For those who do not know, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom guarantees the right of Canadians to travel to Canada.  Yet a Canadian citizen is forced to live in the lobby of Canadian embassy in Sudan for 11 months because of a blatant violation of the rights of a Canadian.

Here is the background.  A Canadian citizen, Abousfian Abdelrazik, got placed in the UN Security Council blacklist by the Bush administration.  We all know Bush administration’s record of fairness and protecting civil liberties (I am being sarcastic).  Canada did the right thing by investigating and both RCMP and CSIS cleared him of any wrongdoing.  So that should be it, right?  Not for our government.

First the Harper government refused to issue Abdelrazik a passport so he could travel home. Then they said they would issue a passport if he could get a flight home.  He booked a flight.  So the Foreign Minister insisted that he must pay for the ticket, in full, in order to get a passport.  170 Canadians donated money for the ticket, allowing him to actually pay for the ticket.  And now the Foreign Minister goes back on his word, and insists that Abdelrazik must somehow remove himself from the UN list (and impossible ask) before he can be issued a passport.  Never mind the fact that the UN blacklist contains a specific exemption for citizens to return home.  As I mentioned, Canadian charter of rights also provides all citizens with an unfettered right of return. 

NDP MPs claim racism is at play, and as much as I hate to agree with NDP, it does sound fishy.  Anyone remembers Brenda Martin?  A Canadian who got stuck in Mexico?  Our government was happy to help Branda return.  But her last name was “Martin”, not “Abdelrazik”.  Apparently that makes a difference for this government.

The scary thing is that a single person (Foreign Minister) can practically force a citizen into exile without any due process whatsoever.  In this case the government shouldn’t be able to drag its feet and appeal, the minister should instead be dragged to court instead.  Noone except a judge after due process should be able to impose such a huge punishment on someone. 

So now this individual is forced to live in the hallways of Canadian embassy, but cannot return home because his government refuses to accept his rights and liberties.

We really do live in sad times.  It’s pathetic when a minister (a public servant I might add) just decides to ignore a right guaranteed by Canadian Charter of Rights without giving any explanation whatsoever.  Isn’t this the sort of abuse the Charter was supposed to prevent?  I would hate to live in a country where people are more Canadian or less Canadian based on their names or the colour of their skins.  It’s pathetic.