Justin Trudeau, Montreal's alleged "terror mosque," and the media

The National Post's Jonathan Kay is smart, witty, and an eminently reasonable guy. He's also one of Canada's most insightful, articulate journalists. If that wasn't explicit enough, I like the guy.

It's that reasonableness, I would assume, that propels him to resist hysteria and oppose leaping upon any bandwagon seeking the vilification of an entire community. Because of the significant support for terrorism among the Imams and congregants of Canada's mosques, Muslims by-and-large have been unfairly portrayed as supporting terrorism, when in fact the opposite is true. Most Canadian Muslims are law-abiding citizens who detest terrorism, and indeed, like other faith-communities in Canada with their religions' houses of worship, only a minority of Muslims even attend mosque with any regularity.

It seems in the spirit of turn-of-the 20th Century newspaperman Finley Peter Dunne's quip that his business was "to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted," that Jon has lashed back at Sun News' attack on Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau's recently publicized visit to a Montreal mosque linked to extremism and the recruitment of terrorists.

Bashing both Sun News and its audience, Jon wrote, "some of the network’s journalists seem to regard themselves as semi-official members of Stephen Harper’s opposition-research team. And since many Sun viewers already suspect that Trudeau was born in Kenya along with Barack Obama, its Muslim Menace programming presumably plays well to the network’s base. " But the crux of Jon's complaint seems to be that reports of the Assuna Annabawiyah's links to terrorism are a few years old, and therefore invalid, writing:

"In fact, the network botched the story: In the clip that Sun News had loaded on its web site as of 2pm on Thursday, the host reads out an old statement from the U.S. government, declaring that the mosque is among nine institutions where “known al-Qaeda members are recruited, facilitated or trained.” But the statement actually didn’t say “are.” It said “were.” (You can actually see the text in the printed version of the U.S. memo, which appears on the screen as the Sun host misquotes the key word.) As this CBC report from 2011 indicates, the reference relates to several jihadis who passed through Montreal in the late 1990s. "

I'm not sure how convincing a retort that is. The Assuna Annabawiyah was listed by US intelligence sources as Canada's equivalent of London's notorious terror-linked Finsbury Park Mosque. One of the Assuna mosque's former Imams is currently being held in Guantanamo for terrorism and one of its former congregants is currently on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List with a $5 Million dollar bounty on his head, and that's just two examples of many. As recently, not a decade ago but last year, Montreal's La Presse reported that Bernard Drainville, Quebec's Minister for Democratic Institutions, asked that Revenue Canada investigate the mosque for concerns about its abusing its charitable status.

That same La Presse report stated that the mosque's facebook page had a post saying that it is  "incumbent upon the Muslim woman to stay in her home and not get out except in case of urgent need, and then in this case under strict conditions." Assuna Annabawiyah's facebook page still contains a video giving helpful hints on how to avoid shaking hands with a woman.

Is this proof on ongoing support for terror? Perhaps not. But its history and the values the Assuna Annabawiyah mosque espouses are hardly of the sort that a responsible political leader should give implicit approbation with a high-profile visit.

It was a serious error of judgment by Justin Trudeau to make a pilgrimage to such a place to pander for votes, but one that is completely in character for the foolhardy Liberal leader. However pointing out such matters is not only in the purview of journalists, but is their responsibility.

Sun News was living up to that responsibility by highlighting Justin Trudeau's visit to the Assuna Annabawiyah mosque. Perhaps rather than using the controversy of that visit to bash a rival and mitigate Trudeau's gaffe, the National Post should be exploring whether such a party leader is fit to govern Canada.


(Updated Aug. 7 /14)

Egyptians in Montreal protest against Muslim Brotherhood

Yesterday, a group of Egyptians carried a banner that read, "Obama, it Egypt's war against MB terrorism" through the streets of Montreal.



Obama's handling of Egypt and the entire Middle East during his presidency has been thoroughly inept.

Unless it's part of a master-stroke predicated on his understanding how much hate and contempt he generates.

