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Canada Day, Part III

'A beacon of fairness'

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 10:34 AM EST 02/07/08

Dr. James Orbinski, a proud Canadian who has spent 20 years in war zones and the epicentres of disease epidemics, understands that people are shaped and defined by their culture. ...Read the full article

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  1. Mark Dip from Canada writes: As a diplomatic spouse, I can say that Canada’s diplomats do a great job overseas preening about Canada’s human rights, social justice, blah, blah, blah – just so long as the Canadian Foreign Service itself does not have to be burdened by these principles. They assure Canadian torture victims that “we’re here to help”, and then hand the guards a list of new questions to ask on their way out. They preach the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but Canadian diplomatic spouses lose their protection when they go overseas (no right of grievance for our demeaning treatment). They tout our generous social benefits systems for which diplomatic spouses are taxed fully while overseas, but we are not allowed to draw upon them. They sermonize Canadian rights as individuals, but as a matter of departmental policy, their own spouses are treated as a non-person who is simply an extension of each employee. They condemn the practice of human trafficking, but through their diplomatic Reciprocal Employment Agreement (REA) sham, the pimps in charge of our embassies are meanwhile employing similar tactics of providing specious claims of overseas employment market access in order to lure reluctant spouses on a diplomatic posting that will ruin their lives. They expose abuses occurring in other countries, but their own dark secrets occurring within embassy compound walls are buried deep by Service discipline. They expect Canadian government and NGO family members to help to represent their country’s values overseas, but think they would perform this role better after first being disenfranchised by their own government. In truth, the current legacy of Canada’s diplomats is not about passing on our guidance, it’s more about them embracing the lowest common denominator from the foreign countries they live in.
  2. hossein hajiagha from Victoria, Canada writes: Dr, I pride about you and I love you as My God?
    If I had a power I be so glad to you have a biggest medal in Canada....
    I be in war and I know is hard to be watch or....
  3. S Muhlberger from North Bay, Canada writes: This article, part III of a series, seems to have been buried. I couldn't find it yesterday and had to make a systematic search today. It deserved better.

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