Juno News - August 25, 2021


The Taliban are not “our brothers”

Topics
Monsef's comments on Taliban
Mentioned
Mariam Monsef Justin Trudeau Mark Carney Robert Fyfe Katie
Some Canadians are refusing to learn to live with COVID Liberals still have no message, but plenty of gaffes

Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

163.64

Word count

2,213

Sentence count

151

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

9

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Mariam Monsef calls the Taliban her brothers. Is this an indication of softening Canada s stance on the Taliban? Or is she softening her stance on a group that is responsible for mass rape, torture, and genocide?

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.
00:00:00.200 Mariam Monsef reminds us that she is the very worst cabinet minister to ever serve in a Canadian government. 0.91
00:00:06.100 I'm Candace Malcolm and this is The Candace Malcolm Show.
00:00:13.400 Mariam Monsef is a Liberal Member of Parliament from Peterborough
00:00:16.800 and she is currently a cabinet minister in the Trudeau government.
00:00:21.500 She is the minister for women and gender equality in the Trudeau government.
00:00:26.580 And today, she called the Taliban her brothers, the Taliban.
00:00:32.440 I want to take this opportunity to speak to our brothers, the Taliban. 0.95
00:00:39.880 We call on you to ensure the safe and secure passage of any individual in Afghanistan out of the country.
00:00:49.720 She didn't even call them her brothers.
00:00:51.740 She called the Taliban our brothers.
00:00:53.980 Now, when she says this, when she says the Taliban are our brothers, is she speaking as a Canadian?
00:01:00.900 Why on earth would a Canadian woman say that the Taliban are our brothers?
00:01:06.960 Or perhaps even worse, is she speaking as a member of the Trudeau government?
00:01:12.960 Does the Trudeau government believe that the Taliban are our brothers?
00:01:16.960 Last week, when the Taliban brutally took control of Kabul, toppled the democratically elected government in Afghanistan
00:01:23.760 and replaced it with an Islamist terrorist dictatorship ruled by the Taliban,
00:01:29.540 the Trudeau government stumbled to decide how they would approach it.
00:01:33.740 First, Canada's foreign affairs minister, Mark Garneau, went on CBC and said that it was too soon to tell
00:01:39.820 whether or not Canada would recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan.
00:01:44.940 The U.S. had warned the Taliban if Afghanistan was taken by force, it would not be recognized internationally.
00:01:51.940 Will Canada refuse to recognize a Taliban government?
00:01:57.080 Well, thank you, Katie, for the question.
00:01:59.180 I would say to you it's early days.
00:02:01.500 Right now, we want to see what happens.
00:02:04.000 The country has essentially surrendered to the Taliban.
00:02:07.720 The Taliban is saying that it wants to run as a government.
00:02:10.800 But we're going to wait and see.
00:02:12.940 It's too early to answer that question.
00:02:15.560 You're waiting to see.
00:02:16.920 Are you going to treat the Taliban with credibility?
00:02:21.220 Well, we have to see how they behave since they have taken over the country.
00:02:26.740 Certainly, their behavior was totally unacceptable for the short time that they were in charge after the Russians left about 20 years ago.
00:02:35.660 So we'll wait and see.
00:02:37.380 Trudeau sort of doubled down on this idea when he pleaded with the Taliban and tried to appeal to their better nature, 0.57
00:02:44.040 telling them to step up and allow people to leave the country. 0.99
00:02:48.080 We need to see the Taliban step up and permit an evacuation of those who want to leave.
00:02:54.420 And that is what we are expecting.
00:02:56.260 Now, seeing how that played out, Trudeau quickly adjusted course and he strongly and firmly said that he would not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan.
00:03:06.720 Canada has no plans to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.
00:03:14.040 When they were in government 20 years ago, Canada did not recognize them as a government.
00:03:18.480 They have taken over and replaced a duly elected democratic government by force.
00:03:25.980 And as you point out, they are a recognized terrorist organization under Canadian law.
00:03:32.480 So he finally got to the right place and said the right thing.
00:03:35.320 But think about it.
00:03:36.220 It took him days.
00:03:37.280 It took him about 36 hours to finally say what was right and what was obvious to 99% of Canadians.
00:03:45.680 No, the Taliban is not legitimate.
00:03:47.500 No, we do not recognize them.
00:03:49.820 No, we will not work with them. 0.97
00:03:51.620 We will not in any way, shape or form acknowledge or support a repressive Islamist terrorist entity that just forcefully removed a government by raping and killing anyone who stood in its way. 0.75
00:04:04.160 But Monsef's remarkable comments on Wednesday morning displayed something totally different.
00:04:10.340 Calling these terrorists our brothers doesn't just recognize them as a legitimate government.
