Canada's Multiculturalism Love Affair

"I want to acknowledge the fear and distress this has caused."

"We recognize that Jewish residents have been living with a heightened sense of fear due to repeated incidents targeting their community, and this only adds to that, which is completely unacceptable."

"While the weapons used were imitation firearms, the impact is very real."

"These are criminal acts that we allege were meant to intimidate and cause fear."

Toronto Acting Deputy Police chief Joe Matthews 

 

"We are under attack like never before. Antisemitism, a global virus that has metastasized, finds itself right here on Bathurst Street. A street that my grandparents moved to from Poland in 1921, a street that represents the Jewish community's past, present, and one day will represent the future."

"[Thursday night's shooting] at one of the most revered, respected and holy synagogues in Canada, is totally unacceptable."

"Our government, led by Premier [Doug] Ford, will never accept the normalization of even one act of antisemitism."

"Not only will we call it out, we will work day and night with our police services."

Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner

 

"Heartbroken and furious at the same time over another attack on a Canadian synagogue by thugs who target the innocent at prayer."

"Antisemites are doing this. And governments too spineless to name them or defend what Canada once stood for is giving them the room to flourish."

Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader, federal Conservative Party of Canada 

A police cruiser is shown outside a synagogue in North York where three people were shot at with a replica firearm on Thursday night. (CP24)

 

 It was announced by Toronto police that an 18-year-old man from Vaughan, north of Toronto has been arrested. He is being charged in connection with a shooting at the Chasidei Bobov synagogue in Toronto last Thursday night. The charge and arrest is inclusive of an April 30 shooting that took place in front of another synagogue in an area of the city long known as a Jewish neighbourhood. The man arrested was named as Ruslan Novruzov. In making his announcement to the press, Acting Deputy Police chief Joe Matthews added that the incidents were "deeply concerning, particularly because the victims were visibly identifiable members of our Jewish community".

 

On April 30, three individuals walking in the Jewish neighbourhood near Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West were shot at with a replica firearm, from a vehicle. Of the three, one was hit, as the suspects swiftly drove off in a blue SUV. Early Friday morning, police executed search warrants on a residence and vehicle in Vaughan where Novruzov was arrested and charged with a number of weapons offences. Two  gel blaster imitation firearms were seized.

 

The incident happened around 10:49 p.m. on Thursday at Chasidei Bobov synagogue in the area of Bathurst Street and Hwy. 401. Photo: Peter Dworschak/CityNews.

 

"I am disgusted by the targeted antisemitic attacks that took place in North York over the last several days, including last night outside a synagogue."

"These attacks will not be tolerated and I'm pleased the Toronto police have acted quickly in response and have a suspect in custody."

"I expect that all those who are responsible will be punished to the full extent of the law."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford  

Fine statements of sympathy and support from the province's highest political authority. An authority that has not -- in the past three-and-a-half years since the October 7, 2023 Palestinian terrorist assault on southern Israel led by Hamas that rampaged through farming communities, towns and villages and a nearby music festival to slaughter, rape and torture children, youth, the elderly, entire families in an orgy of sadistic savagery and which ignited a storm of antisemitic claims and threats in Canada through organized Palestinian protests, endangering the Jewish community -- moved to put a strop to these public displays of hatred.

 

Nor, for that matter has the federal government acted in any way to calm the situation, secure the normalcy of civil behaviour of one ethnic/religious/ideological group of Canadians against another. Instead, all levels of government, from Toronto's own municipal council led by its Mayor Olivia Chow, to the provincial government of Premier Doug Ford, to that of the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney acted to calm the firestorms of ongoing anti-Israel, anti-Jew, pro-Palestinian protests. While declaring their objections on moral grounds to antisemitism, they invariably invoke their rejection of 'Islamophobia'. 

