Anyone Up For A Citizen's Arrest?

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.

No Disagreement Here

H/t The Toronto Star

And a Toronto Star reader weighs in on the issue:

Re: RCMP investigating Nigel Wright, PM says, Nov. 20

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn’t know about illegal payments being made to Senator Mike Duffy (as he has claimed on numerous occasions) he doesn’t deserve to be in the office. We have a disgraced mayor in Toronto. Harper is a disgrace to Canada.

David C. Lawton, Sutton

Plausible Deniability?

After watching the Prime Minister's ongoing repetitive and wholly unconvincing responses to Thomas Mulcair's incisive questions during Question Period, and after reading the latest details of the RCMP investigation into the scandal engulfing his government, I couldn't help but wonder if Stephen Harper, as a youngster, was unduly influenced by Hogan's Heroes and perhaps identified with the always charming Sgt Schultz:

Rick Mercer's Disgust With Harper

The following video is self-explanatory, but if you would like to read more about it and the Harper clan's seemingly endless capacity to not answer questions, check out this link to The Huffington Post.

On The Harper Regime's Lawlessness

Once again, Star readers come through with their perceptive indictments of the Harper regime's contempt for both the rule of law and democracy:

Re: Ottawa’s misrule of law, Opinion July 17

Professor Audrey Macklin’s piece on Ottawa’s disrespect for the law points to a culture of justice by vendetta and racism in this government. How is it otherwise when one sees a white Anglo-Saxon indicted felon received in this country without question, and sought out by the press, while the government dumps all over a boy soldier the likes of which Canada signed the international convention to protect and rehabilitate?

This government has demonstrated on a number of issues now that it thinks it is above the law; it chooses to break it at will and challenging us to stop them. So far nothing, and no one, has.

So, where is our “democracy,” the rule of the majority?

Frank Arturi, Toronto

If we live in a country that has majority government that was not elected by the majority of voters, and if that government refuses to abide by the laws and constitution of our country, and if the political representatives belonging to the governing party refuse to condemn its behaviour, “by definition” are we living in a democracy or an oligarchy?

Randy Gostlin, Oshawa

Two Letters About Omar Khadr

Yesterday I wrote a post on the contempt for the rule of law evident in the Harper regime's refusal to thus far repatriate Omar Khadr from Guantanimo.

Following are two thoughtful letters on the topic from today's Star I am taking the liberty of reproducing:

I am disgusted at the vitriol spewed by some people over the fate of Omar Khadr. Apparently the rule of law is a mask to be discarded at will.

Canada signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the protocol on child soldiers. If Khadr was a combatant, he would be covered by that protocol, which states he is to be returned to his home nation for rehabilitation. If Khadr was not a combatant then there is no reason to hold him.

Moreover, in the sham of justice that was the Guantanamo military tribunal, Khadr struck a deal with the prosecution to plead guilty in return for him being returned to Canada. In short, under anything even remotely passing for law, Canada has no choice but to accept his return.

In fact, Khadr is the only foreign national still held in Guantanamo. Citizens of other nations have all been repatriated even though they were sometimes adult combatants.

Of course, Canada should do far more than simply take him back. The evidence that has come out over the last decade shows that Canada was complicit in the torture Khadr was subjected to. This violates other international agreements that Canada has signed and is also a violation of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Canada has a moral and probably a legal obligation to make amends. Had Khadr been a 15-year-old gang member convicted of killing someone in Toronto, as a young offender he would be be free by now. Instead, as a boy dragged into a war zone by his father and caught up in a firefight where he was severely wounded, he has become, to some people anyway, a symbol of terrorism for whom no punishment will suffice.

Their thirst for vengeance at the expense of justice does not represent the Canada that I grew up in. We need to return to the rule of law. We need to rebuild our reputation as a lawful, just and compassionate nation.

Gary Dale, West Hill

With respect to Omar Khadr’s return to Canada from Guantanamo Bay at the request of the American government, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says, “A decision will be made in due course.”

The decision was made 20 months ago when then Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon provided a diplomatic note promising favourable consideration for Khadr’s return last November.

To argue otherwise is to admit that the government made a written promise to both Omar Khadr and the American government without any thought to its eventual execution. That would clearly be irresponsible and incompetent.

No, the only decision that the Harper government has to make at this time is whether or not they keep their promises.

Robert Betty, Edmonton

Contempt For Law Invites Contempt Of Harper Government

Despite its well-oiled propaganda machine spewing out rhetoric defending its 'law-and-order-agenda', the Harper regime is so awash in its contempt for the actual rule of law and its moral underpinnings as to fill any right-thinking person with nausea.

While countless instances of this contempt abound, probably one of the most egregious is its refusal to repatriate Omar Khadr from Guantanamo, despite a pronouncement by the Supreme Court of Canada on the matter and Harper's promises to the United States to do so.

Putting aside the fact that Khadr was a child soldier at the time of his alleged crime, imbued with extreme views by a fanatical father, justice and our Charter of Rights demand his return to Canada.

That, government hate-mongering notwithstanding, is not a matter of dispute, debate, or public opinion. It is the law. To flout that law is to be a renegade regime unworthy of its citizens' respect or support.

Today's Star has an editorial on this ongoing injustice well-worth reading.