Academic and author Salim Mansur will run for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) after being disqualified to seek the Conservative nomination.

The recently retired Western University professor will now be carrying the PPC banner in the riding of London North Centre in this fall’s federal election after the fledging party announced him as the candidate at a rally last week.

Mansur’s nomination comes only a month after it was revealed that the Conservative party leadership in Ottawa had disallowed him from running for the CPC nomination in the same riding.

Mansur is a renowned scholar and writer, with much of his work criticizing Islamism and radical politics in Islam. Mansur himself is a practising Muslim.

Despite being told by the Conservative’s regional organizer that he was free to run last year, early last month he was suddenly informed that he had been “disallowed,” without any official reasons provided.

“The (National Candidate Selection Committee of the Conservative Party of Canada) has disallowed your candidacy as a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada,” said CPC executive director Dustin Van Vugt in an email.

Though an interview at the time, Mansur told True North’s Andrew Lawton that Andrew Scheer’s campaign manager, Hamish Marshall, told him the party had been concerned that his previous writing might lead critics to label the CPC as “Islamophobic” if he were to become a candidate.

The PPC and its leader Maxime Bernier welcomed Mansur into their ranks with open arms, given his name recognition and his credentials.

Mansur was one of the 35 candidates recently named to run for the PPC in southwestern Ontario.

On his website, Mansur is highly critical of the governing Liberals and asks for the people of London North Centre to support his bid to represent them.

“Like most Canadians, I am distressed by the state of affairs relating to our economy, our foreign policy and our relationship with the United States, as mismanaged by Liberals under the leadership of Justin Trudeau in Ottawa,” he said.

“Most importantly, I believe, we must not be intimidated by political correctness to express our hopes and fears for our country.”

An appeal court in Ontario has upheld the decision to allow a man who tried to kill Canadian soldiers attend Mohawk College unsupervised.

The Ontario Review Board says it considered all the factors it needed to when it allowed Ayanle Hassan Ali to start studying at the public college in Hamilton.

The panel also called it “not unreasonable” to deny the prosecution’s request to ban Ali from contacting military personnel. Ali is only banned from active military facilities.

In 2016, Ali attacked soldiers at a military recruiting centre in North York, stabbing one before being restrained.

In 2018, the Ontario review board granted Ali, who is schizophrenic and holds radical Islamic beliefs, the right to attend classes at Mohawk.

Ali is still being held in a secure hospital.

Ali, who was sentenced for attempted murder and assault with a weapon, was found not criminally responsible last year as the judge believed that his radical Islamic beliefs were caused by his mental illness, and his actions should not be considered terrorism.

Prosecutors also disagree with this finding, arguing that his attempt on the life of multiple Canadian soldiers should be considered terrorism and he should be put on trial again.

The appeal’s court in their decision found that allowing Ali to attend classes at Mohawk, under certain conditions “reflected its [the court’s] concern for public safety but balanced with the need to facilitate Mr. Ali’s reintegration into society.” 

His doctor at the time believed Ali had the “potential to act out on political, or radical ideas.” The Crown argued that the original ruling put too much emphasis on Ali’s reintegration and not enough emphasis on public safety, this argument was again rejected by the Ontario Review Board this month.

Mohawk College says it has heard from many concerned parents and students about the possibility of having Ali on campus. When asked, many students displayed the same anguish and outrage that the college is hearing.

Two attempts by the Crown to block Ali’s attendance at Mohawk have failed to convince the judges of the validity of these concerns.

As it stands now, Ali will have permission to attend Mohawk unaccompanied this fall.

The transgender activist who demanded that salon workers must work on her male genitals against their will referred to one woman as a “neo-nazi,” records reveal.

With the publication ban lifted on the complaints the case, currently in the hands of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, is now available for public scrutiny.

The activist, Jessica Yaniv, argues that the women should have given her the waxing services she requested because “you cannot choose who your clientele is going to be.”

Yaniv has filed 16 human rights complaints against salon workers and estheticians in British Columbia for refusing to work on her male genitalia.

Yaniv, who previously went by her birth name Jonathan, appeared to have misled these workers about her gender identity and genitalia during the solicitation of their services, testimony reveals.

Yaniv used her birth name when messaging many of these women and often referred to herself with male pronouns until late 2018.

Many of these women were immigrants and cited cultural and religious reasons for refusing to work with male genitals.

Yaniv seemed unphased by their personal beliefs, making demeaning remarks towards several of them on social media, even inferring that they should be deported.

One woman testified that she cancelled a session with Yaniv because she had no experience with male genitalia and did not feel comfortable being alone with a biological man.

“For my safety, I said, ‘No,’” she said. She also felt uncomfortable by the constant messages Yaniv sent her before and after the cancellation.

After the complaints, but before the publication ban was lifted, Yaniv got into an argument on Twitter with True North contributor Lindsay Shepherd. At one point Yaniv insulted Shepherd’s son and her reproductive organs.

Shepherd was permanently banned on Twitter for calling Yaniv an “ugly man.” Yaniv was not chastised by Twitter at all for her insults.

The human rights tribunal is still underway, and no decisions are expected for several weeks, but several of the women did settle with Yaniv out of court for claims in the range of several thousand dollars.

At least one women has shut down her business since the event.

Yaniv remains active on social media, promoting her bizarre worldview and attacking those who criticize it. One of her more recent projects is a swimming session for young girls. Allegedly parents are not allowed to stay for the event.

Whether or not a person can be forced to touch another’s genitals against their will in the name of non-discrimination is the fundamental question the tribunal is trying to answer, as some have stated. 

The answer to that question may have huge implications for civil freedoms in Canada going forward.