TORONTO — The decision to ban a controversial British MP from Canada was “an exercise in taunting” by senior government officials who disagreed with his views on Afghanistan, lawyers for George Galloway told a judicial review Wednesday.
Lawyer Barbara Jackman said the Canadian government falsely labelled Galloway a terrorist because it didn’t like his views on the war in Afghanistan.
All Galloway did was provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, Jackman said, a move that some claimed meant he supported Hamas, which has been deemed a terrorist organization.
“It’s clear Canadian aid was going into Gaza, so it’s all right for our government to do it but not for Mr. Galloway?” she asked.
“If in fact Mr. Galloway is a terrorist (for providing supplies to Gaza) then our prime minister is as well.”
Galloway, an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian people, had planned to make a four-city speaking tour of Canada in March 2009, but immigration officials declared him inadmissible, saying he had provided financial support to Hamas.
The Canada Border Services Agency cited his involvement in an aid convoy that delivered clothing, medical items, relief money and vehicles to the elected Hamas government, as well as Galloway’s donation of three cars and $44,000 to Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.
His lawyers and supporters argue the ban amounts to an assault on freedom of expression and should be overturned. They say the issue is not only about his right to free speech but also about the right of Canadians to hear from such speakers and voice their opposition if they so choose.
Any reasonable person looking at the facts of this case, Jackman said Wednesday, would conclude that Galloway was labelled a terrorist for simply having engaged in speech the federal government disagreed with.
Labelling someone like Galloway a terrorist, she said, “minimizes what terrorism is.”
“What’s the purpose of having terrorism legislation if it covers everyone who gives a speech?”
Galloway supporters have called on Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to resign over what they say was an abuse of power for directly interfering with the ban.
A flurry of internal government emails in the run-up to the ban show Kenney’s office was clear in its opposition to the visit, with his spokesman, Alykhan Velshi, writing the minister would not overturn the ban given “the kind of things George Galloway advocates.”
Kenney has said in the past he believed “folks that are supporting and promoting and helping terrorist organizations are not needed to visit Canada.”