NDP MP Jenny Kwan reacts to Trudeau-era minister Marc Miller back into Liberal cabinet and Joël Lightbound becoming Quebec lieutenant and Julie Dabrusin taking on parks and nature to her portfolio, says ‘no matter how they try to reconfigure their look, you know, it’s the same group of people.’
The Irish hip-hop group Kneecap says it has begun legal action against Vince Gasparro, the Liberal parliamentary secretary who posted a video on social media announcing an apparent ban on the group entering Canada that their lawyer says caused “substantial” harm.
Lawyer Darragh Mackin told Global News that a defamation case is being pursued in Ireland against Gasparro, who Mackin said was served with a notice of claim over the weekend.
“Our clients have been subject to serious and unfounded assertions by way of a public video posted on a personal social media account which has caused substantial reputational harm,” Mackin said in a statement from Belfast human rights law firm Phoenix Law on Saturday.
“The statements made by Mr. Gasparro were wholly inaccurate and defamatory without any reason or justification. … Kneecap, just like every private citizen, are entitled to fairness and the protection of their good name and reputation. These proceedings have been initiated to vindicate those rights.”
In a response tabled last week in the House of Commons to an order paper question by NDP MP Jenny Kwan about the handling of the case, federal officials said they were not involved, and it remains unclear which advice from officials Gasparro was citing in his post.
“It is unprecedented for a government minister without consultation with the prime minister or the respective department to take to matters into their own hands via their own social media channel,” Mackin said. “Such clickbait tactics have no place in a modern democracy.”
In their own written response to Kwan’s request for documents, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s electronic travel authorization (eTA) was cancelled for inadmissibility in August — a month before Gasparro’s announcement — and that he was notified of the decision.
It made no mention of the since-dropped criminal charge against Óg Ó hAnnaidh in the U.K. that accused him of flying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert last year, which Gasparro specifically cited as a reason for the apparent entry ban.
Since the defeat of the revolution that saw the 2019 overthrow of Sudan’s dictator Omar al-Bashir, the two main armed forces in Sudan have engaged in all out counterrevolutionary war. This is not a war that engages the Sudanese people in taking up sides; rather, ordinary Sudanese are the victims of two externally-backed militaries, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Millions have been displaced and killed, creating the world’s largest current humanitarian disaster.
Most recently, the mainstream media has paid more attention to this crisis, specifically the genocide taking place in Darfur by the RSF, which has now assumed control of the major cities in the region, following its rout of the SAF. Over 100,000 innocent people in El Fasher are now facing ethnic cleansing, hunger and loss of shelter and medical aid. Sexual violence is also being widely used as a weapon of war.
There are a number of layers of external support for the warring factions but the one that has become most newsworthy is the military support of the RSF by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in exchange for gold. This has been going on for years and is one of several impediments to establishing true democracy in Sudan.
Canadian arms manufacturers are profiting from sales to the UAE, and some of those weapons are then used in Sudan against the people. According to a CBC report, UAE is the main conduit for rifles made by BC-based Sterling Cross Defense Systems.
Yet on November 21, while paying lip service to furthering human rights in Sudan, Carney met with UAE officials to further increase trade ties between Canada and the UAE. According to CBC reporting, Carney stated, “We welcome UAE investors to visit Canada — I will personally host them — to explore investment in Canada’s transformative projects.” To that end, Carney’s office said Friday that the UAE had agreed to invest $70 billion in Canada.
Response in Parliament
NDP Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan has introduced a private members bill, Bill C-233, An Act to Amend the Export and Import Permits Act, or the “No More Loopholes Act”. This Act would close the loophole that allows Canadian military manufacturers to export their products to the US where they are then shipped for use in the genocides in Gaza and Sudan. As Kwan stated when introducing the Bill, “When Canada signed on to the Arms Trade Treaty in 2019, the government exempted all exports to the United States from scrutiny. This loophole has become a back door for Canadian weapons, components and technologies to fuel some of the bloodiest conflicts on earth.”
MPs speak with reporters on Parliament Hill as they convene for the daily question period in the House of Commons. They face questions about Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault’s resignation from cabinet over the federal government’s new energy pact with Alberta, which lays the groundwork for a new bitumen pipeline to the B.C. coast.
Speaking with reporters are Liberal MPs Peter Fragiskatos, Sean Casey, Charles Sousa, and Anthony Housefather and NDP MPs Jenny Kwan and Gord Johns. (no interpretation)
As a result of my extensive knowledge of the region, I'm acutely aware of the issues that led to the rejection of the original Northern Gateway Pipeline, as well as the necessity of the oil tanker ban in the environmentally sensitive and turbulent North Coast waters.
Warming ocean and river temperatures and continuing drought conditions are increasingly wreaking havoc on existing salmon populations and the viability of many other aquatic species. It's my understanding that the former proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline route would have crossed up to an estimated 1,000 watercourses, putting a wealth of spawning and fish-bearing habitats at further risk in the event of pipeline construction impacts, pipeline leaks or oil spills.
The Skeena River is the second-largest salmon-bearing river in Canada and a major economic driver in the region. Just one oil spill in the area would be catastrophic for spawning adults and juveniles.
According to studies conducted by Simon Fraser University and First Nation scientists, it has been estimated that up to one billion juvenile salmon migrate through the estuary of this river annually.