 

The incident took place outside a synagogue on Bathurst Street near Wilson Avenue.   CTV News

 

Lost in the turmoil of never-ending protests -- where choruses of 'Final Solution!', 'Israeli genocide!', and 'Globalize the Intifada', along with threatening marches through Jewish neighbourhoods by scores of keffiyeh-clad, masked protesters was the need to ensure the security of Jewish Canadians whose houses of worship, parochial schools, and Jewish-owned businesses have been vandalized, fire-bombed and shot at -- have responsible government-authority interventions taken place. Group Muslim street prayers, illegally shutting down intersections and roadways have been tolerated. 

 

The large, and growing Canadian Muslim population has the kind of voting heft that the much smaller Canadian Jewish population does not have any longer. The generations of Jewish Canadians that trusted and loved their Canadian home now find themselves marginalized, thanks to the mass migration, emigration and refugee-intake of recent years, of people from Muslim-majority countries who have brought their traditional Jew-hate baggage with them. This is the cultural vigour celebrated in Canada as the benefits of multiculturalism.  

"Know this, if anybody feels that one act of antisemitism is going to be OK, it's not. It's time that everybody in our community, of other faiths, of other heritages, stand together."

"[Non-Jews are welcome to go on the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday], to a synagogue, a Jewish congregation, in our city, and stand outside that congregation in solidarity."

"Stand, raise  your voices. Stand a little stronger for the values of Canada and Ontario that unite us, that bind us one together."

Solicitor-General Michael Kerzner 

 

Keeping the Fiction Alive

In central Tehran, a poster with the words: ‘The Strait of Hormuz remains closed’ spells out Iran’s uncompromising position. EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh

 

"Mojtaba Khamenei, the proclaimed Supreme Leader, has not been seen or heard from directly since February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched their air campaign."

"One Iranian journalist in Germany claims Mojtaba is dead and that the delay in announcing his death reflects an internal struggle among senior regime figures over control of the vast financial empire worth tens of billions of dollars associated with his father's office."

Winfield Myers, Middle East Forum 

 

"Mojtaba is managing the country as though he is the director of the board."

"He relies heavily on the advice and guidance of the board members, and they collectively make all the decisions."

"The generals are the board members." 

Abdoireza Davari, former senior advisor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 

 

"Mojtaba is not yet in full command or control."

"There is, perhaps, deference to him. He signs off or he is part of the decision-making structure in a formal way."

"But he is presented with fait accompli presentations right now."

Sanam Vakil, director, Chatham House policy institute, London 

 

"Mojtaba is not supreme; he might be leader in name, but he is not supreme the way his father was."

"Mojtaba is subservient to the Revolutionary Guards because he owes his position and he owes the survival of the system to them."

Ali Vaez, Iran director, International Crisis Group 

People ride motorcycles near a billboard featuring an image of Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, amid a ceasefire between U.S. and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 20, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)

 

The absolute power wielded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran's Supreme Leader is a matter of the past. The IRGC was Khamenei's tool, whatever he ordered they carried through. He was the decision-maker, they implemented his decisions. With his son purportedly now replacing him, the roles have been reversed; while professing to take their direction from Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, it is now the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders who are the decision-makers planning the future of the Islamic Republic, and negotiating with the United States for a ceasefire.

 

If he is in actual fact still alive, Mojtaba Khamenei, is in a secret place and  has been there since American and Israeli aerial forces bombed the Khamenei compound the very first day of their Invasion on February 28. Living with his family in that compound, the junior Khamenei lost his wife and son to the bombs that killed his father, and just incidentally, injured him so badly that he has been incommunicado since, cared for by doctors treating his injuries from the airstrikes.

 

The Iran-Iraq war saw a then-17-year old Mojtaba deployed to a brigade of the IRGC, the Habib Battalion. During that war, and through his close association with the Guards and its members, lifetime friendships ensued as battalion members became influential military and intelligence figures, while Mojtaba had followed his father into a theological seminary to graduate with the rank of ayatollah, following which he coordinated military and intelligence operations at his father's compound. A position that brought him ever closer to the IRGC leadership.

