Robson: Canada has a youth extremism problem it can’t continue to ignore

2026/02/18 2 Comments

Not sure how practical or implementable it is, and existing prevention programs have a mixed record, but focus on behaviours, rather than beliefs is appropriate:

….A practical National Polarization Metrics model

Canada does not need a new bureaucracy. It needs a light-touch doctrine that makes prevention routine. A “National Polarization Metrics” model would use behavioural indicators that are measurable and non-partisan, focusing on coercive targeting and intimidation rather than beliefs: repeated harassment aimed at identifiable groups; doxxing and coordinated pile-ons; credible threats; and violence-normalizing signalling that changes what peers believe is acceptable.

That doctrine should assign accountable ownership. Every campus and school board needs an escalation lead with a clear mandate to consistently log incidents, coordinate support and safety planning, quickly preserve evidence, and trigger referrals when thresholds are met.

Far from weakening civil liberties, this reduces arbitrary decision-making and makes outcomes less dependent on institutional mood.

It also requires routable handoffs. Educational settings should have a consistent pathway for when matters stay at the level of documentation and support, when they require municipal policing involvement, and when patterns suggest coordination or mobilization indicators that justify a threat-assessment channel. Canada’s National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence frames early intervention as a national priority, but it leaves Canada without a single escalation ladder that is understood—end-to-end—across education systems, municipal police, and federal threat assessment.

Finally, evidence preservation must become doctrine. A standardized 24-72-hour capture-and-preserve practice—time-stamped collection, secure storage, minimal access logging, and a consistent referral format—would strengthen downstream deterrence without criminalizing student life….

Prevention must become doctrine, not late reaction

A pluralist society can withstand disagreement. What it cannot withstand is normalized intimidation combined with institutional paralysis—especially when digital ecosystems accelerate conflict faster than administrators, police, or courts can react. If Canada wants to confront its fault lines before they deepen, it must stop treating youth extremism as cultural weather and start treating it as a measurable pathway.

That means building the missing bridge: shared indicators, accountable ownership, rapid evidence preservation, and standardized handoffs. Not to stigmatize communities, and not to criminalize student life—but to ensure coercion and violence-normalizing signalling do not become the price of campus politics, or the prelude to community harm.

Daniel Robson is a Canadian independent journalist specializing in digital extremism, national security, and counterterrorism. 

Source: Canada has a youth extremism problem it can’t continue to ignore

Filed under Multiculturalism, Radicalization Tagged with ,

Immigration Minister defends proposed changes to asylum rules through border bill

2026/02/18 Leave a comment

Of note. Hard for refugee advocates to admit need for limits or the extent of misrepresentation:

…Canada has seen an increase in asylum claims from international students, who have been the target of immigration restrictions, in the last few years. Over the past year, 17 per cent of asylum claims came from students, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. 

Ms. Metlege Diab answered questions about the asylum implications of Bill C-12 along with Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree on Feb. 9 at the Senate’s national-security committee.

On Thursday, she was questioned by senators on the social affairs committee, which is also studying the bill. 

Senators also heard unease expressed from a range of witnesses, including the UN Refugee Agency.

One of the concerns is that the proposed one-year cutoff for asylum hearings would be measured from the first time someone entered Canada. The bill specifies that the one-year period “begins on the day after the day of their first entry.”

Refugee advocacy groups warned senators this could mean that someone who came here on holiday as a child with their parents would be barred from a refugee hearing decades later.

They also hit back at suggestions that foreign nationals claiming asylum, including international students who had been here for more than a year, were more likely to lodge fraudulent claims. 

Gauri Sreenivasan, co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, a non-profit advocacy organization for refugee and immigrant rights, was among those who addressed the Senate committee. 

“Suggestions before committees that certain claimants are likely to be fraudulent because they are students or because they have been here more than a year are as unfounded as they are offensive,” Ms. Sreenivasan told senators.

“These blunt measures disproportionately harm the most vulnerable: women fleeing violence, LGBTQIA+ individuals, minors, those with mental health challenges or people from unstable regions.”…

Source: Immigration Minister defends proposed changes to asylum rules through border bill

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Youssif: Canada has a hidden asylum-policy problem

2026/02/18 Leave a comment

Another example of a broken system?

