Cuba
Continued From Page 15
He explains that in LeCompte’s case, Canada was able to
exert some influence because
Cuba has an interest in maintaining close ties with Canada, in
stark contrast to its rancorous
relationship with the U.S.
In fact, Kent underscored that
link by stating that “Canadians
have long appreciated Cuba as a
tourist destination”—and added
that “the delays faced by Can-
adians awaiting resolution of such
cases could affect the choice by
fellow Canadians of Cuba as a
tourist destination in the future.”
For added weight, the Prime
Minister’s office issued its own
release before LeCompte’s return
to Canada, stating that “Canadian
officials will continue to assist Mr.
LeCompte and ensure that there
are no more needless delays.”
But for Toronto immigration
lawyer Guidy Mamann, the
LeCompte case shows how the
federal government is “cherry-
picking” which Canadians over-
seas it chooses to assist.
Mamann cites other cases. Last
year, the Federal Court had to
order Ottawa to issue a passport to
Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian
citizen who was stuck in Sudan for
six years and couldn’t return home
because the federal government
refused to issue him a passport.
Passport problems also
plagued a Toronto woman in
2009. Suaad Haji Mohamud was
stranded in Kenya for nearly
three months after immigration
officials in Nairobi claimed her
facial features did not match her
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four-year-old Canadian passport, which Canada’s high commission there ended up confiscating and voiding (though
Mohamud proved her identity by
showing other ID documents).
After she spent eight days in
jail, Kenyan officials charged Moh-
amud with identity fraud—on
Canada’s recommendation.
Instead of having a policy of
“doing no harm” to Canadians,
federal government officials
“assisted the prosecution” in
Kenya, says Mamann, who is certified by the Law Society of Upper
Canada as a specialist in immigration law.
Though Kenyan authorities
delayed Mohamud’s trial until
DNA testing could be conducted
to prove her identity (which it did),
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence
Cannon told reporters in Ottawa
that there was “no tangible proof”
that she was a Canadian.
Most recently — and perhaps
the best example of Canada’s
hands-off approach to assisting
Canadians in distress, according
to both Waldman and
Mamann—is the ongoing plight
facing Omar Khadr, who is about
to go on trial before a military
tribunal on several charges,
including murder and terrorism-related offences.
Accused of throwing a grenade, when he was 15, which killed
a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in
2002, Khadr is the youngest prisoner and only westerner at Guantanamo Bay and now faces a sentence of life in prison.
“A lot of people believe that if
Canada were to intervene, it
would probably be well received
by the Obama administration,
which doesn’t particularly want to
go through with this trial but
doesn’t have an easy out,” says
Waldman.
Mamann adds that the federal
government seems to prefer to
have the U.S. government decide
on Khadr’s fate and also doesn’t
want to appear to be soft on ter-
rorism. “That’s no way to approach
it, since there are no other west-
erners at Guantanamo. Other
countries, whether their citizens
are right or wrong, go to bat for
them and make sure they are
experiencing due process.”
He says that instead, Ottawa
appears to only want to help
Canadians “who look good in
the paper,” an approach that
hints at racism.
“It seems as it’s always the
white people who are getting a
hand, while people of colour just
sit and languish overseas and no
one comes to their rescue.”
He believes that if Mohamud
was “white with blonde hair and
blue eyes, you can bet your life
someone would have stepped up
to the plate immediately and
confirmed she was in fact a Can-
adian citizen.”
