Between 2010 & 2017, 3,000 ‘special’ visas were granted.
The Canadian government has a ‘special visa program’ that allows foreigners guilty of war crimes or terrorism to be allowed into Canada, even if they are inadmissible under Canada’s immigration laws.
According to a Global News report, the visas are given to individuals who the government believes should be allowed into Canada due to the “national interest.”
“This is because, according to internal government documents obtained by Global News, Canada has a secret program that allows certain “high-profile” foreign nationals who would otherwise be barred from entering the country due to national security concerns, war crimes, human rights violations and organized crime to be granted special “public policy” entry visas so long as it is in Canada’s “national interest.”
In one example, Khaled Saber Abdelhamed Zahw – a former general in the Egyptian military – was deemed inadmissble due to national security.
However, he was then given a special visa, allowing him to enter Canada with his wife anyway. According to the report, he was given the special visa so the government could avoid upsetting Egypt’s military:
“In Zahw’s case, visitor visas were issued after a senior official from the Department of National Defence (DND) in Ottawa wrote a letter to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) saying Zahw and his wife should be given visas to avoid upsetting Canada’s relationship with Egypt’s military.
This type of “national interest letter” can be issued by any federal department or the head of a Canadian mission abroad, such as an ambassador or high commissioner, according to an unpublished government “operational bulletin” contained in Zahw’s Federal Court file.”
The report indicates that the program, which has been in place under both the Harper and Trudeau governments and governments before, brought in roughly 3,000 people otherwise deemed inadmissible between 2010 and 2017.
And the government is refusing to answer questions about it, declining to give any details whatsoever about the policy.
Notably, use of these special visas has spiked under the Trudeau government. In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, there were 788 people brought in under the ‘special program.’
In 2015 alone, 1,063 people were brought in, while 596 were brought in in 2016, and 555 people in 2017.
The government is even refusing to say which categories (such as terrorism, war crimes, foreign criminal activity) the exceptions were granted for, and won’t even say where these people are coming from.
Amazingly, the government doesn’t even tell the people who get the exemptions that it’s a special case. The individuals simply think they’ve been approved normally.
As the report notes, people being allowed into Canada could even be complicit in terrorism:
“Lorne Waldman, an immigration lawyer who specializes in human rights law and national security cases, has reviewed the operational bulletin obtained by Global News and says the policy is an “insidious” example of government secrecy.
He says it’s clear from the bulletin that the purpose of the program is to avoid embarrassing foreign governments — many of which are bad actors — by secretly approving visas for people who are or could be complicit in the most serious kinds of security risks, such as torture, war crimes, terrorism or human rights abuses.”
So this is where we are as a country now:
Canadian Citizens are expected to follow the laws, while we let foreign war criminals and terrorists into our country, and our government won’t even tell the Canadian People about it.
What a disgrace.
Spencer Fernando
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