…As I document in a new study for the C.D. Howe Institute, this policy is problematic. Not all asylum claims are truthful, and documents may be forged. But this is impossible to detect without asking questions. The asylum hearing also serves as a screen for national security and program integrity risk, and must be halted if red flags emerge during questioning to allow the relevant minister to be notified. That mechanism cannot be engaged if claimants are never questioned.

More broadly, the IRB’s recognition rate for asylum claims has climbed to 80 per cent of claims decided on their merits, excluding files summarily closed where the claim was withdrawn or abandoned. In comparison, in 2024 Ireland accepted 30 per cent of claims on the merits, Sweden 40 per cent, and Germany 59 per cent. Research suggests that acceptance rates are a significant factor in asylum seekers’ choice of a destination country.

It is difficult to isolate the effect of any single policy change on the level of new claims, given multiple factors such as rising global migration pressures and changes to temporary immigration policies. That said, it is worth noting that the number of new asylum claims in Canada has increased since the IRB began rapidly accepting claims. A backlog of 17,000 claims in 2016 has grown to nearly 300,000 in 2025. Policies such as File Review, intended to reduce the backlog, have not only failed to do so, but may have reinforced perceptions of speed, success, and reduced scrutiny, signalling to the world that Canada’s asylum system is easy.

How was it possible for an adjudicative tribunal to implement a policy that dispenses with the act of adjudication?

Perhaps part of the answer is that the institution cannot be seen clearly. Its unique status and structure have rendered it opaque to the rest of government, which otherwise might have corrected an overreach. It may be time to rethink this model and consider options that provide ministers and cabinet with direct visibility and policy oversight, while preserving fair and independent adjudication.

James Yousif is a lawyer, former director of policy at IRCC and former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).

Source: Canada has a hidden asylum-policy problem

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , ,

André Pratte: Quebec’s slow disappearance from federal politics

2026/02/18 Leave a comment

ICYMI:

…Demographics is not the only reason Quebec’s influence in Canada is and will be diminishing, unless the province’s politics undergo a substantive change. Quebecers have not voted to separate from Canada in a referendum, but they have separated in some of their attitudes. In the Trump era, belonging to Canada may matter as a shield against the American president’s nonsensical threats. But otherwise, “les Québécois” appear less interested in our nation’s evolution than ever in my lifetime.

Quebec political leaders invest little time in engaging with their counterparts in Ottawa and in provincial capitals, except when specific files require it. The result is that very few politicians across the country have a deep understanding of Quebec’s part in Canada’s diversity. Additionally, recruiting highly qualified French-speaking Quebecers to work in the federal government is a challenge often lamented in Ottawa.

Justin Trudeau appointed a Governor General who does not speak French, a choice that, in earlier decades, would have been criticized not only in Quebec. There is pressure, for instance from the Alberta Premier, to appoint Supreme Court justices who cannot speak one of our country’s two official languages (guess which language it is?). Because of this lack of leadership at the national level, and as a result of French Canada’s relative decline, fewer Canadians value official bilingualism as a plus for our nation. A 2024 Léger poll showed that bilingualism was seen as positive by 70 per cent of Quebecers but only 35 per cent of Canadians outside Quebec. The Prime Minister’s rosy reimagining of Canadian history has no effect on today’s worrisome reality.

The demographic trends at play in Quebec will not only diminish its political weight. Population stagnation and aging threaten the province’s economic growth and fiscal situation. According to the economists at Desjardins, “the sustainability of Quebec’s welfare state model could be challenged.” Quebec’s leaders and population will face serious challenges in the coming years; their contribution to the federation will be the least of their concerns.

Quebecers’ votes played a crucial part in Mark Carney’s election win last year. But such scenarios, where Quebec has a significant impact on the shape of Canada’s federal government, will become fewer and far between. Because of high immigration levels outside Quebec, Canada is changing fast; in 2050, it will comprise close to 49 million people, many of them recent immigrants with no knowledge of French and understandably little attachment to the country’s bilingual status.

