Thanks for this and your efforts at keeping abreast of our national security reality. "What did we learn"...I'm afraid I learned that the clock is ticking on when Canada gets to experience an actual, real world, 'colossal failure'. Just hope it happens somewhere I'm not.
I saw a screenshot of the ISIS video that shows someone, who may have been the father, with a sword and preparing to slice off the hands and feet of some poor man strung up on a rack. I'm glad there wasn't more of it.
My concern is that the CBSA or any other of our other foreign investigative services did not pick up on the video (which was made evidently in 2015). Who the heck do we have doing these checks if they are not finding such crucial information? Are they just bored of something so stop far short of doing the web searches? Again Canada fails.
One needs to ask why this pair was allowed in in the first place? What was it that they could offer Canada? Being allowed entry here should be a privilege, as opposed to a right. It may very well be that some of the background intelligence on Mr Eldidi was not readily available, but irregardless of that, it is safe to assume that he lied about his past, and that there was no way to verify what he was saying. Based on that alone he should have been denied entry. It has also been reported that the "tip off" about this person and his son actually came from French intelligence agencies. If so, that needs to be acknowledged and the shortcomings here addressed.
The annual intake of newcomers is now in the hundreds of thousands, and they come from many different countries - including some where documentation is difficult to obtain, or inherently unreliable.
Moreover, each of these individuals has a personal story to tell, even though such tales may be hard to confirm, so that their personal “credibility” really matters.
And of course, among these many thousands, may be “surreptitious infiltrators”, or “sleepers”, or people who were “criminals” “back home” (like Khalistan separatists, “Tamil Tigers”, or just run-of-the-mill Mafiosi) - folks who nevertheless find a happy home in Canada.
Recall the ex-Nazi soldier who was mistakenly paraded before Parliament as a Ukrainian hero, (turning virtue signaling into buffoonery); or the alleged mafia boss Vincenzo 'Jimmy' DeMaria, whom Canada has tried for years to deport.
The reality, though, is that with such huge numbers, there will inevitably be mistakes or misjudgments, and lots of undesirables will slip through.
The real question is whether Canada has the legal tools to rectify such problems once they are identified – not just the correction of errors, but also the timely, energetic, and (hopefully) cost-effective expulsion of the calculating liars and miscreants.
For as the Globe & Mail reported in May 2024, “most people living in Canada who have been sent deportation letters in the past eight years are still in the country”; and the fact is, it is quite hard to quantify how many have been removed, and how long it took, and how much it cost.
Indeed, the whole process is so drowned in bureaucracy and lawyers and layers of litigation, and appeals, that it may have become dysfunctional - just like with migrants in the UK or on the US border.
That said, I doubt that a “gotcha-seeking” parliamentary committee will advance the enquiry very much – although I am grateful that you are keeping an eye on such things.
Thanks for this and your efforts at keeping abreast of our national security reality. "What did we learn"...I'm afraid I learned that the clock is ticking on when Canada gets to experience an actual, real world, 'colossal failure'. Just hope it happens somewhere I'm not.
I saw a screenshot of the ISIS video that shows someone, who may have been the father, with a sword and preparing to slice off the hands and feet of some poor man strung up on a rack. I'm glad there wasn't more of it.
My concern is that the CBSA or any other of our other foreign investigative services did not pick up on the video (which was made evidently in 2015). Who the heck do we have doing these checks if they are not finding such crucial information? Are they just bored of something so stop far short of doing the web searches? Again Canada fails.
One needs to ask why this pair was allowed in in the first place? What was it that they could offer Canada? Being allowed entry here should be a privilege, as opposed to a right. It may very well be that some of the background intelligence on Mr Eldidi was not readily available, but irregardless of that, it is safe to assume that he lied about his past, and that there was no way to verify what he was saying. Based on that alone he should have been denied entry. It has also been reported that the "tip off" about this person and his son actually came from French intelligence agencies. If so, that needs to be acknowledged and the shortcomings here addressed.
The annual intake of newcomers is now in the hundreds of thousands, and they come from many different countries - including some where documentation is difficult to obtain, or inherently unreliable.
Moreover, each of these individuals has a personal story to tell, even though such tales may be hard to confirm, so that their personal “credibility” really matters.
And of course, among these many thousands, may be “surreptitious infiltrators”, or “sleepers”, or people who were “criminals” “back home” (like Khalistan separatists, “Tamil Tigers”, or just run-of-the-mill Mafiosi) - folks who nevertheless find a happy home in Canada.
Recall the ex-Nazi soldier who was mistakenly paraded before Parliament as a Ukrainian hero, (turning virtue signaling into buffoonery); or the alleged mafia boss Vincenzo 'Jimmy' DeMaria, whom Canada has tried for years to deport.
See: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/vincenzo-jimm-demaria-alleged-top-mafia-boss-immigration
Or consider Leon Mugesera, a purported “refugee” from Rwanda, who gave the Canadian courts a real run for their (and our!) money. See:
https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2005/2005scc40/2005scc40.html?resultIndex=1&resultId=ec21722155ac4fa8ba32f642572ad2ee&searchId=2024-08-28T21:27:21:624/1b2d33fedb3d4d5c8337b2556b6f518c&searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAIbXVnZXNlcmEAAAAAAQ
The reality, though, is that with such huge numbers, there will inevitably be mistakes or misjudgments, and lots of undesirables will slip through.
The real question is whether Canada has the legal tools to rectify such problems once they are identified – not just the correction of errors, but also the timely, energetic, and (hopefully) cost-effective expulsion of the calculating liars and miscreants.
For as the Globe & Mail reported in May 2024, “most people living in Canada who have been sent deportation letters in the past eight years are still in the country”; and the fact is, it is quite hard to quantify how many have been removed, and how long it took, and how much it cost.
Indeed, the whole process is so drowned in bureaucracy and lawyers and layers of litigation, and appeals, that it may have become dysfunctional - just like with migrants in the UK or on the US border.
That said, I doubt that a “gotcha-seeking” parliamentary committee will advance the enquiry very much – although I am grateful that you are keeping an eye on such things.
Good informative article presented in a balanced way. Thanks.