C-24 Citizenship Act: Senate Hearings – 11 June

2014/06/12 Leave a comment

Second and last day of witnesses at Senate Committee examining C-24. Same technical frustrations with Parlvu, so again have captured as best I can.

Starting with supporting witnesses:

Martin Collacott of the Centre for Immigration Policy Reform noted these changes were long overdue. Longer residency and physical presence would reduce fraud, noting many “parked their families in Canada, benefitting from Canadian healthcare and education while they worked abroad.” Increased penalties and filing of tax returns made sense. However, the only secure way to eliminate residence fraud was through entry and exit controls. Higher language requirements were needed for more skilled labour and management and extension of language requirements to 14-64 was welcome. He supported revocation for treason or terror and noted UK has an even more strict approach (no statelessness provision). A 2012 survey showed 80 percent supported for revocation. He welcomed the Lost Canadians fix. He also stated the need for the government to end jus soli (birthright citizenship) but noted some of the challenges working with the provinces.
Sheryl Saperia of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies largely repeated her earlier testimony to CIMM. Revocation was about ‘updating the social contract of citizenship.”  It was “fitting to lose citizenship” for treason, terrorism or armed conflict. But the Bill should be tightened to terrorism in Canada, against Canadian targets or for Canadian listed entities. If nothing to do with Canada, there should be no citizenship consequences. Persons should not be able to use the Canadian passport to travel for terror; we needed to “remove this weapon of Canadian citizenship” given the freedom to travel that it entails. As before, she noted the need for a second test of due process and fairness in the case of foreign convictions. She also mentioned argued that Canadian passport applications should include an acknowledgement that engagement in terrorism or treason could entail revocation, again to reinforce the social contract.

Tim Edwards, President and Ron Cochrane, Executive Director Executive Director, Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers expressed their support for ensuring that the children born to Crown servants born abroad would have an exemption to the first generation limit to allow them to pass on Canadian citizenship to their children. No debate or discussion, apart from a quip by Senator Eggleton that “we should pass it and kill the rest.”

Opposing the Bill were:

Barbara Jackman, Kerri Froc, Barbara J. Caruso, Canadian Bar Association started with their overall assessment that C-24 discouraged persons from applying through its “layers of regulations, harder, longer and more costly process.” Like others, CBA opposed elimination of pre-P.R. time. They questioned how an applicant would prove their intent to reside and reiterated their concern that despite the Minister’s assurance regarding possible grounds for misrepresentation should one’s intent to reside change post-citizenship. CBA, like most lawyers, opposed revocation for dual nationals. It is discriminatory and takes away the “certainty of citizenship.” Banishment or exile was a way to “get through the back door what the Government couldn’t get through the “front door.”

Yuen Pau Woo, President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada provided a different perspective by focussing on the contribution made by Canadians living abroad. He focussed this criticism on the increased residency requirements. He believed that this would result in reduced citizenship accession rates. This would result in fewer economic benefits to Canada; if citizenship was relatively easy, more new Canadians would invest in their human capital and improve their earning power. The intent was not clear: if to punish immigrants, this would not increase attachment. If to curb abuse of social benefit programs, given that these programs are available to permanent residents, increasing citizenship requirements would not make a difference. The best mix was a high bar to entry but a relatively low bar for citizenship. The general implications of the Bill were that Canadians residing in Canada were “more Canadian than those abroad.” This was an outdated view, given the high mobility of labour in today’s world, particularly the most highly talented (“best and brightest”). Some 2.8 million Canadians lived abroad, or 9 percent of the population. Restoring voting rights beyond 5 years was an additional way to encourage attachment to Canada. Increased residency requirements would reduce both economic benefits and attachment to Canada.

Melynda Jarratt, Canadian War Brides, in a strongly worded statement, talked about the history of Canadian war brides who were initially welcomed to Canada along with their children as Canadians but the “bureaucrats changed their mind.” Canadian citizenship did not start in 1947 with the first Citizenship Act but there were many government statements and court decisions that mentioned Canadian citizenship before then. She argued for the need for a citizenship ombudsman and amnesty program to address the remaining estimated 50,000 Lost Canadians not addressed by C-24. It was also important to recognize the Canadian war dead from both World Wars as Canadian, not just British subjects. She ended by saying that it was “disgraceful” how Don Chapman was treated and not able to testify.

