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March 12, 2004
Cotler gives support to Owen
New federal justice minister speaks about Canada's relation to
Israel.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler says Canada's political culture
is different from that of Europe, which is one reason he believes
the rampant and violent anti-Semitism being experienced there will
not take root here.
Cotler spoke to the Bulletin following a speech at a March
2 fund-raising event for Vancouver-Quadra Liberal member of Parliament
Stephen Owen, the minister of public works and government services.
The justice minister said Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms
codifies equality and will prevent anti-Semitism from reaching the
depths it has reached in Europe, where synagogues are being vandalized
and individuals are being assaulted with startling regularity.
"I think the Charter of Rights is a bulwark against discrimination,"
said Cotler, a former head of Canadian Jewish Congress and one of
Canada's top legal scholars. He was critical, however, of events
earlier in the day at Langara College in Vancouver, where the Israeli
ambassador to Canada, Haim Divon, was heckled and drowned out by
anti-Zionist activists. A similar, though more tightly controlled
meeting took place the next day at the University of British Columbia,
when the ambassador spoke again. Cotler was not present at either
campus event.
"We cannot have a situation where speakers are shouted down
simply because they have different views," Cotler said.
During the Tuesday night dinner at Enigma restaurant on Vancouver's
West Side, Cotler answered pointed questions from Liberal party
supporters about Canada's votes at the United Nations and whether
the federal government would demand fair treatment from the international
body when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is in Canada.
Cotler responded that the UN Human Rights Commission's stands against
Israel have been a "charade" that ignored the real human
rights violators in the world.
"Canada participated in a human rights charade at the UN Human
Rights Commission," he said. "[While] the major human
rights violators have exculpatory immunity."
Asked whether Canada would introduce a resolution condemning suicide
bombings, Cotler noted that such condemnations are already on the
books.
"Suicide bombing is already a crime against humanity,"
he said.
In a week where the Liberal government's activities continued to
be overshadowed by the sponsorship scandal, Cotler singled out the
efforts of new Prime Minister Paul Martin in condemning attacks
against Israel.
"Every terrorist bombing since Paul Martin became prime minister
has been explicitly condemned," Cotler said, noting that the
new government has not added modifiers like "cycle of violence,"
which tend to put some of the blame on Israel for such attacks.
Cotler added that it was a mistake for Canadian diplomatic officials
not to make a condolence call to the family of Yechezkel Goldberg,
a Canadian-Israeli killed Jan. 29 in a Jerusalem terror attack.
The family lives in Betar Illit, a Jewish settlement in the West
Bank, which Canadian diplomats avoid visiting because of the politically
contested nature of the area.
The refusal to allow a diplomatic visit to the family's shivah was
"insensitive and wrong," said Cotler.
In the question-and-answer session, Vancouverite Joe Segal asked
the minister if he could be trusted to be as vocal in support of
Israel were he not in front of a strongly Zionist crowd.
"Are you going to stand up in Parliament and speak the way
you did tonight?" asked Segal.
"Anything I've said tonight, I've said on the public record
in Parliament," Cotler replied, adding that cabinet solidarity
places new restrictions on him.
"We can say the same things, except the forum in which we say
it is cabinet, not Parliament," said Cotler.
Though he was repeatedly pressed on whether Canadian Jews can depend
on the Liberal government to support Israel, Cotler replied the
answer lies partly with activists like those in the room.
"The extent to which there will be a change in Canadian government
policy depends not only on what we do, but what you do," he
said.
The event was something of a love-in between Cotler and Owen, who
praised each other's work and commitment to justice, especially
in the face of the scandal that is sending shudders through Liberal
ranks. Owen, under whose authority it is to clean up much of the
mess in government contract processes, said the lessons of this
scandal will alter the way Canada is governed into the future.
"It's a turning point in governance for this country,"
he said, acknowledging that politicians have crossed a line between
executive decision-making and bureaucratic administration. "Never
again will politicians cross that line so brazenly."
Owen added that political financing laws, which took effect Jan.
1, will help prevent future financial mismanagement by removing
the dependence of political parties on major donors.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
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