavery". Rights organizations accused Qatar of constructing its venue of the 2022 World Cup with migrant forced labour. Unenviable human rights abuse practices, glossed over by a Western democracy that prides itself on its defence of human rights.

 

Qatar was graced by a visit with Mr. Carney in January, and a three-day visit to Turkey wrapped up last week. During the Carney visit to Turkey a government crackdown took place on gay rights organizations. According to Human Rights Watch, infractions such as a social media post of two men embracing could result in raids on gay rights non-profits and the arrests of staff. Global Affairs Canada signed a letter by the Equal Rights Coalition that denounced the persecution of LGBTIQ+ activists ... "under the pretext of protecting children, adolescents, or the family". 

"Qatar is an effective, expansive, and increasing diplomatic force in the world today."

"[Looking forward to a] future marked by even deeper cooperation and prosperity, that is strengthened by mutual trust, close friendship and a common vision for advancing the partnership between the two friendly nations." 

Prime Minister Mark Carney 

Carney is greeted by Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani as he arrives to Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

 

 

Muslim Brotherhood Entryism in Canada

"[The TCMV] is a national, non-partisan charity empowering Canadian Muslims through civic engagement and education."

"[It does not] endorse parties, tell you how to vote, lobby politicians, or preach religion."

The Canadian Muslim Vote website

 

"[The Canadian Muslim Vote's mandate is to] empower Canadian Muslims through civic education, political engagement, and leadership, fostering an informed and active community that contributes to Canada's democracy."

"That means encouraging everyone, including our community, to get involved in Canada's democratic system."

"[TCMV does not target some 60 to 80 ridings for the purpose to mobilize Muslim voters, but it] encouraged all Canadians, including all Canadian Muslims, to get out and vote."

Jeff Saikaley, TCMV legal spokesperson

 

"Under the radar, Canada is being infiltrated."

"In the West -- in Canada, but in other Western democratic countries -- we don't really understand what the Muslim Brotherhood is."

"It sounds like a benevolent organization. It's a nice name, [but] we don't understand the ideology, the goals, the religious worldview of the Brotherhood, what the strategic and military or philosophical underpinnings are, and they have mastered us."

Charles Small, founder/director, ISGAP (Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy) "The ISGAP report is nothing more than recycled Islamophobic tropes dressed up as research."

"It is a biased, unsubstantiated hit piece that relies on discredited allegations that were themselves challenged by the Ontario Superior Court for their apparent bias."

"It amplifies narratives designed to fuel Islamophobia and sow division within Canadian society."

Muslim Association of Canada 

Recently releasing a 200-page study, ISGAP outlines an organized campaign of pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Islamophobia charges that -- the international Islamist group that is outlawed in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, but has sprawling outreach globally -- the Muslim Brotherhood and other allied groups have been engaging in, fomenting antisemitism in Canada. Funded through sophisticated financial channels by Qatar, they have infiltrated and established positions of influence within many of Canada's largest and most academically trusted universities.

 

The University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University are given special attention in the report where "consistent concerns are identified". Those concerns are inclusive of limited disclosures on sources of foreign funding, a reluctance to disclose intellectual property contracts, plus "use of campus environments as platforms for sustained mobilization, coalition building, and narrative development", among other allied issues.

 

Through Qatar's sovereign Qatar Investment Fund or Qatar National Research Fund, financing activities have backed Canadian university programs which frequently  have rules on limited disclosures. A number of research projects backed by Qatar in such strategic fields as smart grids, carbon systems and secure communications are listed. Details surrounding issues such as intellectual property rights, data access or contractual terms, fail to be disclosed at Toronto Metropolitan University, Waterloo and University of Toronto.

Anti-Israel Protest on the anniversary of 7 October 2023, Moment of silence during vigil held outside of Sidney Smith Hall. CELESTA MANIATOGIANNI/THE VARSITY University of Toronto

 

The influence that has permeated these universities has resulted in their campuses becoming hotbeds of pro-Palestine sentiments, university administrators frequently opting to silence critics and bypass pro-Israel events, according to the report. Responding to an investigative journalist's requests, a spokesperson for University of Toronto  confirmed 11 research grants totalling $1.75M in value from the Qatar National Research Fund. An amount, pointed out the university, minuscule in comparison to the billions it receives from fundraising sources. 

"The university is not subject to foreign influence via research awards, donations or partnerships."

"The university has robust policies that protect the academic integrity of the institution and safeguard research independence and autonomy, and all partnerships and funding agreements comply with these policies and with Canadian regulations."

