Zachareah Quraishi of Airdrie, Alta., was released from the Canadian Armed Forces reserves on July 10, last summer. Within 12 days, he’d bought a plane ticket to Israel, rented a car, and obtained a large kitchen knife.

Israeli authorities say that within hours, the 21-year-old attempted a terror attack on Netiv Ha’asara, a gated village of 900 close to the northern border of the Gaza Strip, on July 22.

Video shows guards firing as he came at them; his body falling just at the edge of the frame. According to Israeli authorities, the guards told him several times to stand down, but they shot him dead after multiple warnings as he yelled, “Free Palestine.”

It wasn’t reported at the time, but the National Post has learned Quraishi was a former Canadian reserves soldier.

“The individual was a member of the Canadian Army Reserve, serving with an Army Reserve unit in Calgary, Alberta. The individual enrolled on 17 July 2023, completed Basic Military Qualification on 6 Dec 2023, and released from the CAF on 10 July 2024,” Kened Sadiku, Media Relations, Department of National Defence, told National Post.

The department did not say why he was released: “The specific nature of the individual’s release (or release category) constitutes personal information and is therefore protected in accordance with the Privacy Act,” wrote Andrée-Anne Poulin from the same office.

On November 11 this year, Remembrance Day, Zachareah’s father Adam Quraishi, who works as a schoolteacher at the Siksika reservation and at the Calgary Islamic School, posted photos of Zachareah’s great-grandfather George Reed, a Canadian war veteran, alongside a photo of Zachareah wearing a Canadian Armed Forces uniform, seemingly implying that his son, who allegedly attempted an act of terror, should be remembered as a war veteran.

He was killed by Israelis, said Adam Quraishi in a video, for “looking too Palestinian.”

This follows a steady stream of posts by Adam claiming Israel wrongfully targeted his son. “He went hoping to save lives, confirmed by so many including our family doctor who talked to Zachareah. He was killed 12 hours after getting to Israel,” Adam wrote on a May 21 fundraiser posted to Facebook.

Adam wrote on Facebook and Instagram: “I’m honouring my grandfather George Reed, who served in #WWII, and my great-grandfather (also George Reed), who fought in the wars as well. And my son, Zachareah, who dedicated his life to saving lives — humanitarian work — and was tragically murdered by a country that perpetuates unimaginable violence and disinformation/gaslighting.

“Perhaps if my son resembled our Irish-French heritage, he would have been sent back to Canada. Our home. Such a beautiful place,” he wrote in the posts.

“War is never a solution … The act of killing civilians and individuals who are not fighting, especially in an AI-driven world where images can be easily manipulated, is incredibly risky.”

Adam Quraishi did not respond to interview requests.

At the time, the alleged attack was called a “wake-up call” over growing antisemitic extremism in Canada.

“The spread of radical Islam and extremist ideologies in Canada has created major cultural challenges for the country, including a plague of antisemitism that has spread, making it unsafe for Jews and Canadians to live their day-to-day lives without the fear of being attacked verbally and physically,” Canadian-born Knesset member Sharren Haskel told the National Post at the time.

The head of Canada’s spy agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Dan Rogers said earlier this month that violent extremism, motivated by religion or political views — “persists as one of Canada’s most significant national security concerns. “Worryingly, nearly one in 10 terrorism investigations at CSIS now includes at least one subject of investigation under the age of 18,” he said in a public address at the National Art Centre in downtown Ottawa.

Most tourists arriving in Israel go straight to Tel Aviv, Jaffa, or Jerusalem, not to remote communities. Humanitarian volunteers typically coordinate with NGOs or religious institutions in advance.

The IDF told National Post: “A suspect arrived at the entrance of Netiv HaAsara, exited his vehicle and threatened with a knife members of the community’s rapid response team operating in the area. The rapid response team responded with fire and neutralized the suspect. No injuries to the security forces were reported.

“The suspect is a foreign national who arrived in the area from within Israeli territory, and not from the Gaza Strip. The suspect is a Canadian national.”

Canadian tourist armed with a knife screams about the war against Hamas, attempts to stab IDF troops outside Netiv Ha’asara, near Gaza.