 

Rumours had begun circulating not long after the airstrikes that killed his father, that the son, gravely wounded, had succumbed to his injuries and died. That the IRGC, mindful of the influence of a supreme leader assumed to be the voice of Shia Islam with millions of devout followers, was needed to give them the political/religious authority required to continue their enforcing role as custodians of the Islamic Republic. 

 

As matters now stand, it was agreed to acknowledge the grave physical condition that the February 28 airstrike left Mojtaba in. That surgery to amputate one of his legs occurred and he awaits a prosthetic. There were ostensibly other surgeries, but his physical functions are gradually returning though the severe burns on face and lips made it difficult for him to speak clearly, and thus his voice has not been heard. The messages 'written' by him have been circulated widely, for his 'comprehensive intelligence' has not been impaired.

 

Women members of the Basij paramilitary, affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, march through Tehran with their weapons during a state-organized rally in support of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. (Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press)

 

The story is that messages to him and back from him are discreetly carried hand-to-hand over long distances by trusted couriers. His condition mandated the delegation of decision-making temporarily to the generals for the time being. Nothing has disturbed the power of the IRGC whose elite leaders are known to control vast industrial empires, including the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic. The decision to close the Strait of Hormuz was not Mojtaba's, but it has served the fiction of his commanding role well.

 

The Guards have directed the strategy of attacking Persian Gulf states, and Israel. Those who are said to speak from positions of knowledge maintain that Motaba Khamenei decided since his leadership role was one he had to accustom himself to, to delegate critical decision-making, as per the ceasefire talks to the Guards. The generals now in charge; Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, Yahya Rahim Safavi, Ahmad Vahidi, Mohsen Rezaei, and cleric Hossein Taeb, have a singular goal; to safeguard the existence of the Islamic Republic.

 

And they do so in direct opposition to foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, and president Masoud Pezeshkian concerned with sanctions relief, with the economic losses caused by the war, the need for reconstruction, and to rethink the closure of the Hormuz Strait.  

 

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members at an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, Oct. 17, 2022. Credit: Fars News Agency

 

 

U.S. First Amendment Guarantees on Free Speech

President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Chief Markwayne Mullins at the White House swearing-in ceremony. Canadian Press

 

"I have long admired the United States for its commitment to free speech." 

"Never in a million years did I think that, after criticizing the U.S. government, I would be targeted with a summons seeking to find out who I am, where I live, where I go, and what I read online."  

"You don't have to be from America to know that this is un-American." 

Canadian 'John Doe'  

 

"Plaintiff John Doe uses a pseudonym online and in this lawsuit to protect his privacy and family."

"Doe regularly posts strongly-worded criticisms of President Trump and his policies on [his] social media accounts, including his account on X."

"His posts have collectively received well over 100,000 views."

"The Trump administration continues to attempt to unmask social media users who criticize the administration -- a transparent gambit to chill speech that the government dislikes." 

"Google has the capacity to collect this information and often does." 

American Civil Liberties Union 

 

"When we receive a subpoena, our review process is designed to protect user privacy while meeting our legal obligations."

"We inform users when their accounts have been subpoenaed, unless under legal order not to, or in an exceptional circumstance."

"We review every legal demand and push back against those that are overbroad or improper, including objecting to some entirely." 

Google spokesperson

An unnamed Canadian is suing the U.S. government after they requested their personal data from Google following criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump on 'X.'  CTV News

 

A legal complaint has been filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Secretary Markwayne Mullin, for the purpose of putting a stop to the U.S. government's move to obtain the plaintiff's information from Google. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has taken up the Canadian's suit, explained that the Department of Homeland Security had issued a summons for those records from Google. This followed an online posting criticizing the killing by federal agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last January. 

