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National Observer
4 days ago
- Politics
- National Observer
Canadian men, children held in Syria make human rights complaints against Ottawa
A dozen Canadian men and children detained in Syria are complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that Ottawa is discriminating against them by not assisting their return to Canada. The Canadians are among the foreign nationals who have endured squalid and dangerous conditions for years in camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Some Canadian women and children have been repatriated in recent years with help from Canadian officials and the co-operation of Kurdish authorities. There are 12 complainants in the human rights commission case — five Canadian men and seven children aged five to 12. Lawyer Nicholas Pope, who launched the complaints, said federal policy guiding the repatriation of Canadians from the region discriminates based on age, sex and family status. Pope said the policy gives less favourable treatment to Canadian children whose mothers were not born in Canada. Canada has insisted that the remaining detained Canadian children, who were born to three non-Canadian mothers, be forcibly separated from their mothers and become orphans in Canada in order to receive repatriation services, he said. In addition, Ottawa has declined to help repatriate Canadian men. "Every Canadian has the right to be treated equally," Pope said in a statement. "This is a rare situation in which the detaining authority holding Canadians abroad is actually pleading with us to end the detention, but it is Ottawa that is selectively refusing to let some Canadians return home." Among the men complaining to the human rights commission is Jack Letts, who became a devoted Muslim as a teenager, went on holiday to Jordan, then studied in Kuwait before winding up in Syria. The Federal Court of Appeal ruled two years ago that Ottawa was not obligated under the law to repatriate Letts and three other Canadian men. The Supreme Court of Canada then declined to hear an appeal of the ruling. In accordance with the Canadian Human Rights Act, the human rights commission receives and screens complaints from people who believe they have experienced discrimination or harassment. The commission helps resolve disputes through mediation or conciliation, and sometimes refers complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, an independent body that can decide whether there is discrimination. Pope said the commission "has put the files on a fast-track" and is requiring the government to participate in conciliation, which is in the process of being scheduled. The human rights commission did not respond to a request for comment. Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod said that due to confidentiality the department is unable to comment on cases before the human rights commission. The complaint filed last August on behalf of Letts says he suffers from anemia and experiences considerable pain from a potentially life-threatening kidney disorder, but he cannot access adequate medical treatment. "The Complainant is held in prison in a small cell that is overcrowded and unsanitary," the form reads. "He lacks adequate food and medical attention. He has never been given any legal process to challenge his detention." It notes that Canada has repatriated women and children from northeastern Syria under federal policy, but not any men, even though their conditions are more dire than those of the repatriated women and children. "The blanket ban on repatriating adult males perpetuates the stereotype that men are more dangerous than women and children," the complaint says. In a response filed with the commission concerning Letts's case, the federal government says the commission should refuse to deal with the complaint because "the assessment of the complainant's situation is ongoing and a decision whether to provide extraordinary assistance has not yet been made." The government also denies the allegation that Letts was not given repatriation assistance because of his sex or age. A statement of reply to the commission on behalf of Letts says the government has twice made determinations to refuse him repatriation services. In a response to the commission concerning the complaints involving children, the government denies the federal policy is discriminatory towards them on the basis of family status. MacLeod said Global Affairs continues to evaluate the provision of extraordinary assistance, including repatriation to Canada, on a case-by-case basis. "Canadian consular officials remain actively engaged with authorities and international organizations operating in Syria for information on and assistance to Canadian citizens in custody," she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canadian men, children held in Syria pursue human rights complaints against Ottawa
