That is the question Toronto lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo essentially asks, given the egregious contempt for law that the Harper government in general, and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander in particular, is showing regarding refugee health care:
Our government has clearly refused to comply with an order in a case in which the court found that the government’s denial of health benefits to refugees was a violation of our Charter of Rights (Ottawa’s Treatment Of Refugees Is Shocking – Nov. 7).
This defiance is in the face of the court refusing the government’s request to stay the order. Moreover, the government has publicly stated that it is obeying the court order, in spite of the clear facts to the contrary.
In my practice of law, I’ve represented trade union leaders who have gone to jail as a result of defying court orders. Perhaps it’s time for a citizen’s arrest of Immigration Minister Chris Alexander or indeed the PM, who likely authorized this defiance.
It’s time this government learned that the rule of law means the law applies equally to all. It is not enough to wax eloquently on Remembrance Day that we should honour our fallen soldiers who fought valiantly and died to protect the rule of law. We truly honour them by complying with the rule of law and not defying it!
Contempt of a court order is an insult to their memory.
So what happens now? Isn't there a way to force an arrest?? Or something?
ReplyDeleteI'm all for storming Parliament Hill, Kirby, but given recent events, perhaps that might be ill-advised.
DeleteWell I am all for revolution. But that aside, is there not some mechanism by which the government can be forced to comply with a court order or do we live in even less of a democracy than I thought?
DeleteAn excellent question, and one that the media should surely be asking!
Delete.. take a good look at how Harper - Peter Kent & a bushel of lawyers defied the required mandate to act on behalf of an endangered species .. the boreal caribou.. Was it 6 years of court appeals till they decided airdropping strychnine baits to poison boreal wolves was an elegant solution.. ?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of how the legal system can be turned upside down, Salamander, especially when we have renegades in power.
DeleteHey Lorne - in answer to my own question it seems that the first step is going to about to go forward. Peter Showler, co-chair of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, is about to file a contempt motion with the court. If the court finds the government in contempt I am not sure where the logistics go from there but just the idea of the government being found in contempt is satisfying. I suppose that technically a judge can have the minister arrested and incarcerated until he is in full compliance with the court order but, though I am no legal historian, I take it even the contempt decision is new legal territory.
ReplyDeleteThat's great news, Kirby! Thanks for sharing it. We'll have to follow this one closely.
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