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Would-be terrorists see Canada as perfect destination, ex-FBI agent says
TORONTO (CP) - The perception of Canada as an immigrant-friendly place with myriad ethnic backgrounds makes it a perfect destination for would-be terrorists, a former FBI agent said Tuesday at an international conference on disaster management.
Ty Fairman, who has interviewed several of the world's most notorious terrorists, said Muslim radicals looking to travel to the western world look at settling in Ontario because of the high concentration of Muslims already living there.
Sixty-one per cent of the country's estimated 750,000 Muslims reside in the province, Fairman said, and five per cent of those live in Toronto - the most of any city in North America.
Fairman, who helped conduct raids of al-Qaida safe houses in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said training manuals compiled by the infamous terrorist network outline how aspiring insurgents can best infiltrate western nations.
"One of their main missions, as far as expansion, is to travel to places undetected, unnoticed, go to places with lenient immigration laws," Fairman told more than 500 delegates in Tuesday's keynote speech.
"Hmm, ring a bell? Canada."
The federal government swiftly rejected Tuesday any notion that the country's immigration policies are a draw for international terrorists.
"Our immigration laws take into account the same issues and the same commitment to openness and immigration as the U.S. and the U.K.," said Alex Swann, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
"There's no need to single Canada out in that regard."
Since 2001, Canada has hired 45 immigration officials stationed overseas to detect people applying to enter Canada with fraudulent documents, Swann added.
Jeffrey Reitz, a professor of ethnic and immigration studies at the University of Toronto, said the global perception of Canada as a place with lax immigration laws comes from the case of Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam, who was stopped at the border in 1999 with a trunkload of explosives to be used to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.
"The interesting thing about it, of course, is that it is a success case in the sense that this person was apprehended, and he was apprehended before 9/11," Reitz said.
"We don't have major terrorist or even minor terrorist incidents arising as a consequence of our (immigration) policy."
Ressam, who was convicted in 2001, will be sentenced July 28.
Fairman said Canada's involvement in Afghanistan also makes it a terrorist target.
"You're in Afghanistan, and your military is doing a very good job," he said. "They are a great asset to the United States, that's why you're still on the list."
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden declared Canada a "legitimate target" for attacks in March 2004. Two months later, an internal RCMP risk assessment report noted that Canada was the only country left on his list that had yet to be attacked.
The conference, which got underway Sunday, runs through Wednesday and boasts more than 1,500 delegates from more than 40 countries.
Not that it is nice to think about, but if they did hit Canada, where and what do you think they would hit?
TORONTO (CP) - The perception of Canada as an immigrant-friendly place with myriad ethnic backgrounds makes it a perfect destination for would-be terrorists, a former FBI agent said Tuesday at an international conference on disaster management.
Ty Fairman, who has interviewed several of the world's most notorious terrorists, said Muslim radicals looking to travel to the western world look at settling in Ontario because of the high concentration of Muslims already living there.
Sixty-one per cent of the country's estimated 750,000 Muslims reside in the province, Fairman said, and five per cent of those live in Toronto - the most of any city in North America.
Fairman, who helped conduct raids of al-Qaida safe houses in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said training manuals compiled by the infamous terrorist network outline how aspiring insurgents can best infiltrate western nations.
"One of their main missions, as far as expansion, is to travel to places undetected, unnoticed, go to places with lenient immigration laws," Fairman told more than 500 delegates in Tuesday's keynote speech.
"Hmm, ring a bell? Canada."
The federal government swiftly rejected Tuesday any notion that the country's immigration policies are a draw for international terrorists.
"Our immigration laws take into account the same issues and the same commitment to openness and immigration as the U.S. and the U.K.," said Alex Swann, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
"There's no need to single Canada out in that regard."
Since 2001, Canada has hired 45 immigration officials stationed overseas to detect people applying to enter Canada with fraudulent documents, Swann added.
Jeffrey Reitz, a professor of ethnic and immigration studies at the University of Toronto, said the global perception of Canada as a place with lax immigration laws comes from the case of Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam, who was stopped at the border in 1999 with a trunkload of explosives to be used to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.
"The interesting thing about it, of course, is that it is a success case in the sense that this person was apprehended, and he was apprehended before 9/11," Reitz said.
"We don't have major terrorist or even minor terrorist incidents arising as a consequence of our (immigration) policy."
Ressam, who was convicted in 2001, will be sentenced July 28.
Fairman said Canada's involvement in Afghanistan also makes it a terrorist target.
"You're in Afghanistan, and your military is doing a very good job," he said. "They are a great asset to the United States, that's why you're still on the list."
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden declared Canada a "legitimate target" for attacks in March 2004. Two months later, an internal RCMP risk assessment report noted that Canada was the only country left on his list that had yet to be attacked.
The conference, which got underway Sunday, runs through Wednesday and boasts more than 1,500 delegates from more than 40 countries.
Not that it is nice to think about, but if they did hit Canada, where and what do you think they would hit?