OTTAWA – A dozen Canadian men and children detained in Syria are complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that Ottawa is discriminating against them by not assisting their return to Canada. The Canadians are among the foreign nationals who have endured squalid and dangerous conditions for years in camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Some Canadian women and children have been repatriated in recent years with help from Canadian officials and the co-operation of Kurdish authorities. There are 12 complainants in the human rights commission case — five Canadian men and seven children aged five to 12. Lawyer Nicholas Pope, who launched the complaints, said federal policy guiding the repatriation of Canadians from the region discriminates based on age, sex and family status. Pope said the policy gives less favourable treatment to Canadian children whose mothers were not born in Canada. Canada has insisted that the remaining detained Canadian children, who were born to three non-Canadian mothers, be forcibly separated from their mothers and become orphans in Canada in order to receive repatriation services, he said. In addition, Ottawa has declined to help repatriate Canadian men. 'Every Canadian has the right to be treated equally,' Pope said in a statement. 'This is a rare situation in which the detaining authority holding Canadians abroad is actually pleading with us to end the detention, but it is Ottawa that is selectively refusing to let some Canadians return home.' Among the men complaining to the human rights commission is Jack Letts, who became a devoted Muslim as a teenager, went on holiday to Jordan, then studied in Kuwait before winding up in Syria. The Federal Court of Appeal ruled two years ago that Ottawa was not obligated under the law to repatriate Letts and three other Canadian men. The Supreme Court of Canada then declined to hear an appeal of the ruling. In accordance with the Canadian Human Rights Act, the human rights commission receives and screens complaints from people who believe they have experienced discrimination or harassment. The commission helps resolve disputes through mediation or conciliation, and sometimes refers complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, an independent body that can decide whether there is discrimination. Pope said the commission 'has put the files on a fast-track' and is requiring the government to participate in conciliation, which is in the process of being scheduled. The human rights commission did not respond to a request for comment. Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod said that due to confidentiality the department is unable to comment on cases before the human rights commission. The complaint filed last August on behalf of Letts says he suffers from anemia and experiences considerable pain from a potentially life-threatening kidney disorder, but he cannot access adequate medical treatment. 'The Complainant is held in prison in a small cell that is overcrowded and unsanitary,' the form reads. 'He lacks adequate food and medical attention. He has never been given any legal process to challenge his detention.' It notes that Canada has repatriated women and children from northeastern Syria under federal policy, but not any men, even though their conditions are more dire than those of the repatriated women and children. 'The blanket ban on repatriating adult males perpetuates the stereotype that men are more dangerous than women and children,' the complaint says. In a response filed with the commission concerning Letts's case, the federal government says the commission should refuse to deal with the complaint because 'the assessment of the complainant's situation is ongoing and a decision whether to provide extraordinary assistance has not yet been made.' The government also denies the allegation that Letts was not given repatriation assistance because of his sex or age. A statement of reply to the commission on behalf of Letts says the government has twice made determinations to refuse him repatriation services. In a response to the commission concerning the complaints involving children, the government denies the federal policy is discriminatory towards them on the basis of family status. MacLeod said Global Affairs continues to evaluate the provision of extraordinary assistance, including repatriation to Canada, on a case-by-case basis. 'Canadian consular officials remain actively engaged with authorities and international organizations operating in Syria for information on and assistance to Canadian citizens in custody,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Top court to look at whether challenge of ethics ruling in Trudeau case can proceed
OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada will look at whether a group's challenge of a federal ethics report on Justin Trudeau's involvement in a decision about WE Charity can proceed. In May 2021, then-federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion concluded that Trudeau, prime minister at the time, did not breach the Conflict of Interest Act when he participated in a decision about WE Charity, which operated in Canada and abroad. The group Democracy Watch applied soon after for judicial review of Dion's ruling in the Federal Court of Appeal. Federal lawyers argued the application should be tossed out — in part because the Conflict of Interest Act bars judicial review concerning questions of fact and law. The Federal Court of Appeal granted the government's motion to strike the application for judicial review, prompting Democracy Watch to take its case to the Supreme Court. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. The top court, following its usual practice, gave no reasons for agreeing to hear the case. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2025.
