FORMER KGB AGENT AVOIDING DEPORTATION, REFUGE IN CHURCH

The case below highlights one of the problems with the refugee system, which often allows for a "cat and mouse game" : a failed refugee claimant exhausts his reviews after a lengthy process, is ordered deported, but does not like the result and decides to seek refuge in a church, knowing that the authorities  will not enforce the deportation order while he is inside the church. The case is then publicized, and supporters and militants put pressure on the authorities to grant him residency on humanitarian grounds, while everyone else waits in line. Sounds familiar? Time for a change: full hearings, fairness, finality, and rule of law should be the only criteria governing decisions, and once the decision is made, only a court of law should be able to stop it for limited reasons.

Ukrainian group hires investigator to watch former KGB officer taking asylum in church

By Neal Hall, Vancouver SunOctober 15, 2011

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association announced Friday it has hired a private investigator to put former KGB officer Mikhail Lennikov under surveillance in Vancouver.
Lennikov has been living in the sanctuary of First Lutheran Church in east Vancouver for the last 28 months, after immigration officials declared him a threat to national security and denied his application to stay in Canada.
He was scheduled to be deported on June 3, 2009, but instead sought sanctuary a day earlier in the church at the corner of 42nd and Wales.
Lubomyr Luciuk, the Ukrainian association’s director of research, said Friday that members of his group are fed up that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has not enforced the law and removed Lennikov from Canada.
“They know where this guy is and they haven’t touched him,” he said, adding Lennikov has been found to be inadmissible in Canada.
So the Ukrainian association recently decided at its annual general meeting to hire a private investigator to watch the church, he said.
“If he leaves the church, he will be reported to CBSA,” Luciuk said. “If not, he may spend the rest of his life in the church.”
The association began a postcard campaign last year, urging federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and the Conservative government to enforce that law and remove Lennikov.
Although the CBSA has traditionally been reluctant to arrest those seeking asylum in churches, they do have that right, Luciuk said.
Luciuk said he is a reluctant critic of the federal government, since Luciuk is a Tory and Prime Minister Stephen Harper was to receive the Shevchenko Medal on Friday. It’s the highest form of recognition granted by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to honour people for their outstanding national contribution to the development of the Ukrainian community in Canada.
Luciuk, a former member of the federal Immigration and Refugee Board, said his group has nothing against Lennikov personally, but the law states that former members of the Russian secret police are inadmissible to Canada.
“We’re not against refugees,” he said. “Many of our parents were refugees from communism.”
He also said that Lennikov has not publicly apologized for being a member of the KGB, which had a notorious reputation in Ukraine during Soviet Communist rule, which ended in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Luciuk said that if Lennikov apologized, his group may accept it and drop its campaign, leaving the matter to Ottawa.
Lennikov, 51, whose wife and son live in the Vancouver area and continue visiting him at the church, was not available for an interview.
He came to Canada in 1997 on a student visa and obtained a degree from the University of B.C.
Initially, he did not state he had been a member of the Soviet secret police. Lennikov said in an earlier interview that the original immigration form he filled out did not ask if he had any military service.
He only revealed he had been a KGB officer when he applied in 1999 to bring his wife, Irina, and son, Dmitri, to Canada. His wife and son were given permission to stay in Canada on compassionate grounds.
Lennikov maintains he was a reluctant recruit, hired by the KGB because he spoke Japanese, and did mostly translation and clerical work from 1983 to 1988.
He was dismissed in 1988 as being incapable of service after he wrote a report explaining how he was not suitable for the KGB. He went to live in Japan in 1995.
A number of local politicians, including former MP Ujjal Dosanjh and current MPs Don Davies and Peter Julian, have insisted Lennikov poses no risk.

ROMA FROM HUNGARY TOP REFUGEE CLAIMS LIST

See article below. Most, if not all of the cases involved are from "Roma" Hungarians, similar to what occurred with the Czech Republic before the visa was imposed. It is interesting that they have a high abandonment rate, obviously they view making the claim as a way to access a different path to remain in Canada. I suspect that the authorities may be taking notice of this trend, as Hungarians are free to move within the EU and their acceptance rate is very low.


