Media Advisory - rabble.ca cites Federal Court documents to raise questions
of minister's involvement in George Galloway ban
TORONTO, April 20 /CNW/ - The controversy behind the Canadian banning of outspoken British anti-war MP George Galloway is set to deepen - with potentially damaging implications for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, and others. rabble.ca has reviewed publicly accessible Federal Court documents that outline a short but intense campaign on the part of Kenney's office and government officials to keep Galloway out of Canada, and the incredible lengths they were willing to go to do so.
The documents number several hundred pages and include emails, memos, government letters, articles, and court files. Sixty six pages of documents of particular importance were mistakenly released to Galloway's legal team, and the Canadian government legal team requested their return - unopened and unread - for redaction on grounds of national security. A judge declined this request with some minor exceptions (of personal contact details).
On April 19 and April 20th rabble.ca explores questions these documents raise including: Why did the government want to redact these pages so badly that they made a claim of national security? How was the Prime Minister's office, who were included in email exchanges, involved? Did Minister Kenny's office directly interfere with the work of civil servants in Ottawa and London in the case - with or without the Prime Minister's blessing?
Part 1 is available at: http://www.rabble.ca/news/2010/04/galloway-ban-story-told-via-e-mail
Part 2 will be published on April 20th.
Recognizing that there are more questions to be asked, and that Canadians deserve to see the original documents, rabble.ca has made copies of the Federal Court documents available from their website, and invite crowd-sourcing for further angles to this story.
rabble.ca is Canada's most popular source of independent news and views, and features original news, opinion, book reviews, podcasts and live and pre-recorded video exploring issues facing Canadians. rabble.ca marked its 9th year of providing 100% free news content to Canadians on April 18, 2010.
For further information: Kim Elliott, rabble.ca, Publisher, (647) 477-8534; Cathryn Atkinson, rabble.ca, Features Editor, (604) 848-1145
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