 

The man known as Joe Doe for the purpose of the legal complaint is a Canadian citizen. He lives in Canada, has not taken a trip to the United States in the past decade and has no business or meaningful social contacts with anyone residing in the United States. Despite which, the summons to Google to reveal the man's personal information based its demand on a customs enforcement law. 

 

The Department of Homeland Security issued the Google summons in February of 2026, requesting information linked to the Gmail address of Doe's X account, covering a five-month period. The summons seeks disclosure of "vast swaths of information" inclusive of records relating to John Doe's Gmail and associated accounts; his name, where he lives, information on his physical movements, and records in detail  of websites he visits and people he communicates online with. 

 

In addition to disclosure of "any associated names, residential addresses, telephone numbers and credit card numbers or bank account numbers".

 

A man walks by posters of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, who were both fatally shot by federal agents, in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

 

 During the first Trump administration, points out the ACLU, it was the Inspector General of DHS itself that concluded DHS officials had improperly undertaken efforts "to unmask social media users, and Twitter filed a lawsuit challenging the practise", through the same legal basis of customs enforcement. The second time around, pointed out the ACLU, a number of social media users filed actions against administrative subpeonas meant to reveal their identities, with a view to obtaining other information relating to them.

 

The Department of Homeland Security thus challenged, sought to defuse the situation, and in response "DHS has withdrawn several subpeonas subjected to such challenges before a court could fully review them". The ACLU points out that the current lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the John Doe summons to make it "clear that the government may not use its customs enforcement authority to seek to identify and intimidate its critics".

 

 

 

 

Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone ... A Theatre of War

"On April 26, 1986, technicians at Unit 4 in Chernobyl, Ukraine, were conducting a test of their RBMK nuclear reactor when they inadvertently started a runaway reaction. Excess, superheated steam built up, the core was blasted open, and a huge plume of radioactive material wafted into the sky. The heat was so intense that it caused the nuclear fuel still in the plant to liquefy, where it mixed with other materials, such as concrete, and formed a lava-like material that flowed into the spaces below. At least 31 people died as an immediate result of the accident, and tens of thousands of people living nearby were evacuated."

"To contain the radiation, the ruined reactor was hastily entombed. Several months after the accident, the destroyed reactor was completely covered with a concrete and steel shell called the sarcophagus." "Authorities declared it would last 'for eternity'."

"But '[t]he sarcophagus began cracking soon after it was built and must be strengthened or replaced. To complicate matters, the sarcophagus is also sinking into the earth, and the ground water is rather near the surface . . .', noted an article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in September 1992. At that time, a Ukrainian parliament deputy, Vladimir Yavorivsky, called for ideas about what to do, announcing a competition among world scientists to come up with a solution to the failing tomb."

"That was more than 28 years ago."

"Now, finally, a multinational consortium is at the half-way point in building a huge, $1.5 billion, state of the art, all-stainless-steel hangar that will sit over the ruined remains of reactor Unit 4 like the world’s largest Quonset hut. Pictures in the New York Times show an immense and imposing structure whose construction is long overdue."

"Tall enough to house the Statue of Liberty, the new, 32,000-ton hangar is being assembled a few hundred yards away from the still-radioactive site. Once it is finished, it will be rolled into place over the existing sarcophagus—which is starting to show its age. (A portion of the roof over the adjacent turbine collapsed last year, releasing a small amount of radiation.) Once in place, the new structure should contain radioactive dust, preventing any atmospheric contamination should the old sarcophagus collapse. The new building is expected to last anywhere from 100 to 300 years."

"There is still some question as to what to do after the new cover is rolled into place and the site completely sealed up in 2017. Fuel is still contained amid the debris beneath the old sarcophagus; engineers are still undecided as to whether to remove it or leave it in place."

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 2014 

Credit: eight8 / Adobe Stock

 

"Russia is once again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster — Russian-Iranian Shaheds regularly fly over the [Chernobyl] plant, and one of them struck the confinement last year."

