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November 8, 2007 A week after claiming that the government would no longer seek clemency for Canadians on death row in the United States, Prime Minister Harper has decided that Canada will not co-sponsor a United Nations resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. Both announcements make a disturbing break with a long-standing tradition of opposing capital punishment, which was banned in Canada in 1976, and both are making international waves. "Cosponsorship does not involve much more effort than a phone call or raising a hand during a meeting," wrote the International Herald-Tribune, paraphrasing Canada's former ambassador to the U.N., Paul Heinbecker. "You can only take these as signs of how the government wants to be seen," Heinbecker told reporters. All three major opposition parties, as well as several human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have denounced the new Conservative stance on the death penalty. "Canada decided long ago that the death penalty has no place in a civilized society," said David Fathi, director of the U.S. branch of Human Rights Watch in a statement. "The Canadian government shouldn't abandon its longtime policy aimed at preventing the execution of its citizens in the United States." Harper's position is even more difficult to understand because it treats Americans more favourably than Canadians. "The reality of this particular case is that were we to intervene it would very quickly become a question of whether we are prepared to repatriate a double-murderer to Canada," said Harper last week, referring to the impending death by lethal injection of Canadian citizen Ronald Smith, found guilty in a Montana court of killing two men in 1982. "In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime, I think that would send the wrong signal to (Canadians)." Actually, it sends the message that our Prime Minister supports the death penalty. There is no other way to interpret the statements coming out of Harper and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who told the House of Commons, "We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law." Liberal MP Irwin Cotler interpreted it exactly that way when he told reporters that, "We're not saying he didn't get a fair trial. We are saying that on the issue of capital punishment, this country has a law, this country has a policy, this country has a principle domestically and internationally. We will not support capital punishment. Fini. What I heard from the Conservative benches was: 'You support murderers.' Frankly, that is scandalous and shocking." Harper will, on the other hand, continue to request clemency for Americans who are deported to the United States. "Despite its new hard-line stance on Canadians facing the death penalty in the U.S., the federal government says Canada will continue seeking no-execution guarantees for American citizens being extradited from this country to the U.S.," reported CanWest on November 6. Harper has been hocking a "tough on crime" agenda in Canada that includes failed U.S. policies on minimum sentences for certain crimes and an enforcement focus (rather than a prevention and treatment focus) in what can only be called the Conservatives new "war on drugs." The Prime Minister has used this agenda to try and justify why he won't request clemency for Smith. But is there another reason? The current show trial of Omar Khadr perhaps? If Harper were to demand special treatment for once Canadian facing unreasonable state violence against his person, wouldn't it make sense to demand that Khadr be brought back to Canada for a fair trial?
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