Batten Down the Escape Hatches!

"There's a fear that this kind of restriction will enlarge into a wider community, considering the geopolitical tensions nowadays around the world, so the fear is definitely there."

"If the U.S. is really a champion of academic freedom, what you should do is not restrict this kind of communications between different countries of the world."

Jacky Li, 3rd-yr environmental studies major, University of California, Berkley

"We aren't bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security."

"[We will] revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners at our colleges and universities [in response to campus protests]."

President-elect Donald Trump ... October 2023 election campaign

Cornell University has issued a travel advisory to international students.  LightRocket via Getty Images

Uncertainty over the status of foreign students studying at U.S. universities and colleges with the accession of Donald J. Trump back to the White House appears to have caused a frisson of excited responses, where a growing list of American academic institutes are now advising their international students to make haste in returning to campus before the president-elect is inaugurated, to ensure that they can, after all, return to their studies in the United States. 

In anticipation of travel bans being once again instituted, over a dozen schools have now issued travel advisories. For anyone facing uncertainty over whether they may be able to remain in the United States who depends on an academic visas, the advice is to return to campus from abroad before January 20. 

In January 2017 then-President Trump had issued an executive order banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan Libya, Somalia and Yemen; just incidentally countries where the U.S. was or had been at war with, and whose nationals often turn out to be problematic in observing American laws, their faith in Islam leading them to socially incongruent methods of 'expression'.

Either barred from flight or detained at U.S. airports after landing, travellers who included both students and faculty, tourists, businessmen, and visitors, faced unpleasant interdiction. Some of those countries were removed in time while others were added; some 15 in total and over 40,000 individuals had been refused visas resulting from the ban. A ban rescinded when President Biden took office in 2021.

US. colleges and  universities enrolled over 1.1 million international students during the 2023-24 school year; students from India and China accounting for over half of all international students in the U.S. While roughly 43,800 had arrived from the 15 countries that had been affected by Mr. Trump's original travel restrictions. The question hovers as to what the Trump transition team knows is to come, although Mr. Trump himself has iterated his intention to revive the travel ban and expand it with new "ideological screening" for non-U.S. citizens.

He made it clear that his intention is to bar "dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs". The list of institutions advising international students to return before inauguration day and to prepare for potential delays at immigration control, includes Harvard and Brown, Boston schools like Northeastern University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others around the country, from Johns Hopkins University to the University of Southern California.

Cornell University informed its students that a travel ban involving the 13 countries President Trump previously targeted "is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration", and it is likely that other nations could be placed on the list; in particular China and India.

 

MAID, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

"[His back pain] was neither grievous nor irremediable and therefore did not meet the statutory eligibility criteria for MAID [Medical Assistance in Dying]."

"[His request for MAID was also influenced] by external pressure including concerns about personal finances."

"Despite this, J.M.M. was wrongfully approved for MAID by the defendants. In facilitating J.M.M.'s access to MAID, the defendants acted negligently or recklessly, causing J.M.M.'s death"

"After being allegedly approved for MAID, J.M.M. indicated that he did not wish to proceed with the procedure and wished to pursue other means to relieve any suffering he had, including rehabilitation."

Vancouver family's wrongful death claim

Dr. Ellen Wiebe is pictured at her office in Vancouver. Photo by Ethan Cairns for National Post/File

A 52-year-old Vancouver man identified only as J.M.M., had a long history of mental illness. In 2013, according to a statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, by the man's former spouse, his father and his three children, J.M.M. was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As well, he suffered from 'remediable' (treatable), chronic back pain.  The lawsuit launched by the man's family     claims the assisted-death law in Canada is unconstitutional, exposing people with coexisting physical and mental illness to "heightened risks of premature death, facilitated by the state".

J.M.M. was euthanized without his family's prior knowledge, at a Vancouver clinic. At the time the man  was out on a day pass from a hospital psychiatric ward. The lawfulness of an assisted death provision in Canada is being sued once again.  Dr. Ellen Wiebe is among those named in the suit. She has the distinction of being the most prolific provider of medically assisted death in Canada, administering life-ending drugs to over 400 people. De. Wiebe has been described as a cheerful individual, satisfied with her role as an executioner for people living insufferable lives due to chronic medical conditions.

