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Lawrence Cannon Alert

Project Fly Home Reviews List: Cannon listing maintained; Rae and Dewar under review

28 April 2011

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Montreal, 28 April 2011 — Project Fly Home has launched a review of the 1267-Collaborators' list. The Consolidated List of 1267 Blacklist Collaborators consists of individuals and organizations in Canada suspected of collaborating with the UN Security Council's 1267 Blacklisting Regime or of being associated with entities that have engaged in repressive activities — arbitrary detention, torture, blacklisting, racial profiling, etc. — related to imposing this blacklisting regime on Canadians.

The Delisting Committee has reviewed and maintained the listing of Lawrence Cannon, who is openly running for the Conservative Party — a listed entity — in the riding of Pontiac, Quebec. Mr. Cannon was the Minister of Foreign Affairs when Abousfian Abdelrazik was stuck in the Canadian embassy in Sudan for over a year. During this period, Mr. Cannon misled parliament and the Canadian public about the sanctions imposed by the 1267 Blacklisting Regime, asserting that they prevented Mr. Abdelrazik from returning to Canada. Finally, a UN official was forced to publicly expose his, er, counter-factuals. The Federal Court of Canada found that Mr. Cannon had breached Mr. Abdelrazik's Charter Rights by refusing him the travel document he needed to return to Canada. Justice Russell Zinn concluded that, "Had it been necessary to determine whether the breach was done in bad faith, I would have had no hesitation making that finding on the basis of the record before me." As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Cannon has been directly responsible for imposing the 1267 Blacklisting sanctions on Canadians, including Abousfian Abdelrazik.

Mr. Cannon has neither apologized nor sought to make amends to Mr. Abdelrazik. On the contrary, lawyers representing him oppose Mr. Abdelrazik's quest for justice in the courts. At the same time, Mr. Cannon has washed his hands of any responsibility for the sanctions (an asset freeze and an international travel ban) which are imposed on Mr. Abdelrazik to this day; instead, he has repeatedly advised Mr. Abdelrazik to "get himself off the UN list". Mr. Cannon hopes to get re-elected in his riding. Project Fly Home calls on all members of the Pontiac riding to impose sanctions on Mr. Cannon.

Also under review are Bob Rae and Paul Dewar, both listed on 10 April 2011. Supporters wrote Project Fly Home to argue that they had been wrongly listed.

According to the Globe and Mail, Mr. Dewar distanced himself from the 1267 Blacklist in early 2010, stating, "It's time to take out measures that undermine human rights [...] given Canada's painful experience with 1267, we could have a positive role in reforming the system." (3 February 2010). It is not clear how a blacklist can be reformed and Project Fly Home has had no opportunity to evaluate Dewar's project because the NDP has taken no further steps on the issue. Mr. Dewar is running as a candidate in Ottawa Centre.

Bob Rae was quoted in the same Globe and Mail article as saying, "The UN blacklist is just not acceptable; it doesn't withstand any test of due process." (3 February 2010). Mr. Rae is a member of the Liberal Party, which was in power when Mr. Abdelrazik was first arrested in Sudan, probably on the request of Canadian officials with the spy agency CSIS (according to the Federal Court of Canada). Mr. Rae is running as a Liberal candidate in Toronto Centre.

The listing of both individuals is currently under review. A decision can be expected at some time. The Delisting Committee is under no obligation to disclose reasons for maintaining a listing. Two new additions to the list are Liberal and Conservative candidates, Christine Innes and Gin Siow, for Trinity-Spadina in Toronto. Project Fly Home is under no obligation to disclose why they were listed or by whom.

Project Fly Home repeats its call for all members of the public to apply sanctions to listed individuals and entites. Information leading to new listings is also welcome, and can be sent anonymously to PFHList@gmail.com. To address concerns about fairness, an independent email account has been set up to receive delisting applications: PFHDelist@gmail.com.

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