Letter to Prime Minister re: situation in Darfur
Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister's Office
Langevin Block
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister:
On May 13, 2004, Canadian Jewish Congress wrote to you conveying "profound concern" in the face of "reports of mass murder, systematic rape and ethnic cleansing in Darfur." Since then the massive suffering continues largely unabated. Inter-ethnic issues have unleashed terrible forces putting well over one million people, at risk. The price that has been paid by innocent victims is unconscionable.
The purpose of this letter, on the eve of the release by the United Nations on an investigation on whether genocide has been committed in Sudan's Darfur region and on the day prior to a press conference on the issue by CJC's Pacific Region, is to once again call upon the Government of Canada to mobilize all resources - political, diplomatic and financial - that are necessary to stop the suffering and avert what is becoming another human catastrophe of major proportions. We add that the recent North-South peace agreement in Sudan is very good news, but any positive impact on Darfur is far from clear.
Since our last correspondence to you on this issue, our CJC National leadership has met with Gilbert Laurin, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations; our Quebec Region co-organized a Day of Conscience; our Ontario Region, working closely with KAIROS (representing ten Christian churches on domestic and international social justice issues) co-sponsored an important public rally supported by over forty NGOs; all synagogues in British Columbia were addressed on Yom Kippur by rabbinical and lay leadership about the urgency of the matter; and leaders of the Jewish community have raised Darfur at numerous meetings with parliamentarians. Our university students, through the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students and National Jewish Campus Life, also are in the process of planning a series of initiatives. As a result of our active involvement on this issue we have seen that many Canadians, like us, consider this crisis a top priority.
Our initial correspondence to you, reinforced in meetings with Senator Mobina Jaffer, Special Envoy to the Sudan Peace Process, and various Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament, called for the immediate disarming of the murderous Janjaweed militias initially unleashed by the Sudanese government; the imposition of "no-fly zones;" intervention by highly experienced, properly funded, well-trained and well-equipped peace-keeping forces; and immediate investigation with respect to the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
We very much appreciate the international advocacy on Darfur that has been forthcoming from you and your government. At the same time the situation on the ground in Darfur continues to deteriorate and the African Union mission does not have the necessary troops and resources to protect civilians. This mandate must be strengthened and more international resources dedicated to support them. You have been in the forefront with the "responsibility to protect" doctrine and a renewed priority to such diplomacy in the context of Darfur is urgently needed. As you pointed out on your visit to Darfur, “we live in a world that is divided into countries. But there is something more important than countries. It is our common humanity.” And you added "there are always excuses, but it is our responsibility to create a situation where there can be no excuses."
Every tragedy has its own unique context. Our own experience with the Holocaust has taught us that such evil must be recognized and that we have a responsibility to ensure that it never happens again. That is why our National President, Ed Morgan and our past chairman of the Holocaust remembrance committee who is a survivor of Auschwitz, Nate Leipciger, are currently in Poland commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of this death camp.
A recent newspaper headline asks, "Will the world ever learn?" above a picture of the gates into Auschwitz. That is a legitimate question to be asked after Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia (to provide but three examples in a longer list) and, now, Darfur. The difference is that in Darfur it is still possible to stop the crisis but it must be done quickly if more lives are to be saved and untold suffering averted.
We have every confidence that Canadians will support you and indeed encourage you to take the initiative on the world stage in protecting the people of Darfur. The Jewish community is only one of countless communities across this great nation who will do all in our power to vest meaning in the words “never again”. As a world community we failed in Rwanda; we implore you to ensure that we not once again fail in Darfur.
We thank you for your attention to this matter of such great urgency and look forward to your response at your earliest convenience
Yours very truly,
Dr. Victor C. Goldbloom, C.C., O.Q.
Chair
National Executive
Canadian Jewish Congress
Mark Weintraub
Chair
Canadian Jewish Congress
Pacific Region
CC.
Hon. Pierre Pettigrew Hon., P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Bill Graham P.C., M.P., Q.C.
Minister of National Defence
Hon. Aileen Carrol, P.C., M.P.
Minister for International Cooperation
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