Assisted-death law as it stands currently in Canada, temporarily excludes people from accessing MAID until some point in 2027, with a sole underlying medical condition that is a mental illness. However, people with concurrent mental and physical illness are not excluded by the law from accessing an assisted death. According to the family's claim, J.M.M. had no capacity to make decisions about his  health, much less to consent to MAID, as a result of his mental illness, rendering him ineligible for MAID.

JMM's family claims he was committed to the psychiatric ward at St. Paul's Hospital but was released on a day pass. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

When the family raised concerns over the legitimacy of the approval for MAID, no response was received. A court order was obtained by the family in late 2022, committing J.M.M. to the psychiatric ward of St. Paul's Hospital. There, his treating physicians "opined that J.M.M. should not receive MAID due to his mental illness, which  served to impair his capacity to consent", asserts the claim. "Nonetheless, the defendants negligently or recklessly" allowed J.M.M. to leave the hospital on a day pass.

Whereupon the man took himself to Wiebe's clinic that afternoon, then died "through the improper administration of MAID", according to the claim. Further, the family stated they learned of his death only afterward. The death resulted from the "wrongful action of the physicians and institutions that facilitated MAID, as well as the unconstitutional regulation of MAID by the federal and provincial governments."

 

The federal MAID framework and corresponding provincial policies, they argue, infringe on the Charter rights to life, liberty ad security of the person. Included in the lawsuit is the Attorney General of Canada, B.C.'s minister of health, Wiebe's Willow Reproductive Health Centre, Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and Providence Health Care Society. 

 

This is the second case in two months where Dr. Wiebe has been involved. Months earlier a British Columbia judge granted an urgent injunction that stopped a woman's death by MAID the very day prior to its scheduling. In this case, the woman's common-law partner prevented Wiebe or any other medical professional from helping to end the 53-year-old Alberta woman's life within 30 days

The issues concerning the intersection of physical and mental illness in JMM's claim echo concerns raised in the October injunction application filed the day before a 53-year-old Alberta woman known as NB was scheduled to end her life in a Vancouver clinic. (Shutterstock)

"[The latest case] confirms that there are already serious concerns that non-specialists feel comfortable to end the life of persons with mental illness who need care and protection, rather than death as therapy."

Trudo Lemmens, professor of health law and policy, University of Toronto

Perspectives In Faith

"In our ongoing efforts to foster positive interfaith relations, uphold Canadian values, and combat hatred in all its forms, we wish to bring to your attention the scheduled participation of two speakers."

"We have come across troubling information regarding antisemitic messages shared by both individuals [Imam Yasir Qadhi and Imam Omar Suleiman]."

"Hatred has no place in our society, and it must be addressed unequivocally. We strongly urge you to reconsider and revoke the invitations extended to these speakers due to their public expressions of antisemitism."

"Their presence at the convention could further divide Canadian society and undermine the goodwill we strive to build among our communities."

Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation and Tafsik Organization

"Speakers included in the program are recognized for their scholarship, their adherence to law, and promotion of moral values. RIS organizers and speakers are clear in our stance against hate in all forms, including but not limited to islamophobia, antisemitism, racism and xenophobia."

"[Invited speakers agree to adhere to a conference instruction package that includes:] We will not allow for any speech that can be deemed as hate speech to b e expressed from our platform and request your support in making sure that all remarks are carefully expressed. Also, any support to organizations that are listed by the Canadian Government as 'Terrorist' or are 'Banned' in Canada, will not be permitted."

"While we understand that speakers invited may have made statements in the past that may be concerning or controversial, our team has verified that those do not reflect current views and have since been clarified and/or recanted."

Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) organizers

Imam Yasir Qadhi and Imam Omar Suleiman. Photo by LM Otero/AP; Geoff Robins/CP, File

 

"My track record for the last two-and-a-half decades speaks for itself, and I have worked with many groups, Christian, Jewish and nonreligious, in many aspects of civic society and interfaith dialogue."

"Additionally, and directly as a result of my own mistake, I have been a very vocal critic of antisemitism, and have continuously educated the Muslim community about the dangers of stereotyping and spreading hatred of an entire peoples."

"While I am a critic of specific policies of the country of Israel, even as I criticize, I continuously remind Muslims to differentiate between the policies of a nation-state, and the people who belong to a historic and ancient faith."

