U.S. Florida Pastor Terry Jones was barred from entering Canada, to which he had been invited to address some audience in Toronto about the compatibility of Islam in the Western society, The National reported on Wednesday.
In 2010, Jones threatened to burn copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, on the anniversary of 9/11 attacks on the U.S.
Since Jones was forbidden to enter the UK in 2011, the Canadian parliament lacks power to change the bill passed by the UK.
According to the newspaper report, a bill currently before the parliament would change that, giving the immigration minister the authority to keep out foreign visitors on the grounds of “public policy considerations.”
But opposition parties have come out against it.
“It’s so vague and all-encompassing, any government for political reasons could almost keep anybody out under ‘public policy considerations,’” Jinny Sims, the NDP immigration critic, was quoted as saying by the National.
“If we’re going to have a criteria for keeping people out, to not allow people access to our country, that criteria needs to be clear, it needs to be specific and we need to see it. It should not be left to the judgment of any minister or any politician,” Sims said.
Jones gained notoriety throughout the world, due to his anti-Islamic ideology, and has been banned from entering many countries such as Egypt, UK, Germany and others.
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