Particular points of interest:

  • As expected, focus was on revocation. Senator Eggleton noted the current trial in Egypt of Mohamed Fahmy, a dual citizen. If convicted, theoretically his citizenship could be revoked. Collacott noted that was a worst case and unlikely  scenario.  Revocation was needed to deal with serious acts against Canada.
  • Senator Eaton questioned Canadian Iranians who go to Iran, engage in political activity, and then “wave their Canadian passport when they get into trouble. “Why get involved if Canada is your home?” A bit odd, given the Government’s encouragement of Ukrainian Canadians and others to participate in their “homeland” issues.
  • Saperia said that not every distinction is necessarily discriminatory. People who choose dual citizenship should not view themselves as discriminated against. C-24 protected people against statelessness. Collacott, rather candidly, noted that “we can’t get rid of Canadians we don’t like” but we can for dual nationals. Caruso noted the equality and mobility rights of the Charter made this approach discriminatory.
  • A somewhat amusing exchange between Senator Eggleton and Saperia over whether revocation was really only about Omar Kadr. Saperia, reluctant to get into a debate over Kadr, cited the recent Globe article, Made-in-Canada terror is real – and it’s being ignored, said it is a broader issue.
  • Saperia stated that the decision-making process was less important than ensuring the right factors were concerned. Whether decided by the Courts, the Minister or an official was secondary.
  • Senator Tkachuk challenged the assertion that the increase in fees was unreasonable.Caruso said the increase was “overwhelming for many.”
  • Good discussion on increased residency requirements. Senator Seidman noted that 4 years out of 6 provided considerable flexibility to address work, study, or family related travel. Woo emphasized that in a world of global careers, the need to diversity Canada’s trade beyond the US and the importance of contacts, more flexibility is required. Otherwise, Canada would get a “poorer quality of applicants.” Both Collacott and Senator Eaton expressed scepticism over the benefits to Canada of such internationally mobile citizens.
  • Woo also noted that too much attention was paid to the evacuation and return of Lebanese Canadians in 2006. There was a need to protect against abuse. Evacuations could be paid by the evacuees.

Committee hearings today feature Minister Alexander, so expect a spirited exchange given the tone of some of his recent remarks on critics of the Bill.

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Treat all Canadian citizens equally under the law – Globe Editorial

2014/06/12 Leave a comment

Thanks to Rocco Galati, renewed attention being paid to C-24 Citizenship Act revocation provisions. Globe editorial has it about right:

Rocco Galati, a Toronto lawyer, is right to be calling upon the federal government to present a reference question to Supreme Court, on the proposed revocation-of-citizenship amendments to the Citizenship Act. If the Harper government won’t refer the matter to the court, Mr. Galati says there should be a Charter challenge – and he’s right.

It is one thing to revoke a Canadian citizenship that was obtained by fraud or false pretenses; that is a long-standing part of our law, and should be. The Harper government, however, is proposing to strip citizenship from people found guilty of some serious crimes, in cases where the offender is a naturalized citizen – an immigrant to Canada – or even someone born in Canada, but who for whatever reason also holds the citizenship of another country.

The classes of crime in question are serious: treason, terrorism and specific military crimes such as spying for the enemy in time of war. But however serious the offence, when someone is born here, or has been accepted into this country legally and fairly, he or she is Canadian, for good or ill.

The Charter of Rights is very clear: “Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.” The principle is so fundamental that the Charter’s notwithstanding clause cannot be used to override this section.

It would be invidious to send into exile a foreign-born citizen who committed a crime as a Canadian, while imposing a prison sentence on a natural-born Canadian found guilty of the same crime. Canadian law should treat Canadians, including Canadians who break the law, as Canadians.