00:04:15.200 It implies that they are our allies, that they are our friends, that they're one of us, that we're all on the same side here.
00:04:22.160 This is perhaps the most appalling thing that I have ever heard come out of the mouth of a Canadian politician.
00:04:27.920 Probably the most appalling thing I have ever heard come out of anyone's mouth ever.
00:04:31.520 Now, fortunately, someone in the media did ask Monsef what the heck she was talking about and why a Canadian cabinet minister would call a despicable, repressive, barbaric terrorist group our brothers.
00:04:44.720 And now, I'll note that this is a member of the legacy media asking this question, so you can tell how there's a sense of deference, how it's very polite, and in some ways it's helpful to Monsef.
00:04:55.560 I have a follow-up.
00:04:56.720 This is for Minister Monsef.
00:04:59.120 In your statement, you referred to the Taliban as our brothers.
00:05:03.860 Can you clarify your remarks?
00:05:05.660 Is this an indication of the government positioning, softening on the Taliban?
00:05:12.640 Hardly. 0.94
00:05:13.740 The Taliban are a terrorist group, and yet they claim to be Muslims. 0.99
00:05:19.040 We're calling on them to immediately allow for the safe passage of any individual who is in Afghanistan out of the country. 0.57
00:05:28.300 We are calling on them to immediately cease the violence, the femicide, the genocide, the rapes, the lootings, and to return immediately to the peace negotiation table in an inclusive and meaningful way.
00:05:43.480 If they will ever be recognized as a legitimate party, this is the starting point.
00:05:49.820 The reference to brothers is a cultural reference, of course, but let me be very clear.
00:05:54.760 We do not support the Taliban.
00:05:56.320 We are horrified that the hard-won gains of the past 20 years are at stake like this and being eroded like this.
00:06:05.560 We are horrified that our women and men in uniform had to move forward with a difficult operation that was only made more difficult by their actions,
00:06:17.600 and deeply disappointed that their threats of ongoing violence have led to the international community, particularly the Americans, saying we're going to leave on the 31st due to these threats of violence.
00:06:32.140 And you can see that Monsef is in total damage control.
00:06:36.620 First of all, she emphasizes how horrible the Taliban are and how they are, yes, a terrorist group,
00:06:41.560 which sort of makes it so much worse that she would have referred to them as our brothers.
00:06:46.860 Next, she plays Trudeau's favorite card in inventing creepy politically correct language to virtue signal about being a feminist. 1.00
00:06:53.860 She calls the Taliban's crusade a femicide, which, what, I guess it means a genocide against women.
00:07:01.460 I honestly don't understand what these liberals are saying half the time, and I don't think they do either. 0.99
00:07:06.500 Now, finally, Monsef just sort of brushes off her insanely idiotic comment, calling the Taliban our brothers by saying it is cultural. 0.94
00:07:14.680 So if I read between the lines here, I suppose she is saying that in that moment, she was not speaking as a cabinet minister. 0.99
00:07:22.240 She wasn't even speaking as a Canadian.
00:07:24.600 She was speaking as a Muslim and perhaps as an Afghan.
00:07:28.800 So is that supposed to make any of this better?
00:07:31.480 That as a cabinet minister, she sometimes doesn't speak as a Canadian, but instead speaks as an Afghan?
00:07:37.460 That she speaks to the Taliban as her brothers because they share some cultural and religious bonds from the country of her origin?
00:07:45.340 But doesn't that just sort of undermine the entire idea of Canada, the entire experiment of a Western liberal democracy?
00:07:52.720 Monsef came to Canada as a refugee.
00:07:54.940 Here, she was given incredible opportunities to succeed, excel, and rise to the highest status in the country.
00:08:01.980 She is a federal cabinet minister, and yet she still looks back longingly at Afghanistan as her country, and she sees the Taliban as her family.
00:08:11.860 She again had the opportunity to clarify, and she clarified that this is exactly what she means.
00:08:17.700 Here is another question, this time from an independent journalist from Blacklock's Reporter.
00:08:22.500 This journalist is not on Trudeau's payroll.
00:08:25.040 He's not on the dole.
00:08:25.960 So you can notice how he speaks to Monsef the way that a journalist should speak to a politician who has just said something crazy.
00:08:33.440 Thank you.
00:08:34.100 And Minister Monsef, I'd like to follow up on this brother business.
00:08:38.980 Frankly, if there's some cultural nuance here, I'm not getting it.
00:08:41.940 I've never heard you refer to a Muslim Canadian member of the Conservative Party as your brother.
00:08:47.060 Everyone is aware of the Taliban's human rights atrocities.
00:08:50.260 It's just a really jarring phrase.
00:08:52.620 Do you just want to walk that back now?
00:08:54.740 Could you just take that back, or do you really think the Taliban are our brothers?
