Jason Kenney bans British MP George Galloway from Canada
By Kim Elliott
March 20, 2009
Has Jason Kenney and the Conservative government simply lost their minds? News broke today that Kenney has denied entry to British MP George Galloway, who is about to embark on a speaking tour in Canada.
The buzz about Galloway's North American tour has been growing loudly across the social media sphere and activist circles. That Canada would ban Galloway seemed like an internet hoax, when I first heard it, so I called Alykhan Velshi, MP Kenney's director of communications, this morning for confirmation. He explained that the decision is that of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), and that Mr. Kenney's role is only to decide to adhere or to overturn their decision. He has chosen not to overturn it.
Velshi refused to explain the specific grouns, but referred me to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Section 34(1)
34. (1) A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible on security grounds for
(a) engaging in an act of espionage or an act of subversion against a democratic government, institution or process as they are understood in Canada;
(b) engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government;
(c) engaging in terrorism;
(d) being a danger to the security of Canada;
(e) engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada; or
(f) being a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).
You can find the full act here. Mr Vishi refused to tell me which of the above security threats Mr. Galloway posed.
I briefly met Mr. Galloway at the Rafah Border in Egypt last week, as I was returning from a Code Pink delegation to Gaza, and he was returning from having successfully delievered over 1.2 million dollars in aid to Gaza, and bringing world-wide attention to the humanitarian disastor in Gaza via a 10,000 km caravan of more than 100 vehicles that traveled from Britian to Gaza called Viva Palestina. And this threatens Canada's border security... how?
According to his website, MP George Galloway "vowed to use "all means at my disposal" to challenge the decision by Canada's pro-war, conservative immigration minister, Jason Kenny, to refuse him entry to the country to give a series of speeches."
No doubt organizers of Mr. Galloway's events, anti-war organizers and free-speech advocates will respond to Mr. Kenney's the CBSA's poor thinking, in the meantime, individuals can voice their concerns to their MPs, and to Mr. Kenney's office directly. Details here.
