Contrary to what the New York Times and AP claim, these children are not “highly motivated young recruits"
By Ann Fitz-Gerald and Hugh Segal Macdonald-Laurier Institute When the recent conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region first flared in November 2020, with an unprovoked violent attack by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on federal forces, the Western media and many aid donors chose their side early on – and it was not Prime Minister…
The War Crimes Section has not had a budget increase in over 20 years
By Sarah Teich and Maria Reisdorf Macdonald-Laurier Institute Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland recently delivered the country’s first federal budget in two years. As Canadians spend the coming days and weeks analyzing the country’s economic recovery plan, one department that merits particular attention is the Department of Justice’s War Crimes Section. The War Crimes Section…
When words that demean others are spoken with impunity, they lead to further infringements on our dignity and rights
The greatest danger to our way of life is the culture of impunity we’ve created. It’s an assault on truth and human dignity. This became very clear in a discourse between two members of the American House of Representatives. Ted Yoho verbally accosted and demeaned Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for expressing her views on controversial issues and…
True power doesn’t rest with the violent, it lies with those of integrity and courage
Canadian Gen. Romeo Dallaire stated, “At its heart, the Rwandan story is the failure of humanity to heed a call for help from an endangered people.” It would be nice to believe that the world learned its lesson in Rwanda, where nearly one million people were slaughtered in roughly 90 days as the world stood…
Canada needs to speak up for peace and stability before the situation escalates into a wider conflict
The recent U.S. air strikes in Syria show that a grave risk of wider war, including nuclear war, is upon us. Canada's government, and indeed everyone, should do whatever possible to avoid such a calamity. The federal government should not support any military action in Syria. The recent armed attacks, although fortunately limited in scale,…
None of Khadr's conspiracy allegations were proven in court, of course, because the Trudeau government sidestepped the public process and defied the rule of law
The federal government has shown a gross lack of common sense in settling with Omar Khadr. According to a recent poll, a whopping 71 per cent of Canadians believe the Liberal government did “the wrong thing” in skipping the court process and awarding Khadr a $10.5-million settlement and an apology for violating his human rights…
The child soldier argument may support Khadr's repatriation, but whether the Liberal’s decision to pay him $10.5 million is politically wise remains to be seen
It seems nobody is very happy about the multi-million-dollar payout to Omar Khadr. In a sharp rebuke to the government of Canada, the Sun newspaper chain claimed, "… the $10.5 million payout to Canadian-born al-Qaeda combatant Omar Khadr will be a millstone around the Liberal's neck ..." The editorial went on to say, "rewarding and…
As many Canadians struggle on public assistance,. imagine how they feel as confessed terrorist Omar Khadr gets $10.5 million from the Trudeau government
Omar Khadr didn’t deserve the apology and $10.5-million settlement he received from the federal Liberal government last week. I could almost end the column right now. Khadr’s supporters will be furious and stop reading it. His detractors will assume my thesis fits their worldview and gloss over it. But if you’ll divulge me for several…
What’s troubling is the abrupt manner in which the Trump administration reversed policy on Syria. Assad’s barbarism is not exactly news
Lines are being drawn in the sand in Syria, but the sand keeps shifting. Former U.S. president Barack Obama's administration resolutely declared that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had to go. It said he was an obstacle to the peaceful resolution of the Syrian civil war and that his use of chemical weapons against civilians was a red…
By Ann Fitz-Gerald and Hugh Segal Macdonald-Laurier Institute When the recent conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region first flared in November 2020, with an unprovoked violent attack by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on federal forces, the Western media and many aid donors chose their side early on – and it was not Prime Minister…
