The Ben Mulroney Show - Did a Liberal MP petition for religious extremists to be allowed in Canada?

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

GUEST:   Raheel Raza/ Pakistani-Canadian journalist, anti-racism activist If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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tools that make it possible to go from tax question to client comms in minutes. Get better answers to tough questions. BlueJ, AI for tax experts. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. Happy Tuesday. It is Tuesday, November 4th. We hope everybody is enjoying a great start to a great week. But we don't have...

We've got interesting news to start with. Some of it's concerning. Some of it actually is a good news or a silver lining, I suppose. Ottawa is seeking mass visa cancellation powers. This is according to the CBC. Internal documents show the federal government wants new powers to cancel groups of visas, partly due to rising fraud concerns linked to applications from India and Bangladesh. And look, as somebody who believes in responsible immigration policy and

it being key to building this country, I think we have to course correct. I think there has been, we've swung way too far in the other direction. And yeah, we've got to start painting with a broader brush. And so if the government is looking for this ability to mass cancel a whole bunch of visas to send people home who should not be here, who are not contributing to the country that we want to build. I like that idea. Immigration officials say that visa certification for India has slowed processing times and increased refusals while asylum claims from Indian nationals have quadrupled since 2023. This is a problem and it requires broader powers to address.

This is not an issue that we don't need a scalpel here. We need a hammer. And so to discuss this and a few more things that maybe have flown under the radar were joined by Pakistani-Canadian journalist as well as anti-racism activist, Rahil Razah. Rahil, thank you for being here. My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

So you were singled out by Iran for your outspoken criticism of Islamist extremism and your emails were hacked. They were put online, in part because you visited Israel. I'd love to know before we start, where are you? How are you? Do you feel safe today? What's the status of that situation? You know, this has been a very trying month. I'm okay because, you know, what can you do? So this was published front page of the National Post, MLI, published at Middle East Forum, but nobody from the government got back to me as a Canadian citizen to say, you've been

targeted. How can we protect you? So I was a little disappointed. because I give everything I have to Canada. I would expect something in return. But, you know, I've taken all the security measures that I need to. Good. Well, I'm glad to hear that. And day to day. Good, glad to hear it.

Well, the reason we wanted to talk to you today was because of the following clip that we're going to play for you. This is from Salma Zahid, a liberal MP talking about a petition signed by 238 Bangladeshis. to draw our attention to the fact that some members of the Bangladesh Jemate Islami are recognized political party in Bangladesh have been found inadmissible to Canada under Erpa. The petitioners say that this party

and its supporters are law-abiding citizens who participated in the democratic process and are committed to democratic values. They ask the government to review its policy regarding the members of this party and to ensure individual applicants receive fair and just treatment under

Canadian law. Thank you. this sounds reasonable, but if we take a deeper dive, she's referencing an opposition party and individuals who are part of that party in Bangladesh, including those linked to an organization like Jamat E. Islami, which was banned in its home country until this year for alleged extremist ties. And their ideologies, this is extreme if I've ever read anything. They believe in the establishment of an Islamic state. They believe in Islamic revivalism. And that movement aims to purify Islam and restore it to its pristine form rejecting Western ideologies like secularism, capitalism and socialism.

Rahil, why would a liberal MP be pushing for this? Well, it's absolutely bordering and ridiculous. You know, believe me, for more than 30 years, these are the very radical organizations for which we left Pakistan because Jamati Islami has a big foothold there. And we've been warning Canadians through my book, through my writing. But, you know, Canadians are very soft-hearted, compassionate, but sometimes a little too naive.

So, you know, they should know what the Jemate Islam is. It's exactly what you said. And much more. Yeah. Well, tell me, so before we continue, and before you tell us much more, talk to me about the warnings that you have been signaling over the past few years. You know, after 9-11, I wrote a book called Their Jihad, not my Jihad. And from there on, I have been writing to Canadians to wake up. and smell the coffee, that the extremists are here and their ideology is not in sync with

Canadian values of freedom and a liberal democracy. And as for me, as a Muslim woman, their values are not about gender equality either. None of the things that we believe in. And it's been time and again, you know, it's not anything hidden. That's why the IRGC has targeted me. Yeah. So, you know, so the Canadians are not stupid. Any member of parliament who wants to invite Jemate Islami and Mass to Canada should know this. And all Canadians should pay attention, but maybe they don't know that the Jemate Islami is a radical group. It's been linked to terrorism, and the Immigration and Refugee Board has reported human

rights violations, and listen to this. This is ironic, including extortion and involvement in the genocide of the Bangladeshi people. How ironic are the Bangladeshis want to invite them here? Yeah. It's head-shaking for me. I remember times when on the conservative side, when they had somebody who, you know, was in their big blue tent, but was on the more conservative side, and they would want to put forth a private member's bill about, you know, the rights of the unborn or something like that. And it didn't fly. They would get pushback from the PMO.

