Home Newsroom 2004 Speeches (archive) McLellan: 2004-12-08

The National Council on Canada/Arab Relations dinner

Speaking notes for
The Honourable Anne McLellan

Ottawa, Canada
December 8, 2004

As delivered

Thank you very much for that kind introduction. It is a great pleasure to be here this evening. Let me say first of all, I know I speak for all my colleagues from all parties -- we thank you for inviting us this evening and it is a pleasure for all of us to be here.

I also want to especially acknowledge Dr. Al-Hussaini, the Ambassador from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and his wife because they were my very kind hosts a few months ago, in the spring. They invited me and my deputy minister and some other people from my department to their home for lunch with many -- I don’t think all -- but many of the ambassadors from the Arab world. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to meet together and talk about issues of concern, be it issues of international interest, Canada’s relationship with the Arab world or issues like Bill C-36 and the challenges that the fight against terrorism presents for all of us.

I am going to talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes. But I do, Mr. Ambassador, want to thank you and your wife very much because I hope you found it as interesting and an opportunity as I did to meet the diplomatic corps from the Arab world and learn more firsthand about how we can develop this relationship between Canada and the Arab world, and how important it must be as we move forward together. So thank you again very much.

I also want to acknowledge my colleague, Senator Mobina Jaffer, who is going to be acknowledged later this evening, but who has helped me enormously in understanding how important it is that we have an inclusive approach to issues such as our anti-terrorism legislation and our National Security Policy.

I, obviously, also want to acknowledge the representatives from Talisman here this evening, who are also going to be acknowledged later.

And I do want to say a special hello to my former colleague, Gar Knutson, who is here this evening, and of course many of you know Gar because of his previous responsibilities for the Middle East. Thank you, Gar, for being here this evening.

Thank you for inviting me to join you this evening. Let me say at the outset how much I appreciate the work being done by the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations. A few months ago I had the privilege of participating in one of your meetings with the Prime Minister, during which a number of very important issues were raised.

As has been referred to here, the Prime Minister and I did have the opportunity to meet with some of you here in July of this year. And I had the opportunity to review the letter that you submitted to the Prime Minister after our meeting. In fact a number of the things in that letter you referred to this evening, Hussein, in terms of the agenda that you would like to see us pursue as a government with your organization, with Arab-Canadians and with the Arab world.

So I am this evening going to say a little bit about Canada’s relationship with the Arab world and then talk in a little bit more detail about my role as Minister of Public Safety and how we need to work together to make sure that we are all secure.

Since the first Arab immigrants landed in the 19th century, our nation has been enriched by your presence. Today you are physicians and academics, businesspeople and parliamentarians. From one end of this country to the other, Canadian Arabs are an integral part of our rich mosaic.

Of course the connections between Canada and the Arab world cross many borders. We have worked together on our shared goal of peace and security in the Middle East. We will continue to do what we can to support efforts to reach a fair and lasting settlement. As the Prime Minister has said, Canada is committed to assisting the Palestinians through this transition period.

We will be sending election observers and technical experts and we are examining post-election strategies to help the Palestinian Authority build government institutions and develop the Palestinian economy. Canada’s goal is clear: to help reach a just solution, which will see two states living side by side in peace and security.

In the Middle East, the Canadian International Development Agency is focusing much of its efforts on reducing poverty, supporting progress in governance and democratic institutions, as well as contributing to the promotion of peace and security. In the West Bank and Gaza, Canada is providing more than $20 million to support these goals in this fiscal year alone.

Canada’s involvement in the Middle East also extends to other countries. Since December 2003, Canada has had a senior police adviser working with the Minister of the Interior in the international zone in Baghdad. In addition, Canada continues to contribute police personnel from the RCMP and other police forces to the Jordanian International Police Training Centre in Amman.

The initial deployment in January 2004 saw 20 officers from across Canada become part of an international effort to train Iraqi police recruits for service in their own country. Canada has contributed $10 million to this effort as part of an overall pledge of some $300 million for humanitarian and reconstruction initiatives.

We are also looking to expand Canada’s trade relations with Arab nations. This will be one element of the Prime Minister’s trip to Libya. The oil and gas sector in my home province, for instance, is in an excellent position to build on linkages with industry in the Middle East.

Whatever our cultural or religious traditions, we have all learned since September 11 that terrorism really does know no boundaries or respect any life. This is the reality that I face in my role as Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

Canada, as we all know, was one of several countries publicly threatened by Osama bin Laden two years ago and we must not assume that that danger has passed. Nor are the risks to our safety, security and economy limited to terrorism. Public health emergencies, natural disasters and other things are ever-present threats. In the face of this evolving threat environment, Canadians expect their government to take action to protect them.

I want to say now just a little bit about the role I play and the role my department plays in the area of public safety. Protecting the safety and security of Canadians lies at the heart of why the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness portfolio was created by Prime Minister Martin last December.

The portfolio has been designed to address a continuum of risks to Canadians from crime affecting the lives of individuals to terrorism, natural disasters, disrupting our communities and other threats to our national security. In short, this department is the focal point, bringing together in one place and under one minister the full range of tools necessary to provide a coordinated, integrated and effective response to any and all threats.

I believe this is the right response to the current environment. It enables us to renew Canada’s approach to its security while reasserting Canada’s commitment to its values. And it gives the government the tools it needs to provide the security Canadians expect and, dare I say, deserve.

Specifically, the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness portfolio brings together key national agencies dedicated to public safety, security and emergency preparedness. But the creation of the department and the portfolio was only part of the new security architecture introduced by the Prime Minister.

As part of its overall review of Canada’s security requirements, the Government of Canada developed a comprehensive policy on national security, which I introduced in April of this past year. This new National Security Policy, “Securing an Open Society,” represents a major step forward in strengthening the security environment and identifies three key national security interests that Canada must advance.

First, we must protect Canada and Canadians at home and abroad. This includes safeguarding not only the physical safety of our citizens, but also the core values Canadians have come to rely on at home and the values that we represent to the world.

Second, we must ensure that Canada does not become a base of operations for those who would do harm to ourselves or our allies.

And third, this policy recognizes Canada’s responsibility to contribute to international security.

The policy speaks eloquently to the fact that the government must work with all Canadians to make our approach to security effective. More specifically, what we as a government must do is reach out to communities in Canada that may feel caught in the frontline of the struggle against terrorism.

We believe that our diversity is an asset, not a weakness, as we move to protect the safety and security of Canada. The deep commitment in this country to mutual respect and inclusion is exactly what helps to mitigate extremism.

Drawing on all of this, our National Security Policy includes the commitment, as you’ve heard, to create a Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security, which will engage ethno-cultural and religious communities in an ongoing dialogue on national security issues and how those issues relate to our pluralistic society.

And let me say here that it’s interesting, different countries take different approaches to national security policies and their development and how they’re structured and how they appear on the page. In fact, if you look at our National Security Policy, it’s unique in that the first part of our policy speaks to the protection of Canadian values. It speaks to a made-in-Canada policy that, for example, reflects our pluralistic and diverse nature, reflects our commitment to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And it is from that beginning that the entire policy moves forward.

In the very first pages of our policy we talk about the importance of creating this cultural roundtable where we will bring representatives from, as I’ve said, the ethno-cultural communities, religious minorities, together to talk to each other and to talk to us.

Senator Jaffer was very, very helpful, working with me and working with my department and Minister Irwin Cotler, the Minister of Justice, in terms of what this could be. And I don’t think Mobina and I will pretend this evening that we perhaps agree on everything in relation to the creation of this cultural roundtable. But I think we do -- I know that we agree in relation to the objective of this table, which is to bring people together so that we learn from the Arab community in Canada, the Muslim community, learn the impact of a piece of legislation like the anti-terrorism legislation.

I work with my community in Edmonton on these issues. I know how parts of that legislation are perceived. I know how the community feels about some of the actions of the Canada Border Services Agency -- be it at an airport or a land border. I hear these things and they disturb me. The fact that people feel -- how members of your community feel -- about how we are implementing our policies, the goal of which is to keep us all secure, to keep us all free, to ensure the security of our democracy. It pains me greatly when I hear from my community in Edmonton and across the country that there are those who believe profoundly that our policies isolate them, marginalize them.

In this country that is simply unacceptable. And therefore we need to work together through things like the cultural roundtable. That is one vehicle and I see it as an important vehicle by which we as government will learn more about the impact of our policies and our goal to keep Canadians secure.

You can perhaps help us work with your communities so that there’s a greater understanding of what our objectives are and if we need to recalibrate these policies, then that’s what we must do. And the cultural roundtable I see, and I know Minister Cotler sees, as a key component of our ability to listen, to hear, to learn and then to act.

