“Millions of poor people were depending on world leaders to make progress on the climate crisis in Durban. Canada has abandoned the rest of the world by refusing to engage in emission reductions and stalling on providing funding to assist poor nations. As an industrialized country that has caused our share of climate change, we have a moral obligation to ensure that the world’s vulnerable people have at least their basic human rights to clean water, food and shelter,” said Joe Foster, Green Human rights Critic.

Despite having their funding cut by the federal government, well-respected Canadian social justice group KAIROS has been active in Durban, calling for “the COP 17 negotiators to act with compassion and care towards all people in the world.” They point out that already, 300,000 people perish every year due to climate change.

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‘Kairos’ is a Greek word with a number of meanings, all related to time. In its theological meaning, it suggests ‘the appointed time’. It suggests opportunity within crisis—a moment that is critical.

Nearly all the major Christian denominations in Canada are core groups in KAIROS—the United Church, Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Society of Friends, and more. Back in my Sierra Club days, I had the pleasure of working closely with KAIROS. We were partners in climate work and advocating for social justice in international trade deals. The group has a superb record.

It was a shock when, in late November 2009, after thirty-five years of CIDA support, CIDA funding for KAIROS projects overseas was cancelled. KAIROS had been expecting a $7 million grant for the next five years of its work.

The Green Party issued a press release within days of the loss of funding (December 3, 2009), calling for CIDA support to be restored. Political interference seemed likely, as through its climate work, KAIROS had been critical of the oil sands. There were protests across Canada, including in Ganges where Salt Spring Island clergy and multi-faith parishes held a protest, calling for KAIROS funding to be restored.

In the House, throughout late 2009 and into 2010, International Development Minister Bev Oda denied that there were any political motivations. She stated that the programmes no longer fit CIDA’s current priorities.

It was even more shocking when Minister for Immigration Jason Kenney claimed that the reason KAIROS had been denied continued support for its programs was that the group was anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. Kenney made the charge in a speech delivered two weeks after the funding was cut at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem (December 16, 2009). KAIROS reacted quickly, proving it had no involvement in Israeli boycott campaigns.

Anyone tracking this issue now had two Cabinet ministers (three if you count Oda’s Parliamentary Secretary Jim Abbott) with very different stories. Oda (and Abbott) claiming it was routine CIDA decision- making; Kenney claiming a clamp-down on anti-Semitic, anti-Israel groups.

In late October 2010, an Access to Information request revealed the CIDA documentation. CIDA has recommended that the $7 million be approved; senior CIDA officials, first V-P Naresh Singh and then President Margaret Biggs, had signed- off with advice to the Minister to approve the funding.

Minster Oda’s signature appears on the document. But inserted into the approval, in handwriting, is the word ‘NOT’. Testifying to the parliamentary committee investigating the matter, Minister Oda told the committee she had no idea how the word ‘NOT’ came to be inserted.

Thanks to Liberal-MP John MacKay, the Speaker of the House was asked to investigate the whole mess. His findings were released on February 10. Speaker Milliken found that the document was ‘doctored’ and that it raised ‘disturbing questions:’

‘Any reasonable person confronted with what appears to have transpired would necessarily be extremely concerned, if not shocked, and might well begin to doubt the integrity of certain decision-making processes.’

Now, Minister Oda has changed her story. She now claims the document was changed at her direction, although she still does not know who did it.

Of course, the Opposition members of the Committee have pointed out that she misled the Committee. NDP-MP Paul Dewar says the minister lied to the Committee when she said she had no idea how the ‘NOT’ appeared.

None of this washes. If the Minister did not want to fund KAIROS, the solution was easy enough. There are a number of tried and true ministerial responses to advice they don’t like (even when the advice is solid, as the CIDA approval of KAIROS); send the unsigned document back downstairs to CIDA officials, leave it on the desk to gather dust, or ignore it.

The only plausible explanation for the state of the document is that Bev Oda signed the approval and the ‘NOT’ was inserted subsequently.

This is where long-standing attacks against KAIROS from Harper Cabinet members, Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney, as well as right-wing Christian lobbyist Charles McVety, of the Canada Family Action Coalition, are highly relevant.

In particular, Jason Kenney’s speech in Israel and its timing seem pivotal. Targeting KAIROS for the speech in Jerusalem would explain PMO interference. Someone, and I am willing to bet, not someone directed by Oda, inserted the ‘NOT’ after funding was approved.

