During a panel discussion on CTV News last week I was lectured by the two other panelists - one Liberal, one NDP - over my assertion we need to be careful about who we let in as immigrants and refugees.

They both insisted there is no problem with arrivals from other countries, nor will there be.

When I asked about the Shafia family, there was no response, other than to continue to assert that immigrants and refugees pose no danger to our safety or "Canadian values," a term which, sadly, too many people mock.

But it is decidedly not a Canadian value to murder a daughter deemed to have shamed the family.

On June 30, 2009 in Kingston, Ontario, Shafia sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with Rona Amir Mohammad, 50, were found dead inside a submerged car.

Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti were the daughters of Mohammad Shafia, and his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya.

The couple also had a son Hamed.

Rona, who was infertile, was the first wife of Mohammad Shafia in their polygamous household.

Mohammad, Tooba Yahya, and Hamed were found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder under the guise of so-called honour killings.

The family were immigrants from Afghanistan.

In 2010, Postmedia News reported: "Dr. Amin Muhammad is a psychiatr ist at Memorial University in St. John's, N.L., who is currently working on a report for the federal government about honour killings in Canada. He said there've been 13 such cases in the country since 2002."

Also not a Canadian value is the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) which bears no similarity in purpose or effect to male circumcision.

A report in the Ottawa Citizen last year tells us, "An analysis of the 2011 Canadian census and UNICEF's statistics on the prevalence of FGM in the communities that practice it indicates there could be upwards of 80,000 survivors living in Canada - including thousands of young girls and teenagers - and yet there is little help available here."

That number indicates there are many people living in Canada who believe in this abhorrent practice.

While there seems to be little research on whether it is being carried out in Canada, it's suspected young girls are taken to other countries to have the horrible procedure done.

Who do we have here from other countries and what do they believe about Western democracy and human rights?

In 2008, then federal auditor general Sheila Fraser reported Canada's border agency had lost track of 41,000 illegal immigrants, noting this was, "jeopardizing the integrity of Canada's immigration program".

All of those people were under deportation orders, but we didn't know then, and may still not know, where they went.

Why were they deemed ineligible? Was it safe to let them go free?

Several of the terrorists that attacked Paris came in to Europe through Greece, posing as Syrian refugees. Could the same thing happen here?

Obviously, if we are so naive and careless as to assume that it never could happen.

Canada has always punched above its weight in accepting immigrants and refugees.

We can take pride in that and should continue to do so.

I am not saying there is a flood of dangerous people coming into Canada. But it is dangerous to act as if there couldn't be any.

Agar hosts the 9 a.m. to noon show on NEWSTALK1010

jerry.agar@sunmedia.ca

@jerryagar1010