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Posts Tagged ‘Canada’

US Speed Skating - Powered by The Colbert Nation

Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation’s  sponsorship of the US speed skating team was a story I wrote about when it first came about, but I foolishly haven’t been posting on any of the latest developments. Back in November, City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend wrote to Stephen inviting him to come to the games as an official ombudsman to ensure no funny business would happen (at the time Colbert was hammering Canada about not letting the US get enough practice time at the Richmond Olympic Oval.) Stephen stated he would be coming to the games, but only if it were as a member of the US Olympic Team (I guess he couldn’t stand to wear a pink toque the whole time.) So began Stephen Colbert’s Skate Expectations: Kicking Ice and Taking Donations On The Slippery Slope Down The Icy Path To The Frozen Road Up To Vancouver ’010 and his bid to join the US Olympic Team.

First came his attempts to join the skeleton and bobsleigh teams. These efforts failed despite Cobert’s “God given talent for lying down and surrendering to the effects of gravity”. He was further hindered by the fact that most members of the bobsleigh squad do not enjoy “a little vomit on their Lycra.” Next, Colbert tried to “HURRY HARD!” his way into the Olympics as part of the curling team. Once again his efforts were to no avail. Not giving up though, Colbert dug deep, remembered that his first love is speed skating and orchestrated a hilarious race with World Champion Shani Davis. All of Stephens well developed cheating instincts failed him, as Shani went on to decimate him, despite a head start of over 10 minutes. However, Colbert’s wily ways did catch the notice of the coaching staff, and he will be joining the team as an assistant sports psychologist. This is a fantastic development and I look forward to some great pieces of journalism from Stephen during the games. I’ve often wrote that I strongly believe in using the Olympic platform to shine a light on the fair city of Vancouver, both the good and the bad. The Colbert Report has and continues to be an excellent force for peering into some of the darker cracks in society and I fully expect to him to highlight some of the social issues that are present in this city. Previously I suggested that Colbert and Rick Mercer pair up for some international comedy dueling, but after thinking on the viability of this, I remembered that CTV is this years host broadcaster in Canada, and as Mercer is a CBC employee this would not work. Perhaps John Dore is up for challenging Colbert.

Apologies to those with Canadian IP addresses; you will need to click here to view the above clip, as the Comedy Network does not allow for embedded video clips.

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Richard Colvin Testifying Before a Commons Committee

Stephen Harper really came into power about five years later than what would have been optimal for him. So many of the decisions and maneuvers he makes seem to mirror the petty and weak actions of the horrible administration of George W. Bush. Earlier this week it was the revelation by the CBC that the Conservative government is looking at reducing the emissions goals for the oil and gas industries that made Mr. Harper appear like Mr. Bush. Ongoing as well is the debate over the transfer of Afghan detainees. The government’s response so far is one that seems more in line with the Bush approach to foreign policy than the incremental positive steps that President Obama has started to push forward on.

It is worth taking a moment to pause and remember what is actually at issue here. No claims are being made that Canadian soldiers tortured detainees.

…they were beaten, whipped, frozen and starved once they were transferred from Canadian military custody to Afghan security forces. [emphasis mine]

The question at hand is whether we continued to transfer prisoners to the Afghans after learning that they were torturing the prisoners we transferred. It is important to remember that prior to 2005 we transferred prisoners to the US. This process was stopped because of concerns that the US was not fulfilling their treaty obligations under the Geneva Convention. If we are knowingly transferred prisoners to an entity that then tortures said prisoners, we have also run afoul of our treaty obligations.

I would consider a Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan raising concerns about prisoner abuse to be a credible voice. Richard Colvin, just such a diplomat claims he did as much from 2006 to 2007. When reports began to come out in 2007 from monitoring agencies like the Red Cross that detainee abuse was indeed being perpetrated by Afghan security forces, the Canadian government quickly renogtiated a new transfer agreement with Afghan authorities that allowed Canadian access to the prisons the detainees would be transfered to. On November 18th, appearing before a Commons Committee, Colvin stated that:

All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent.

The CBC news story from that day also goes on to say:

Colvin said they began informing the Canadian Forces and Foreign Affairs officials about the detainee situation in 2006 with verbal and written reports.

He said the warnings were at first mostly ignored, but by April 2007, they were receiving written messages from government officials that in the future not to put things on paper, but instead use the telephone.

Colvin mentioned David Mulroney, a deputy minister who is now the ambassador to China, as one of the officials who didn’t want to hear the allegations.

Once again it should be pointed out that no one is arguing Canadian Forces tortured detainees. What is claimed howerver, is that it was known that detainees were being tortured after their transfer to Afghan Forces, that this fact was brought to the attention of military and government officials who in turn ignored this information and detainee transfers continued. Were this to be the case, Canada would be in violation of it’s treaty obligations.

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For far too long, Canada has been content to let her international image and reputation warmly bask in the residual glow of glories and

Van Doo's Paratroopers in Part Said, 1956

good works long gone past. However, our squeaky clean image is quickly diminishing in the worlds eyes.

Post World War Two, this countries most prominent moment on the world stage arguably came during the Suez Canal Crisis. For his leading in role in organizing the first UN Emergency Force that was then deployed to Egypt, as well as spearheading negotiations amongst the disputing parties, Lester Pearson, then the Minister of External Affairs and later to be Prime Minister, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. When the prize was announced, the selection committee stated that Pearson had been responsible for “saving the world.”  Since that time, Lester Pearson has been considered the father of the modern day idea of peacekeeping, and peacekeeping has been a central pillar of ‘Canadianess.’

As the leader of a minority government from 1963-1967, Pearson also oversaw several other key developments in how Canada is perceived, both by herself and the world. The adoption of universal health care, an open immigration system and the current Canadian flag were all realized during Pearson’s tenure as Prime Minister. Pearson’s work has also helped foster the image of Canada as a helping, caring nation. The still as of yet unrealized goal of developed nations contributing 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) towards  official development assistance (ODA) was born of out of a commission that Pearson headed for the World Bank in 1969. Tying these accomplishments together presents a rather typical viewpoint of Canada; a nation of peacekeepers that provide the basics of healthcare to all their citzens. A country that provides high levels of aid to the world, works for the betterment of the planet and also actively encourages immigration into it’s expansive borders,  where new citizens are charged with both assimilating to the tenets of a liberal democracy, while also retaining elements of the culture from ones homeland. Unite all the people who hold those ideals under the red maple leaf and you get: Canadians. These giant progressive leaps forward have served as the foundation for Canada’s stellar international reputation for decades.

Canada’s claim as a peacekeeping nation has been severely undercut by the realities of how many boots we have we have on the ground that are available for peacekeeping missions. As of October 2009, Canada ranked 56th amongst nations with 179 military and police personnel attached to peacekeeping missions. Those numbers put us just ahead of Cote d’Ivore, Cameroon and Zimbabwe. Of course Canada’s contributions to the NATO mission in Afghanistan have severely limited the numbers of bodies that could be made available to peacekeeping missions, but our contributions have been on the decline well before the start of the quagmire in Afghanistan.

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• Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA (And Sports Psychologist) [/caption] Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation's  sponsorship of the US speed skating team was a story I wrote about when it first came about, but I foolishly haven't been posting on any of the...

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