Stripping a citizen of citizenship is characteristic of a totalitarian regime such as the Soviet Union, which banished dissidents, including the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1974. It’s not a model for Canada to emulate.

Andrew Thompson, a political scientist at the University of Waterloo, has rightly pointed out how easily the proposed new citizenship-revocation law could have condemned Maher Arar, a dual Canadian-Syrian national, suspected of terrorism by Canada, to a life of imprisonment and torture in a Syrian prison. The amendments now before Parliament would have afforded him little opportunity to defend himself.

Treat all Canadian citizens equally under the law – The Globe and Mail.

Filed under C-24, Citizenship, Citizenship Act, Revocation Tagged with ,

Made-in-Canada terror is real – and its being ignored – The Globe and Mail

2014/06/12 Leave a comment

Somewhat alarmist, and understating the work that has been done and continues to be done. I would not consider Public Safety, RCMP and CSIS activities as indifference; one can debate whether we are doing enough and the right things.

UK in its 2003 Prevent strategy over reached and was trimmed back in 2011. Community engagement and messaging became more important, and was largely successful in maintaining cross-community support post the Rigby killing.

Similarly in Canada, the relationships built up by the RCMP, CSIS and likely other police forces within affected communities are helping identify potential threats.

All plays into the revocation debate within C-24, as seen in Sheryl Saperia’s reference to this article in Wednesday’s hearing.

What might be the consequences of our continued indifference?

Inaction emboldens those seeking to radicalize our citizens to continue operating with impunity. The pipelines shipping our citizens to these jihadi hot spots become increasingly entrenched and more difficult to disrupt.

Another real possibility is the return of these citizens to Canada after their participation in foreign conflicts. They come back with a “postsecondary” degree in extremism, trained by hard-core foreign jihadists in real battlefield situations, posing a real terrorism threat.

There is a circularity to that threat: Radicalization leads to individuals travelling abroad, which then leads to … radicalization? Simply put, our inaction is potentially creating conditions for an even more potent and dangerous form of radicalization and recruitment than we are currently experiencing.

We will no longer simply need to be concerned about outsiders radicalizing and recruiting Canadians to go abroad and fight. Instead, the recruiters would be Canadians who have fought abroad: Credibility and a powerful narrative, their own experiences, would be shared with a much larger pool of friends, acquaintances and community members than an outside recruiter could ever hope to reach. We are already starting to see this unfold as individuals from Western states who have gone abroad to fight are increasingly using social media to relay their experiences to others.

Made-in-Canada terror is real – and its being ignored – The Globe and Mail.

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Internal memo reveals Ottawa cut labour market data spending

2014/06/12 Leave a comment

More indications of the botched up Temporary Foreign Workers program, linked to bad labour market data, cutbacks and overall approach to evidence-based policy making:

“Things are getting done in the opposite direction,” said economist Don Drummond, who will release a paper Wednesday for the Institute for Research on Public Policy calling on Ottawa to tackle Canada’s long-standing labour market data problems. “Normally you create an information infrastructure and that informs the policy. But here we’ve had dramatic changes in policy with the temporary foreign worker program and the Canada Job Grant, while we’re undermining the lousy information infrastructure we already had.”

Mr. Drummond chaired a 2009 panel on labour market information and says many of the panel’s recommendations have not yet been fully implemented.

A spokesperson for Mr. Kenney said the minister has repeatedly noted the need for better labour market information in Canada and is looking for ways to achieve this. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada explained the spending reduction by stating that the department has modernized its data portfolio in a “tighter fiscal environment,” in part by stopping low-priority surveys to fund higher-priority research.

The recent debate over labour data has focused in part on the government’s decision to reduce funding for Statistics Canada, which gathers labour data through phone surveys of employers, while relying more on private-sector data based on scans of Internet job boards.

Internal memo reveals Ottawa cut labour market data spending – The Globe and Mail.

Update:

The Government announced that it would restore funding to StatsCan to improve labour market information:

“The government will be launching two significant, robust, new labour market information studies,” Mr. Kenney told the House of Commons Wednesday. “Of them, one will be a quarterly study on job vacancies and the other a robust annual survey on wage rates, just as experts have asked us to do.”