The Budapest Times - Hungary‘s leading English Language source for daily news

HOW LAX IS AIR SECURITY?

This is what happens when political correctness takes precedence over common sense.

Air Canada screening under scrutiny after disguised passenger lands in Vancouver


Air Canada screening under scrutiny after disguised passenger lands in Vancouver


By Tobi Cohen, Douglas Quan And Amy Minsky, Postmedia News November 6, 2010

Air Canada's screening procedures are under investigation following the bizarre story of an Asian asylum seeker who boarded a flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver expertly disguised as an elderly Caucasian man.
A spokesman for Transport Minister Chuck Strahl said airlines are required to verify the identity of all passengers who appear to be 18 years or older as per identity screening regulations that were updated as recently as this fall.
"That means air carriers are supposed to look at a passenger's face to determine if they appear to be over 18, and if so, compare their physical appearance with their travel documents," John Babcock said.
What's not clear is whether those procedures were followed in this case and, according to the Canada Border Services Agency, which intercepted the man when he landed in Vancouver on Oct. 29, that's what authorities are looking into.
"Transport Canada is aware of the incident and is investigating whether the identity screening regulations were respected," the agency said.
According to the regulations, which were clarified Sept. 30 after a video surfaced of two veiled Muslim travellers boarding an Air Canada plane in Montreal, apparently without having to lift their niqabs to confirm their identities, the rules apply to domestic and international flights taking off or landing at a listed Canadian airport.
The regulation states passengers' faces must be screened against government-issued photo ID that shows the passenger's name, date of birth and gender. Alternatively, passengers can provide a restricted area identity card or two pieces of government-issued ID, at least one of which contains that information.
But airlines don't actually have any legal obligation to protect Canadian security or to enforce Canadian immigration law, said Richard Kurland, a policy analyst and immigration lawyer based in Vancouver. They are, however, subject to fines and penalties under terms of a transportation bond that air carriers have to post in order to gain access to Canada, he said.
"So for Air Canada, it's a business risk," Kurland said. "The government motivates carriers through the bond system. If you do a good job, and relatively few people enter Canada illicitly on your airline, you'll have lower fines and penalties."
Air carriers are, in most cases, prohibited from boarding passengers who don't resemble their photo ID, don't appear to be the right gender or age or if there's a major discrepancy between different ID items that have been presented, the government regulations say.
An individual who breaks the rules could face a fine of $5,000, while corporations may face $25,000 in fines.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said it appears the airline dropped the ball.
"I think that the problem here is coming from Air Canada itself," he told Global National. "Its employees are supposed to be verifying the boarding pass and a photo ID to confirm that the person holding the boarding pass is the right person."
Air Canada offered few explanations for what might have happened, noting the investigation is incomplete.
"It should be noted that there are multiple identity checks before departure at the Hong Kong international airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control, which Hong Kong-originating passengers must undergo," spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said.
Kurland speculated that the man went through domestic security at the airport before putting on his disguise, after which he likely swapped boarding passes with another passenger, then feigned mobility and communication issues to pass through gate security.
Conservative House leader and former transportation minister John Baird said the incident is of "deep concern" and that there will be a "full investigation."
According to a confidential CBSA intelligence report dated Nov. 1 and obtained by CNN, a "possible impostor" was identified by Air Canada Corporate Security after a seemingly elderly man was spotted with "younger-looking hands."
"During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged as an Asian male that appeared to be in his early 20s," the alert said.
It's believed the man swapped boarding passes with a U.S. citizen and passenger who was born in 1955.
Border services officers met the man at the gate in Vancouver and escorted him off the aircraft and through the primary inspection line, where he made a claim for refugee protection, the alert said. He's been detained pending a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
If there is a claim to refugee status, his case will join a three-year inventory behind hundreds of others who have used creative ways to enter Canada, Kurland said.
"Canada's immigration system is limited only by human ingenuity. It's a social-Darwin immigration maze," Kurland said. "People have used wigs, false glasses, costumes, wheelchairs, you name it, to get to Canada. If you're smart enough to manoeuvre the maze, you have some admirable qualities, and you might do well in Canada."
Although it appears Canadian regulations insist upon it, Charles Slepian, an aviation security expert with the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center based in Oregon, said passengers aren't always required to present identification upon boarding, given they've already cleared security and have a boarding pass for the flight.
He speculates the man may have initially been travelling within the country and cleared the first security hurdles as himself before putting on the disguise and acquiring a different boarding pass. That said, Slepian noted it would have been hard to get to the international departures area if he didn't have a passport and visa for international travel.
"Based on what I've heard it's extremely bizarre," he said. "I really don't know how he breached security."
Lloyd Easterling, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said he can't recall a case of anyone attempting to get into the country wearing a mask, though he has come across other bizarre tales.
A couple of years ago, a woman had surgery to alter her fingerprints. She had a criminal record and would otherwise have been barred from entering the country.
One man, sitting in the back of a van, tried to pass himself off as a chair, he said, adding the man encased himself in fabric, went into a sitting position and used his arms as arm rests.
A spokeswoman for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa had few details about the incident and noted it was the first time she had heard of anybody trying to enter the country in a mask.
"I am also surprised to see how realistic it is," she said. "This is a single and special case. I believe both China and Canada will deal with this case in the light of law."
The confidential alert which, according to CBSA, will never be officially released, also contained three photos of the man. The first shows a thin, 20-something Asian man in a button-down striped shirt and a shaggy haircut, his eyes obscured.
The second shows him in a silicone old-man mask, which covers his chest and shoulders. An official's hand can be seen in the photo lifting a corner of the mask, which is draped over his shirt.
In the last photo, the mask is tucked into his shirt and he's wearing his full disguise, which includes a cardigan, glasses and a hat.
The man originally claimed to have only one piece of luggage, but the border officers found two more. One bag contained personal clothing, a second contained a pair of gloves and a third contained a "disguise kit," including a silicone-type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan.
The alert said the man donned the disguise for border officers, even mimicking the movements of an elderly person, and admitted he boarded the flight with the disguise on and removed it several hours later.
In addition to the boarding card, the man provided an Aeroplan card -- issued by Air Canada's frequent flyer program -- as identification when he boarded in Hong Kong. Neither boarding passes nor Aeroplan cards have dates of birth on them.
The man's name and home country have not been released, but CBSA officials referred to him as a "foreign national."
CBSA officials would only say that they "intercepted and detained" a traveller "attempting to enter Canada under false pretences."Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canada+screening+under+scrutiny+after+disguised+passenger+lands+Vancouver/3787824/story.html#ixzz14fjFtyp5

