MAUDE BARLOW
Barlow is national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization with over 100,000 members. The group has done extensive work on examining various policy issues around U.S.-Canadian relations.
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MICHAEL MANDEL
GAIL DAVIDSON
Mandel is a professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada and author of the book How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage and Crimes Against Humanity. Davidson is a member of Lawyers Against the War. They are authors of the article “Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada.” Mandel said today: “Many of the crimes of which President Bush stands accused are crimes under Canadian law, specifically under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. Were it not for his having diplomatic immunity, Bush would clearly be liable for prosecution. As it is, we are instructing people on how to use legal mechanisms…”
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LEE ZASLOFSKY
Zaslofsky works with three young men who enlisted in the U.S. military and are now war resisters in Canada: Jeremy Hinzman, Brandon Hughey and David Sanders. He is coordinator for the War Resisters Support Campaign, and himself went to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War. Some of them will be at protests in Ottawa as Bush arrives in Canada. Zaslofsky said today: “We are urging the Canadian government to take a position similar to that during the Vietnam War period; U.S. war resisters should be welcome in Canada.”
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JUSTIN PODUR
A Canadian writer and activist, Podur is editor of the blog “The Killing Train.” He said today: “President Bush’s original plan was to come to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, for two days (Nov. 30 to Dec. 1). The idea that he might address the Canadian Parliament was floated. But after the massive demonstrations against Bush in Chile during the APEC summit and the possibility of large protests here, a Bush spokesperson said the Ottawa visit will be cut short because ‘frankly, we don’t want to be booed.’ The protests in Ottawa are primarily directed against the U.S. war in Iraq, which the vast majority of Canadians reject. They are also directed against U.S. demands that Canada place its economy, its military, and its diplomacy in the service of U.S. power. Canada has already curtailed immigration and civil liberties legislation to comply with U.S. demands, and Canada is playing a significant and increasing role in U.S. military adventures abroad, particularly in Haiti and Afghanistan. Canadian corporations are engaging in war profiteering, supplying weapons to the United States that will ultimately be used against civilians in Iraq. All of this is repudiated by the majority of Canada’s population, and these are among the reasons protesters will be gathering in Ottawa during Bush’s visit. Canada’s politicians are out of step with these realities and need these protests to remind them that they answer to the Canadian people, not the American president.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167