 
Canadians have been shocked by intelligence reports that Osama bin Laden's terrorist "sleeper" agents are believed to be established in Canada and 33 other countries. It was already known that wanted terrorists have sneaked into Canada in the past, and now we are told agents with no criminal records and no previously known affiliation to terrorism also live here. The first reaction may be to rewrite our immigration laws to keep any possible terrorist or agent far from our shores. This solution, however, is not necessary, not workable and, ultimately, not desirable. It is not necessary because Canada has ample legal scope to prevent terrorists from entering the country if they can be identified. The House of Commons passed Bill C-11 in June to toughen our immigration laws, raising protests from civil liberty groups that felt the government granted itself too many arbitrary powers to refuse and eject visitors and immigrants. Assuming it is proclaimed into law, C-11 will make people inadmissible to Canada if they have engaged in acts of terrorism or are a danger to the security of Canada. They have no right of appeal. Even those people who have previously been granted permanent resident status can be deported without appeal if it is discovered they have hidden criminal records. Visitors can be detained in custody without a warrant for their arrest. People who misrepresent their identity or other material facts can be rejected for entry into Canada. In the case of past criminal acts, visitors can be deported back to dangerous countries, even if they argue they could face torture. Bill C-11 will allow immigration officials to present confidential intelligence information to a judge in a private hearing, without having to disclose the information to the applicant. This means applicants may not know the reasons they have been rejected. Moreover, critics argue the definition of terrorism is unclear and could unfairly be applied to too many people. These laws give the government ample leeway to act against suspected terrorists. If experience is any guide, what is needed more than stiffer laws is better work to investigate the past of would-be applicants, and to share information between global law enforcement organizations. Tightened immigration laws would also ultimately prove an unworkable way of eliminating terrorists from Canada. According to news reports, some of the terrorists involved in the World Trade Center attacks last week were highly educated professionals with no criminal records, people who spoke English and blended well into their communities. Any sort of sane immigration policy would surely approve such apparently qualified applicants who would appear to perfectly match Canada's immigration priorities. It's not easy to accept that perfect screening is impossible, but we cannot probe the hearts of applicants to find out whether they harbour evil intentions. This problem leads to the conclusion that it would also be undesirable to change Canada's immigration policies to try to block every possible terrorist agent. As we understand the risk today, this would imply some sort of blanket ban on all visitors or would-be immigrants from the Middle East or perhaps some outright rejection of people who follow the teachings of Islam. Of course, neither is acceptable. Such policies would be a fundamental redefinition of Canada's values. We are a nation of immigrants, with our doors open to people from any country as long as they meet our qualifications. To implement a fundamentally racist policy of rejecting everyone from a certain country, race or religion would be a leap back into a dark past. It would exclude many innocent people. It would be a panicked reaction, and an admission that we are prepared to swiftly change an essential characteristic of Canadian society. No security system can assure Canadians perfect protection from terrorism. We learned last week than anything can be a weapon and anything can be a target. And, it would appear, innocuous people can turn out to be fanatical terrorists. Paranoia can help us concoct an unlimited number of scenarios, and make us frantic trying to block them all. The truth is, we cannot block every risk and remain the Canada we know. Any attempts to build a foolproof immigration system would only lead to a false sense of security anyway, for evil can always spring from a new and unexpected source. Canada must do everything possible to scrutinize those people who want to join our society and live among us. Few Canadians today would oppose a large increase in spending to aid the people who must make these assessments. But while we want our immigration program monitored more carefully than ever before, we do not want it fundamentally altered. GLOBE AND MAIL - |
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