True North has been told refugee claimants staying at North York’s Radisson Hotel Toronto East are told to not speak to journalists.
True North’s Graeme Gordon has more on this shocking report.
LAWTON: Jody Wilson-Raybould resigns from cabinet
As questions mount about Justin Trudeau’s role in the SNC-Lavalin ethics scandal, former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould has resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet.
True North fellow Andrew Lawton was live to talk about what this means.
Mexican migrants nearly freeze to death crossing Canada-U.S. border
Two Mexican migrants illegally crossing the border from Canada to the United States had to be rescued after getting lost in a swamp in -19 Celsius weather.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection in New York State began a search when a border patrol found footprints in the snow leading from the Canadian side of the border.
After a two-hour search agents found the pair three-quarters of a mile from the border. Both lacked proper clothing for their illegal crossing.
The other was identified as a man who had tried to cross into Texas from Mexico a year ago — he has been charged with illegal re-entry.
After the Canadian government removed visa requirements for Mexican nationals in 2016, the number of Mexicans Claiming asylum has skyrocketed.
Mexican asylum claimants in
This isn’t the first time Mexicans have flown to Canada prior to attempting to illegally enter the U.S.
In 2018, in an area called the Swanton sector, which covers a part of New York State, Vermont
Although border officials in both Canada and the U.S. work closely together, the RCMP says it can’t do anything to stop Mexicans from illegally entering the U.S. because it is not illegal for them to come into Canada in the first place.
In July 2016, the Trudeau government removed the visitor visa for Mexicans travelling to Canada.
A visa requirement was imposed by the Harper government back in 2009 to end a surge of Mexicans claiming refugee status.
Prior to the Harper government’s policy that made it mandatory for Mexicans
In 2008, for instance, Mexico comprised 26% of all asylum claims in Canada. About 90% of those claims were eventually either rejected or abandoned.
The Trudeau government’s decision to remove the visa requirement for Mexican visitors has not only affected Canada, but also our neighbours to the south.
LAWTON: Justin Trudeau must be held accountable on SNC-Lavalin
Jody Wilson-Raybould claims solicitor-client privilege prevents her from sharing the details of any conversations she had with the Prime Minister’s Office
True North’s Andrew Lawton says that as the country’s
GORDON: Refugee claimants staying at North York’s Radisson Hotel Toronto East have been told to not speak to journalists
True North has been told refugee claimants staying at North York’s Radisson Hotel Toronto East are told to not speak to journalists.
“You know we have a lot of obligations to — before we get into this place they told us not to go for an interview, not talking to anybody,” says a Bangladeshi man staying at the hotel for the past four months after crossing illegally into Canada at Roxham Rd. and filing a refugee claim.
“They’ve given … all the people staying here, we got letters from them every week … regarding different matters. They also write us saying that we shouldn’t talk to people asking for an interview.”
A security guard at the hotel confirmed that those staying there are advised to not speak to journalists.
“Well it’s the best thing in their interest and the residents’ interests, because a lot of them are scared,” he said.
The hotel was the target of an attempted arson at the beginning of last October.
“You don’t have to talk to him eh… He’s not in your favour, he wants to make you look bad,” the security guard first said after walking off of the Radisson hotel property to tell two refugee claimants speaking to True North that they shouldn’t talk to the news outlet.
“[Hotel management] do have awareness of what is going on, and as soon as someone hits the property … the cops know to be here and they will charge people for trespassing,” he warned.
Last week, Rebel Media journalists had their camera and microphone shoved by a hotel employee while they were filming on the Radisson East’s property.
City of Toronto chief communications officer Brad Ross denies City employees discourage refugee claimants staying in hotels from speaking to media.
“If individuals wish to talk to media, that is entirely up to them. If they choose not to, that is also their choice,” he wrote in an email. “That’s is not something we would ever give advice on.”
“Hotel, respite or shelter all provide different services — they are not positioned along a continuum from ‘better’ to ‘worse’,” says Ross about how some homeless are prioritized over others to stay in hotels over less hospitable parts of the of shelter system. “The City works with each individual client to identify and respond to their specific needs — including the right facility, e.g. hotels work much better for families who can all live together on the same room, while respite tend to accommodate people with more dynamic schedules, as the curfew requirements are unique to that program.”
Public relations representatives for the Radisson did not respond to a request for comment on whether hotel management are advising refugee claimants to not speak to media.
