Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s latest judicial scheme has driven a wedge between Canadians. It’s his best wedge yet, way ahead of the abortion issue, Senate reform, the gun registry, and capital punishment.
Harper has gone vigilante on us by putting up wanted posters everywhere of 30 undesirable refugee applicants against whom nothing criminal has ever been proven in a Canadian court.
An Immigration and Refugee Board hearing found them to be undesirable immigrants. But the fact that a court hasn’t convicted them under the Criminal Code doesn’t matter to Harper and his cabinet pals who have branded them war criminals.
Harper wants them rounded up and shipped back to where they came from. He doesn’t want them tried before a Canadian court.
So far, the roundup is working as he wants. Six people have been nabbed so far, and more are coming. Some of them will be getting medals when they get back home, depending on who’s in power. Others will be tortured or murdered. Some just might get a fair trial. There’s no way of telling.
In the meantime, Harper has a campaign going against the CBC led by Heritage Minister James Moore for not running the wanted posters on TV. In addition, the Internet is alive right now with many rather ugly racist remarks from readers who are buying into Harper’s vigilante scheme.
What they write as commentary goes beyond merely attacking the suspects. It targets lawyers, judges, and the entire justice system.
Noted Toronto immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman is representing one of Harper’s suspects, Arshad Muhammad. Writing online, a person identified as Anonymous 1759 asks, “What proud Canadian citizen could represent scum like this?
Deport both of them!! They should not even be allowed to be represented by a lawyer. You’re obviously not a citizen of this country . . . therefore you should not have any rights under Canada’s laws.”
Carl from Toronto chimes in as well: “Deport both the criminal and the lawyer as well.”
Remember, we only have Harper’s word that Muhammad is a criminal. As for Waldman, he’s a Canadian. Deporting a lawyer for defending a client might not go over too well with the bar associations.
Money seems to figure in all of this. Ian Clunas, for example, points out that “when these criminals have to start paying for their lawyers — they will leave faster.”
In Canada, everyone has a right to a legal defence. If they can’t afford a lawyer, they have options to get help.
But as Ken Banner notes online, some lawyers will work for show and to look good in the newspapers. He adds, however, that many are “too busy with lost luggage suits from Greyhound.”
A person called Dragonlen has another suggestion: “Put all the militants on a boat in Lake Ontario and torpedo the thing. Case closed.”
Some courts might call that murder, of course.
At the same time, people are taking the opportunity to attack judges. As ACSial writes, “Canada’s judiciary is an arrogant, dangerous joke. We need legislation stripping judges of the power of imposing publication bans.”
But Schick has a plan: “Send all the left wing to Pakistan, then we will have real Canada back. Left wing has raped us enough with their stupid rules.”
Then Anonymous 1759 is back again: “Why are we even giving these people hearings? To decide what? They’re wanted for deportation. Send him packing now!!!”
So that’s it. We can end all immigration hearings. What a great country.
Harper would be proud of these people for their repeated runs at the judiciary. Todd Dionne writes: “Lawyers, judges, immigration cops only care about their overtime and job security.”
He explains that he knows this because his cousin “used to work for immigration” but is retired now.
Who needs Statistics Canada when you’ve got anecdotal evidence?
None of the dozens of people who write in have any criticism of Harper or his ministers Vic Toews or Jason Kenney. At the same time, they have nothing good to say about our lawyers, judges or the justice system.
Then it’s time for Moore to take another run at the CBC, always a favourite target for Conservatives. Moore says he “just can’t explain why they’ve done the things they have done.”
Actually, the answer is quite simple. The CBC has refused to broadcast names or photos of the people that Harper, Moore, and others on the Conservative frontbenches keep calling war criminals because they haven’t been convicted of anything.
Until they’re found guilty or at least there’s some substantial evidence against them, they’re innocent until proven guilty in our system.
But Goodshot 1950 sums the issue up nicely for the conservative side: “I hate the CBC. They are nothing but a biased left-wing, taxpayer-sucking, bleeding heart, Liberal crock of crap. The sooner it gets privatized, the better.”
Actually, that’s being discussed within the Harper government right now.
Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is [email protected].