"[Claims by the report that campus groups at University of Toronto and students support anti-Israel ideation are] without merit." 

University of Toronto spokesperson (name withheld)

An anti-Israel protest outside Concordia University in Montreal on Oct. 7, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette/Postmedia

 

The ISGAP report outlines how groups such as the Muslim Association of Canada aid in advancing ideologies of interests sympathetic to the causes of the Muslim Brotherhood through affiliation with non-profits and other groups based in Canada. The Canada Revenue Agency preliminary audit of Muslim Association of Canada alleged that some of its activities "appear to be in furtherance of the Muslim Brotherhood organization"; that many activities of the charity failed the test of explicit charity designation.
 

 That the Muslim Association of Canada had widened its holdings of real estate property which totalled $12 million in 2006 to over $51 million nine years later, it was the Canada Revenue Agency's position that these property holdings investments were of a non-charitable purpose, in direct contradiction to their claims. "There appears to be a significant difference between what the MAC represents it stands for and the activities that it appears to conduct." To substantiate the CRA's observation of links to the Muslim Brotherhood, it pointed out that members of the Brotherhood on coming to Canada, become members of the Muslim Association of Canada

 

The ISGAP report concludes by calling for a number of policy changes; greater oversight of academic partnerships with foreign entities at universities, among them. Along with greater transparency for foreign funding to universities, and granting additional review powers for government agencies toward non-profits and charities. A universal unfamiliarity with the geopolitical aims of these foreign entities such as the Muslim Brotherhood invariably leads to a lack of critical sovereign awareness.

 

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a photo at the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) Eid Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 6, 2025.  Arab Weekly

  

"Recent Islamist terror attacks in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu remind us of the mounting terrorist threats facing Canadians. But evidence gathered by Point de Bascule indicates that the main danger facing Canada may go beyond the violent jihadist threat — and be made worse — by a little-discussed associated phenomenon, the penetration of our institutions by Islamists."

"There are two consequences to this penetration. First, it reduces Canada's ability to respond to the violent Islamist threat, and second, it leads to the gradual introduction of sharia rules in Canada."

"By penetration, I refer to the presence of Islamists and their sympathizers within a range of institutions from political and government organizations to NGOs and corporate entities. Those involved could themselves range from non-violent fundamentalists attempting, whether clandestinely or otherwise, to sway policy from the inside, to those that are violently inclined."

"Particular concerns have been raised about sabotage risks that could be posed by penetration of security or emergency services, no small worry when one considers what the Muslim Brotherhood revealed in a document produced for evidentiary purposes in the most important anti-terrorism trial in the U.S. in 2008.

This is an excerpt from what is described as an internalization memorandum of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it comes from their own memorandum: "The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers."

Marc Lebuis, founding director, independent research organization Point de Bascule, 2015 testimony at the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence  

"[The Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood] support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.

"The military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel."

U.S. government 2025 terrorism designation for the Muslim Brotherhood  

 

The Death Cult That Refuses to Fade Into Obscurity and Failure

"Senior group members claimed that IDF activity in the Gaza Strip, the moving of the Yellow Line, and the cancellation of the [Palestinian] elections by the Palestinian Authority are leading Hamas to lose control in the field, and clarified that they are unwilling to accept the continuation of this situation." 

"Against this backdrop, they threatened that, as they see fit, Hamas is ready to again carry out an attack such as the October 7 attack, and that it is prepared to act in this vein on any front in which this becomes possible — in the State of Israel, in Judea and Samaria, and abroad."

"This is an unusual threat message, which hasn’t been previously conveyed in this level of bluntness and directness."

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy

Palestinians wave the national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the southern Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023. (AP/Yousef Masoud)

The Israeli news website Ynet reported that senior Hamas officials had given a message to Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN humanitarian coordinator, meeting at his office in Gaza a week ago, that it was prepared to carry out another attack similar in its savage sadism and scope to that of October 7, 2023, when thousands of Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas jihadi operatives flooded into Israel to launch a planned massacre of Israelis. 

Its options, it indicated, went beyond southern Israel, the regional locale of its 7 October attack which could take place anywhere in Israel, in Judea, Samaria, and quite possibly at an overseas locale of their choice. They plan to seize an opportunity wherever it may arise and then strike. Hamas, they informed Dr. Alakbarov, is constrained in its Gaza operations, with the presence of Israeli military operations still ongoing.

