Juno News - July 03, 2025


Feds approved over 17K foreign nationals with criminal convictions

Topics
Immigration convictions vetting debates
Hosted by
Isaac Lamoureux
Mentioned
Abdul Aziz Khawam Manitoba Hydro Surrey Jake Grewal Spokesperson Nancy Caron Michelle Rempel-Garner Sharon Steele Adrian Salah Jay Grewal Benjamin Graham Gary Anandasangari Miriam Grapper
Coutts protester granted bail pending appeal of conviction Woke vs. anti-woke debate： Can the left and right coexist？

Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

150.13

Word count

2,099

Sentence count

95

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Former Manitoba Hydro CEO Jay Grewal pocketed over $880,000 despite only holding the job for a month and a half. An ISIS devotee was convicted of attempted murder for slashing a Surrey bus rider s throat. And immigration Canada has approved over 17,600 applications from foreigners with criminal convictions in the past 11 years.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Former Manitoba Hydro CEO Jay Grewal pocketed over $880,000 despite only holding the job
00:00:11.540 for a month and a half. An ISIS devotee was convicted of attempted murder for slashing a
00:00:17.100 Surrey bus rider's throat. Immigration Canada has approved over 17,600 applications from
00:00:23.960 foreigners with criminal convictions in the past 11 years. Hello Canada, it's Thursday, 0.96
00:00:28.920 July 3rd, and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Isaac Lamoureux. And I'm Jeff Knight.
00:00:35.300 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day
00:00:40.060 and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else. Former Manitoba Hydro CEO Jay Grewal
00:00:50.960 received over $880,000 in compensation in 2024, despite working only a month and a half before
00:00:57.740 being dismissed in February. The payment, revealed in Manitoba Hydro's annual compensation disclosure,
00:01:03.760 has raised questions about accountability in taxpayer-funded institutions. Grewal's 2024
00:01:08.920 compensation of $881,177.94 represented a 61% increase from her 2023 salary and more than doubled
00:01:20.000 the earnings of any other Manitoba Hydro employee. Manitoba Hydro confirmed she received the amount
00:01:26.020 in accordance with the terms of the contract she had signed with the board at that time,
00:01:30.840 and emphasized that no severance was issued. The payment followed Grewal's dismissal two weeks
00:01:36.200 after she publicly reaffirmed Manitoba Hydro's intention to pursue wind power purchases from
00:01:41.880 private firms, a plan that contradicted the NDP government's stance on public-only energy
00:01:47.640 development. At the time, the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, Adrian Salah, rejected the
00:01:54.340 suggestion that the policy dispute led to Grewal's termination, though the timeline of events has
00:01:59.900 drawn scrutiny. Manitoba Hydro's board chair, Ben Graham, said the leadership change followed a
00:02:05.500 three-and-a-half-month assessment initiated when the new NDP-appointed board took office in December.
00:02:11.360 Grewal's ouster came shortly after she stated in a January 30 speech that Manitoba Hydro may require
00:02:17.980 new power sources by 2029, reiterating a 2023 plan to source energy from private wind developers.
00:02:24.980 The board that hired her was appointed by the previous progressive conservative government.
00:02:29.600 So, Jeff, did the Manitoba government fail to hold Manitoba Hydro accountable? And how can
00:02:34.840 taxpayers be reassured something like this won't happen again? Yeah, Isaac, the Manitoba government's
00:02:39.800 handling of this massive payout strongly suggests a failure to hold the Crown Corporation accountable,
00:02:45.020 exposing weaknesses in oversight of taxpayer-funded entities. The payment, a 61% jump from Jake
00:02:51.860 Grewal's 2023 salary and double any other employees' earnings, was justified by Manitoba Hydro as
00:02:58.460 adhering to her contract with no severance added. Yet, the lack of transparency around those terms,
00:03:04.280 especially after her dismissal in February over a policy clash with the NDP government, raises red
00:03:10.140 flags. Minister Adrian Salah's denial of a link to her push for private wind power purchases, which
00:03:15.980 contradicted the NDP's public-only energy stance, clashes with the timing. Her ouster followed a
00:03:21.380 January 30 speech restating this plan, suggesting political interference or a board realignment under
00:03:27.160 new NDP appointees. The board chair, Ben Graham's claim of a three-and-a-half-month assessment starting
00:03:33.020 in December, overlapping her hiring by the prior progressive conservative board, further hints at a rushed or
00:03:38.500 politicized decision, leaving taxpayers footing an $880,000 bill with little justification. To
00:03:44.920 reassure taxpayers that such an incident won't occur, the government must implement stricter
00:03:49.140 accountability measures. First, mandating public disclosure of executive contracts, including exit
00:03:54.520 clauses, would prevent opaque payouts. Current rules under the Public Sector Compensation Disclosure Act
00:04:00.420 only require salaries over $85,000 to be reported annually, not contract details. Secondly, establishing an
00:04:07.740 independent oversight committee, separate from political appointees, could review CEO performance and
00:04:12.940 terminations, ensuring decisions aren't swayed by policy disputes, as seen with Greville's wind power stance. Third,