Sources say the new $14-million would largely reverse the 20 per cent cut by 2015-16, returning the department’s annual spending on labour market information to more than $80-million.

Ottawa increases funding for labour-market surveys

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C-24 Citizenship Act: Senate Hearings Start

2014/06/11 Leave a comment

While overshadowed by the Galati case and related media coverage, Senate hearings on Bill C-24 treaded much of the familiar ground and focussing on mainly the same issues. Given Parlvu was somewhat choppy yesterday, may not have captured all the main points.

Starting with the witnesses supporting the Bill. Richard Kurland, Lawyer and Policy Analyst, and regular media commentator, applauded the government for providing greater clarity and transparency on the requirements and pathway to citizenship from temporary and permanent residency. The greatest benefit will be in more applications processed in a more timely manner at lower cost. He expressed concern, however, over the insecurity created by the intent to reside provision. He emphasized the need for oral hearings, not allowing citizenship officers to rule on revocation for fraud without the person being able to present themselves. As to citizens of convenience, he argued in favour of the US approach of requiring US citizens living abroad to file tax returns.

 Julie Taub, Immigration and Refugee Lawyer, former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, was even stronger in her support for the Bill. She had “fought the system for decades” and welcomed the tougher penalties for fraud, the simplification of revocation and the crackdown on citizens of convenience, drawing examples from her legal practice and recalling the evacuation of Lebanese Canadians and their eventual return in 2006. She would have preferred residency of five years as Canada was too short compared to other countries. To further avoid residence fraud, she recommended that Permanent Residents be provided with a “swipe card” required for entry to or exit from Canada, given many Permanent Residents have more two passports.
Opposing the Bill were Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Lorne Waldman, President, and Peter Edelmann, lawyer. They focused on the revocation provisions, noting the differential treatment between various classes of citizens: single national born Canadian; dual national born Canadian and aware of their dual nationality; dual national born Canadian and not aware of their dual nationality; and naturalized Canadians.

Revocation could apply, save in cases of statelessness, to any of the three last categories. The Bill did not say who was a dual national and how dual nationality would be interpreted. Given how citizenship laws vary by countries, some communities would be affected more than others. The reverse onus of proof was not justified. The threshold of 5 years for terrorist offences was too low compared to sentences for murder and sexual assault. Revocation for fraud allowed for no hearing and was a completely paper process without any independent review. The intent to reside provision was not clear on how it would be interpreted and applied, and was another example of differential treatment.

Loly Rico, President and Janet Dench, Executive Director, Canadian Council for Refugees, opposed the increase in residency requirements and removal of credit for pre-PR time, given that refugoees typically spent three to four years of temporary residency before becoming permanent residents. Total time for citizenship could approach eight to ten years with these changes. Extending language and knowledge test requirements made no sense for youth given they would be in Canadian schools; for 55-64 year olds who were refugees, their life circumstances, time in refugee camps etc, may make formal test requirements an unreasonable requirement. CCR opposed revocation as it was discriminatory between Canadian and dual nationals and that punishment was better handled through the criminal system.

