Canadians from all walks of life denounced today Stephen Harper's fear mongering and Islamophobic bill that is being rushed through parliament. Rallies were held in Toronto and 70 other cities attended by tens of thousands of people. It was the strongest expression yet of the rejection of the politics of hate and fear mongering by the right wing Conservative party.
The Harper government’s Bill C-51 is a massive assault on the civil and political rights of all Canadians. He is rushing it through parliament without much debate. Leading Canadians including former prime ministers, justices, solicitors general and law professors have decried its draconian measures that will turn Canada into a police state.
In an important ruling, a federal judge has said that Omar Khadr can sue the Canadian government over its complicity in his incarceration at Guantanamo Bay, informs letter writer Charles Cassig.
The Conservative government is using attacks by two men suffering from mental problems and drug addiction to push through legislation that would drastically curtail the rights of Canadians, especially Muslims.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected appeals from doctors and politicians to allow Palestinian children wounded in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza, to get treatment in Canada. Harper is a staunch ally of Israel.
If anyone harbors any illusions that the Zionist thugs are peaceful, they should have seen the thugs from the so-called Jewish Defence League (JDL), Israel's storm troopers in Canada, in action yesterday. They assaulted Palestinians at Palestine House, just as Zionist occupiers assault and murder Palestinians in Occupied Palestine. The group is banned in the US as a terrorist outfit but not in Canada.
The Parti Quebecois has been delivered a stunning defeat in Quebec's provincial elections to the relief of many people in Canada for very different reasons. Her anti-religious and anti-minority agenda has also been thrown out.
There is a great deal in common between South African and Israeli apartheid policies. There are also many differences with the zionists often surpassing even the Afrikaaners. Who is better placed than an anti-apartheid struggler of South Africa to talk about these issues? Yusuf “Jojo” Saloojee, a former South African ambassador will speak at Israeli Apartheid Week events across Canada.
The Conservative government’s proposed Citizenship Act eliminates due process and hands decision-making power of taking away citizenship to politicians that can be fickle and pander to mass generated hysteria against targeted groups.
A Mossad agent who was involved in the killing of Hamas leader Dr Mahmoud al-Mabhouth in Dubai in January 2010 has been given a new identity and Canadian passport, according to a story in the rightwing news agency, QMI. The Canadian government refuses to comment on the story. Opposition parties are also silent on this most serious issue. Are Mossad terrorists welcome in Canada?
Money and self-interest always trump human rights. The Harper regime has just announced a $10 billion sale of military equipment to one of the most notorious regimes in the Middle East--Saudi Arabia. While the Saudis are so incompetent that they will not be able to use them against any external threat, their real use would be against its own civilian population as well as keeping other notoriously oppressive regime, such as in Bahrain, in power.
The zionists are nothing if they are not racists. They would even oppose something as harmless as building a seniors' home if it is for Muslims. This is what the Shia Muslim community is facing in Thornhill, a suburb outside Toronto. Ultimately, the Muslims will succeed because they are acting within their right but the entire episode once again exposes the racism of zionists.
There are striking similarities between the First Nations peoples and the Palestinians. Both were expelled from their lands by European colonialists; both were subjected to genocide. In the case of First Nations, the project largely succeeded. The Palestinians have refused to disappear.
Canada’s Supreme Court led by its energetic Chief Justice Beverley MacLachlin has shown it will not bow to racists and bigots but stand up for the rights of all people.
Given the widespread environment of Islamophobia in the west, the ruling by Canada’s Supreme Court to allow niqab in courts while women testify is a landmark decision with far-reaching implications.
Much to the chagrin of the Islamophobes and their fellow travellers from among the lunatic fringe of Muslims, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the call to ban the niqab in courts when Muslim women testify. The majority opinion written by the honourable Chief Justice, Beverley McLaghlin laid out a four-step approach for judges to consider about the niqab use in courts.
It is not only distressing but disgusting that the Canadian government refuses to stand up for one of its own citizens.
(Warning: Disturbing Content) The heart-wrenching story of an eight-year-old girl who was abducted outside her school on 4-8-2009, raped and then brutally murdered occupied much media attention last month. The story of Victoria (Tori) Stafford would send shudders down the spine of every human being, especially parents, and make them wonder what kind of beasts would do such terrible things to an innocent child.
With his December 12 outburst against niqab, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney confirmed that the rightwing government he serves is rabidly Islamophobic. This is not the first time Kenney and other members of the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper have attacked Muslims.
Beyond the drum-beating and chest thumping about what a great job the Canadian soldiers did in Afghanistan, the question that needs to be asked is: what exactly did they achieve despite spending $20 billion on a war that is still raging and the Afghans are no better off today, in fact much worse, than they were 10 years ago?
