QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Khaled Barakat
May 3, 2022
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.
Senator Gold, last week, Terry Glavin wrote at great length in the National Post about Khaled Barakat, a senior member of the anti-Semitic terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Mr. Glavin goes into great detail about the activities of the PFLP, including airplane hijacking, suicide bombings and a 2014 massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue that left several worshippers severely injured and five dead, including Toronto-born Rabbi Howie Rothman. Barakat, 51, is said to have been living in Canada off and on for the past 20 years, and for the past 2 years he has been splitting his time between Vancouver and my home city of Montreal.
Senator Gold, Khaled Barakat has been barred from the United States and Germany, yet the Trudeau government still allows this individual to remain in Canada, despite Canadian laws that forbid any individual with connections to terrorist organizations from entering our country or receiving Canadian citizenship.
Why does your government allow him to remain in the country?
Thank you for your question. I am very aware of the person you describe and the story that appeared in the press.
Canada has a robust system for dealing with those who seek admission to Canada or those in Canada who may be judged or thought to be inadmissible to remain in Canada. Indeed, in that regard, Canada is well recognized — and has been regularly recognized — by the United Nations for its system, whether it’s that of welcoming refugees or otherwise dealing with those who find themselves within our borders.
The CBSA has a legal obligation to remove inadmissible individuals as soon as possible when that determination has been made. I cannot comment on specific cases, such as the one you’ve identified, but everyone who may be ordered removed remains entitled under our system of justice to due process and is subject to many levels of review and appeal.
Senator Gold, I’m aware of this individual. You’re aware of this individual. It’s high time we made the government aware of the inherent dangers of this individual.
B’nai Brith Canada has been raising this issue with your government for quite some time. It has provided intelligence on Barakat’s whereabouts here in Canada, as well as his involvement with a designated terrorist organization. While in Canada, Barakat has published articles in which he calls for targeted terrorist attacks to be carried out against Israel and other Zionist targets beyond the Middle East.
Senator Gold, how is the Jewish community in Canada supposed to take your government’s claim to be committed to fighting anti-Semitism seriously if it allows this man to remain in Canada? Will your government do the right thing and order Barakat out of Canada? It’s not right. We have laws. Individuals of this nature should not be admitted into our country.
I think I can speak with some authority that the Government of Canada, the Jewish community and Canada and Israel have longstanding, fruitful, friendly and mutually beneficial relationships. I can also speak with some confidence, given my own past before I arrived here, that the Government of Canada takes the question of anti-Semitism and all forms of hate very seriously, and it has demonstrated that through its actions.
Again, I cannot comment on a specific case or what steps may or may not be taken to investigate or to determine the steps that may be taken with this or any other individual, but Canadians should remain satisfied that this government takes allegations and situations of this kind most seriously.
