Tunisia's Deposed Ben Ali Family: Canadian Immigration's political statement

Yesterday reports appeared in the Canadian press, TV and radio, about the arrival in Montreal of family members of the deposed Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife, Leila, nee Trabelsis.  The expatriate Tunisian community in Montreal had already been watching the situation closely as unidentified Tunisian officials had arrived there as early as last week, having been whisked away from the airport by Tunisian consulate limousines.  "The Family," also referred to as a "Quasi-mafia" by a US diplomat in a leaked cable, "gets what it wants," whether it's "cash, services, land, property, and yes, even your yacht."

Tunisia by Keith Roper

With stories of "The Family's" corruption and opulent tastes going mainstream in Canada; appropriation of state gold and private real estate and business, theft of a yacht from France, pet tigers and mansions; amid gross poverty and repression in Tunisia; the Canadian government and its immigration department headed by Jason Kenney have scrambled to distance itself from the former dictator's clique, saying the Ben Ali extended family is "not welcome."  However, minister Kenney has pointed out that some family members already have permanent residence status and thus may legally stay in Canada.  Canadian Immigration is "investigating" the matter.

That the Conservative government in Canada is now back-pedalling speaks not to their values but to the concerns of their public-relations department.  The fact that members of the Ben Ali/Trabelsis clan already have been furnished permanent-resident status by a Canadian government well aware of its excessive criminality and human rights abuses is a statement in of itself.  That members of this family would consider Canada as a second home to where they can escape justice is another.

George Galloway by DavidMartynHunt

Almost two years ago, Jason Kenney's immigration department blocked anti-war British Member of Parliament George Galloway from entering Canada for a planned speaking tour, on the pretense that he was a threat to national security.  Mr Galloway has since been allowed to enter Canada after a federal court ruled that the decision to bar his entry was a matter of politics, not security.  Canadian Immigration officials have also consistently denied status to and attempted to deport US Army "deserters," or war resisters, who face harsh sentences in the US after fleeing to Canada when Army officials in the US refused to recognise them as conscientious objectors.  Reports of harassment by Canadian police and immigration agencies of legally landed US war-resisters also exist.

Such immigration policies are a microcosm of the Canadian government's broader policy which is demonstrably cynical, anti-democratic, pro-war and elitist.  That the government would allow Canada to be used as a base for a quasi-mafia to hide wealth pilfered from Tunisia in the form of Canadian real-estate and savings accounts by granting them permanent-residency, while tying up courts and spending public resources on persecuting US war-resisters and a democratically-elected British parliamentarian is a statement to all who are listening:  That people of conscience, who speak out for peace and social justice and who have public support are to be viewed as threats; and that criminals and abusers of human rights are welcome, as long as their crimes are profitable and committed out of sight.


Read about "The Family" coming to Canada:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Family+members+Ousted+Tunisian+president+reach+Montreal/4150470/story.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/a-tunisian-palace-in-the-heart-of-montreal/article1873921/
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Dictator+family+investigated+immigration/4160387/story.html

Read about George Galloway's recent visit to Canada:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/george-galloway-takes-shots-at-jason-kenney-pm-from-alberta/article1811320/

Read about a US war resistor:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=4969

Read the World Headlines Review report on the Tunisian unrest which forced Ben Ali from office:
http://worldheadlinesreview.blogspot.com/2011/01/tunisia-and-algeria-north-african.html