I wouldn't worry too much about it, Steve. Canadian Military Intelligence
also investigated the Raging Grannies, a group of senior citizens who sing
at protest events.
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Kurtz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: futurework <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: January 04, 1999 8:30 PM
Subject: Canada 'haven for terrorists'
>Since I'm planning to move northward, this certainly raised my eyebrows!
>
>Steve
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Canada 'haven for terrorists'
>> BY STANLEY OZIEWICZ
>> South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), January 4, 1999
>>
>> Canada's spy chief shed the service's legendary tight-lipped posture
>> recently with a public bombshell.
>>
>> Canada was becoming the world's premier haven for international
terrorists,
>> he said.
>>
>> "We, uniquely among developed countries, exist alongside the United
States,
>> one of the world's pre-eminent terrorist targets," Ward Elcock said.
>>
>> "While distance from conflict and moderation in our policies may make us
>> less likely than others to be a target, we also, for the same reasons,
can
>> be seen as a haven that might be safer than others."
>>
>> Nobody knows whether Mr Elcock's statement was made to justify a bigger
>> budget for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service but it made a big
>> impact.
>>
>> David Harris, a former high-ranking service officer who is now a security
>> and intelligence consultant, called his statement an extraordinary
revelation.
>>
>> And Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto history professor specialising
in
>> spy issues, said: "Ward Elcock is not a man . . . who is inclined to make
>> alarmist statements. There's got to be a good deal of fire to this
smoke."
>>
>> To those outside Canada inclined to think of it as a large, rich but
boring
>> backwater peopled by conservative and polite people who place great value
>> on moderation and order, Mr Elcock's remarks may be shocking.
>>
>> These are some of the things Mr Elcock said, first to a secret meeting of
a
>> parliamentary committee, then on the service's Web site:
>>
>> With the possible exception of the US, there are more international
>> terrorist groups active in Canada than anywhere in the world;
>>
>> The service's counter-terrorism branch is investigating more than 50
>> organisational targets and about 350 individual terrorist targets;
>>
>> Among these groups are Hezbollah and other Shi'ite Islamic terrorist
>> fronts, several Sunni Islamic extremist groups - including Palestinian
>> Hamas - with ties to Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon and Iran, the IRA,
the
>> Tamil Tigers, Turkish Kurd separatists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
and
>> all main Sikh terrorist groups;
>>
>> Individuals and groups in Canada have been directly or indirectly linked
to
>> the World Trade Centre bombing in New York, suicide bombings in Israel,
>> assassinations in India, the murder of tourists in Egypt, the 1996
bombing
>> of US soldiers at the Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia,
and
>> the IRA bombing campaign.
>>
>> The activities of those under investigation included providing logistical
>> support for acts of foreign terrorism, fund-raising, recruitment among
>> ethnic communities and providing temporary succour and transit to and
from
>> other countries, particularly the United States.
>>
>> Mr Elcock said Canada's open immigration and refugee system made it
>> vulnerable to terrorist influence and activities. Canada has been
accepting
>> well over 200,000 immigrants a year for years and is projecting it will
>> take in a further million over the next five years.
>>
>> "While the vast majority of those immigrants and refugees have no greater
>> priority than to be productive participants in a peaceful and prosperous
>> society, there are those very few who slip through, bent on using Canada
as
>> a safe haven from which to support terrorist activities," he said. He did
>> not name any specific individuals. However, among those to have surfaced
in
>> recent court cases were:
>>
>> * Mansour Ahani, an Iranian government assassin;
>>
>> * Iqbal Singh, a member of Babbar Khalsa International, which the
Canadian
>> spy service describes as an internationally active Sikh terrorist
>> organisation advocating a means to establish an independent Sikh homeland
>> in India;
>>
>> * Hani Abd Rahim Sayegh, a Saudi national who was wanted in connection
with
>> the Dhahran bombing that killed 19 Americans;
>>
>> * Manickavasagam Suresh, a fund-raiser for the Tamil Tigers.
>>
>> EDITOR'S NOTE: A story on the above matter was included in an Oct. 19
>> CISNEWS posting, but Mr. Elcock's comments were not then available on
line.
>> They are now, at:
>>
>> http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/press/kellye.html
>>
>> ****
>> ****
>>
>
