Monsef should clear up doubts

Upholding and respecting the law should start with the country’s highest offices, which is why federal Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef should step down from cabinet until the controversy over her birthplace is resolved. Monsef, 31, who was heralded as the first Afghan-born member of Parliament, said last week that she learned only recently she was born in Iran. She focused on her Afghan roots when she ran for Parliament, saying she was born in Herat, Afghanistan, coming to Canada as a refugee at the age of 11 with her widowed mother and two younger sisters.

Her birthplace was never an issue, Monsef said, until a Globe and Mail reporter phoned her office to ask where she was born. So she left a phone message with her mother, Soriya Basir, who called her back to tell her she was actually born in Iran and spent most of her early childhood there. The family had fled from Afghanistan to Iran because of war in their home country. They remained Afghan citizens.

Monsef said her mother didn’t believe it mattered where she was born, and the minister grew up believing she had been born in Afghanistan. Monsef says she is upset by the news, and will correct the birthplace on her passport.

But that isn’t enough. This isn’t a minor clerical error that can be brushed aside. Monsef occupies a high government position and is leading the issue of electoral reform. Meanwhile, according to Canadian law, Monsef could be stripped of her citizenship and deported.

It’s not a fair law, as the Liberals pointed out while in opposition, yet the current government has not hesitated to invoke it. If the law is not applied equally, if someone in a high position is given special consideration, the law falls into disrepute, as does the government.

What Monsef’s mother told officials in the application for refugee status would have been beyond the control of an 11-year-old girl. She should not be punished for someone else’s mistake. And yet … Why did the Globe and Mail ask Monsef where she was born? Why was her birthplace ever in doubt? When Monsef was asked on CTV’s Question Period in June if she was born in Afghanistan, she said: “I believe I was.”

That sounds oddly hesitant, given how the Liberals and Monsef have identified her as being Afghan-born. If she wasn’t sure of her birthplace, shouldn’t she have found out before she entered federal politics?

Her opponent in the 2015 election campaign said he was told by Monsef’s former classmates that she was born in Iran, but he said he had no evidence to substantiate the rumours. Former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro said it was well-known in Peterborough, Monsef’s hometown, that she wasn’t born in Afghanistan.

Those are statements from political opponents, and should not be taken as proof. But neither should they be dismissed — they should be disproved or verified.

It doesn’t matter where Monsef was born. What matters is that false information was apparently provided with her refugee claim, which led to citizenship.

This isn’t a criminal case, where innocence is assumed until guilt is proved, and the burden of proof is on the prosecution. According to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, “in a claim for refugee protection the burden [of proof] is on the claimant.”

We don’t believe Monsef should be stripped of her citizenship and deported. But questions need to be answered, and she should step aside until those answers are found. It isn’t about taking blame, but about taking responsibility.

This issue is bigger than Monsef’s political future — it’s about the integrity of the immigration system, and of the government itself.