Our Friendly Local Terrorist

Mary Jo Leddy

Our Friendly Local Terrorist tells the story of the fourteen-year struggle of Suleyman Govan, a Kurd accused by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of being a terrorist. Mary Jo Leddy was “accidentally” present at Suleyman’s first interview with CSIS. During that eight-hour ordeal he was propositioned: you work for us as a spy and you’ll get your papers; otherwise—there are no guarantees. Mary Jo continued to be a witness to this bizarre and painful process over the following years at judicial and semijudicial hearings, which finally ruled that Suleyman ought to be given his papers. This moving personal story explores the efficacy of the immigration and security clearance systems in the Canadian government. It also provides an entry into the (often complex) political dynamics and pressures within Kurdish communities in Canada and elsewhere in the diaspora, and reveals Turkey’s role and influence in international relations when the tender of huge business contracts is at stake.

Contents

Introduction
1 Someone
2 He Was Left Alone
3 All Night
4 And He Struggled
5 The Faceless One
6 The Nameless One
7 The Break of Day
Afterword

About the Author

Mary Jo Leddy is the Director of Romero House in Toronto and a member of the Order of Canada. She is the author of Radical Gratitude, At the Border Called Hope: Where Refugees are Neighbours, and In the Eye of the Catholic Storm: The Church Since Vatican II.