00:00:00.000The Feds have banned an Irish group from entering Canada over the group's endorsement of political violence and terrorism.
00:00:11.000A Quebec University professor has been removed from the School Student Discipline Committee after publicly calling for full economic and military support to terrorist organizations, though he still has a job as a professor.
00:00:24.000Lesbian, gay, and bisexual activists have broken away from the LGBT plus movement and have made a new international organization which they say will return the movement to its original mission and away from gender identity ideology.
00:00:37.000Hello Canada, it's Monday, September 22nd, and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Isaac Lamoureux.
00:00:44.000We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
00:00:54.000The federal government has barred the Irish rap group NECAP from entering Canada, citing what it calls dangerous endorsements of political violence and terrorist groups.
00:01:03.000Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Combating Crime, Vince Gasparro, said in a video statement posted to Exxon Friday, quote,
00:01:11.000Recently, the rap group NECAP has engaged in actions and made statements that are contrary to Canadian values and laws and have caused deep alarm to our government.
00:01:21.000The group have amplified political violence and publicly displayed support for terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
00:01:28.000These are not expressions of art or legitimate political critique. They are dangerous endorsements of violence and hate.
00:01:35.000Notably, one member of the band is currently facing terrorism related charges in the United Kingdom.
00:01:42.000Gasparro said one member of the group is facing terrorism related charges in the United Kingdom after allegedly raising the flag of a terrorist group officially designated by Canada, Hezbollah, at an event in November 2024.
00:01:54.000Gasparro argues that charter rights of free expression are upheld but, quote, advocating for political violence, glorifying terrorist organizations and displaying hate symbols that directly target the Jewish community are not protected forms of expression and will not be tolerated by our government.
00:02:10.000He added that, effective immediately, the members of NECAP, quote, have been deemed ineligible to enter Canada and that Canada stands firmly against hate speech, incitement to violence and the glorification of terrorism.
00:02:22.000Political debate and free speech are vital to our democracy, but open endorsements of terrorist groups are not free speech.
00:02:29.000Our government remains steadfast in protecting all Canadians, and in this instance Jewish Canadians, from anti-Semitism and hate more broadly.
00:02:40.000Canada is never to be used as a platform for extremism or political violence, and we will not tolerate international conflicts being used as an excuse to intimidate and harass Canadians here at home.
00:02:53.000So, Waleed, the Toronto riding where Gasparro is from has an over 20% Jewish population.
00:02:59.000During the election, he debated a Conservative candidate about how the Liberals would fight anti-Semitism in that riding.
00:03:05.000And is this a new direction for the Liberals, or is this just the first time they are taking action in this way against those who openly promote terrorism?
00:03:15.000Look, Isaac, when I think it comes to the Israel-Palestine issue, the issue of anti-Semitism, the protests, I frankly think Liberals, and I'm quoting Melissa Lansman from my interview with her last week, but are indeed seeming to speak out of both sides of their mouth.
00:03:31.000I mean, in their caucus, there are strong disagreements between members like Anthony Housefather, who's from a heavily Jewish writing, and himself who's Jewish.
00:03:39.000Then you have someone I spoke to last week as well, Salma Zahid from, I believe she's from Scarborough, GTA area, who is Muslim of background, Pakistani, and whose many constituents share that same background, and who is very passionate about the Palestinian angle.
00:03:54.000So, frankly, Liberal MPs and the neoliberal caucus are divided on the issue. The Liberal Party seems to have kind of a fractured base when it comes to the issue as well.
00:04:04.000So, whether it's this particular MP supporting or encouraging, rather, the ban of NICAP, an Irish group that has, of course, due cause to be dealt with in that sense, I don't think this is the neoliberal policy.
00:04:19.000I don't think this is the consistent direction, because there is no consistent direction. One week, they could be talking about recognizing the state of Palestine.
00:04:26.000The following week, they could be talking about some measures to counter on the other side, domestically or internationally speaking.
00:04:33.000It seems like, again, there is no coherent, consistent policy of the matter. It simply is within different jurisdictions, local, international, domestic policy.
00:04:42.000They're finding different ways to appease both Jewish voters and Muslim and Arab voters.
00:04:48.000And it seems like the party is, for now, doing a wildly inconsistent job of that.
00:04:55.000A McGill University professor has been removed from the school's Student Discipline Committee after publicly calling for full economic support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
00:05:07.000Despite being removed from his role at the school's Discipline Committee, he remains a professor at the post-secondary school.
00:05:14.000William Clare Roberts, an associate professor of political science at McGill, wrote on August 23rd, quote,
00:05:20.000I used to think BDS, which is the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, was a good idea.
00:05:25.000I've come around, though. Nothing short of full economic and military support for Hamas and Hezbollah is appropriate, end quote.
00:05:32.000Two days later, the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs outlined concerns around Roberts' posts.
00:05:37.000The Jewish advocacy group said that the glorifying and the calling for funding to officially recognize terrorist groups raised their concern.
00:05:46.000At a time when antisemitism is reaching new heights, it is McGill's duty to ensure that its professors do not amplify hatred of Jews, attack our common values, or encourage terrorist groups under Canadian law.
00:05:56.000The organization and its French counterpart sent a letter to the university's president.
00:06:01.000The university must announce its professors' remarks if they are proven to be true. Exemplary disciplinary measures must be taken.
00:06:08.000And accountability must be ensured to prevent such potential support for terrorist groups from it, it would seem, obtaining a position on a disciplinary committee.
00:06:15.000So, Isaac, my question to you is this, on the same issue, frankly.
00:06:19.000What's the university, what was the university, so what was the university's response to this professor?