This northern pipeline proposal was rejected several years ago for sound ... thoroughly researched reasons.
As stated in the NSB MPA Initiative Network Action Plan, the North Coast is rich and diverse in terms of biodiversity of species, culture and habitats, and supports an oceans economy of $1.3 billion (GDP in 2018) directly employing over 11,000 people. There are a large number of marine protected areas as well as several endangered species in these waters that could be further imperilled by vessel strikes, noise disturbance and oil spills.
A further critical consideration is that the waters of Hecate Strait can be extremely volatile and treacherous, with a rocky and heavily articulated coastline. These conditions greatly increase the risks of an oil spill.
Due to these impediments, preventing damage from such a spill would be exceptionally difficult, potentially causing longterm catastrophic harm to the marine ecosystem and to those species harvested by First Nations, commercial and recreational fishers.
For these reasons, the Pacific North Coast is absolutely the wrong place to be running bitumen pipelines and shipping it in tankers, given the extremely serious and consequential environmental risks involved. This northern pipeline proposal was rejected several years ago for sound and thoroughly researched reasons. These continue to be just as relevant today.
The massacres of civilians in Sudan are being fuelled by Canadian weapons, mining interests, and refugee restrictions. It’s time for Canada to end its complicity.
As Nicholas Coghlan, Canada’s former ambassador to Sudan noted, “If the squeeze had really been put on the UAE a year ago—before they had ramped up all of the arms sales—we would not have had the genocide that is, I would say, indisputably underway in Darfur.”
The UAE is not the only foreign power fuelling this war—on the other side of the battlefield, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey are supplying weapons to the SAF. But the UAE is a major actor in the conflict, and a trade partner that Prime Minister Mark Carney is keenly courting.
To ensure that Canadian arms are not being used to commit genocide in Sudan, Gaza, and elsewhere, Canada must adopt Bill C-233, a bill proposed by NDP MP Jenny Kwan that is being debated in Parliament. The bill would close the loophole that allows arms exports to the U.S. to bypass review and enables the U.S. to divert Canadian weapons to the UAE.
To avoid fuelling the trade in conflict gold, Canada should restrict the import of gold from the UAE. With no gold mines of its own, the UAE’s gold comes largely from Africa—including Sudan, where the RSF provides the precious metal in exchange for arms and support.
Marilyn Slett, President of the Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, reiterated her group’s position on Thursday, which is that it will never consent to oil tankers on that stretch of the B.C. coast.
“A tanker ban is not a ban if it includes exemptions or carve outs,” she said.
She previously voiced concerns that Alberta’s ambitious timeline for the pipeline project might not allow enough time for meaningful consultations.
Section 35 challenge?
The MOU states that, if the pipeline project earns a ‘national interest’ designation under the Building Canada Act, then the federal government is ready to make “an appropriate adjustment” to the oil tanker ban off the B.C. coast.
The Building Canada Act allows for projects with that designation to bypass existing regulations, including in this case the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, but the Indian Act and constitutionally protected rights under Section 35 cannot be sidestepped.
Section 35 of the Constitution Act was central to the legal challenges against Northern Gateway, a northwest B.C. pipeline proposal that faced intense court battles before being cancelled in 2016.
Within the Liberal caucus, the pipeline discussion has created tensions, with Canadian Identity Minister Steven Guilbeault resigning from cabinet late Thursday to protest the MOU.
Liberal B.C. MPs also told iPolitics they had concerns the political fallout could cost them their seats.
All opposition parties had a bone to pick with the Carney government following the announcement, with the Conservatives saying it doesn’t go far enough to actually build a pipeline, and the NDP’s Jenny Kwan saying the project will go nowhere but the courts.
The Alberta-Ottawa pipeline agreement sparked the resignation of high-profile climate activist turned-politician, Steven Guilbeault, but — for the moment — BC Liberal MPs are staying quiet and out of sight.
MPs Patrick Weiler and Will Greaves, who previously expressed reservations about the Alberta-Ottawa pipeline agreement, were among at least 11 BC Liberal MPs not present for Question Period on Thursday.
Greaves told Canada’s National Observer that he will reserve his comments until Friday. Greaves previously said he and his constituents are opposed to an agreement involving a pipeline through BC and oil tanker ban exemptions, which are included in the memorandum of understanding (MOU).
A handful of Trudeau-era climate-minded Liberals were also absent from Question Period, including Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Karina Gould and Guilbeault, who hours later issued a statement saying his resignation is a direct response to the MOU.
The day before the MOU was signed, Erskine-Smith said he was “a little skeptical” of grand bargains, having already lived through one — referring to the Trans Mountain pipeline — and he would have “lots to say” once MOU details were public. At the time of publication he had not weighed in.
It remains to be seen whether BC Liberal MPs and progressive Liberals will be emboldened to speak their mind following Guilbeault’s resignation. At least one BC Liberal is backing Carney’s MOU.
After Question Period, Liberal MP for Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam Ron McKinnon called the MOU “a positive step forward for British Columbia and for First Nations.”
“This cannot proceed without First Nations' prior informed consent, and British Columbia would not stand for this,” NDP MP for Vancouver East Jenny Kwan said when asked about the newly inked MOU. The prime minister is “creating a lot of noise about a pipeline that will go nowhere but to the courts,” Kwan told reporters after Question Period.