Amnesty (International) slams Canada's recent rights record

[alp227]

Amnesty slams Canada's recent rights record
Amnesty criticizes what it sees as tilt toward Israel and defunding of non-governmental agencies like Kairos

Canada's global reputation as a human rights champion has been eroded in recent years, according to a scathing Amnesty International report that doesn't specifically name Stephen Harper's Conservatives but raises frequent criticisms of foreign policy under the Tories.

The report, issued Thursday, is called Getting Back on the "Rights" Track. The criticisms it raises of foreign policy under the Tories include what Amnesty describes as a tilt toward Israel in the Middle East and the defunding of non-governmental agencies, such as Kairos, that have publicly criticized the Tories or sided with Palestinians.

Amnesty calls on political party leaders to use the federal election campaign to restore Canada's commitment to rights at home and abroad...

[DRex]

1. Saw this this morning....

http://www.metronews.ca/Edmonton/Local/article/819191--anti-israel-event-halted-at-city-school

about a Calgary high school amnesty club that had their demonstration for a free Palestine shut down by forces outside the school board...

Denying students their free speech... quite disturbing indeed. I'm familiar with the school, a very diverse downtown school with an IB focus; smart kids with minds of their own to make up.

Don't know why we feel the need to justify so strenuously the actions of a foreign government, restricting the rights of Canadians so that we never have to hear a bad word uttered about Israel's govt.

[iverglas]

2. had to search for any info

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/anti-israel-event-shut-down-20110330-222600-100.html

Staff at a Calgary high school, along with members of the local and national Jewish community, were forced to act quickly last week to halt a planned anti-Israel demonstration by students.

Metro has learned members of the amnesty club at Western Canada High School had planned to hold a "mock roadblock" event to portray their perceived Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people.

It would have been the first demonstration of its kind at a high school in Western Canada, said Anita Bromberg, national director, legal affairs for Jewish advocacy and support group B'nai Brith Canada. Her organization became involved after hearing concerns from Jewish parents whose children attend the school.

"Those students would have felt very isolated and targeted for that matter."

"Forced" to act quickly? ... By whom ...?

I'm sure there are large numbers of US-born high school students attending schools in Canada.

I wonder how they feel when other students hold demos against the policies of their country of origin.

... Hey, at least it is their country of origin ...

I think they probably have the good grace to stfu and not try to interfere with anybody else's exercise of rights and freedoms.

That being said, I don't disagree that a school has a duty to ensure that all students enjoy an atmosphere conducive to learning and free of any kind of discriminatory speech or actions.

If only there had been any such things happening here, the school and the "members of the local and national Jewish community" wouldn't be guilty of discriminatory treatment of the students who planned the demonstration.

It isn't actually a "free speech" issue, and we should make that clear. The Charter applies to the federal and provincial governments, not school boards or private entities. We here don't muddle things up the way they do south of the border. Non-government actors don't "violate rights".

This looks like simply a school board exceedings its jurisdiction. What authority does it have to tell students what to do outside of class time? If the issue is that the Amnesty club has official sanction, and the school authorities would withdraw that sanction based on this kind of activity, well, I'd say that would just come under the rubric of arbitrary and capricious action by an administrative authority.

I hope somebody challenges them. Like to see their justification.

[DRex]

3. No-one will challenge them...

I would be extremely surprised to see it.

You're right, all people need to have a safe and free atmosphere, and the Jewish students of that school should be looked out for, but that doesn't extend to protecting them from ever hearing anything their parents don't want them to hear.

Would they stop someone from denouncing Jihad because of the Muslim students? Of course not, because the Muslim students aren't Jihadis, they're students. Just as the Jewish students aren't Mossad or Netanyahu's strong-arms. It's the kind of absurd knee-jerk reactionary bullshit that's becoming more and more familiar north of the 49th.