Late afternoon last Friday, the hotel parking lot was two-thirds full of cars and many of the rooms on the upper floors of the hotel were lit. Up until late last year the hotel was still allowing regular hotel guests to stay in the upper floors’ rooms.
A man who works nearby the hotel (but asked to not be identified) told True North the hotel parking lot is typically full of cars.
“I still see people going in… Cars, [the hotel parking lot] is always full.”
True North reported last month that the Radisson Hotel Toronto East recently closed to the public for “renovations.”
On January 20, Toronto shelter support spokesperson Greg Seraganian told True North, “We are not aware of any closure to outside guests [at Radisson East], and our spending remains unchanged.”
Last fall the City of Toronto proactively bought three portable respite facilities for the expected increased demand on its shelter system due to the influx of asylum seekers coming to Toronto.
On top of four hotels, an undisclosed amount of motels, respite facilities and homeless shelters like the rundown Seaton House are being used to house Toronto’s homeless and refugee claimants.
The Toronto Sun reported last week the City has an additional $3 million socked away in the 2019 budget to potentially fund yet another facility. Shelter, Support and Housing Administration general manager Paul Raftis warns the shelter system is in “immediate danger of being overwhelmed.”
“The mayor has been advocating for the federal and provincial governments to help the City address the unprecedented demand on our system from refugee claimants and asylum seekers,” says Mayor John Tory’s director of communications Don Peat. “That advocacy has led to $26 million from the federal government to begin to address Toronto’s costs.”
The City estimates the cost of asylum seekers on the shelter system was $65 million over the past three years. This year it’s expected to continue to balloon, and the City is asking for an additional $43 million annually to make up for the added cost of providing refugee claimants shelter going forward.
Back at the Radisson hotel, another man from East Africa arrived just a few days ago, coming from Montreal by bus after illegally entering Canada at Roxham Road. He told True North “everyone knows” you can come to Canada by illegally entering from the southern border and that he first heard about it on the news back in his home country.
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The True North Report: Andrew Lawton and Leo Knight discuss the latest on the PMO and SNC-Lavalin
True North’s Leo Knight, a security expert and former police officer, joins Andrew Lawton to discuss the latest surrounding a bombshell Globe and Mail report.
The Globe report accuses key players in the Prime Minister’s Office of attempting to interfere in the prosecution of Montréal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.
Justin Trudeau’s #WelcomeToCanada tweet caused “irreparable changes” to Canada’s immigration system: Scheer
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said one of Justin Trudeau’s tweets has contributed to Canada’s current ongoing border crisis and a loss of integrity for the Canadian immigration system.
“In terms of illegal immigration, we have seen this problem grow for the past few years. We all remember Justin Trudeau’s famous tweet where he couldn’t resist jumping in on Twitter and tweeting out all are welcome,” Scheer said in remarks at a Surrey Board of Trade event in Vancouver
Scheer was referring to Trudeau’s infamous January 2017 “#WelcomeToCanada” tweet where he opened an invitation “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war.”
Soon after, Canada’s border with the United States saw over 20,000 illegal crossings into Canada.
Since the tweet, Canada has continued to see an influx of illegal border crossings.
“Well, people have taken him up on his word. The problem is that that damages the integrity of our immigration system, and people who are trying to come to Canada the right way are now having to wait longer,” said Scheer.
In 2018, over 75% of the illegal border crossings took place along a Quebec portion of the Canadian border.
The ongoing border crisis will likely be a prominent issue in the October 2019 federal election.
As a result of Trudeau’s open invitation to the world’s migrants, processing costs alone have risen to over $1 billion over the next three years, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Scheer said the problem goes beyond partisanship.
“It’s not about left or right on this issue. It’s about what’s right for Canada. I’m going to continue standing up for principles and not be worried about the politics of it,” he said.
Scheer pointed out that legal immigrants suffer the most because of Canada’s border situation, adding that immigrants who live in refugee camps across the world are the most disadvantaged by those who can afford to come through New York.
Many Canadians feel that the Liberal government has been inadequate in handling Canada’s border.
A 2018 Angus Reid poll suggested that 67% of Canadians believed that the ongoing situation at the border was “a crisis”.
The current border situation has led to a backlog in the immigration system which the Liberal minister of immigration, Ahmed Hussen, has called “unsustainable” in a leaked federal memo.
