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WATERLOO CHRONICLE Publisher: Cal Bosveld BB86â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 Eâ€"mail wehronicle@sentex. net 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J IP2 The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southern Oniario Community Newspapers Inc., a division of southam Publicauons, a CanWest Company The views of our columists are their own and do not necessanly represent those the newspaper. International Standard Senal Number Carolyn Anstey Circulation Manager Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 136174 Cal Bosveld Publisher Andrea Bailey Reporter <> sK1 The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name, address and phone numâ€" ber and will be verified for accuâ€" racy. No unsigned letters will be published . Submissions may be edited for length. so please be brief. Copyright in letters and other materials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic or other farm ; Our mailing address is 75 King St 5.. Suite 201. Waterlon N21 1P2, our e mail address is wchtonicle@sentex net. and out fax number is AB6 9383 Audited circulation: 26,056 Letters Policy Gerry Mattice Retail Sales Manager Norma Cyca _ Sylvia O‘Donnell Advertising Advertising Lynn Bartol ISSN 0832â€"3410 Deborah Crandall Editor Bob Vrbanac Sports Editor Jim Alexander Director of Advertising Laurie Radgway Bill Karges Advertising of n May 6, the Canadian Jewish Opress release in reaction to appearing the The Record on calls upon me to retract a statement headline. Cl Canada is a democratic country, definitely NOT totalitanâ€" an. But sadly, the citizenship rights of many innocent Ukrainian, German and Japanese Canadians were abused during our wars, when suspicion overcame common sense and justice. Those steps were taken by politicians making use of laws that allowed them to do so. And now the CJC insists it is the federal Cabinet and not independent courts that ought to make the decision to deport Helmut Oberlander. The CJC has made numerous public statements in support of deportation without the right (0 _ mmmaaoazaaaaaae appeal the findings of one Federal | R Tess j Coun judge. As the distinguished . [RRe i | retired judge Roger Salhany has (W@@OJRUJ MNIST made clear, that one Federal Court . | | judge is far from infallible. After | reviewing the evidence presented i wks y at the Oberlander hearing before | i Mr. Justice Mackay, former Justice . | Salhany concluded that the finding . |®¥ C of the learned judge is not supportâ€" . | i Hadi~ ed by the evidence." | 6 My position does not pertain to Lm the outcome of a single case. Unlike the CJC, which wants Oberlander deported summarily, I AND_REW have not rushed to judgement. I TELEGDL MP have stated that I am not compeâ€" tent â€" nor is the federal Cabinet â€" to arbitrate between difâ€" fering judicial opinions and that the judgement should be left to the courts of appeal, where there is judicial accountability. The CJC persistently ignores the fact that B‘nai Brith Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and almost all multicultural organizations support my position: that the denial of due process is wrong. In fact, no witness appearing before the parliamentary committee that studied the Act agreed with the CJC‘s views. Of course, 1 deplore the sensational headline in Saturday‘s Record. Of course, I do not wish to offend the Jewish people, many of whom with I have discussed my position. Many have understood and support my demand that due process be recâ€" ognized. I know the value of citizenship because | have had the experience of losing it. My parents lost theirs. Its removal must not depend upon politicians or a single judge. It should be removed with great care and with all the protections of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. During a visit to Wilmot Township on May 18, 2000, Prime Minister Jean Chrétan stated that: "There is one thing key in the life of a nation â€" it is to make sure the rights of the citizens are protected by the court in our land and not subjected to the capricious elected." CICLIEUL _ 0_ . ie Emt snn sn o My stepfather fled Romania because he was Jewish and his civic rights were not respected. I learned about the Holocaust as a child from my parents and from living in a camp for Jewish refugees. We fled Hungary after the Soviet tanks stormed into Budapest. We chose Canada â€" could not wait to become citiâ€" zens and our history made us treasure that citizenship as much as life itself. After all, the deprivation of citizenship is a course that totalitarians often take before deprivation of life. L learmed the meaning of totalitariartism as a child under a brutal communist dictatorship with its denunciantions and show trials, disappearances into siberian gulags or worse of people who dared to speak out. [ learned it when we escaped through snowâ€"covered mine fields into the dead of night. I shall never forget. 