From the National Post, July 26, 2003:
Law enforcement officials in Ontario are demanding the federal government immediately release the names and photographs of dozens of war criminals who vanished in Canada while waiting to be deported.
Leading the call for disclosure is Bob Runciman, the province's Minister of Public Safety and Security, who said yesterday he is even considering taking Ottawa to court unless it reverses its stance on the issue.
[...]
The National Post revealed last week that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has lost track of 59 war criminals, including a Lebanese murderer wanted for crimes against humanity and a Kashmiri militant considered armed and dangerous.
Each of the unidentified people were ordered to report to immigration offices to be deported. None of them showed up.
But while the department admits it has lost track of the reputed criminals, it has refused to release any of their names, pictures or birthdates...
Even worse, critics say. the Liberal government will not even provide the information to local police units tasked with tracking down such criminals.
[Citizenship and Immigration] has maintained that the Privacy Act prohibits the government from releasing anything more than the criminals' nationalities, marital status, height, weight and eye colour. [emphasis mine]
[...]
Of the 59 missing individuals, most are African and Latin American. A significant number also come from the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Most are known to have committed crimes against humanity, while the rest are war crimes suspects or known or suspected members of terrorist organizations and foreign intelligence services. Aside from being war criminals, some have convictions for murder, theft, drug trafficking, drunk driving and weapons offences.
This is, of course, absolutely insane, but I expect no less from the Canadian government. The good news is that the horribly embarrassing Jean Chrétien is scheduled to retire soon; the bad news is that his likely successor will prove just every bit as nonchalant about securing our borders -- and by extension, yours.
The only interest the Liberals have in racial profiling is in courting likely blocs of ethnic voters.