00:09:02.640 I think this whole situation is jarring, sir, that there are terrorists taking over my beloved ancestral land.
00:09:10.680 In terms of the terminology, if you go to masjids across the country, Muslims refer to one another as brothers and sisters.
00:09:17.560 So, you know, rest assured, I continue to believe deeply that the Taliban are a terrorist organization.
00:09:26.140 Our government believes so.
00:09:28.000 We'll continue to protect women, Hazaras, Shias, Hindus, Sikhs.
00:09:32.560 We'll continue to do everything we can to get as many people out of their grasp in Afghanistan. 1.00
00:09:39.320 And we'll continue to do everything we can with our global partners to make sure that the hard-won gains of the past two decades are not lost to these individuals whose mandate is not to govern.
00:09:53.220 Their mandate is to oppress and to kill, and we condemn that entirely.
00:09:58.880 And again, she doubles down, refuses to walk it back, and defends, calling the terrorists in the Taliban her brothers. 0.92
00:10:07.140 What a slap in the face.
00:10:08.800 A slap in the face to all Canadians. 1.00
00:10:11.000 A slap in the face to women in Afghanistan who are currently being repressed in despicable ways.
00:10:16.660 I won't even go into some of the details of what is going on in Afghanistan, what is happening to women right now.
00:10:22.000 It is unspeakable, and it is a slap in the face to those women what Monsef has said.
00:10:27.900 But then again, this is Mary Monsef we're talking about.
00:10:30.660 Remember back in 2015 when she was celebrated as a member of Trudeau's inner circle?
00:10:36.200 Remember the countless profiles and puff pieces written about her?
00:10:39.140 The young woman who came from a humble position as a poor Afghan refugee who then rose all the way up to a high-profile cabinet minister.
00:10:47.960 Only in Canada could such a wonderful fairytale story happen.
00:10:51.960 But then, sadly, we learned that much of her story just simply wasn't true.
00:10:56.880 Monsef wasn't even from Afghanistan.
00:10:58.960 She was from Iran.
00:10:59.940 She was born in Iran.
00:11:01.000 And she was hardly a refugee, given that she used to travel back and forth between Canada, Iran, and Afghanistan when she was in her 20s,
00:11:08.220 after she became a Canadian citizen.
00:11:10.260 She said that her refugee application to Canada did list Afghanistan as her place of birth,
00:11:16.320 and she blamed the entire debacle on her mother. 0.90
00:11:18.980 How gracious.
00:11:20.100 Even though she grew up in Iran, she claimed to, what, have not known that it was Iran?
00:11:24.960 That she thought that she was living in Afghanistan when she was actually in Iran?
00:11:28.520 She says that her mother hid it all from her, and apparently she just didn't know the difference.
00:11:33.240 Right.
00:11:33.500 Well, here is the clueless Mary Monsef awkwardly trying to tell reporter Robert Fyfe,
00:11:38.820 the one who broke the story about her not being from Afghanistan and actually being from Iran.
00:11:42.960 Here she is telling him that she was born in Afghanistan, even though you can tell that she clearly knows otherwise.
00:11:49.880 So you were born in Afghanistan, correct?
00:11:51.920 I believe I was.
00:11:53.420 Now, did you know that in Canada, lying on your asylum claim paper, lying on your citizenship application papers,
00:12:00.100 is against the law.
00:12:01.760 It's punished so harshly that if a government finds out that you have lied on your application,
00:12:06.540 it will strip away your citizenship.
00:12:08.820 Even if this happens years later, it will go back and it will strip citizenship from you.
00:12:14.020 It's called citizenship revocation, and it happens all the time.
00:12:17.740 Here is the Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, saying just that.
00:12:21.420 A revocation of citizenship can and should happen in situations of becoming a Canadian citizen on false pretenses.
00:12:29.200 Indeed, when people have lied on their applications, those applications get rescinded even years later.
00:12:37.220 Of course, rules don't apply to Liberals.
00:12:39.000 Monsef is in Trudeau's inner circle, and so the rules simply don't apply to her.
00:12:43.500 Criticizing Mary Monsef is probably considered culturally insensitive.
00:12:47.920 Some will probably say it is even racist.
00:12:50.940 Well, guess what?
00:12:52.020 My husband, just like Mary Monsef, was born in Iran.
00:12:55.020 And just like Mary Monsef, my husband and his family came to Canada when he was a child.
00:13:01.060 But unlike Mary Monsef, my husband's family didn't try to sneak in the back door by claiming asylum and pretending to be something that they're not. 0.60
00:13:09.220 And unlike Mary Monsef, my husband would never, not in a million years, describe the despicable terrorists in the Taliban as our brothers. 0.75
00:13:19.560 They're not.
00:13:20.300 He would never say that.
00:13:21.920 Don't be fooled by Mary Monsef. 0.95
00:13:23.020 There is nothing cultural about calling the Taliban our brothers.
00:13:29.020 I'm Candace Malcolm, and this is The Candace Malcolm Show.