The family of nine Americans who were massacred in a brutal Mexican cartel shootout has stated that the Mexican trafficking gangs are “as bad or worse than ISIS.” 

The victims were innocent women and children who were killed in a crossfire between rival gangs the Sinaloa Cartel and the Juarez Cartel on Monday. Cartel members opened fire on the group leaving nine dead, and eight children stranded, five of whom were wounded in the crossfire. 

“I really believe that the cartels in Mexico have moved to another level of barbarity, they are as bad or worse than ISIS. ISIS have an ideology. These sicarios (hitmen), why are they doing it? Out of greed and pure evil,” said Rosa LeBaron who lost family members in the attack.

According True North fellow Leo Knight, a former cop and security expert, the comparison between the two groups is valid. 

“In fact, there is intel that says some elements of Islamic groups are actively working with the cartels to wage war on the U.S,” said Knight. 

Earlier this year ISIS fighter Abu Henricki told authorities how the Islamist group had recruited him to enter the U.S. through Mexico where he would eventually commit a terror attack. Cartels are known to be a major player in human smuggling operations across the border, which have become more lucrative than running drugs. 

Edmonton van attacker and ISIS supporter Abdulahi Hasan Sharif entered the U.S. illegally through Mexico. Despite being ordered for deportation in the U.S., Sharif eventually illegally crossed the border into Canada where he committed his attack against pedestrians and a police officer.

Canadian border officials believe that approximately 400 drug traffickers, hitmen and dangerous criminals have made it out of Mexico and into Canada by using fake passports. 

Trudeau’s decision to lift the visa requirements for Mexican nationals travelling into Canada has led to an 80% increase in drug seizures at the U.S. border. Rejections based on inadmissibility has grown by 500% since Trudeau lifted the visa, according to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Mexican citizens can easily enter Canada with an Electronic Travel Authorization which takes only a few minutes to complete and costs approximately seven dollars. Prior to Trudeau’s decision, CBSA officials warned the federal government that removing visa requirements could make it easier for those involved in organized crime, and drug and human trafficking to enter into Canada undetected. 

“That the Canadian government eliminated the need for visas for Mexican nationals to enter Canada is wilfully blind to the threat posed by cartels,” said Knight. 

“It was foolish in the extreme to remove the only ability Canada had to vet persons wanting to come to Canada,”

A student newspaper at McGill University apologized to its readers after publishing a pro-Israel letter.

The letter, written by two students, was a response to the McGill Daily’s previous categorization of Zionism as a racist movement.

“The Daily equates Zionism with colonialism, racism, and violence. This erroneous definition of Zionism is both misleading and irresponsible,” McGill students Josh Shapiro and Michael Aarenau wrote.

“There’s a reason why the vast majority of Jews around the world (especially those at McGill) identify as Zionists, and it’s not because they’re violent, racist colonialists.”

After the pro-Israel letter was published in the student paper, the Daily apologized to its readers, saying that the position the two Jewish students put forth in the letter dehumanizes Palestinians. 

“The content of the letter is unconscionable in its dehumanization of the Palestinian people. We therefore want to apologize to our readers for its presence in our paper, and provide the following response to it,” the Daily wrote.

The Daily has held extremely anti-Israel positions in the past, inferring Israel is a racist state and that students should support the movement to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Israel — a movement widely discredited as anti-Semitic.

“Zionism has come to represent a racist attitude and violent practice towards Palestinians that recognizes only Israeli/Jewish hegemony and legitimacy to self-determination in Palestine. (For more depth and historical context, the Daily recommends visiting the website of the BDS movement.),” they wrote.

The Daily’s editorial staff made it clear that they opposed publishing the pro-Israel letter, but were forced to by the university.

“While the Daily’s position was, and remains, that the letter in question is in opposition to both our Statement of Principles and our Letters Policy, and that we should not have to publish it, [Deputy Provost] Labeau determined that this perspective was not conducive to fostering an open exchange of ideas,” the Daily’s editorial staff wrote.

“It is deeply disappointing that Labeau did not recognize the inherent anti-Arab racism and dehumanization of Palestinian people present in this letter.”

“Zionism, at its inception, was a political, colonial movement,” they wrote.

The McGill Daily editorial staff goes on the characterize Theodor Herzl, the father of the Zionist movement, as a racist and a colonialist.

Zionism, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel.