"The world must not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

Emptied of its human residents following the catastrophic explosion and meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant 40 years ago, the towns that were once home to tens of thousands of people now stand, ghostlike, nature exercising her generative power to encourage flora to grow exuberantly through broken windows where the evidence of a desperate emergency caused people to leave everything and just get out, remain evident in the presence of dishes left unwashed, children's shoes and toys scattered about, silent remnants of human habitation.

 

When people evacuated their homes, their towns and villages on April 26, 1986, the area became an exclusion zone. Even to the present day, high levels of radiation translate to a reality that never again may humans live in the areas affected. Yet these disaster areas now form another function, as a theatrical setpiece for military practise where Ukrainian servicemen trained amidst the ruins of one vibrant-habitation.

 

The elements of defence against irradiated land against Russian attacks, created a double practise for the  soldiers, mindful of avoiding the most radioactive areas, while defending against Russian occupation there. Russian forces  entered the Chernobyl zone in 2022, following the initiation of Vladimir Putin's 

'special military operation'. It was occupied for a five-week period, where Moscow made use of the region as a staging area focused on attacking Kyiv.

 

The recent training exercises saw soldiers crouched along walls covered with mould, aiming their rifles. Live grenades were thrown into homes, further damaging dry-rot crumbling walls. Chernobyl has become an army-controlled security belt along the border with Russian ally Belarus. Fire and radioactive material spewed into the atmosphere in the world's worst nuclear disaster when the plant exploded in 1986. The explosion killed two workers followed by dozens of emergency workers dying from radiation exposure in the weeks that followed. An estimated 200,000 people were relocated.

 

Workers examine the damage to the roof of the New Safe Confinement structure, which was built to contain the radioactive remains of Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, following what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian drone attack in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on February 14 last year. Photo: AP

 

The radioactive towns, villages and forests present as a conundrum to Ukrainian authorities knowing the land cannot be repopulated as a result of long-lived contamination. The issue of using the area however for some useful purpose is being considered, such as use as a storage area for nuclear waste, a test site for  new reactors, a place for solar farm installations, and a disaster tourism destination; the last somewhat ghastly in its exploitation of boundless human curiosity about disasters, natural or human-enhanced. 

 

New risks have emerged, however, as a result of the conflict, where scientists can no longer reach wells to measure groundwater radiation in fear of stepping on land mines. Firefighters are unable to extinguish wildfires that spread radiation through resulting smoke, since the land is littered with mines. The dangers inherent both in the active combat situation and the lurking threat of landmine explosions persuaded foreign scientists studying environmental radiation to flee.

 

The  fragile situation was further endangered when a Russian drone  flew into the huge steel shell enclosing an older rickety structure built over the ruined reactor, in February of 2025. Known as the sarcophagus, the older structure is close to collapsing entirely and when it does there will be another release of radiation. A hole was smashed in the $2.5-billion outer shell by the drone explosion, starting a fire within the New Safe Confinement shell which burned material that maintained the airtight seal. While no radiation escaped, the strike negated two decades of isolating the worst of Chernobyl's radiation. 

 

Fortified against Russian attacks, Chernobyl  remains a military site where tank traps, appearing like X's created from steel beams and coils of  razor wire stretch over fields in the zone where soldiers patrol the overgrown ghost towns. The area commander cautioned that in comparison with destruction Russian forces inflict throughout Ukraine, an attack at Chernobyl could release  more  radiation that would be "on a completely different scale".   

 

A man looks at a memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the 1986 Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear disaster, ahead of its 40th anniversary in Slavutych, Ukraine, Saturday, April 25, 2026. Chornobyl is the Ukrainian name for the city. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Cruise Ship Journeys: Expect the Unexpected

"Although uncommon, limited human‑to‑human transmission of HPS due to Andes virus has been reported in community settings involving close and prolonged contact."

"Secondary infections among healthcare workers have been previously documented in healthcare facilities, though remain rare."

WHO situation report

 

"[Everyone on board is] in the same boat, literally."