Debbie Douglas, Executive Director, of Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, noted the anniversaries of the Komagata Maru and the M.S. St. Louis as a caution against promoting “any sort of racist policies.” OCASI opposed increased residency requirements, removal of credit for pre-Permanent Residents time, particularly for live-in caregivers where family separation has social and family costs. The intent to reside did not recognize that circumstances can change for work, study, or care of family members. Good faith of Minister that this would not apply post citizenship did not change ambiguity of law. Douglas echoed CCR on extending language and knowledge testing to 55-64 year olds, questioning the purpose of adding this additional barrier.
Debate as in the Commons Committee revolved around the familiar issues of intent to reside, revocation, language and knowledge testing, and decision-making process and lack of hearing or appeal. Government senators largely focussed on their defence of the Bill, and Opposition senators largely drew out their positions from witnesses opposed to C-24.
Some of the more interesting points:
  • Government Senators were sceptical that many new citizens would be affected by the intent to reside provision, examples cited by witnesses were “exceptions,”  with Sen. Enverga stating that if you “apply to come to Canada, your should live in Canada.”
  • On revocation for terror or treason, Edelmann trotted out the cliché, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” and how definitions change over time. But more originally, rather than the usual Mandela example, he cited the contemporary example of Greenpeace being charged in Russia (Dench referred to Maher Arar). He also noted other heinous crimes, mentioning Paul Bernardo and Robert Picton, questioning why terrorism or treason should be treated differently;
  • There was a fairly spirited exchange on whether restoring knowledge and language testing to 55-64 year olds was an unreasonable barrier. Taub and Senator Eaton noted that basic language capability was not unreasonable to require. Refugee advocates emphasized for some it was, given what they had gone through. Senator Eaton, as a 70-year old, found their concerns to be “patronizing” to seniors but acknowledged that it may be a “huge struggle” for some. After probing by the Chair whether this was regarding language capability itself or formal testing, Douglas confirmed that it was more the lack of the alternative of an interview with a citizenship judge
  • Israel’s “law of return” was cited by Kurland as an example of dual citizenship. Some citizens, particularly refugees,  will always have a “fear of the state.” We will see how the judiciary “handles it,” acknowledging that this created two classes of citizenship.
  • Senator Eaton and Taub noted recent media reports of young men fighting in foreign conflicts and the risks of returning fighters to Canada. Taub noted there “really is not a choice” between Charter provisions and keeping Canada safe, and 75 percent of Canadians support revocation in these cases.
  • Whether more or less time in Canada increases integration was subject of debate. Douglas was powerful in noting that inclusion and removal of barriers  “goes a longer way than time,” citing the example of Black Canadians who had been here for generations.
  • Indicating the philosophical divide was a short exchange on citizenship as a privilege (Senator Enverga) and as a right (particularly Rico), who emphasized that as a former refugee from El Salvador, the right to be a full citizen, with all the rights and responsibilities that entailed as anyone born in Canada. That was part of the “beauty of Canada,” its inclusiveness and multiculturalism.
Hearings continue today with Martin Collacott, CBA, Asia-Pacific Foundation, Canadian War Brides (shut out from Commons Committee hearings), and PAFSO (foreign service union). Will be interesting to see if Galati case comes up during questions of the CBA witnesses.

Filed under C-24, Citizenship, Citizenship Act Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Chris Alexander says citizenship bill will withstand constitutional test

2014/06/11 Leave a comment

The Senate hearings on C-24 were more of a sideshow to this spirited exchange on Power and Politics.

In an interview on CBC News Networks Power & Politics on Tuesday, Alexander said the challenge “doesn’t have much of a hope.”

“There is no constitutional issue here,” he told host Evan Solomon.

Bill C-24 would give the government powers to strip Canadian citizenship from dual nationals “who were members of an armed force or an organized armed group engaged in armed conflict in Canada.” Citizenship would also be revoked from dual nationals who have been “convicted of terrorism, high treason, or spying offences.”

Toronto lawyer Rocco Galati warned MPs, senators and the Governor General, in separate letters sent on Monday, not to pass Bill C-24 until the government referred a key provision of the bill to the Supreme Court for a legal opinion.

At the heart of Galatis challenge are provisions contained in the citizenship bill that would strip dual nationals of their citizenship and bar them from reacquiring it.

Galati said he would apply for a judicial review with the Federal Court if he did not receive a response from the Governor General by Monday.

Galati, who also appeared on CBC News Networks Power & Politics Tuesday, said the federal government does not have the power to remove the citizenship of persons born in Canada.

“They are acting completely outside of the Constitution in a renegade, reckless and flagrant manner. And they know it,” Galati said.

Revoking the citizenship of dual nationals is “offensive,” “unconstitutional” and simply “beyond the governments authority,” he argued.