I also want to just say a little bit more this evening about the anti-terrorism legislation because it has been referred to. I was Minister of Justice on September 11. I was Minister of Justice when that legislation made its way through the Standing Committee on Justice in the House and then through the Special Committee in the Senate. As I’ve already indicated, I have heard from many in the Canadian-Arab community both at the time that legislation was being developed and making its way through Parliament and since as to some of the unintended consequences and impacts. And I’m one of those who believe that we must always be profoundly aware of unintended consequences.

I hope -- I believe that when it comes to the policy embedded in the anti-terrorism legislation that it does reflect a balanced approach. As I have said and others have said, security and rights are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are mutually reinforcing. There is no role more fundamental for government than the job of protecting its citizens. All other rights and freedoms, all the other benefits that we enjoy as citizens in a democracy, as well as the diversity we witness in this country, flow from this.

Everyone in this country has the right to be secure. Everyone in this country has the right to be free from the threat of terrorism. And I think we see in too many failing and failed states that if people do not feel secure, they will live in fear. What happens is that people do not embrace their communities. They stay at home. They live in fear. Social cohesion breaks down. Civil society disappears. And that is why it is so important for us to ensure the security of the people who live in this country.

But we fail in that if we marginalize people either intentionally or unintentionally, and if people feel that they have been targeted or singled out in some way.

So, when we introduced the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2001, we believed that we got the balance right. But I guess one of the things that I would say to you this evening is that this legislation will be reviewed. I believe this organization, NCCAR, has already participated in a consultation last week led by the Department of Justice and my colleague Irwin Cotler. That is just one of a number of consultations outside the parliamentary process that will take place in relation to this legislation.

It will be reviewed because of course what we wanted was to guarantee that we would have the opportunity at the end of three years to come back and look at this legislation and listen to communities such as yours and see what the impact has been and see what we have learned and how we can produce a better piece of legislation, if that’s what’s required, to protect our mutual security.

As I’ve said, the Anti-Terrorism Act seeks to protect law-abiding Canadians by giving law enforcement as well as security and intelligence agencies the tools they need to provide that protection. And the Act, we believe, does so in a way that respects important values such as fairness, due process and judicial review. It was designed to be consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and it does allow Canada to meet our international commitments with respect to combating terrorism.

However, as I’ve said, this legislation will undergo a full parliamentary review and we are there now. That milestone has been reached. And members of the public will soon have the opportunity to make representations and recommendations as to how we make our security legislation better.

As I say, I do believe that we got the balance right. But I fully expect that we must continue to review our measures and actions to ensure that the right balance continues to be struck.

So, ladies and gentlemen, these are challenging times. They are challenging times for us here in Canada. They are challenging times for the Arab world. I guess I would, in conclusion, leave you with just a couple of thoughts that I think are profoundly important.

One, that the Government of Canada views its engagement and relationships in the Arab world as profoundly important. We will build on our friendships and our partnerships and we will expand our engagements with the Arab world.

Secondly, as Minister of Public Safety, I understand the reaction of this community to the anti-terrorism legislation. I understand the reaction of this community to the profound disturbing comments and suggestions from some within our society. I understand the marginalization that some in your community feel and the singling out that some in your community feel.

We will not live up to the values that we profess as Canadians unless we work with your community and honestly and rigorously engage with your community so that we always, always are working to not only get the balance right but to ensure that we actually do respect in everything we do the values that we hold dear, the values of tolerance and equality.

Let me say that as part of that commitment we are committed, as a government, to ensuring that we deal with hate and the profession of hate wherever it may be, against whomever it is directed. We as a pluralistic diverse society cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the profession of hate regardless of which group it may be directed toward.

That is why when you look at what we are doing with you, in partnership with you I think what you see, I hope what you see, is a government committed to Canadians’ security first and foremost because it is fundamental, but a government that also understands that commitment is hollow unless we are equally committed to inclusion, to equality and to tolerance, as well as to the denial of hate by anyone in this country who would choose to speak hateful words or act in a hateful way against any community in this country.

And therefore you have my commitment that I will continue to work with the Canadian-Arab community and with NCCAR and with other organizations representing Canadian Arabs. For me I think how we move forward in the review of the anti-terrorism legislation, how we implement the National Security Policy is really a test of who we are, what we stand for and what we want to be. I need, and this government needs your help in meeting that test. Thank you all very much.