A N A L Y S I S

Canada Meets its Shadows
Gobind Thukral

CANADA as every immigrant knows is by and large a country that prides its cultural diversity. It is more generous and secure and its multi cultural ethos and placid environment helps each of the 60 odd nationalities from across the world to co- exist. It is a progressive country where one province [Quebec] had the freedom to choose secession and it narrowly missed it. Its constitution is genuinely federal and social security measures more satisfying.

So how does one explain the arrest of 17 youngsters on June 5 as of part of the homegrown extremists? Earlier some Sikh extremists had used the country as base to place a bomb an Air India Flight 182 on June 22, 1985. It was Canada's worst case of mass murder – 329 innocent people were killed. This suspected terrorist plot in Mississauga and in parts of the Greater Toronto Area has disturbed the placid waters and shaken Canadians. Has global terrorism arrived in this tolerant land? This question haunts everyone in the vast land.

Unlike the suburban ghettos that dot around major European cities, Canada's nearly 6 million immigrants are scattered throughout the country of 32 million people. They reside primarily in well laid out community housing groups such as Mississauga, a largely immigrant location but one where Jamaican jerk shops, Arab kebab stands, sushi bars and Indian restaurants stand side by side with burger stands and doughnut shops in strip malls. The mayor is a tough Chinese born gusty woman known for development.

Let us look at the facts:

The police claims to have spent over six months finally leading to the arrests of these alleged Islamic militants from Mississauga. At least 18 related arrests had already taken place in Canada, America, Britain, Bosnia, Denmark, Sweden, and Bangladesh. Several police organisations and counter terrorist operatives were involved in this operation spread across three continents. The six-month long investigation, called Project Osage, was one of several overlapping probes that included an FBI case called Operation Northern Exposure and a British probe known as Operation Mazhar. Officials said the operation involved some 400 intelligence and law-enforcement officers and was the largest counter terrorism operation in Canada since the adoption of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also carried out according to mass circulated daily The Toronto Star a sting operation and itself delivered three tonnes of potential bomb-making material to a group that authorities said wanted to launch a string of attacks inspired by al-Qaeda. The Toronto Star said the sting unfolded when investigators delivered the ammonium nitrate to the group of Muslim Canadians, then moved in quickly on what officials called a homegrown terror ring. The newspaper said that investigators learned of the group's alleged plan to bomb targets around Ontario, then controlled the sale and transport of the fertilizer. It finally recovered the material itself had largely supplied that included a bag of ammonium nitrate, a handgun and ammunition clip, computer hard drive, and what appeared to be a cell phone activated electronic detonator hidden inside a small black fishing tackle box.

Now as court proceedings began in Brampton [Ontario] on June 7 one member of this alleged al Qaeda-inspired terror ring arrested in Canada faces the accusation that he sought to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The man, Steven Chand, 25, was among 15 members of the alleged ring who appeared in a heavily guarded courtroom. Chand is the only Indian who had embraced Islam. Others include men of Somali, Egyptian, Jamaican, and Trinidadian origin. All are residents of Canada and “for the most part” all are Canadian citizens. They are: Fahim Ahmad, 21, Zakaria Amara, 20, Asad Ansari, 21, Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mohammed Dirie, 22, Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Jahmaal James, 23, Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Steven Vikash Chand, 25, and Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21.  They now face charges including plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets including an attack on Prime Minister Stephan Harper.

Police also alleged that the suspects, all citizens or residents of Canada, had trained together. Some government officials maintained Web surfing and e-mail among the suspects led to the start of the probe in 2004. Whether there was a direct inspiration or an indirect motivation, the Internet, according to the police, was a very important part of their activities.

We are told that like the homegrown British extremists who bombed London's transit system in July, Canada's alleged perpetrators of immigrant origin are mostly long-settled citizens whose families had fled poverty and oppression in Somalia, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean. So why should they indulge in such activity?

These 17 suspects represent a spectrum of Canadian society, from the unemployed to the college-educated. The 12 adults live in Toronto, Mississauga and Kingston in the Ontario province, which offered plenty of jobs and good life. Most Muslims whom newspersons had been meeting asserted that they have faith that these persons have done no wrong. Just the possession of ammonium nitrate doesn't prove that they have done anything illegal.  They also asserted that they valued their Canadian culture and would never allow any links with the so-called Taliban or al-Qaeda.  Some families are very well established professionals, ingrained families with no criminal past whatsoever. Many hoped that most of these people would be freed. Their parents, relatives and well-wishers felt disturbed and some even blamed the police for cooking up the charges.  Muslim leaders were worried that the highly publicized arrests would cause a backlash against their community of 750,000 people. There were instances of damaging the mosques and some Muslim property.

It is indeed for the courts to establish the crime and provide adequate punishment. The police case would require adequate and trustworthy scrutiny and that is important not only to deliver justice, but also assert the civilized values for which Canadians are proud of.  One does not have to jump to conclusion like Stephan Harper who may have next electoral victory in mind when he declared immediately in his national address,  "We are a target because of who we are and how we live, our society, our diversity and our values — values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law."  If at all charges are proved in the court, the target of these wayward and criminal minded people were not the values that make Canada great, values that Canadians cherish but the role the Canadian government plays to get justice to the people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here it fumbles and at times cozies up to big brother and neighbour America. Harper was recently seen in the company of known thugs and warlords in Kabul. Canadian government and its citizens have every right to fight the extremists, but they need not jump to the American bandwagon, which is seen as many surveys world have shown to be perpetrator crimes and forcible occupant of Afghanistan and Iraq. For years it has behaved like the only warlord, inventing enemies and dictating to the world.

One would agree with David Rudd, president of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies who appreciated Canada’s liberal immigration policy and generous social spending and found no justification for any disaffection among the alleged would-be bombers. And if the political landscape of this country as Rudd opined “ is very, very amenable to people from foreign countries and non-Anglo-Saxon cultures coming here and living in peace and getting ahead in their lives,” it should be able to take care of a few rebellious boys.

Since these arrests Muslims and many Asians have met across the country, particularly in Ontario and British Columbia to assure that they would take adequate steps to keep the younger ones away from any extremist influence. The government through its policies and actions both at the domestic and foreign level should strengthen these saner voices. A liberal democracy tolerant and forwarding looking is the only anti dote to extremism of any variety.

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