Source: André Pratte: Quebec’s slow disappearance from federal politics

Filed under Interculturalisme, Multiculturalism, Politics Tagged with ,

Black and Griffith: Visible minority women are still sidelined in competitive ridings

2026/02/18 2 Comments

Our latest. Conclusion:

…In other words, party candidate selection incorporates affinity effects that give preference to visible minority candidates for all major parties in these ridings. Given this, it is less surprising that studies of election outcomes indicate that affinity effects are less important than “candidate competitiveness, Canada’s first past the post electoral system, and local context,” Elections Canada says, because those effects are effectively baked in at the candidate nomination stage.

This indicates positive discrimination for visible minority candidates in these ridings and the possible converse in ridings with lower numbers of visible minorities, largely rural ridings.

While one can make the crude case that nominating more visible minority women candidates would allow federal political parties to tick off two diversity boxes at once, the evidence indicates that this is not the case: women visible minority candidates do indeed have a higher percentage chance of being sacrificial lambs. This suggests they do experience biases in the political process across two fronts, as both women and visible minorities.

To encourage improved representation, the political parties should adopt a transparency approach similar to Senate Bill S-283 would require each party to provide annual information on the policies and programs they have enacted to increase the representation of designated groups (women, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities).

This could be accomplished by the chief electoral officer administering a voluntary self-identification questionnaire to nominated candidates, thus allowing for post-election reporting on candidate and MP diversity.

Canada’s federal political parties may resist this transparency-based approach, but its use in federally regulated industries and the public service for close to 30 years has proven effective.

Source: Visible minority women are still sidelined in competitive ridings

Filed under DEI, Multiculturalism, Politics Tagged with , , ,

French: Whatever This Is, It Isn’t Anti-Zionism

2026/02/17 2 Comments

Good commentary:

…I unequivocally support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, but I have also written repeatedly and critically about Israel’s tactics in its war on Gaza, which I believe have prolonged the conflict and created extraordinary and unnecessary human suffering.

Jewish lives aren’t more precious than Palestinian lives, and any form of advocacy for Israel that treats Palestinians as any less deserving of safety and security than Israelis isn’t just un-Christian; it’s anti-Christian. It directly contradicts the teachings of Scripture, which place Jews and Gentiles in a position of equality.

Second, internal Christian debates about whether the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy — as interesting as they can be — should be irrelevant to American foreign policy, which should be based both on American interests and American commitments to international justice and human rights.

But historic Christian antisemitism is rooted in a historic Christian argument, and it requires a specifically Christian argument in response.

Put in its most simple form, Christian antisemitism is rooted in two propositions — that Jews bear the guilt for Christ’s death (“Jews killed Jesus”), and that when the majority of Jews rejected Jesus (who was a Jew, as were all his early apostles), that God replaced his covenant with the children of Abraham with a new covenant with Christians. This idea of a new covenant that excludes the Jewish people is called “supersessionism” or “replacement theology.”

Put the two concepts together — “Jews killed Jesus” and “Christians are the chosen people now” — and you’ve got the recipe for more than 2,000 years of brutal, religiously motivated oppression.

Boller is a recent convert to Catholicism, and she — like Candace Owens — wields her newfound faith like a sword. But perhaps they both need to spend a little more time learning and a lot less time talking.

First, let’s put to rest the indefensible idea that “the Jews” killed Christ. As the Second Vatican Council taught, “The Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in his passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.”

This isn’t a statement of high theological principle as much as basic common sense. Convicting an entire people, for all time, of the crimes of a few religious leaders is a moral monstrosity that runs counter to every tenet of Christian justice.

Second, Boller’s own church teaches that there is a deep bond between Christians and Jews. Last year, Robert P. George, a noted Catholic political philosopher at Princeton, wrote a powerful essayin Sapir, a Jewish journal of ideas, in which he described the relationship between the Jewish people and the Catholic Church as an “unbreakable covenant.”

As George writes, Pope Benedict XVI explicitly rejected the idea that the Jewish people “ceased to be the bearer of the promises of God.” Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has “a relationship” with Judaism “which we do not have with any other religion.” He also said that Judaism is “intrinsic” and not “extrinsic” to Christianity, and that Jews were Christians’ “elder brothers” in the faith.

Indeed, paragraph 121 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.”

I don’t believe for a moment that the Catholic view is the only expression of Christian orthodoxy. I know quite a few Protestant and Catholic supersessionists who are not antisemitic, but I highlight the words of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI because they starkly demonstrate the incompatibility of antisemitism with Christian orthodoxy.

