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Canada to take hard line with would-be migrants
Jane Armstrong and John Ibbitson write for the Globe:
Canada’s Immigration Minister has signalled that he intends to play hardball with 76 men believed to be from Sri Lanka who arrived on a rusty boat off Canada’s West Coast, as the government battles the perception of Canada as a soft touch for asylum seekers.
Isn’t it too early to presume these people to be bogus, if they supposedly crossed an ocean to come from a recent war zone?
Human Rights vs. State Sovereignty
Gary Anandasangaree, a Toronto lawyer, recent graduate of Osgoode, and member of the Canadian Tamil Congress, has a piece in today’s Star on the conflict in Sri Lanka,
While Canada stood with countries like Germany, Britain and France deploring “the significant loss of human lives,” urging Sri Lanka to give full and unhindered access to humanitarian organizations and calling for an investigation of human rights violations, Sri Lanka stood with countries like China, Cuba, Russia and Iran, which resolutely defended its interests. These countries supported a draft submitted by Sri Lanka that commended the government’s actions toward the civilians in the camps and lauded its promotion and protection of human rights…
Countries that ought to champion the need for the universal application of human rights instruments have failed miserably to ensure that the world does not stay silent in the midst of human tragedy.
