On Saturday evening, former British MP George Galloway arrives in Canada and gives a speech Sunday afternoon in front of what organizers predict will be a packed house at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto. That’s assuming he’s allowed into the country. When Galloway tried to enter Canada 18 months ago, he was turned back.
In his judgment, Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley made it clear that the Conservative government used the Immigration Act to prevent Galloway from entering Canada because they disagreed with his political views -- not because he presented any threat to Canadians. There are other cases before the courts now that raise similar issues.
“I think that this case confirms that this particular government is applying Canadian laws politically in order to advance its own agenda,” said Barbara Jackman, legal counsel for Galloway and thirteen other applicants, during Wednesday morning’s press conference. She explained that the legislation under which Galloway was told he was inadmissible to Canada is meant to protect Canada’s security from people who are members of terrorist organizations. But Galloway was never (and still isn’t) a member of any terrorist organization.
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When Galloway arrives on Saturday evening, he will be greeted with a welcome rally between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at the arrivals gate at Pearson Airport. On Sunday, a city-wide public meeting will be held at Trinity-St. Pauls’s United Church in Toronto at 3 p.m. when Galloway will speak about the fight to overturn his ban and the struggle to end war and occupation in Palestine, Afghanistan and around the world. rabble.ca will be livestreaming his arrival and speech.
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/johnbon/2010/09/george-galloway-returns-canada-weekendA few more details about last year's ban on Galloway entering Canada in this article:
Eighteen months ago, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney blocked then-British MP George Galloway from Canada, labeling him a terror supporter and a national security risk. At the time, Galloway was scheduled to appear in four Canadian cities on a speaking tour called "Resisting War: from Gaza to Afghanistan."
Galloway and his supporters protested, saying the move was a crass political attempt to silence criticism of Canadian foreign policy on Afghanistan and Palestine. Weeks before the ban, Galloway had led a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza as part of an international campaign to break Israel's illegal blockade.
This week, after Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley issued his 60-page decision on the matter, Galloway and his supporters were fully vindicated.
But you wouldn't know it from reading the mainstream media's response to the decision. Most headlines declared that Galloway "lost" his appeal because the judge dismissed the case. Justice Mosley ruled that, since Galloway had not been denied entry into Canada at the border, a final decision on his admissibility had not been made. This meant that Justice Mosley had no decision to overturn. Consequently, Justice Mosley dismissed the case, but not before agreeing with every other claim made by Galloway and his supporters. This is what most mainstream media seems to have missed.
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This vindicates Galloway's concerns that he would be deemed inadmissible at the border -- which is what he was told in a letter from the Canadian High Commission before he left the UK. Galloway was right to worry about the possibility of being detained indefinitely at the Canadian border or, worse, being returned to the United States (where he was conducting a speaking tour at the time) for being a "national security risk" in Canada -- an event that would have jeopardized his status on American soil.
Justice Mosley anticipates such a scenario in his ruling:
"Had Galloway actually been found inadmissible by a visa officer relying on the preliminary assessment and the alerts sent to the border points, I would have had little difficulty in concluding that the officer's discretion had been fettered by the process followed in this case and that the e-mails and statements to the press raised a reasonable apprehension of bias."
This leads to the second reason the ruling is a victory for Galloway: it paves the way for his return to Canada. Should Galloway turn up at a Canadian point of entry -- something that Galloway is expected to do very soon -- a CBSA officer will have to rule on his admissibility. In light of the decision, it will be impossible for an officer to deem Galloway inadmissible based on the politically compromised preliminary assessment. The ruling should be seen as a warning to the government to end its political interference to block Galloway's entry to Canada.
http://rabble.ca/news/2010/09/what-galloway-court-decision-means-free-speech-canada
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