But one doesn’t have to agree with Catholic teaching (or its Protestant analogues) to be fairly called a Zionist — a Christian Zionist, even — because one believes in the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state.

The reason is rooted in Scripture’s commitment to equal dignity for all people, regardless of ethnicity, class or sex. As an extension of that commitment, no group of people should be subjected to abuse or persecution — much less genocide.

In this formulation, a so-called Christian Zionist would also likely be a Christian Kurdist (not a phrase you hear every day) or have a Christian commitment to Palestinian statehood. Kurds and Palestinians have also been historically oppressed, denied a home and deprived of the right to defend themselves.

In those circumstances, statehood isn’t a matter of fulfilling prophecies; it’s about safety and security. It’s about self-determination and the preservation of basic human rights. And if you think that can be done without supporting statehood, then I’d challenge you to consider the long and terrible historical record.

A consistent Christian Zionist would oppose both the heinous massacre of Jews on Oct. 7, 2023, and the aggressive, violent expansion of settlements in the West Bank. He would stand resolutely against Iranian efforts to exterminate the Jewish state and against any Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Embracing the idea that the modern state of Israel is a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecies and therefore must be supported by the United States for theological reasons can lead us to dangerous places — to a belief, in essence, in permanent Israeli righteousness, no matter the nation’s conduct and no matter the character of its government.

But the opposite idea — that Christians have replaced the Jews in the eyes of God, and there is no longer any special purpose for Jews in God’s plan — has its own profound dangers. It creates a sense of righteousness in religious persecution, and it has caused untold suffering throughout human history.

The better Christian view rejects both dangerous extremes, recognizes the incalculable dignity and worth of every human being, and is Zionist in the sense that it believes that one of history’s most persecuted groups deserves a national home.

And since Christians have persecuted Jews so viciously in the past (and some still do today), we have a special responsibility to make amends, to repair the damage that the church has done. That begins by turning to the new Christian antisemites and shouting “No!” Ancient hatreds born from ancient heresies have no place in the church today.

Source: Whatever This Is, It Isn’t Anti-Zionism

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with ,

Immigration: Vers une campagne électorale agitée

2026/02/17 Leave a comment

Not going to be a “vivre ensemble” campaign:

…Mais surtout, politiquement, le chef du PQ risque de se retrouver du mauvais côté du débat public. Vendredi, les porte-parole de plus d’une vingtaine d’organismes de la société civile, des municipalités aux syndicats en passant par les employeurs, les institutions d’enseignement et les producteurs agricoles, ont tenu une conférence de presse.

Tous demandent la même chose. Qu’on ne renvoie pas ailleurs dans le monde des immigrants que le Québec a choisis : des francophones, déjà établis, bien intégrés, et qui, le plus souvent, ont des compétences recherchées, ici et maintenant.

En fait, si certains de nos politiciens font le mauvais choix, c’est beaucoup à cause de vieux réflexes populistes qui sont aujourd’hui dépassés. Ils ont encore de vieilles croyances et voient les immigrants comme des « voleurs de jobs ».

Mais tant les pénuries de main-d’œuvre que le vieillissement de la population sont des phénomènes qu’on ne peut plus ignorer. Il faut aussi dire que certaines perceptions ont beaucoup changé depuis la pandémie, quand notre système de santé a été tenu à bout de bras par ceux qu’on a appelés nos « anges gardiens ».

Par ailleurs, même la question du danger pour l’avenir du français tient de moins en moins la route. Aujourd’hui, parmi les immigrants que le Québec a choisis, ils sont plus de 80 % à parler français avant même d’arriver chez nous.

Alors pourquoi deux de nos partis politiques, la CAQ et le PQ, s’enferment-ils encore dans un discours aussi inquiet – quand ce n’est pas carrément hostile – envers l’immigration ?

Mauvais instincts de la part de la CAQ, certainement. D’ailleurs, le premier ministre a un discours nettement différent de celui de ses collègues plus jeunes. Chose certaine, il n’y a plus personne pour reprendre le mantra de la CAQ quand elle est arrivée au pouvoir : « En prendre moins, mais en prendre soin ».

Au PQ, on choisit plutôt les experts ou les conseillers qui disent ce que l’on veut entendre, en particulier sur la crise du logement, que l’on attribue presque exclusivement à l’immigration.

