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Politics

Refugee council asks government to break ties with U.S.

By JIM FOX
Published December 17, 2006

A refugee group wants the Canadian government to remove the United States from its list of countries providing a safe haven for people who need protection.

The Canadian Council for Refugees accuses Washington of flouting international rules against torture, noting President Bush's recent acknowledgement of CIA-run detention facilities for terrorism suspects.

Canada's "safe third-country agreement" with the United States means potential refugees can be turned back at the Canadian border to pursue their claims in the United States where they first landed.

The group says that changes in U.S. legislation have made it significantly more difficult for asylum seekers to win protection.

There is also "damning evidence" the United States routinely flouts the international Convention Against Torture, said Janet Dench, the refugee council's executive director.

She noted the case of Canadian-Syrian dual citizen Maher Arar, deported to Syria by the United States, where officials believed he was a terrorist. He was subsequently tortured in Syria.

ACLU opposes ID plan

The privacy of Canadian travelers could be at risk with a proposed national identification system, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Barry Steinhardt, the union's former associate director, said Canadians should be concerned about being restricted from travel to the United States "based on bad or inaccurate information."

The U.S. government has been using an Automated Targeting System to assess the degree of risk that visitors might pose. It reviews the records of American and foreign citizens crossing international borders.

News in brief

- Canada's updated pandemic influenza plan indicates enough antiviral vaccine has been stockpiled to reduce the spread of the disease in its early stages. Federal Health Minister Tony Clement said Canada has decades of pandemic preparedness work that began after the "swine flu" scare of 1976.

- The jury has been selected for the trial of Robert Pickton, a 57-year-old farmer who has pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of numerous "sex-trade" workers from Vancouver. His trial begins Jan. 8 and is expected to last a year.

- A national agency has been formed to coordinate the fight against cancer and eliminate inequities in prevention and care. The federal government will spend $260-million over five years for the agency, called the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it will act as a clearinghouse for information on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Facts and figures

Canada's dollar slipped in the past week to 86.38 cents U.S., while the U.S. dollar returns $1.1576 in Canadian funds before bank exchange fees.

The Bank of Canada's trendsetting key interest rate is unchanged at 4.25 percent, while the prime lending rate is 6 percent.

Stock markets rose, with the Toronto exchange index at 13,021 points and the Canadian Venture Exchange at 2,813 points.

Lotto 6-49: Wednesday 8, 11, 22, 27, 33 and 36; bonus 1. (Dec. 9) 4, 11, 18, 20, 29 and 44; bonus 24.

Regional briefs

- Ontario politicians want to give themselves a 25 percent pay raise, to set their salaries at 75 percent of what federal members of Parliament earn. If the bill passes, members of the Provincial Parliament would receive about $110,000 a year - a $22,000 raise - with some of it tax free. Premier Dalton McGuinty's salary would jump to $198,600 from $159,000.

- Daniel Anderson, 21, is being held in jail on three counts of attempted murder in the shooting of three Winnipeg police officers. At the time of the shooting, police were conducting a drug raid at a house on Jubilee Avenue.

- Investigators are trying to determine how Laura Gainey, 25, was swept off a tall ship by a "rogue wave." She is missing and believed drowned. Gainey, the daughter of Montreal Canadiens manager Bob Gainey, was a volunteer on the ship Picton Castle, which was swamped more than 400 miles off Cape Cod, Mass., last week. The ship is based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com.

[Last modified December 17, 2006, 00:40:34]