Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, left, is seen in a courtroom sketch with his son, Mostafa Eldidi, as they appear via video for a court hearing in Newmarket, Ont., on Aug. 1. Photo by Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press
We have a responsibility to welcome the persecuted, not the persecutors
Immigration is crucial because Canada depends on newcomers to fuel both population and economic growth: with a fertility rate of 1.33 children per woman, we are simply not replacing ourselves. Yet improperly managed immigration contributes to a host of social problems, including our current housing shortage and, even more disturbingly, the security of the country itself.
Last week, the RCMP arrested two Toronto residents, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son Mostafa, 26, on terrorism charges. Before they were taken into custody, the pair had allegedly recorded a video holding bladed weapons in front of an ISIS flag.
According to a Global News report, Mostafa Eldidi is not a citizen, but his father is, despite being charged with committing an aggravated assault for ISIS outside of Canada in 2015. That charge stemmed from an ISIS video, which showed a man dismembering a prisoner with a sword.
Yet somehow, immigration officials, the RCMP, CSIS and border security all missed this detail, and let Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi become a full-fledged member of Canadian society.
How did this happen? Why was he allowed not only to enter our country, but to become a citizen? This is a massive security fail that could have had catastrophic consequences.
Here’s my take: it’s a numbers game. When you let upward of a million people into the country every year, whether permanent or temporary, unless you deploy the necessary resources, it is impossible to properly screen them all.
And that is exactly what the Liberals have done. Under their watch, the number of temporary residents has swelled to 2.5-million people, or six per cent of the entire population. While the government plans to finally cut back, it will apparently take a while.
Last Thursday, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that, “The era of uncapped programs to come into this country is quickly coming to an end. This is a big shift. You can’t just slam on the brakes and expect it to stop immediately.” The Liberals still plan to bring in 485,000 immigrants this year, and 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.
Why were all these newcomers admitted in the first place? Two answers: the business lobby and votes. Foreign workers do jobs Canadian-born workers won’t touch, like seasonal agriculture. They also provide a source of cheap labour for a host of other industries, from manufacturing to retail to construction.
Organizations like the Century Initiative and business groups lobby endlessly to “fill the labour gap,” even though that gap is now a lie. Unemployment among temporary residents — including foreign workers, international students and asylum seekers — hit a whopping 11 per cent in June. By comparison, the overall unemployment rate was 6.4 per cent.
Other people, not so much. The Americans recently announced the apprehension of 233 terrorist suspects seeking entry from Canada into the United States. A group of U.S. Senators warned that Canada’s policy on Gazan refugees could facilitate the entry of terrorists into our country.
A new group called Lawyers for Secure Immigration has come together to advocate for better security screening measures for those seeking temporary or permanent residence in Canada, including up to 5,000 applicants from Gaza.
Co-founder Veronique Malka, a Canadian who practises immigration and human rights law in both the U.S. and Canada, says the group does not oppose true refugees coming to Canada, but “won’t stand for terrorists like Hamas and now Hezbollah taking advantage of the kind Canadian system.”
Neither should Canadians. When someone immigrates here, it is supposed to be to build a new life for themselves and their families. We welcome the persecuted, not the persecutors. We cannot allow Canada to become a forward operating base for any terror group. But unless this government stops playing politics with immigration, that risk is very real.
Postmedia Network
Tasha Kheiriddin is Postmedia’s national politics columnist.