The troops reportedly instructed the individual to drop the knife multiple times but he failed to do so. He was neutralized before he could… pic.twitter.com/O6aTvtAEP2

— Eretz Yisrael 24 (@EretzYisrael24) July 22, 2024

The Department of National Defence would not elaborate on Quraishi’s service and exit from the reserves, citing privacy.

Tom Ellard, a Toronto area veteran and Royal Canadian Legion member, is a retired infantry officer with a graduate degree in War Studies from the Royal Military College.

“To be a veteran in Canada, you must have served a day in uniform. That uniform represents a blank cheque of your person to be cashed as needed by the nation,” he said.

“On November 11, we recognize the sacrifice made by Canadians in uniform as lawful combatants upholding the core value of freedom. We commit to work for peace because we know the cost of war,” said Ellard. “Everyone is free to mark this day as they choose, and veterans know the freedom their friends fought and died for includes people saying things others may find objectionable.”

Netiv Ha’asara is a moshav — a communal agricultural community — in the Negev desert about 60 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, abutting Gaza’s northern border. The community lost about 20 residents among the 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals killed in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

Photos of the scene show that Quraishi arrived at the scene driving a white Hyundai rental car. Israeli reports say he had arrived in the country the day before, saying he was a tourist. Images on Israeli media showed his passport had been issued at Cold Lake.

• Canadian behind knife attack in Israel was 21-year-old from Alberta
• Canadian knife attack in Israel called ‘wake-up call’ over problem of homegrown extremism

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OTTAWA

— As Mark Carney sought to restart Canada’s relationship with India, a top official advised the prime minister in May that a reset should require a “public commitment from India” on accountability measures amid claims the country is behind a rash of criminal activity and murders.

Months later, despite Canada saying India has agreed to more collaboration, it appears that no such public commitment has been secured, as anxiety turns to anger across Sikh communities over fears of violence and repression. 

“Where did that go?” said Balpreet Singh, spokesperson for the World Sikh Organization. 

Rebuilding Canada’s ties to India was a major shift Carney made following the diplomatic freeze that Canada-India relations had experienced starting in 2023, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada

had credible evidence that agents of the Indian government were behind the murder of Sikh leader and activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

By fall 2024, Canada and India expelled dozens of each other’s diplomats, as Canadian officials cited RCMP evidence linking

Indian government agents to domestic crimes. Canada had at the time requested that India waive diplomatic immunity to allow police to investigate, which the Trudeau government said was not granted. 

Under Carney, the relationship has begun to thaw significantly, as Canada looks for trade partners outside of the U.S., given the ongoing trade war.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, the country’s first Hindu cabinet minister, made her first official trip this fall, telling a recent Canada 2020 event in Ottawa of the warm personal relationship she enjoyed with Modi.

“There was a lot of conversation when I was in the meeting with Modi, before we got to the technical things, about my parents and our life in India, and their life in India,” she told the Oct. 23 crowd.

“And in fact, Prime Minister Modi was very generous in offering that we could bring my father’s ashes, because we still have to do that, and he would help us spread the ashes in the Ganges (River).”

Carney’s first major step in resetting relations with India happened back in June when he formally invited India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada as part of its set of G7 leaders’ summit, where he said India belonged, given its economic power and centrality to supply chains.

Internally, a briefing note prepared for the prime minister by his foreign and defence policy advisor in the Privy Council Office ahead of his first official call with Modi outlined how the invitation “sends a strong signal” of its willingness to re-engage with the country.

The document also suggested that Canada had specific expectations for what it wanted from India.

“Canada seeks accountability and requires good faith engagement to this end. This would include a public commitment from India on accountability efforts to be mutually agreed upon,” reads the heavily-redacted briefing note, released to National Post under federal access-to-information law.

The document also referenced what had then been the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Air India Flight 182 bombing, known as Canada’s deadliest terrorist attack, killing 329 passengers and 22 Indian nationals, with a commemoration planned in Ireland near the crash site.

“As this year marks the 40th anniversary, high-level attendance is expected on behalf of the Indian and Irish governments and your participation is recommended,” it read.

Carney did not attend, but Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree did.

Singh, who works as legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization, questioned the status of that objective of securing a public commitment from India. He pointed to public comments by Indian officials, including from the country’s new envoy to Canada, who, in a recent CTV News interview, cast doubt on the allegations made against India, specifically in the Nijjar case.

