B’nai Brith Canada asks Liberal Leadership Candidates to Clarify Positions on Terrorism

Ottawa, July 2, 2003

For Immediate Release

Ottawa, July 2, 2003 — In the aftermath of Liberal MP Tony Valeri’s (Stoney Creek) meeting with Hezbollah leaders, B’nai Brith Canada today asked candidates for the Liberal leadership to clarify their positions on prohibiting the activities of terrorist organizations on Canadian soil.

“It’s not just Hezbollah,” said Rochelle Wilner, President of B’nai Brith Canada. “We want to be reassured that a Canadian government led by any of these candidates will do its utmost to disrupt and destroy the infrastructure of any terrorist organization active in Canada.”

“We also want a commitment that MPs will be told to respect both the spirit and the letter of the law and will be held to account by these potential leaders if they don’t,” added Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada. “Meetings with leaders from banned terrorist groups can never be justified. If we are ever to succeed in ridding the world of the scourge of terrorism we need to marginalize such groups as much as possible. Meetings such as the one the Mr. Valeri arranged undermine such efforts and severely damage Canada’s reputation as a country etermined to do its part in the war on terrorism.”

Among the items sought by B’nai Brith from each candidate was a statement that:

Unequivocally condemns all forms of terrorism and terrorist organizations regardless of where and against whom they may be operating,
Demonstrates their commitment to ensure that the activities of any such terrorist organization will be prohibited in Canada by a government led by them,
Declares ongoing support for Canada’s ban on Hezbollah in its entirety and distancing themselves from Mr. Valeri’s recent actions,
Clarifies their determination to enforce the anti-terrorist provisions of the Criminal Code, and
Sets out the actions they see as necessary in order to prevent the repetition of such encounters by members of Parliament and government representatives in the future.

B’nai Brith Canada has written to the Prime Minister and the Solicitor General of Canada calling upon them to investigate the matter fully.

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For further information contact: Joseph Ben-Ami, Director of Communications at 613-294-7313

B’nai Brith has been active in Canada since 1875 as the community’s foremost advocacy and volunteer organization.