"You don’t embark on a trip with the idea that one of your fellow passengers won’t make it."

"We receive information at regular intervals. It is accurate. For the rest, it is a waiting game."

"Today we received fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. That was very important to us."

Helene Goessaert, ship passenger

 

"We do know that some of the cases had very close contact with each other and certainly human-to-human transmission can’t be ruled out so as a precaution this is what we are assuming."

"The risk to the general public is low, [any suspected human-to-human transmission would have occurred between very close contacts like married couples]."

"This is not a virus that spreads like flu or like COVID. It’s quite different."

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention  

WHO: Human-to-human transmission may have occurred aboard the Hondius expedition ship. Still from video, CBCNews

 

According to the Wold Health Organization, commenting on a viral outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, thus far one case of hantavirus has been confirmed, with five suspected cases. Two of those cases were fatal; within a three-week cruising period, three of the ship's passengers have died. Many such cruise ships carry far more passengers than the Hondius expedition ship; thousands in comparison to hundreds. So with that relatively small number of passengers, that three have mysteriously died represents quite a shock.

 

According to the operator of the Hondius -- Oceanwide Expeditions -- one ship's passenger is in intensive care in Johannesburg and two crew members remaining aboard the vessel exhibit respiratory symptoms. The ship is now carrying 87 passengers and  61 crew. Typically, following exposure to the virus, symptoms begin to erupt between one and eight weeks. The remaining passengers may or may not begin to exhibit further signs of the viral infection.

 

Hantavirus is an extremely serious condition normally linked to exposure to the urine or feces of infected rodents. It is able, in rare instances, to spread in people-to-people contact. Hantaviruses are capable of causing serious illness and death, spread for the most part by rodents. That infection can be the cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, common respectively in the United States and Europe and Asia. What they have in common, whatever the symptoms in the family of the virus, is their severity and potential lethality. 

 

The cruise ship MV Hondius is seen stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on Monday. (AFP/Getty Images)

 

The condition in which the remaining passengers and crew on board the ship is one of uncertainty. They await permission to leave the ship at some port whose national health authority may permit them to disembark and regain their position on land. And from there, they can arrange to be repatriated to their countries of origin. But this cannot be done without thorough medical examinations and testing for the presence of the virus, since they may be regarded as ticking health time-bombs. Any who do begin to exhibit symptoms may speedily deteriorate into life-threatening condition. 

 

On Monday, Oceanwide Expeditions released a timeline of the "serious medical situation" aboard the Hondius off the coast of Cape Verde, along the western coast of Africa. A Dutch passenger died on board on April 11, cause of death unknown at the time. When the dead man was brought off the ship, his wife accompanied him. Once she too had left the ship, she too became ill and subsequently died, just as her husband had.

 

Two weeks later, a British passenger became seriously ill and was medically evacuated to South Africa and there, hantavirus was identified. He remains in the intensive-care unit of the  hospital he was placed in, in stable but still critical condition. And then a third passenger died on Saturday, a German national. It remains unconfirmed at this point whether all three deaths were caused by hantavirus.   

"Hantaviruses are a group of rodent-borne viruses typically transmitted through contact with contaminated environments, including inhalation of small dust particles contaminated with rodent urine, droppings, or saliva."

"Although human infections are uncommon, they can lead to severe illness, including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which may progress rapidly to respiratory failure."

"In the Americas, HPS has a reported case fatality rate of approximately 30 to 40 percent, underscoring the seriousness of infection once symptomatic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"Unlike respiratory viruses such as influenza or COVID-19, hantaviruses are not typically spread from person-to-person, however direct human transmission has been documented for one hantavirus, the Andes virus, under conditions of prolonged, close contact. The Andes virus is endemic to Argentina, where the cruise ship departed three weeks ago."

News Medical Life Sciences 

 

"By following the money and leveraging the power of financial intelligence we can effectively target, disrupt and dismantle the organized criminal networks that profit from this illicit activity and threaten the safety of  Canadians."