“I’m dealing with a community that is under a wave of terror that no one really seems to care about or even know about,” Singh said.

Nijjar, a prominent activist who had advocated for an independent Sikh state to be created within India, had been considered a terrorist by India, which has denied any involvement in his death.

Police in Canada have charged four Indian nationals in Nijjar’s death.

The Canadian government has repeatedly tried to secure commitments from the Indian government that it will conduct an inquiry into its potential involvement in Nijjar’s killing. 
Under Trudeau, those efforts repeatedly failed as India’s government dismissed Canada’s claims in private and in public as baseless and nonsense.

Despite the Carney government’s change of tone towards India, there is no public information suggesting the Modi government’s view has changed or that it has committed to an internal inquiry.

But when the U.S. government unveiled similar allegations of the Indian government’s involvement in a suspected plot to murder Sikh American activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, Modi committed to looking into the matter and reporting back to U.S. authorities.

That’s exactly what Canada has repeatedly sought from India.

Nathalie Drouin, who serves as Carney’s national security and intelligence advisor, a role she also held under Trudeau, outlined in testimony she delivered to the foreign interference inquiry in October 2024, what specific steps Canada wanted India to take.

“The first thing… for us is instead of denying the situation, take our law enforcement actions seriously and look at what happened in their own system. One thing that concretely they can do, they can scope us in their public inquiry they put in place for the Pannun case in the U.S.,” Drouin said at the time.

“So there’s many things they can do in terms of showing their accountability.”

Drouin, who travelled to India back in September to meet with her counterpart, afterwards told reporters that Indian law enforcement officials were indeed collaborating.

A spokeswoman in the Prime Minister’s Office pointed to that trip as an example of how Canada was continuing to seek accountability.

“

Accountability remains a priority for Canada,” wrote Laura Scaffidi. 

“Importantly, Canada and India have agreed to continue a law enforcement dialogue and discussions between our countries are progressing,” she said in a statement, reiterating that India committed to sharing information related to ongoing investigations. 

Scaffidi also said that India plays a key role at the G7 and its priorities around supply chains, infrastructure, and critical minerals.

Moninder Singh, a spokesman for Sikh Federation Canada and the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council, said what began as confusion within Sikh communities over Canada’s decision to re-engage with India has turned to anger. 

While senior Canadian officials say India has shown a willingness to engage on public security matters,

Singh said without a public commitment from India, “it’s words that mean nothing.” 

Besides Drouin, CSIS Director Daniel Rogers has been among other intelligence officials to travel to India over the past year, in an effort to secure their cooperation in the Nijjar investigation and slowly renew security ties.

In an interview, Rogers said his conversations with his Indian counterparts have been “candid and frank” as he fleshes out Canada’s expectations for the relationship.

He also revealed that there have been talks of collaboration between intelligence agencies, citing “common interests in countering certain forms of cyber attack”.

He declined to say if he was referring to cyber threats posed by China. B
ut he said that an Indian inquiry into Nijjar’s murder has not been part of his discussions.

“I talk about Canada’s interests and what we need to see to have a trusted relationship,” he said.

“And frankly, we also talk about where we may want to collaborate, which is probably something we need to talk about in the future,” he added. “There probably are things that a capable service in India can work jointly on with Canada.”

National Post

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Prime Minister Mark Carney rolled out a second wave of “nation-building projects” on Thursday and an oil pipeline from Alberta was not on the list.

Patience is wearing thin in western Canada, even as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is “still working” with the Carney government to advance a bitumen pipeline to tidewater.

I spoke to Whitecap Resources CEO Grant Fagerheim, who warns we can expect “fury from Alberta and Saskatchewan” if a pipeline isn’t prioritized.

“What I want to hear from (Carney) is that we’re prepared to advance our products to international markets without a discount price,” Grant declared in a conversation last month, and that requires pipelines between provinces.

“Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces in Canada that are landlocked,” he explained, “that’s why we need (Ottawa’s) assistance to break down the regulatory barriers so we can get our products to market.”

For those not versed in pipeline economics, a quick reminder: The Americans sell our oil and gas as an export commodity to other countries, and also enjoy a domestic supply of cheaper gasoline for their cars, thanks to constraints on Canadian oil and gas producers’ access to markets.

