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I met with my Member of Parliament on Friday. Even though it was ridiculously easy to secure the appointment, it was something I have always had in the back of my mind to do but have never gotten around to do it. Everyday we have opportunity to have our voice heard and impose our opinions on the world but sometimes it seems that we are too busy complaining and dealing with the frustration of feeling impotent with our situation rather than taking action. I’ve noticed that it is infinitely easier to wallow in self pity than to step out of my comfort zone.

I knew ahead of time that my meeting would only last thirty minutes so I really had to prioritize my goals beforehand. The list of topics I wished to address was quite large but I managed to narrow it down to: lack of representation due to party leader autocratic power, the war in Afghanistan, Mike Duffy’s Senate appointment, the long form census, and broken promises in the form of Bill C-16’s fixed election date law. I ended up using most of my time on the war in Afghanistan.

My MP is also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence and ex-military. I knew going in that he would have strong opinions on Canada’s role in Afghanistan. I definitely struck a nerve when I brought up the topic and he immediately got his back arched. His belief in the role we serve and the people we are helping is so absolute that it is impossible to not respect the man’s passion for the mission. What really impressed me was that despite his vested interest in his opinion and his extremely busy schedule, he listened to my concerns patiently with an open mind.



I have always understood why we are in Afghanistan and the good that can come out from the mission. I may not agree with Canada's Afghan strategy as making the world safer in the long run, but I can understand the logic behind our actions. What I can’t accept is what seems to be our blind acceptance to the fact that 152 Canadians have died there while at home our government is actively suppressing the rights of the citizens that our soldiers are dying to protect.



Canadian citizen, Abousfian Andelrazik, was stranded in the Sudan for years because the Canadian Government refused to issue him travel documents and threatened to arrest anyone who helped him. This was despite the fact that Andelrazik was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Sudanese Government, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It took a Federal Court Order to force the Canadian Government to respect his rights as a Canadian citizen and allow him to come home to Canada.



Omar Khadr, a child soldier, is the youngest prisoner held in Guantanamo Bay. A Canadian, he is the only Western citizen remaining in Guantanamo but he is unique in that Canada has refused to seek extradition or repatriation. This is despite the urgings of Amnesty International, UNICEF, and the Canadian Bar Association, and despite the ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that Kahdr’s constitutional rights had clearly been violated. After eight years in custody, Omar Khadr has not even stood trial let alone been convicted of any crime.



My plea to my MP was to consider the effect our government’s actions were having on the morale of our troops in Afghanistan, their citizens at home, and how these actions are furthering the cause of the Islamic extremist minority. What possible security risk could it be to Canada to have us do the right thing and protect the rights of all our citizens no matter their race or religion? Having Abousfian Andlrazik or Omar Khadr sit in a Canadian detention centre as opposed to trapping them in a foreign land while their predicaments are worked out does not put any of us at greater risk and it reinforces the ideal that as a Canadian, we all have rights and the protection of those rights are guaranteed by our citizenship.

I want to thank my MP, Laurie Hawn, for listening to my concerns with an open mind and allowing me to have my voice heard. I have a much better understanding and appreciation for the challenges you face as an elected official and you have my absolute respect for your honesty and your ability to communicate your viewpoints concisely and directly. If all our elected officials have the integrity I sense that you possess, our country is in good hands.

“Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on.” - The Dalai Lama (b. 1935)