Anti-Racism, Police Brutality Protests Raise Visibility, Urgen
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Don Oliver on how Trudeau can help stop anti-Black racism in Canada p. 10 Drapeau & Juneau: Time for ENVIRONMENT POLICY Canada to abolish military tribunals p. 12 BRIEFING pp. 17-27 Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson on their bestselling book, Empty Planet p. 33 Crane: Conservative Party’s not a credible opposition today p. 29 Heard on the Hill p.2 Michael Harris p.11 THIRTY-FIRST YEAR, NO. 1734 CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2020 $5.00 News Canada-U.S. relations News RCMP ‘The words leadership and Trump are an oxymoron’: U.S. RCMP and Canadian politicos trash Trump’s protest response offi cers drew BY ABBAS RANA of George Floyd, say political insid- “The words leadership and ing the still ongoing COVID-19 ers, adding that by using infl amma- Trump are an oxymoron. Trump crisis,” said Prof. Allan Lichtman, nearly 3,000 onald Trump has failed to tory language to stoke racial ten- has shown absolutely no presi- a distinguished historian at the Dshow leadership while han- sions, the U.S. president is further dential leadership during this American University, who has complaints dling COVID-19 and the nation- undermining his own chances of new crisis just as he showed no correctly predicted the last nine wide protests following the death getting re-elected on Nov. 3. presidential leadership dur- Continued on page 7 in 2018-19; News Anti-Black racism most kept confi dential ‘Piecemeal reforms have not BY PETER MAZEREEUW anadian residents fi led 2,988 Ccomplaints about the conduct saved the lives of Black people’: of RCMP offi cers in 2018-19, a 13 per cent increase from the year prior, and excessive use of force was one of the most common anti-racism, police brutality subjects of complaint. The complaints were fi led to the Civilian Review and Com- plaints Commission (CRCC), an independent body that receives protests raise visibility, urgency complaints about the RCMP, and then investigates those complaints if the RCMP’s own investigations don’t satisfy the of long-overdue reforms, say complainants. The CRCC received a total of 9,023 complaints that fell within its mandate in the four fi scal activists, some Parliamentarians years between 2015 and 2019, according to its annual report Black Lives Matter for 2018-19. The report listed the Even as support for protesters, pictured May three most common allegations 31, 2020, outside the made against RCMP offi cers in structural reforms Vancouver Art Gallery. most provinces and territories: Thousands of protests “neglect of duty,” “improper atti- seeps into the have been happening tude,” and “improper use of force” mainstream, some over the last week dominated that list. around the world after Protests against police brutality a video was released and anti-Black racism have spread noted it’s dismaying through more than 100 U.S. cities Publications Mail Agreement #40068926 of George Floyd, a that some politicians Minneapolis Black man, and most major Canadian cities who died on May 25, since a police offi cer killed George continue to deny 2020, after a white Floyd, a 46-year-old man in Min- police offi cer knelt on neapolis, Minnesota, on May 25 the existence of his neck for almost by kneeling on his neck for more systemic racism. See nine minutes while Mr. than eight minutes while he was Floyd was handcuffed handcuffed. In video footage of the story by Beatrice face down in the street. incident, Mr. Floyd repeatedly tells Mr. Floyd repeatedly the four offi cers arresting him that Paez and Palak said ‘I can’t breathe.’ he can’t breathe. Photograph courtesy of Continued on page 4 Mangat p. 30 Commons Wikipedia 2 MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES A Carleton University history profes- eral MP Michael Levitt, chair of the House sor, Prof. Cook is a member of the Order Foreign Affairs Committee, along with the of Canada who has won the J.W. Dafoe foreign affairs committee chairs in Austra- Award and the C.P. Stacey Award. lia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, Heard on the Hill With historians at the turn of the mil- jointly penned a letter to UN Secretary lennium largely focusing on Canadian General António Guterres to urge the disasters during the battles of Hong Kong establishment of a UN special envoy for by Neil Moss and Dieppe as well as Canada’s policy Hong Kong. of Japanese Canadian internment, Prof. Mr. Levitt also wrote a letter to Prime Cook looks at the efforts to “restore a more Justin Trudeau, as did the other committee balanced portrait” on Canada’s war efforts chairs to their prime ministers. that followed. “We respectfully call on you and the Tim Cook’s new book will “This is the story of how Canada has Minister of Foreign Affairs, alongside