They would get somebody, they're saying, this is not what we are doing right now. And I get that this is your pet project, but our goal is to govern on behalf of Canadians. And so you're going to stick a pin in that. I don't understand the logic of Mark Carney allowing one of his caucus members to put forth this sort of motion. So imagine if a white member of parliament wanted to invite an affiliate of the Ku Klux Klan to Canada, what would happen? Yeah. Well, exactly. It would break loose, right.

Yeah. No, you're right. Well, I've said it before. We have created a permission structure in this country where behavior is explained away and is made acceptable on the left that would never be acceptable on the right. The analogous behavior on the right would not only be condemned, but it would be expected to be condemned. We don't do that on the left. No. So let me explain something to your listeners, because it's complicated.

it. What is the Jammata Islami? It's linked to the Muslim Brotherhood through a shared ideology, although they're separate organizations. So the founder of Jemate Islami, a man by the name of Sayyad Abolala Maududi, he was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. So the Muslim Brotherhood is what in today's teenage's language, you call the mothership. And the others are the minions. Jai Shih Muhammad, Harcatee, Mujahideen, you know, his Buddha. How many groups are we talking about here? Oh, doesn't. Doesn't. Including who else? Guess? Amas. Yeah. Yeah. It feels like a game of whackamol that as soon as we say we finally take the steps

that should be easy to take to label one of these things, a terrorist organization. Just a new organization comes up with a new name. And then we've got to deal with it separately. Now, what we have to look at is what is their goal. And this was according to what was on the Muslim Brotherhood website, destroy the West. So we want to invite someone who has an ideology of hate for the West and they're going to spread hate what is wrong with us but and I keep going back to this

I mean there is an oath that that MPs must take they're sworn to to defend the country to uphold our values I don't understand how an MP would I don't either she's she's had the wool pulled over her eyes

she's naive or she has a a different differing view of this organization than you but there's there's no way I can look this, knowing now what you've told me, what we learned about the Jammati Islami, and say that this private member's bill, this motion put forth by this MP, is anything but it's a ticking time bomb that would be placed inside the country, just waiting to explode. Yes, and I would put this beyond naive as a Muslim member of parliament.

She should know all these things, you know, this is not hidden. It's not my opinion. It's all over the place. You know, I give testimony to the U.S. Congress about 10 years ago to ban the Muslim Brotherhood. And it's so ironic that while many Canadians are trying to get these organizations banned, some liberal MPs want to invite them. And not as though they don't exist here. Rahil, we're going to take a quick break.

We're going to come back with this conversation must continue. Don't go anywhere. Much, much more of this very important conversation when we come back. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And when we have important conversations, we like to take them beyond one segment. This is absolutely one of those. And we're joined in conversation by Rahil Raza. She's a Pakistani Canadian journalist, anti-racism activist.

And she has definitely put herself in her own safety in danger pushing forth what she views. And I subscribe to the truth about some of the issues that are facing our immigration system. Rahil, thank you so much for sticking around. My pleasure. So the topic that we were talking about was this conversation, rather this motion that was brought forth in the House of Commons by a sitting liberal MP who essentially wanted to allow for over 200 Bangladeshis to come into the country. She minimized their belonging to a radical and extremist group in their home country. and we were breaking down what that group is and why on God's Green Earth,

a sitting member of Parliament sworn to uphold our Constitution and therefore our values would want these people here. And my question to you now is, let's assume for a second that she got her way and they came in. What would they do once they got here? They would do exactly what their ideology is.

They would spread their ideology. They would try to influence the Muslim communities and, you know, young people who don't know. I mean, they put on this exterior sort of a cloak of religiosity. And, you know, this is very attractive for people who think, oh, you know, and of course there's a huge South Asian community here, including Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. But we as Canadians have to uphold Canadian values.

that is something that people tend to forget. And already there has been a precedent when one of the largest Muslim organizations in Canada was officially linked to the Jematei-Islami and the CRA suspended the charitable status finding them. And they said they had evidence that the organization, the resources may have directly or indirectly been used to support

the political efforts of Jematei Islamic or its armed wing Hizbel Mujahideen. Now, you can't say that a person who holds the position of a member of parliament doesn't know all this. Yeah. Yeah, they have a staff. They have researchers. I said something earlier in the show today, Rahil, I said, I think the single greatest disservice, the single most destructive thing said by any prime minister in recent history was Justin Trudeau making the statement that Canada is the world's first post-national state and we have no core identity. from that statement flowed almost all of this stuff.

Because if we have no values that unite us, if we have no values of worth, then there is nothing that new immigrants and people who come to this country need to gravitate to and need to adopt. And there's nothing of ours worth fighting for and therefore we're just a collection of different people from different places.