Mais c’est faire exception de nouveaux phénomènes comme les « rénovictions », les logements offerts sur des plateformes comme Airbnb et la mauvaise performance historique du Québec quant à la construction de nouveaux logements, surtout quand on le compare au reste du Canada.

Rien de tout cela n’annonce une campagne électorale positive sur un enjeu comme l’immigration, qui exige précisément qu’on en discute dans une certaine sérénité.

Source: Immigration: Vers une campagne électorale agitée

… But above all, politically, the leader of the PQ may find himself on the wrong side of the public debate. On Friday, spokespersons for more than twenty civil society organizations, from municipalities to unions to employers, educational institutions and agricultural producers, held a press conference.

They all ask for the same thing. That we do not send elsewhere in the world of immigrants that Quebec has chosen: Francophones, already established, well integrated, and who, most often, have skills sought after, here and now.

In fact, if some of our politicians make the wrong choice, it is much because of old populist reflexes that are now outdated. They still have old beliefs and see immigrants as “job thieves”.

But both labor shortages and an aging population are phenomena that can no longer be ignored. It must also be said that some perceptions have changed a lot since the pandemic, when our health system was held at arm’s length by those we called our “guardian angels”.

Moreover, even the question of the danger to the future of the Frenchman holds less and less. Today, among the immigrants that Quebec has chosen, more than 80% speak French before they even arrive at home.

So why do two of our political parties, the CAQ and the PQ, still lock themselves in such a worried speech – when it is not downright hostile – towards immigration?

Bad instincts on the part of the CAQ, certainly. Moreover, the Prime Minister has a very different speech from that of his younger colleagues. One thing is certain, there is no one left to take up the mantra of the CAQ when it came to power: “Take less, but take care of it”.

In the PQ, we choose instead the experts or advisors who say what we want to hear, especially on the housing crisis, which is attributed almost exclusively to immigration.

But this is an exception to new phenomena such as “renovations”, housing offered on platforms such as Airbnb and Quebec’s poor historical performance in the construction of new housing, especially when compared to the rest of Canada.

None of this announces a positive election campaign on an issue such as immigration, which precisely requires that it be discussed with a certain serenity.

Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

People from African, Caribbean countries face harsher treatment by immigration system, study finds

2026/02/17 Leave a comment

Think this study needs more context in understanding the differences as some of this may reflect valid risk factors:

…CBSA data cited in the report and obtained by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch under freedom-of-information laws show that in 2019, the majority of detainees held for a month or longer were from African and Caribbean countries. 

Publicly available data from the CBSA and the Immigration and Refugee Board indicate that the overall number of people held in immigration detention, as well as the length of their detention, has declined in recent years: the vast majority of detainees are released within 30 days, the study notes.

However, over the past decade, nearly 60,000 people – including hundreds of children – have been placed in immigration detention, the study’s analysis of Canada Border Services Agency data found.

The CBSA can detain non-citizens, including permanent residents and foreign nationals, who are believed to be inadmissible to Canada. The factors the border agency considers include whether the person may pose a public-safety risk or is a possible flight risk.

Over that past decade, fewer than 10 per cent of immigration detainees were arrested because they were deemed a danger to the public or because of serious criminality, the data show. 

The same proportion were held because of questions about their identity documents or because a border agent needed more information to complete an immigration examination.

The vast majority – around 80 per cent – were held because border agents deemed them unlikely to appear at future immigration proceedings. 

Source: People from African, Caribbean countries face harsher treatment by immigration system, study finds

Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Ces athlètes qui se magasinent une nationalité

2026/02/17 Leave a comment

Always struck me as distasteful:

…Comment les athlètes se magasinent-ils des nationalités ?


Sauf approbation exceptionnelle du CIO, un athlète ne peut concourir sous la bannière d’un pays s’il en a représenté un autre dans les trois années précédentes. Il doit aussi être « libéré » par sa fédération d’origine, sans quoi un recours aux instances d’arbitrage est nécessaire.

Le cas du patinage artistique en duo est particulier, explique Me Patrice Brunet, spécialiste en droit de l’immigration et en droit du sport, et avocat de Stellato-Dudek.

Il est très difficile de trouver un partenaire avec qui travailler, et très souvent, ce sont des partenaires de deux pays.