1 am accused by the CJC â€" based on the Record‘s headline â€" of saying Canada is "like a Nazi regime." I never made that comment and do not hold such a belief. I was not contacted and asked whether I made the comment. As in the case of citâ€" izenship removal, the CJC has applied a lower standard of proof than most Canadians accept. Not my words I will not be diverted or intimidated for fighting an unfair process of citizenship revocation that exists in Canada today. l am a parliamentarian, not to defend the status quo, but to fight for a just society. For me, my citizenship comes before my party ‘anadian Jewish Congress (CJC) issued a in reaction to a misleading headline The Record on May 5. The press release ract a statement attributed to me in the | (;U}iSlT COLUMNIST t * A Bâ€"] | â€" ANDREW _ | | TELEGDL MP | VIEWPOINT “”\’,l\ There‘s been another ||| \ 7 _F L price ncreese.... So 1‘m \I. A i id Y sonns need the tog too. T $3 M M i WE SERVE U C ies \ 4 C l C 4 / 6 N A /; 4 3 I\ C ;j/‘ .‘E Faat f § Tok »q es .8 & hA â€"â€"â€"LILâ€"â€"A@«@f 45 §\ f on on n w ns w | n onl in j i C t Ctes & 2e " Ts “;._,v ,”,._{/."?? 7 p 4 Spmenes | Sp ol c3 ‘_; s * e ,‘ll; 4s M wege t‘s bad form to criticize the warm weathâ€" Ier as soon as it arrives, but it‘s depressâ€" ing to hear badâ€"air proclamations invoked so early. It‘s a pity when you wake up on a warmish morning and hear the clouds coughing. And we used to figure that Hamilton had all the bad air. It was so bad down there for a while they were going to put up street signs in braille. _ Final Judgement: Just when most folks had nearly forgotten about it, the case of Helmut Oberlander is front and centre again. In an unusual move, Immigration Minister Eleanor Caplan is giving him 30 days to make his case or face deportation. . As things now stand, that‘s what she‘ll be recommending to cabinet. In the interâ€" im, we can expect the German and Jewish groups to face off their pleadings anew. In case anyone is interestâ€" ed, my position remains the same: Oberlander should be deported forthwith. Never mind that he wasn‘t proven to have fired a gun, his association with an Einsatzkommando mobileâ€" killing squad is link enough with atrocities. As a matter of fact, later in the war he did pack a subâ€" machine gun on missions against antiâ€"Nazi groups. The gun was just window dressing, I suppose. It‘s been said by way of "__ apology that whatever hapâ€" kL._â€" pened occurred 60 years ago and half a world away. That‘s no matter. Surely there can be no statute of limitations on anyone connected with the slaughter of more than six million. And never should be. Shining Symbol: The folks who picked Chris Hadfield as a Canadian astroâ€" naut surely knew what they were doing. You couldn‘t get a better representative. Anyone who knows his career is aware he always intended to be an astronaut. To gain a place in space, you had to be the best. And so he was â€" crackerjack student, top jet pilot, outstanding test pilot. And, yes, a fine husband and father. He was best all the way. It‘s not widely known but he‘s a songâ€" writer. He once sold a song, a rollicking westernâ€"style epic about Canadian Tire as a refuge for men. And the store chain bought the piece of hilarity for $100 â€" in Canadian Tire money, of course. You can hear the clouds coughing _ One More Time: Once again the Cambridge committee on regional teform SANDY BAIRD has been accused of weighing the facts with its thumb on the scales. â€" Fabian Bandoni, a former Cambridge engineering director, wants the committee to look at the disadvantages as well as the advantages of a standâ€"alone city. The committee seemed reluctant to let Bandoni appear, but decided to accept written comments from him. Said he: "It‘s a big decision for Cambridge and 1 think all aspects and impacts of the decision have to be looked at." But Mayor Doug Craig seems content that the committee report will be for a standâ€"alone city and Queen‘s Park will Still, Burgomeister Craig will also blame Kâ€"W for the smog. He apparently doesn‘t know what‘s happened to his people. They‘re hooked on charcoal. It‘s unbelievâ€" _ â€" able. I know Cambridge guys who charcoalâ€"broil leftovers. DY Hollow Day: It looks as if RD we‘ll be hearing less of ‘ Stockwell Day from now on. He‘s been told by his caucus to hold fewer media conferences and to quit making the Alliance a oneâ€"man show. But he‘s far from being out of the woods. He‘s on probation, you might say. And he‘s got a mob of dissident MPs serving as parole officers. It‘d be a surprise if he survives very long in the job. All his life he has flitted from one career to the other, from one university to the next. Not too long at any undertaking. Granted, he‘s glib and telegenic, but glitz only goes so far And his political career so far has brought miniâ€"tragedies galore. Take the Kâ€"W couple who‘ve been behind the Alliance and Day heart and Particularly during the election camâ€" paign, no job was too tough or trivial for them. They tolled mighty, mighty hard. But now their party is in a shambles and their leader is in some disrepute. Voting is your right and your privilege. But, alas, real parâ€" ticipation can often wind up as one of your big regrets Head _ Count: _ Back decades ago, they taught us that Canada does a census every five years. It must be a sign of aging or something, but now they seem to come around every year or so. I worry. I think the doctor is giving up on my circulation. He says the only thing that would help now is a pardonâ€" ing of the arteries.