For Immediate Release
Toronto, October 27, 2003… B’nai Brith Canada today expressed grave concern over remarks reportedly made by Transport Minister David Collenette questioning the future of El Al flights in and out of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
“We have been in touch with the Minister’s office to request an immediate clarification,” said Rochelle Wilner, National President of B’nai Brith Canada. “Instead of avowing the government’s determination to make Canada’s skies safe for all passengers and all airlines, the Minister’s suggestion that El Al might be expendable has, in effect, given encouragement to terrorism. We had hoped for a far stronger response aimed at uprooting terrorists currently operating in Canada.”
“The Minister has opened a real Pandora’s Box. The airline of any country aligned with the battle against terrorism could be targeted in this way”, said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President, “but presumably Canada would never question the future of an American or British carrier if it was threatened. A more appropriate response would be to immediately allocate increased resources to police agencies and CSIS to accelerate this investigation.”
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For more information call Joseph Ben Ami, Director of Communications at (613) 294-7313
B’nai Brith has been active in Canada since 1875 as the Jewish community’s foremost human rights agency.
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