Canada’s NDP reconsiders decision to boycott Durban 2009; tension results in NDP caucus
Layton backtracks on UN racism conference
June 23, John Ivison, National Post
Canada’s National Post reports on the backlash that occurred within the Canada’s Liberal NDP caucus following an NDP leader’s suggestion that Canada participate in Durban 2009. Although NDP leader Jack Layton initially supported the Conservative government’s decision to boycott Durban 2009, he began to reconsider after he “received assurances from UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour that there would be no repeat of Durban 1 at next year’s event.”
Some suggest that Layton’s backtracking has to do with a desire to appease the Muslim demographic which is said to be “alienated by the Liberal party’s support for the extension of Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan and the staunch pro-Israel position of Bob Rae, the new foreign affairs critic.”
A number of NDP MPs were outraged at Layton’s suggestion that Canada participate in Durban 2009 and remain unconvinced that it will be fundamentally different from its predecessor in 2001. According to Brad Lavigne, the NDP’s director of communications, “[W]e cannot sit idly by and condone what happened in 2001, nor can we abandon international anti-racism work.”
According to the National Post, this is not the only controversial issue within the NDP these days. The candidacy of Samira Laouni, a Moroccan with a doctorate in international economics from the Sorbonne in Paris, who is running for the NDP has also been a cause of consternation for NDP MPs. Laouni is the project manager of the Canadian Islamic Congress, has referred to Israel as an “apartheid regime” and has urged the Canadian government to remove Hezbollah and Hamas from its list of designated terrorists. Laouni has not formally commented on Durban 2009.
