Friday, November 21, 2003

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

Today's lead editorial in the Globe and Mail condemns the positions taken yesterday by Solicitor General Wayne Easter and U.S Attorney General John Ashcroft (commented on below) in the deportation case of Maher Arar. The editorial rightly calls Mr. Easter's position cowardly, something I have already done, and argues that Mr. Ashcroft violated both U.S and international law in deporting Mr. Arar.

While all of this seems to be true, both this editorial and the Canadian media are focusing too much attention on the United States and not enough on the role of the Canadian government. The Solicitor General has admitted that Canadian authorities provided information to the U.S that may have led to the deportation of Mr. Arar. A growing amount of circumstantial evidence suggests that the validity of this information was questionable and perhaps obtained illegally. The Canadian government can not direct all of the blame to the United States Jusice Department, though some seems to be warranted. There are too many unanswered questions about the role Canadian authrorities played in this affair. These are the kind of questions that a public inquiry could answer. So how about it?

Posted by Matthew @ 4:37 p.m.