CBC
18-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Poilievre promises to scrap single-use plastics ban and bring back the plastic straw
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to scrap the federal government's ban on single-use plastics and bring back plastic straws and disposable grocery bags. "The Liberals' plastics ban is not about the environment, it's about cost and control," Poilievre said during a campaign stop in Montreal Friday. "This isn't about science, it's about symbolism," he added. "They are not about saving the planet, they're about punishing all of us to make themselves feel good." In 2022, the Liberal government announced it was going to ban some single-use plastic items in an effort to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030. The six categories of single-use plastics that were banned — checkout bags, cutlery, take-out containers, stir sticks, plastic aluminum can ring carriers and plastic straws — account for about three per cent of the plastic waste Canada generates annually. That Liberal ban was overturned in November 2023 by the Federal Court, which said listing plastic items as toxic was "unreasonable and unconstitutional." On appeal in 2024, the federal government got a stay from the Federal Court of Appeal on the November ruling, allowing the ban to continue while the federal government continues its appeal. That appeal was heard in June, but a decision has not yet been handed down by the court. Proposed packaging rules The Liberal government has also proposed further changes to regulations for the plastic packaging used for grocery items that include five key objectives, including: Eliminating unnecessary packaging by a 2035. Ensure plastic-free packaging for 75 per cent fresh fruits and vegetables sold in bulk by 2026, and 95 per cent sold in bulk by 2028. Making sure all "primary food packaging" — plastic that comes into direct contact with fresh food — is recyclable by 2028. Companies must increase the use of refillable plastics, reduce disposable plastics and concentrated plastics over time. Increasing the use of recyclable content in food packaging to 10 per cent by 2028, 20 per cent by 2030 and 30 per cent by 2035. Poilievre says making those changes will cost Canadian households an additional $400 each year on the groceries they buy. "The Liberals' ideological crusade against convenience has already driven up food prices and the last thing Canadians need is Mark Carney's new food tax added directly to your grocery bill," said Poilievre. The Conservative leader says that only one per cent of single-use plastics find their way into the environment every year, with the rest being recycled. According to Statistics Canada, more than 40,000 tonnes of plastic leak into the Canada's physical environment every year. The plastic straw culture war Poilievre's pledge follows U.S. President Donald Trump signing of an executive order in February that banned paper straws, rolling back former president Joe Biden's plan to phase out single-use plastics. "We're going back to plastic straws," Trump told reporters at the White House as he signed the order. "I don't think plastic is going to affect a shark very much, as they're munching their way through the ocean," he added. Paper straws have already been a culture war flashpoint in the United States and Canada for some time now. In 2019, Trump's presidential campaign sold Trump-branded plastic straws as an alternative to "liberal" paper straws (and reportedly raised half a million dollars for Trump's re-election effort in the process). Last year, Lianne Rood, the Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, said she would no longer buy coffee from Tim Hortons until it discontinued its use of paper lids. Conservative MP Corey Tochor's private member's bill, C-380, was a legislative effort to overturn the Liberal ban because of his opposition to the paper straw, which he described as "soggy, limp, wet and utterly useless." Liberal Leader Mark Carney defended the Liberal ban, saying all of the items being banned all have readily available and affordable substitutes that people can buy instead. "I don't see the need to follow the U.S. either in terms of the respect for judgments of judges, U.S. firearm policy or with respect to plastics, we make our own decisions here in Canada," Carney said at a campaign stop Friday in Niagara Falls, Ont.
CBC
04-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ottawa defends use of Emergencies Act during convoy protests before Federal Court of Appeal
A lawyer for the federal government says a judge mistakenly concluded it was unreasonable for the government to use the Emergencies Act in 2022 to quell protests in the national capital and at key border points. In his January 2024 ruling, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley said he revisited the events with the benefit of a more extensive record of the facts and the law than the government had when it proclaimed a public order emergency. Ultimately, there "was no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act," he wrote. Lawyer Michael Feder, representing the government, told the Federal Court of Appeal on Thursday it was unfair of the judge to fault federal decision-making using "20/20 hindsight." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, 2022, after thousands of protesters angry with the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine requirements, gridlocked downtown Ottawa for nearly a month and blocked border points elsewhere across the country. While many demonstrated against COVID-19 health restrictions, the gathering attracted people with a variety of grievances against Trudeau and the Liberal government. The act gave law enforcement extraordinary powers to remove and arrest protesters and gave the government the power to freeze the finances of those connected to the protests. The temporary emergency powers also gave authorities the ability to commandeer tow trucks to remove vehicles belonging to protesters. Inquiry came to a different conclusion The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and several other groups and individuals argued in Federal Court that Ottawa ushered in the emergency measures without sound statutory grounds. A mandatory inquiry reviewed the government's use of the Emergencies Act in the fall of 2022 and came to a different conclusion than Mosley. Commissioner Paul Rouleau concluded the federal government met the "very high" threshold needed to invoke the Emergencies Act, citing "a failure in policing and federalism."