00:04:19.160 capping severance or compensation adjustments during leadership transitions, say at 12-month salary, would limit
00:04:24.660 financial exposure, a step that the NDP could propose in the next legislative session. These reforms, paired with
00:04:30.600 regular audits of Hydro's board decisions, would signal a commitment to protecting public funds, addressing the
00:04:35.800 2025 CBC reports finding that 62% of Manitobans distrust Crown Corporation governance.
00:04:42.020 A man who slashed a Surrey bus rider's throat on behalf of the terrorist organization ISIS was convicted of
00:04:52.200 attempted murder for the benefit of a terrorist organization and now awaits sentencing in the new
00:04:57.140 Westminster Supreme Court. Justice Miriam Grapper on Monday convicted Abdul Aziz Khawam of attempted murder
00:05:03.280 for the benefit of a terrorist organization and assault with a weapon committed in association with a
00:05:08.260 terrorist group. The case has been adjourned to July 10th for sentencing. The circumstances behind the
00:05:13.500 charges and verdict are disturbing, appearing as a top-line item in a recent U.S. Department of State's
00:05:18.900 country reports on terrorism for Canada. The April 1st, 2023 attack that led to Khawam's conviction earlier
00:05:25.440 this week left one man with life-threatening injuries after his throat was slashed aboard a Route 503 Coast
00:05:31.860 Mountain bus at Fraser Highway and 148th Street. A second victim, also attacked at a nearby bus stop,
00:05:37.820 sustained a similar injury. Both victims survived the heroin attacks. During the Crown's closing
00:05:43.060 arguments, the court heard that on April 1st, 2023, just after 9 a.m., Khawam first approached someone
00:05:49.480 at a Surrey bus stop and asked if they were a Muslim. When the person replied no, Khawam stepped away to
00:05:55.280 pray for roughly two minutes, then returned and slashed at the man's neck with a knife. Roughly 13 minutes
00:06:01.340 later, Khawam boarded a Coast Mountain bus and, without provocation, attacked another rider,
00:06:06.700 slashing at his neck multiple times. That victim managed to push Khawam off the bus and survived,
00:06:12.520 despite serious injuries. During closing arguments, Federal Crown Prosecutor Sharon Steele told the court
00:06:18.360 there was no dispute about the facts of the attack, but that Justice Gropper had to determine whether
00:06:23.080 Abdul Aziz Khawam acted for the benefit of, at the discretion of, or in association with, the Islamic State.
00:06:29.020 In the days before the attack, Steele told the judge Khawam had downloaded a document from the
00:06:33.920 information-sharing app Telegram, which explained, quote,
00:06:37.520 It is not permissible to kill Muslims until it is proven that they committed an eye deferment, 0.94
00:06:42.700 the shedding of blood which links to the question posed to the first victim. 0.98
00:06:46.680 She added that the attack technique, using a knife to slash at the victim's throats, 0.98
00:06:51.380 was also consistent with the Islamic State's signature execution style.
00:06:55.160 Even further, 10 days before the attack even occurred, Khawam made a call to 9-1-1 himself,
00:07:01.720 telling the operator he, quote, pledged allegiance to Abu al-Husayn al-Husayni al-Qurashi,
00:07:08.240 the leader of the Islamic State at the time. Justice Gropper's decision stayed two charges,
00:07:13.800 including aggravated assault, aggravated assault for the benefit of a terrorist organization,
00:07:18.780 but still went to verdict for Khawam on the more serious charges of attempted murder with
00:07:23.120 terrorist benefit and assault with a weapon for terrorist benefit. True North will be covering
00:07:27.780 Khawam's sentencing on July 10th. So, Isaac, this is a pretty disturbing case. Why are Islamic-inspired 1.00
00:07:33.860 terrorist events becoming more common in Canada?
00:07:36.120 Yeah, Jeff, so there are obviously several factors contributing to the increase in the number of
00:07:41.100 Islamist-inspired attacks or plots in Canada. For example, there are still individuals in Canada
00:07:46.740 raising money for jihadist groups, including al-Qaeda affiliates. For example, one Toronto man
00:07:53.440 previously pled guilty to terrorism charges after he used online fundraising platforms allegedly
00:07:59.520 meant to aid victims in Gaza to funnel money to ISIS. We've also seen other literal terrorists
00:08:07.480 released under Canada's catch-and-release policy. Yes, a Yemeni man previously trying to join a
00:08:13.320 Middle Eastern terrorist organization was released on bail and put on house arrest.
00:08:18.980 And Islamic-inspired terrorist events are far from the only terrorist events occurring in Canada.
00:08:24.600 For example, even the new public safety minister, Gary Anandasangari, had to recuse himself from any
00:08:31.080 conversation regarding two designated terrorist groups in Sri Lanka due to his personal background
00:08:36.500 and community ties. Also, over the last 11 years, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada
00:08:43.880 approved more than 17,600 applicants from foreigners with criminal convictions seeking to enter the
00:08:49.940 country. So it really appears as if Canada is becoming a criminal safe haven. We recently saw some
00:08:56.620 Israeli reports that senior Iranian officials were fleeing to Canada. In the Surrey bus attack,
00:09:02.360 the assailant downloaded ISIS propaganda, instructing that only non-Muslims should be targeted,
