Outraged
officials of the Canadian
Jewish Congress have urged
Chrétien to expel
Telegdi from the Liberal
caucus and party over his
comments. | http://www.therecord.com/news/news_0105089633.htmlKitchener-Waterloo
record | Kitchener (Berlin) Ontario, Tuesday May
8, 2001 Telegdi
stands firm under fire Statements on
Oberlander case concern Prime Minister's
Office Philip Jalsevac, RECORD STAFF Liberal MP Andrew
Telegdi has now come under fire from
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
over remarks that Canada's rules on
citizenship and deportation smack of a
totalitarian Nazi or Stalinist
regime. "The statements as reported are extreme
and offensive and I can tell you that the
statements in no way reflect the opinion
or have the support of this government or
the prime minister," Duncan Fulton,
a spokesman for Chrétien, said
yesterday. Outraged officials of the Canadian
Jewish Congress have urged
Chrétien to expel Telegdi from the
Liberal caucus and party over his
comments. Asked if Telegdi faces that
possibility, Fulton would only say: "We
obviously want to confirm the accuracy of
the statements ... we're discussing the
comments with Mr. Telegdi." Telegdi, the member for
Kitchener-Waterloo, remains defiant in the
face of the criticism. In a news release yesterday, he alluded
to the potential for his ouster from
caucus but also defended his stance. "I will not be diverted or intimidated
from fighting an unfair process of
citizenship revocation that exists in
Canada today." He said his job as a parliamentarian is
"not to defend the status quo, but to
fight for a just society. "For me, my citizenship comes before my
party." The MP, who said "my stepfather fled
Romania because he was Jewish," also took
another poke at the Jewish congress and
said: "It is highly offensive to be
lectured about citizenship . . . by the
CJC." The ongoing controversy stems from an
interview last week in which Telegdi
criticized the rules by which politicians,
and not the courts, make the final
decision on citizenship. "That's what Hitler used to do," he
said. Telegdi said it would be "fundamentally
unjust" for Ottawa to strip the
citizenship of his constituent, Helmut
Oberlander of Waterloo, in light of the
fact that he has no right to appeal a
court decision against him. Justice Andrew MacKay of the Federal
Court of Canada ruled last year there was
no evidence Oberlander committed war
crimes. But the judge found he failed to
disclose to immigration officials his
record in the Second World War as an
interpreter with a Nazi death squad that
killed 90,000 civilians. Based on that finding, Immigration
Minister Elinor Caplan last week gave
Oberlander 30 days to respond to her
recommendation to cabinet -- which will
rule on Oberlander's fate -- that his
citizenship be revoked as a first step to
deportation. If cabinet follows Caplan's
recommendation, there are still several
more steps, including an appeal to the
Supreme Court, open to Oberlander. In his news release, Telegdi said he
deplores the "sensational headline" in
Saturday's Record that said: "Canada like
Nazi regime, Telegdi says." "Of course, I do not wish to offend the
Jewish people, with many of whom I have
discussed my position. Many have
understood and supported my demand that
due process be recognized." Referring to the headline, the MP said:
"Those are not my words, nor do they
reflect my beliefs." However, he did not claim he was quoted
inaccurately in the article. "What I have said is that a liberal
democratic state such as Canada should
never remove citizenship lightly. That is
what Hitler did to Jews, Gypsies and many
others. That is what Stalin did to
millions. All totalitarian regimes have
engaged in these practices." The MP also cited former Superior Court
Justice Roger Salhany of Kitchener, who
was retained by Oberlander to write an
opinion on MacKay's ruling. Salhany said
MacKay committed errors in law by allowing
inadmissible evidence, making erroneous
findings of fact, drawing unreasonable
inferences and failing to apply the
correct onus of proof. "The evidence relied upon by the judge
would never be relied upon in a Canadian
court of law to establish that something
happened," Salhany wrote. "It would be
considered as no evidence at all." Referring to the judges' dissent,
Telegdi said: "Unlike the CJC, which wants
Oberlander deported summarily, I have not
rushed to judgment. I have stated that I
am not competent -- nor is the federal
cabinet -- to arbitrate between differing
judicial opinions." In its own news release, the congress's
outgoing president Moshe Ronen is quoted
as calling Telegdi's comparison of
Canadian law to a Hitler-style regime as
"an insult to all victims of Nazi
barbarism." Cambridge Liberal MP Janko Peric,
meanwhile, said if Telegdi is expelled
from caucus "that would be a sad, sad day
for all new Canadians, including myself."
He would be penalized only "for fighting
for justice. And justice must
prevail." Peric, who emigrated from Croatia in
1968, supports Telegdi's position on
citizenship revocation.
Letters
[[email protected]
] Telegdi is right | Walter Halchuk | May
8, 2001 Good for Kitchener-Waterloo MP Andrew
Telegdi. Ottawa's denaturalization and
deportation regulations do harken back to
Soviet and Nazi times. Telegdi is standing
up for what is right and not merely for
what is currently legal or expedient. Clyde Gilmour's comments in his May 7
letter, Canada Is Nothing Like A Nazi
Regime, suggest that Canadian laws such as
those that excluded Jews from Canada
during and before the Second World War, or
those that resulted in a Chinese head tax
or the internment of Japanese and
Ukrainian Canadians should have not been
opposed and changed. This approach to denaturalization and
deportation is wrong, just as capital
punishment was wrong and Telegdi has every
right and a duty to say so. Walter Halchuk Sudbury http://www.therecord.com/opinion/letters/opinion_letters_01050892638.html
Don't deport Oberlander | Helene
B.Schramek | May 8, 2001 I must respond to the decision by
Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan to seek
the deportation of Waterloo resident
Helmut Oberlander. In February 2000, Federal Court Justice
Andrew MacKay ruled there was no evidence
Oberlander was involved in mass executions
but that based on a "balance of
probabilities" Oberlander had lied about
his wartime activities to enter Canada.
There was no evidence confirming this --
only Justice MacKay's opinion. Beginning in the late 1940s,
approximately 150,000 immigrants a year
were slated for Canada, there was a
backlog of 10,000 awaiting processing and
there were only 11 RCMP visa control
officers in Germany to screen
applicants. There was more concern about allowing
communists into the country than letting
in Nazis and many people have come forward
to attest they also were not questioned
about wartime activities. A Canadian Jewish Congress member
claims that comments by Paul Tuerr of the
German-Canadian Congress regarding
Caplan's decision could strain relations
between ethnic groups in Canada and are
destructive to the multicultural harmony
of the country. Multicultural harmony and positive
ethnic relations can only exist in fair
and equal situations -- not just in the
interest of one group. Kitchener has
already felt this multicultural harmony
diminish, as I am sure the rest of the
country will, if Oberlander is
deported. Look around you, at your 17-year-old
sons, daughters, nieces or nephews. What
would they do if someone ordered them to
serve at gunpoint? Would they be strong
enough to refuse? Let us hope this will never happen
again and that in 50 years' time, they
will not have to answer for their actions
at a young and vulnerable age. Helene B.Schramek Kitchener http://www.therecord.com/opinion/letters/opinion_letters_0105089286.html
.
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