Marty York: Canadians wary of Liberal plan to expedite Gazan visas

Forty-three per cent of respondents opposed the decision to expedite visa processing and 19 per cent answered, "I don't know."

According to a recent poll, just under half of Canadians are opposed to the federal government’s recent decision to expedite Gazan student visa processing. And I must say, I don’t blame them. The Leger poll, commissioned by the HR Canada Charitable Organization, asked respondents whether, like some, they believed the policy would help students whose education had been disrupted by war, or whether they thought “speeding up the process could make it more difficult to adequately identify potential security risks, including individuals with extremist affiliations.”

Forty-three per cent of respondents opposed the decision to expedite visa processing, 38 per cent supported it, and the remaining 19 per cent answered, “I don’t know.” These results demonstrate significant public concern and uncertainty for accelerating Gazan student visa processing because of perceived security risks of allowing radicalized Palestinians into Canada. The survey was conducted last month, between June 19 and June 26, among a representative sample of 1,528 Canadian adults.

Respondents’ opposition and uncertainty should not be surprising. Gaza, after all, is governed by the terrorist group Hamas, which was responsible for the heinous attack of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. At least 1,500 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists breached Israel’s borders by land, air and sea.

In total, 1,195 people were killed, including infants, children, elderly and peace-festival attendees. Families were murdered in their homes, some, burnt alive, while others were executed in bomb shelters. Those kidnapped and taken hostage numbered 251.

“Canadians have witnessed an explosive rise in extremist rhetoric, ideological radicalization, and politically motivated violence, along with an unprecedented rise of antisemitism,” the HR Canada Charitable Organization commented in a statement. “As concerns about public safety have grown. . .so too have questions about how governments balance humanitarian objectives with security considerations.”

“The purpose of this research is not to tell Canadians what they should think,” the HR Charitable Organization said. “It is to help illuminate what Canadians do think, and to contribute a more informed discussion about the complex issues affecting Canadian society. Understanding public attitudes toward security, extremism and social cohesion is an important part of understanding the environment in which antisemitism and other forms of (hate) emerge and evolve.”

Amanda Eskenasi, education director at HR Charitable Organization, told me in an interview that the poll was commissioned to provide context. “Our mandate,” she explained, “is to advance education on issues relating to antisemitism and discrimination, with a particular focus on how public perceptions and media narratives shape those conversations. Understanding how Canadians view, and are talking about, issues that intersect with security, extremism, and humanitarian policy helps provide important context for that work.”

Eskenasi said Canadians have been exposed to a growing number of incidents involving Islamic extremism in recent years, “and this poll suggests those concerns are reflected in public opinion. The results indicate that appropriate security screening for those arriving from countries where these ideologies are prevalent is an issue of significant concern for millions of Canadians.” The question is — would screening individuals with extremist affiliations be difficult, or doable?

Indeed, let’s hope and pray that, if there isn’t a change of heart on this plan from the Mark Carney administration, government officials and bureaucrats do their due diligence impeccably and vet potential immigrants thoroughly — and not only with Gazans, for that matter, but for anyone from a foreign country who would like to make Canada their home. Look, I know very well that immigration has been a vital cog in Canada’s ascent to the great nation it was not all that long ago. Times have changed, however, and Canada’s reputation and image are not what they used to be, and the country’s safety standards during recent years have nosedived significantly.

Immigration, sadly, has not helped us maintain the levels of grandeur and serenity we once enjoyed. Opening the doors to unhappy and possibly radicalized extremists seems tantamount to asking for the possibility — or probability — of more chaos. National Post Marty York is renowned as a national columnist, associate editor and television personality in Canada.

He spent the past decade as chief media officer and communications director for a Canadian Jewish human rights organization.