 

The IDF's decisions to shift the Yellow Line demarking the border with Israel, alongside the cancellation of Palestinian elections scheduled for November, by a decision made by President Mahmoud Abbas who is obviously quite aware of his personal unpopularity among Palestinian voters, who would vote instead to elevate the Hamas leadership to the governing role of the Palestinian Territories has aggravated them beyond endurance. 

 

Upon receiving the message from the terrorist group which is adamant it will not surrender its weapons as demanded by the international group overseeing Gaza prior to taking steps for reconstruction, Dr. Alakbarov advised Major General Yoram Halevy, Israel's coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT), of the Hamas threat to resume where they left off, before Israel's response in invading Gaza to flush out the terrorist hordes and destroy their weapons and command depots. 

 

From there the message was relayed directly to Israel's political and security leaders, engrossed in the upcoming general election for October 27. According to Ynet, Hamas refused to accept the continuation of the stalemated situation, with the IDF continuing to occupy and control a major portion of the Gaza Strip, leaving Hamas with the remainder where they fought against Gaza tribal forces determined to unseat them from power. The message received by Israeli authorities represented a threat 'unprecedented' in its blunt directness.

 

Leading to intensified concerns that Hamas has made preparations for another violent confrontation. Israeli authorities are well aware that since the ceasefire, Hamas has taken advantage of the time to rearm, recruit and turn once more to schemes of achieving its goal of destroying Israel. Hamas leaders deemed Israel's focus on its elections with their inner disputes would represent a distraction from giving the threat uts full attention, to advantage Hamas in its plans of returning to the offensive. 

 

Hamas fighters secure an area in a square before handing over four Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on Jan. 25, 2025. Photo by OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

The Israeli security cabinet was forced to take time out from election pursuits to analyze the threat of renewed conflict where Hamas has reportedly transferred military equipment into civilian areas in its usual pattern of shielding itself behind the civilian population, using schools, hospitals and private homes to camouflage its presence, with the intention of having civilian casualties as they accumulate, used in accusations against Israel deliberately harming Palestinian non-combatants, women and children that the West takes as reality as a cudgel to beat Israel with, charging the Jewish state with 'genocide'.

Even as Israel understands that Hamas anticipates its response will be restrained by the chaos of the looming election, and with the United States embroiled in its own midterm elections failing to react as previously, Israel will not be constrained, it is more than able to handle both its polls and its security. This, while reports advise that Hamas may no longer be capable of launching an attack on the scale of its devastating October 7 stealth slaughter. 

Word also is that the terrorist organization is in financial crisis, unable to meet its military payrolls -- with estimates that the number of Hamas personnel stands at approximately 30,000, each of whom is given the equivalent of $970 as a monthly combat wage. U.S. President Trump's Board of Peace still calls upon Hamas to disarm under the July 30 Gaza Roadmap, the framework for the U.S.-brokered plan to end the conflict to be implemented. 

Masked members of the special unit of the Al-Qassam Brigade, the military wing of Hamas, demonstrate their military skills during a pro-Hamas election rally on April 29, 2005, in the Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. (Abid Katib/Getty Images)

 

Canada, Legitimizing Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 'Justice & Development Party'

"Engagement is not approval."

"There are very few countries in this world that have the standards of Canada, the rights of Canada, the conviction of Canada, the constant reinforcement of those rights, so that all Canadians can live their lives as they choose."

"If you would have asked us a year ago how we would have pegged the chances [of Canada making a Candu sale in Turkey], that would have been very low. Now there are good chances."

"Our first and foremost job is protecting, not just protecting LGBTQI rights and two-spirited rights in Canada, but promoting those rights and ensuring that all Canadians can live their full selves in Canada."

"So first and foremost that's our responsibility."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, welcomes Prime Minister Mark Carney during an official ceremony in Ankara, Turkey's capital, on Thursday. (Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney is nothing short of a preening hypocrite, to declare that Canada, under the administrative mishandling of its values, culture, priorities and dedication to multiculturalism remains a haven for all of its citizens under the Liberal-progressives that embrace Critical Race Theory in tandem with DEI. The Canada that existed before 2015 was indeed a country to be proud of, one where equality and mutual respect reflected the social order and government position. That Canada has been eviscerated.

 

The current Canada has embarked on friendly trade missions to Qatar and Turkey, both of which nations are in the willing thrall of the Muslim Brotherhood whose mission is one of stealth conquest of the West. Qatar's vast oil wealth has been generating the kind of goodwill that only money can buy, through 'investments' in academia in North America, in conjunction with the infiltration of members of the Islamic Republican Guard Corps as residents of Canada, where it is able to influence future generations of Canadians of the justice in supporting Palestinian victims of Israeli oppressive 'occupation'. 