Montreal child kidnapper Chiheb Battikh was affiliated with Muslim Association of Canada and other Islamist organizations

The kidnapping of a 3-year old child in Montreal on December 19 was well covered by the media. 

On the other hand, the main suspect Chiheb Battikh’s Islamist background and his role within the Muslim Brotherhood local infrastructure have gone unreported since his arrest.  Point de Bascule presents a list of organizations run by Battikh that we have been able to identify so far.

60 Days in the life of a Montreal Police Station circa 1973

Station 10 is a National Film Board documentary released in 1973  "drawn from 60 days and nights of on-the-spot filming in the early 1970s. It is a view of life in the inner city that usually only the policeman has reason to encounter. There are ugly incidents here, but there is also reassurance that people in trouble do have help at hand."                   

Watch the whole movie below:

Dickensian Montreal in the 1960's

Fanaticism and radicals - LIve from Montreal

You can watch the People's Commission Network conference through live video streaming by clicking the play button below:

UPDATE: the live coverage is over and they're broatcasting something about agriculture and food

Canada's Bad Citizens are having a conference next month

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is a Canadian government agency.

Its job, in their words, is:

to investigate threats, analyze information and produce intelligence; it then reports to, and advises, the Government of Canada, so as to protect the country and its citizens. Key threats include terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, espionage, foreign interference and cyber-tampering affecting critical infrastructure. 

Through its Security Screening Program, CSIS prevents non-Canadians who pose security concerns from entering Canada or receiving permanent resident status or citizenship; the Service also safeguards the confidential information of the Government of Canada from foreign governments and other entities that may present a risk. 

However, countering terrorist violence is the top priority for CSIS. Terrorism, which has become a global phenomenon, is a very real threat to our national security. Terrorists and their supporters span countries, cultures, political systems and socio-economic backgrounds. They include both highly educated elites and more humble "foot soldiers." Followers are recruited from around the world, including our own country. CSIS strives to prevent terrorist acts from being planned in Canada, from occurring on Canadian territory and from affecting Canadian citizens and assets abroad.

The rights and freedoms we enjoy are far too often taken for granted in this country. There are those within Canada's borders who have very little respect for them and are working to undermine those rights.

There are very real threats to Canada posed by terrorists, and it would seem only reasonable and sane for any citizen who isn't a terror-supporter to want to help CSIS do their job.

Some people overestimate the government's ability to protect us. They can't be everywhere and know everything. For a democratic society to function effectively, citizens have to be engaged in government. Sometimes that means criticizing the government when they make mistakes and other times it means helping them to make informed decisions. The only way anyone can make an informed decision is if they have access to relevant information.

Because we live in a liberal democracy, with rule of law and respect for individual liberties, an agency like CSIS can only ask for citizens' cooperation. Canadians are within their rights to refuse to speak to them. But who would counsel against helping a government agency devoted to protecting the safety of this country's citizens?

Oh..of course.. The People's Commission Network!

The People's Commission Network, who possess a name that sounds borrowed from Pol Pot's Cambodia, is a working group of the Concordia University student-funded Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia. The same people who are celebrating dead German terrorist Ulrike Meinhof.

The People's Commission Network is having a conference of bad citizenry in February, where they will aim "to throw into question the very existence of national security agencies like CSIS" to be followed by a "solidarity dinner" for Mohamed Harkat, whom Federal Court Judge Simon Noel found to be duplicitous and a member of the bin Laden terror network.

Not only that, but The People's Commission Network has produced a video to provide you with everything Canadians need to know about non-cooperation with their government's Security Intelligence Service.

Doesn't this make you feel all warm and glowing about Concordia U?

So you don't think the Canadian radical left is violent and anti-democratic?

They are celebrating Ulrike Meinhof, of the notorious terror and murder organization, the Baader Meinhof Gang, at a special event sponsored by Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia.

The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia was discussed in a post here a few months ago. It's funded, unwittingly, by students at Concordia University in Montreal.

The bad guys really have insinuated themselves all over. No wonder they don't like it when anyone talks to CSIS.