Harper government criticized for war criminal deportations

The Harper government is successfully moving forward with its war criminal deportation program despite much criticism.

Two weeks ago, with great bravado, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced the Canada Border Services Agency wanted the public's help to locate 30 suspected international war criminals living illegally in Canada.

Natalie Glister, communications officer for the agency, told Yahoo! Canada News that to date it has received 128 tips from the public and has apprehended seven individuals.

But the fact the government doesn't intend to prosecute these individuals in Canada or even ensure they're brought to justice abroad has generated a fair bit of criticism.

"Serious human rights violators should be brought to justice," Amnesty International spokesman John Tackaberry told Postmedia News. "We should ensure they face the consequences of their actions."

A blogger for the Economist penned an article suggesting Kenney and Towes have a hidden agenda.

"(The government's) disinterest in determining these suspects' guilt or innocence suggests that it is more concerned with courting anti-immigrant and law-and-order conservatives at home than with the fight for justice abroad," he wrote.

Bruce Broomhall, a University of Quebec professor and lawyer, told Embassy Magazine the Harper government is taking the easy way out.

"I take it that this is part of a policy of the government to vocally express its toughness on immigration abuses, more than being tough on crime," said Broomhall. "If this were really about being tough on crime, we'd be looking at prosecuting these people."

Kenney, in his usual stout manner, brushed off the criticism.

In a tweet last week he wrote: "It's just bizarre that groups on the left like the (Canadian) Council for Refugees & Amnesty (International) are opposed to our effort to deport war criminals."

Experts suggest because of the high costs associated with such cases, the focus has been on keeping suspected criminals out of Canada rather than trying them.

Moreover, it's much easier for the border agency to rule someone inadmissible than for law enforcement bodies to find evidence of a crime committed halfway around the world and a decade earlier.

(AFP Photo)