… Alexander noted that Galati represented a relative of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr, who is now serving a sentence of eight years behind bars in Canada after pleading guilty to five war crimes.”

He also defended, a senior member, the patriarch of the Khadr family, who was a senior member of al-Qaeda,” Alexander said.

Galati once represented Khadrs older brother, Abdurahman Khadr, who was held for a time as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay.

“His objection here seems to be to the idea that committing an act of terrorism, treason, or espionage says anything about your qualifications to be a Canadian citizen. We think it does,” Alexander said.

… The Canadian Bar Association has also raised “serious concerns” with the citizenship bill.

In a 30-page submission to Parliament in April, the Bar Association said the citizenship bill raised “serious human rights concerns” and key provisions in the bill were “likely unconstitutional.”​

Alexander said the concerns came from “a small section” of the Bar Association and did not represent the views of Canadians.

Galati’s has a narrower challenge than the criticism of the substantial majority of lawyers testifying before the Commons and Senate committees that revocation for dual nationals is not Charter compliant.

Galati’s case pertains to dual nationals who were born in Canada, not those who immigrated to Canada, either as children or adults, and became naturalized.

Alexander is getting quite good at Poilievre-type slurs, rather than more positive messaging on the merits of the Bill.

Chris Alexander says citizenship bill will withstand constitutional test – Politics – CBC News.

Filed under C-24, Citizenship, Citizenship Act Tagged with ,

Panelists decry Muslim anti-semitism | The Canadian Jewish News

2014/06/11 Leave a comment

Panel discussion organized by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies’ (FSWC) at the inaugural Leadership Policy Conference on Anti-Semitism., with Raheel Raza, Tarek Fatah and Tahir Gora:

The three Muslim panelists spoke out vehemently against what they characterized as a pervasive anti-Semitism found in Canada and across the Muslim world and which, stoked by Islamic extremism, often forms the underpinning of anti-Israel rhetoric, Israeli Apartheid Week and the boycott, divestment and sanctions BDS movement.

Raza, who is also president of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, a group working to “reclaim Islam” and oppose extremism and violence in the name of religion, said it’s important for the Jewish community to ask itself, “Who are our real friends?”

She warned against “seemingly innocuous” displays of anti-Semitism, such as those that she said sometimes emerge under the pretext of interfaith dialogue.

“Some aspects of anti-Semitism you see flat out, like Israeli Apartheid Week. But then there are those subtle forms that come under the umbrella of interfaith dialogue – the whole term interfaith dialogue has been hijacked by [extremist] Islamists.

”She said hatred of Jews is often embedded in early Islamic education, and that Jews cannot afford to “stand by silently anymore” regarding things like anti-Israel activities on university campuses.

“If anti-Jewish sentiment is taught early in mosques, then is there any wonder you have Israeli Apartheid Week and BDS campaigns in places of education?”

Having been involved in more than a few discussions on antisemitism, and having my own take (see Is criticism of Israel anti-Semitic?), these sessions could be strengthened by a broader cross-section of  panelists, not just three who agree with each other.

Pardon the phrase, but it is preaching to the converted; the challenge is to engage with those with whom one disagrees with.

Suspect the organizers were less pleased with Tarek’s other remark:

Fatah also asserted that without a two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel’s and the Jewish Diaspora’s problems won’t cease.

“Palestine has to be a state and Israel has to get out of the West Bank… there is no choice. And this is the Israeli consensus. It’s only in North America where Jewish organizations question the two-state solution… A lot of time in the Jewish Diaspora is being wasted on unnecessary arguments that have no outcomes.”

Panelists decry Muslim anti-semitism | The Canadian Jewish News.

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Jason Kenney says ‘there’s nothing we can do’ to stop extremists from leaving Canada to fight elsewhere

2014/06/10 Leave a comment

Sensible comments from Minister Kenney on the limits of what he government can do about Canadian extremists fighting abroad:

Canadian extremists fighting in Syria should be viewed as security risks when they come home but there is little the government can do to prevent them from leaving, Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said in an interview Sunday.