Imam Yasir Qadhi, Texas resident, dean, Islamic Seminary of America post-secondary religious school

A large annual convention, titled Reviving the Islamic Spirit has, over its two decades of hosting guest speakers for a large audience, is now acknowledged to be one of North America's largest Muslim meetings. Over the three days of its presentations, 32 speakers are scheduled to present, to an audience expected to be comprised of over 40,000 delegates, to take place from December 20 to December 23 in Toronto. Several of the speakers on the scheduled roster are known to have opinions on women's and gay rights, and to advocate for Sharia law.

Their inclusion on the speakers' platform by invitation has drawn the concern of two Jewish organizations; the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, a charitable organization, and Tafsik Organization, a Jewish civil rights group. The two sent a joint letter of concern to the organizers of the annual convention, objecting to the participation of two American speakers in particular: Imam Yasir Qadhi and Imam Omar Suleiman. In their response to the letter, the RIS conference organizers assured the letter-writers that their concerns have been taken seriously, but that they are confident the speakers' list will pose no problems.

Imam Qadhi, while agreeing that 23 years earlier he denied the Holocaust, but he has since learned about it, recanted his former position and apologized. His Islamic seminary education took place in Saudi Arabia (influenced by the Wahhabi ulama), according to  his professional CV, and he gained a doctorate in the United States at Yale University. His ranting anti-Holocaust comments took place in 2001 in London, England and drew outrage at that time. He had remarked that "Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews", while recommending a book on the Holocaust "hoax".

He had, years later, accompanied other imams and rabbis on a trip to the remains of two Nazi concentration camps -- Auschwitz and Dachau -- and felt himself moved by the experience. He responded that he had no intention of cancelling attendance at the conference, one he attends most years, and plans to use the platform "to once again preach tolerance and acceptance of a diverse civil society". As for Imam Suleiman, an American Islamic scholar, and founder of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, based in Texas, CNN named him one of "25 influential American Muslims", in 2018. 

His online presence is notable for 3.1 million followers on Instagram, and 2.8 million followers on Facebook. He will not attend the conference in person, but plans to appear virtually. "He went on to imply that the decay of food is a blessing resulting from their existence, and later suggested that the Quran uses stories of the Bani Israel to instruct Muslims on moral conduct", the letter pointed out, in response to 2013 comments in discussion of an Islamic hadith about the "Bani Isr'il (Children of Israel)". Imam Suleiman summarized the hadith in a video: "If it was not for Bani Israel, meat would not decay ... food would never become stale".

One of the conference's sponsors in 2012 was a Palestinian aid charity that had its charitable status revoked for funding organizations with links to Hamas, designated a terrorist organization in Canada. That was the year that Justin Trudeau gave a keynote speech at the RIS conference, when he was a Liberal leadership candidate. All of Canada's political parties at one time or another are on record as having addressed the annual conference.

The Metro Toronto Convention Center. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

"CAEF's concern is that speakers with a history of posting or speaking against the Jewish faith or Jews in general, may promote more antipathy toward Jews, here in Canada."

"Antisemitism is on the rise, so it is a serious concern."

Andria Spindel, executive director, Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation

“This is the precise definition of shirk [polytheism] to make a partner along with Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He [GEBH]. And we realize that obviously shirk [polytheism] that is the opposite of tawhid [monotheism] must by necessity and by definition be the most evil of all evils as Jews and Christians are mushrikoon [polytheists] in our perspective of tawhid [monotheism] as we have studied can understand how, and only the Muslims are upon tawhid [monotheism]. And it is also the same reason, or the same principle of tawhid [monotheism] which is the first obligation upon every single human being, that he bears witness and he testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah GEBH. And it is because of this same principle of tawhid [monotheism] that the Prophet, peace be upon him, has been commanded to do jihad. Jihad is a means and not a goal of itself. It is a means to establish tawhid [monotheism] on the land. أمرت أن أقاتل الناس حتى يشهدوا أن لا إله إلا الله I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify لا إله إلا الله there is no God but Allah. So the whole reason why Allah GEBH has created us sent the prophets and revealed the books and differentiated us based upon this principle and allowed for jihad, is the basis and is the principle of tawhid [monotheism]. The life and property of a mushrik [polytheist, also identified as Christian] holds no value in the state of jihad. Make no respect. Notice that I said in the state of jihad, not at all times and places. The life and property of a mushrik becomes ‘halal’ [permissible] while in a state of jihad. The prophet, peace be upon him, said, and I quote the hadith before, ‘I have been commanded to fight the people until they say: ‘There is no god but Allah’ [Islamic creed declaring belief in the tawhid [monotheism], and when they say ‘There is no god but Allah’ [meaning accepting Islam], he went on, when they say ‘There is no god but Allah’ [meaning accepting Islam], their life and property become protected for me. Which means if they don’t say ‘There is no god but Allah’ [meaning accepting Islam] their life and property are halal [permissible] for the Muslims. So the Christians do commit shirk [polytheism], they are ‘kuffar’ [disbelievers] and they are mushrikoon [polytheists]. The mushrikoon [polytheists] are najis [impure, filth], they are filthy. Najasa [impurity, filth]. They are filthy, a spiritual filthiness which can only be purified by the purity of monotheism [tawhid]. Allah calls the mushrikoon [polytheists] najis [filthy] which is a very evil thing. When Allah Himself says the mushrikoon [polytheists] are najis [impure, filth], Allah is calling them najis [impure, filth], they are najasa [impurity], a filthy, impure, dirty substance.” 

Imam Yasir Qadhi

"Canadian health care, folks. Best in the world."

"Had a bit of a health scare last night, but thankfully it wasn't a heart attack."

"Tried to just breathe a bit and see what happened, but it started to get worse so I went to the ER."

"Not sure what it was, though, because once they were sure I wasn't dying I was thrown out into the waiting room."

"Canadian health care, folks. Best in the world."

 Adam Burgoyne, 39, Montreal 

Adam Burgoyne died of an aneurysm after a long wait in a  hospital emergency room. Dignity Memorial

"We will carry on with his spirit demanding high convictions of all of us."

"We will carry on without him reluctantly but steadfastly. We will miss him and love him deeply until the end of time."

"His many family and friends will miss his sarcastic humour, his quick wit, his deeply felt convictions, his smarts, and his way of cutting through any stormy situation to reveal the core of what really matters."

Adam Burgoyne obituary

This resident of Montreal felt unwell and did what many feel impelled to do; seek medical help at a hospital emergency room. One day after he appeared at that ER, and received initial assessment as a triage measure to identify those presenting with acute symptoms of an impending health breakdown, he died at home on December 6, of a brain embolism. Following that assessment he was instructed to return to the waiting room, and after waiting six hours without being ushered to the care of an attending physician, he gave up the wait and decided to return home. 

 All the while he had been posting his situation to social media on X, where it received attention from an interested public commiserating with his situation. He  found it amusing that part of his chest was shaved for an electrocardiogram test: "I feel like Samson after his hair was cut", he quipped in one of his posts. Another post noted the hospital had made no move to test his blood or take X-rays. "I suppose that might have happened had I been willing to wait 18 hours", he observed.

His posts reveal that  he hadn't felt any panic prior to visiting the hospital, that he experienced pain on the left side of his chest, and his skin felt clammy. Later on, he informed his X account followers that he had slept away most of the day following his trip to the hospital. The man had a troubled health history, addicted first to alcohol and then to recreational drugs. In October of this year it was six years since he was "clean and sober". 

He discussed years earlier in an interview that he had come out as gay around age 15, with a paucity of role models and drinking became problematic in his mid-20s. He lost some of his friends at that time: "They didn't want to be around my antics. I was drinking about two bottles [of high-proof beer] a night.  I am surprised that my liver still functions today." His drinking led to his become reclusive: "One of the biggest things about addiction is shame."

When he was 32, he was offered a glass pipe with crystal methamphetamine. "I knew that I had made a very grave error", he said when his crystal meth addiction "completely supplanted" his alcohol addiction. "That was a really lovely gift wrapped in really ugly paper. It forced me to confront what I had been denying", he said. Now, his family wrote: "In honour of Adam, hug your loved ones, take life one day at a time, bake bead, and buy the fancy cheese", they placed in his obituary.

      Adam Burgoyne Twitter post

"Many emergency rooms across the country are overflowing and patients across Canada are waiting far too long to receive necessary care."

"The scene is not new but unless we make major systemic changes, it will continue to repeat itself."

Canadian Medical Association report