OTTAWA: CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday accused China of ignoring a formerCanadian envoy's "diplomatic immunity" when it detained him lastmonth along with a compatriot. Michael Kovrig was arrested on December 10 inChina, after taking a leave from his diplomatic posting to work for theInternational Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
China detainedformer diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor last month, accusingthem both of activities that "endanger China's security"-a phraseoften used by Beijing when alleging espionage. Their detentions are thought tobe in retaliation for Canada's arrest on a US request of Huawei vice presidentMeng Wanzhou, who is accused of violating Iran sanctions.
"It isunfortunate that China has arbitrarily and unfairly detained two Canadiancitizens, and indeed in one of the cases is not respecting diplomaticimmunity," said Trudeau. "This is something that we are engaged rightnow both with Chinese officials and with our partners around the world wherethere is a concern for the need for all countries to do like Canada and torespect the rule of law and the independence of our judicial processes."
It was the firstpublic comment on Kovrig's status. Officials previously said he was on anunpaid leave from his Canadian government job. According to the ViennaConvention, persons carrying a diplomatic passport enjoy immunity when they areabroad. Trudeau's statement therefore suggests that Kovrig carried such apassport while on sabbatical, which is possible if authorized by Canada'sforeign ministry.
Ottawa hascalled-backed by Australia, Britain, France, Germany, the European Union andthe United States-for the Canadians' immediate release. On Thurday, theNetherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia also added their voices of supportfor Canada. China's Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye, in a letter to a Canadiannewspaper on Wednesday, accused Ottawa and its allies of applying a"double standard" in criticizing the detentions of Kovrig and Spavorwhile defending Meng's arrest, attributing this to "Western egotism andwhite supremacy."
Voting rights
In other news,Canada's top court on Friday confirmed the voting rights of expatriates byruling that a law-already repealed last month-wrongly denied those livingabroad for five years or more a chance to cast a ballot. In a 5-2 decision, theSupreme Court said the regulation infringed on Canadian expats' constitutionalright to vote, which Chief Justice Richard Wagner called a "fundamentalpolitical right" and "a core tenet of our democracy."
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau's Liberal government had already reformed the elections act,doing away with the five-year provision last month. But the ruling was stillwidely viewed as important in that it would prevent future governments frombringing back the restrictions. The impugned sections of the act had been onthe books since 1993 but had only been used during the previous Tory government'sdecade in office, to 2015.
The law waschallenged by two Canadians living in the United States. They both tried tovote in the 2011 election but were rebuffed due to the residency requirement.Over the past century, Canada has expanded the right to vote, originallyrestricted to property-owning men aged 21 or older, to women, racialminorities, persons once described as suffering from a "mentaldisease," prison inmates and soldiers and diplomatic staff posted abroad.Residence, the court noted, was one of the last restrictions on the right tovote in Canadian federal elections.
The majority ofthe court said the government failed to justify the measure, and called itoverly broad. "While it seeks to bar people from voting who lack a sufficientconnection to Canada, no correlation has been shown between, on the one hand,how long a Canadian citizen has lived abroad and, on the other hand, the extentof his or her subjective commitment to Canada," said the ruling."Many non-resident citizens maintain deep and abiding connections toCanada through family, online media and visits home, and by contributing taxesand collecting social benefits," the justices noted.
In a dissentingopinion, Justices Suzanne Cote and Russell Brown called the five-year rule"a reasonable limit" on voting rights. "Opening the vote tolong-term non-residents... would be a regressive development, undermining thelongstanding and entirely salutary practice in Westminster parliamentarydemocracies of privileging local connections in deciding who may elect localrepresentatives," they wrote. According to the government, an estimatedthree million Canadians or nine percent of the population live abroad.Expatriate voting has historically been low. - AFP