Cotler Reintroduces Sudan Boycott Bill

OTTAWA — Liberal MP and opposition human rights critic Irwin Cotler has reintroduced his Sudan Accountability Act, the first-ever legislation aimed at enhancing the role of Canada and the international community in combating the “genocide by attrition” in Darfur.
In tabling the bill Nov. 21, Cotler, the founder of the Save Darfur Parliamentary Coalition, noted, “It is only appropriate that, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Genocide Convention, legislation be introduced to combat the first genocide of the 21st century.”
The proposed law provides for targeted divestment from Sudan and requires that government contractors certify they do not conduct business in Sudan.
In particular, the legislation instructs Canada to act in concert with the international community and the United Nations to pursue initiatives aimed at ending the genocide, including the effective deployment of the joint UN-African Union mission, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the surrender of Sudanese involved in genocide to the International Criminal Court.
“We know that more than 400,000 have died in this genocide by attrition, that three million have been displaced and at least four million are on a life-support system,” said Cotler. “As the student posters at Darfur rallies ask, ‘If not us, who?’ and ‘If not now, when?’”

Babi Yar Recalled

OTTAWA — Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney returned to Canada last week after visiting the site of the Babi Yar massacre in Kiev, part of a trip to Ukraine to mark 75 years since a famine that killed millions. More than 33,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis at Babi Yar on Sept. 29 and 30, 1941, and more than 100,000 Jewish and non-Jewish victims are said to be buried there.

Shul Moves To Park

CALGARY — A historic frontier shul was moved to a Calgary park last week. The Montefiore Institute was transferred Nov. 26 from its restoration site east of Calgary to a waiting foundation on the south side of Heritage Park, in its Historical Village. The one-room shul measures just 7.5 by 13 metres and was built in 1913 to serve a small Jewish farming community near Sibbald, on the Saskatchewan border east of Calgary. The community later disbanded because of drought, and the shul was sold and moved in 1940 to Hanna, Alta., where it was a private home for more than 60 years. The shul is being restored by the Little Synagogue on the Prairie Project, which has painted it yellow, its original colour. Its interior will be renovated over the winter and opened to visitors in June.