“At the end of the day, if it’s a Canadian who’s been radicalized and they choose to leave this country, there’s nothing we can do to stop them,” he said. “You can’t have police standing at the airport detaining them as they seek to leave the country.

“What we can do is to try to monitor networks that recruit and radicalize youth,” he said. “They can’t catch every single instance but I think that the extremist networks know that there’s an extremely high level of vigilance in Canada.”…

“I think it’s a legitimate concern, not just with respect to anti-Semitism but violent extremism in general,” Mr. Kenney said. “Obviously, Westerners who’ve been radicalized to the point of risking their lives in fighting for, for example, Al-Qaeda-linked militants, constitute a prima facie security risk when they get back to their home countries.”

RCMP, as noted earlier, has a program to identify those most at risk (RCMP set to tackle extremism at home with program to curb radicalization of Canadian youth).

Interestingly, as C-24 Citizenship Act revisions advances to the Senate this week, Kenney made no distinction on single or dual nationals. He talks of “Canadians” and “Westerners,” while C-24, developed under his watch, authorizes revocation for dual citizens convicted of terror or treason-related offences.

Jason Kenney says ‘there’s nothing we can do’ to stop extremists from leaving Canada to fight elsewhere | National Post.

Filed under Radicalization, Revocation Tagged with ,

UK – Jonathan Russell: Way forward on Islam question

2014/06/10 Leave a comment

Further to yesterday’s post (UK: Education Sec’y accused of using ‘Trojan Horse’ row to push anti-Islam agenda), more on the UK debates between the Home Secretary Theresa May and Education Secretary Michael Gove on extremism from Quillam Foundation (Michael Gove apologizes over ‘Trojan Horse’ row with Theresa May):

The Home Secretary has been strong on tackling the symptoms of extremism and has made good progress in improving the compatibility of counter-terrorism legislation with human rights, which is vital.

The Education Secretary on the other hand has always been strong on challenging the causes of extremism and his appreciation of the need to challenge non-violent extremism is spot on. The Birmingham schools investigations are ongoing and we expect to hear from Ofsted and the Department for Education shortly.

Blaming Gove or May for any extremism uncovered would be unhelpful. Instead it is time to appreciate that our approach to extremism of all kinds must be consistent, particularly in schools where vulnerable children might not be ready to make their own judgments on religious, social or political issues.

Of course the debate over the role that religion should play in education is nothing new.

To the vast majority of parents and society at large, however, there is nothing controversial about saying children should not be exposed to homophobic, anti-Semitic or religiously intolerant views and that children of different genders should be able to mix freely.

Now allegations have been made that in certain schools the rights of some young people to shape their view of the world in a free and open way have been compromised. If so this is a failure of the state which has potentially serious consequences for the health of our society.

The authorities have had some success in countering terrorism and reacting to some forms of extremism but a more coherent policy means more sustainable results.

Jonathan Russell: Way forward on Islam question | Comment | Daily Express.

Filed under Multiculturalism, Radicalization Tagged with , , ,

ICYMI: Capitalism Eating Its Children – Mark Carney

2014/06/10 1 Comment

Stronger than his statements while Bank of Canada Governor:

…..Mark Carney, the Canadian governor of the Bank of England, lays into unfettered capitalism. “Just as any revolution eats its children,” he says, “unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the social capital essential for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself.”

All ideologies, he continues, are prone to extremes. Belief in the power of the market entered “the realm of faith” before the 2008 meltdown. Market economies became market societies. They were characterized by “light-touch regulation” and “the belief that bubbles cannot be identified.”

Carney pulls no punches. Big banks were too big to fail, operating in a “heads-I-win-tails-you-lose bubble.” Benchmarks were rigged for personal gain. Equity markets blatantly favored “the technologically empowered over the retail investor.” Mistrust grew — and persists.

“Prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital,” Carney argues, having defined social capital as “the links, shared values and beliefs in a society which encourage individuals not only to take responsibility for themselves and their families but also to trust each other and work collaboratively to support each other.”

Capitalism Eating Its Children – NYTimes.com.

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