 

Both Qatar and Turkey openly shelter and pamper leaders of the Hamas terrorist group whose mission is the destruction of the Jewish state, an outcome that would fit comfortably into the plans of both Islamist nations. And these are the 'allies' toward which Mark Carney, on Canada's behalf, turn to. Turkey, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled for 18 years as an Ottoman-empire caliph, where political dissenters are imprisoned and independent journalists arrested. In no Muslim country are LGBTQI communities permitted; Carney's daughter would be imprisoned and possibly gang-raped in a squalid lifetime cell.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Turkish President Recep Erdogan shake hands during a news conference at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday, when both countries signed a new trade and defence partnership. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Reuters)

 

And there stands Prime Minister Carney, bursting with pride that he is succeeding in selling a Candu nuclear reactor to Turkey for, of course, industrial-civilian use. Not so long ago that would register as enabling nuclear proliferation. All the more perplexing when a country like Canada that positions itself as an exemplar of peace, security and good governance is exporting a potential doomsday weapon in a region of the world that is perpetually unsettled and in conflict, one where the Islamic Republic of Iran threatens to use a nuclear bomb if it considers itself under attack.

 

Chief executive of AtinsRealis, Ian Edwards, stated his company is prepared to conduct a feasibility study on "a potential new build of Candu reactors" at Sinop, a port city in Turkey. "We welcome this opportunity to deepen energy cooperation between Canada and Turkey while bringing Canadian nuclear technology and expertise to a growing international market". Turkey, where an ever-increasing dictatorship from a once-emerging democracy, whom Freedom House scores as 32/100 on its civil-liberties index: "not free".  The Turkish President and his party "have become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, consolidating significant power through constitutional changes and by imprisoning opponents and critics." 

 

Turkey has taken to shutting down a pro-opposition media outlet recently, raided LGBTQ groups, and convicted a standup comic of insulting President Erdogan. To the West, Turkey sitting at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, has always been viewed as a vital link between the two. Its long-lasting efforts to be accepted for membership in the European Union has always been deferred on the basis of its democratic deficit -- and that was long before the advent of Mr. Erdogan's 'Justice and Development Party'. 

 

But according to Mr. Carney, a 'strategic partnership' between Canada and Turkey represents a bonus for both; it would, to Mr. Erdogan; such recognition providing legitimacy where it is not due. As for Canada, under this Liberal government, it should blush with shame over such blatant sanctimony spouted by its prime minister. "Part of the way we discharge that [our independence and sovereignty] is to be a truly sovereign nation. Part of the way we become a truly sovereign nation and reinforce our sovereignty is to have a broad range of partnerships around the world", claims Mark Carney, broadly smiling.  

"Turkey is a formal partner of Canada in NATO and one of the most important geostrategic countries, not just in this region, but in this world."

"So we need to engage, and we do engage."

"[If Canada doesn't engage, it can't] be in the room [to raise Canadian perspectives on international challenges [citing geopolitical matters in regions near Turkey including Iran, Ukraine, Syria, the Middle East and the prospect of] continued stabilization [in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan]."

Mark Carney 

"I commend Mr. Carney for how much energy he's putting into diversifying Canada's trade, but he's not getting the balance right."

"[The Prime Minister] is decidedly on the side of pursuing commercial goals with downplaying other questions of human rights and democracy and the rule of law."

"[The Carney visit to Turkey comes at a difficult time for human-rights campaigners in Turkey who are] by necessity very brave and some of them are in jail and have been incarcerated in the last few weeks and I think it's incumbent on any Canadian prime minister to do more."

Roland Paris, professor of international affairs, University of Ottawa 

In Istanbul on Friday, the prime minister held meetings with Turkish companies that included Sabanci Holding, an industrial and financial conglomerate; with Calik holding, a company that operates in the energy, mining, construction, textile and financial sectors; Baykar, manufacturer of military drones -- and arms manufacturer Aselsan. That will most certainly advantage their Canadian counterparts in those very same industries. 

 

PM Mark Carney and wife Diana Fox suitably garbed, visiting the Kariye mosque in Istanbul, Turkey on 24 October, 2026.  LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Adrian Wyld

 

In France, Protests Have Grown Into Full-Blown Insurrection

"People were traumatized by what happened last weekend when they sometimes found themselves on their own, sometimes for two or three hours or the whole day, facing the rioters."