And that to me began this downslope into where we find ourselves today. I agree with you, 100%. You know, I came here as an immigrant. I have two sons. They grew up here, but we instilled into them that this is now our home, and we have to protect this home. We accept the values that are about freedom and democracy. And, you know, that's what being Canadian is about.

And the beauty of Canada is that we don't have to compromise our faith. But, you know, it becomes very embarrassing for me as a Muslim, because after this program, I'm going to Queen's Park for an interfaith panel against hate and anti-Semitism. What do I tell them that my co-religinist member of parliament is trying to invite to Canada subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is what Hamas is, both spreading hate. I mean, I fought half my life against hate and violence and this ideology. And now I hear something like this, it really, really give me sleepless nights. But what about the rest of Canada? What about our leaders? Yeah. Are they doing something about it? Well, it's, I, I'm still trying to figure out what this liberal government believes.

Because depending on who you hear from, they'll send different people out, and this was a Justin Trudeau tactic as well, they'll send, you know, if they want to show the Jewish community that they stand with them, they'll send out Anthony Housefather. And then if they want to to send out a different message to a different cultural community. They'll send somebody else out there. And then we hear about Ottawa seeking mass visa cancellation powers, which we talked about off the top of the last segment. But then I hear about Bill C3,

then Amendment to Canada's Citizenship Act, allowing Canadian citizens born abroad to pass citizenship to their children born abroad beyond the first generation. And it introduces, so long as you have a substantial connection to Canada test, and that connection means you have to have been in Canada for just over a thousand days. I mean, this is the dilution of the value of what it means to be Canadian.

And so I'm trying to figure out what they stand for. And I don't, and I'm really disturbed that I still don't know. Yes, I'm disturbed that I don't know either. When we came, the rules were very stringent. And we came because we wanted to make this our home. And there's something known as loyalty to the country in which you live. And by the way, a lot of people don't know this. This is an Islamic concept that you must have loyalty to the country you live in

if you've decided to immigrate on your own. But I don't see that in a lot of people because thanks to our, you know, our wonderful leader who said that we don't have any values, people have stopped valuing what Canada stands for. So it's like a free for all. Anyone who wants can bring in people or come in. I have nothing against people. to come in, but let them come

to make this their home, to protect it, to stand up against violence and hate like we've been doing. Yeah. This is, I'm concerned with that even if we identify these groups, even if we identify the people operating in Canada who espouse these values that are

frankly anathema to the West, I don't know that we have any systems in place at all to find them, to hold on to them and to send them back. We don't have the matter. We haven't been taking this seriously for years. And so once they get here, they can just disappear and live their lives as long as they want. Listen, what we've seen after October 7th in the last two years

should be enough for any Canadian to realize that anyone who carries hate into this country, especially if their activities are as well documented as that of the Jamata Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood Hamas. They should be banned straight away. We don't have a place for people who are promoting hate. We are spending a lifetime teaching our children about tolerance and about, you know, building bridges. And then all that is just pull down like a deck of cards because somebody has the power to give permission to hate mongers to come into this country. I don't agree. But Rahil, what I've noticed is, you know, it's part and parcel of this advancement of a social re-engineering that we've been subjected to for the past 15,

10 years, which is that, yes, we promote tolerance and, and, and, you know, no hatred, but it can only come from, that, that's, that is forced on certain groups, you know, because they break us down by so many different identifiable, identifiable traits, so because they silo us all, then they have different rules for different, different groups. And because I come from the oppressor group, I, I, I have to self-flagellate all day long and I have to show how much I as a person reject the colonialist

genocidal history of my country and I have to be the one to lead with love and understanding. But those who come from those oppressed places no, they can come, they're allowed to probably be a little more liberal with the hate. You're absolutely right. I agree with you

the woke culture, political correctness. You know, this new ideology of the terminology that is being used and that has been weaponized. by the way. So if you as a white person would say anything about this issue, you would be totally labeled as being an Islamophore. But I, as a Muslim woman, can stand up and have stood up and said, this is so wrong. And I wish our leaders would listen because we've had enough of hate. Well, on that note, we're going to leave you. We know you've got a big day ahead of

you. Rahil, I hope you come back to talk about anything you want. I could listen to you and I could chat with you all day long, a very important conversation, and we have to be able to have these without people ascribing nefarious motivation to those who want to bring up these issues, because my only motivation is for those people who want to be here, who want to build this country, I want them to do so in the best, safest possible way where we can all benefit from each other. There is nothing about that that is negative in any way. But there are people who don't want to be here, or they want to be here, but they don't want this place to be what it is and what it deserves to be. So I thank you for highlighting it, and I wish you the very best.

My pleasure. Have a great day. Thank you. secrets from his past in a language he no longer understands, but a lost cassette will reveal the ugly truth. From Curious Cast and Blanchard House comes a cross-continental odyssey to recover a stolen past. This is Stop Rewind, The Lost Boy, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.