00:09:08.940 which is consistent with patterns highlighted by the RCMP and CSIS in recent parliamentary testimony,
00:09:14.800 which noted that self-radicalization over the internet is now the most common pathway to violence.
00:09:20.440 CSIS also reported that in recent years, religious and ideological motivations have surpassed all other
00:09:25.860 forms of extremism as the leading driver of terrorist-related cases in Canada. A lack of decisive
00:09:32.340 enforcement and inconsistent de-radicalization strategies have left Canada vulnerable.
00:09:37.780 The federal government often downplays the role of extremist ideology for fear of
00:09:42.520 stigmatizing communities, which can deter early intervention. Canadian authorities sometimes avoid
00:09:47.940 explicitly acknowledging the religious dimension of attacks, labeling them as ideologically motivated
00:09:53.240 violent extremism without naming the specific ideology. The reluctance prevents the public from
00:09:58.700 fully understanding the scale of the problem and limits targeted prevention efforts.
00:10:06.220 During the last 11 years, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has approved more than 17,600
00:10:13.180 applications from foreigners with criminal convictions, seeking to enter the country,
00:10:18.360 raising public safety concerns and calls for transparency over the offenses that have been forgiven.
00:10:23.620 According to figures provided by the Immigration Department, individuals convicted of crimes abroad
00:10:28.760 were deemed rehabilitated and allowed to apply for entry into Canada between 2013 and 2024.
00:10:35.360 This opens doors to visas, temporary permits, and permanent residency that would otherwise be barred
00:10:41.180 due to inadmissibility based on foreign convictions.
00:10:44.300 While the IRCC says decisions are based on a detailed review of the seriousness of each offense
00:10:49.640 and the behavior of applicants since their conviction, critics are urging the federal government to
00:10:54.860 release more information on the nature of the crimes being pardoned.
00:10:58.260 Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel-Garner said, quote,
00:11:01.940 There have been questions about the adequacy of vetting many classes of people entering Canada.
00:11:06.580 If the public is going to have any confidence in the immigration system's vetting process,
00:11:10.920 there needs to be transparency about the types of convictions being forgiven.
00:11:14.420 Under federal immigration law, individuals convicted of acts considered criminal offenses in Canada
00:11:19.800 are typically inadmissible.
00:11:21.900 In 2024, IRCC approved 1,390 rehabilitation applications while rejecting only 105.
00:11:30.060 In 2023, it approved 1,505 and rejected 70.
00:11:35.580 The Department has not released a detailed breakdown of the offenses and questions.
00:11:39.840 For serious crimes, decisions are made by the Federal Minister of Immigration.
00:11:43.620 Spokesperson Nancy Caron said the department considers factors such as the number and seriousness of offenses,
00:11:51.400 the applicant's conduct since the offense, and community support.
00:11:55.400 But Jeff, why would the Canadian government want to admit foreign criminals into the country? 0.99
00:12:00.000 The Canadian government's decision to admit over 17,000 foreigners with criminal convictions
00:12:05.100 between 2013 and 2024 sparks significant public safety debates, and for obvious reasons.
00:12:10.680 One reason the Canadian government might be doing this is Canada's commitment to rehabilitation and second chances,
00:12:16.960 aligning with its multicultural identity and obligations under international human rights framework,
00:12:22.100 like the UN Convention relating to the status of refugees.
00:12:25.320 The IRCC's process, which deemed these individuals rehabilitated,
00:12:29.400 based on factors like the seriousness of their offenses and post-conviction behavior,
00:12:33.140 reflects a belief that past mistakes shouldn't permanently bar entry if risks are mitigated,
00:12:38.720 especially for those fleeing persecution or seeking to rebuild their lives.
00:12:42.480 Economically, the government may see potential in integrating these individuals,
00:12:46.120 particularly if they possess skills or labor contributions that address Canada's workforce shortages.
00:12:51.320 By 2025, Statistics Canada projects a need for 500,000 immigrants annually
00:12:56.560 to sustain growth amid an aging population.
00:12:58.960 For instance, approving rehabilitated offenders with trade skills could fill gaps in construction
00:13:03.880 or manufacturing, sectors hit hard by the recent UF tariff disputes.
00:13:08.020 Legally, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allows for exceptions via rehabilitation
00:13:12.540 or ministerial discretion for serious crimes, providing flexibility to balance security with compassion,
00:13:19.000 as spokesperson Nancy Caron noted with considerations of community support.
00:13:23.280 However, the lack of transparency on offense types, criticized by Michelle Rempel-Garner,
00:13:27.900 fuels suspicion that this could be a pragmatic move to boost numbers or appease certain international allies,
00:13:34.240 risking public trust when 62% of Canadians, per a 2020,
00:13:39.960 are not a national threat of vetting.
00:13:44.420 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in.
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