In recent weeks, the Liberals have launched an increasingly desperate-seeming series of cheap-shot attacks on Stephen Harper's government. For the most part, these stunts have hurt no one except the Liberals themselves. But the sniping in regard to the case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud falls into another category: By seeking to undermine civil servants who are protecting Canada from illegal immigration and overseas threats, Liberal smears could make this country a more dangerous place.
Suaad Hagi Mohamud is a Canadian woman of Somali descent who recently was trapped in Kenya for three months, unable to return to her Toronto home and family. The story as it was first reported in a credulous Toronto newspaper was that Ms. Mohamud was the victim of incompetence — or possibly even racism — at the hands of Canadian officials.
In May, 2009, as she was set to fly back home, a KLM airline official became suspicious because the passenger claiming to be Ms. Mohamud did not match her passport photo. Canadian officials agreed, and Ms. Mohamud was dispatched to a Kenyan jail for a week. Only after several months of protests was her identity verified as authentic. In August, she returned to Canada, and promptly launched a $2.5-million suit against Ottawa, which the Canadian government is contesting.
Enter the Liberals — specifically, Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae, Consular Services critic Dan McTeague, and Joe Volpe, Ms. Mohamud's MP.
On Wednesday, the trio collectively attacked the Conservatives for refusing to roll over and pay Ms. Mohamud her money. "Canada should recognize it has made a mistake," said Mr. Rae. "Make a fulsome apology to Mme. Mohamud, and settle with her. Settle the case."
Mr. Rae's position might have seemed tenable when this story first broke over the summer. But since then, some shocking disclosures have emerged.
According to the government's response to Ms. Mohamud's law suit, the woman who presented herself as Suaad Hagi Mohamud at Nairobi's airport was shockingly ignorant of certain basic facts. In three interviews with high commission investigator Paul Jamieson, the woman apparently could not describe her job in Toronto, the full name of her supposed employer, the date of her marriage (which she botched by a decade), the birthday of her child, or any of the teachers at her child's school. She also was 7cm shorter than her listed height. It was on the basis of all this, the government alleges, that Ms. Mohamud was rejected as an imposter — most likely the woman's own younger sister.
It is beyond question that the person who eventually did make it back to Canada was in fact Suaad Hagi Mohamud — DNA tests confirm as much. But that doesn't mean this is the same woman who originally presented herself at the airport in May, and was interviewed by Mr. Jamieson. If what the government says is true (and it is important to emphasize that it has not been proven) this could have been a garden-variety immigration scam. If so, Ms. Mohamud isn't a victim of cruel Canadian government indifference — but rather a would-be fraudster who got caught.
And even if the woman who presented herself at the airport was indeed Ms. Mohamud, the Canadian government allegedly had plenty of credible evidence to the contrary — and so arguably acted in good faith. In any event, wouldn't it be in Canada's best interests if the truth were allowed to come out — and the government didn't rush to dump millions in Ms. Mohamud's lap, no questions asked, as Mr. Rae advocates?
More importantly, what message does all this send to the thousands of civil servants and diplomats who are out there trying to keep our borders secure and our immigration policies intact? For Mr. Jamieson, the lazy path of least resistance would have been to just wave Ms. Mohamud (or whoever he was investigating) through. But he didn't. Instead, he did his job. And for this, he, his colleagues and his government are being smeared by left-wing Toronto journalists and Liberal politicians. For the next Canadian official who detects an immigration fraud in a dangerous part of the world, the message is: Turn a blind eye.
Yet another reason Canadians are growing more and more uncomfortable with the prospect of a Liberal government.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/10/07/335384.aspx
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