It’s clear that Justin Trudeau’s open invitation to the world’s migrants has led to irreparable changes for Canada’s border.
Feds to spend $7 million telling Canadians what to believe online
The federal government has unveiled a public education campaign to tell Canadians what to think when reading the news.
Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould recently announced that the government has assembled a team of faceless bureaucrats, including Justin Trudeau’s national security advisor, to re-educate Canadians about the threat of so-called “fake news.”
Gould also announced $7 million for a campaign to make the public aware of what the government deems “misinformation.”
“Citizens who recognize fraud, misinformation and manipulation when they see it online are less likely to fall victim to it,” said Gould.
Neither Gould nor the Democratic Institutions website identified how the government will define this alleged fake news.
The government is also demanding that social media companies step in and censor their clients in the name of stopping this undefined “misinformation.”
“The government is looking for concrete actions to increase transparency, authenticity and integrity of their systems to help safeguard our election,” the website says.
These new media monitoring policies will not apply to the print media sector, which was recently awarded with a $595 million handout from the Trudeau government.
While the federal government is injecting media with millions of taxpayer dollars going into an election year, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government wants to protect the “vital role that independent news media play in our democracy and in our communities.”
The government plan also includes getting “monitors” to scour the internet and find government-unapproved content.
The Trudeau government’s announcement did not identify who exactly these monitors are, what part of the bureaucracy they’re from or what their qualifications are — leaving Canadians in the dark as to who is identifying alleged misinformation.
While both Gould’s announcement and the website were sparse with details, the Communication Security Establishment — whose top bureaucrats will be forming part of this re-education team — will be publishing reports on the alleged cyber threats to our democracy in the coming months.
FUREY: Is Justin Trudeau planning on increasing your taxes?
While economists warn that if there is a recession, things are going to get even worse, Justin Trudeau is continuing to pile on debt and increasing our deficit.
Where is he going to get the money from to fund his promises? Will he raise taxes?
True North’s Anthony Furey discusses.
LAWTON: Remember when SNC-Lavalin funnelled $100k to the Liberals?
A bombshell Globe and Mail report accuses key players in the Prime Minister’s Office of attempting to interfere in the prosecution of Montréal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.
The report alleges the PMO tried to pressure former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to force the public prosecutor to settle, which is what SNC-Lavalin wants. When she refused, she was demoted to a less significant cabinet role.
The Prime Minister’s Office denies the allegations, and Wilson-Raybould is refusing to comment
The ongoing case involves millions of dollars in alleged bribes to Libyan officials—including $160 million to Saadi Gaddafi. This is just one of several instances where SNC-Lavalin or its executives have faced prosecution for corruption, typically revolving around bribes.
The firm’s former CEO just last week pleaded guilty on a multimillion dollar bribery scheme involving a $1.3 billion contract for a Montréal superhospital.
Another key executive illegally funnelled a six-figure sum to the federal Liberals.
Last May, former SNC-Lavalin vice-president Normand Morin was charged with engineering a scheme to illegally donate more than $100,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada, as well as Liberal riding associations and leadership candidates.
These donations took place over a period of seven years, during which $8,000 was given to Conservatives through the same scheme.
Employees would donate in their names, but the company would cover the donation through reimbursements for “false refunds for personal expenses or payment of fictitious bonuses.” Corporate contributions have been illegal in Canada since 2006.
Despite the scale and significance of the scam, Morin was required to pay only $2,000 as punishment after pleading guilty in November. The media didn’t report on his plea until last month.
SNC-Lavalin admitted there were other executives involved, though they were never publicly identified and Morin was the only one charged.
Though this didn’t stop SNC-Lavalin from having high-level access to Justin Trudeau’s office.
Since 2017, the company’s representatives have met with senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office—including Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts—on 14 occasions, purportedly to lobby for “justice,” which seems to be an odd topic for an engineering firm.
For optics alone, the PMO shouldn’t have been taking meetings with representatives of a company facing ongoing criminal prosecution.
I’m inclined to side with NDP member of parliament Charlie Angus in saying SNC-Lavalin shouldn’t even have access to federal contracts, given its track record of corruption.
If the Globe report is true, thank goodness Wilson-Raybould had the moral grounding to say no, despite it coming at a personal cost.
It’s clear the ties between the Liberals and SNC-Lavalin run deep.
