Questions remain over security concerns in welcoming thousands of Gazan refugees

Recent failures of Canada's immigration security backstop illustrate the government's inability to detect potential threats

Published Oct 18, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Palestinians arrive at the border crossing to Egypt in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo by Hatem Ali /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OTTAWA  — While Gazans entering Canada can expect a new slate of financial assistance to help them, few details are being provided on any new security measures to ensure only genuine claimants enter Canadian soil.

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On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced new measures to financially support those fleeing Israel’s war on terror in Gaza, including three months of free healthcare under the Interim Federal Health Program, no-charge study and work permits, and settlement services that include language training, orientation on life in Canada and assistance in finding work.

That’s on top of the $140 million already set aside to provide humanitarian assistance for those impacted by Israel’s ongoing military operations to eliminate Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists in the region.

“We remain deeply committed to supporting Palestinians during the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and are concerned about the well-being of all people in the region,” Miller said in a statement.

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But as Canada prepares to welcome upwards of 5,000 Gazan refugees, concerns are being raised over the ability of the country’s immigration system to filter out those coming here with ill intent.

Canada’s blanket acceptance of Gazan refugees set off alarm bells south of the border earlier this year, prompting a letter from several U.S. Senators to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressing concern over Canada’s inability to detect terrorists.

Recent failures of Canada’s immigration security backstop illustrate the government’s inability to detect potential threats.

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This summer’s arrest of Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son Mostafa Eldidi in a foiled terror plot raised the alarm of many, particularly since the elder Edildi passed seven years of Canadian security checks, even though he’d appeared in an ISIS torture video published just two years before he landed in Canada.

Canada only learned of the plot after a trip from intelligence sources in France.

Fears were stoked further by the arrest earlier this month of Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani international student living in Toronto who was arrested in Quebec, allegedly planning to cross the border to conduct a mass murder of Jews in New York state on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks.

Khan arrived in Canada last June on a study permit and reportedly had an open refugee claim at the time of his arrest, claiming he was gay.

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The Toronto Sun’s queries to the immigration minister on Canada’s plans to ensure terrorist sympathizers don’t enter Canada were instead directed to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC,) who said they work closely with the CBSA, CSIS and RCMP to screen would-be refugees, but they mentioned little in terms of new measures.

“To support the movement of Palestinians out of Gaza and to protect the health and safety of Canadians, a multi-stage security screening approach was implemented,” an IRCC statement read, adding these measures are part of the government’s “standard practice” during crisis responses.

“By using the enhanced biographic information applicants provide, we are able to conduct preliminary security screening while people are still in Gaza.”

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Casey Babb, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Institute for National Security Studies, as well as an adviser with Secure Canada, said with all that’s happened over the past year, concerns over bringing thousands of Gazans into Canada is understandable.

“Polls conducted in the region indicate that Hamas and their attacks on October 7th were widely supported by Palestinian civilians,” he said. “Indeed, people should remember that it was Palestinian civilians who actually elected Hamas.”

Babb said that the tendency to consider groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as non-Palestinian entities isn’t correct.

“We need to be very cautious about who we let in and how they are screened,” he said. “It’s a terrible situation all around.”

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