Whitecap, the seventh largest oil and natural gas producer in Canada, is not a player in the oilsands, but Grant understands why Smith is pushing for a bitumen pipeline to tidewater on the West Coast. His preference? Don’t just build a pipeline; build an energy corridor to move a range of commodities — natural gas, oil, rail, electricity — across the provinces.

Grant also “thinks it’s a responsible thing to do, to link up very closely with the United States of America.”

“I don’t believe in the ‘elbows up’ analogy. I think that’s a mistake,” he states, emphatically. This from a guy who knows what it means to have your elbows up in the corner; he left his Estevan, Sask., home at age 17 to play hockey and played within the New York Islanders system until sidelined by an injury.

“You know, we’re continentally connected to the United States of America, the largest economy in the world. We’re going to say we’re going to go a different direction?” he says, with a shake of his head. “I don’t support that. I don’t live in that world. I prefer to keep your friends your friends, and not create enemies out of them.”

“Yes, we can look for other markets worldwide … but you know, we cannot divorce ourselves from being continentally connected to the United States of America,” he reiterates.

“I would like to accept what (Carney) is saying at face value,” Grant assures me, “and we’re hopeful that we can accept what he’s saying at face value.” He’s also optimistic Canadians are awakening to the fact oil and gas will be required for a “much, much, much longer period of time, and should be developed.” Even Bill Gates is shifting from “doomsday” climate warnings.

There’s still work to do, Grant acknowledges, to educate Canadians on how the sector operates. “If these resources were located in eastern Canada or central Canada,” Grant submits, “this would be a different game. This would be a different game, for sure.”

“I think we’ve been demonized. I think the energy sector has been demonized,” he laments. “They don’t recognize how responsibly developed our resources are in western Canada,” he says, “From an emissions profile perspective, I think that people think, ‘Well, it’s just dirty oil.’ It’s not.”

Oil and gas producers in western Canada spend a lot of time, money, energy and brain power figuring out how to reduce emissions, Grant asserts. “We have the largest carbon sequestration project in the world in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, but it doesn’t resonate,” he reports. “…I get more celebration when we talk about this in Europe or Asia than I do right here in Canada.”

Over a career spanning four decades, this 66-year-old oil industry dealmaker has learned how to survive the ups-and-downs of a volatile sector, starting with his first job in the patch at debt-stricken Dome Petroleum. Most recently, Grant was one of the key architects of Whitecap’s May 2025 merger with Veren Inc., combining the two companies in a $15-billion deal to create a leading Canadian light oil and condensate producer.

It’s a wobbly time in Canada’s oil and gas sector; I’m curious to understand how non-oilsands players like Whitecap navigate the uncertainties.

“We’re a light oil producer, primarily,” Grant explains, producing about 62 per cent light oil and liquids and 38 per cent natural gas. “What’s interesting about that, in this pricing environment,” he continues, “about 94 per cent of our revenue is driven from oil, and six per cent from natural gas,” even though natural gas comprises 38 per cent of Whitecap’s production. The conventional portion of their assets, Grant explains, “stabilizes the business for the longer term.”

In spite of a hectic work schedule — including managing a corporate merger — Grant accepted Smith’s invitation to join the 16-member Alberta Next panel this past summer. In town halls across the province, the panel hosted conversations with Albertans, talking about ways to strengthen provincial sovereignty, protect the economy from federal overreach and assert Alberta’s constitutional rights.

Grant’s conversant with these questions. In 2018, he was one of the founders of the Buffalo Project, a political action committee championed by former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall to protest federal policies obstructing energy development. Incidentally, Wall has been a director on Whitecap’s board since 2019.

Donald Trump’s “51st state” taunts have stirred up separatist sentiments on the prairies, and both Quebec and Alberta tabled legislation this fall pushing the edges on provincial sovereignty within Canada. I’m curious to know where Grant stands on these questions.

“I would not be a proponent of separation,” he responds. “The ‘51st state’ comment; I think that’s aggressive. I’m not personally a supporter of that.”

What Grant does support is the idea of a nation within a nation, “so you can develop your resources, monetize them effectively for the benefit not only of your province, but for Canadian citizens.” Although he’s not happy with equalization payments, as they presently play out, he insists, joining the United States isn’t the solution to what ails Canada.

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