 Me Patrice Brunet, spécialiste en droit de l’immigration et en droit du sport

Stellato-Dudek a contacté Me Brunet en 2021. Elle venait de se séparer de son ancien partenaire américain. Or, des patineurs artistiques de haut niveau, il n’en traîne pas beaucoup dans les arénas. Elle a entendu parler de Maxime Deschamps, qui venait lui aussi de mettre fin à son association. Ça a cliqué.

Les deux se sont demandé s’ils devraient être américains ou canadiens. Le chemin vers la nationalité canadienne était un peu plus simple… Ils ont choisi le Canada.

« Je lui ai dit : “Je veux gérer tes attentes. Pour les Jeux de 2022 [Pékin], ce n’est pas jouable” », dit l’avocat, qui est à Milan pour voir performer sa cliente.

Il faut d’abord un certificat de sélection du Québec. Pour ça, il faut démontrer qu’on peut occuper un emploi recherché par les employeurs québécois.

Or, le patinage artistique, c’est beaucoup d’ouvrage, mais ce n’est pas un travail. Impossible de passer par le chemin habituel. Il fallait passer par la discrétion ministérielle.

« Elle avait l’appui des fédérations sportives. On a demandé un traitement accéléré au bureau de Christine Fréchette. On l’a obtenu en six mois. »

Le plus compliqué était à venir : pour devenir citoyen canadien, il faut avoir été présent au moins trois années dans les cinq dernières.

« Ça nous mettait hors délai pour les Jeux de Milan-Cortina. Mais encore là, la discrétion ministérielle permet des exceptions. »

Le ministre était Marc Miller. Le dossier était en attente… puis en janvier, ils sont devenus champions du monde pour le Canada. Justin Trudeau les a félicités sur les réseaux sociaux.

Comment peut-on concourir pour le Canada sans être citoyen ? C’est permis par la fédération internationale, vu les nombreux couples binationaux. Mais pas aux Jeux olympiques.

L’avocat a donc fait une capture d’écran du tweet du premier ministre.

« Disons que ça bonifiait le dossier… Ma peur, c’était qu’ils l’accordent juste avant les Jeux. Il y a tout le volet psychologique à gérer. On a même envoyé une lettre de psychologue au ministre. »

La citoyenneté a été accordée en novembre 2024. Le couple a continué de s’entraîner à Boucherville. Et elle a appris le français depuis.

Les cas de figure de changement de drapeau sont innombrables. C’est souvent parce qu’un athlète n’a pas pu se qualifier dans son pays qu’il se tourne vers une autre fédération nationale. C’est le cas du patineur courte piste Félix Pigeon, devenu polonais avec l’accord de la fédération canadienne.

En entrevue au Journal de Québec, il disait n’avoir rien compris quand le président Karol Nawrocki est venu souhaiter bonne chance aux athlètes avant les Jeux.

Pour la même raison, de nombreux athlètes africains ont intégré les fédérations sportives de Bahreïn et du Qatar. Vu la profondeur de talent en athlétisme au Kenya et en Éthiopie, le 6e, voire le 12e au pays dans une discipline donnée fait néanmoins partie de l’élite mondiale et peut gagner une médaille.

Ajoutons à cela que ces riches pays du Golfe allongent un financement conséquent pour attirer ces athlètes.

À Paris, 11 des 14 athlètes de Bahreïn venaient de l’Éthiopie, du Kenya et du Nigeria. Au 3000 m steeple, Winfred Yavi, née au Kenya, a remporté l’or pour Bahreïn. Elle avait terminé 10e à Tokyo. Autrement dit, quand elle a changé de pays, c’était une athlète de haut niveau, prometteuse, mais pas une championne.

L’autre catégorie, plus controversée, est justement celle de l’importation de champions existants.

