(The following article is from theSeptember 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and  overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 1-15, 2009

The Harper Tories appear to believe that treating Canadian passports as irrelevant scraps of paper will bolster their electoral support among racist, ultra-right forces. This dangerous strategy must be challenged at every opportunity.

     Canadian citizen Suaad Hagi Mohamud was left stranded and sick in Kenya for three months. Her passport was voided by Canadian officials following a bizarre decision by airline staff in Nairobi to prevent her from boarding a flight home. It took enormous public pressure to compel the government to allow her return to Canada, even after a DNA test confirmed her identity.

     This is just the latest case in which the Tories refuse to lift a finger to aid Canadians stranded overseas. Despite having a plane ticket to fly home to Montreal, Abousfian Abdelrazik was trapped for over a year at Canada's embassy in Sudan by the government's refusal to issue him a passport. International police agencies agreed that Abdelrazik was not a security threat, and the courts ordered his return, but the Tories stubbornly hinted at unexplained "reasons" to deny his rights as a citizen.

     The worst scandal remains the case of Omar Khadr, the child soldier who is the last remaining citizen of a western "democracy" still jailed without cause at the US torture camp in Guantanamo Bay. The Federal Court of Appeal has just upheld a lower ruling ordering Khadr's repatriation, but PM Harper has signalled that this decision will be appealed.

     What links these cases is the ethnic and religious character of such abandoned Canadians. The Harper Tories are engaged in a dirty racist campaign, demonizing minority groups to whip up hatred. For pro-fascist elements of the Harper regime, depriving racialized communities of their citizenship rights is an important step towards a more far-ranging attack on all civil liberties. We must not allow this minority government - led by men who are deeply committed to selling out Canada to US imperialism - to succeed in this deadly game.