A general view of the damage at al-Mezza neighbourhood in Damascus July 22, 2012. REUTERS/Shaam News Network/Handout Topics
We shouldn't be glorifying hyphenated Canadians who return to the land of their lineage to fight in foreign conflicts.
Toronto resident Thwaiba Kanafani posted a YouTube video on July 7 announcing her intentions to join the Syrian rebel forces. The 41-year-old is a trained engineer and mother of two kids who were born in Canada. She was born in Damascus and moved to Canada in 2002. She said she could no longer sit idly by and watch people be murdered. She's now joined the Syrian Free Army to fight against President Assad.
I don't know her personally at all, but am willing to assume she's a great mother, great employee, pays her taxes, follows the law. Fine. And I'm definitely not a fan of President Assad. After all the horrible things he's done, he's now making threats about weapons of mass destruction and chemical warfare. But Assad's wrongs aside, I think we should ask some questions about what Kanafani is doing.
A year ago I wrote a column about this very issue happening in Libya. Ottawa resident Ottawa resident Nader Ben Raween, who was born in Edmonton, was killed fighting in Libya against Ghadafi's forces. Mohamed Elshawar works as a paramedic in the Alberta oil fields. He had gone to Libya and fought alongside Ban Raween, and returned.
I understand a lot of people come to Canada for a better life and then send money back to family members in other countries. I get that. But going into a foreign country from Canada to take up arms is different.
A little thought experiment: what if the particulars were different? What if, say, Canada was involved in Syria and we were backing one faction and Kanafani's allegiance was to another faction? Would she be there, fighting the side that we're supporting - fighting us? Would she remain here and sabotage our efforts?
It's not a ridiculous question. Ever heard of Omar Khadr? Ever heard of the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab, that recruits young men from Toronto to fight overseas?
I'm not suggesting Kanafani has any moral equivalence to Khadr. She's clearly one of the good guys.
But all these cases do share one similarity, in that they've shown their ties are closer to the country of their lineage than to their country of residence.
Canada is not an international refuelling station. It's not a place where you go to enjoy our stable government and strong economy only to stockpile your finances to in turn fuel your conflicts in a foreign government.
If a Canadian or resident for that matter wants to fight for justice in a foreign country, they either need to relocate permanently to that country, or join the Canadian Forces, where they can do it officially.
I'm not picking on Kanafani. If my foreign-residing family was under siege, maybe I'd feel the same way too. But it's telling that people who call themselves Syrian-Canadians, Libyan-Canadians, etc., far too often take the first half of that hyphenated identity more seriously than the second half. The Canadian half. And that's a problem.
We can't universalize her practice. What if everyone did this? Canada would be a mess.
She has a plane ticket to return to Canada booked for a couple months from now. If she's kidnapped in the interim, she's on her own. It'll be up to her colleagues in the Syrian Free Army to rescue her. Not Canadian forces. Not a cent of Canadian tax dollars.
Kanafani has already been involved in sectarian arguments as people jockey for committee positions and titles. She says she's been accused of being an Israeli mole. She's also accused others of being pro-Assad moles. This doesn't seem like it will end well.
Kanafani spoke in a video recorded with the Free Army in Syria: "I came from Canada to answer the call of my homeland."
Canada won't fare too well in the future if more people behave like 'Canadians of convenience' and answer the call of their homelands.
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