From where I sit, as a regular ordinary Canadian, this looks completely arbitrary! I would sure as heck like to know where 'the system' has been for those eleven years, since Mr. Lennikov and his family arrived. Why now, out of the blue? This, as I understand, is not a last convulsion of a protracted struggle for staying, but a relatively recent bee in someone's bonnet.
The worst part of this is, to me, that it brings out the ugly mob mentality of the smug majority (?), who obviously think they are God's own children, and everybody who doesn't resemble them are the Antichrist. The degree of vindictiveness and schadenfreude being served up makes me downright queasy. 

This is a complete suck butt situation. The man has a solid family, has steadfastly badmouthed the KGB, and has contributed to Canada well.
Let him stay. He's a better Canadian than any CONservatives I've ever met. 

From all I've read and heard, this decision appears to be arbitrary and considered by many to be political and even vindictive. Unless Van Loan can clearly articulate to Canadians why he hasn't exercised his discretion in Mr. Lennikov's, as he represents all Canadians in this matter and not simply the party in power, Van Loan cannot in good concience allow Mr. Lennikov to be deported.

Van Loan should do the right thing and allow Mr. Lennikov to remain in Canada, together with his family.

Anyone with an opinion on this matter should email Van Loan at vanlop1@parl.gc.ca  

Don't forget that many former Eastern Bloc-ers, especially Ukrainians, already hate Ignatieff for what he's written about their respective nationalist movements. It certainly wouldn't hurt Harper with conservative voters from these constituencies to paint Tsarist Count Iggy as being soft on the KGB -- gets him coming and going on both sides of 1917 (throw in Iggy's NATO cheerleading in the Balkans, and he's even vulnerable on the Russian side, too). 

Charlie Demers is a smart guy. I'm left wondering if he can turn his previous comment into a comedy routine. 

When you're up against Harper and Ignatieff, it's hard to be the one who gets the laughs. 

I wrote on this early this morning then got the zapperoonie from the computer. I'll try again...

The way Harper is conducting himself here -- swinging wildly -- is reminiscent of George Foreman punching himself into oblivion against Ali in 1974. Yes, it is a crass sports analogy again, but we are dealing here with a crass prime minister.

Take your pick: Whether it's Harper's savage takedown of Stephane Dion, his maltreatment of the press, his embracing of Presidential politics, his pitbull "decorum" in the House of Commons, his love for mandatory minimum sentencing, his constant support for extended wars in Afghanistan, Canada's shame in Haiti, Harper's toy-tossing when the coalition formed against him, and finally, this treatment of a Russian refugee seeker, this is not a person who will give up easily. Then again, neither was Foreman. Let's see if "Iggy Pop" Ignatieff is the political equivalent of Muhamad "rope-a-dope" Ali. 

... a possible dynamic in all this would be ignatieff's french tag and that he seems more cosmopolitan, more internationally versed than harper. no wonder the personal attacks. he is probably someone who can dictate to the russian soul more than born again rhetoric from the one with the mad magazine smile...

harper fears a new trudeau... 

Of course it's because he's Russian, and of course Harper is playing games. He's yapping on about the dangerous Russians, for one thing to keep Sarah Palin (and you can bet they're all in contact), and Bush/McCain happy -- and of course to undermine Ignatieff as much as possible. Refrigerator Boy cares nothing for Canadians. He cares only about his unholy Alliance (no pun on church names intended), and his plans to meld Canada with the US, so we can all be Talibangelists together. Why on earth they would suddenly decide to deport this man - there's no other reason. AND I'm fed up with his playing around, playing power games with Canadian citizenship, and who gets in, who stays out. He's an arrogant, spoiled tyrant who was very badly brought up - and it's time to throw him out. With the rest of the Evangelical Reform whackos he brought with him.  

What a bunch of B.S. Keep pandering to the left, they love imaginary conspiricies. Put on your tinfoil hats! This man was a member of the KGB which did horrible horrible things in the Soviet Union. I am sure he will say anything he can not to go back to Russia, but Canada's policy is that no members of foreign spy agencies are allowed in. We have to enforce the rules. The courts have decided this case already. Say bye bye.  

And while we're on the subject of former Soviety Union stereotyping, how come the City of Vancouver fawns all over its two Asian sister cities and yet neglects Odessa, Ukraine, one of our other five sister cities (L.A. and Edinburgh are the other two) from all the way back in 1944? Odessa is a dynamic, fabulous, talented, historically rich city. Is their mayor or someone being invited to join in the 2010 fun? Is this sister city thing really about friendship and cross-cultural understanding and hands joyfully being held across the universe? Or it is merely the touchy-feely face that masks pure economic sucking up? God. When did we all become so hollow? Or have I just been asleep?
Beth 

The KGB no longer exists. The man does not belong to a spy agency. The KGB was finished in - what year? 1995. That's 13 years ago. We don't have a problem with Russia - aside from the one that Harper is manufacturing.

So - when are they going to boot out the members of the CIA and FBI who are in Canada? And those who are members of spy agencies for Israel? Or have been? There are past members of Mossad living in Canada - we knew of one who got caught smuggling . . . .

Maybe it will go to the Supreme Court - after Harper's out. It would be so interesting to know what Putin's views are on politics in Canada. I think that having a Prime Minister with a Russian background like Ignatieff's is going to be far, far more useful than clodhopper Harper.  

the only reason that comes to mind for csis wanting lennikov deported would be running him. So this may be why it would appear that most of the major news organs having stories on lennikov are not presently showing them on googles main canadian page.Maybe csis would have us all shut up now so lennikov can be 'legitimately' inserted.And as this 'theory' of mine seems high fantastical, let's instead settle for Harper looking for more votes from the blue collar crowd and those with whom I fear to go hunting... out of the distant possibility that if I suddenly appeared & walked & talked like a duck... 

