When FBI director Kash Patel condemned Canada allowing Islamic terrorists to gain a foothold in North America, Canadian politicians and pundits, including new Prime MinisterMark Carney, dismissed Patels assertions as baseless fearmongering. Unfortunately, it is clear that the Trump administration is correct: Radical Islamic ideology has become endemic in Canada over the past decade. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service itself has confirmed that, since 2015, radical Islamic ideology has become commonplace throughout Canadian society, as a result of the porous borders and the Liberal governments unwillingness to effectively regulate the influx of international migration intoCanada. Numerous terrorist leaders and those with intimate connections to terrorist organizations such as Samidoun and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have been permitted to migrate within the Canadian state and promote their own nihilistic ideology over the pastdecade. Islamic schools in Canada are not compelled to abide by a standardizedcurriculumand, consequently, covertly promote radical Islamic ideology and extremism to vulnerable children inCanada. At one prominent Islamic school in Canada, the East End Madrassah, administrators were recently pressured to issue a public apology after it was exposed for "… teaching children that treacherous Jews conspired to kill the Islamic ProphetMohammed." Since 2015, explicit Islamic terrorist acts have become increasingly prevalent inCanada. According to data from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, "[N]early a dozen terrorism-related incidents [have occurred] in Canada or abroad involvingCanadians" since Oct. 7, 2023, alone. In addition), "The number of terrorism charges laid in Canada jumped 488% lastyear" and "Canadian police have foiled six terrorist plots in the last 12 months alone, with arrests spanning from Edmonton to Ottawa toToronto." The Liberal government recently publicly downplayed a report from the United Kingdoms Foreign, Commonwealth, & Development Office that a "terror attack attempt in Canada is verylikely." The globally renowned Counter Extremism Project has recently reported that "within the past few decades, several hundred Canadian civilians have been killed or injured in incidents related to violentextremism," and that, in spite of the glib posturing and "apparent policy shifts in the Trudeau government, Canada has historically viewed violent Islamist extremism as one of the leading threats to its nationalsecurity." In addition, the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre recently warned the Canadian government that Canada will likely "experience a lone-wolf terror attack soon ... and antisemitism is overwhelmingly the motivatingfactor." And to Kash Patels point, over the past decade Canadas porous borders and the Liberal governments tolerance of Islamic extremism have functioned in concert to enable various terrorists to transgress from Canada into America to commit crimes and even mass murder. In 2024, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a longtime resident of Canada, attempted to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS in New YorkCity, and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the ISIS terrorist who committed the horrific "Bourbon Street Attack" in New Orleans, was also previously permitted to travel freely between Canada and theU.S. Furthermore, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service itself has long recognized Canadas modern transformation into an exporter of Islamic terrorism and for years has attempted to "monitor and respond to the threat of Canadian extremist travellers(CETs)." According to Director Patel and the FBI, "over 300 known or suspected terrorists crossed into this country last year illegally … 85% of them came through [Canada and] the northernborder," and "This year, 100 known or suspected terrorists have crossed into this country illegally, 64 or so from thenorth." Even Justin Trudeau, Canadas previous prime minister, was recently forced to admit that "bad actors … have been exploiting [Canadas] immigration system for their owninterests." Despite all this, the Canadian political establishment and the media have stubbornly denied any suggestion that Islamic extremism has successfully entrenched itself within Canada. More importantly, it is readily apparent that until the Liberal government starts to earnestly secure Canadas borders and begins to excise Islamic extremism from within Canadian society, Canada will continue to serve as a womb for Islamic extremism in North America and a constant source of terrorism in the U.S. William Barclay is a political theorist and private consultant. His work has been published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Palgrave-Macmillan, The Hill Times, and the Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, among others. Follow him on Twitter/X @WillBarclayBBC.
