Parliament is currently debating legislation that would require one-year, mandatory detention for certain migrants arriving in Canada, including 16- and 17-year-old children. Ostensibly intended to prevent human smuggling, this bill in fact punishes victims of human smuggling, including those desperately fleeing persecution and violence.
Canada has been a regional leader in drug policy, but Bill S-10 would waste billions of dollars on ineffective approaches that only appear to be tough on crime.
Human Rights Watch recently released a report that details brutal gang rapes and other abuses allegedly carried out by employees of Barrick Gold in Papua New Guinea. Barrick, a Canadian firm, is the world's largest gold producer and Porgera is one of the world's largest gold mines. Now the company is scrambling to put things right, investing in new mechanisms for oversight and accountability and firing some of its private security personnel while others are being hauled away by the police.
It was not surprising that last week Stephen Harper's government defeated a modest opposition private member's bill that offered an opportunity to improve the human rights records of Canadian oil, mining and gas companies. But the apparently ambiguous stance of opposition leader Michael Ignatieff on the bill came as a surprise to many -- and leaves him with some explaining to do.
The House of Commons is to vote today on a modest, sensible piece of legislation that would be a small step to help improve human rights and the reputation of Canadian companies around the world. You would never know this listening to bill C-300's enemies in the mining industry. The debate over this legislation has descended into circus-like hyperbole, and it is long past time to set the record straight.
In recent years, the Ethiopian government has carried out a meticulous campaign of intimidation, harassment and abuse that has managed to silence most of the government's independent opposition. Foreign aid has become one of the government's most effective tools in suppressing and punishing criticism. Canada should be much more vocal in pushing to make sure aid is not used as a weapon to fight dissent.
How could Canada possibly be rejected for a seat on the UN Security Council, losing by a wide margin to Portugal, a country with little international profile?
I have long known that torture can impair the memory of survivors. What I learned from observing the recent military commission proceedings in the case of Omar Khadr, the Canadian facing trial at Guantanamo for crimes he allegedly committed at age 15, is that it can impair the memory of perpetrators too.
When the corpse of Abdul Basir was found in an Afghan detention facility in December 2009, the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), which had been holding Basir for the previous month, claimed he committed suicide by throwing himself out a window. Unexplained were the small, dark circles on his forehead, blackened cuts on his body, bruising in several places and a large cut to his chin. Unexplained, that is, if you don’t know anything about detention practices in Afghanistan.
Wondering what to give your mother for Mother's Day? Flowers? A dinner out? Well, the leaders of the G8, who are meeting in Halifax before Mother's Day could give all the world's mothers a great gift - a genuine commitment to reducing maternal mortality.
Human Rights Watch recently released a report that details brutal gang rapes and other abuses allegedly carried out by employees of Barrick Gold in Papua New Guinea. Barrick, a Canadian firm, is the world's largest gold producer and Porgera is one of the world's largest gold mines. Now the company is scrambling to put things right, investing in new mechanisms for oversight and accountability and firing some of its private security personnel while others are being hauled away by the police.