Can’tada

Once again we have another refugee hiding in a church basement and thumbing their nose at our immigration system. Mikkhail Lennikov, a former member of the former Soviet Union’s notorious KGB has settled in to his new digs in an East Vancouver church to wait out his extradition order. And once again our government refuses to enter the church and drag his butt to the closest airport. Canada will give up one of its own to the U.S. government for selling marijuana seeds to Americans but we can’t remove an undesirable from a church. Where’s the logic?

Here’s a few facts from Lennikov’s immigration and refugee hearing that some may not be aware of:

• The board members noted Lennikov, a former leader of the Communist Youth League who worked for the KGB from 1983 to 1988, minimized his contribution to the KGB.
• The board found sufficient credible and trustworthy evidence to conclude that Lennikov was complicit in acts of espionage during his years as an active KGB member.
• The board found evidence that Lennikov posed as a student and professor to collect information on Japanses businessmen, whom he called prospective KGB informants. He was promoted to captain and “did more than clerical functions”
• Lennikov said that he was not really fearing for his life or security but more for his career, including the possibility of travelling abroad.
• Lennikov maintains he left the KGB as soon as he could but there is enough credible and trustworthy evidence to conclude differently
• Lennikov sayd he fears repercussions if he returns to Russia but the board noted he “experienced no repercussions until [he] finally left Russia and Japan to come to Canada, some eight years after officially leaving the KGB”

On the other hand, Marc Emery, our resident political pot activist and online seed salesman, has given up his extradition fight and will be sent to the U.S. to face the music and is expected to receive a six to eight year sentence. Canada will drag its feet when it comes to removing illegal and undesirable immigrants from our soil but will dutifully hand over a Canadian citizen for selling marijuana seeds in their own country. I don’t smoke pot and don’t condone it’s abuse any more than alcohol but I find Mr. Emery’s situation absolutely mind boggling. The next generation will look back at this stuff and shake their collective heads.

Remember paralyzed refugee claimant Laibar Singh who ended his stay in a local Indian temple after being abandoned by his supporters? He finally left after entering this country illegally but his departure had little or nothing to do with pressure from our government and lots to do with the dwindling support from those who originally demonstrated and screamed about human rights in his name. It’s funny how it all changes when the bills start rolling in and none of the supporters want to pay for his care during his uninvited stay in our country. The taxpayers paid for the majority of his excellent medical care during his stay (I still don’t understand why!!) but I’m guessing that he was close to being tossed out and decided it would be more comfy back home without all the fuss.

The frustration with the Singh case was that Canada didn’t initiate his departure. His alleged supporters were the ones to pull the plug. Now we’ll have to go through the same expensive process and have a number of government bureaucrats bumble through the motions until Mr. Lennikov gets tired of living in a church and leaves under his own accord or is asked to leave by the church parishioners. He’s whining about leaving his family but I wonder why his wife and son don’t accompany him back to Russia rather than stay in Canada. Wouldn’t most families stay together rather than abandon their spouse or child if one was no longer able to stay in the country? And I find it ironic that an ex-KGB agent is hiding behind the church for protection, which proves the adage ‘There’s no atheists in foxholes‘. Wasn’t the KGB a bit hard on religious church types during his tenure?

I’ll be happy to see the end of Mr. Lennikov and others like him and hope our government finally steps up and stops these idiotic refugees from taking advantage of our system. Until we can start throwing these freeloaders and undesirables out of our country we should change the name of our country from Canada to Can’tada.