Uh, oh. We're in trouble again. Yep, just when you've been told how everything is so nice-nice between Ottawa and Washington, along comes a Bush Administration report saying that Canada is home to Islamic terrorist cells due to our liberal immigration and refugee laws.
This has been a rallying point for the political right in America before the dust had even settled in New York City from the destruction of the World Trade Centre. But this is the first time any official document from the administration has been openly critical along these lines. One has to wonder why they would be releasing this report now when, for the first time in over a decade, they actually have a willing puppet sitting in Ottawa as Prime Minister.
Let’s look at the report and see what sort of evidence they've prepared to condemn us folk up here north of the 49th parallel. First of all, they complain about the fact that ever since the fiasco surrounding the mistreatment of Canadian citizen Maher Arar (a Canadian who was handed over to the Syrian government to be tortured by the Americans because he was suspected of maybe having links to people who might have been terrorists and in the end has never been charged with anything) our government has been a lot less enthusiastic about sharing information with the Americans.
Could it be possible that, after our government had arranged for a few others to be handed over to foreign governments for torture at the request of the Americans only to find out that none of the men have been found guilty of anything except being middle eastern and knowing each other, they might not have trusted their sources of information? Is it at all possible that perhaps they had decided they didn't trust the American government with the fate of Canadian citizens anymore?
The fact that our government has proven just as adept as the American's at depriving citizens of their rights seems to have escaped the Bush administration's notice. In this report they name five people who they claim are known terrorists living in Canada. The fact that four of them have been under arrest for years under our security certificate program and the fifth is under tight surveillance and reporting conditions so the government knows where he is at all times, seems to have been left out of the report.
What's even more confusing is this piece of text quoted directly from the report: “With the exception of the United States and Canada, there are no known operational cells of Islamic terrorists in the hemisphere.” So what does that mean? That all the terrorists come from Canada? That Canada has them and does nothing about them? Or is just a general observation meaning there are people in both countries that could possibly be terrorists?
Article comments
1 - Mark Edward Manning
Richard, given that Canadian citizens rant against America in a way that would make Al Jazeera proud, it's not surprising that some Americans may feel as if Canada is not willing to do what it takes to prevent atrocities on American territory.
After all, you didn't even want to be protected by the U.S. missile shield. (So, break out the bows and arrows, eh, and good luck. You'll need it.)
Yes, you guys fought in Afghanistan, and that is appreciated, but Iraq has caused such bad blood between these two cousins - America and Canada - that it's going to take much time and effort to heal wounds that are still festering.
2 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Truth is, Mark, that most Americans are blithely unaware that there is a huge country to their north, one bigger than the United States. They tend to take for granted that Canada is a mere extension of the US with a different flag.
I'm telling you this as someone who lived for several decades in the States watching others who were in blissful ignorance of the other English speaking country on the continent.
3 - Steve
It's my understanding that the Liberals postponed making a deal on softwood lumber for their own (in retrospect) misguided political reasons. That's why Harper chose David Emerson for his cabinet, he was close to a deal before the election and needed someone familiar with the file to resolve it quickly after the election.
4 - JELIEL³
MEM, not FAUGHT but still FIGHTING and Canada is also in charge of all operations in Afghanistan.
Missile defense againts what? The Russians? gimme a break. Besides missle defense wont help a bit because your "enemy" is using gorilla tactics. Not high end war technology (And the war games played by your military showed how weak all that tech was against gorilla warfare). Also we don't occupy countries and impose our way of life on them nor do we declare war on imaginary enemies so we're pretty safe for now.
We don't need oil from anyone, we have more than the entire mid-east all to ourselves.
We don't see an axis of evil working to destroy democracy like in some James Bond movie either.
But enjoy the conservative minority government red carpet while it lasts. They'll slip up somewhere, they'll lose confidence and we'll go back to the polls and get, sadly, the liberals back in power.
and I AM CANADIAN...
5 - JELIEL³
Actually Steve, its more that Bush and Martin hated each other more than Bush and Chrétien did. With a conservative government in power and a potential new lapdog, the deal was struck. The liberals would have holded out for all the monies that were due to us, not 80%. Harper and his cons will ass-kiss America's admin while they can stay in power.
6 - serge
i just finish reading your comment policy you guys suck the big one youre just as bad as the goverment we have is this site funded by harper?