OTTAWA — Singling-out Muslim-Canadians for “intrusive” screening could backfire and hamper intelligence-gathering efforts, community leaders warned yesterday.
U.S. measures that target individuals from specific countries — such as Lebanon, Pakistan and Somalia — could lead to “the radicalization of our youth,” said the Canadian Arab Federation’s vice-president Ali Mallah.

“People will get angry ..., and I hope not, but that will have severe negative impact,” he said.

Canadians from certain ethnic groups are being judged “guilty by association” and treated as second-class citizens, Mallah said.

Racial profiling doesn’t work and it will hurt government efforts to gather intelligence from certain communities by alienating them, warned Ahmed Hussen, national president of the Canadian Somali Congress.

“You can’t profile people and then expect them to co-operate with you and provide human intelligence, which is much, much better than technological intelligence,” he said.

There are fears in the Somali community Canada will follow the U.S. and begin targeting individuals who hold passports from, or were born in, certain countries, Hussen said.

The National Council on Canada-Arab Relations is calling on the Conservative government not to follow the American example. The council’s president, Rula Odeh, warned extra security hassles would also harm Arab-Canadian businesses.

Transport Minister John Baird has said Canada will review U.S. measures and develop its own procedures in line with Canadian law.

Farooq Chaudhry, president of the B.C.-based Pakistani Canadian Cultural Association, called the new airport screening measures “shameful” and “unethical.”

“Having a couple of bad people in any community doesn’t mean the whole community is bad,” Chaudhry said. “You can’t target the whole community for that.”

althia.raj@sunmedia.ca