"Shopkeepers, restaurant owners and individuals got scared and are looking to defend themselves."

"They're not seeking to take justice into their own hands."

"[However, the increase in sales of non-lethal protective gear is] unprecedented."

Yves Gollety, proprietor, l'Armurerie de la Bourse, Central Paris

 

"It's not just Paris. It's many cities across France."

"There will be large-scale operations everywhere. [At least 75 percent of the police force will be mobilized, with postponements of days off, as required]."

Thierry Clair, national secretary, Unsa Police union 

People enter a ransacked Franprix store as clashes erupted at Place de la République. Photograph: Matthieu Rondel/AFP/Getty Images

 

The shopkeeper of a costume jewelry store in Les Halles, a sprawling commercial district in Paris, went shopping a few days back, for self-protection weaponry; a truncheon, a plastic handgun propelling small canisters of a substance like tear gas, and all together found himself 600 euros out-of-pocket. Although his store was spared by the rioters who had ransacked other stores nearby his own last weekend, he finds it necessary to be prepared for such exigencies as may reoccur.

 

"I never thought it would come to this. I'm doing this, but I don't feel reassured", he said in an interview, taking care to ensure his name would not be used. He didn't stop just with procuring those weapons, but went on to hire private security guards complete with trained canines. He is boarding up his storefront windows. And then, when he feels somewhat prepared, he will reopen his business. And he is not alone in feeling the necessity to protect himself and his property, feeling he can no longer be reliant on police alone in the face of violent mob action.

 

Last Saturday's protests across France came complete with violence and vandalism, with roving bands of rioters attacking hundreds of shops, smashing windows and making off with merchandise. Observers note that most of these looters are people of colour, individuals who may be first- or second-generation immigrants to France. Palestinian flags have become a common sight among the protests, whereas the flag of the Republic is less seen among the protesters who initially came out to inform French officialdom that students are fed up with underfunded education.

 

An optician’s on rue Beaubourg in central Paris on Monday. The graffiti says: ‘Burn the prisons.’ Photograph: Angelique Chrisafis/The Guardian

 

Residents, shopkeepers and authorities have been on edge in fearful anticipation, with another planned weekend of protests, where students, teachers, unions -- and others whose purpose is not as well defined plan to roil the country with more of the protests that come complete with threats and violence. The owner of l'Armurerie de la Boure, Yves Gollety, is also chair of the organization representing weapons sellers in France. It is not only his store but others like his own where customers are usually hunters, seeing self-defence weapons sales rise ten times normal in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

 

Sales of hunting rifles are stagnant, while demand for pepper sprays, tear gas-like canisters, pistols that fire rubber bullets and other non-lethal gear have exploded. Although other shops in the area where Yves Gollety's is located were attacked and looted last weekend, his was not. His plans were to open his shop again on Saturday, if for no other reason than to protect it from the potential of swarms of rioters looting it as they did those of his neighbours.

 

Masked protesters confront French riot Police   CNN

 

Business owners were informed by the Prefecture of Police to hire more private security agents in anticipation of what Saturday and coming Saturdays may bring. The co-founder of the Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger wrote on X that if the state can no longer protect the people, the French should stop paying taxes. Authorities have promised to roll out the military to back up police tasked with upholding law and order, planning prevention of last weekend's riots on repeat. 

 

In an effort to reassure markets whom the violence has unnerved, a 20 percent-greater police presence was expected, according to the Interior Ministry, in response to the chaos that erupted through cost-of-living protests that deteriorated into the looting of 3,000 stores that merited 2,700 arrests. Special-intervention forces ordinarily deployed for risky missions such as counter-terrorism will be present should they be required, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

 

Forensic investigators search for evidence after a shooting in Trappes, outside Paris, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

 

Sensitive buildings will be guarded with soldiers and helicopters, water cannons and armoured vehicles popularly called Centaurs, will be present to ensure a level of public order. On Friday an escalation in the violence occurred when a Black mixed-martial-arts figure was shot and killed in an act termed 'racist' and a 'terrorist attack' by French authorities. The government, added Minister Nunez, would be 'uncompromising' in dealing with hooligans, with 70,000 security forces to be mobilized Saturday. 

"The suspect of the deadly shooting in Trappes (central France) claimed to have acted in response to the unrest during the October 17 demonstrations and the widespread looting and vandalism of shops."

