December 25, 2002
"Canada’s Equivocation" was the title that the National Post gave to a recent letter to the editor. The letter, from Joseph Wilder, National Chairman of the Canada Israel Committee was not the first of its kind from a member of a Jewish Canadian group, criticizing the Canadian government over its policy (or its non-policy) of designating certain groups in the Middle East as terrorist organizations. The letter dealt with the refusal of the government to designate Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist groups. Since the publication of the letter, Canada did designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Wilder points out the weaknesses in the reasoning of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill Graham and Solicitor General Wayne Easter. Graham has stated on several occasions that Hezbollah does wonderful humanitarian work and allowing them to function and raise funds in Canada will help the Middle East peace process. The Foreign Minister and his peacenik friends ignore the fact that Hezbollah’s stated policy is not peace--it is the total destruction of the state of Israel.
The letter refers to Easter’s claims that in order to designate groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, we need (that should read "he needs") "actual credible information." Hamas blows up a bus in Israel, scattering parts of children all over the place, immediately claims responsibility for the act and somehow that is not enough credible information to declare the group as a terrorist one. When the latest groups were added to Canada’s list, Easter said that it is better to be right than to go too quickly. This just confirms the government’s policy that the War on Terrorism isn’t as great a priority as such things as doling out grants to the prime minister’s friends in Shawinigan.
Easter, whose main qualifications for a seat at the cabinet table is that he’s from Prince Edward Island and he’s not Lawrence Macaulay, can perhaps be forgiven for his statement that we need proof of terrorism before we can act. He may have trouble understanding how much proof Canada needs to designate a group as a terrorist organization even though we all know that the proof "is da proof, and when you have da good proof, it’s proven". But Graham should, and does, know better. The equivocation in naming Islamic groups comes from the reluctance to name anti-Israel groups as terrorist organizations unless the government absolutely has to. There are two reasons for this, albeit each one is not totally disconnected from the other.
The first reason is that Canada has no independent foreign policy to speak of. While Liberals scream "sovereignty!!, sovereignty!!" whenever it is suggested that we cooperate with the United States in some way, they willingly give up any sovereignty that we have to the United Nations. How many times has Foreign Minister Graham deferred to the international body on questions of policy or actions to take? The solution to any problem, anywhere in the world is to go to the U.N. and seeks a solution. The U.N. always imposes higher standards on Israel than they do on other countries and Graham follows along like a good little puppy. An example of this is when Graham severely criticized the Israelis over Jenin, the greatest massacre that never was. Without "da proof" Graham bought into the anti-Israel line that the United Nations was dishing out. And Canada proudly goes to United Nations summits where Israel is constantly bashed. After all we don’t want to offend all of those Muslim countries with great human rights records like Sudan and Syria.
The second reason has to do with Canada’s domestic policies. Our concept of multiculturalism and tolerance and diversity does not include Americans or Jews and the government’s parameters are not unlike Osama bin Laden’s who lumps the two groups together. In this overly politically correct world that we live in, they are fair game. Would Jean Chrétien have refused to accept Francie Ducros’ resignation if she had called Nelson Mandela a moron? Or any one of the prime minister’s beloved African dictators? He would have accepted it in a minute. But the U.S. president is fair game. And so is Israel. When the choice between outlawing terrorist groups conflicts with the views of the United Nations or Canadian Muslims, the fight against terrorism takes a back seat.
Despite the rhetoric about Kyoto, the world will get warmer. And Canada will be able to take its rightful place and grow bananas.
Arthur Weinreb is a lawyer and author and Associate Editor of Canadafreepress.com, he can be reached at: aweinreb@interlog.com
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