MONTREAL — Irwin Cotler, left, says his new post as the Liberals’ special counsel on human rights and international justice suits him perfectly and should not be seen as a consolation prize for not being named to Michael Ignatieff’s shadow cabinet.
The Liberal leader appointed Cotler, member of Parliament for Mount Royal for almost 10 years, to the new role on Friday.
Cotler, justice minister in the short-lived government of Paul Martin, was human rights critic while Stéphane Dion was leader, and public security critic under interim leader Bill Graham.
Cotler said in an interview that he had requested not to be named to the shadow cabinet, which was announced Jan. 22. Ignatieff had informed him that the human rights critic post would be eliminated because it does not correspond to one in the Harper cabinet, and Cotler felt any other duties on the Opposition front bench would hinder his ability to continue to devote as much time to his many international activities.
“The new post frees me up to do the things that I do best… It’s exactly what I wanted,” Cotler, 68, said. He believes he will, in fact, be able to expand his work abroad, which often keeps him away from Parliament.
Cotler said he wants to put to rest speculation that he was snubbed by Ignatieff because he supported Bob Rae for the party leadership in 2006 or that the decision was related to Ignatieff’s remark earlier that year on a popular Quebec television show that Israel had committed a war crime in Lebanon during its conflict with Hezbollah.
Soon after the remark was made, Cotler’s Israeli-born wife, Ariela, publicly renounced her party membership accusing Ignatieff in a letter to the National Post of “a lack of moral integrity, sacrificing facts and truth on the altar of political correctness and personal political gains” in the leadership campaign.
Cotler noted that despite the strain, his longstanding “close personal and professional relationship” with Ignatieff, whose career has also been devoted to the furtherance of human rights, never faltered, and even at the time, he defended Ignatieff’s right to his opinion.
Ariela Cotler and Ignatieff have long been reconciled, he added.
Cotler’s main projects relating to his new job include trying to gather international support for a petition to hold the Iranian regime accountable for “genocidal incitement,” co-chairing the founding conference of the International Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism in London from Feb. 15 to 17, building a legal case against Hamas for war crimes, bringing sanctions against Sudan for the Darfur crisis, and continuing to represent a number of political prisoners around the world.
“I can continue to do all those things and be wherever I have to be, and the leader is encouraging me to do it,” Cotler said.
He was in Israel in an official capacity from Dec. 25 to Jan. 13, spending part of that time in the south while it was under the threat of rocket attack from Gaza.
In announcing Cotler’s appointment, Ignatieff stated: “I am privileged to work with one of the world’s most respected and recognized human rights experts. Our caucus will benefit greatly from his wisdom and counsel.”
Cotler was one of three special advisers named, along with two other Martin-era ministers, Ujjal Dosanjh, who is chair of the new Intergovernmental Liaison Secretariat, and Ken Dryden, who is national outreach adviser, with a focus on working families and poverty.
There are two Jewish members on the slimmed-down 33-member shadow cabinet: Raymonde Folco, who has represented the Quebec riding of Laval-Les Îles since 1997, is the critic for La Francophonie, and Anita Neville, first elected MP for Winnipeg South Centre in 2000, is responsible for the status of women.
