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NCCAR
Demands Transparency From the Harper Government on Proposed "Mutual
Security Agreement" with Israel
Ottawa,
November 13, 2007 - "We are concerned that the federal government would
negotiate such a deal without disclosing it to Canadians," said National
Council on Canadian Arab Relations (NCCAR) President, Bahija Réghaï. "That
Canadians would learn about the negotiation process and interim agreement
from the Jerusalem Post, and not our own government is deeply disturbing
and raises many questions."
Israeli
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Canadian Public Safety and
Emergency Preparedness Minister Stockwell Day were reported to have held
negotiations during the last week of October with the goal of signing a
mutual homeland security cooperation agreement. Reports have confirmed that
a temporary agreement was reached to establish three teams: One to focus on
fighting terrorism, another to work on border security and a third to work
towards co-operation on crime fighting techniques.
"Since
these reports were published, our office has received countless requests
for clarification from concerned Canadians and Canadian NGOs. A search
through the Canadian Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
website turned up nothing, while a similar search through the Israeli
Ministry of Public Security found an announcement which confirmed that Canada is well on its way to forge a Mutual
Security Agreement with Israel,"
said Réghaï.
"Given
that the transparency the government pledged is lacking in this critical
issue, NCCAR has submitted an access to information request on all relevant
files on November 1, 2007," said Réghaï. Furthermore, NCCAR called Minister
Day's office for clarification, but were asked to submit our query in
writing. A letter was faxed to the Minister's office on Monday November 5.
"While here at home, all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, in Israel,
state laws are based on the religious and ethnic background of Israeli
citizens."
"Having
a mutual security agreement with a country that grants rights according to
religion and not citizenship is worrisome and should be the subject of
parliamentary debate and oversight," said Réghaï.
Samah
Sabawi
Executive
Director
National
Council on Canada-Arab Relations
(612)
238 3795
www.nccar.ca
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