Le cas le plus spectaculaire est celui du patineur de vitesse Ahn Hyun-soo, immense vedette en Corée du Sud, qui avait remporté quatre médailles, dont trois d’or, aux Jeux de Turin. Blessé avant les qualifications de son pays pour les Jeux de Vancouver, on ne l’a pas laissé y participer. Il est devenu russe juste avant Sotchi et se fait appeler maintenant Viktor Ahn. Il a remporté trois médailles d’or pour la Russie. De retour en Corée du Sud, les choses apparemment ne se passent pas à merveille, d’autant qu’il a été entraîneur d’un grand rival, la Chine…

Le planchiste américain Vic Wild, lui, est tombé amoureux d’une Russe et a adopté la nationalité en 2011, à temps pour les Jeux de Sotchi. On lui avait trouvé un emploi bien rémunéré pour faciliter son intégration. L’investissement a payé : il a remporté deux médailles d’or et reçu l’accolade de son nouveau président, Vladimir Poutine.

À l’inverse, depuis l’invasion russe de l’Ukraine et la poursuite du bannissement du pays, on estime que 350 athlètes russes ont quitté le pays. Aux Jeux de Paris, 77 d’entre eux ont participé en tant qu’athlètes d’autres pays. Ils sont une trentaine à Milan-Cortina.

On peut ajouter à cela ceux qui n’ont aucun drapeau. Ils font partie de l’équipe des réfugiés. Elle n’est pas représentée à Milan-Cortina, mais ils étaient 36 à Paris, dont deux ont remporté une médaille de bronze.

Parfois, c’est aussi parce qu’un athlète n’a pas le choix qu’il change de drapeau.

Source: Ces athlètes qui se magasinent une nationalité

Unless exceptionally approved by the IOC, an athlete cannot compete under the banner of one country if he has represented another in the previous three years. He must also be “released” by his federation of origin, otherwise recourse to arbitration bodies is necessary.

The case of duo figure skating is special, explains Patrice Brunet, a specialist in immigration law and sports law, and lawyer for Stellato-Dudek.

It is very difficult to find a partner to work with, and very often, they are partners from two countries.

Me Patrice Brunet, specialist in immigration law and sports law

Stellato-Dudek contacted Me Brunet in 2021. She had just separated from her former American partner. However, high-level figure skaters, he doesn’t drag many in the arenas. She heard about Maxime Deschamps, who had also just ended his association. It clicked.

Both wondered if they should be American or Canadian. The path to Canadian citizenship was a little easier… They chose Canada.

“I told him, “I want to manage your expectations. For the 2022 Games [Beijing], it is not playable,” says the lawyer, who is in Milan to see his client perform.

You first need a Quebec selection certificate. For this, it is necessary to demonstrate that we can occupy a job sought after by Quebec employers.

However, figure skating is a lot of work, but it is not a job. Impossible to go through the usual path. It was necessary to go through ministerial discretion.

“She had the support of sports federations. An expedited treatment was requested at Christine Fréchette’s office. We got it in six months. ”

The most complicated thing was to come: to become a Canadian citizen, you must have been present for at least three years in the last five.

“It put us out of time for the Milan-Cortina Games. But again, ministerial discretion allows exceptions. ”

The minister was Marc Miller. The file was pending… then in January, they became world champions for Canada. Justin Trudeau congratulated them on social media.

How can you compete for Canada without being a citizen? This is allowed by the international federation, given the many binational couples. But not at the Olympic Games.

The lawyer therefore took a screenshot of the Prime Minister’s tweet.

“Let’s say it made the file a better… My fear was that they would grant it just before the Games. There is the whole psychological component to manage. We even sent a letter from a psychologist to the minister. ”

Citizenship was granted in November 2024. The couple continued to train in Boucherville. And she has learned French since then.

The scenarios of changing the flag are countless. It is often because an athlete has not been able to qualify in his country that he turns to another national federation. This is the case of short-track skater Félix Pigeon, who became Polish with the agreement of the Canadian federation.

In an interview with the Journal de Québec, he said he didn’t understand anything when President Karol Nawrocki came to wish the athletes good luck before the Games.

For the same reason, many African athletes have joined the sports federations of Bahrain and Qatar. Given the depth of athletics talent in Kenya and Ethiopia, the 6th or even the 12th in the country in a given discipline is nevertheless part of the world elite and can win a medal.

Let’s add to this that these rich Gulf countries are extending substantial funding to attract these athletes.

In Paris, 11 of Bahrain’s 14 athletes came from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria. In the 3000 m steeple, Winfred Yavi, born in Kenya, won gold for Bahrain. She finished 10th in Tokyo. In other words, when she changed country, she was a high-level athlete, promising, but not a champion.

