Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Lawyer slams Ottawa's naming of war-crimes suspects

Federal government undermining presumption of innocence, immigration attorney says

A Quebec immigration lawyer is criticizing the Canadian government's recent release of photos of 30 suspected war criminals.

The photographs are displayed on a government website along with the last known places of residence of each of the 30 people.

Lawyer Dan Bohbot said it undermines the idea that people in Canada are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

He said the federal Immigration Act shouldn't allow individuals to be labeled without being charged.

"It's a problem because it means that really the Immigration Act makes it very easy for the government to label individuals and make them inadmissible in Canada. So really, you have a situation where a lot of people are found inadmissible or excluded from defintion of refugees," said Bohbot.

On Friday, one of the people on the list of alleged war criminals was picked up by authorities.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said 44-year-old Cristobal Gonzalez-Ramirez was arrested in Alberta. His last known address was in Edmonton, but he's from Honduras.

Kenney said Gonzalez-Ramirez belonged to a special army unit there where the alleged war crimes were committed.

"He was excluded from access to Canada's asylum system because of associations in his past and that's the decision taken by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada which led ulimately to a removal order which we are in the process of enforcing," he said.

Kenney said Gonzalez-Ramirez has been a fugitive since his removal order in 2010, and was found based on tips from four people.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the photos were released after Sun Media asked to have the pictures published.

Four ex-Montrealers are among the 29 remaining fugitives the Canadian Border Services Agency is looking for.

Origin
Source: CBC news 

No comments:

Post a Comment