Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Aftermath of Arar

The very limited good news: this time Wayne Easter (or an equivalent) can't whine about lacking jurisdiction.
The far greater bad news: Even in the face of the Arar inquiry, Canada can't get assurances that the U.S. won't render its citizens to be tortured:
"Basically, all (the new protocol) requires is notification and consultation...The same thing could happen to another person."

And American human rights observers are demanding that Canada stand up to the Bush administration:
Yale-Loehr, who teaches at Cornell University and practises immigration law, said Canada should keep pressing for a veto...
Julia Hall, legal counsel for New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has studied the Arar case, dismissed Graham's attitude as showing "deference to the United States in all matters related to national security issues.
"For the Canadian government to say, 'Well, we just simply couldn't do better,' is a really significant and profound statement about whether it's a level playing field right now, whether the Canadian government can negotiate with the United States as an equal partner or whether the United States will always have the upper hand."

I know I feel more secure already.

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