We now have a case of fraud. It is part of a pattern of abuse of the essence of Canadian democracy and our foundational principles of ‘peace, order and good government.’ The victims of this fraud are not just in Canada. They are the people in the developing world whose projects were not supported. In a larger sense, we are all victims of this fraud. Will it be like so many other abuses of power, of contempt for Canada’s historical record in the world of peace-keeping and development assistance, that are just swept under the rug? Or will this be a moment of ‘kairos’ that allows Canadians to wake up to the crisis and seize the opportunity to fully explore this act of fraud and forgery.

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The attack on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, and the killing of nine pro-Palestinian activists on May 31 brought into clear focus what all Canadians should know. The Harper government has become the most pro-Israel of any government on earth. The day of the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a guest of the Government of Canada, on a state visit. Of all the governments in the world, Canada did the most to avoid direct criticism of Israel. The visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to Parliament Hill was, apparently, unmarred by the fact that at that moment, three Canadian citizens, including Kevin Neish of Victoria, were in Israeli government custody while their families still had no confirmation of their well-being.

Even the US, usually holding the title of Israel’s best friend, expressed regret and called for an inquiry, albeit an internal Israeli investigation. While shaking hands with the Prime Minister of Israel, our Prime Minister said nothing of the tragedy.

The Green Party made a public statement deploring the use of violence and repeating our call for a comprehensive economic stabilization plan and internationally monitored buffer zone around the Gaza Strip. While there is a need for an investigation of the attack on the pro-Gaza flotilla, certain facts are not in dispute. The Israeli government forces attacked in international waters. That alone violates international law. The fact that nine people were killed creates the spectre of a far worse crime.

The Harper government has also managed to manipulate its support for the State of Israel with attacks on others for antisemitism. The church-based NGO Kairos lost its funding over such a charge. It was at the heart of the interference with rights and democracy.

I have been at the receiving end of this sort of nasty attack, when the Prime Minister, distorting my comments out of recognition, alleged in the House that I had trivialized the Holocaust. My ‘crime’ was quoting George Monbiot who, in the context of the climate crisis, had compared former US President Bush, Australia’s Howard and Stephen Harper to Neville Chamberlain. I got fairly bruised in the spin cycle of the Harper war room.

Meanwhile, the Green Party stands firm calling for a balanced policy favouring a two-state solution in the Middle East—closer to the kind of policy Canada once advocated. We insist on the right of Israel to exist and condemned the Hezbollah rockets into Israel, as we condemned the excessive force in Israel’s bombing of Lebanon.

The Greens oppose antisemitism with the same vigour we oppose racism, sexism and other forms of hatred. Recently, the Supreme Court of British Columbia found in our favour, when the party and I were sued by an aggrieved former candidate who objected to being rejected, and to having his words described in our press release as ‘anti-Semitic comments.’ The comments, describing 9-11 as involving the ‘shoddily built jewish world bank headquarters (sic)’ were not borderline. The hatred unleashed against a people in the Holocaust, fuelled by paranoia about Jewish control of banks and banking, is well known. There is a difference between antisemitism and fair and reasonable criticism of Israeli policy.

So too, is there an effort to conflate criticism of Israel with denying the right of the State of Israel to exist. I have relatives in Israel and I completely understand the sense of insecurity that comes from being surrounded by the Arab world, with, at least some leaders, still claiming your homeland has no right to exist. However, maintaining as an inviolate principle the right of Israel to exist is not the same as giving its government carte blanche to trample on human rights and the peace process. Ten thousand Israeli citizens rallied to condemn the attack on the Gaza flotilla, and it was denounced by NGOs in Israel, such as the human rights group, B’Tselem.

The sense that criticism of Israel is not permitted in Canada has been growing, but what prompted me to write this column is the recent attack on NDP MP Libby Davies. Libby is a valiant defender of the rights of the homeless and the poor. Recently, she was caught on tape in what was an off-the-cuff answer stating that occupation began in 1948. Once her comments were placed on YouTube, the denunciations were swift. Harper called for her resignation, and even within her own party she faced pressure.

She wrote to the Ottawa Citizen to apologize: ‘My reference to the year 1948 as the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was a serious and completely inadvertent error.’ On the other hand, there is a difference between occupation and illegal occupation. In 1492, many would say that 500-years of occupation of the Americas began. That does not translate to denying the right of any nations’ existence. The term ‘occupation’ in the Middle East context is generally confined to additional, non-UN agreement occupation as it began in 1967.

Keeping a clear head about these issues is critical. A climate of fear and oppression within Canada stifles free speech. These dangerous trends need to be named, and challenged.

Elizabeth May is leader of the Green Party of Canada and a candidate in Saanich Gulf Islands.

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