Speaking notes for the Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism at a Town Hall with the Somali Community

Ottawa, Ontario
February 22, 2009

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Thank you. Good afternoon.

Thank you very much, friends. It’s great that you’ve taken so much time to show your concern for Bashir. Thank you to my colleague, John Baird, for helping to make this meeting possible and for his strong advocacy and leadership on this issue. And thank you to both Mohammed’s, to Bausia and to Said, and to my dear friend Ahmed Hussein, who brought this issue to my attention.

Ahmed and his organization of young Canadians of Somali origin are doing great work to give a strong voice to this large and growing community which is spread right across Canada. And let me begin by saying just a few more words on Bashir’s case, and then I wanted to also address some of the issues that Ahmed raised.

Our government does believe that the rights of Canadians abroad must be respected regardless of whether they are new Canadians or old Canadians. Without regard to whether they were naturalized in Canada or born into citizenship here, once someone raises their hand and takes the oath of allegiance – I’m the Minister of Citizenship – once they become a citizen they possess all of the rights of a Canadian and they inherit the protection of the Government of Canada with their rights abroad.

Now that doesn’t mean that we can go into foreign countries and foreign legal systems and remove people who we don’t think should be charged or imprisoned or sentenced. We have at any given time several thousand Canadians imprisoned abroad. I think on any given time we have over 9,000 Canadians in foreign jails and prisons.

But what we can and must do is to insist that foreign governments in every instance respect their legal obligations to provide consular service and due legal process to individuals abroad. And that is what our government has done for Bashir, and that is what we will continue to do.

Now John mentioned that two of our Ministers of Foreign Affairs have been directly involved in this case. They pressed for the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that Bashir was moved into the civilian court system from the military system, to ensure that he received consular access to Canadian diplomats, and to ensure that he had the right legal counsel in facing the legal proceedings before him.

I appreciate their efforts, as well as those of our colleague Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs who, by the way, comes from East Africa. He’s originally from Tanzania. He understands East Africa very well. He understands the political institutions.

And that is why he visited Ethiopia and met directly with the Prime Minister, and that is why subsequently, I think it was in December, he also called the Prime Minister of Ethiopia following up on another letter that was sent by Minister Lawrence Cannon, our Minister of Foreign Affairs.

And so we have sought to raise this case repeatedly at the highest levels to get these assurances, and we believe this is a result of the government’s advocacy.

Thanks as well to the efforts of this group, the Free Bashir Makhtal Working Group, and the Canadian Somali Community, we are finally beginning to see some signs of hope in his case.

I’ve been involved in a number of high-profile consular cases of Canadians imprisoned abroad. For instance just this morning I was in Toronto meeting with the family and lawyer for a Muslim Canadian named Hussein Celil.

Hussein is a Canadian citizen who originally came here from China. He was visiting his family in Uzbekistan three years ago, was arrested, and then extradited to China without his Canadian passport.

He has now, for three years, been treated as a non-Canadian by that government which has refused to give him consular access.

Prime Minister Harper has been criticized for having vigorously raised the case of Hussein Celil with the Chinese government. He’s been criticized by opposition parties. He’s been criticized by special interests for having done so. But I want you to understand that the notion that the government would somehow be less assertive in demanding the consular rights of a Muslim Canadian is clearly not the case.

Whether a Canadian is a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, a person of no faith, whether they are immigrants or native-born Canadian, they are Canadians, with the full rights of Canadian citizenship, the full responsibilities, and the full protection of the Government of Canada abroad.

I’ve been very involved in Hussein Celil’s case. I was involved in the Brenda Martin case you have may have heard about, and other very complicated consular cases.

And I want you to know each one of these cases is different, involving different legal systems, political contexts, diplomatic environments, charges, and different facts in the cases.

So there is no one cookie-cutter approach that the government or its diplomats can take to advocate on a particular consular case such as Bashir’s.

And so what we have been trying to do is to find the most useful ways to get Bashir’s rights protected, and I think we are making progress, and as John said, we will continue to ensure that’s done.

Let me say, though, that it’s important for us all to also recognize that Bashir’s situation was ultimately the result of the tragic chaos and violence that we see continuing in Somalia.

I know that many of you are Canadians who came to this country, many of you probably as refugees, from Somalia. Canada is proud to have received over 200,000 newcomers, mainly but not exclusively refugees, from Somalia.

We are proud because those of you who have that background, who come to this country, to find your future, to build your future and to build our country, are proof of Canada’s best traditions as a refuge from persecution, violence, warfare, and conflict.

And I want to say that the Government of Canada is proud of the contributions that Canadians of Somali origin are making.

And also we recognize that the Somali Canadian community is one that’s had some particular challenges as a community that has largely come as refugees.

It’s a community that has had some challenges with integration and with youth in some of our cities. We acknowledge that.

And first of all, Canada is committed to doing what we can to hopefully help the people who are facing violence, strife, and conflict in Somalia.

That’s why our government has contributed over $35 million in humanitarian assistance since the beginning of 2007, doing so through various multilateral organizations like the International Federation for the Red Cross, the World Food Program, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

It’s also why our Ministry of Defence positioned HMS Ville de Québec, one of our naval destroyers, off the coast of Somalia to safeguard the import of World Food Program foods into the region – over 45,000 metric tons of food that were delivered during the three months that our naval ship was off the coast of Somalia.

It’s also why we’ve sought joint international contact group on Somalia.

You know, I mention these things because Bashir’s case came about as a result of violence in Somalia. The world community needs to do what it can, including Canada, to bring about stability in Somalia so there are no future tragic cases like Bashir’s.

And by the way, we’re doing what we can to help the Canadian Somali community overcome some of the challenges of integration, particularly for some of the youth who have been at risk.

And we have many programs. The multiculturalism program that I’m responsible for assists Canadian Somali community groups in getting young people into after-school programs, internship and mentorship programs, and a chance to get a start in a good job.

As well our integration program is providing millions of dollars of support for settlement programs like language training and bridge-to-work programs for Canadians of Somali origin through several organizations that are in this community right across Canada.

So, all of those things are important, but I know we’re here today to say to the government of Ethiopia that we expect that Bashir Makhtal’s full legal rights will be protected. We’ve been waiting to see charges laid.

To the best of my knowledge, there still have not been credible charges brought against him or any evidence that we’re aware of.

And so want to commend the Ethiopian authorities for finally listening to Canada and putting him in a civilian, rather than a military, court, giving him consular access, and ensuring legal counsel.

But we want to ensure that one way or another, this matter is brought to a quick resolution, and as Canadians, we hope that resolution will see him come home to Canada as soon as possible.

Thank you very much.