00:06:24.000And have we seen universities in Canada taking action against pro-terrorist professors or speakers before?
00:06:30.000So, McGill's Senate voted unanimously to remove William Clare Roberts from the Committee on Student Discipline.
00:06:36.000And according to Roberts, in one of his posts to X, he said the Senate said that he was biased, he couldn't tell right from wrong, and that he was anti-Jewish.
00:06:44.000Of course, as you said, though, he retains his job as a professor for now.
00:06:47.000The decision was celebrated by Jewish organizations like the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs and their French arm, which argued that publicly advocating support for Hamas and Hezbollah, groups listed as terrorist entities in Canada, crossed a clear line into incitement and created a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.
00:07:04.000But calls for accountability in academia are not new.
00:07:07.000In January, the University of Toronto cancelled an event featuring Shadi Sharafa, a convicted member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine after Jewish groups intervened.
00:07:17.000McGill itself faced criticism last year when it allowed a pro-Hamas activist to speak on campus at an event called Night of Resistance.
00:07:24.000Carleton University also drew outrage for reappointing Hassan Diab, who was convicted in France for the 1980 Paris Synagogue bombing, to teach courses despite an active international warrant.
00:07:36.000Other institutions have acted a bit more decisively.
00:07:39.000The University of Alberta fired the director of its sexual assault center after she signed a letter denying Hamas committed rapes during the October 7th attack.
00:07:48.000The University of Waterloo issued a trespass notice to dismantle an anti-Israel encampment, calling protesters' behavior untenable.
00:07:55.000And Edmonton police cleared a similar encampment at the University of Alberta after finding potential weapons and science calling for Israel's destruction.
00:08:03.000Reports over the past year have documented that anti-Semitism and open support for Hamas have become common at Canadian campus encampments,
00:08:11.000with chants glorifying violence, Hamas logos projected onto buildings, and Jewish students facing harassment.
00:08:17.000Advocacy groups warn that such environments are making campuses unsafe and pressuring administrations to act.
00:08:23.000But taken together, these incidents show that McGill's handling of Roberts is part of a broader trend,
00:08:28.000that being Canadian universities have faced repeated controversies over professors, speakers, and student groups
00:08:34.000that cross the line from political expression into openly supporting listed terrorist organizations.
00:08:40.000And their responses have ranged from cancellation of events to dismissals to formal disciplinary votes.
00:08:45.000Also, while the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs celebrated Roberts' removal,
00:08:49.000they called for further action to be taken by administration to, quote,
00:08:53.000ensure that he is held accountable for his actions.
00:08:56.000Lesbian, gay, and bisexual organizations from around the world have broken away from the broader trans-dominated LGBT plus movement.
00:09:07.000On Saturday, they announced the creation of the LGB International, a new group dedicated to protecting same-sex rights.
00:09:16.000The organizers say mainstream LGBTQ groups have abandoned their original mission.
00:09:21.000Instead of focusing on issues like criminalization of homosexuality in 64 countries,
00:09:26.000lack of recognition for same-sex partnerships, and discrimination against gays and lesbians,
00:09:31.000they argue that major organizations now rally around gender identity politics.
00:09:36.000Frederick Schminck, chair of LGB International, said groups that once represented gays and lesbians are now, quote,
00:09:42.000entirely devoted to gender identity ideology.
00:09:46.000He warned that same-sex rights are being lost while, quote,
00:09:49.000traditional LGBTQ plus organizations have barricaded themselves up against all reason.
00:09:55.000LGB International brings together member organizations in 18 countries from Taiwan to Australia,
00:10:51.000And somehow, in this Daily Brief episode, we have not been able to escape the themes in the Middle East a single time out of these three stories.
00:10:58.000So, taking back to this summer, over the course of Pride Toronto, we had a number of different sponsors leave and pull out of Pride parades,
00:11:07.000especially in Toronto where Olivia Chao had to step in with millions of taxpayer dollars to fill the gap of funding.
00:11:13.000But I actually remember more of a story in Montreal where an LGBTQ Jewish group were uninvited for being part of the Pride protest,
00:11:23.000or Pride march rather, because of their views on the Middle East.
00:11:27.000So, clearly, there has been this trend of Pride becoming, let's just say, far more political and far less about the bread and butter issues that concern that community.
00:11:37.000Of course, what we're talking about here in this story is a fracture between the LGB and the TQ, everything else beyond.
00:11:44.000So, I think there's definitely a very interesting dynamic there.
00:11:48.000What I'm seeing with LGB international is that people are much more zeroed in in the traditional sense of freedom for relationships,
00:11:56.000to people of different orientations, but not using that to pervert the general understood social standard of gender between men and women,
00:12:08.000And, of course, that is probably an example as well of how the gay rights movement has been perhaps hijacked to go further into other realms beyond what originally many gays were fighting for,
00:12:20.000in terms of having right to marriage, right to different situations in gay relationships to be recognized around the world.
00:12:28.000But, definitely, Pride has not only gone deeper down the woke sphere, but has also managed to encompass itself around political issues like the wars in the Middle East,
00:12:41.000like economic issues, and a wide range of social issues as well.
00:12:46.000So, absolutely, Pride or the LGBTQ movement, which goes hand in hand with these Pride movements, are oftentimes far beyond the original mandates of standing up for their own rights or their own concerns.
00:12:59.000They are now attaching themselves onto other, generally speaking, left-leaning solidarity movements.
00:13:06.000And this is kind of part of the left coalition-building mechanism to try to expand its audience and expand its following,
00:13:14.000perhaps also some fundraising initiative as well.
00:13:17.000But, definitely, it's comical at this point, for sure.
00:13:21.000That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in.
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