our talked about the war in the past, how we partners in Australia, New Zealand, and tried to bury it, and how it was restored.” the United Kingdom, to lead the interna- Former journalist and current Historica tional effort to ensure as much protection look at how Canada has Canada president Anthony Wilson-Smith as possible for the people of Hong Kong wrote that Prof. Cook “argues convincingly” and for democracy worldwide,” Mr. Levitt that the Canadian war effort has been wrote to Mr. Trudeau. remembered World War II downplayed in a review of the book in Mr. Trudeau condemned the imposition Policy Magazine. of national security law last week and in- “In making his case, Cook’s many vited Canadian expats living in Hong Kong Tim Cook‘s strengths are again evident. He writes to return home. The Fight for fl uidly, with a sharp eye for detail and the History: 75 Years telling anecdote. His sympathies are with of Forgetting, people on the ground rather than higher- What does a pause say?: Remembering, ups—but he has a keen understanding of and Remaking politics and how and why decisions are praise and scorn for Canada’s Second made,” Mr. Wilson-Smith added. World War will Prime Minister Trudeau’s be released in September. MPs look to parliamentary 21-seconds of silence “The Fight for History exam- diplomacy to counter ines how Cana- dians framed Chinese infl uence and reframed the war experi- Tim Cook, pictured in a fi le photograph, is a ence over time,” member of the Order of Canada who has won reads the book’s description. “Just as the the J.W. Dafoe Award and the C.P. Stacey importance of the battle of Vimy Ridge to Award. The Hill Times fi le photograph and book Canadians rose, fell, and rose again over a cover image courtesy of Penguin Random House 100-year period, the meaning of Canada’s Second World War followed a similar pat- ne of Canada’s most prominent histori- tern. But the Second World War’s relevance Oans has penned a book that is looking to Canada led to confl ict between veterans at how Canadians have remembered the and others in society—more so than in Second World War in the three quarters of the previous war—as well as a more rapid Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a 21-second a century since it ended. diminishment of its signifi cance.” Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, pause last week before answering a reporter’s left, as well as Liberal MP John McKay and question on U.S. President Donald Trump. The Conservative MP Garnett Genuis have joined Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade the new Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade As protests erupted last week in response and fi le photograph to the police killing of George Floyd with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to use MPs have partnered with their counter- military might to quell the protests, Prime parts around the world in order to form a Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about group that will keep an eye on the growing that threat and before he responded he took aggressiveness of the Chinese government. an uncharacteristic 21-second pause—when Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, Liber- all that could be heard was the shuttering of al MP John McKay, and former Liberal jus- cameras—before answering the question. tice minister Irwin Cotler have joined the The pause made international head- Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China—a lines. It was featured in The New York group of 18 current and former legislators Times, Time Magazine, CNN and BBC, from around the world who are working to among many other foreign networks. reform how democratic countries interact “The pause said a lot,” read the CNN report. with China. That was refl ected by former U.S. ambas- Republican U.S. Senator Marco Ru- sador to Canada Bruce Heyman. “Sometime bio and Democratic U.S. Senator Bob silence says more than words,” he tweeted. Menendez are also part of the alliance that “Trudeau’s very, very long pause after contains lawmakers from Australia, the being asked about what’s happening in the European Union, Germany, Japan, Norway, US speaks volumes louder than his actual re- Sweden, and the United Kingdom. sponse,” tweeted American political scientist “The rules-based order is suffering and and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer. this cannot continue unchecked,” said Mr. But others disagreed. Cotler, a Liberal MP from 1999 to 2015, in “A long pause means nothing,” NDP Lead- the group’s launch video. er Jagmeet Singh tweeted. “Silence won’t The video which contained appearances confront anti-Black racism, actions will.” from parliamentarians from around the “The prime minister’s refusal to world highlighted the importance of work- denounce Trump is part of the problem.