"When he was arrested on Friday, October 23 in Coignières, after a deadly rampage lasting nearly 20 minutes, the man suspected of killing one person and injuring five others, including a 12-year-old girl, with an automatic weapon, stated in substance that he had "avenged the shopkeepers" by targeting "Black people and Arabs." 

Le Monde  

 

Misplaced Empathy for an Indigenous Psychopath

"[His] risk of violence is assessed as moderate to high in the short term. [He has a] need to dominate and control women."

[There is concern over his] problematic reactions to feelings of rejection, dismissal, and criticism."

"[Ewert's] attitude  towards women indicates that an undue risk to the community continues to exist."

Parole Board 

 

"You informed [the parole officer] that you find her very attractive and distracting. It appears that these comments were not made in the search of aid or for any therapeutic purpose. You made these comments in a flirtatious manner, while smiling, possibly to assert control."

"During the meeting with your [parole officer], another staff member noticed that you were visibly fixated on your [parole officer] in a preoccupying fashion. Your facial expressions were enough to alarm her to the point that she asked for additional supervision of the meeting."

"We are concerned with the rapidity of your behaviour and with your attitude as you have murdered and sexually assaulted two women whom you found attractive, in an impulsive manner. [Your behaviour] represents a risk for the security of our staff."

Quebec Court Incident Report 

Jeffrey George Ewert began attending law classes at McGill University in August. Some students told CBC they were upset his violent criminal past was not disclosed. (Name withheld/Instagram)

 

Convicted murderer-rapist Jeffrey George Ewert despite his serious criminal convictions was paroled in recognition of his Indigenous heritage, where courts are enjoined to giving special consideration to Indigenous criminals, noting their purported vulnerability as members of an underprivileged class known to be disproportionately represented in Canada's penal system. This man, an unrepentant murderer and rapist made application to attend law school at McGill university, aided by a number of faculty with his application. 

 

When students at the university discovered the presence in their midst of a convicted murderer, they rallied to have him expelled. They obviously were unaware that the university administration, according to the lawyer representing Jeffrey Ewert, was "fully aware" of his past. At McGill Law, this man shared classrooms with female students who reported to news media that the man had raped and killed a young woman in 1984, and a month later, beat a 15-year-old girl into a vegetative state from which she has never fully recovered; left completely spastic, incapable of controlling her movements and unable to speak more than several words.  

 

Despite which, other students petitioned in support of Ewert. Denied day and full parole, Ewert had appealed to the Federal Court and won his case in 2024 when Justice Jocelyne Gagne determined that since Ewert had managed a 12-year, long-term relationship through his incarceration years which, when ended, failed to erupt in a violent psychotic reaction was proof enough for her that he no longer held any issues with women. His Indigenous heritage required to be taken into consideration, she insisted.

 

On Friday afternoon, hours after this story was published, McGill's provost Angela Campbell sent an email to its community, attempting to reassure students. (Kolya Hubacek-Guilbault/CBC)

 

Now, in 2026, the man was permitted entry to the McGill law program, while continuing to express his untoward attraction toward women He had accounts on Threads and on Instagram which CBC investigated, reporting that "Ewert is actively communicating with women, commenting on images of women, many of which appear to be altered or created by AI." Writing in one instance: "hotties like you drive  us crazy." This is a man with a frighteningly horrible past with a lawyer who previously taught at McGill Law. 

 

Not only have a number of McGill professors gone out of their way to assist him in his application to McGill, but an outpouring of public support has resulted from people able to look beyond his history of violence against women. A retired lawyer in a LexisNexis publication wrote that Ewert's enrollment represented an opportunity for students to learn about the "difficult realities of rehabilitation". Law students and alumni -- some 100 people -- signed a petition imploring McGill to "rescind the restrictions placed" on Ewert to enable him to continue his legal education. 

"One-third of Canada's prison population is Indigenous, and Jeff's own incarceration is inextricable from the colonial institutions in which he was born."

"Few people in this country have been failed by as many institutions as he has, and McGill University now has a chance to set a precedent."

"Jeff's situation is where our collective commitments to reconciliation and rehabilitation are tested."

Petition arguing for reinstatement 

 

"[McGill has failed to] guide us through critical learning. [We are] shocked by the reactive manner [in which the university handled the matter]." 

"We also believe that a circle discussion led by an Elder would provide an important and culturally appropriate space for our students to process recent events."

"Should the student in question be welcomed back onto campus, we ask that they receive the academic support necessary to continue their studies."

McGill law students' association 

 

McGill University in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz