COTLER LOSES HUMAN RIGHTS HERO STATUS

The Once-Outspoken Lawyer Is Now Criticized For His Support Of
Initiatives That Impinge Free Speech And Other Civil Liberties

As a law professor and MP, Irwin Cotler was well known as a human
rights champion, but civil libertarians say the justice minister's
halo has been slipping since he joined the federal cabinet 20 months
ago.

Human rights advocates say the once-outspoken lawyer who fought for
the release of Nelson Mandela and other prisoners of conscience has
become a major player and apologist for a raft of government
initiatives that impinge on Canadians' privacy, free speech and other
liberties.

Among the measures that have drawn the ire of prominent groups like
the Canadian Bar Association and Canadian Civil Liberties Association
are:

- - A child pornography bill that critics say chills artistic
expression;

- - A planned bill that will hand police unprecedented electronic
surveillance powers;

- - A massive expansion of the DNA data bank that will force thousands
of non-violent criminals to donate bodily fluids to the RCMP's
forensic agency;

- - And a "reverse onus" bill that will forfeit to the state all the
assets of organized criminals unless those convicted can prove that
their property was lawfully acquired.

"The type of policies he is supporting now are not classic Irwin
Cotler before he was minister of justice, (but) he is of course a
member of a cabinet where you have to fight battles and compromise,"
observed Warren Allmand, a former Liberal solicitor-general who is
spokesman for the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

"Whether he is fighting hard enough (for civil liberties) within
cabinet or not we don't know, but the battle will continue to try to
remind Irwin of the good things he did in the past and to be
consistent with his long history."

For his part, Mr. Cotler insists protecting Canadians' civil liberties
remains for him "a foremost consideration and concern."

"I try to take the principled approach," he told the Citizen this
week. "If I am critiqued for it, so be it. I didn't just park my
principles at the door when I became minister of justice and attorney
general. I actually feel them even more sensitively and seriously now."

But two human rights groups -- who were in Ottawa this week demanding
an investigation into whether the Canadian Security Intelligence
Service has been complicit in the alleged torture of Canadian Arabs
outside Canada -- suggested Mr. Cotler isn't following his principles.

"We are still hearing some wonderful broad statements of principle
from Mr. Cotler that the global right to be protected from torture is
absolute and that Canada is completely committed to it," said Alex
Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International.

"What we are missing is evidence that he is able and willing to take
that commitment to those critical principles, and really
operationalize them in how law and policy is being
formulated."

Riad Saloojee, executive director of the Canadian Council on American
Islamic Relations argues "there is a stark disconnect" between what
Mr. Cotler says and does.

"With regard to abuses occurring in his own backyard, namely the
security certificates and the egregious human rights violations around
that process, he has been completely silent so we have not found him
to be an aggressive human rights advocate as we were expecting when he
assumed the post of justice minister."

Jason Gratl, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties
Association, said "like many others, we were very optimistic when Mr.
Cotler was appointed minister of justice (but) our optimism proved a
little naive, and he has proved to be a little less of a civil
libertarian in practice than he was in theory."

Mr. Gratl charges Mr. Cotler is taking "a backseat" to Public Safety
Minister Anne McLellan in the current parliamentary review of the
anti-terrorist law, a signal that the more draconian aspects of the
law are unlikely to be softened.

"He has distanced himself from Mr. Cauchon's decriminalization of
marijuana bill, and he abandoned (pro-marijuana activist Marc) Emery
to the clutches of the United States drug enforcement agency," Mr.
Gratl argued.

Martin Cauchon was the previous justice minister in Paul Martin's
cabinet.

But Gemma Hickey, president of Egale, which lobbies for gay equality,
said Mr. Cotler deserves credit for helping to shepherd into law the
divisive bill that gave gays and lesbians equal rights to marry in
civil ceremonies.

"We certainly applaud him for coming in at a time that was very
difficult. He had big shoes to fill and he certainly did that."

Open government advocates also slammed Mr. Cotler for failing to
deliver, as yet, on his pledge to reform the antiquated access to
information law. Information Commissioner John Reid has repeatedly
expressed fear that the government's hidden agenda is to weaken,
rather than strengthen, openness and public accountability. Mr. Reid's
concerns were reinforced last April when Mr. Cotler tabled a
widely-panned discussion paper that revealed the government is
basically content with the status quo.

Toronto criminal lawyer Paul Burstein faults Mr. Cotler for not
pushing ahead with the bill to decriminalize marijuana which is
languishing at the Commons justice committee.

Still, Mr. Burstein, who opposed the expansion of the DNA data bank on
behalf of the Criminal Lawyers Association, said Mr. Cotler did resist
the urging of police who wanted the right to seize DNA samples from
everyone who is convicted, or even charged, with an offence.

According to Mr. Cotler's parliamentary secretary, MP Paul Macklin,
the justice minister does fight and win behind-the-scenes battles to
preserve civil liberties in the face of police and security agencies'
demands for more power.

"There are many issues that are still under discussion where there are
tough fights ongoing," Mr. Macklin said. "I don't think when you talk
about human rights, that you will ever find a point where everyone
agrees on what is an appropriate balance."

Mr. Cotler also works in the real politics of a minority Parliament
with a tough-on-crime ethos, Mr. Macklin added.

"It's all very well and good to be critical of measures taken in the
calm process of developing public policy, but when you are faced with
certain pragmatic realities (such as recent gun violence in Toronto) I
think they do call for measures that will have some limitations on
individual rights."