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Op-Ed

CNOOC-Nexen: The Deal That Human Rights Forgot
March 5, 2013
In his speech marking the establishment of the new Office of Religious Freedom, Prime Minister Stephen Harper rightly included religious minorities in China — such as Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners — on his list of communities needing protection. Just a few months ago, however, a Chinese state-owned company accused of oppressing Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners, CNOOC, bought a Canadian oil and gas company, Nexen, with the Prime Minister approving the deal as one constituting a “net benefit” for Canada. For Canadians concerned with human rights, this incongruity is difficult to understand. More »
Four Steps to Ensuring Human Rights Prevail in Iran
March 5, 2013
Nasrin Sotoudeh may not yet be an international household name -- but she deserves to be. An Iranian political prisoner now in her third year of imprisonment (much of which has been spent in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin prison), she is the embodiment of the struggle for human rights in Iran and the symbol of the Iranian regime's massive domestic repression -- a widespread and systematic assault on the rights of its own people, arguably constitutive of crimes against humanity. More »
Getting It Wrong on Wrongful Conviction
March 5, 2013
Six years ago this summer, the Ontario Court of Appeal issued its historic ruling vindicating Steven Truscott. In 1959, at the age of 14, Truscott was sentenced to hang to death for the murder of his classmate, Lynne Harper. He served time — his sentence was commuted to life in prison — he was paroled, and he spent 50 years shadowed by a murder conviction. More »
Policy Should Not Mistake the Mentally Ill for Criminals
March 5, 2013
Today the House began debating C-54, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act. From the Prime Minister's recent announcement of the legislation, one could easily get the impression that Canada is overrun with dangerous psychopaths and that Canadians should be fearful. More »