Sarah Paquet, chief executive officer, FINTRAC

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre to drive Canada’s fight against extortion  Lexpert

 

According to a recently released report by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), comes the revelation that a more than sixfold increase in extortion cases have occurred in the first quarter of 2025. More extortion cases have been logged thus far in 2025 than in the preceding two years combined -- recognized as reflecting a dramatic increase in financial crimes committed in Canada over the past few years.

 

The Centre  handed off to police more than 100 such extortion cases since the start of the year, the majority  of the crimes having taken place in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. Threatening phone calls reflect the most common communication between the criminals and their victims; the targets receive phone calls or encrypted social media messages containing threats if large sums of money are not paid. Such threats can reach the hundreds of thousands of dollars demanded.

 

The FINTRAC 100 extortion cases involved over 63,00 financial transactions from some 300 subjects frequently seen to be linked to money laundering and terrorist financing. Small and medium-sized businesses become targets of these schemes, reflecting sectors such as retail, transportation, construction, real estate and hospitality. Agents acting as bridges between criminal organizations and the  intended victim represent the usual scheme, with agents between 17 and 28 years of age with an Indian passport, registered as foreign students at community colleges.

 

Edmonton police say this fire inside a home under construction in the city's west end last January is believed to be linked to a known extortion scheme. (David Bajer/CBC)

 

When the transaction has been successfully extorted, the agent makes deposits at several financial institutions or money services businesses, then sends money on to individuals or companies located in India, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, or Kenya or Portugal. The FINTRAC analysis reveals the involvement of multiple crime organizations -- two well-known rival gangs included -- the Bishnoi Gang and Bambiha Gang, based in northern India.

 

These organizations are known for extortion and contract killing, whose crimes are mostly targeted at Indo-Canadian businesses and individuals. The proliferation of the digital world where the virtual currency market has emerged has spurred the extortion wave, leading to FINTRAC setting a new record in the sheer number of cases it tracked and sent on to police for potential criminal investigation.

 

Leaps in fraud, cyber ransomware, online child sexual exploitation and a range of similar online crimes frequently directly related to other financial crimes like money laundering and terrorist financing encompassed this wave of extortion. Canadians, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, were scammed out of $643 million in 2024, in online fraud. 

 

RCMP report on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and its alleged ties to the government of India. Global News

 

* The Bishnoi Gang, led by Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, is one of the most prominent and violent organized‑crime groups originating in northern India. The Bishnoi Gang is a transnational criminal organization with a presence in Canada and is active in areas with significant diaspora communities. The gang’s core criminal portfolio reportedly includes a variety of fraud schemes, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, extortion, and targeted killings, which are described as its largest revenue sources both domestically and abroad. The group operates through a vast network of enforcers and international associates, including collaborators from other Indian crime syndicates, who help coordinate contract killings and other financially motivated crimes from outside India. The Bishnoi Gang creates a climate of insecurity for Canadians in diaspora communities as it targets them, their prominent community members, their businesses, as well as cultural figures within the community. The entity is also known as Bishnoi Group, Lawrence Bishnoi Group, and the Bishnoi Crime Group and was designated by the Government of Canada as a listed terrorist entity on September 29, 2025.

* The Bambiha Gang, named after deceased leader Davinder Bambiha, functions as a rival to the Bishnoi syndicate and has grown into a sprawling network of operatives involved in extortion, contract violence, and large‑scale protection rackets. The organization operates through a multi‑layered structure of regional commanders inside India and international coordinators based abroad (including Canada and the U.S.), enabling it to sustain operations ranging from violent attacks to coordinated intimidation campaigns. The gang reportedly forges alliances with other criminal syndicates to expand its influence and revenue streams, particularly in the lucrative extortion economy.

FINTRAC Bulletin 

In the news today: Extortion schemes   (The Canadian Press)