Along with the Council of Canadians action alert demanding that Abousfian Abdelrazik be allowed to return to Canada at http://canadians.org/action/2009/14-Apr-09.html, please see below an urgent action alert from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG). As you may know, the Council of Canadians is a member of the ICLMG.
VOTE ON ABOUSFIAN MOTION: CALL IN TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE NOW
As part of the ongoing efforts by many persons and organizations to pressure the government to bring Abousfian Abdelrazik home, Paul Dewar, MP for Ottawa Centre, plans to present on Monday, April 27 the following motion to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in Ottawa::
“That Abousfian Abdelrazik be asked to appear before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs”.
The passage of this motion will not commit the government to bringing Abousfian to Ottawa; however, it will exert yet more pressure on the government to reverse its position and to bring him home.
Therefore, we are asking you to contact each member of the Standing Committee to urge them to::
1) allow the motion to come up on Monday, 27 April;
2) vote in favour of Mr. Dewar’s motion; and
3) remind them that Tuesday, 28 April will mark one year that Abousfian Abdelrazik has been living in the embassy in Khartoum, waiting to come home.
The Committee consists of 6 Conservatives, 3 Liberals, 2 Bloc Quebecois (BQ) and 1 NDP, the latter being Paul Dewar who will bring the motion forward. While the Conservative members might feel compelled to support the government’s policy, one could remind them that the campaign to bring Mr. Abdelrazik home is a matter of principle, not party.
Conservatives:
Kevin Sorenson, SorenK@parl.gc.ca
Jim Abbott, AbbotJ@parl.gc.ca
Lois Brown, Brown.L@parl.gc.ca
Peter Goldring, GoldrP@parl.gc.ca James Lunney, LunneJ@parl.gc.ca Deepak Obhrai, ObhraD@parl.gc.ca
Liberals
Bernard Patry, PatryB@parl.gc.ca Glen Douglas Pearson, PearsG@parl.gc.ca
Bob Rae, RaeB@parl.gc.ca
Bloc
Paul Crête, CreteP@parl.gc.ca Johanne Deschamps, DeschJoh@parl.gc.ca
* Copies of your emails could ideally be copied to your local MP. The email addresses for your local MP may be found at http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/FAQ.aspx?Language=E clicking on “Members of Parliament” on the left of the screen will bring up the list of MPs; clicking on a MP’s name will bring up his/her info page with the contact addresses (email or Canada Post).
As Mr. Dewar’s motion may come before the Standing Committee as early as next Monday, April 27, we hope that you will be able to send your message to the committee members right away.
