On March 19, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney banned British MP George Galloway from entering Canada. Galloway is scheduled to speak in four cities during a pan-Canadian speaking tour from March 30 to April 2.
Kenney’s decision to ban Galloway is an unprecedented attack on free speech and on the right to criticize our government’s foreign policy. Kenney’s office has publicly stated that Galloway will be banned because of his views on the war in Afghanistan and because he represents a “threat to national security”.
The ban on Galloway follows Kenney’s recent attacks on Canadian Arab and Muslim organizations and on Palestine solidarity campaigners for their criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza and its treatment of Palestinians. On March 18, Kenney unilaterally cut funding to the Canadian Arab Federation for its immigrant settlement program. Kenney also recently attacked students organizing Israeli Apartheid Week on campuses across Canada.
Kenney has attempted to silence their voices by accusing them of anti-Semitism, despite the wide range of support and participation of Jewish organizations and individuals in these initiatives.
The organizers of Galloway’s speaking tour – the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, the Ottawa Peace Assembly, and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – condemn in the strongest terms Kenney’s attack on free speech and our right to criticize our government’s foreign policy.
We call on all supporters of civil liberties to join us in challenging these attacks and in reversing Kenney’s ban. We call on you to join our campaign to ensure Galloway’s entry into Canada. We must organize now to ensure that all events where Galloway is scheduled to speak will proceed as planned.
Together, we will defend free speech and civil liberties.
And one way or another, George Galloway will speak in Canada.
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