CELEBRITY REFUGEES?

If you had any doubts that our refugee policy is a joke, this should dispel them.

Hunt: Making room for unemployed, narcissist refugees

REACTION TO TAMIL ILLEGAL SHIPS PREDICTABLE

No one should be surprised about this. People have a hard time distinguishing between legal and illegal immigration, and they see that illegals are rewarded while legal immigrants wait for years....bad policy.

Canadian view of immigration sours in wake of Tamil ship - The Globe and Mail

CANADA SEEKS HELP TO CURB FRAUD

All mayor newspapers reported this story today in some form. This is not surprising, but fails to address the problem of asylum forum shopping. Not surprisingly, Canada is one of the top three destinations for asylum-seekers now in the EU, as it is viewed as "soft" and failed or bogus claimants and those who "advise" them to come to Canada illegally know that, in the end, most get to stay. The economic magnets aer also a driving force: social assistance, free medical and health services, legal aid, free public education, etc. If the government wants things to change, then it must address the root causes of the problem.

Canada seeks answers to immigration-fraud issues in Europe - The Globe and Mail

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

This happens every time Canada hosts an international event, without fail. Obviously, some entrepreneurial individuals know how to use the opportunity to pose as legitimate visitors.

CBC News - New Brunswick - Defections possible after world track meet