Canada has been granting work permits to exotic dancers as part of a federal plan to recruit overseas workers. Last year, 661 work permits were issued or renewed for foreign exotic dancers, and Canada is expected to grand more than 3,000 this year, although there has been talk of ending the program.
Immigration agents in 2003 selected dancers from portfolios that showed past work experience, a legitimate dancing job offer and usually a publicity photo. A large majority came from Romania, partly because a study showed many female Romanian immigrants were well educated and demanded few public services, analysts say.
The policy has generated some controversy. Critics say the women are exploited and pressured to perform sexual services. Many of the immigrants come to clubs in Toronto, where they strip on stage and perform private dances at customers' tables or in "VIP rooms" for extra tips.
Seven Lebanese are scheduled for deportation from Canada next week into the hands of Hezbollah terrorists likely to imprison, torture or kill them, say activists working on their behalf...
The deportees are former members of the South Lebanese Army, a predominantly Christian militia formed by residents of the area to protect locals and fight against the PLO and Hezbollah.
The SLA was supervised and in part protected by Israel until its withdrawal from Lebanon under Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000, forcing many SLA members to flee for fear of retaliation from Hezbollah forces.