Honest Reporting Canada, an organization that campaigns against anti-Israel bias in the media, filed a grievance with the McGill University administration in response to McGill Daily’s “apology.” 

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was fired earlier this week after an investigation appeared to confirm allegations of mismanagement. UNRWA is funded by the Canadian government.

Pierre Krahenbuhl stands accused of attempting to further his mistress’s career within the UN agency. Swiss media reported earlier this year that Krahenbuhl used their government’s contributions to the agency to pay for his mistress’s travel expenses from 2015 to 2018.

Krahenbuhl was accused earlier this year of “abuses of authority for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives.”

UNRWA is a United Nations organization created to give humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 

However, UNRWA has been a scandal-ridden organization. The agency has been accused of multiple instances of aiding the terror group Hamas.

In one incident, one UNRWA employee was found to be smuggling weapons to Hamas. In another incident, Hamas was found to be storing rockets in a UNRWA-run school.

Krahenbuhl completely denies any wrongdoing in the agency’s most recent scandal.

“I have rejected these allegations from the start and will continue to do so,” he told Swiss media.

“There is no corruption, fraud or mismanagement of aid.”

The United States, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands have all suspended funding for UNRWA, as a result of the mismanagement allegations in the UN agency.

Canada, on the other hand, appears to still be committed to supporting the maligned agency.

Since taking office, the Trudeau government has committed $110 million to the UNRWA.

In August, the Canadian government said they are following the situation and will follow the recommendations of the United Nations. Global Affairs Canada has not commented in the wake of the recent findings.

A UNRWA spokeswoman said that the agency now has an $89 million funding gap it will need to fill by the end of the year.

Briton Christian Saunders was named as Krahenbuhl’s replacement as Chief of UNRWA shortly after an internal investigation’s preliminary findings were finished.

The Canadian economy took a drastic downturn in October, losing a total of 1,800 jobs according to Statistics Canada despite forecaster optimism. The unemployment rate also stagnated this month at 5.5%.

Job losses come after a two-month gain in September and August where the Canadian economy grew by 54,000 and 81,000 jobs respectively. 

Full-time employment felt the largest hit in October, with a loss of 16,100 jobs, while part-time work saw a boom of 14,300 jobs.

Accompanied by the employment downturn, the dollar also weakened, now valuing at 75.57 cents USD. 

Prior to the monthly report, economists were expecting the upward trend to continue and were predicting that Canada would add another 15,900 jobs to the economy this month.

Manufacturing and construction jobs were the hardest hit by the plummet, with a loss of 23,100 and 40,900 jobs respectively. 

“Employment declined in manufacturing and construction. At the same time, employment was up in public administration and in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing,” claimed the Statistics Canada report. 

The natural resource sector saw minimal growth since September, reporting a gain of less than one thousand jobs in October.  

In October, the oil and gas sector saw a number of large upheavals including the announcement that the energy giant Encana was set to move its operations to the U.S. for better market prospects. 

Husky Energy Inc. also laid off hundreds of workers in western Canada due to the pressures of the country’s ailing energy industry.

Newly released footage of a hostage-taking at an Edmonton border services office shows a man holding a knife to a three-year-old boy’s throat after talking about accessing his “UN lawyer.”

Edmonton police have charged a man in relation to the incident, though have not named him.

In the video, which was captured by the alleged victim’s older sister, suspect argues with a CBSA receptionist for several minutes.

“I say five minutes in the hands of your people, I don’t want it,” said the man. “I don’t trust your people and (the) people around me.” 

The video shows the man continually demanding to be allowed into the CBSA offices growing increasingly aggressive.

“If you don’t want to see the blood – and it’s not a joke – take me right now in your office.” 

The man eventually grabs the boy, Katjavivi Tutjavi, who was waiting nearby with family friends while his parents attended an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing regarding the deportation of his father, Nickolas Tutjavi.   

The boy can be heard crying on camera and screaming for his mother while the man holds a knife to his neck. 

According to witnesses, the child was eventually let go after a CBSA commissionaire intervened and the suspect was apprehended by Edmonton police.

Police have refused to identify the 27-year-old charged after the incident, despite identifying the victim and his family.

According to Tutjavi’s mother, Siska Mbaisa, the boy is still struggling with the traumatizing incident and has been recreating the events while at home. 

The accused is in custody and has been charged with assault with a weapon, uttering threats and hostage-taking.