Canada must be the laughing stock of the world - in less than one week, 100 refugee claimants ... (and, how the heck do they get on an international flight without proper travel documents? I thought it was the responsibility of the airline to screen them, or else they‘d be responsible for their return voyage ... ? Legitimate immigrants must be fuming at this abuse.)
PLUG THIS LEAK!!! (oh, wait - what was I thinking - no wonder our doors are wide open to anybody and everybody ... it‘s a "make work project" for Foreign Affairs ... right, Sameer? And, let‘s not forget - the Federal Liberal Party needs all the votes it can buy ... so what if some of these refugee applicants with terrorist ties have Canadian blood on their hands ... as long as they vote Liberal, right?)
Refugee claimants like new terminal
By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN
Sun, April 11, 2004
THE NEW $3.6-billion Pearson airport Terminal 1 is not only a hit with travellers, but refugee claimants love it as well. Nearly 100 claimants have sought refuge at the facility since it opened for business last Monday, airport officers said.
Some refugees even arrived during the terminal‘s inaugural flight.
Immigration and Customs agents said more than half of the claimants were detained in new airport detention cells because they had no travel documents.
Janina Lebon, of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union, said officers are concerned about those arriving without proper documentation.
"Officers want to know who these people are," Lebon said.
She said claimants can be detained because they‘re a danger to the public, might not appear for hearings, or lack identification.
Officers said the number of claimants has increased with the opening of the terminal. About a dozen claimants arrived nightly before.
John King, of the Customs and Excise Union, said the unidentified claimants led to his officers obtaining bullet proof vests, batons and pepper spray.
"We always deal with the unknown," King said. "We don‘t know who these people are and it is a concern."
Officers said most claimants are from Costa Rica, Mexico, India and Pakistan.
Immigration officials couldn‘t be reached for comment yesterday.
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Federal agents will grill Khadrs
CSIS HOPING FOR NEW INFO ON AL-QAIDA
By BILL RODGERS AND TOM GODFREY, SUN MEDIA
Sun, April 11, 2004
AS CANADIAN security agents begin to question the al-Qaida-linked Khadr family, U.S. police warn they‘re not welcome south of the border. "I can‘t imagine that their movements wouldn‘t be monitored" if they attempted to cross into the United States, an American government official told Sun Media yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents were to begin yesterday interviewing Maha Elsamnah, 47, and her son, Karim Khadr, 14, who arrived in Toronto Friday from Pakistan.
QUESTIONS ON BIN LADEN
Security agents are hoping to find out if the two had recent contact with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, or if other Canadians are involved in his terrorist network, police said.
CSIS spokesman Nicole Currier refused comment yesterday.
The family has publicly spoken about its links to bin Laden and its involvement with al-Qaida.
One son, Omar, 17, is in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay after being arrested in Afghanistan two years ago, accused of killing a U.S. soldier.
His older brother, Abdurahman Khadr, was released from the same prison camp last year after being held on suspicion of being a terrorist. He is living in Toronto.
Abdurahman has admitted to being interviewed on at least two occasions by CSIS after returning to Canada.
KILLED IN SHOOTOUT
The father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian and allegedly a close confidante of bin Laden, was killed in a gunfight with Pakistani security forces last October. His son, Karim, who returned to Canada with his mother last week, was paralysed in the same shootout.
Foreign affairs continued its efforts to calm the public uproar over the return of the Khadrs. Spokesman Sameer Ahmed said there was no truth to a report that the Canadian government paid for the airfares of the returning family members. "The Khadrs used their own funds," Ahmed said, noting that Canadian diplomats arranged their flights home on one-time emergency passports.
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‘Outrageous‘ Grit actions
By Bob MacDonald
Sun, April 11, 2004
FAMILY AND friends of the 24 Canadians killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 must be shocked to learn that members of an "al-Qaida family" have been allowed back into Canada. I‘m referring to the arrival Friday at Pearson airport of Maha Elsamnah and her 14-year-old son, Abdul Karim Khadr. They are the wife and son of Egyptian-born Ahmed Said Khadr, a top official in Osama bin laden‘s al-Qaida terrorist network.
Not only did the family -- including three other brothers -- live near the terrorist training camps of bin Laden in Afghanistan, but they were involved in fighting against anti-terrorist forces that included Canadians.
The father, Ahmed, was killed recently in Pakistan in fighting with security forces. Karim ended up shot and paralyzed in the same firefight.
GUANTANAMO BAY
Another son, Omar, 17, is being held by U.S. forces at Guantanamo Bay. He‘s charged with killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan during a battle against al-Qaida and supporting Taliban forces.
Another brother is still on the loose, believed to be an al-Qaida-Taliban commander in the Afghanistan- Pakistan region.
And a fourth brother, Abdurahman Khadr, was released from a U.S. jail and allowed to return to Toronto. When he was interviewed by CBC-TV last month, he commented: "We are an al-Qaida family."
His mother and a sister, interviewed in Pakistan, said they were proud of their family‘s connection to al-Qaida. The mother said she‘d be happy if her children died the same way as her husband -- an al-Qaida Muslim "martyr".
What‘s really shocking about this family‘s return is that the federal Liberal government -- both under Jean Chretien and now Paul Martin -- has been so helpful to them over the years.
Back in 1995, Ahmed Khadr was arrested in Pakistan for his role in a deadly embassy bombing. Later, on a visit to Pakistan, Prime Minister Chretien appealed to the Pakistan president to have him released. It was done.
Apparently, a so-called aid program headed by Ahmed Khadr received help from a Canadian federal government agency.
And what did Khadr do? Why, he ended up heading back to bin Laden -- along with the whole Khadr family.
And now, these years later, the Paul Martin-led Liberal regime has gone out of its way to help these recent Khadr family members return to Canada. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham‘s office interceded and gave special visas to the mother and son to return to Canada.
No wonder Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day declared: "The whole thing is outrageous -- that she (Mrs. Khadr) would be afforded the full rights of Canadian citizenship when she and her family ... have been involved in the training fields and the killing fields of al-Qaida."
Which brings us to that terrible day of Sept. 11, 2001 when a group of Arab-Muslim terrorists connected to al-Qaida hijacked civilian airliners and slaughtered more than 3,000 men, women, and children, including two dozen who were Canadians.
They included the likes of Ken Basnicki, a 48-year-old father of two killed in the north tower of the World Trade Center. The last word from him was a cell phone call to his mother at 8:55 a.m. from the burning tower.
And there was David Barkway, a 34-year-old executive from Toronto who was visiting a client on the 105th floor of the north tower. Before dying, he sent an electronic message to colleagues in Toronto, saying he was in trouble.
‘A BIG HEART‘
There was Christine Egan, of Winnipeg, visiting her brother in the south tower. "She had such a big heart," recalled friend Sharon Judd.
The truth is that the paralyzed Abdul Karim Khadr needs special medical care. And just as soon as he meets the residency requirements -- some say three months -- he‘ll be eligible for OHIP support paid for by Ontario and Canadian taxpayers.
And some of those taxpayers will be the still-grieving families and friends of those ruthlessly murdered 24 Canadians. That is really outrageous. Thanks goes to Martin and his always vote-seeking Liberals.