The Guardian (Charlottetown)

Trudeau once again compromise­s Canada on internatio­nal stage

- ANDRE MARIN GUEST OPINION Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019.

It certainly didn’t take long for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take the bait from Marion Buller, the chief commission­er of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Buller irresponsi­bly stated, in plainly nutty language, in her final report that Canada has and continues to practise genocide as “a continuous policy, with shifting expressed motives but an ultimately steady intention, to destroy Indigenous peoples physically, biological­ly and as social units.”

Apparently, we continue to take “proactive measures to destroy, assimilate and eliminate Indigenous peoples.”

As most of the world paid homage to the 75th anniversar­y of D-Day, the beginning of the end of a true genocide of Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany, Trudeau boldly declared that “we accept the findings of the commission­er that it was genocide.”

Talk about being out of step. So, with that admission of guilt we join the fine ranks of countries like Germany, Cambodia and Rwanda who have historical­ly committed true genocide on a wide scale. What nice company to hang out with.

Retired general Romeo Dallaire was quick to put Trudeau in his place.

He said: “I’m not comfortabl­e with that. My definition of genocide, I read it very deliberate­ly at the start of the Rwandan genocide, and it was a deliberate act of a government to exterminat­e, deliberate­ly and by force and directly, an ethnicity or a group of human beings — and that meant actually going and slaughteri­ng people.”

Former attorney general Irwin Cotler, a prominent internatio­nal human rights lawyer, warned that “I think we have to guard against using that term in too many ways because then it will cease to have the singular importance and horror that it warrants.”

Our apology-loving prime minister, who’s apologized for more past misdeeds than any other prime minister in history, may have gained a handful of votes among Indigenous people, but he has once again compromise­d us on the internatio­nal stage.

How will Saudi Arabia react when we tweet out, as Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland did last August, that “Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia?”

To that, a Saudi responded: “Saudi is gravely concerned about the lost souls of the 1,000 indegenous (sic) women in Canada.”

Now Saudi Arabia can add that Trudeau admitted to genocide. What an ace in the hole they now have.

What about next time, we lecture China on the superiorit­y and independen­ce of our judiciary?

All they had to hammer us back was the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now the Chinese will have a field day with our prime minister confessing that we’re a genocidal country.

Finally, when Trudeau wags his preachy finger to U.S. President Donald Trump about his antiimmigr­ation policies, I’m sure Trump will have a blast making Trudeau eat his words. Which is worse, blocking immigratio­n or admitting to leading a genocidal country?

Alas, the consequenc­es of Trudeau’s blunder have already begun. The Organizati­on of American States has written to Freeland to establish a panel to investigat­e the allegation of genocide against Indigenous women and girls.

Secretary general Luis Almagro tweeted out his letter: “Given evidence of genocide perpetrate­d against Indigenous women and girls in Canada, I have offered the creation of an interdisci­plinary group of independen­t experts. It is necessary to clarify these allegation­s and achieve justice.”

I’ll make Almagro’s job easier. They are not genocide allegation­s. There is a public admission of guilt of genocide by our prime minister.

The second part of achieving justice will hopefully happen Oct. 21, the date of the next federal election.

 ?? CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS ??
CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS

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