The guy was first told he was inadmissible in 2002, so how does this have anything to do with Harper and Ignatieff?

I am blown away by the ignorance of some of these posts. The KGB now exists as the FSB. Just as brutal as always. How many poisoned politicians and beheaded journalists do you need to realize that? 

CANADIAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

For Media Release: In Matter of Mikhail Lennikov affair

June 5, 2009:

In a matter of KGB, I do not need any teaching, having lived for so many years in a communist Poland, with my additional experience as one of the Solidarity movement founders and leaders.

In the case of Mikhail Lennikov, there is enough public information not only to allow him to stay in Canada but to be grateful to him for defecting and selecting our country as a place of choice. Surely, our government counterespionage agencies have benefited considerably with the knowledge of KGB operation, which is not only of the historic value.

Instead, our government is forcing this brave and extremely knowledgably man to go back to Russia, where he will face treason charges, a lengthy prison sentence or death.

This Canadian authorities’ action will have first and foremost grave consequences in world espionage circles. Any potential spy from a hostile country (for example North Korea), who may consider defection, will not look into Canada as an option at all.

Richard Fadden, newly appointed director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service should be the first to intervene, not only keep Mr. Lennikov in Canada but also offer him a job.

Mr. Len Giles, a retired member of Canada’s intelligence establishment, in a letter to Vancouver Sun wrote among others: “We have been exceedingly embarrassed in the international community over the tasering of Robert Dziekanski at YVR”. /”¦/ and now, we could be facing further embarrassment if Mikhail Lennikov is ordered deported from the country”.

This letter was written on May 25, before final appeal in Federal Court in Vancouver on May 28, which gave Mr. Lennikov a few days to leave Canada. Now Mikhail Lennikov has found a refuge in the First Lutheran Church, 5745 Wales St in Vancouver.

What a shame! What an abuse of power and foolishness of our government agencies! What a wrongful approach of our justice system, so much similar to the Dziekanski case.

All this in view of no substantial evidence whatsoever, 11 years after Lennikov family defection. If Lennikov was a problem, he should not be admitted to Canada in the first place. The reason for Canada to send Mikhail to Siberia is the assumption that he might be a spy or “sleeper”. Stephen Rigby, the Head of the Canadian Border Services Agency states that there is no evidence to support this claim but he recommends going ahead with the deportation anyway. What a disgrace. Mr. Len Giles in the letter to Vancouver Sun says: “That is unconscionable. Might do not constitute /”¦/ grounds to justify anything in any court of law; evidence does.”

Canadian authorities generously allow Mikhail’s wife and son to stay in Canada. What a travesty of Canadian Immigration policy with programs of family reunification.

Mr. Lennikov and his family civil rights are trampled upon, therefore we will stand by Lennikov family, with any support they need, until the very end.

Zygmunt Riddle
www.civilrightsmovement.ca
(604) 868-7070
zriddle@shaw.ca
 

Kgb is protect Russian interest like RCMP only not kill imigrant by taser 

He had no right to come here.

He has no right to remain here.

He was an officer of the KGB, the notorious Soviet secret police. Every member of the Communist political police was either directly or indirectly responsible for the enslavement and murder of millions of innocents.

The men and women of the KGB were not conscripts. They were an elite that enjoyed perks in the USSR – better pay, better holidays, foreign travel, a privileged status – just like the SS in Nazi Germany. And they had an identical function – the repression of dissent, the orchestration of genocide, the running of the concentration camps of the Gulag. The only difference between them and their Nazi colleagues is that the Reds butchered more people – no less than 20 million victims – because they had a longer run in power, from 1917 to 1991. Thankfully, the Nazi regime lasted only 12 years.

Our immigration laws forbid all veterans of the KGB from entering Canada. And, let’s be clear on this, you need not have been a killer. If all you did was make lunch or iron the executioners’ uniforms you are still inadmissible. That’s the law.

There are some Canadians who don’t like this rule. Fair enough. They can work to change it. That’s their democratic right. But this man has no such privilege. He is not a citizen. Whether he has lived here for a decade or been a nice neighbour or grows gardenias in his garden and gives them to the poor is irrelevant. He should never have been allowed into Canada and he has no right to stay here.

Being compassionate we have given him more than one chance to prove otherwise and to do so at our expense. He had a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. That tribunal rejected his claim to refugee status. He appealed that finding. After carefully reviewing the case a Federal Court judge concluded that he should be deported. Instead of obeying the court the KGB man “sought sanctuary” in the First Lutheran Church of East Vancouver.

Folks who come to an understanding of the law by watching re-runs of The Hunchback of Notre Dame may feel otherwise but there is actually no right of “sanctuary” in any church, temple, synagogue or mosque in Canada. While imagining a KGB man on his knees praying for forgiveness is amusing what is not is that this bolt hole was set up before the good judge rendered his judgment. In other words the KGB man and his friends decided that if they didn’t like the court’s decision they would just ignore it and spirit him away to a church basement. That’s where he now sits, thumbing his nose at the authorities.

The remedy is obvious. Canada Border Services Agency officials need to enter the building, seize the KGB man and put him on the first plane back to Mother Russia. Those who deliberately aided and abetted a fugitive from the law should then be given their day in court. The notion that there is some kind of “sanctuary” in religious buildings needs to be undone, once and for all. If all this doesn’t happen it’ll be obvious the country is not governed by the rule of law but by the whims of those whom Lenin appropriately enough described as “useful idiots.”

But it won’t be enough if we only deport this one KGB man. Ottawa needs to finish the job. There are other veterans of the Soviet secret police – the NVKD, SMERSH and KGB – here in Canada. They have, so far, escaped justice. We need to purge our home and native land of all of them. One is too many.