The other, more controversial category is precisely that of the import of existing champions.

The most spectacular case is that of speed skater Ahn Hyun-soo, a huge star in South Korea, who had won four medals, including three gold, at the Turin Games. Injured before his country’s qualifying for the Vancouver Games, he was not allowed to participate. He became Russian just before Sochi and is now called Viktor Ahn. He won three gold medals for Russia. Back in South Korea, things are apparently not going wonderfully, especially since he was the coach of a great rival, China…

American planker Vic Wild fell in love with a Russian and adopted the nationality in 2011, in time for the Sochi Games. He had been found a well-paid job to facilitate his integration. The investment paid off: he won two gold medals and received the hug of his new president, Vladimir Putin.

Conversely, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continuation of the banishment from the country, it is estimated that 350 Russian athletes have left the country. At the Paris Games, 77 of them participated as athletes from other countries. There are about thirty of them in Milan-Cortina.

We can add to this those who have no flags. They are part of the refugee team. She is not represented in Milan-Cortina, but there were 36 in Paris, two of whom won a bronze medal.

Sometimes, it is also because an athlete has no choice that he changes his flag.

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Liberals quiet on whether government will support Senate changes to First Nations bill that would end second-generation cut-off

2026/02/17 Leave a comment

Interesting parallel with C-3 and citizenship by descent. But Indian status is more material in terms of benefits and Canadian citizenship. Hard to see what would be a meaningful connection test if no parent or grandparent indigenous:

The House of Commons has started its study of government legislation aimed at ending gender inequities in the Indian Act but it’s unclear if the Liberals will support Senate amendments eliminating the so-called second-generation cut-off.

The rule denies Indian status to people who had a non-First Nation parent and grandparent, and has been criticized as a colonial policy that allows Ottawa to determine who qualifies as Indigenous and designed to limit the government’s obligations to status peoples.

Bill S-2 was introduced in the House in December after passing in the Senate with amendments that would end the cut-off policy.

The amendments passed over objections from senators representing the government, who called for more consultations with rights-holders.

But critics accused the government of using the consultations as a delay tactic, with other changes in S-2 facing a court-imposed deadline of this spring.

During third reading debate in the Upper Chamber, Sen. PJ Prosper said waiting for separate legislation was risky in a minority Parliament, with the threat of an unexpected election call always looming.

“What happens to the children affected by the cut-off if the government fails before consultations are concluded? What happens to the children if the government cannot pass stand-alone legislation in time?” he asked.

“In that way, these amendments, with the one-year coming-into-force delay, act as a fail-safe in these uncertain and unpredictable times.”

S-2 bill is still awaiting second reading in the House, but the chamber’s Indigenous and northern affairs committee began their study this week on issues related to the Indian Act registration.

Lori Doran, director general of individual affairs at Indigenous Services, told the committee on Tuesday the government is currently collecting submissions on the second-generation cut-off, which will then be reviewed by a panel of First Nations experts to assess their “legal viability and other impacts.”

That would then be packaged into a guide for consultations at a series of First Nations-led events that would start in the spring, she said.

Doran said some of the options floated to replace the second-generation cut-off include a one-parent rule, First Nations jurisdiction to decide on status or the use of DNA testing.

Several First Nations groups have publicly called on the government to support the Senate changes, including the Assembly of First Nations, which advocates on behalf of over 630 communities.

At a special assembly in Ottawa in December, AFN chiefs voted to support Senate changes to Bill S-2 to end the cut-off policy, with some chiefs warning that many First Nations would lose all status members in coming decades without changes to registration requirements. If a First Nation loses all its status members, their reserve territory would become Crown land.

Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty responded that she needed more time to consult before making a decision.

Gull-Masty’s office said the minister was unavailable on Friday.

Appearing on Thursday before the House Indigenous committee, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak called the second-generation cut-off a “blood-quantum rule rooted in colonial thinking” that was designed to “reduce Canada’s obligations by steadily decreasing the number of people entitled to Indian status.”

“The rule treats First Nations identity as something that can be diluted and eventually erased. It does not reflect First Nations understandings of belongings and places the power to decide who is Indian enough with the federal government.”…

Source: Liberals quiet on whether government will support Senate changes to First Nations bill that would end second-generation cut-off

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