October 27, 2010
Jason Kenney exposed - again
Some 18 months ago, the Canadian Arab Federation launched a lawsuit against Jason Kenney, Minister of Immigration and Citizenship. Mr. Kenney had accused CAF of being an anti-Semitic organization and used this charge as a pretext for cutting funding to some CAF-run settlement programs. In addition, Mr. Kenney used every occasion to smear CAF and associate its activities with terrorism and anti-Semitism.
Of course, he stopped doing this after the lawsuit was launched, but the damage had been done.
The Arab community came together to help CAF with its lawsuit. Financial, moral and legal support was generous enough to launch the lawsuit and keep it going for almost a year and a half. Mr. Kenney did not expect the Arab community to fight, and if it did he did not expect it to keep the lawsuit going for so long.
With taxpayer money, Mr. Kenney’s office used every legal loophole to delay and postpone the process in hopes of draining CAF’s financial resources and/or turning the Arab community against itself.
Mr. Kenney’s office even changed its legal representation five times as it tried to find a law firm that could miraculously guarantee a victory.
But time does work miracles. These delaying tactics now seem to be working against Mr. Kenney. As the Conservatives make more political mistakes on issues of interest to mainstream Canadians, the public’s mood has started to shift toward sympathy for the government’s victims, which include advocacy and human rights organizations.
We can see how the political and legal process has caught up with Mr. Kenney and the Conservatives in their loss on the gun registry, British MP George Galloway’s legal victory against Jason Kenney, and Canada’s failure to get a seat on the UN Security Council. In all of these high-profile cases, the Conservatives invested a lot of political capital just to reap a resounding defeat.
The same law firm that handled the George Galloway lawsuit is also handling CAF’s. The parameters of the two cases are similar, but not identical. In each case, though, criticism of Israel is the only driving factor behind Mr. Kenney’s conduct. The judge in the Galloway case was very clear on that.
This Conservative government usually appeals unfavourable court decisions, but the fact that it did not appeal the Galloway decision means it knew it would lose again. If it had appealed, it would only have further irritated and frustrated the judicial system, a system that Canadians hold in high regard.
Mr. Kenney’s office has until mid-November to present its defence to CAF’s lawsuit. After so many recent losses, it is expected to try more underhanded tricks to delay the process or introduce shady evidence. If it does, Jason Kenney and his associates will be exposed for what they are, and will never again dare attack an Arab organization simply because it stands firmly against them and their pro-Israeli policies.
CAF and the Canadian Arab community will be in a much stronger position once the dust settles. Canadian Arabs will then have crossed the chasm and won their right to a full and real Canadian citizenship where they are treated like every other fully integrated community in a multicultural society.
Well done CAF!
